HorsesAss.Org

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.

There have now been something like seven major investigations into BENGHAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!1!11!!!

Today the GOP-controlled House “Intelligence” Committee released the results of their two year investigation into the “Worse-than-9-11” events. They did so without fanfare on a weekend that almost assures Americans will be preoccupied with anything but the report.

Here is a recap of findings. The committee found that

…the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees.

…[T]he investigation … determined that there was no intelligence failure, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, no missed opportunity for a military rescue, and no evidence the CIA was covertly shipping arms from Libya to Syria.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, intelligence about who carried it out and why was contradictory, the report found. That led Susan Rice, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to inaccurately assert that the attack had evolved from a protest, when in fact there had been no protest. But it was intelligence analysts, not political appointees, who made the wrong call, the committee found. The report did not conclude that Rice or any other government official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people.

There were a lot of crazy assholes spewing some bizarre theories about a lot of non-things.

And there was just plain lying…like the claim, easily debunked, that Obama never referred to the the incident as terrorism FOR 14 DAYS. Nope…he did the morning after in the Rose Garden and twice more in Colorado over the next two days. This line of Wingding bullshit bit them back is their own ass when presidential wannabe Mitt Romney made an ass of himself during a debate with Obama (priceless video). (Most non-crazy people wondered what difference it made whether it was called or not called “terrorism”, but I digress….)

Not one of the Benghazi theories have panned out for the Wingnuts. Yet, this should have been self-evident after the first investigation. And verified after the second, and double verified after the third….

By, say, the third report, the Republican wack-jobs still spewing BENGHAAAAZZZZZZIIIII!!!!1!1!! were just lying.

Or they are pitifully stupid and totally incapable of ordinary things like reading, evaluating evidence, and synthesis. The first few reviews were supposed to make that easy for them.

Or they’re just fucking crazy.

It’s tough to tell the difference with this bunch.

– Good on Councilwoman Sawant for getting arrested in protest of the $15 minimum wage.

– No nominee is above criticism, of course, but liberals shouldn’t be reflexively anti-Loretta Lynch.

– The more the merrier in primaries, I say. But I don’t think I’ll be supporting Jim Webb for President.

– Mr Cosby – you don’t have to talk. Maybe it’s time for women to talk instead.

– I’m a sucker for a good science story, and this one about finding out the cause of the Pacific Northwest starfish die off is pretty interesting.

There has been a lot of talk — including from me in the last Open Thread — about the Seattle City Council doing a lot of great things right now. The budget looks surprisingly good. The $15 minimum wage passed. They’ve also done more symbolic (but still important!) things like opposing the Hyde Amendment.

There are certainly a lot of reasons for this. In some ways it has been building to it for a while; They passed the sick leave/safe leave bill a few years ago; Both candidates for mayor supported the $15 minimum wage. Since the election of a Socialist city wide, the rest of the City Council has to watch their left flank; Sawant has also done a better job holding the line than some other lefty stalwarts on the council before her. Now that there are districts, a lot of the City Council members have a smaller, more accountable, constituency to appease.

But, also the fact that they’re all up for reelection at the same time means they’re all accountable RIGHT NOW. This is democracy working! So this may be a unique moment to get the entire council to follow a more populist agenda than at any time going forward.

There’s a myth that you can’t get anything done in an election year. Maybe that’s true in divided governments or in particularly polarized situations. But in Seattle it certainly hasn’t been the case. Maybe every seat should be up for reelection every 2 years going forward.

– You always hope for a speedy resolution to labor strife, but I support the Longshore workers.

– Slow down on Rainier Ave, pleez.

– This year’s Seattle city budget looks pretty good.

– Sidewalks should never be ‘closed’ for construction projects

– Astronomical Sexism: Rosetta #ShirtStorm and Everyday Sexism in STEM [h/t]

– Agreed that Santarchy is The Worst Fucking Night In The Bars

Please join us tonight for some political punditry and populist pontification 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 and Shelton chapters also meet. The Lakewood chapter meets on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Tacoma chapter meets.

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

– I’m sold on Donna Edwards to head the DCCC

– RH Reality Check’s research has identified 14 people who have played an outsized role in creating and spreading key falsehoods about abortion. We have found that they are affiliated with a small number of key groups that give these bogus notions an official gloss but which are little more than vehicles for manufacturing doubt.

– Looks like Pronto is starting out pretty strong.

– Don’t deport parents of citizens. I know an executive order isn’t the perfect solution, but it’s the one that’s available. And yeah, let’s blame the right people.

– Go watch some of these bike movies.

– What a map of Africa might have looked like without European colonization

– I am 12 years old, but Mann’s Seed Store cracked me up. Also, the post itself is interesting. I haven’t lived in Olympia for a long time, but I feel like I should have been able to identify more buildings.

Last week’s contest was won by milwhcky. It was Corpus Christi, Texas.

This week’s is a random location somewhere in the state of Kentucky, good luck!

Chronicles 15:13
All who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman.

Discuss.

Jon: The retirements of Shrub and Jimmy.

Climate Change and Pseudo-controversy:

• Young Turks: US & China unite against global warming…and the GOP promises to ruin it.
• Sam Seder and Ben Adler: Why the U.S.—China climate deal is a game changer
• David Pakman: US & China reach climate deal.
• Thom: Prof. Michael Mann on historic climate deal.
• Sam Seder: “Climate change is a hoax!,” cries Nutbagger Inhofe, incoming Chair of Senate Environment Committee!!!
• Young Turks: Obama makes it rain for climate change victims

Young Turks: Nobody showed up for the media Ebola orgy.

