There was a great Marxist called Lenin
Who did two or three million men in.
That's a lot to have done in,
But where he did one in
That grand Marxist Stalin did ten in.

  Nancy Pelosi has been used as a Republican boogeywoman for years with, essentially, impunity,  Now, some Democrats are inoculating themselves against against such attacks on Mrs. Pelosi by shying away from or trying to jettison her.

 Such courage, especially when using the saw of needing someone younger---where the likely replacement for the 78 year old Pelosi will be Steny Hoyer, age 78.  

 Yes, there is talk of a real younger leader, maybe in the 60ish age zone, but this effort may only result in a contentious leadership election,  something not needed when so close to the 2018 mid-term elections.  After all the goal is to win the House not to defeat the Democratic leader.  And, the former does not depend on the later...in electoral reality, just in Republican scare tactics.

The Democrats might try presenting a case for Mrs. Pelosi--hardly an elitist. For example, it was Mrs. Pelosi who dragged the ACA across the finish line. And, from the Democratic House members perspective, Mrs. Pelosi is the most effective fundraiser...providing resources for the campaigns of the younger members/candidates.  And, she knows how to manage her caucus.

Some Democrats in the House may be persuaded not to support Mrs. Pelosi owing to the successful distancing of her by Connor Lamb...a special election and special case.

 Or, maybe some feel overwhelmed and defenseless by the stepped-up attacks on the liberal Pelosi by the odious Mike Pence.

Since its late and I had to get it in route very few live people have given me feed back.  So I requested it while standing in line at the PO.

Regarding your point that he was "[l]argely responsible for the Ninth Circuit's (inaccurate) reputation as an out-of-step 'liberal' appeals court," some of us here might also remember Stephen Reinhardt as presiding judge of the 9th Circuit panel that upheld U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's August 2010 ruling in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the landmark decision in which Walker had determined that California's Proposition 8-imposed ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. SCOTUS refused to overturn Reinhardt on that one.

I've often heard Judge Reinhardt and his political contemporary, retired California State Senate President John Burton, referenced in local media as the "last liberal lions" in public service, which of course is nonsense. Those two men were merely one of many liberals who've served, albeit they were among the best of the pride. And no doubt, they will continue to inspire others to join the cause.

Lord knows my mother, siblings and I are doing it right now regarding my younger sister and the extent of her alcoholism. We all saw the warning signs this past fall that her life was spiraling out of control and her health was in serious decline as a result of her drinking. For whatever our reasons, we rationalized our concerns and told ourselves it wasn't as bad as it appeared. It took her heart attack and resultant hospitalization -- and now, rehabilitation -- to compel us to acknowledge that she had a major problem which required our help.

I'm just so done with working - I'll miss the paycheck, but I haven't ruled out picking up some part-time work at some point.

I was 5 at the time, but it left a distinct impression on me and I subsequently named my favorite Teddy Bear Winnie - after Winnie Mandela, not Winnie the Poo, and I was very clear about this distinction.

At the time I didn't know much, but I knew that even as a child I was impressed by this woman who wasn't standing in her husband's shadow, but had her own power and her own voice.

I'll end here with Trevor Noah's thoughts on Winnie:

""Because so many of the struggle leaders in South Africa were either imprisoned or exiled, the movement in South Africa was held together in large part by women in the country," Noah said.

"I grew up in a world that was very matriarchal and where women were the most dangerous freedom fighters that existed," he added.

"Nelson Mandela was an icon, but the police in the country were afraid of Winnie Mandela."

Noah shared a South African phrase still used today, popularised during the 1956 Women's March against apartheid: "Wathint' abafazi, wathint' imbokodo'."

The final report of the South African Truth and Reconciliation commission, issued in 1998, found "Ms Winnie Madikizela Mandela politically and morally accountable for the gross violations of human rights committed by the MUFC" and that she "was responsible, by omission, for the commission of gross violations of human rights."[5] In 1992, she was accused of ordering the murder of Dr. Abu-Baker Asvat, a family friend who had examined Seipei at Mandela's house, after Seipei had been abducted but before he had been killed.[22] Mandela's role was later probed as part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, in 1997.[23] She was said to have paid the equivalent of $8,000 and supplied the firearm used in the killing, which took place on 27 January 1989.[24] The hearings were later adjourned amid claims that witnesses were being intimidated on Winnie Mandela's orders.[25]

It reminds me of this ballad (which makes me cry) from True Grit which I'm told is a hymn sung by the particular American Protestant denomination that handles snakes to demonstrate how the Holy Spirit protects them from harm:

He tried to resign, it wasn't accepted. Even by the low current White House standards, he's mailing it in and hoping for a pink slip.

An educated citizenry is much harder to bamboozle. The Reagan years were also when grade schools and high schools started phasing out the teaching of civics and American government.

