Please join us for another splendid summer evening of politics over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday evening at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00pm, although some people show up earlier than that for Dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out the plethora of other DL meetings over the next week. Tonight there are also meetings of the Tri-Cities and Vancouver, WA chapters. On Wednesday, the Bellingham chapter meets. And for Thursday, the Spokane and Tacoma chapters meet. Finally, next Monday, the Yakima and Olympia chapters meet.

With 208 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and three more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting near you.

Sam Seder: RNC Chair threatens NBC and CNN.

Alex Wagner: Sen. Ted Cruz’s anti-Everything.

Maddow: Cuccinelli’s gift scandal.

The G.O.P. Presidential Field:

• Young Turks: Rick Perry doesn’t know what state he is in. (Denial?)
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Nutburger Rand Paul versus Chris Christie for 2016 nomination?
• Sam Seder: Rick Santorum’s showering “issue”.
• Young Turks: Newt Gingrich conveniently changes is position on war.
• John Oliver begs Donald Trump to run again (via Crooks and Liars).
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Mitt Romney weighs in on the Teabagger government shutdown.
• Young Turks: Mike Huckabee’s full-on Islamophobia.

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

John Oliver: Still no accountability for the Big Banks (via Crooks and Liars).

Pap: The G.O.P. is eating itself alive.

John Oliver grills Sen. Gillibrand about Wall Street donations.

Sharpton: FAUX News and Republican food stamp racism.

Liz Cheney Commits Fraud:

• Lawrence O’Donnell: Liz Cheney’s fraudulent Wyoming ‘fishing license’.
• Alex Wagner: Senate candidate Liz Cheney obtains Wyoming fishing license illegally.

Bill Maher: N.C. W.T.F.:

Thom: Liberal State Rep. infiltrates ALEC.

Pap: Racism still motivates the Tea Party.

Young Turks: Sanjay Gupta on weed.

Daily Show tries to have a “frank and open” discussion on race (via Crooks and Liars).

Sam Seder: Moral Mondays keep growing.

Maddow: Shrinking U.S. budget is spoiling G.O.P. talking points.

Sheriff Hairspray (R-WA-08) thinks about higher office.

Bashir: Reince, blather, repeat.

NSA Spying Intelligence Gathering:

• Obama’s presser.
• Mark Fiore: Fear Fresh.
• Ann Telnaes: Obama’s Leno whopper?
• Maddow: Obama proposes changes to surveillance program.

Young Turks: Sean Hannity’s propaganda machine is demoted.

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

Maddow: Florida G.O.P. makes another attempt at voter purge .

Sharpton: Obama debunks G.O.P. healthcare lies.

Some Ag-related communications company interviews Rep. Susan DelBene (D-WA-01)

White House: West Wing Week.

Young Turks: GOP continues to try and defund Obamacare.

Maddow: Ohio’s G.O.P. TRAPs Toledo’s last Abortion clinic.

John Fugelsang: Keep it up Tea Party:

Nutjob Rep. Gohmert: ‘Radical Islamists’ taking Spanish lessons ‘because we don’t fear Hispanics’ (via Crooks and Liars).

Red State Update: News of the Week Podcast episode 38.

Sharpton: Racist G.O.P. birfers call for ‘Muslim’ Obama’s impeachment.

Living Wage:

• Thom: If a business doesn’t pay a living wage, it shouldn’t exist.
• Ed: What is a minimum living wage?
• Pap and David Sirota: The conservative media’s minimum wage lie.
• Ann Telnaes: Walmart–Always Low Wages.
• Young Turks: Fast food restaurant proves a living wage is possible.

White House: Highlights from Obama’s Zillow interview.

Sharpton: Dead Voters? How about dead donors?

Alex Wagner: The Tea-bagger town hall “mating season” has began.

Maddow: Obamacare supporters trip up GOP’s town hall hate-meeting agendas.

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

I was laughing out loud listening to this NPR interview with Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN).

Sen. Corker is oh so concerned about the fact that the Obama Administration is undertaking covert actions in “foreign policy” and, specifically, Syria, Pakistan, and Yemen. Sen. Corker whines that the Senate has been marginalized in foreign policy (really, security) issues.

