20-Word Fiction: Sunday Night with Clarence Thomas

We dedicate this post to 'my congressman' Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) who is playing a came of kick the can to prevent President Barack Obama to finding a Supreme Court justice to replace Antonin Scalia who died while on a hunting trip to Texas.

If November's election were on Tuesday and Goodlatte were to run against Woody Woodpecker, the red-haired bird would get my vote.

Though he is to the left of us, as we support Hillary Clinton while he supports Bernie Sanders, many years ago left-wing documentary filmmaker proposed running ficus plants against embodied, entrenched members of Congress; we fully agree with him on that point!

Here is our short, short, short story:

"The Supreme Court in my mind has voted 4-3 to stay awake; of course, Justice Clarence Thomas abstains as always."

http://www.michaelmoore.com

Super Tuesday 4 Tweets: Bernie Wins Rhode Island

Tonight, we are featuring the Baltimore Orioles mascot as the state of Maryland joined Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware and Pennsylvania in having Democratic and Republican primaries today. Hillary Clinton won four of the five blue state primaries with her challenger Bernie Sanders (pict top) from Vermont winning in Rhode Island.

Donald Trump swept all five of the primaries, but given that each of the states in play are blue states, voter turn-out was significantly lower for the Republicans. But, that did not stop Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ, pict. bottom) from standing by his man Donald Trump during the Donald's 'victory speech' tonight.

Here are the tweets; yeah, we have a center-left bias here, but some of these tweets actually do not:

1) Nate Cohn: Clinton took the lead in Connecticut thanks to a massive 87-13 margin in the wealthy town of Grenwich.

2) Ken Rudin: Trump had a stunning night tonight. There is absolutely no reason for him to be reading a litany of slights he's endured.

3) Chris Cillizza: Cruz keeps getting a pass on finishing third in these northeastern states. He shouldn't. This is the guy who is supposed to beat Trump.

4) David Corn: Waiting for Chris Christie to raise his hand and ask if he can go to the bathroom.

5) Shirley Henry (NPR): Trump citing Sanders: 'He's been telling the truth' about Clinton. 'I think Bernie Sanders should run as an independent. I think he's do great.'

6) Donna Brazile: Oh God! Trump is using Bernie to attack Hillary and trying to drive a wedge.

7) John Fugelsang: For the last 7 minutes, Chris Christie's brain has been saying: 'Recalculating. Recalculating. Recalculating."

8) Robert Costa (Washington Post): NJ Gov Chris Christie with Trump, standing to the candidate's right, Pa Cong. Lou Burletta to Trump's left.

9) Jennifer Levitz (WSJ): Rhode Island voter Connie Swanson, 79, calls any effort to deny Trump the nomination 'sleazy, very sleazy.'  

GOP Debate from Iowa Minus Trump Tweets (3 of 3): Everyone Hates Bernie.......

Wow! This is somehow our 2,750th entry. Of course, when we started this blog, it was in 2005 and Steve Jobs was still alive and perhaps still parking his Mercedes in handicapped parking spaces.

Since we adore irony here, we are starting with an image of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) the democratic socialist who has somehow become Hillary Clinton's main Democratic challenger and nemesis; yes, Bernie is not a Republican, in fact, they really seem to hate him.

The image in the middle is an Iowa wind farm, and the guy in the last photo is Gov. John Kasich, whom the average seventh grader at Stillwell Junior High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, has probably still never heard of.

Here are the tweets:

1) Benjamin Freed (Washingtonian magazine): Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a prime minister.

2) Brian McFadden (liberal): I'll risk Sweden and it's Seasonal Affective Disorder over the no-government Republican ideal of Somalia.

3) Matthew Yglesias (liberal): Bernie is probably not left-wing enough to lead the Swedish social democrats.

4) Jonah Goldberg (conservative): I think Kasich should have a costume change between every answer, Roman centurion, cowboy, French maid, Klingon warrior........etc.

5) Jonathan Chait (liberal): The immigration round was like The Departed.

6) Marco Rubio (he tweeted during the debate??!!! Oh, it's from his helpers, right....): Let me be clear, there is only one Savior, and it's not me.

7) Dan Zak (Washington Post): Kasich was raised Catholic, but is now Anglican, has a brother who has dealt with mental health issues.

