Politics Plus

Writing for day 39, I’m sad to report that the cool spell lasted just one day, but it has stayed cloudy today, so far, so maybe the weatherman will be wrong again.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:29 (average 5:42).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Opponents of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law are attempting to mobilize support for a new law called Don’t Shoot Me for Absolutely No Reason.

The proposed law, which faces major opposition in the Florida legislature, would make it illegal for people in the state to shoot each other for no reason whatsoever.

“Under the provisions of Don’t Shoot Me for Absolutely No Reason, you will be required to have an actual reason for shooting someone,” said a spokesman for the measure, Harland Dorrinson. “This will be a first in Florida.”

The controversial bill has already drawn the ire of the National Rifle Association, which issued a statement today saying that requiring someone to have a reason to shoot another person would violate the Second Amendment…

Andy’s Satire is almost too close to true to be humor.

From Truthdig: It looks like The New York Times will have a major hole to fill for its coverage of the 2014 midterm elections. That’s because election forecaster extraordinaire Nate Silver is reportedly packing up his FiveThirtyEight blog and taking it over to ESPN, according to the Times’ Brian Stelter. The media reporter says he learned of Silver’s departure from a source at the sports network. Stelter also reports that Silver informed the Times on Friday of his decision to leave.

In addition to number-crunching and writing columns, Silver is expected to be a regular contributor on “Olbermann,” a new program hosted by former “Sportscenter” anchor and MSNBC host Keith Olbermann that’s set to debut on ESPN2 next month. He will also factor in ABC News’ political coverage during election years. Both ESPN and ABC News are owned by Disney.

That is a huge loss for the Times. In 2012, He was the only major prognosticator to out perform me. I missed one state in the Presidential race and one Senate race. He got them all!  On the plus side, I will sure listen to what he says about fantasy football!

From MSNBC: House Takes 39th Vote on Obamacare.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Republicans will not be able to stop Obamacare no matter how many $millions of taxpayers dollars they waste on go-nowhere votes such as this. Voters need to remove them, because refusing to govern is anti-American sedition.

Cartoon:

Republicans probably want to reserve them for the 1% only.

I’m running on little sleep, as I write for day 37, because the next door neighbor from hell, a likeable enough fellow, but playing with a 48 card deck, decided to have a noisy day and night.  Asking him to shut-up works, but only for a few minutes.  ARGH!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:43 (average 6:07).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: After days of angry protests and mounting public pressure, President Obama summoned five of his closest advisers to the Oval Office on Thursday evening. It was time, he told them, for him to speak to the nation about the Trayvon Martin verdict, and he had a pretty good idea what he wanted to say.

For the next 15 minutes, according to a senior aide, Mr. Obama spoke without interruption, laying out his message of why the not-guilty ruling had caused such pain among African-Americans, particularly young black men accustomed to arousing the kind of suspicion that led to the shooting death of Mr. Martin in a gated Florida neighborhood.

On Friday, reading an unusually personal, handwritten statement, Mr. Obama summed up his views with a single line: “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.”

It is a shameful thing that almost 50 years after the Voting Rights Act, now emasculated by Republican Injustices on SCROTUS, black families are talking to their children about how they can act around white people. Republicans see this as not being so uppity. I see this as second class citizenship. Shame!

From Roll Call: A meeting of Senate Republicans on Wednesday grew tense as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told his members he could have gotten a better deal on nominations than the one negotiated by rank-and-file Republicans.

McConnell’s tone, according to multiple sources, implied that he had been kept in the dark about the talks between some in his own ranks and Democrats. However, those same Republicans say they kept McConnell updated throughout their negotiating process.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., got so frustrated with McConnell’s presentation of events, that he called “bullshit” loud enough for the room to hear, nearly a half-dozen sources said. The heated exchange underscored the “buyer’s remorse” among some Republicans, especially leaders, one senior Republican said on background. [emphasis added]

This is one of few chances you’ll get to witness me saying this about a Republican. Kudos to Bob Corker (R-TN).

From Daily Kos: In about two weeks, House Republicans will begin their summer vacation, taking nearly the entire month of August off and returning to work after Labor Day. And what will their schedule look like after returning from vacation?

After taking almost the entire month of August off, House leadership has penciled in just nine workdays for September.

To be fair, September has just 30 days, and they’re already spending the first two of those days on vacation. If you subtract the 8 weekend days, that leaves just 20 workdays left in the month. So it’s not like they’re spending all of their time screwing around doing nothing—they’re only taking off 11 of the first 20 workdays after their vacation.

This is just how much Republicans care about solving America’s problems.

Cartoon: