Last Call For Sovereign Stupidity

Another day, another reminder that America continues to have a right-wing domestic terrorist problem.

Authorities shot and killed a sovereign citizen Friday morning outside a Georgia courthouse after he brought weapons and explosives in an attempt to take over the building.

Investigators said Dennis Marx arrived at the Forsyth County Administration Building with an assault rifle, bulletproof vest, smoke grenades, and a gas mask.

Marx also brought water and other supplies, ammunition, zip-tie restraints, and buckets of homemade explosives to the courthouse, said Sheriff Duane Piper.

“He came here with the purpose of occupying the courthouse,” Piper said.

He deployed stop sticks at the courthouse entrance to prevent other vehicles from driving closer and opened fire from his vehicle.

Marx was met outside the courthouse by a deputy – who distracted and then fatally shot him through the windshield of the man’s SUV.

The deputy, a 30-year veteran, was shot in the knee during the confrontation but was expected to recover.

“It would be a guess to think how many lives he saved had he not engaged him right there,” Piper said. “Mr. Marx’s intention was to get inside that front door and to take hostages.”

You probably didn't hear about this because the suspect wasn't named Dennis Mohammed or Daunte Marx.  But a white guy armed to the teeth with the clear, premeditated intent of taking hostages in a courthouse?  We should probably ignore it.

Contractual Obligations

It's good to see this Cincinnati story about the Archdiocese forcing all Catholic school employees to sign a morality clause that censors their opinions finally going national, mainly because in Ohio, taxpayer vouchers can be used to pay for Catholic schools, and yet the Archdiocese remains exempt from basic workplace protections.

First-grade teacher Molly Shumate and high school English teacher Robert Hague are among the veteran teachers choosing to leave the diocese over a ‘morality clause’ included in the new contracts. The clause reportedly prohibits teachers, whether Catholic or not, from having sex or living with a partner outside of marriage, using in-vitro fertilization, leading a gay “lifestyle,” or publicly supporting any of the above.

Steve Benen sums this up:

That last part is of particular interest. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese wrote the “morality clause” in such a way as to apply not just to employees’ actions, but also their stated opinions.

In other words, if you work at a Catholic school in Cincinnati, you can’t be gay or try to have children through IVF treatments, and at the same time, you also can’t say you support gay rights or endorse IVF treatments in general.

And yet Ohio, like a number of other states, allows taxpayer money to go to private religious schools while they remain exempt from state employment laws.

One of those two things has to change.  Oh, and by the way, this is the real First Amendment issue with religious institutions.

Traders and Traitors

And my state's junior US senator manages once again to prove to the country and the world just how much of a jagoff he is.

Sen. Rand Paul on Friday likened Democrats to the recently released Taliban detainees at Guantánamo Bay in a speech here at the Texas GOP convention.

“Mr. President, you love to trade people,” the Kentucky Republican and likely 2016 contender said to laughs, a reference to the deal made for the return of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. 

“Why don’t we set up a trade? But this time, instead of five Taliban, how about five Democrats? I’m thinking John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, couldn’t we send them to Mexico?”

Hurr, because they're Democrats, not Americans, so it's okay.  Hell, they're not even human, am I right?

Paul’s suggestion came after he criticized the deal struck to bring back Bergdahl, who had been held captive by the Taliban for five years and was freed in exchange for the five prisoners.

“I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve been a little bit annoyed with the president,” Paul said. “Releasing five Taliban senior officials is not only against the law, it’s illegal and wrong and he should never have done it.”

So you must have really hated Bush when he released 500 plus Gitmo detainees.  What's that?  Not a peep?  Now why is that?

Asked about his comments in a news conference after the speech, Paul replied, “It was a joke. Except for Nancy Pelosi, I was serious about her.”

Misogyny is always funnier in Texas.

As far as I'm concerned, Rand Paul should stay there and not come back.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• Another federal judge has struck down a state ban on same-sex marriage under equal protection grounds, this time in Wisconsin.
• The Texas state Republican convention this weekend apparently featured a Davy Crockett impersonator who called for the overthrow of President Obama and the federal government.
• European mobile phone giant Vodafone says six countries used its networks to wiretap and record customer calls, prompting anger across Europe and Asia.
• Transport company Uber has managed to set a record for start-up funding, hitting $17 billion on a new round of funding this week.
• The CIA is now on Twitter, officially, and its first tweet was "We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet."

