Happy new year all!

Join us tonight as we close out 2014 and toast in the new year at this week’s Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet every Tuesday evening for friendly conversation at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. The starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks show up before that for dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings over the next week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. And next Monday, the Yakima and South Bellevue chapters meet.

There are 177 chapters of Living Liberally, including fifteen in Washington state, four in Oregon and two in Idaho. Chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting somewhere near you.

Obama violates his own “head” rule.

Sam Seder: FAUX News affiliate smears and distorts an anti-Police brutality rally.

Young Turks: Darrell Issa turns up bupkis in IRS “scandal”.

Alex Wagner and friends: The race gap:

Pap: Republicans up a creek on immigration.

2014 in Review:

• HuffPo: The funniest moments of 2014.
• The Hill’s photos of the year.
• White House Chief of Staff: 10 best moments of 2014
• The year’s top 10 moments for V.P. Joe Biden.
• Jibjab: 2014 in review.
• Hank Green: Best and Worst of 2014
• Young Turks awards JERK of the Year to….
• Young Turks awards TURK of the Year to….
• Sam Seder and Digby: The Year in Review.
• The 10 best political quote of 2014.
• The best science visualizations of the year.

A holiday message for Congress.

WaPo: Can we buy Cuban cigars now?

Farron Cousins: What can you get when you buy a politician?

A Grimm Reality:

• Rep. Michael Grimm pleads guilty to tax evasion
• Young Turks: Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) is guilty of felony tax fraud. Still serving in Congress.
• Maddow: GOP Convicted felon in Congress?

David Pakman: FCC ignored hundreds of thousands of net neutrality comments.

Michele Bachmann talks with God.

Young Turks: D.A. McCulloch knowingly put liar on the stand.

Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: What led to the fracking ban in NY?

WaPo: Members recall their best and worst days in Congress.

David Pakman: More Chris Christie corruption?

Bang!

• WaPo: The evolution of toy guns.
• Jonathan Mann: A gun for Christmas.

Lawrence O’Donnell: Putin v. Obama.

White House: West Wing Week.

David Pakman: Almost everything Republicans have said or predicted about Obama has turned out to be wrong.

Thom Hartman: The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Ugly.

Eric Schwartz and friends: MPG for Kim Jong-Un (NSFW):

Chris Hayes: GOP and FAUX News are WRONG again on Economy and Obamacare.

Thom: Where did Santa and the elves come from?

The Koch Dystopia:

• David Pakman: pretends to be a social liberal, Barbara Walters calls him out.
• Farron Cousins with Howard Nations: Koch brothers are more powerful than you think.

Lawrence O’Donnell: Innocent 14 y.o. executed and exonerated 70 years too late.

Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: Why would Jeb Bush run?

WaPo: Caught in the ocean during the 2004 tsunami.

What do Democrats and Republicans think of each other.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Join us tonight for some pre-holiday cheer and some political catharsis over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday evening for friendly conversation at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. The starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks show up before that for dinner.

There are 177 chapters of Living Liberally, including fifteen in Washington state, four in Oregon and two in Idaho. Chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting somewhere near you.

Thom: Politically correcting Bill-O on his crazy climate change statements.

Season’s Greetings:

• Roy Zimmerman: Christma-Hanu-Rama-Ka-Dona-Kwanzaa:

• Nick Offerman reads a more casual “Twas the Night Before Christmas”
• Mental Floss: 16 innovative origins of holiday traditions
• Slate: Pain and violence in Christmas movies
• Roy Zimmerman: Christmas is Pain.
• Sam Seder: Bill-O-The-Clown claim victory in the War on Christmas.
• Young Turks: Mission accomplished–the Grinch who SAVED Christmas
• James Rustad: The Bush’s 12 Days of Christmas

James Rustad: Ted Cruz…a rebel without a clue.

Thom: You don’t frack with New York.

Jon hits Hannity over referring to Jay Z as a “crack dealer”

The Cuban Mingle Crisis:

• Lawrence O’Donnell: Sen. Rubio’s blatant hypocrisy
• Stephen hits the Pope over Cuba
• Young Turks: New Cuba policy provokes nutburgers into a frenzy of nonsense
• Obama defends his actions over Cuba.
• Sam Seder: U.S. begins normalizing relations with Cuba
• Young Turks: Rand Paul and Marco Rubio have a Cuban missile crisis.
• Ann Telnaes: Sen Marco Rubio responds to normalizing relations with Cuba.
• Sam Seder shares his stories from Cuba

Congressional Hits and Misses.