The Obama Administration is, of course, using the exact same powers granted to the Bush Administration by the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force.

Shorter Sen. Corker (in Southern drawl): “When we eagerly granted the President unprecedented powers to undertake covert foreign actions without oversight, we didn’t realize the scary Black guy with a Muslim-ey sounding name would get to use it, too!”

Politico speculates about possible replacements for Darrell Issa, whose “adventure” as Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is term limited:

Issa’s term as the Obama administration’s chief inquisitor expires at the end of 2014, and unless leaders waive party rules, he won’t be eligible to keep running the committee.

Awww…it’s a sad.

No…really! Issa has been a real gift to the Democrats in his role as Chair of the Oversight Committee. It begins with the irony that a man who was charged twice with auto theft, and charged twice and convicted once of weapons charges is at the helm of the Oversight Committee. It sort of fits in with the Republican Projection Phenomenon of “we think you are doing something bad, because we know what we would do in your shoes.” In other words, pick the most corrupt, shadiest, morally bankrupt member to hunt for corruption, shadiness, and moral bankruptcy.

The fact is, Issa has been a disaster as Oversight Chair. He is undisciplined, politically unsavvy and, frankly, ineffective. He doesn’t seem to have a nose for investigations.

This is no more evident than in the “IRS Scandal”, where Issa made a fatal investigatory blunder. As a Partisan Issa would certainly want people to believe that Teabagger groups were being targeted. But, the Investigator Issa should have initially focused on reality first and used what he could later for the spin cycles.

Instead, Issa directed IRS Inspector General J. Russell George to investigate IRS targeting of only conservative and tea party groups. The results made for some weeks of good sound bites, but proved embarrassing and amateurish when the truth came out that the IRS was targeting all political-oriented groups. More importantly, it undermined Issa’s credibility to effectively conduct investigations.

So, this is one reason way we should hope that Issa gets a term limit waiver and remains Chair of the Oversight committee! But that probably won’t happen.

Among the prospective Chairs in Politico’s list is Washington state’s Doc Hasting (R-WA-4):

Call this Boehner ally and personal friend the wild card.

As current Natural Resources Committee Chairman, Hastings, like Issa, is term-limited [as Natural Resources Committee Chairman] at the close of this Congress.

He raised GOP eyebrows when he joined Oversight earlier this year — a rare move for someone who’s been in Congress for nearly two decades.

Republican rank and file call that “committee hopping,” and many on the panel wonder if he joined with an eye on the gavel.

Hastings’s office wouldn’t confirm or deny rumors that he‘ll throw his name in the pot. If he chooses to, he has more than Boehner’s friendship at his back: He has money.

I’ll just say this: if there is anyone in Congress that I perceive as more incompetent and ineffective in the role of Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, it’s “Doc” Hastings. A dumber Congressman you will not find.

Please…let it be so!

— King County Election Results, and links for all state counties.

— The King County parks levy passed with 69%!

— A new concept in the periodic table.

— Breaking: Transcript of al Qaeda’s worldwide conference call.

— MLA produces an official format for citing intellectual property contained in tweets.

— Fantasy Politics—2016: Weiner–Gore versus Boehner–Trump.

— The G.O.P.’s Insane “Leninist strategy”.

Here is a thread where you can talk about this evening’s election. If the spirit moves me, I may do some updates from the Montlake Ale House.

Oh…and if you need to find a ballot drop-box or want to view the King County results, check out this page. For state stuff, go here.

(If you are looking for an open thread try the Drinking Liberally thread just below this one).

It’s Election night in Washington state. So, if you haven’t voted…VOTE. And then join us for an evening of electoral politics over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday evening at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00pm, although some people show up earlier than that for Dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out another DL meeting over the next week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. On Wednesday, the Lakewood chapter meets. On Thursday Drinking Liberally Bremerton meets. And on Friday, the Centralia chapter meets.

With 208 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and three more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting near you.

That’s right. It was August 6, 2001 when a vacationing President George W. Bush was given a presidential daily briefing that was titled, Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US.