Last Call For May's Unemployment Figures

And they were pretty decent, with 213.000 new jobs added and the rate remaining at 6.3% unemployed.  Moreover, we finally reached the point where we have recovered all the jobs lost since the Bush recession began 76 months ago:



The bad news is that we would have had 7 million more jobs on top of all this if the GOP hadn't destroyed America's economy in Bush's second term.  But yes, America has added 13.5 million jobs in just over 4 years, cleaning up yet another GOP president's mess.



When Reagan and Poppy Bush took ten years to get the unemployment rate down to where Jimmy Carter had it (after cleaning up Nixon and Ford's disaster) at 5.6 %, AFTER DOUBLING IT TO 11% because Reagan was some sort of ECONOMIC GENIUS YOU KNOW, they were considered gods.

Obama cleans up an even worse mess in terms of jobs and he's considered the antichrist.

I will never understand people who vote Republican.

Pee Wee's Big Adventure

Today is the 70th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, that began on June 6, 1944. Time has claimed nearly all of our WW II veterans from that day, they would be into their 90's now.  But not quite all of them are gone, and some of them are still parachuting into the French countryside.

Jim "Pee Wee" Martin acted like he'd been here before, like jumping from a plane is as easy as falling off a log. 

Maybe that's because he had -- 70 years ago. 

"I'm feeling fine," Martin told reporters moments after landing in a French field. "... It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful."

Martin was part of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division that parachuted down over Utah Beach in their bid to retake France and, eventually, the rest of Europe from Nazi Germany. They actually touched down in enemy-controlled territory a night before what's referred to as D-Day. 

His jump Thursday in the same area was different and -- despite his being 93 years old now -- a whole lot easier.

"It didn't (compare)," Martin said, "because there wasn't anybody shooting at me today."

Amazing.  Here's to you, Jim.

As he told reporters afterward, "To tell you the truth, riding around in the plane is boring. It's when you get off the plane, that's when it gets exciting ... But there's no fear to it. It's just something you do." 

Martin admitted that he was motivated by "a little bit of ego, (to show that) I'm 93 and I can still do it." 

"And also I just want to show all the people that you don't have to sit and die just because you get old," he added. "Keep doing things." 

Among those things he'd like to do is another jump in the same plane, one year from now.

"If I come back next year, I'll make a jump next year. You can bet on it."

There's a reason they're called the Greatest Generation, folks.  These Depression-era teens of the 30's turned into WW II heroes in the 40's, GI Bill and suburban parents of the 50's, saw the rise of civil rights in the 60's, the rise of feminism in the 70's, survived the Reagan 80's, the Clinton 90's, and the Bush aughts. They lived to see a black President, and they jump out of planes at age 93.

Hell, I hope I simply make it to 93.

The Quest To Destroy Bowe Bergdahl

FOX News is now claiming that freed Afghan war POW Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl secretly converted to Islam and became a jihadi in 2010.  In other news, somebody at FOX News clearly watches too much Homeland on Showtime.

Citing "secret documents prepared on the basis of a purported eyewitness account," Fox's James Rosen wrote that Bergdahl had a roller-coaster experience after he was captured in 2009.

There were times, according to Rosen, when Bergdahl was "treated very much like a hostage," and other times the soldier bonded with his captors and was even allowed to carry a gun.

According to the report, Bergdahl managed to escape for five days at one point and. After he was re-captured, he was reportedly locked in a cage "like an animal."

The documents indicate that intelligence officials were aware of the conversion by August of 2012, at which time Bergdahl was describing himself as a "mujahid." He also apparently played soccer with his captors at the time and appeared "to be well and happy."

So there you go, secret documents!  Stockholm Syndrome!  Manchurian Candidate!  Reprogrammed Islamist killer!  Obama's a traitor!

Proof?  Well...who cares.  This guy has to be destroyed because it hurts Obama, and that's the only thing that matters.

When's the last time you remember a POW in more danger back home from our own domestic terrorists than he was in when he was captured?

StupidiNews!

• One person is dead, three are wounded and a suspect is in custody as a gunman armed with a shotgun fired at four people at Seattle Pacific University Thursday.
• Quebec has adopted provincial legislation legalizing medically-assisted suicide in terminally ill patients, despite a federal Canadian law prohibiting euthanasia for any reason.
• An internal report released by General Motors investigating an 11-year-long failure to recall ignition switches linked to 13 deaths places blame on engineers rather than corporate executives.
• With the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus killing 8 million pigs in the US, pork prices are expected to jump by as much at 47% in 2014.
• Verizon is threatening streaming video giant Nexflix with legal action if the company doesn't stop displaying error messages blaming Verizon's network for bad connections.

