Did you hear that the Zetas drug gang stormed across the US-Mexico border last weekend and seized two ranches near Laredo?

Actually it didn’t happen. But is that really a reason not to keep talking about it?

Earlier we reported that Rep. Gene Green (D-TX), who leads the investigative subcommittee of the Ethics Committee, said the body had recommended a ‘reprimand’ for Charlie Rangel. Now he says he ‘misspoke’.

Nope. No idea.

The Portland Oregon DA’s office has closed the Al Gore (alleged sex assault) case because “a sustainable criminal case does not exist.”

You may be getting down on the Senate because they couldn’t manage to hold a vote Thursday on that jobs bill that Republicans are filibustering. But they did manage to double the penalty for marijuana brownies.

In case you were wondering.

Is this the first time for this?

This morning Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA) was doing a live radio hit on KFBK back in the district while driving to the Capitol. But he had to cut the interview short when a Virginia police officer pulled him over for speeding. According to the AP listeners could hear the police officer, on air, telling Lundgren to hang up the phone.

Lundgren later explained he’d been driving “probably just slightly over the speed limit.”

We’ve now updated our original story from this afternoon on the Portland DA’s decision not to prosecute Al Gore. We’ve added the prosectors’ memo, which was obtained by the local media, which makes the prosecutor’s decision to drop the case considerably more critical of accuser, Molly Hagerty, than I’d first understood.

I’m not sure quite what to make of this. But on top of Charlie Rangel’s now all but certain trial/hearing before the Ethics Committee in September, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is also being charged with misusing her office and has decided to contest the charges in another trial.

Here’s something I’ve been wondering about.

When I first heard the news that Charlie Rangel was likely to face a “trial” in the House on the 13 violations he’s accused of, I remember being sort of surprised. That’s not only because I think I didn’t realize things had progressed quite that far but because I didn’t know that the Ethics Committee held ‘trials’. Tonight we learned that Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is going to face a ‘trial’ as well.

Now, there are a lot of things about Congress I’m no expert on, to put it mildly. But I’d always thought these disciplinary hearings were called ‘hearings’, not ‘trials’, which is obviously a more charged word and doesn’t seem to really describe what’s involved. Read More

As we reported earlier this month, Tea Partiers are congregating in Philadelphia tomorrow for a ‘Uni-Tea Rally’ aimed at spotlighting the diversity — racial and otherwise — of the Tea Party movement. And TPM’s Evan McMorris-Santoro and Jillian Rayfield are going to be there filing live reports (with video) through the day.

Update: Check out our preview of the day’s festivities here.

That ‘Uni-Tea Rally’ in Philadelphia intended to highlight diversity in the tea party movement? The early reports from our team in the field describe a small, not-very-diverse crowd of 100 or so.

Read our preview of the day’s events here. And check back later for updates.