When he became president, Obama retained Robert Gates as defense secretary. He was originally appointed by George W. Bush. “Because Gates had already been confirmed,” NBC News say, “he didn’t need to win Senate approval.” Years later, Gates revealed that “he was r[...]
September 26th, 2024 - 8:25 pm § in Politics, Republicans
Joe Kent is a Proud Boys fanboy
Joe Kent is running for Congress against first-term Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) in Washington’s 3rd district, who beat him in 2022. The contest is a rematch of Perez’s 2022 defeat of Kent by less than 1% of the vote (see results here). The district is nominally Republican, and th[...]
September 26th, 2024 - 7:41 pm § in Law and Courts
Do nitrogen gas executions work?
Of course they work. The method has been used twice now, and both those inmates are dead. So far, Alabama is the only state to execute anyone with nitrogen gas. It didn’t go off very well either time. The first the inmate “appeared conscious for several minutes into the execution, and sh[...]
Why you won’t know who won Pennsylvania on election night
Pennsylvania, unlike other states, doesn’t begin counting their mail ballots until election night. It’s a slow process. Signatures have to be matched, envelopes opened, and ballots removed and fed into the scanning machines. There are millions of these ballots, it’s done by hand, and it takes [...]
September 25th, 2024 - 11:32 pm § in Politics, Republicans
Pets are safer with Haitians than Republicans
Contrary to J. D. Vance’s claims lies, no pets in Springfield, Ohio have killed been killed by Haitian immigrants. Can’t say the same for his fellow Republicans: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, by her own admission, blasted her pup to bits in a gravel pit with a shotgun. Project 2025 spo[...]
About “little” jobs …
During an interview on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, Kamala Harris repeated that she worked at a McDonald’s in college. The interviewer then asked Harris about “little” and “big” jobs, but Harris cut in and said, “There’s no such thing as a little job.̶[...]
September 25th, 2024 - 9:07 pm § in Law and Courts
Public defenders aren’t optional
In the famous 1963 case Gideon v. Wainwright, made into a movie starring Henry Fonda (watch it below), the Supreme Court ruled states must provide indigent defendants with lawyers in criminal case (details here). In Washington, counties and cities employ public defenders for this task. But the state[...]
Trump declares Ukraine “can’t be rebuilt”
“Those cities are gone, they’re gone, and we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refused to make a deal, Zelensky,” Trump declared on Wednesday, September 25, 2024 (read story here), as he campaigns against the U.S. helping Ukraine defend itself. He assumes Putin is willing t[...]
When politicians go from contentious to vile
In a democracy, politicians reflect the thinking and attitudes of their constituents, or they wouldn’t be elected. And American politics have always been rowdy, often racist, and sometimes borderline violent. But at the end of the day, a congressman can choose to stay within civilized bounds, [...]
September 25th, 2024 - 2:03 pm § in Misc.
America’s greatest foods
Apple pie, of course, makes the list. So do hamburgers, chili, grits, spaghetti and meatballs, chocolate-chip cookies, and peanut-butter-and-jelly (popularly known as PBJ) sandwiches. Also two of my personal favorites, reuben sandwiches and clam chowder (seafood dishes are very popular here in Seatt[...]