Last Call For All My Exes Live In Texas

If you consider LGBTQ folks to be in need of "therapy" to make them ex-gays, why not give the Texas GOP a try?  It's right there in the state party platform these days.

Earlier this week, the Dallas Voice reported that the Texas Republican Party had stripped language from its platform that claimed that “homosexuality tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family,” but the Houston Chronicle now reports that the language has been replaced with a different kind of condemnation.

See, Republican minority outreach in action.  Here's the new plank:

"Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable alternative lifestyle, in public policy, nor should family be redefined to include homosexual couples. We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin.

Additionally, we oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values.We recognize the legitimacy and value of counseling which offers reparative therapy and treatment to patients who are seeking escape from the homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy."

Gosh, I can't imagine with party outreach like that in the most populous red state in the country why national conservative LGBTQ groups like GOProud would call it quits.

After five years in the often precarious space of being a gay conservative group, LGBT Republican organization GOProud is ceasing operations, according to a series of reports at Bilerico.

Bilerico reporter Andrew Markleinitially reported that GOProud was shuttering on Sunday, and following initial denials on social media from members of the group, key organizers confirmed to Bilerico founder Bil Browning Monday that the group is indeed planning to close up shop.

But you guys, minority outreach.  Republicans care.  Big tent.  Inclusive future.

Right?

Ohio GOP Continues The War On Women

Ohio Republicans have recently unveiled House Bill 351, which among other things, would eliminate abortion coverage from medical insurance plans (public and private), as well as eliminate all birth control coverage from public and private insurance plans.

The Ohio legislature is currently considering a measure that would institute a sweeping ban on insurance coverage for abortion in state residents’ public and private health plans. Restricting women’s ability to use their insurance plans to pay for abortion is becoming anincreasingly popular anti-choice strategy — and Ohio’s proposed legislation may actually go even further. The measure would also make it harder for low-income women to afford the most effective form of birth control.

House Bill 351, which was the subject of a committee hearing on Tuesday, seeks to prohibit insurance plans from covering “drugs or devices used to prevent the implantation of a fertilized ovum.” That definition effectively bans several types of contraception, like the birth control pill and the IUD.

Residents with public insurance — which includes state government employees as well as low-income individuals who rely on Medicaid — are already prevented from using their coverage for most abortions. But since HB 351 stipulates they also can’t use it for any drugs that inhibit implantation, the legislation could end up functioning as a birth control ban for public insurance plans.

Rep. John Becker (R), who sponsored the bill, said during Tuesday’s hearing that birth control pills should not be banned under HB 351. But he still wants IUDs, which are long-acting forms of birth control that are inserted in the uterus, to fall under the ban because he considers IUDs to be a form of abortion. “This is just a personal view. I’m not a medical doctor,” he said.

So yeah, John Becker has decided that you dirty, slutty women who have sex and use birth control and/or medical services like abortion, well, you're going to have to pay a lot more for your sluttiness, because of his "personal opinion" about birth control.

Good luck preventing this from becoming law, too:  Republicans control the Ohio House 60-39, and have an ever larger margin in the Senate, 23-10.  If this ends up passing (and given Ohio's strict anti-choice laws there's no reason to think it won't pass) then it'll be up to GOP Gov. John Kasich to sign or veto it.

So yes ladies, Ohio Republicans are about to make your Pill and IUD unaffordable (not to mention medical stuff like abortion) because John Becker thinks you're a slattern who needs to keep her legs closed.

But there's no War on Women, it's a myth, yadda yadda.

Open Carrying On

So remember last week, when the NRA mentioned that open carry groups in Texas were really, really making gun owners look bad and that maybe they should, you know, chill out a bit?  Turns out it was all "a mistake" and that the NRA is blaming a "staffer" and their "personal opinion" for the statement, and that everyone whould have guns everywhere because guns.

The National Rifle Association's appeal to Texas groups to dial back their practices of wielding assault weapons in local businesses was "a mistake," a top official in the powerhouse's lobbying arm said Tuesday, turning an about-face from what some saw as a politically savvy step toward the middle in the hot-button debate over gun rights.

"An alert went out that referred to this type of behavior as 'weird' or somehow not normal," Chris Cox, executive director of NRA policy, said during an interview on the organization's website. "It shouldn't have happened, and I've had a discussion with the staffer who wrote that piece and expressed his personal opinion. And our job isn't to criticize the lawful behavior of fellow gun owners.

