Yesterday the temperature hit 102°. Today may well be worse. My A/C is holding it’s own, but the building’s hallways and restrooms have become super-heated. After my morning regal trip to the throne at 5:30 AM, taken to contemplate the odor of the Republican Party, I had to change my shirt to one that wasn’t sweat-soaked. Today I plan to write, attend the live draft of our fantasy football league, care for personal needs, and as little else as I can.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:25 (average 5:03). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The Nation: If you watch cable news, you’ve seen someone from an outfit called the “Independent Women’s Forum” promoting a conservative take on the women’s issue of the day. It’s no secret that the group leans right; it grew out of “Women for Judge Thomas,” which formed during Anita Hill’s testimony about Clarence Thomas at his 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearing, and was formally launched in 1992 by the late Barbara Olson and Rosalie “Ricky” Silberman, along with a cadre of powerful conservative women that included former second lady Lynne Cheney. Still, it’s always billed itself as “non-partisan” and “independent.” In its early years, it promoted IWF-affiliated author Christina Hoff Sommers’s brand of “equity feminism” and opposed the “radical feminism” of the ’90s women’s movement, which it argued was pushing myths about sexual harassment, pay inequities, and discrimination in the workplace and widespread abuse on college campuses. For years it played no formal role in electoral politics.
But an analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), provided exclusively to The Nation, reveals that since 2010, IWF and its political arm, Independent Women’s Voice, have become aggressive players in Republican politics, embedded in the network of organizations backed by Charles and David Koch, advocating for the Koch brothers’ myriad concerns, and playing on their “independent” label to elect GOP candidates. If this country is to elect its first woman president, Hillary Clinton will have to face down this powerful conservative women’s group to get there.
RepubliSpeak Dictionary
Independent Nonpartisan: Koch Sucker
From Media Matters: The Fox Cycle is the process by which Fox News pushes right-wing fringe stories into the mainstream news. Fox distorts facts, spreads myths as truths and devotes heavy, one-sided coverage to make viewers believe in baseless, manufactured stories — and, worse, to convince mainstream media outlets to cover these lies.
Example:
Barf Bag Alert!!
That’s exactly how the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, deceives the 
.
From Daily Kos: Yet another story whose full import won’t be discussed anywhere that the majority of Americans are likely to see it:
After the Director of the FBI fully exonerated Hillary Clinton and made clear that she broke no laws and told no lies, House Republicans took the extraordinary step of demanding copies if the FBI’s notes from its interview with Clinton. That request was granted, and almost immediately, information from those notes began leaking to the media. The trouble: every word of those notes is, by definition, classified information.
Jennifer Palmieri, the Communications Director for the Hillary Clinton campaign, tweeted this evening that she “Would remind all that this material is classified. So this is leaking of classified material.” Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta added that he’s “Already hearing from people who have been contacted by reporters with knowledge of the content of their interviews in FBI 302’s.”
This is GOP SOP. As a rule Republicans break the law, leak classified information, and threaten national security to gain even a slight political advantage. Don’t take my word for it. Just remember Valerie Plame.
Cartoon:
Never has a village idiot felt so wanted!
The Trump campaign was on the defensive on Monday after