So you are unhappy that the U.S. assassinates people with drones? Or are you outraged about the NSA archiving phone company billing records for potential social network analysis? Maybe the whole secret FISA court things gets under your skin? Are you unhappy that over 4,500 U.S. soldiers and contractors died because the U.S. invaded Iraq on false pretenses? Or unhappy about the 100,000++ U.S. soldiers who suffered health consequences as a result of the invasion? How about the many hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians who died as a result of the invasion? Or maybe the trillion plus dollars pissed away? Or that the U.S. is STILL fighting its longest ever war in Afghanistan after more than a decade? Maybe you hate the TSA, or the fact that you cannot meet your party at their arrival gate, or that your pock knife was confiscated and they took your diet Pepsi away from you the last time you flew?

Maybe you are apprehensive about the “security” state the U.S. has become domestically, and the bully state the U.S. has become internationally?

All of this arose because George W. Bush and his security team ignored a briefing memo titled, Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US:

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

In a week that is filled with Republican assholes criticizing Obama for shutting down embassies based on intelligence reports of potential attacks, it is good to consider the alternative—ignoring the intelligence.

On August 6, 2001, George W. Bush’s indifference to and incuriousness about a memo titled Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US snowballed into our Great American Tragedy.

I doubt the paper’s emphasis will switch to covering Washington state, but the Washington Post is about to have a new Seattle-based owner. That would be Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos.

Considering the alternatives (like, you know, Rupert Murdoch buying the paper), this can only be a good thing. Besides, if anyone is going to figure out how to turn a dying 19th century-technology industry into a thriving 21st century-technology industry, I’m pretty sure it is Bezos.

The Washington Post has been owned by the Graham family for the past 80 years. And that got me to thinking…after 113 years, isn’t it time for the Blethen family to sell off the Seattle Times and get it into the hands of someone with actual competence in internet commerce?

Bezos’ letter to the WaPo staff can be found here.

(Photo by Steve Jurvetson)

— This is the very definition of insanity!

— Don’t be an asshole…VOTE!

— I think we should call this “the GOP Cancer Strategy”: “House Republicans will take a carefully orchestrated, staunchly anti-Washington campaign to voters this month, blaming President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats for Americans’ unhappiness with government.“

— Cool! Farmer’s Market Finder for Washington and Oregon

— Woodland Park Zoo’s baby boom.

— A CEO weighs in: Law promoting STEM education is a win for Washington.

— The new Dr. Who.

— The RNC threatens NBC and CNN. Reince Priebus threatens cutting networks from debate access if they air Clinton programs.

The vanishing snows of Kilimanjaro.

Lawrence O’Donnell: Mitt Romney tries to rewrite Mitt Romney:

Congressman Asshat of Iowa:

• Thom takes on Rep. Steve King (R-IA).
• Matt Binder: “Mexican kids are drug mules!”, says asshat Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
• Sam Seder: Is it okay to laugh at asshats like Rep. Steve King?

Sharpton: Sarah Palin’s ‘maverick’ hypocrisy exposed.

Bill Maher with some new rules.

White House: West Wing Week.

This is the 40th time!

Bashir and Eugene Robinson: History shows when Republicans shut down government, they lose.

John Fugelsang: We’re in the golden age of slut-shaming.

Fast Foods Forward and FAUX Fumbles:

• John Oliver: Fast food workers and FAUX News pundits.
• Thom schools Hannity on hamburger costs.
• Lawrence O’Donnell: The case to increase the minimum wage.
• Thom: Can anyone survive on $7.25

Kimmel: This week in Unnecessary Censorship.

ONN: Onion Week in Review.

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

Melissa Harris-Perry: New law forces clinics to close in North Carolina.

Jimmy Dore does Bill O’Reilly.

Sharpton: How FAUX, O’Reilly, and fellow right wingers are failing miserably in the racism conversation.

Mental Floss: 79 common mispronunciations.

Katrina vanden Heuvel: Helen Thomas’s legacy:

FAUX’s Worst Interview Ever:

• Young Turks: Worst interview ever???
• Michael Brooks: Even FAUX News should be ashamed of this interview.
• Young Turks: FAUX News tries to defend the “worst interview ever”
• Reza Aslan on his now infamous FAUX News interview.
• Here come the Spoofs!

