Jake Tapper Signing Books in Wilmington on 14 January

On Monday, (next Monday!) January 14th, Jake Tapper (from ABC News, now at CNN)) will be in Wilmington signing books and participating in an event to discuss the topic of this book with 4 of the participants. Tapper has a recent book, called The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor. This book tells the story of an attack on an American outpost in Afghanistan -- Compound Outpost Keating -- where 53 American soldiers were attacked by 400 Taliban fighters.

Monday Open Thread [1.7.13]

The Sunday Yack Shows yesterday were full of discussions of Government Shutdown if the GOP doesn't get what it wants to raise the debt ceiling. From here, it looks like they want the Democrats to propose a bunch of budget cuts that the GOP can run against in 2014. Have I got that wrong? As you think about the stupidity of this demand, you might want to read this piece from The Atlantic, which asks, Are People Being Unfair to the House Republicans? Steve LaTourette is interviewed and asked to defend the 112th GOP caucus.

What’s Going On In Steubenville?

I have been following the Steubenville rape story for a while, but I haven't written about it... until now.  This post won't be about who should face criminal charges - I don't know enough to make that call.  But what I do know is vile. If you aren't familiar with the story, the NYT has written an extensive piece.
Some in the crowd, which would grow to close to 50 people, arrived with beer. Those who did not were met by cases of it and a makeshift bar of vodka, rum and whiskey, all for the taking, no identification needed. In a matter of no time, many of the partygoers — many of them were high school athletes — were imbibing from red plastic cups inside the home of a volunteer football coach at Steubenville High at what would be the first of several parties that night. “Huge party!!! Banger!!!!” Trent Mays, a sophomore quarterback on Steubenville’s team, posted on Twitter, referring to one of the bashes that evening. By sunrise, though, some people in and around Steubenville had gotten word that the night of fun on Aug. 11 might have taken a grim turn, and that members of the Steubenville High football team might have been involved. Twitter posts, videos and photographs circulated by some who attended the nightlong set of parties suggested that an unconscious girl had been sexually assaulted over several hours while others watched. She even might have been urinated on.

Distressed by Boehner, wingnut radio star talker calls for third party

I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever agreed with nutbag Michael Savage.
The conservative radio host Michael Savage Sunday called for a third, "nationalist" American political party to challenge the Republican Party on the right of the political spectrum. “We need a nationalist party in the United States of America,” said Savage on Aaron Klein's WABC radio show.

Sunday Open Thread [1.6.13]

Who knew there would be snow and ice this AM? The traffic reports were full of issues, so I stayed home instead of going to Philly today. This is what I've been reading:

Outrage in Milford (Update: The Signs are coming down)

Click through for a larger version I saw this picture on Facebook, from a liberal friend downstate, who was sharing it via an original posting of the very nonliberal Dan Gaffney. It is nice to know that the outrage concerning this photo is bipartisan. And what is so outrageous about it, you ask? Well, you can read what it says in English. In Spanish it says "You have to have a permit to play here or you will be arrested." So if you are a white English speaking "American," you can play here at your own risk so long as you have a parent or guardian watching. If you are brown, if you dare play here without a permit we will arrest your immigrant ass. That is the fucking height of racism, and I will see to it that who ever is responsible for this sign will have their public careers ended immediately.

Saturday Open Thread [1.5.13]

If you are still recovering from all of the revelry and working on getting back to it on Monday, maybe you'll have some time to sit down with a cup of hot something and read some of these longish pieces from recent publications.

5,000,000 other Earths in The Milky Way Galaxy

One of those 5,000,000 is going to be the very first very earth-like planet to be discovered - THIS YEAR!   That means science's long held dream of sex with blue chicks is just around the corner. So, let's do the math.   If only .00001 percent have intelligent life on them,  that's 50 planets that can come and rescue our sorry asses with their pyramid power.  Either that or use us for food.

Holy Shi… Look who might have solved the phoney debt ceiling “crisis”

Michael Castle: Unsuspecting godfather of the $1 trillion coin solution The story starts in 1995, when Rep. Michael Castle, then the Republican at-large representative for Delaware, took over as head of the House Financial Services subcommittee on domestic and international monetary policy. Issues of coinage were part of that subcommittee’s jurisdiction, and so Castle — who tells me that he personally has never collected coins or previously hadn’t had much interest in coin issues — started working with coin collectors and others to draft legislation on the topic. Castle’s biggest accomplishment in the role was the 50-state quarter program, which involved issuing 50 differently designed quarters in the order the states were admitted to the Union (it isn’t a coincidence that Castle’s home state of Delaware was the first admitted). But he also drafted a bill, the Commemorative Coin Authorization and Reform Act of 1995, that included this provision:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of the Treasury may mint and issue platinum coins in such quantity and of such variety as the Secretary determines to be appropriate.