State Department photo
Today's edition of quick hits:
* Secretary of State Hillary Clinton returns to work: "She was presented with a gift from her staff: protective head gear -- a football helmet with the State Department logo on the side as well as a football jersey with the number 112 on it, for the number of countries the secretary visited during her four-year tenure."
* Another Aurora shooting: "Four people, including a gunman who was suspected of taking hostages inside a house in Aurora, Colo, died Saturday after a standoff with the police, the authorities said."
* Good: "The Supreme Court refused to step into the emotionally charged debate over embryonic stem cell research Monday, declining to hear a case that sought to stop government funding on ethical grounds."
* Also good: "People discharged from the military under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' since November 10, 2004 who had only received one-half separation pay following their discharge but who otherwise would have received full pay now will be entitled to that full separation pay."
* Syria: "In a rare public appearance Sunday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dashed hopes that a negotiated settlement to the nation's civil war would be feasible anytime soon, delivering a speech in which he offered no hint that he is prepared to surrender power, negotiate with his opponents or halt his crackdown on armed rebels."
* China: "Hundreds of people gathered outside the headquarters of a newspaper office in southern China on Monday to show their support for journalists who had declared a strike to protest what they called overbearing censorship by provincial propaganda officials."
* For reasons that don't seem to make sense, a Republican state lawmaker in Connecticut condemned Gabby Giffords' Friday visit to Newtown. The state representative, DebraLee Hovey (R), later apologized.
* Dylan Matthews has the saddest graph you'll see today.
* And for all the flack he gets for appearing goofy at times, Vice President Biden sure is an effective policymaker.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Leave a Comment:
Great photo of HRC.
DebraLee Hovey, typical Republican.
"Sorry I was a horse's a$$hole, my bad".
Good to See you back in action Mrs.Clinton ! Put that helmet on and Blaze/Plow straight through the gop/tp Thugs , Knock them all on A$$'$ !
It occurred to me that in 1958 we banned, by federal law, switch blades. I guess there wasn't a powerful National Knife Association lobby.
I'm just saying
Notice that Republicans want to celebrate guns on January 19th. Also the day Georgia seceded from the Union.
I'm just saying...
It's also the day before Inauguration Day...
As if they needed to point out a target...
Zen and the art of political haiku
Hillary Clinton,
A dutiful statesman and
True-blue Democrat.
With thanks to Chris Matthews and Hardball, for pointing these out...
There's No One As Irish As Barack O'Bama - 2008
There's No One As Irish As Barack O'Bama - 2012
Don't let Debra Lee Hovey off too easily. Her "apology" was one of those weasely "I apologize to anyone who was offended..." things. Doesn't count.
Re: "The Rape Rectangle"
You guys on this blog are pretty bad with your graph recommendations. Please read the top comment on the link you provide, it says it all.
To sum up: I have no interest in defending rape, only in calling out sneaky graphs. Putting the "falsly accused" rapes in the bottom right is extremely sneaky to the point of lying. It's intention is to make it look like false ones are a tiny percentage "out of" the total rapes. Ridiculous! How could they know that? Clearly the bottom right rectangle is really "out of" the 2nd smallest rectangle in the top right.
Rape hater, Protector of Graphs,
JR
I have always wondered why it is ok to defend against rape with lethal force but it is not ok to punish rape with the death penalty.
Two reasons,
First, once the bastard is locked up he is no longer a threat to the public and one need not kill him to prevent immediate harm, and...
Second, not being sure of the existence or composition of Hell in the afterlife, I prefer to see rapists, child molesters, and killers rot in the Hell -on-Earth that is a concrete box in a maximum security prison.
Life without parole means he will die in prison, it is just a matter of how. Death at the hands of the State is designed to be painless. Death by shiv or heart attack in old age or prostate cancer is terribly painful.
Call me a sadist, but I prefer to see these guys suffer as long as possible and oppose the death penalty on that basis.
In Calif it costs $47,000 a year to imprison someone, $70,000 to build the cell. Calif spends $7,000 per year per student. It sure would be nice to "follow" the money.
I'd like to see them get life in prison but it's probably more like a few years during which they become "hardened".
But I'd really like to see the US lead the world on getting much harder on this crime.
Hear the crickets? No one comes to this site or watches this left wing network.Be nice to Ol' Willie, I may brang a little action to the doldrums of this snore-fest.
If no one comes to this site then how do you account for your presence? Are you a no one then? As to snore fest that is an apt description of your posts. Silly billhillie.
Coloradans! Stop shooting yourselves and other people! The Broncos haven't lost yet! (Low brow humor, I know. And I'm sorry.)
Glad to see HRC back and looking GREAT! I hope she continues to recover from that awful blood clot issue. Take care of yourself... We need you!
I think Joe Biden is great. He won me over with this eyeroll:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Y8AFctpjo