Today's Cartoon - Cruz Control

... that would be tea party darling- of- the- month Sen. "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz (R-Canada heehee), leader of the latest Rethuglican suicide mission.

(Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle, via gocomics.com)

New Leader in NYC Mayoral Race

The latest Quinnipiac poll on the New York City Democratic primary race for mayor shows public advocate Bill de Blasio pulling ahead of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, 30% to 24%, followed by former city comptroller Bill Thompson at 22%.  Bringing up the rear (pun intended) is cyber flasher and international man of misogyny Anthony "Carlos Danger" Weiner at 10% (Carlos has the cyber sex vote in his, er, pocket).  It's clear that, barring some incredible sequence of events, Carlos Danger's not going to make it.  According to the poll, 51% say they'd never vote for him.

Mid-Week Song

The British folk rock band /Passenger (with the slash) formed in 2003, but exists now as singer/songwriter Mike Rosenberg and a revolving backup band.  Here's their popular song from last year, the lovely "Let Her Go."

Voter Suppression Challenged in North Carolina

Less than a day after Rethuglican Gov. Pat McCrory signed North Carolina's new voter suppression bill into law, several lawsuits have been filed seeking to overturn the law.  Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan and Congressman G.K. Butterfield have asked the Justice Department to take legal action to stop the law from being implemented.  Here's why:

Besides requiring a narrow range of acceptable IDs, the law dumps same-day registration during early voting, cuts a week off the number of early voting days, ends early voting on Sunday (a day traditionally strong for African American voting), eliminates pre-registration of 16 and 17-year olds, eliminates straight party voting, reduces disclosure requirements of corporate campaign donations and gives poll watchers more clout to challenge the eligibility of people who come to the polls.

The law is, of course, popular with the knuckle-draggers but not so much with the rest of the state, according to a Public Policy poll:

White voters only narrowly support the new voting bill (46/44), while African Americans (16/72) are heavily opposed. Republicans (71%) support the bill but Democrats (72%) are just as unified in their opposition and independents are against it by a 49/43 margin as well. And perhaps most foreboding for Republicans, moderate voters stand against the legislation 70/20.

In a speech to the American Bar Association, Hillary Clinton denounced the voter suppression law in North Carolina, as well as similar efforts by Rethugs in Texas and Florida (watch out for Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania, too!).   She also zinged Chief Justice Roberts' premature "free at last" declaration in Shelby County v. Holder thusly:

Not every obstacle is related to race, but anyone who says that racial discrimination is no longer a problem in American elections must not be paying attention.

Of course, as Ms. Clinton knows, not only are Justice Roberts, his Rethug cohorts on the bench, and the Rethug nimrods passing these voter suppression bills out in the hinterlands, perfectly aware that there's racial discrimination in American elections -- they're actively engaged in seeing it enshrined and protected!

Primary Day in New Jersey

Democratic voters go to the polls today in New Jersey to select a candidate for the Senate seat vacated by the death of Dem Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who passed away this past June.  The odds-on favorite to win the Democratic primary -- and probably the election in this blue state -- is Newark Mayor and friend of Wall Street Cory "Snooker" Booker, who, in 2012, infamously rose to the defense of Bain Capital (and by inference, plutocrat Willard "One Percent" Romney).  Now, Snooker is facing questions about his involvement with a video company, Waywire, that he raised roughly $1 million for, and continues to profit from.

It's sad that progressive candidates like Reps. Frank Pallone and Rush Holt, and State Sen. Sheila Oliver can't get a hearing due to "Mr. Both Sides Do It" Snooker's overwhelming advantage in campaign donations (cough cough Wall Street), and that this primary will be decided on name recognition for the most part.  Sad.

(photo: David Paul Morris, Bloomberg)

"That's What I Do For A Living"

MSNBC's Chris "Tweety" Matthews has improved from his days of rhapsodizing about Dumbya's manliness during the early days of the Iraq War.  For a few years now, he's been increasingly passionate in support of many progressive causes and policies.  But often, he lapses into his Beltway Village "I-know-better-than-you" buffoonish arrogance.  When Tweety did that last week in his commentary, the Daily Show's John Oliver pounced, which is what he does for a living.

Today's Cartoon -- A Perfect Storm of Mindless Political Nihilism

(click to enlarge)

(Tom Tomorrow, via Daily Kos)

Republicans Aren't Racist!

Oh no, not them!!

Not the hootin' and hollerin' cornpones in Missouri!

Certainly not the buttmunches commenting over at Free Republic!

Most certainly not this Jersey Jerk!

Or the shriveled prunes in Florida.

Welcome to John Roberts' post-racial America!

(Photo:  Must be a false flag, left-wing plant!)

