Since April, the NAACP has been organizing weekly Monday evening protests in the North Carolina capital of Raleigh. They come in reaction to the GOP seizing control of the statehouse there for the first time since Reconstruction — a big win for Republicans in what was otherwise a pretty gloomy Election Day in November. Since then a conservative legislative agenda and some hardball political tactics have ignited Democratic opposition. Hence, the weekly protests. Last night, at least 140 protestors were arrested after entering the Legislative Building.
Noting that GOP donors and base voters will be tightly aligned in this fight, Matt Yglesias predicts Senate Republicans won’t confirm any of President Obama’s coming nominees to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals later this year.
Here’s my #slatepitch in response: Obama will get some, if not all, of his nominees confirmed. I’d personally put my money on one or two. Read More
So sounds like those Congressmen hooking up with Steven Seagal for their ‘fact-finding’ mission to Russia was part of his new marketing gig for the Russian arms industry.
[Jonathan Alter, author of the new book “The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies”, is joining us as a guest blogger this week in the Editor’s Blog highlighting and discussing some key findings and revelations in his new book. — jmm]
DAY ONE:
In researching the book, I came to think that the 2012 campaign represented a peculiar role reversal. Barack Obama ran a corporate-style campaign that exploited the latest digital technology. Mitt Romney, the self-described “numbers guy,” ran a campaign based on a vague hope that Americans wanted change. Here’s part of how the Romney campaign rejected Big Data: Read More
As Drudge shows, the right is going to demand its pound of Crazy from Christie in the appointment to fill out Sen. Lautenberg’s term. Won’t be pretty.
Four year old shoots off finger with gun left on the couch while dad was smoking pot and taking prescription pills.
I got in touch with my correspondent on things Turkish and my main question – in addition to where is this going? – is who are the police? Read More
Most of the obituaries of Frank Lautenberg duly mention that he was the last World War II veteran serving in the Senate. It might be tempting to take that data point merely as proof that Lautenberg was really old (he was 89). But it marks the end of nearly 70 years in which a WWII vet has held a Senate seat.
Here’s a photo of Lautenberg during World War II, where he served in the Army Signal Corps from 1942-46 (no exact date is given for the photo): Read More