That's a fact, Jack.

Rob McKenna is a crappy lawyer.

Ready, steady...

...go random!

Bobby Darin - More
Jimmy Buffett - Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes
Sam & Dave - Hold On, I'm Comin'
Guy Clark - Texas Cookin'
Steve Young - Rambln' Man
The Fleetwoods - Unchained Melody
The Grass Roots - Let's Live For Today
Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem - Miami Moon
Catlin Rose - Own Side Now
The Manhattan Transfer - Operator

Mitt's still lying...

...and Steve's still counting. 21 new whoppers in the 24th edition of Mitt's Mendacity.

Good advice,..

...from Fixer...

From the "Credit where it's due" file.

If it's due. Goldy suggests that Rob McKenna might be due the benefit of the doubt...

Even though an overwhelming majority of constitutional scholars had weighed in that the mandate appeared to be constitutional, perhaps it is unfair to use this ruling to impugn McKenna’s legal acumen. Perhaps McKenna merely made the political calculation that the conservative majority on the court would ultimately prove be just as politically unprincipled as he is, and thus toss out the ACA regardless of clearly established precedent?

Politically unprincipled or legally inept?

Why choose one?

Heh™.

Via Crooks & Liars...


Yep, you can click it bigger.

Maybe the best thing I can say...

...about Eric Holder is that he's contemptuous of John Boehner's House of Representatives. He's hardly exceptional in that respect, of course, but now he's got the papers to prove it.

I confess to a degree of jealousy.

Chart of the day.

Via Susie Madrak...

For the record...

Hat tip to Robert.

You want it...

...you got it. You don't, you get it anyway...

The Steeldrivers - Where Rainbows Never Die
Nick Lowe - Mama Said
The Grateful Dead - It Must Have Been The Roses
Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine
Lori McKenna - You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome
The Marvelettes - Playboy
Sly & The Family Stone - Life
Jimmy Buffett - Margaritaville
Sheryl Crow - The First Cut Is The Deepest
Lucinda Williams - Passionate Kisses

From the "Just the facts, ma'am" file.

Via Driftglass...

Good advice...

...from John Cole.

Folks, if you see Cory Booker in the wild- RUN. Someone is about to be seriously injured.

Heh™.

In a record setting week...

...Steve Benen chronicles 30 - count 'em, 30 - new examples of Mitt's Mendacity.

From the "Why not Washington?" file.

Via the ITT List...

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee has signed a Homeless Bill of Rights into law, the first of its kind in the nation.

The law is designed to fight discrimination and harassment directed against homeless individuals. That includes ensuring the right of individuals to move freely in public spaces, to have equal opportunity for jobs and to be treated fairly by employers, to vote and receive the necessary state documents to be able to vote and to expect respect of personal property. The bill places an individual’s housing status in the same category as religion, gender, sexuality and race as illegal grounds for discrimination.

Why not Washington?

From the "Me neither" file.

Neil Sinhababu, on the value, or lack thereof, of our Galtian overlords...

Lots of people are in awe of Wall Street because sometimes people there use a combination of luck and skill in exploiting principal / agent problems to become billionaires, but I don't take that as a sign that it's playing a useful role in society.

Me neither.

Signs of the times.

Via Chris Demeur...

From the "You can't fool all the people..." file.

Public Policy Polling for Daily Kos & SEIU. 6/14-17. Registered voters. MoE ±3.1% (no trendlines):

Q: Since 2000 do you think the Supreme Court has become more partisan, less partisan, or stayed about the same?

More partisan: 56
Less partisan: 9
About the same: 31
Not sure: 4

Not much to add beyond "Well, duh!"

Good question.

Excellent, even. Dave Johnson wonders...

If debt is bad, why is giving free money to banks so they will lend (put you in debt) better than giving free money to people to pay off debts?

You will not be able to stay home, brother...

You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the random ten will not be televised.

Harry Belafonte - Man Smart, Woman Smarter
Grateful Dead - It Must Have Been The Roses
Poco - A Good Feeling To Know
Kris Kristofferson - From The Bottle To The Botton
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Helpless
Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Hoyt Axton - Greenback Dollar
Luka Bloom - Dancing Queen
Don Gibson - Sea Of Heartbreak
Eric Bogle - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Take a deep breath.

Reassuring words from Darryl...

