“… Politico had covered the Civil War?” Michael Schaffer, at The New Republic:
…NOT-S0-GREAT EMANCIPATOR: “Lincoln Proclamation Stirs Controversy,” by Jethraux VandeHei: “Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation was bound to rile opponents who already viewed the president as high-handed and arbitrary… Senior White House officials assert that Lincoln has the authority to free slaves under the Constitution’s war-making provision. But Congressional Democrats have vowed to hold hearings, which could put border-state Republicans in an awkward position…. Lincoln is risking his presidency and his reputation on the uncertain notion that future generations will eventually appreciate the end of slavery.”
WEST-WING MINDMELD: This shows a direct, decisive president, something that will improve Lincoln’s ability to get his agenda through Congress.
FORMER GEN.-IN-CHIEF GEORGE MCCLELLAN, on MORNING JEHOSEPHAT: “Lincoln has flip-flopped once again on emancipation…. Washington politicians are doing an end run around the Constitution… I think we need less polarization and divisiveness during a civil war. A leader needs to stand up to extremists and reach out across the aisle. Lincoln has not led.” 1864 TEA LEAVES: “I am not ruling anything out, but I’m not ruling anything in.”
PLAY-BOOK FACTS OF LIFE: If the president can convince the public that he emancipated slaves simply to preserve the union, the story will blow over. If it emerges that he actually issued the proclamation because he believes involuntary bondage is an immoral affront to human dignity, we could be looking at months of hearings…
Easy pickings, but still (sadly) hilarious.
What’s on the agenda for the evening?
aimai
100 percent of Win in a 5 pound bag. To mix my metaphors.
Yatsuno
@aimai: There’s mixing metaphors and then there’s metaphor cocktail. You achieved the latter rather nicely.
jeffreyw
New kitteh, we are working up a plan to merge him into the pride.
2liberal
GO RED SOX !!
agrippa
That is a good description of what passes for political ‘news’ and ‘analysis’.
But, Sherman did hate reporters.
ranchandsyrup
Cinderellas at the pumpkin patch over the weekend.
burnspbesq
Finally, an open thread into which I can drop this tiny bomblet of good news.
http://www.lawfareblog.com/2013/10/u-s-notifies-criminal-defendant-of-its-intention-to-use-fisa-information-against-him/
Apparently, Verrilli had to fight fairly hard within DOJ to make the representation he made to the Supremes during oral argument in the Clapper case not false.
So now, somebody who really does have standing can challenge the Constitutionality of the FISA Amendments Act. Bout damn time.
Citizen_X
In before somebody else gets there: XKCD’s 20th century headlines rewritten to get more clicks
Example: 1955-“Avoid polio with this one weird trick”
burnspbesq
@Citizen_X:
The only problem is that 58 years later, far too many people really do believe that vaccination is a
weird trickconspiracy between Commies and Satanists.shelly
Some good news….
“Federal judge rules key provisions of controversial Texas abortion law unconstitutional”
Jebediah, RBG
@ranchandsyrup:
Super cute!
ranchandsyrup
@Jebediah, RBG: thx! proud poppa.
satby
@ranchandsyrup: awww, Saree! Adorable!
satby
@satby: That’s supposed to say “sqeee” Damn autocorrect.
Angela
@ranchandsyrup: Awwww. That’s some gorgeousness.
burnspbesq
@shelly:
Link to opinion.
http://www.txwd.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Cases/13cv862_Opinion.pdf
kindness
Bought a Balloon Juice calendar today. Now I gotta figure out how it will take priority over the one that is already in waiting from my other half.
Moar critters, that’s why.
burnspbesq
@shelly:
After one quick reading of the opinion, it doesn’t look like much of a win.
The admitting-privileges rule is struck down in its entirety.
The restriction on the use of Plan B between 49 and 63 days after last period is struck down only in cases where the woman’s doctor makes a good-faith medical judgment that a surgical abortion is not a feasible alternative.
No other part of the legislation is mentioned at all, so presumably the no abortions after 20 weeks provision and the no abortions except in surgical facilities provision will go into effect as scheduled.
The state has already filed an emergency appeal with the Fifth Circuit. My money is on a stay being entered within the next 90 minutes.
FlipYrWhig
That parody was spot. on. @aimai: Don’t leave off the Awesome Sauce. Good in cocktails and, um, bags.
HinTN
Comment site loading slow for anyone else?
Update: Nevermind
PsiFighter37
Had to take the day off of work – something didn’t sit well with me food-wise yesterday, and I spent most of the morning light-headed and alternating between sweating and freezing in bed. Had a couple servings of chicken noodle soup and feel better now, but still have a bit of a headache. I’ve got to make it into work tomorrow, so trying to figure out what kind of dinner I can order without upsetting the delicate equilibrium I’ve reached for the time being.
mdblanche
If you go back and read what the political reporters of the day wrote about President Lincoln, it’s not that far off from this. Political reporting never changes but at least in 150 years nobody will remember the name or the work (sic) of any Village idiot alive today.
kc
@jeffreyw:
He’s ADORABLE!
Anna in PDX
@jeffreyw: AWWWW what a cutie!
Violet
@PsiFighter37: Do you have any probiotics in the house or can someone go get some? They really do work when you’ve got stomach problems. Take way more than you’d normally take. A family member did this after the very worst stomach bug I’ve ever seen anyone have, and it helped speed the recovery.
Wally Ballou
@2liberal: 1-0 lead in the first.
Mnemosyne
@jeffreyw:
SQUEEEE!
Mnemosyne
@PsiFighter37:
Food poisoning. Keep an eye on your fever (that’s what the alternating sweating/freezing thing was) and stay hydrated as best you can. (Popsicles are your friend.) The rule of thumb is, clear liquids for the first 24 hours that you can keep things down. If you get too dehydrated, you may need to take a trip to Urgent Care or the ER.
If you have some Dramamine in the house, that can give you some relief from the vomiting, but it’s your body trying to get rid of the pathogen, so you don’t want to start taking it too soon.
ETA: The headache is probably dehydration, so drink as many liquids as you can keep down. This is one thing that Gatorade is actually good for.
WereBear
@jeffreyw: Orange sherbert!
Love it.
MomSense
@Citizen_X:
So funny! Only problem with XKCD is that I just spent about 30 minutes going through previous comics with my kids. That site is totally addictive.
MomSense
@ranchandsyrup:
AWWWW, very sweet and lovely Cinderellas.
MomSense
@PsiFighter37:
I have the same thing and work was torture today. Two of the boys stayed home from school and now the third isn’t looking so good. I think it is a virus. Hopefully it will pass quickly and you will feel better tomorrow.
I had miso broth for dinner and it settled my stomach.
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
My brother caught norovirus last winter. He couldn’t keep anything but liquids down for a week (and liquids were sometimes iffy, too).
Omnes Omnibus
@PsiFighter37: I had it Friday. I felt a little iffy Thursday night. Friday was a write off. By Saturday evening, I was pretty much over it.
Anne Laurie
@PsiFighter37: Standard recommendation for recovering from ‘tummy bugs” is what the pediatricians call the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. Maybe order Chinese, one of the blander chicken dishes over rice?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Oh this bit is precious
ROFL
HumboldtBlue
As funny and as spot-on as the Civil War piece is, it’s also eerily accurate of the time. People wrote very similar things about Lincoln, a man who was deeply hated by many in the north and deeply mistrusted by many others.