Mid-Week Thinking Song

British singer-songwriter (and apparently a good dancer) Ed Sheeran released his latest album, "X", last summer, and already has three singles from that album that have gone platinum, one of which is the lovely "Thinking Out Loud."  Enjoy.

How's That Republican Rebranding Coming Along, Texass Edition

Rethuglican wingnuts are in a manufactured tizzy over President Obama's self-acknowledged misstep at not having high-level representation at Sunday's march in Paris, where other heads of state (some with significant freedom problems of their own) gathered against intolerance.  One such wingnut roams the halls of Congress: Texass Rep. Randy Weber, who Twitter-twiddled: 

Weber was forced to apologize by his leaders (who don't want the  raging Rethuglican id to be on such obvious display when they're trying to portray themselves as a responsible, governing Party). Hitler analogies, against the backdrop of anti-Semitic attacks and jihadist violence in Europe, will always fall flat and receive condemnation from those who either survived the Holocaust or have family that didn't, and understand the magnitude of Hitler's obscenity, even if charlatans like Weber don't.

Kamala Harris Running For Senate

When California Sen. Barbara Boxer announced that she would not run for reelection in 2016, several prominent California Democrats stated their interest in potential runs, including former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (UPDATE: Newsom is not going to make the run for the Senate seat, most likely to run for Governor).  But perhaps the brightest political star in California, Attorney General Kamala Harris, changed the calculus by announcing her candidacy for the Senate slot.  National Dems are praising Harris' decision to enter the race, and are signaling to other Dems that she would be their prohibitive favorite.  Harris, a speaker at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, was one of a few candidates under serious consideration for the U.S. Attorney General position after Eric Holder announced his resignation, but declined to be considered for the Federal post.

Harris was born in Oakland, CA to a Jamaican-American father who is an economics professor at Stanford, and an Indian mother who is a medical doctor and breast cancer specialist.

Watashi Wa Megumidesu*

It's a week for defending freedom of expression, from Charlie Hebdo to, um, kayaks.  As The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling would have said, "Submitted for your consideration" (and without judgement).

Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi paddles in a kayak shaped as a vagina to open a dialogue about misogyny and obscenity in Japan.  She is facing charges of obscenity.

Whatever floats your boat, artistically speaking.
________
* "I am Megumi"

May We Have Your Attention, Please: The Circular Firing Squad Is Now Forming On The Right

En garde:

“Do we really want someone with this little experience?” Mr. [Rick "Frothy Mix"*] Santorum asked, referring to Mr. Paul, Mr. Cruz and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who is also in his first term. “And the only experience they have basically — not Rubio, but Cruz and Paul because I don’t think Rubio is going to go — is bomb throwing? Do we really want somebody who’s a bomb thrower, with no track record of any accomplishments?” (*our edit)

Touche:

“Senator Santorum lost re-election in his home state by 18 points nearly a decade ago, and has spent the time since then trying to convince people to elect him to an even higher office than the one he was booted out of,” said Doug Stafford, senior adviser to Mr. Paul. “We will pass on responding to his alleged wisdom.”

Paging Reince Priebus, paging Reince Priebus.

BONUS:  As we noted earlier, the circus' main event promises to be the Clash of the Plutocrats, Willard "Mittens" Romney and to-the-manor-born John Ellis ("J.E.B.") Bush.  Nothing like relating to the struggling middle class.

BONUS II:  Millionaire Mitt's "yesterday's news," according to Sen. "Ayn" Rand Paul (Dudebro-KY).

Today's Cartoon Twofer - "Don't Worry; We're Not Scary"

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(Signe Wilkinson, via gocomics.com)

(Clay Jones, claytoonz.com)

Two Stories Behind The Paris Attacks

The usual Islamophobic suspects are using the terrorist attacks in France as another opportunity to stoke religious bigotry against the vast majority of Muslims worldwide who reject the radical jihadists that have hijacked their religion for political ends.  Against that narrative is the fact that one of the Paris police officers murdered defending the Charlie Hebdo office was a Muslim, Ahmed Merabet.  His brother made a tearful plea for unity against anti-Muslim and anti-Semite bigots:

“I address myself now to all the racists, Islamophobes and anti-Semites that one must not confuse extremists with Muslims.  Mad people have neither color nor religion.”