I realize I went to school in the dark ages of the 1950s and 1960s. Still, we had a required civics class in 8th grade and a required American government class and an American history class in high school. Could not graduate without them.

Additionally, at that time Illinois, where i was raised, required that all 8th graders pass tests on the Illinois constitution, the U.S. constitution, and flag etiquette. Had to take and pass a more advanced version of these tests to graduate from high school.

Now, these requirements were enacted during the Red Scare in the Fifties to keep us all from becoming Communists. They came from a place of fear on the part of Illinois legislators, but it was still a good idea.

-- In a 1997 appearance, Stern and Trump talked about the possibility of requiring women to get HIV tests before Trump would have sex with them. "I wouldn't say I do this, but you could send lots of people you really like to the doctor before you ever get to know them," Trump suggests.

Stern then followed up on a line of questioning he had started in an earlier interview (which has been available previously, and widely discussed) in which Trump agreed with Stern's suggestion that Trump "could have nailed" the recently deceased Princess Diana. Stern again posits that Trump "could have nailed her."

Referring back to their discussion of HIV testing, the radio host then acted out a scene where Trump tells her to get tested first. "Hey Lady Di, would you go to the doctor?" Stern mockingly asks. Trump then gets in on the joke, imagining the conversation with the British royal. "Go back over to my Lexus, because I have a new doctor," he says, as if addressing her. "We wanna give you a little checkup."

If you have some wild speculation about condoms or the lack of condoms, feel free to post it.

Could it be that he's livid that Rosenstein gave Mueller the authority to investigate Manafort's Ukrainian ties?

In a federal court filing submitted Monday night, prosecutors for special counsel Robert Mueller revealed that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave Mueller the specific authority to investigate former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort's work for Ukrainian officials and his time in the Trump campaign.

The revelation came in the Mueller team's response to Manafort's push to dismiss the Washington, D.C. indictment brought against him by arguing that Mueller did not have the power to investigate his work lobbying for Ukrainian officials.

[...]

The August 2, 2017 memo attached to the Monday night filing grants Mueller the authority to investigate allegations that Manafort "committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials with respect to the Russian government's efforts to interfere with the 2016 election for President of the United States" and "committed a crime or crimes arising our of payments he received from the Ukrainian government before and during the tenure of President Viktor Yanukovych."

Thank you to Rasmussen for the honest polling. Just hit 50%, which is higher than Cheatin' Obama at the same time in his Administration.

Pruitt's going behind the WH's back to give raises - huge ones - to two of his aides may just do it:

After the White House rejected a request to grant significant raises to two of his top aides last month, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt used a loophole in a law meant to ease the hiring of environmental experts to give the staffers raises himself, the Atlantic reported Tuesday.

The raises went to Pruitt's senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt and EPA scheduling director Millan Hupp, the Atlantic reported. Their pay increased from $107,435 to $164,200 and $86,460 to $114,590, respectively. Both staffers had worked for Pruitt when he was Oklahoma attorney general.

The Safe Drinking Water Act allows Pruitt to hire up to 30 people without White House or congressional approval. But instead of using that authority to hire environmental experts needed in certain understaffed offices at the agency, the Atlantic reported, Pruitt used it to give Greenwalt and Hupp the increased salaries he'd wanted -- after the White House had rejected his request for the raises, according to unnamed sources familiar with those aspects of the story.

When the Manafort lawyers filed their brief, the RWNJs high-fived and spiked their law books in the end zone, because Mueller had just been BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER!

Mueller let them celebrate and when they had finally stopped applauding, he produced the memo from the duly constituted authority, specifically written to counter any such argument.

"Oh, that?"

Rustle, rustle.

Before Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt rented a room from a top DC energy lobbyist, that lobbyist and his wife funded Pruitt's efforts to climb the political ladder in his home state of Oklahoma.

Campaign finance records in the state show that Steven and Vicki Hart, the power couple who last year rented Pruitt a room in their Capitol Hill home for $50 per night, began donating to Pruitt's campaigns for Oklahoma attorney general in 2010. Steven Hart even hosted a fundraiser for Pruitt's reelection effort.

The cascading controversy over Pruitt's living arrangements has roiled his standing in the administration. The New York Times reported on Monday that a client of Hart's firm, Williams & Jensen, received EPA approval for an oil pipeline project while Pruitt rented a room in Hart's home. Also on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the White House was investigating Pruitt's conduct. And on Tuesday, The Washington Post revealed that a top Pruitt aide who oversaw a pair of allied political groups had been tasked with finding living arrangements for the administrator in Washington.

But one detail has remained murky: how, and when, the relationship between Pruitt and the Harts began. A Daily Beast review of public records reveals that that relationship goes back years, and has resulted in significant financial upside for Pruitt's political operation