Night owl chat – Everything Wrong with Wolverine

***

Chat on, night owls!

Preliminary thoughts on Cantor’s loss

This is huge.

Eric Cantor is not just some backbencher. This is as big as when Tom Foley lost his seat in the Gingrich Revolution.

And Cantor outspent his Teabagger opponent by 25-1. And lost. Humiliatingly.

Cantor was the epitome of the GOP establishment. And that helped him not a jot.

What this shows is that there is a ferment on the Right against politics as usual. But the Right is so far out of the mainstream that it opens a door for the center-left.

If Democrats learn anything from tonight’s results, it’s that the GOP is vulnerable. All GOP candidates will now lurch to the right to avoid Cantor’s fate. And in doing so, they will be positioning themselves out of the mainstream. What works in a GOP primary does not work in a general election, as Mitt Romney showed.

Gird your loins, Obots. Things just got interesting.

Chat on!

 

Keep chatting – Cantor humiliation edition

https://twitter.com/eliasisquith/status/476517336539992064

The #GOP's redistricting power grab is eating their own. Forcing the party into right field, and into the abyss of irrelevance. #VAPOL #2014

— Sen. Michael Garrett (@MichaelKGarrett) June 11, 2014

https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/476526909309075456 https://twitter.com/InaMaziarcz/status/476530156367257601 https://twitter.com/szorowitz/status/476528563106357248 https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/476529968714096642

***

Keep on chatting!

Chat On

Chat away

President Obama greets customers while having lunch at FireFlies Restaurant in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia on June 10

***

Chat away.

The President on Tumblr

4:0 EDT: The President delivers remarks and answers questions in a Tumblr event, State Dining Room

America? Do Better

74 school shootings since my mother was murdered at Sandy Hook. This is DISGUSTING. We're better than this, America! #NotOneMore

— Erica Leslie Lafferty (@ericalaff) June 10, 2014

Parents at Oregon school shooting: This has "been a big culture shock for my wife, she's from Iran."

— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) June 10, 2014

****

It has been zero days since the last mass shooting in the United States. http://t.co/2MWarNj5bn

— Rick Klau (@rklau) June 10, 2014

There's nothing 'free' about an America in which 100,000 people are shot every year.

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 10, 2014

****

Whistling towards the graveyard

From CNET: A bulletproof blanket seeks to shield kids during school shootings

Civilizations die from suicide, not  by murder.

– Arnold Toynbee

Let’s review a few news items from the past few days/months:

— A scofflaw rancher attracts a motley assortment of militia defenders threatening to shoot federal agents.

— A “sovereign citizen” in Georgia dies in a shootout with deputies while trying to take over a courthouse.

— Right wing extremists walk up to two Las Vegas police officers and shoot them, declaring the beginning of a revolution.

— A POW is released, and a sizable portion of the nation, instead of celebrating, rains down opprobrium upon the POW, his family, and President Obama.

And those are just off the top of my head. I could also include Senator Rand Paul tweeting that next time Pres. Obama does a prisoner swap, he should send five Democrats instead.

Things which were once beyond the pale have become commonplace, even excused. This isn’t something endemic solely to the Age of Obama. Oklahoma City happened on the watch of the previous Democratic president, who shares the trait of being demonized with Pres. Obama.

The pass in which we find ourselves has been long in gestation. It’s just been brought to gruesome birth upon the election and re-election of the nation’s first black President.

For close on two decades, the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and their cohorts on right wing hate radio and Fox News hate television have been providing a steady diet of outrage and conspiracy. But outrage and conspiracy are like heroin: each successive hit has to be more potent, has to up the high, as their acolytes seek to keep the outrage up, seek meaning for all the travails besetting them. Thus you get people like Alex Jones, who is more than willing to feed the addicts with ever more insane junk, upping the potency, wasting what’s left of their minds.

Rise and Shine

Randomness, in honor of the birthday girl: First Lady Michelle Obama hugs daughters Sasha, left, and Malia as they visit the Great Wall of China in Mutianyu, China, March 23, 2014 (Photo by Amanda Lucidon)

****

Today (all times Eastern)

10:45: The President signs H.R. 3080 and H.R. 1726; VP Biden also attends

12:30: Josh Earnest briefs the press

4:0: The President delivers remarks and answers questions in a Tumblr event, State Dining Room

****

The Week Ahead

****

****

Forbes: Since Obamacare Passed 50 Months Ago, Healthcare Has Gained Almost 1 Million Jobs

Obamacare was once called “The Job-Killing Health Care Law.” But the latest jobs report suggests that the broader economy — and the health care sector, specifically — is adding jobs at a healthy rate.

Since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in March 2010, the health care industry has gained nearly 1 million jobs — 982,300, to be more precise — according to Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates released on Friday.

Meanwhile, the rest of the economy has added 7.7 million jobs since March 2010, and for the first time, more people are working since the recession began five years ago.

Private-sector jobs also grew for the 51st straight month, Justin Wolfers observes at The Upshot, which ties the longest consecutive streak on record and overlaps with the passage of Obamacare 50 months ago. But that streak is piddling compared to health care, which just reported its 131st straight month of job gains.

More here

****

Playing President….. Being President…… pic.twitter.com/EeCBNv1CA7

— Kasai™ (@Kahsai) June 9, 2014

****

Charlie Rose’s Interview with Jay Carney

****

On This Day

President Obama listens as Press Secretary Robert Gibbs informs him about the shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, June 10, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama talks with Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs Phil Schiliro outside of the Oval Office, June 10, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama throws a football to Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland on the patio of the White House Chief of Staff, June 10, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza.)

President Obama looks at a map donated to the White House by the National Geographic Society, in the Oval Office, June 10, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

****

President Obama bids farewell to Personal Secretary Katie Johnson on her last day at the White House, June 10, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama leave the White House for Camp David, June 10, 2011

****

President Obama speaks as CEO of Deloitte Joe Echevarria (R), senior adviser to the President Valerie Jarrett (L) and equal pay supporters look on during an East Room event marking the 5oth anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, June 10, 2013

****

MoooOOOooorning everyone, sorry for the news-less R&S, a whole bunch of worky stuff has come up so I’m clean out of time. Will try to catch up later.

Early Bird Chat

Happy 13th Birthday, Sasha!

****

MoooOOOooorning – Happy Tuesday! A very early bird today, have to go out for a bit, will be back with Rise and Shine – but it might be late-ish.