"...This is a distraction," he went on. "And certainly the media has had a field day with it."

So yes, you were a complete sucker if you thought the NRA was going to be reasonable for even a second about open carry.   It's not their job, and never is.  Open carry all the time everywhere is the only solution.

"...Ultimately what this comes down to is a tactics discussion," Cox went on. "Some people believe that the best way to effectuate that sort of policy change is in protest. And what they did in Texas is some people decided to protest the absurdity of the ban on concealed carry or on open carry of handguns by carrying their long guns openly - and legally."

Not being able to carry around your AK-47 in public is "absurd" because America.

StupidiNews!

• Royal Canadian Mounted Police are on the lookout for a man suspected of killing 3 officers and wounding two others in Moncton, New Brunswick.
• Mississippi's GOP Senate primary will officially go to a June 24 runoff as the final results had Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel with a 49.5% to 49% lead over incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran.
• Increasing right wing anger over the release of Afghan war POW Bowe Bergdahl has led to his hometown canceling a homecoming rally for security reasons.
• With South Korea projected to have the world's oldest population by 2060, the country is now offering 30-year long-term bonds for retirement savings.
• The next big tech merger is imminent according to reports, with mobile giants Sprint and T-Mobile looking to join forces in a $50 billion deal.

Last Call For Do-Nothing Congress

We've reached the point where in 2014, incumbents in Congress and especially the House are actively running on not introducing legislation at all.

This House is on track to produce the lowest number of legislative proposals since the Clinton administration. Through mid-May, representatives introduced 18 percent fewer bills compared with the same point in the previous Congress. That’s the largest drop between Congresses in the period beginning in 1995, when Republicans overturned decades of Democratic rule in the House. The number of lawmakers who have introduced at least 25 proposals has fallen by nearly two-thirds compared with the previous Congress. The number who have produced five or fewer pieces of legislation has jumped 81 percent.

The representatives who have introduced little or no legislation come from both parties and are veterans and newcomers alike. Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California, has introduced two bills this Congress. In the previous six years he was responsible for 42. John Mica, a Florida Republican and a high-ranking member of committees with jurisdiction over transportation and government oversight, also has proposed two bills (and two amendments), none since last year. That’s down from 27 bills in the previous Congress.

I can sort of understand Democrats choosing not to introduce legislation that will never get a vote under the House GOP that controls the chamber, but at this point even Republicans no longer give a damn.

The legislative pullback has few starker examples than Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

The Financial Services committee — which oversees banking, the Federal Reserve and mortgage lending, among other areas — has held hearings and considered bills drafted by others. And Mr. Hensarling has been active in proposing bills that, in particular, address the government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But he has not proposed any legislation of his own since the 113th Congress began in January 2013, whether related to the financial industry or his Dallas-area district (he has added his name as a co-sponsor of other legislation at least 105 times).

And why should he have to do the hard work when ALEC and Club For Growth and Heritage Foundation will introduce legislation for him?  He's a manager who delegates, baby.

You're a sucker if you think Republicans want to make government work for anyone but themselves.

Not Evolving At All

Gallup's latest poll on Americans and Creationism find that, as it has been for the last 32 years, a healthy chunk of Americans do not believe in evolution.

More than four in 10 Americans continue to believe that God created humans in their present form 10,000 years ago, a view that has changed little over the past three decades. Half of Americans believe humans evolved, with the majority of these saying God guided the evolutionary process. However, the percentage who say God was not involved is rising.

The chart makes it pretty clear that this is not a new phenomenon.  But the older, less educated, and more often you go to church, the more likely you are to believe in creationism.  However, that too has been the case since the 80's.

It means enough Americans are taught Creationism to replace those that are aging.  Today, 46% of 30-49 year olds believe in Creationism.  That's going to help keep these numbers stable for some time.

Only 1% of people who attend church weekly believe humanity evolved without God guiding the process.

One percent.

There's some small hope, though.  The number of people who believe that God has nothing to do with evolution has doubled since 2000.  We'll see.

Post-Racial America Update

Sure am glad Chief Justice Roberts declared racism over, so we can all breathe easier now knowing that there's no need for civil rights laws.

A cotton gin in Memphis, Tennessee is facing a federal discrimination complaint after one of its supervisors was caught on a cell phone recording making racist remarks to black employees.