Liberal Viewer: Would NSA spying program prevent 9/11 attacks?.

Thom: How the G.O.P. causes child prostitution.

Sam Seder: DOJ sues Texas over voting laws.

Mark Fiore: Syria’s Royal Easel.

John Fugelsang plays six degrees of Edward Snowden:

Melissa Harris-Perry: Judge grants reprieve for WI health clinics.

Ruse Harstel on his racist homophobic cousin.

Red State Update: Podcast episode 37.

ONN: New Pew poll says nation just wants to be safe, happy, rich, comfortable, entertained at all times.

Young Turks: Rand Paul and Chris Chrstie duke it out!

Inappropriate Mayorial Material:

• Anthony Weiner refuses to quit.
• Young Turks: Weiner aide vs Weiner intern catfight
• Broadway goes Weiner:
• Chris Hayes: FAUX News smears Huma Abedin with baseless claims of terrorism ties.
• Matt Binder: FAUX News attacks Huma Abedin
• John Oliver: Anthony Weiner’s ‘Not Quitting’ ad.
• Stephen defends San Diego Mayor Bob Filner.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Do nothing Congress takes a recess.

Young Turks: The G.O.P. War on Women™ gets expensive.

John Fugelsang: Politicians fiddlin’ while North Carolina burns.

Thom: Conservatives are driving us to suicide.

Lawrence O’Donnell: The Republican disease of dysfunction in washington.

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

It’s the Tuesday before the primary. This is your chance to join us for an evening of electoral politics over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet every Tuesday evening at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00pm. Some people show up even earlier for Dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out another DL meeting over the next week.

The Tri-Cities chapter also meets tonight. And for Thursday, the Spokane and Tacoma chapters meet. On Friday, the Enumclaw chapter meets. And next Monday, the Aberdeen, Yakima, South Bellevue and Olympia chapters meet.

With 207 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and three more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting near you.

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

Sam Seder: Republicans try to slash funding to EPA and the arts.

John Fugelsang: What to say to people who defend Walmart:

Pap and Thom: How GOP greed destroyed Detroit.

This Week in the Republican War on Women™

• Ann Telnaes: Boehner on what the American People want.
• Sam Seder: Judge blocks Republican abortion ban.
• Farron Cousins: The GOP War on Women™ Is alive and well.

Maddow: NC GOP continues despicable effort to thwart minority votes.

Thom: Holder to Perry….You feeling lucky?

ONN: The Week in Review.

Mark Fiore: Cruel and unusual blues.

Cuccinelli’s Bizarre Views:

• Cuch…Extremist.
• Ann Telnaes: Cuccinelli’s position on homosexuality.
• Young Turks: Cuch gets trolled HARD.

Katrina vanden Heuvel: One word to describe the Republican party today.

Alex Wagner: Feds target Texas’ racist voter restrictions.

Obama on The Economy:

Bashir: U.S. has highest first day infant mortality rate of industrialized countries.

Obama on Trayvon Martin:

• Matt Binder: Obama, “Trayvon Martin could have been me”.
• Liberal Viewer: FAUX News race baits on Obama’s Trayvon Martin remarks.
• Stephen: FAUX News and Obama’s speech
• Thom: The G.O.P. is the biggest death cult in America

DEA raids medical marijuana dispensaries.

Bill Maher: Tweets from Pope Frank.

Pap and Sam Seder: Rep. Gohmert’s rhetoric echoes racist militia talk.

Red State Update: How freedom sounds fifth anniversary (Podcast 36).

Young Turks: Bill-O the Clown on black people.

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

Susie Sampson’s Tea Party Report: Week in Review.

Weinergate 2.0:

• Stephen: Anthony Weiner’s penis.
• Weiner gets the animation treatment
• John Oliver: On Weiner.
• Young Turks: Col. Morris Davis, Weiner is a victim of religious discrimination.
• Alex Wagner: What was the Weiner thinking?
• Sam Seder with John Fugelsang: The real problem with Weiner
• John Fugelsang and friends on politician sex scandals.

Ezra Klein : Holder cites evidence of racism in Texas.

Pap and Sam Seder: Liz Cheney’s crazy talk campaign.