Economics Lesson Quote of the Day

"Recently Senator Rand Paul, potential presidential candidate and self-proclaimed expert on monetary issues, sat down for an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. It didn’t go too well. For example, Mr. Paul talked about America running 'a trillion-dollar deficit every year'; actually, the deficit is projected to be only $642 billion in 2013, and it’s falling fast.  But the most interesting moment may have been when Mr. Paul was asked whom he would choose, ideally, to head the Federal Reserve and he suggested Milton Friedman — 'he’s not an Austrian, but he would be better than what we have.' The interviewer then gently informed him that Friedman — who would have been 101 years old if he were still alive — is, in fact, dead." --  Nobel Prize economist Paul Krugman in this morning's New York Times.  "Ayn" Rand Paul shows himself to be a moron when it comes to his area of supposed expertise.  Krugman completely dismantles what passes for economic theory in today's Stupid Party echo chamber.  It's a hodge-podge of harebrained ideas from Ayn Rand's novels, "voodoo economics" from the days of St. Ronnie of Hollywood, and stuff that's just made up out of whole cloth because it conforms with their world view.  We have to keep these people as far away from power as possible.

Smackdown of the Day

"I think Congressman King should get some therapy for his melon fixation. I think there might be medication for that. I think he’s a mediocre congressman with no legislative record and the only time he makes national press is when he comes out and says something offensive about the undocumented or Hispanics." -- Rethuglican strategist Ana Navarro, addressing radical bigot Rethug Rep. Steve "Lying" King (Melonhead-IA) on NBC's Press the Meat.  When Lying King tried to chastise Navarro   for her comment by saying "if you understand the language", she replied "I'm not undocumented.  I vote, Congressman."  Sadly, there is no "medication" for the kind of hatred Lying King has for Latinos.

GIF of the Day: Shanghai Rising

View full screen (click on photo to enlarge)!   The phenomenal growth of the Pudong district in Shanghai, China, from 1986 to today. 

Sunday News Bits

-- That darn ACORN  Democrat  voter fraud!  Someone notify Fox "News"!

-- Also from the police blotter, the heavily armed brother of former Massachusetts Sen. Scott "McDreamy" Brown (R-Cosmo) was arrested for impersonating a police/Coast Guard officer, among other offenses. 

--  Lawrence Summers, walking conflict of interest.

-- A belated Rest in Peace to peerless raconteur and Hall of Fame Baltimore Colt Art Donovan, who passed away a week ago today.  There's a treasury of Art's words of wisdom on You Tube - here's a short clip to whet your appetite.

From The Film Desk...

Imagine someone finding a lost film from one the the great directors of all time.  It's actually happened.  Orson Welles' comedy "Too Much Johnson" was his first major film production, started before "Citizen Kane" but never released.  Authorities in Italy say the film was presumed lost decades ago, but was found in a warehouse in Pordenone, Italy

The film will be seen on October 9 for the first time in 75 years at a film festival in Pordenone.  Hopefully, the rest of the world will get to see it soon after that.

(still frame from the film:  Joseph Cotten and Arlene Francis, courtesy George Eastman House & Cineteca del Friuli.)

We're Holding Our Noses, Too

(click to enlarge)

(Matt Wuerker, via gocomics.com)

Yes, we smell a rat or two in "Team Mitch," too.  As we noted the other day, Missy "Pull My Finger" McConnell's campaign manager and Rand Paul mole, Jesse "I Ain't Got No Forehead" Benton (above, left, with Missy, doing what they imagine to be damage control -- haha no), said he would be "holding my nose" while running Missy's reelection campaign.  The undisguised civil war going on in the Rethuglican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party has the teatards going up against the "squishes" in the party establishment, the neocons going against the Paulistas, the business interests going against the nativists, and every combination of the above you can imagine.  That, on the other hand, smells pretty sweet to us.

Porky Pot, Meet Kettle

We see where hate radio's porcine pontificator Rush Limpballs has latched on to the story about Oprah Winfrey's incident in Zurich, Switzerland, where a sales clerk in a high-end boutique refused to show the billionaire Winfrey a pricey handbag.  Limpballs' explanation?

"We don't know that the sales person based her judgment on The Oprah's skin color...Maybe it's because The Oprah's fat? Well that's another -- how was The Oprah dressed? I mean she didn't look like The Oprah obviously. Was she wearing jump suit with tennis shoes? Maybe Air Jordans that weren't laced up?"

Let's see, how many sexist and racial stereotypes does the piggish Limpballs check?  And to refer to Winfrey as "fat."  Does this huge sack of lard have a weight scale or mirror in his house?  Or does the Oxycontin-popping pillhead even care anymore?