Ed and Pap: Another corrupt Bush seeking White House?

Young Turks: Andrew Hawkins has some powerful words:

Megyn Kelly: When things go weird with Obama.

Torture in our Name:

• Jon: Dick Cheney’s mind is the scariest fucking place in the Universe
• Jimmy Dore: The torture report is so funny you’ll shit your hummus.
• Farron Cousins: The Bush Administration needs to stand trial. Period.
• Thom: Will Europe prosecute Bush or Cheney for torturing?
• Ann Telnaes: Dick has no regrets about torture.
• Stephen: Debates a formidable opponent on torture
• David Pakman: For 1st time Cheney admits some detainees were innocent. Doesn’t care.
• Jimmy Dore: Here’s what nobody understands about torture
• David Pakman: CIA didn’t just torture…they did human medical experiments
• Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: Dick Cheney—The disgusting torture apologist

Larry Wilmore’s Nightly Show promo.

Sam Seder: Jeb Bush and the Republican clown car.

Obama talks about his own experience with racial profiling.

Thom: Is a climate disaster lurking off of the coast of Washington state?

Poison Pills:

• Jon: Look what Congress slipped into the spending bill.
• Mark Fiore: Citygroup Democracy
• Sam Seder: The argument for voting FOR the CRomnibus
• Ed O’Keefe: What’s inside the spending bill

White House: West Wing Week.

“Mom…you’re embarrassing us!”

Thom: The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Ugly.

Obama takes a swing at Keystone.

Sony and Kim-J:

• Lawrence O’Donnell: North Korea wages war on Sony.
• Obama: I am sympathetic…but Sony made a mistake
• Young Turks: FBI confirms the source….
• Jon: So now Kim Jong-un determines what movies get made?
• Ari Melber: Is canceling ‘The Interview’ caving to terrorists?
• Slate: The Interview, as reenacted with pencil puppets

Jimmy Dore: Ben Stein reveals his racist side talking about Ferguson.

Mental Floss: 13 inventions and innovations creating a better future for women.

Matt Binder: Ten Sandy Hook families sue gun maker.

Maddow: On Putin, GOP & FAUX News must eat their words:

Jimmy Kimmel: The YEAR in unnecessary censorship.

Does Stephen Commit Comicide?:

• Stephen: 12 very good moments from the Colbert Report.
• The final Colbert Report
• FAUX News dullard thinks Colbert should write a check to FAUX
• Slate: A tribute—Stephen’s music
• Stephen holds a yard sale.
• Stephen: 10 years of ALMOST staying in character
• Stephen’s final “Word”.

Thom: Is George Zimmerman right?

Sam Seder: Ted Cruz “own goals” the G.O.P..

Farron Cousins: Jeb Bush is the worst Republican traits on one package.

Not Mental Floss: 13 thing you think are true but aren’t.

Nutbag Republican state lawmaker proposes women have to ask men’s permission to have an abortion.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

As most of you know, the Horsesass in the title of this blog was inspired by Tim “Biggest Lie of My Life” Eyman. Specifically, Goldy purchased this domain name as part of his initiative that, if passed, would have declared Mr. Eyman a horse’s ass.

The fate of the initiative in qualifying for the ballot and, ultimately, succeeding at the ballot cannot be known, as the meddling state Attorney General sued Goldy to keep the initiative off the ballot. And, no, it wasn’t Rob McKenna—who certainly was an irrational Goldy-phobe. No…it was actually AG Christine Gregoire.

Goldy stuck with the Horsesass brand name, if only to give former FEMA Director Michael “Heck-of-a-Job-Brownie” Brown a little bit of irony in his life.

Goldy’s little local lefty blog has, apparently, inspired more than just McKenna and Brownie. People for the American Way who, among other things, have a project called Right Wing Watch, have an annual award that seems related to this blog:

The Equine Posterior Achievement Award has been created to honor that leader whose abilities to misrepresent an issue, manipulate his/her followers, brazenly disregard reality or pander to our baser instincts reach such ridiculous levels that we don’t know whether to laugh or cry. In other words, a genuine “horse’s patootie.”

Huh…it sounds like something Tim Eyman could qualify for…I mean, if he was actually a leader and had something approaching a national profile.

In any case, since you are reading a blog called Horsesass, might I interest you in voting for the most worthy recipient of the Equine Posterior Achievement Award?

