Marijuana & Obama: a legal way out
The voters of Washington state and Colorado have put the Federal government, especially President Obama, in a bind by legalizing (to varying degrees) marijuana. Article II of the Constitution requires...
View Article"The major parties are the same"--disproven.
Today's DOMA decision was 5-4.As Jesse Jackson said in 2000, the three main reasons to vote Democratic are the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court.
View ArticleObama's new jobs speech: bullshit.
I regret to say that Obama's speech today on middle-class jobs is bullshit.Bullshit for what he says, and—more importantly—bullshit for what he doesn't say.Obama's speech today is bullshit in the sense...
View ArticleHoax? "Democrats Against UN Agenda 21"
This is going around Facebook as real: http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/It smells like a hoax to me. I've done some Googling and found no analysis of whether it's real or a scam. Surely it's a...
View Articlesustainable housing opportunity (possible) (updated w/picture)
I can't make promises. But I may know of a house that could be available for someone willing to put in some sweat and TLC.My mom inherited her old family home, on a large lot in a small college town in...
View ArticleThursday: national low-wage worker strike
This will be brief--just to get the word out--I see no other diaries on this now up. From today's Time:Fast Food Strikes Go Viral: Workers Expected to Protest Low Wages in 35 Cities ThursdayBy Victor...
View Articlemy Hurricane Katrina story
Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on Monday, August 29, 2005.Within a few days it became obvious that the people of Louisiana needed more help than they were getting.My church in the suburbs of Atlanta...
View ArticleHow every Congresscritter voted on shutdown & default (w/spotlight: Georgia)
Final vote in the US House on ending the shutdown and lifting the debt ceiling was 285 to 144:Republicans: 87 yes, 144 no, 1 not votingDemocrats: 198 yes, 0 no, 2 not votingIndependents: noneHow each...
View Articlemeta: embed image in comment? (have fun!) (update!)
If someone smarter than me will please explain a simple way to:(a) embed an image in a comment (not a diary), with(b) appropriate sizing of the image,I would greatly appreciate it.The instructions on...
View ArticleNext marriage equality target: Alabama!
The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, challenging Alabama's refusal to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.The...
View ArticleDebunkings of Obamacare horror stories, collected
This is an attempt to collect, in one place, all the debunkings of all the right-wing Obamacare horror stories.If you know of any I missed, please add them in the comments.A number of the links in this...
View ArticleDK5 suggestion: load faster?
(1) A big THANK YOU to the tech gurus who keep this site humming.(2) I have fast cable internet, and I'm a subscriber, so I don't get ads. And my browser is Chrome, which is pretty fast. And my...
View ArticleScotland: both sides are wrong. Why we should care.
The pro-independence Scots say, "Don't worry about the currency, we can still use the British pound sterling. And if that falls through, we can probably use the euro."The pro-union Scots say, "The...
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… in which I save Europe from itself, and from Putin
We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent people. George OrwellObvious thing A: This is what happened to the unemployment rate when a country...
View ArticleOrwell on the 2014 elections
George Orwell, my favorite writer and intellectual hero, died in 1950. But he had much to say that seems awfully relevant this morning.The energy that actually shapes the world springs from...
View ArticleIt's 2016, dammit. Overview of contenders.
A look in The New Yorker, by Ryan Lizza, at Hillary Clinton and her most likely Dem challengers:—Martin O'Malley—Jim Webb—Bernie SandersIf you're tempted to comment, "but Bernie's not a Democrat,"...
View Articlevideos won't embed in comments?
Yesterday & again today, I've tried to embed YouTube videos in comments—as I've done many times before—but they refuse to embed.Anybody know what's changed?Or is my computer just demon possessed?Or...
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the Hillary alternative is now available
Hey, we could do worse.We probably will.Over the jump, the inevitable poll. And a video!
View ArticleDisability: GOP its own worst enemy (again)?
You may have read that the GOP's scapegoat du jour is the disabled.Though the Social Security Administration's own studies show the disability fraud rate is under 1%, Rand Paul is going around claiming...
View ArticleAla. marriage equality: legal analysis of the latest order
IAAAL (I Actually Am A Lawyer), though Constitutional law is not my specialty. (If any actual Constitutional lawyers are reading this, please comment! Adam B? Armando?)I have skimmed the latest order...
View Articlemissing Lincoln—150 years ago, and still
Today is the 150th anniversary of the last battle of the Civil War, fought in and around my adopted hometown of Columbus, Georgia, one day after the assassination of Lincoln—and, ironically, on Easter...
View ArticleSupreme Court disproves "the 2 major parties are the same"
Today's same-sex marriage decision is 5-4.The majority—recognizing the fundamental humanity of all people regardless of sexual orientation, and the fundamental equality of all Americans regardless of...
View Articlemarriage win: thank Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan is not merely a polarizing public figure. He's a polarizer even among polarizers, because his views do not fit neatly into conventional categories of conservative, liberal, green, or...
View ArticleGreece: explaining the inexplicable
Greece: a theory is emerging about what’s really behind the seemingly inexplicable developments of the last few months.The theory is that Germany wants Greece out of the euro, and Syriza wants Greece...
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Kos vs. Bernie: Homage to Catalonia
The Markos vs. Bernie outbreak here reminds me of Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. (If you haven't read it, stop what you're doing right now and order yourself a used copy, CHEAP, from Amazon or your...
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simple concept: Sanders & Black Lives Matter
If Sanders supporters and people whose #1 priority is racial justice can't figure out how to work together, there's just no friggin' hope.