After 100,000 simulated elections, Obama wins 99,220 times and Romney wins 780 times (including the 149 ties). Obama receives (on average) 313 to Romney’s 225 electoral votes. Romney gains +0.2% probability, leaving Obama with a 99.2% chance of winning a hypothetical election held now.

Pretty pictures, too...

From the "Me too" file.

Jed Lewison...

Listening to Obama talk about how he's issues fewer regulations than Bush did in his first three years, and how he doesn't believe in providing government aid to people who refuse to help themselves, I find myself once again shaking my head at my fellow Americans on the right who look at Obama and cannot see the man for who he really is: a middle-of-the-road American president.

Me too.

Map of the day.

Hat tip to John Cole.

Good question...

...from Glenn Greenwald...

How could any rational person expect their government to spend a full decade (and counting) invading, droning, cluster-bombing, occupying, detaining without charges, and indiscriminately shooting huge numbers of innocent children, women and men in multiple countries and not have its victims and their compatriots be increasingly eager to return the violence?

I wonder...

...how many "Why I'm rooting for the Thunder" pieces have been worked out over a cup of Howard Schultz's coffee.

Personally, I don't care why you're rooting for the Thunder or the other guys or anyone in the NBA. I'm more interested in international soccer, and I don't care a bit about international soccer.

So, how 'bout that no-no-no-no-no-no the other night?

Good question...

...from Steve M....

Can the GOP win the Presidency with two Vice Presidential candidates on the ticket?

I'm dubious myself, to a pretty extreme degree, but it sure looks like they're gonna try.

Sounds reasonable...

Steve Benen has a simple request...

Dear Mr. Romney, please explain why America will be better off when more teachers, cops, and firefighters are unemployed.

Pretty please?

In my hand I have a list...

...well, on my screen, anyway. Herewith the usual suspects in the usual fashion...

Tim O'Brien - Mick Ryan's Lament
Jeff Tweedy - The Thanks I Get
Ramblin' Jack Elliot - The Guitar
Alabama 3 - Hello…I'm Johnny Cash
Cyndi Lauper - Money Changes Everything
Tanya Tucker & Hoyt Axton - You Taught Me How To Cry
Elvis Presley - Take Me To The Fair
Otis Redding - Shout Bamalama
Bob Dylan - Po' Boy
The Dixie Chicks - Cowboy Take Me Away

Have I mentioned lately...

...that I hate what they're doing to my Army? The social engineering in recruiting and force structure, the endless, pointless missions,the impossible standard set by asking every soldier to be a "hero," when soldiers know that most heroes are dead or disabled. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Which is why it's no wonder that we see stories like this...

AP: The 154 suicides for active-duty troops in the first 155 days of the year far outdistance the U.S. forces killed in action in Afghanistan — about 50 percent more — according to Pentagon statistics obtained by The Associated Press.

From a far too slightly different angle, most of these suicides could be seen as institutional murders so predictable that they're essentially deliberate.

From the "Proudly Partisan" file.

Scanning Meteor Blades overview of the latest Pew Survey, this caught my eye...



Think about it. Who are the people who can't take care of themselves? Not won't, can't. They're folks who are too young, too old, too injured or too ill to care for themselves. They're your neighbors, your relatives, and, faster than you might care to imagine, it could be you.

Those are the people that most Republicans would abandon to fate. Those are the people that most Democrats believe we should join together to assist.

And that's just one reason that I'm a proudly partisan Democrat.

From the "There Oughta Be A Law" file.

Atkins Provisional Explanatory Postulate...

Usually, the simplest and dumbest explanations are the right ones.

He's talking about election results, but I percieve broader application...

Cartoon of the day.

Ben Sargent via Anne Laurie...

Chart of the day.

We're number none!



Hat tip to GraphJam.

A little late night music...

Hoyt Axton - Rusty Old Halo
Tom Petty - I Won't Back Down
The Young Rascals - Groovin'
Robert Mitchum - The Little Old Wine Drinker Me
Jim Lauderdale - Head For The Sun
The Flatlanders - Waiting For A Train
The Highwaymen - Here Comes That Rainbow Again
Kelly Willis - Hidden Things
Lori McKenna - Lorraine
Todd Snider - Railroad Lady

No Dylan popped up, so I'm gonna play some on purpose and hit the hay...

The times, they have changed...