Chris Hayes: Outrageous FBI letter to Martin Luther King: “KILL yourself”:

SlateTV: How a crossword puzzle is created.

John Oliver: State Lotteries.

Election Aftermath:

• Mark Fiore: The Screw You Strategy.
• Seth Meyers: Emails from Obama
• Young Turks: The quiet movement that’s saving democracy is about to explode
• Sam Seder and David Bender: The Congressional takeover Of Republican fanatics.
• Matt Binder: Lowest voter turnout since WWII
• Young Turks: Senator finds out the hard way that voters don’t like cowards.

John Oliver returns to the Daily Show to interview Jon.

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

White House: West Wing Week.

Chris Hayes: KKK is ready for ‘war’ in Ferguson .

Mental Floss: Misconceptions about technology.

Stephen: Outraged at only two million?!?

Latest Health Care Pseudo-controversy:

• Sam Seder: Angus King smacks down FAUX & Fiends for not wanting people to have health insurance.
• Stephen: About GruberGate.
• Young Turks: ‘Americans are too stupid for ObamaCare’ scandal is dumb Republican nonsense
• WaPo: Gruber’s controversial Obamacare comments explained.
• Sam Seder: What Jonathan Gruber is ACTUALLY saying about ObamaCare

Thom: George W. Bush killed Seattle resident Tomas Young.

PSA: It’s on Us…Don’t be a bystander.

Jon: List of innocent things black people do that look suspicious.

Young Turks: Undeniable proof that the media isn’t liberal, at all.

Maddow: Arizona votes to nullify federal law…and biology textbooks.

David Pakman: Veterans troll Sarah Palin on Veteran’s Day.

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

Puppet Nation: U.S.A News of the week.

Net Nude Trail It Tea:

• Funny or Die: Porn stars explain net neutrality.
• Thom politically corrects FAUX News Spokesidiot Andrew Napolitano
• Maddow: Net neutrality the next politicized policy
• Matt Binder: GOP Nutjob Ted Cruz is fighting against a free and open internet
• Sam Seder: Alex Jones’ insane net neutrality / Nazi meltdown
• Ann Telnaes: The high cost of losing net neutrality.
• Thom: Conservatives lie about net neutrality for big bucks

Jon explains his style of activism.

Pap: Bush’s real legacy—The 5th Circuit Court.

David Pakman: Democrats, NOT Republicans, are the party of freedom & liberty.

Maddow: Conservative media creates parallel universe:

On the Rhodes: An Update from Burma.

Michelle Obama’s greatest video hits.

Political Jesus:

• Thom: Would conservatives nail Jesus to a cross today?
• Young Turks: Would Jesus love or hate Republicans.

Batman: Republican or Democrat?

Stephen: Breitbart’s “corrected” story.

Mental Floss: 25 things you might not know about Harry Potter.

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

– I like most of these ideas for Revenue-Positive Policy Changes Made Politically Possible By Low-Income ORCA. I’m not sure about 4, although it would probably quicken up the tunnel.

– There is a long space between good and better than the Ferguson PD

– A gated democracy

– On the one hand, the airlines throwing everything against the wall and generally being assholes is pretty much par for the course. On the other hand, what a bunch of assholes.

– You can’t just arrest people for being dipshits who don’t understand the law they were opposed to.

– They haven’t even taken back the reigns of the Senate, and already the GOP can’t help but look at a government shutdown.

– Congrats to the European Space Agency.

– Kirk Cameron seems neat

– I hope you had a happy Veteran’s Day.

– Seriously, everybody, don’t be a vigilante.

– It’s tough to be nostalgic for the Clinton presidency when you were literally an impeachment manager.

– In fairness, Mike Fuckabee, was almost certainly his high school nickname, if I remember high school.

– This is the best correction since this.

Please join us tonight for a Veteran’s Day gathering of 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 feel free to show up earlier to watch election returns.

Can’t make it to Seattle? Check out one of the other Washington state chapters of Drinking Liberally that meets over the next 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 Olympia chapters meet.

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

After any election loss, there is — or should be — a tendency to look at changing leadership. Since the election, it seems like there should be some consideration of who will lead the Democrats in the Senate (and the House, but we didn’t just lose it in the election). I haven’t seen much discussion of who it should be, so maybe the caucus will just keep Reid without much of a fight.

That would be fine, but since it’s as good a time as any in the foreseeable future, I’d like to see at least a good little fight for it. The fact that the Senate has been dysfunctional has largely been due to GOP obstruction. But Reid hasn’t been particularly able in his time in the Senate to get through that obstruction, at least when the Democrats didn’t have large majorities. The ACA and the stimulus were important, and we shouldn’t diminish them. But he wasn’t able to do much with Democrats’ majorities in the last election.

He is also more conservative than a lot of the caucus on some critical issues. The big one is that he’s anti-choice. It’s a problem making the full throttled argument against the GOP on reproductive rights issues when the leader of the Senate caucus isn’t even there on the issue. I’m sure there are some Red State senators who feel the opposite, and that we should look for ever more centrism. It’s a worthwhile argument to have.

My choice would be Patty Murray, because doy it is, but I could see several people who I’d prefer to have in the position instead of him. Do any of y’all have someone you’d like to see, or do you want to stay with him.

– Oh hey, it looks like the class size initiative is probably going to pass.

– I’m glad to read about the good work being done by the UW chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops [h/t]

– It’s a little late, but an immigration reform executive order sounds pretty OK.

– Chuck Todd is bad on policy even if he knows process.

– Welcome, Oregon to the you can get stoned at a gay wedding club.

– Oh man. The culture war is really heatingzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

– I know that light very well. The worst is then if the bridge is up.