African-American workers at the Atkinson Cotton Warehouse this week described to WREG treatment that evoked cotton’s historic connections to racism and slavery.

According to Antonio Harris and Marrio Mangrum, their boss at the cotton gin longed for the days of Jim Crow, when white men could “hang” black men for drinking from the wrong water fountain.

“He would be like, ‘You need to think like a white man,’” Mangrum recalled.

“He pulled his pants down in front of us and told us to kiss his white tail,” Harris explained.

Sure am glad that's taken care of.

After enduring months of racist comments, Harris decided to use his cell phone to record an attempt to drink from a water fountain in the warehouse.

“I need to put a sign here that says ‘white people only,’” the supervisor says in the recording.

When Harris tries to use the microwave, the boss tells him he is not allowed to use it because “you are not white.”

“As a white man, we don’t even let Larry use it,” the boss notes in reference to a black employee who had worked at the cotton gin for over 10 years.

The supervisor goes on to lament that that blacks and whites are no longer kept separate in the United States through segregation.

“Back then, nobody thought anything about it,” he opines. “Now everybody is made to where to think it’s bad.”

“Put your sign on the wall then, because I am feeling to drink it,” Harris asks. “What would they do when they catch me drinking your water?”

“That’s when we hang you,” the supervisor warns.

Yep.  No reason at all for civil rights legislation in 2014.

StupidiNews!

• Saudi Arabia is reporting a large jump in cases of the MERS virus this week, now saying that 282 deaths since 2012 have occurred.
• Federal prosecutors have dropped bomb threat charges against the man who allegedly carried a hoax device through April's Boston Marathon bombing memorial.
• Chinese law enforcement and military are on high alert for the 25th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square this week, and dozens of arrests have already been made.
• Infamous biochemist, drug advocate, and "godfather of ecstasy" Alexander Shulgin has died at the age of 88 from complications due to liver cancer.
• Gamemaker Electronic Arts has reached a $40 million settlement agreement with lawyers for collegiate athletes over use of their likenesses in the company's NCAA Football video games.

Last Call For More Of The I-Word

Republicans are going insane on the Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl release, to the point that talk of impeachment is showing up after less than 72 hours, with several examples of Republican pundits now calling for the President's head:

Andrew McCarthy, who's written an entire book that builds a case for impeachment against Obama, said in an interview published Monday he would include the Bergdahl release as part of his "larger indictment" against the President.

McCarthy told the MailOnline that the release of "senior terrorists to the Taliban" represents a "high crime and misdemeanor."

Fox Business anchor Lou Dobbs liked the sound of that. On Monday, he cited McCarthy's impeachment talk in blasting Obama's "extraordinary knack for doing the utterly wrong thing in the wrong way at seemingly the worst moment."

Judge Andrew Napolitano took it from there on Tuesday, telling the gang on "Fox & Friends" that Obama "may very well have committed a federal crime by giving material assistance to a terrorist organization."

Napolitano said impeaching Obama over the prisoner swap is a "very valid argument that people are going to start talking about."

If it were up to at least one Republican running for office, the House of Representatives would have already started impeachment proceedings.

Randy Brogdon, a candidate for Oklahoma's open U.S. Senate seat, said this week that he's waiting on a Republican member of the House to hold Obama accountable for a "blatant violation of the law."

Unfortunately for Brogdon, Allen West is no longer in the lower chamber. The former Florida congressman, one of many conservatives to go after Bergdahl's father on Monday, also believesthere's a strong case for impeachment against Obama.

According to West, the case would be built around Obama's failure to consult Congress within 30 days of the prisoner release from Guantanamo as he is required to under federal statute.

How long will it take for sitting Republicans in Congress to start bringing this up?  Surely before the end of the week, one would think.

Please proceed, gentlemen.

Hippie Punching In South Dakota

Several primary contests are taking place today in states across the nation, and in one of them, South Dakota, National Journal's Josh Kraushaar is furious at Democrats for running a liberal candidate to replace retiring Dem Sen. Tim Johnson, all but ensuring Republican Mike Rounds is the next Senator from the Mount Rushmore State, a move that could, in Kraushaar's eyes, cost the Dems the Senate.

If Democrats fall a seat short of holding the Senate, there will be a lot of second-guessing on the one race that never materialized but should have held a lot more promise: South Dakota.

The state is holding its primaries Tuesday, and they're an afterthought. Former Gov. Mike Rounds is the Republican now on a glide path to the Senate, facing weak opposition in the GOP primary. In the general election, he'll face Rick Weiland, a former state director for Tom Daschle who (even the most optimistic Democrats will acknowledge) faces near-impossible odds in the solidly red state.