View Articlebest shooting coverage: The Onion
Once again, The Onion has the best (really) coverage of the day's top story.Scroll all the way down. It will only take a minute or two. Trust me.
View ArticleSanders: little things mean a lot
Just a small thing, but it's revealing.From Bernie Sanders's opening statement in the recent debate:Today in America, we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth. African-American youth...
View ArticleHarry Reid stokes GOP chaos
Just a little schadenfreude to enjoy with your Wednesday morning coffee—from today's NY Times:Mr. Boehner is not the only leader on Capitol Hill who has been singing Mr. Ryan’s praises, and it is not...
View Articlebrief peek into SSA disability process
I'm a lawyer. Since 1997 I've concentrated on representing disabled people who are trying to get approved for Social Security disability benefits. For about 8 years now I've been concentrating on just...
View Articlereal reason for governors barring Syrian refugees
This will not surprise any regular Daily Kos readers. But—on the crisis du jour, the spasm of GOP governors issuing orders purporting to bar Syrian refugees—just to keep ourselves grounded in...
View ArticleDon't Panic! More support Sanders than Trump.
Will Bunch at philly.com:"Trump's national level of support -- according to the average compiled by Real Clear Politics -- is 30.4 percent of GOP primary voters, while Sanders, sitting in second place...
View ArticleHeyMikey's Simple (relatively) Non-Political (mostly) Health Insurance FAQs...
Most Daily Kos users probably are reasonably well-informed about their health insurance options. But perhaps you have questions, or perhaps you have friends or family who have questions. Here’s a basic...
View ArticleDK5 request
Dear beloved Daily Kos tech crew,Please give diarists the ability to insert line breaks in a diary that will not be deleted by the server. I repeatedly inserted them in my diary of today, and the...
View ArticlePipe down about polls. It's STILL too early.
ENOUGH of the poll fretting and blathering. Trump is still ahead! Hillary is still ahead! Bernie has gained or lost points! It doesn’t matter yetIt’s STILL too early for the polls to be significant. A...
View ArticleGOP superdelegates, state rules can't save GOP from Trump (or Cruz)
The rules are a little messy, but the bottom line—as explained by Frontloading HQ—seems to be the GOP’s “unbound” delegates (the closest GOP analogue to Democratic “superdelegates”):are awarded in the...
View ArticleNew Trump Campaign Song (by Mel Brooks)
I lied, it’s not new. It’s from the soundtrack album to Mel Brooks’s 1984 movie, To Be Or Not To Be. (The song was on the album only—not actually in the movie.) But that doesn’t matter, because the...
View ArticleOrwell explains Trump and "Second Amendment people"
The ever-indispensable Orwell, cluing us in on Trump from 1946:Many political words are … abused. The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable." The...
View ArticleOrwell on the 2016 Election Results
The energy that actually shapes the world springs from emotions—racial pride, leader-worship, religious belief, love of war—which liberal intellectuals mechanically write off as anachronisms, and which...
View Articleusefulness of idiots (for 2020)
Both of the following are true:(a) The (now re-banned) author of this diary is an idiot.(b) The author of that diary speaks for a significant number of people; and each of their votes counts just as...
View ArticleGodwin's Law suspended for next four years (maybe eight) (maybe longer?)
The news, um, "news" site run by Trump's campaign manager—whom Trump recently named his "Senior Counselor for the Presidency"—is quoting actual, real, no foolin' Nazi propaganda. Yes, the Hitler...
View ArticleDem leaders: here's your plan. (You're welcome.)
Attention Democratic leaders—here's your plan:(a) Call press conference.(b) Play the clip of candidate Trump on "60 Minutes," just 10 months ago:xYouTube Video(c) Read this:"We are holding a meeting of...
View ArticleVictim of healthcare system & economy needs help
This is a fundraiser for my friend Kristy, who’s Exhibit A in why the American healthcare system and economy are in searing need of reform.Kristy has been in the hospital 8 (eight) times since late...
View ArticleJesse Jackson on Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, etc., 2000
I wish I could find confirmation of this, but I can’t, so I’m relying on my memory. In 2000, when the Usual Suspects were saying it wasn’t worth voting for Al Gore, because the two major parties were...
View ArticleHomeless while working—health crisis, poverty wages, distance ... help Henry...
This is the story of two star-crossed lovers torn apart by … wait a minute.Henry and Kristy are somewhat star-crossed, yes. But they're being crucified mostly by several cruelties at the heart of...
View ArticleWarren on the overdose crisis
I haven’t decided who I’ll support in the upcoming primary season. But here’s something that sets Warren apart (so far).From Vox:Warren, along with Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), in 2018 introduced what...
View ArticleSanders: vote Biden
Surely this must be obvious. But I don’t see it on the front page. If it’s come and gone, please forgive me. But given the history of the Bernie Wars here (and I was a Bernie supporter), this bears...
View ArticleMy 20,000th Daily Kos comment
The Ukraine situation has really pulled me back into Daily Kos commenting, which I was mostly out of for several years. Two days ago, I made my 20,000th comment. FWIW, it’s here.
View ArticlePopular vote in last month's House elections
Popular vote, US House elections, November 2022:GOP: 54.5 millionDemocrats: 51.4 millionnon-voting adult US citizens: 137.8 million USA population ≈336 million.78% age 18 & up = 262.08 million.93%...
View Articletech update suggestion: fix block quotes
Dear Elfling and other DKos tech wizards:As long as you’re tweaking the code, please add to the list of needed code tweaks: fix the block quote function.When I’m drafting a comment with a block quote,...
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