This year’s nominees are Ted Cruz, the Benham Brothers, Gordon Klingenschmitt, Jody Hice, Texas State Board of Education, Glenn Beck, Pat Robertson, Ben Carson, Bryan Fischer, and Kevin Swanson. Them are some good nominees…but you can, instead, write-in your own favorite horse’s ass.

But don’t bother writing in Eyman. He’s no longer relevant.

Join us tonight for some politics under the influence at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday evening for friendly conversation (sometimes it gets a little harsh, but we stop short of torture) at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. The starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks show up before that for dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities and Shelton chapters also meet. The Lakewood chapter meets on Wednesday. And on Thursday, the Tacoma chapter meets.

There are 177 chapters of Living Liberally, including fifteen in Washington state, four in Oregon and two in Idaho. Chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting somewhere near you.

Mental Floss: 90 facts about the 1990s.

Thom: Is the Koch brothers’ curriculum coming to your kid’s school?

Congressional staff walk out to protest police killing black men.

Mike Pesca: Please say something nice about your opponent:

Jimmy Dore: Racism is dead…just like all the black people police killed.

Thom: More Good, Bad and Very, Very Ugly.

Alyona: Nutburger Michele Bachmann want to bomb Iran for Christmas.

Jon knows how to beat ISIS: Send more Millennials.

Torture in Our Names:

• Sam Seder explains how the torture report came to be.
• Jon is shocked and sickened
• Thom: Torture report…what’s next?
• Young Turks: McCain Smacks down torture supporters
• Alyona: The Bush prebuttal.
• Sam Seder: How to talk to your children about torture and police brutality
• David Pakman: Senate staffer caught trying to remove “torture from wikipedia page”
• Thom: Torture is not an American value.
• Young Turks: Even the Torture Report’s footnotes are shocking and ugly
• Maddow: Bush-era torture program marked by ineptitude
• Jon celebrates the return of the Good John McCain
• Liberal Viewer: Torture report finally released.
• Jonathan Mann: The Torture Report Song.

• Mark Fiore: Cheney’s Torture Anthem.
• Stephen supports bonkers FAUX News host.
• Sam Seder: Former CIA director can help lying again.
• Young Turks: anal hummus and other shocking torture techniques
• Jon on Andrea Tantaros’ little rant
• David Pakman: New calls to prosecute Bush and Cheney for torture
• Ann Telnaes: Torture destroys what the U.S. stands for.
• Sam Seder: We are a nation of torturers

David Pakman: Republican plan to cancel Obama State of the Union gains traction.

Stephen interviews Smaug Burns…a very serious conservative.

Pap: Will wage theft derail minimum wage movement?.

Chris Hayes: Was Darren Wilson’s STAR witness #40 even there???.

Sam Seder: Scott Walker wishes his Jewish friends a “molotov” Hanukkah!.

White House: West Wing Week.

Maddow: Bad predictions about protests from Bill-O-the-Clown and Megyn Kelly.

David Pakman: Idiot Rick Perry thinks inequality is not a prob. because the Bible predicts poor people.

Puppet Nation: News of the week.

Just Pain Ugly:

• Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: The crappy CRomnibus brought to you by Jamie Dimon
• Elizabeth Warren unloads on Citigroup.
• David Pakman: 5 horrible thing in the budget deal
• Nancy Pelosi: Members “blackmailed” on “Cromnibus”.
• Young Turks: Trillion dollar spending bill rigs the system more than ever
• Five awful things Congress snuck into the omnibus budget deal.

Mental Floss: Misconceptions about your house.

Thom: The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Ugly.

Slate: $0.00 is the Cost of Making Public Colleges Tuition Free.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Join us tonight for another adventure in politics over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday evening at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. The starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks show up before that for dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings this week. The Tri-Cities, Redmond, and Vancouver, WA chapters also meet on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Bellingham and Spokane chapters meet. The Bremerton chapter meets on Thursday. And next Monday, the Aberdeen and Yakima chapters meet.

There are 177 chapters of Living Liberally, including fifteen in Washington state, four in Oregon and two in Idaho, so chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting somewhere near you.

Thom: The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Ugly.

Puppet Nation: News of the week:

Ever notice how America is like a bad boyfriend.

Mental Floss: Misconceptions about Sleep.

David Pakman: More guns = more crime, no matter what NRA feels.

Thom: The secret ALEC conference.