Also revealed was the fact that a Muslim clerk in the Paris kosher supermarket, Lassana Bathily, hid 15 of the store's customers in a storage area, likely saving their lives.

As the story at the link indicates, the owner of the Fux disinformation enterprise and moral dumpster fire Rupert "Aargh" Murdoch seems to think all Muslims need to be accountable for not stopping the radical, murderous jihadists among them.  Actually, it's far less of a stretch to argue that Aargh and his wingnut operation should be held accountable, say, for when a right-wing extremist fire bombs an NAACP office, or when "Christian" sovereign citizens murder cops, or deadbeats refuse to pay Federal grazing fees because they reject gummint.  What's Aargh done lately to take responsibility?

BONUS:  J.K. Rowling had a great response to Aargh Murdoch.  Also, these.

BONUS II:  The UK's conservative Prime Minister David Cameron calls out a Fux "analyst" as a "complete idiot" for comments about Birmingham, England being under virtual siege by Muslims.

ConservaDems Playing Into Media Narrative, Because

Here's Ed O'Keefe in today's once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, writing approvingly of "moderate" Senate Democrats holding sway in the new Republican-majority Senate:

Some of the most influential senators in the new Congress are neither in the majority nor among the longest-serving. They don’t show up on the Sunday-morning talk shows, and they aren’t talking about running for president in 2016. 

Instead, they’re a pack of Democrats from mostly smaller, rural states who are inclined to work with Republicans on legislation President Obama doesn’t support. They may even be willing to help the GOP override his vetoes. 

Some of them support building the Keystone XL oil pipeline and are expected to be active as the Senate begins to debate the issue this week. Others want Congress to pass tougher sanctions against Iran, and all are open to making changes to Obama’s health-care law. All three issues have drawn veto threats from the White House in recent days. 

One of the biggest unanswered questions about the week-old Congress is whether the new Republican majority will be able to overcome Capitol Hill’s culture of stifling partisanship and cultivate enough Democratic support to challenge Obama. 

These moderate Democrats say they will cooperate if Republicans don’t use the Senate floor to score political points — as Democrats have done over the past several years. They have big expectations for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who will need to keep his larger conference unified while sustaining his promise to allow a more open and nonpartisan debate process.  (our emphasis)

Of course, the usual conservaDem suspects are included:  Sens. Heidi "Ho" Heitkamp, Joe "I Don't Know If I'll Vote for Obama" Manchin, Joe Donnelly, Jon Tester, blah blah blah ad nauseam.  (Again, more reasons why progressive Democrats should never contribute the the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.  Never.)  Each and every one of these spineless career politicians, having no core convictions to speak of, would rather sell out their party and their president in order to continue their time in office.  To hell with them.  And with their counterparts in the House.

They also provide useful props to the Ed O'Keefes of the media world who are desperate to forge the narrative of the newly-responsible Republican Party straining to find reasonable Democrats on the other side of the aisle to do the plutocrats' people's business.  It's as if O'Keefe and his crass menagerie of neutered conservaDems believe politics is all about self-preserving deal-making and not about standing for something you believe in, you know,  as a Democrat.  "Big expectations" for Mitch "Missy" McConnell, indeed;  we suspect if you check these conservaDems pockets, they'll be full of wooden nickels.

 Damn, we're so tired of these too- clever- by- half hacks with all their "inside politics" game- playing and the media that love this kind of narrative.  Maybe that's part of the reason why people of all political stripes admire Sen. Elizabeth Warren;  she's true to herself and true to the bedrock convictions of the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.

Misplaced Kudos Quote of the Day

"George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin this year. Amal is a human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case, was an advisor to Kofi Annan regarding Syria, and was selected for a three-person commission investigating rules of war violation in the Gaza Strip. So tonight, her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award." --  Tina Fey at last night's Golden Globe Awards (emphasis added).

Margaret Cho showed up as a North Korean journalist dressed in military garb, Prince surprised the audience in a brief appearance on stage, and a number of dark horses won awards.