But it didn't have to be that way. The Senate race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson could have been one of the most consequential contests in the country, if Democrats had a little more luck. Just over a year ago, the political talk in South Dakota centered on which of their up-and-coming prospects would run—former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, one of the most popular figures in the state after representing it for three full terms in the House, or Tim Johnson's son Brendan Johnson, who's serving as a U.S. attorney. Despite the state's Republican moorings, now-Sen. Heidi Heitkamp's surprising 2012 victory in neighboring North Dakota served as a fresh reminder that strong candidates running in conservative-minded states can overcome disadvantages.

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin walked away from the race, leaving Rick Weiland.  But Weiland isn't done yet, and if this May PPP poll is any indication, he can win.

Public Policy Polling’s newest South Dakota survey continues to find Mike Rounds stuck under 40%. Right now 38% of voters say they intend to vote for him to 28% for Rick Weiland, 15% for Larry Pressler, and 4% for Gordon Howie. There are several encouraging findings for Weiland within the poll results:

-Most of Rounds’ early lead is based on having higher name recognition than Weiland, and Weiland actually has the advantage among voters who have heard of him. 82% of voters are familiar with Rounds compared to 67% for Weiland, but among the group that has heard of Weiland he leads 38/36. That bodes well for his prospects as he becomes better known.

-Weiland (+6) has a higher net favorability rating than Rounds (even). 36% of voters see him favorably to only 30% who have a negative opinion of him. Meanwhile voters are evenly divided on Rounds with 41% rating him positively and 41% with an unfavorable view.

-On several issues that will be key in this race, voters side with Weiland’s view over Rounds’ by a wide margin. After being read a description of each candidate’s views on Medicare, South Dakotans say they agree more with Weiland’s position by a 15 point margin, 45/30. And when it comes to the Ryan budget 53% of voters say they side more with Weiland’s point of view, compared to only 29% who go with Rounds.

On both of the issues the independent voters who will be key to Weiland’s campaign overwhelmingly side with his perspective- 53/26 on the Medicare issue and 62/20 on the Ryan budget one.

Nearly 20% of the vote is going to independent candidates.  Larry Pressler, the Republican Tim Johnson beat in 1996 to become Senator, is running a strong third party campaign and it's hurting Rounds big time.  If Pressler's splitting off that much of the vote (15%) from Rounds, there's an opening for Weiland.

Everyone's written Weiland off as doomed.  I just don't think that's the case yet.

Yes Folks, They Really Are This Dumb

Republicans are demanding Congressional hearings on the decision by President Obama to cut a deal to release Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

Several Republican lawmakers on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees say that Congress should examine whether President Obama acted within the bounds of the law by exchanging five former Taliban leaders for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in a prisoner swap without consulting Congress.

At issue is the law that requires the defense secretary to notify Congress 30 days before transferring any detainees out of the prison and explain why they will not be in a position to harm the U.S. again.

"I think in the eyes of many, he broke the law by not informing Congress 30 days before that," California Rep. Buck McKeon, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in an interview on MSNBC Monday.

"You just had Ambassador Rice, she said they'd been working on this for three years. She said Congress has been informed of this along the way. I don't know who they were talking to. I have not been a part of this, and I'm the chairman of the committee."

McKeon said his committee plans to hold hearings into the issue, and said it should not be viewed as a partisan move.

Oh, of course it's not a partisan move.  And I'm Cleopatra, ruler of Egypt.

So are Republicans really going to spend all summer trying to work the country into impeaching Obama over this?  Sure looks like it.  And just in time for midterm elections, too!

Start up the clown car and get the confetti.  It's going to be a party in here all summer long as Republicans openly trash a POW coming home on national TV.

You do that, guys.

StupidiNews!

• The Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government "grossly overstepped" its authority in charging a woman accused of poisoning a romantic rival under chemical weapons laws.
• Seattle's city council has unanimously voted to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021.
• Spain's controversial King Juan Carlos II has abdicated the throne in favor of his heir Prince Felipe as the country continues to treat the monarchy as a symbol of excess among Spanish austerity.
• The issue of putting a toilet in every home is increasingly becoming an issue to many Indians, as new PM Narendra Modi seeks broader populist measures.
• Hollywood is pushing the FAA to speed up approval of commercial drones used for filming movies and TV shows from the air, saving money on helicopters and other aircraft.