Black and White and Red All Over:

• Sam Seder: St. Louis cops versus St. Louis Rams
• Protesters fill the streets of D.C. for Eric Garner
• Young Turks: Another unarmed black teen killed, in AZ this time
• Sam Seder: When Social Media reacts to the shooting of young Black men
• Daily Show: The “Shitty White People” in Ferguson race debate
• Jon asks Aqua Buddah Man: What the fuck are you talking about?!?
• Congressional Black Caucus slams Ferguson ruling
• David Pakman: Obama calls for police body cams
• Young Turks: Jackass Peter King blames Garner’s death on obesity.
• David Pakman: No indictment for cop who killed unarmed black man
• “I Can’t Breathe” read on House floor
• Sam Seder: Scumbag Peter King on why Eric Garner died
• Chris Hayes: How prosecutors manipulate grand juries
• Liberal Viewer: Officer Darren Wilson lied about knowing of store theft before killing Michael Brown
• Jon: On the Eric Garner decision
• Rep. Al Green responds to a media jackass.
• David Pakman: Darren Wilson’s story makes no sense.
• Stephen: Eric Garner isn’t Michael Brown
• Sam Seder: A tipping point in the crisis of police abuse against black men.
• Maddow: Cops who killed 12 y.o. kid had awful records:

• Tom and Pap: Racism in the American criminal justice system
• Mediaite: Nine cable news pundits who blame Eric Garner for his own death
• Ed and Pap: GOP White privilege highlighted by Ferguson comments
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Blame the Prosecutors, not the grand juries.
• Young Turks: NFL won’t apologize…
• Former RNC Chair Michael Steele: A Black man’s life is not worth a ham sandwich
• Mark Fiore: Who Killed Michael Brown.
• Jon accuses FAUX News of ‘racial plagiarism’ during Ferguson coverage
• Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: Rand Paul’s idiotic Libertarian ideas about the murder of Eric Garner

Mike Pesca: A tribute to Nancy Grace.

Sam Seder and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: The Republican mission to destroy climate action.

David Pakman: Nutburger Republicans consider banning Obama from delivering State of the Union Address.

Mental Floss: 26 little things that changed history forever.

Richard Fowler: The GOP plan to rig the 2016 election.

White House: West Wing Week.

Immigration Action Reaction:

• Brian Williams and Jimmy Fallon slow-jam the immigration news.
• David Pakman: FAUX and Fiends are angry that Obama quoted the Bible.

Sam Seder: What the fuck is up with Uber?

Guess who’s coming to The Colbert Report.

Maddow: AZ, KS, and Florida GOP are trying to kill solar power.

Thom: More Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

University of Virginia Rape Story:

• Young Turks:
• Mike Pesca: About the University of Virginia rape case.

Young Turks: Glenn Beck sued for defamation by Saudi he constantly defamed.

Thom: Some more Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

Stephen thanks Nazis for getting Congress to agree on something.

David Pakman: Nutjob Christan pastor calls for killing gay people.

TurkeyGate!

• Sam Seder: The GOP staffer who criticized the Obama kids is no angle herself
• David Pakman: Republican who criticized Obama girls was arrested as a teen.
• Maddow: A lame excuse.

Obama speaks on the economy.

Richard Fowler: Voter proved he wasn’t quite dead yet.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Please join us tonight for another evening of politics and conversation over a drink at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday evening at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. The starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks show up before that for dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. The Lakewood chapter meets on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Tacoma chapter meets.

There are 178 chapters of Living Liberally, including fifteen in Washington state, four in Oregon and two in Idaho, so chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting somewhere near you.

Mark Fiore: Congressional Turkeys.

Young Turks: People love ObamaCare, so long as they don’t know what it is called.

Puppet Nation: U.S. News:

White House: West Wing Week.

Richard Fowler: Sen. Elizabeth Warren takes her fight to Walmart.

Young Turks: Governor insists food stamps come with drug tests.

Roll Call: Congressional hits and misses of the week.

David Pakman: Republican Koch House passes bill muzzling EPA scientists.

Sam Seder: Solyndra turns out to be the opposite of a scandal.

Ferguson, Goddamn:

• Young Turks: Darren Wilson’s testimony is pure weird racist fantasy
• Eric Schwartz: How many shots.

• Liberal Viewer: Unfair Ferguson grand jury?
• Lawrence O’Donnell: FALSE Grand Jury instructions by Wilson prosecutors
• Young Turks: Darren Wilson shares his side of the story.
• Pap and Ed: Darren Wilson’s PR charm offensive
• Thom: Shouldn’t conflicting witnesses warranted a trial?

Thom: Is Walmart playing “Hunger Games” with its employees?