Photos Of The Day - Today In Paris

A reported 3.7 million people marched  throughout France (1.5 million in Paris) today to honor the 17 people killed in the terrorist attacks this week:

(Leaders march in Paris, including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, French President Hollande, German Chancellor Merkel, Palestinian President Abbas, and Italian Prime Minister Renzi; photo by Philippe Wojazer, Reuters)

(Republique Square, Paris; Photo by Peter Dejong)

UPDATE: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, facing a tough upcoming election, showed up at the march despite being asked not to come (along with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbbas, who came after Netanyahu decided to crash the march), so as not to introduce Middle Eastern politics into the solemn event. French President Hollande was reported to have remarked privately that Netanyahu was using the march as a campaign photo-op. You can see the French President's displeasure in this photo as Bibi Bomb Bomb leans in for a hug:

UPDATE II: Here's a more revealing angle on the photo above, showing the leaders "marching" on a secured street for the cameras, not with the million and a half Parisians. Oops.

Putin's Failed "Novorossia"

Anna Nemtsova writes how Russian President Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin's dream of  turning parts of Ukraine into "Novorossia" is turning to dust, as the thugs and criminals running the Russia-backed militias turn on each other:

Leaders of Novorossia, or New Russia, the pro-Russia separatist movement in eastern Ukraine, are publicly admitting their failure. The Kremlin’s ideologues wanted Novorossia to stretch from Donetsk to Odessa, and to provide a transport corridor to Crimea. Russian nationalists believed that Russia had to annex the entire Novorossia together with its rebellious Donetsk and Luhansk republics. But the Moscow-inspired and orchestrated project fell apart from the beginning—rebel leaders and warlords quit the movement one after another, or ordered one another’s murders. [snip]

Such news can’t be welcome in the Kremlin. Grandiose statements by President Vladimir Putin and his advisers suggested that Novorossia was meant to include most of Ukraine’s eastern and southeastern cities, including Ukraine’s strategic Black Sea port city of Odessa and the Azov Sea port city of Mariupol. But now, Novorossia is shrinking to just the two devastated portions of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. 

The situation in Ukraine has largely fallen off the radar screens in Western media, but clearly Putin's adventure reached its high-water mark and is now receding (along with the Russian economy).  How unfortunate a nation as great as Russia has not found a leader to fulfill its potential for good rather than harm.

Sunday Cartoon - They Just Can't Help Themselves

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(Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Despite the media's desire to create a narrative of the "ready to govern, center-right, moderate new Republican majority," the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid/ White Supremacist Party just can't help themselves.

Picture of the Day

Trenton, New Jersey's daily newspaper takes a swing at Gov. Krispykreme and his affection for the Dallas Cowpies.

BONUS:  The BooMan on why Giants fans don't forgive, and why there was "something seriously wrong" with Christie from the beginning.

(h/t to Balloon Juice)

The President's Weekly Address: America's Resurgence

Willard Romney: The Harold Stassen Of The 21st Century?

According to reports, twice-failed Republican presidential candidate Willard "Millionaire Mitt" Romney (a.k.a., "G.I. Luvmoney" - h/t Charles Pierce) is interested in another bid for the White House.  He let his intentions be known to an intimate group of 30-some fellow Republican plutocrats yesterday in New York City.

The news must have been greeted as the proverbial turd in a punchbowl (albeit a Tiffany punchbowl) by two other presumptive candidates also seeking the big money crowd's fundraising power:  John Ellis "J.E.B." Bush and Gov. Chris "Krispycreme" Christie (Cowboy-NJ).  As the article notes, relations between the Romney and Bush camps, once cordial, have become "strained." (Ed. note: hee-hee)

What party elders once hoped would be a more controlled march toward the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid/ White Supremacist party nomination is starting to shape up as the usual scramble to fill up the clown car.  Think about the potential cast so far:  Millionaire Mitt, "J.E.B.", Christie, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, George Pataki.  At least several words come to mind when reviewing those names, including "scary" and "seriously?"

As for the indispensable- in- his- own- mind Millionaire Mitt, one of his former advisors who is now backing "J.E.B." puts it this way:

“The time for Governor Romney has probably passed. He has already lost twice. The jury is very much out on whether Republican voters would go with him again.”

But, you never know which clown is going to emerge last from the clown car.

(Photo:  Millionaire Mitt utilizing the services of one of the 47 percent.)