Another Nail In The Coffin

Former Virginia Governor Robert (Vaginal Bob) McDonnell will stay out of federal prison for a bit longer.

HuffPo:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up the case of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), who in October urged the justices to review his multiple convictions on federal corruption charges.

The justices' decision to hear the case effectively allows McDonnell to remain out of prison at least until the court issues a decision -- which could arrive as late as June.

McDonnell's lawyers are trying to convince the court that the kind of "official action" federal law treats as corruption -- and that a jury agreed McDonnell committed while governor -- was no more than "routine political courtesies," including activities such as "arranging meetings, asking questions, and attending events."

"This is the first time in our history that a public official has been convicted of corruption despite never agreeing to put a thumb on the scales of any government decision," McDonnell's lawyers wrote in their appeal to the Supreme Court. "Officials routinely arrange meetings for donors, take their calls, and politely listen to their ideas."

I think we need to be ready for the Roberts Court to use this case to strengthen the link between Money and Speech.  It seems like these guys need to establish precedents that reinforce the system of Legalized Bribery that's been evolving from what continues to look more and more like our failed experiment in self-government.

Some Tweets

Why do NYers vote Democrat? Because we remember the last time we trusted a Republican to keep us safe #NewYorkValues pic.twitter.com/VqNyg2FIm3

— Dandelion Dollars (@DandelionDollar) January 15, 2016

New York slams Cruz after attack on Trump's #NewYorkValues: "Drop dead, Ted" https://t.co/r8TcMfN6Vp pic.twitter.com/ERnVjg1oqx

— The Hill (@thehill) January 15, 2016

"I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement." Trump defended #NewYorkvalues against Cruz https://t.co/bdPU4tOFxk

— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) January 15, 2016

It's kinda hard to take Trump at his word for anything, but with that caveat, if you've said something that makes Donald Trump feel insulted...?  Whoa.

Today's Dead Celeb

Alan Rickman.  Best bad guy ever.  Best badass good guy ever.

Dogma (1999) --from Kevin Smith

RIP

Sweet Tweet

Hug...! pic.twitter.com/TcJUccQBfz

— Suzanne Lepage (@SuzanneLepage1) January 13, 2016

Whoa, Lady

For a minute there, I tho't I'd accidentally surfed into a That Girl rerun.  But anyway.

Governor Nikki Haley, R-SC:

These things are never good and most often flat-out awful, so she gets a little credit just for having the guts to try, and by comparison, it's a shitload better than Rubio or Jindal, so there's that(?)

Conventional wisdom has it that this is mostly a message aimed at Trump on behalf of a GOP Establishment as they finally start to wake up and get worried that the Monster Of The Id that they created in the 80s and 90s and fed for 35 years has crashed through the fence that was supposed to keep it in the Democrats' yard and is now completely fucking up the GOP rose beds, shittin' in GOP swimming pools and sniffin' everybody's butt cracks - which is pretty much exactly what the "Libruls" (and the GOP's very own "moderates") have been trying to tell them would happen for those same 35 years.  Because rational thinkers understand that you don't control people for very long.  And - not to get too nerdily metaphorical on ya here - when you push somebody to tap into something that always includes that "dark side", try not to act so surprised when Kylo Ren shivs you through the fucking heart, Mr Solo.  (hat tip = driftglass)

Anyway.

She makes the GOP's big point about immigration and terrorism, and how we have to be really really really careful and even straight-up suspicious of new-comers and outsiders and people who're different from us.  Then, not more than a few paragraphs later, she slides right into "nine beautiful souls" welcoming a stranger into their worship circle only to be gunned down because he turned out to be a terrorist jerkwad.  Of course, she disguises it by glossing it over with how forward-thinking and courageous she is for having taken down that stoopid fucking flag (props for that BTW), but she's inviting that standard xenophobia inference, and she knows the people she wants to make the connection will make the connection.

This shit doesn't happen by accident, kids. That's some of the best code-speak ever.

She's not saying "stop being a buncha ignorant racist assholes".  She's saying, "stop being ignorant racist assholes out in the open because that embarrasses me because I have to get you to vote for me".  

In the end, she's telling people who're in open revolt against what they see as a party - that they've been taught BY THAT PARTY - to believe is being ruined by "Political Correctness"  to be politically correct.  She's demanding it.

I'd say the horse has left the barn, but that assumes the barn's still there as some kinda point of reference.  You're in a bit of a pickle, Nikki.

SOTU 2016

Some faves:
(about 14:00) 

"It's not too much of a stretch to say that some of the only people in America who're going to work the same job in the same place with a health and retirement package for 30 years are sitting in this chamber."

(about 18:50)

"But after years now of record corporate profit, working families won't get more opportunity or bigger paychecks just by letting big banks or big oil or hedge funds make their own rules at everybody else's expense." 

(about 22:00) Talking about innovation and research. He's trying to reassert government's proper roll in pushing for progress while trying to keep the privateers and the rentiers from controlling the mechanisms of that progress solely for the sake of corporate profit.

(starting about 30:00) Let's go back to being the smart country when it comes to what we do about terrorism.  Let's not help the bad guys by repeating their rhetoric about how big and bad they are, and how they're coming to fucking destroy America. Basically - "Stop losing your shit all the fucking time."   These are bad guys and they "have to be rooted out, hunted down and destroyed", but stop saying that a buncha slavering fanatics charging around in a used Toyota pickup is somehow the equivalent of any random squad of US Marines - why do you not understand how insulting that is to the troops you claim to have the highest regard for?  Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you people? 

NeoLib uh-oh:
(about 17:00)  - This one sounds like he's selling an investment plan for Wall Street - but it ties into the remarks on not letting the too-big-to-fail gang play by their own rules - he's going for that famous "Obama in the middle" thing(?)

"(on a guy losing his job)...he should still be able to save for retirement  and take his savings with him."

Full remarks: Watch @POTUS deliver his final State of the Union address. #SOTU https://t.co/AOyWjdFk4O

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 13, 2016

It was a good one to go out on. I wonder how long before the Repubs get their strategies in place for what to do now.  Gov Haley's "response" seemed to hold some interesting weirdness.  I'll try to get to that later.

Today's Pix

(click a pic)

Homemade Fail

hat tip = FB pal RM

Today's Style Element

A car full of Irish nuns is sitting at a traffic light in downtown Dublin, when a bunch of rowdy drunks pull up alongside of them.

"Hey, show us yer tits, ya bloody penguins!" shouts one of the drunks.

Quite shocked, Mother Superior turns to Sister Mary Immaculata and says, "I don't think they know who we are; show them your cross."

Sister Mary Immaculata rolls down her window and shouts, "Piss off, ya fookin' little wankers, before I come over there and rip yer balls off!"

Sister Mary Immaculata then rolls up her window, looks back at Mother Superior, quite innocently, and asks, "Did that sound cross enough?

Your vs You're 

- or - 

The Apostrophe Is Our Friend

Whose Side Are You On?

Take the quiz and find out who your candidate is.

I wonder why I'm not surprised.