Farron Cousins: Net Neutrality battle rages on.

David Pakman: Director of ex-gay conversion clinic ends up marrying his same-sex partner.

Sam Seder: How Republicans ran from their right wing victory…

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Roll Call: Congressional hits and misses—Thanksgiving edition

The meaning of Thanksgiving, Cold War style.

Fallon: Pros and cons of Thanksgiving.

What we talk about when we talk politics at Thanksgiving.

‘Twas the night before Thanksgiving:

Der Witz: Happy Thanksgiving.

Rubin Report with Dave Rubin and Gina Grad: Talking politics at Thanksgiving.

HuffPo’s collection of Thanksgiving Jokes.

Meghan Trainor’s Thanksgiving Carols

Obama pardons the Thanksgiving turkey:

…and the ever-classic “Sarah Palin and the Thanksgiving day massacre“:

Just don’t do it (H/T Bob Dole)!

The politics of Thanksgiving day,

Mental Floss: 23 Thanksgiving food facts.

Even lemurs can enjoy Thanksgiving dinner at the Brookfield Zoo.

Medite says, “Enough with the “How to Discuss Politics at Thanksgiving” Posts Already, including a dozen “how to discuss politics at Thanksgiving” links.

Roy Zimmerman: I’m dreaming of a Black Friday:

Please join us tonight for some pre-Thanksgiving turkey talk and political prognostication over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday evening at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. The starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks show up before that for dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. On Wednesday, the Bellingham and Burien chapters meet. And next Monday, the Yakima and South Bellevue chapters meet.

There are 202 chapters of Living Liberally, including sixteen in Washington state, four in Oregon and three in Idaho, so chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting somewhere near you.

Mental Floss: Misconceptions about pets.

Sam Seder: Tommy Chong smokes FAUX News.

Executive Action:

• Obama speaks on immigration action:

  
  

• Annotated: Boehner’s message before the President’s immigration speech
• Young Turks: Self-righteous FAUX hosts OUTRAGED when Obama quotes the Bible.
• Lawrence O’Donnell: How John Lennon affected our immigration laws.
• Sam Seder with Greisa Martinez: Obama’s historic move on immigration.
• Ann Telnaes: The emperor Obama has no clothes.
• Young Turks: Republican extremist practically begs for violence over Obama’s action
• Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: Obama takes action on immigration, Republicans go crazy
• Chris Hayes: Nutbag Republican suggests Obama could face jail time over immigration actions.
• David Pakman: Many Republicans used executive action on immigration, only Obama should be impeached
• Young Turks: Obama goes it alone on immigration reform.
• Thom: Latinos threaten GOP with “Political Hell”
• Young Turks: Wingdings explain how Obama’s immigration policy is just like Hitler.

Matt Binder: The KKK does some “rebranding”.

Lawrence O’Donnell: Why the 2014 election spells disaster for Republicans in 2016.

Stephen: Assholes for Freedom.

Sam Seder and Dahlia Lithwick: What’s ruining the Supreme Court.

Liberal Viewer: FAUX News politicizes ISIS beheading.

WaPo: Sentenced to death without all the evidence.

David Pakman: Libertarian “champion” Rand Paul helps kill NSA reform bill.

Lawmaker asks about a moat for the White House.

Sam Seder: Bill-O-The-Clown kicks off the 2014 War On Christmas Season for FAUX News.

Political Keystone:

• Mark Fiore: Sustainable Keystone XL.
• Ann Telnaes: Keystone XL pipeline isn’t about jobs.
• Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: The Politics behind the Keystone XL rejection
• Jon pokes Dems for cynical Keystone ploy
• Thom: Politifact left the house without their pants.

Olbermann: Bill-O the Clown is BACK as Worst Person in the World!

Sam Seder: The funniest public service ad ever.

Puppet Nation: U.S. News of the Week:

White House: West Wing Week.

Lewis Black breaks down FAUX News’ relationship with Black Friday.

David Pakman: Court rejects challenge to contraception rules.

Stephen does Jon.

Chris Hayes: More deceptive FAUX News propaganda.

Neutrality Confusion:

• Young Turks: Ted Cruz’s worst nightmare is Al Franken explaining the internet.
• Farron Cousins: Ted Cruz is absolutely clueless on Net Neutrality.

Thom: The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Ugly.

Mental Floss: 62 last name meanings.

Maddow: What we want and who we elected to do it.

Jon: Who is Jonathan Gruber?

Thom: More Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.