Young Turks: NC voter suppression bill would ruin real democracy.

White House: West Wing Week.

Ann Telnaes: Exposing the media.

George H.W. Bush shaves his head in solidarity with 2 year old battling leukemia.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is a fucking bigot:

• Same old party: On Dreamers
• Stephen: About Steve King.
• Maddow: GOP compares immigrants to dogs…Part 1 and Part 2
• Chris Hayes: GOP’s drug-mule racism.
• Alex Wagner: King is the new ‘dog-face’ of GOP anti-Immigrant extremism
• Sam Seder: Asshat Steve King (R-IA) Says DREAM Act kids are drug mules
• Young Turks: King claims 99% of Latino Dreamers are drug runners.
• Ezra Klein: Rep. Steve King’s racist comments frustrate GOP Latino outreach.

Sam Seder: The silliest G.O.P. conspiracy yet.

Young Turks: Glenn Beck’s bizarre dollar bill conspiracy theory.

Obama on Education and the economy.

John Fugelsang: Exotic dancers of America, John McCain has your back.

Thom: Boehner brags about turning America into Detroit.

Mental Floss: 26 Weird Animal Mating Habits.

Ezra Klein : GOP political hooliganism over Obamacare.

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

Please join us tonight for an evening of politics over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet every Tuesday evening at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00pm. Some people show up earlier than that for Dinner.

Can’t make it tonight? Check out another Washington state DL. The Tri-Cities chapter meets every Tuesday night. The Bellingham and Burien chapters meet on Wednesday, and the Woodinville chapter meets on Thursday.

With 207 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and three more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting near you.

ONN: Week in Review.

Mental Floss: Fictional Character Names Revealed!

Thom and Pap: Time to Stand our Ground against ALEC.

Spawn of Dick Cheney:

• Ann Telnaes: Lizz Cheney announces
• Young Turks: The Wyoming Senate race.
• Young Turks: Another Cheney brings a reign of terror in government.

Obama and soldier’s exploding fist bump (via Political Wire).

Maddow: The Smoking gun in the Gov. Bob McDonald corruption case.

White House: West Wing Week.

This week in the G.O.P. War on Voters™:

• PA GOP official admits voter ID law “helped a bit” to hurt Obama (via Political Wire):
• Sam Seder: Politician admits the purpose of voter ID law
• Maddow: Confession.
• John Fugelsang and Rep. Shelia Jackson: Bipartisan refinement of Voting Rights Act is possible.

John Oliver on Weiner and Spitzer.

Young Turks: Michele Bachmann on “spanking Obama’s magic wand”.

Thom: More of The Good, the Bad and The Very, Very Ugly.

Obama speaks on the Affordable Care Act.

Matt Binder: Lawmaker Proposes LGBT rainbow flag ban in Louisiana.

Stand Your Ground (and Shoot a Boy):

• Liberal Viewer: Why George Zimmerman was found not guilty for killing Trayvon Martin
• Thom: Should there be a boycott of Florida?
• Young Turks: Obama, “This could have been me.”
• Mark Fiore: Zimmerman is off the hook.
• Young Turks: Proof that Ted Nugent is a racist.
• Maddow: Trayvon Martin Civil Rights Act.
• Ann Telnaes: Wild West Mentality
• Liberal Viewer: Trayvon Martin family lawsuit could challenge stand your ground law necessity?
• Tavis Smiley “disarms” Bill-O by suggesting arming every black person in America.

John Fugelsang: ‘Rush Limbaugh is so racist…’.

The awkward moments when a Tea Party rally turns racist.

Stephen does Elliot Sptizer (via Political Wire).

Sam Seder: Republicans cave to Nuclear Option.

John Oliver: CNN’s “Rock Block”.

Red State Update: The week in review.

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

Ann Telnaes: Gov. Perry thinks the justice system is color-blind.

Cover of The Rolling Stone:

• Stephen on the cover of the Rolling Stone.
• Sam Seder: Rolling Stone got it right.
• John Fugelsang and friends: The Rolling Stone comver
• Young Turks: Was the cover wrong?.

Nancy Pelosi on the G.O.P. lady problem.

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