8) Dave Rubin: Solid answer by Christie. Your personal faith should doesn't trump the law. Simple as that.

9) Secular Talk: Chris Christie asked about Kim Davis*, deflects and attacks ISIS. Of course....

*-Davis is the controversial country clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

Democratic Forum Tweet (3 of 3): That's a Wrap

With images of Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley (pict. top), MSNBC talk show host Rachel Maddow (pict. center) and They Might Be Giants (we are using them to fill space, and it looks a suitable image for a finale). TMBG is actually on tour right now in Australia.

O'Malley is running against Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Dick Cheney (that's a joke) for the Democratic party's 2016 presidential nominee.

Tonight's debate took place at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, where my late grandfather Dudley "Doc" Sturgis once taught economics. We also noticed the sharp irony that the last GOP debate took place at Colorado University in Boulder, Colo., a progressive college town, and the current Democratic debate is taking place in a zip code which has probably voted for every Republican candidate since Chester Arthur.

Here are the tweets:

1) Secular Talk: Bernie Sanders runs circles around the other candidates when it comes to both substance and confident messaging.

2) Catholic Democrats: Bernie Sanders has become a lot sharper when discussing racial disparities and ways to address racial inequality.

3) Pat Bagley (liberal political cartoonist for The Salt Lake Tribune): Bernie Sanders isn't proposing anything more radical than what Eisenhower implemented in the '50s.

4) Suzy Khimm (liberal journalist with "The New Republic"): Free points for media-bashing wooooooo.....

5) E.J. Dionne, center-left columnist for the Washington Post: Smart move by Bernie Sanders to criticize 'stupid' Republican attacks on each other and to say Democrats don't want to campaign like that.

6) Andrea Mitchell (NBC News reporter): Rachel Maddow to Bernie Sanders: What is the misconception about you? He says people think I'm grumpy.

7) Anna Douglas (Rock Hill Herald): Maddow asking the gun Q. Had to know this was coming.

8) Jessica Valenti (The Guardian, UK): I really do enjoy watching Bernie.

9) Zaid Jilani (progressive Muslim activist): Bernie is doing well in this Dem Forum. He's coming off as very loose; I think better than the debate."

http://www.theymightbegiants.com/

http://yorkdems.com/

http://scdp.org/

http://www.msnbc.com/

http://www.heraldonline.com/

http://www.winthrop.edu

Democratic Forum from Rock Hill, SC Tweets (2 of 3): Are Folks Watching This in Liverpool?

We are continuing our tweet coverage of the Democratic Candidate Forums from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, near Charlotte, NC, where the Carolina Panthers play (center image is of Panthers cheerleaders). Bernie Sanders (pict. top) is one of three presidential candidates in the field that also includes Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley.

Since we are wondering if anyone across the pond in Liverpool, England, UK, where Emre Can (pict. bottom; his last name is pronounced like 'John') plays for Liverpool FC which defeated the Russian team Rubin Kazan 1-0 in European play on Thursday.

We mixed in two sports along with the tweets about the debate.

Here are the tweets:

1) Secular Talk: Too bad Jim Webb dropped out. He would've told Rachel Maddow specifics on that dude he killed.

2) Jessica Valenti ("The Guardian" UK): LOL! Martin O'Malley's most impractical item of clothing: a kilt. Finally a stupid ass fashion question for a dude.

3) Lex Alexander (progressive activist): A kilt is impractical?? I'M NOT VOTING FOR O'MALLEY.

4) Bakari Sellers (former SC Democratic state legislator): Martin O'Malley is rolling tonight. Doing very well in this environment. His optimism is refreshing.

5) Ana Kasparian (liberal tv talk show host): Glad O'Malley is attacking for profit prisons. But I wonder why is it nothing is ever done and talked about?

6) Karen Loftus (WDBJ-7, CBS/Roanoke, Va.): HALF: GW Danville 21 Magna Vista 7.

7) Roger Simon (Politico): O'Malley: 'Contrary to Donald Trump's assertion, the enduring symbol of this country is not the barb-wire fence but the Statue of Liberty.'

8) Martin O'Malley: I did not allow private prisons in Maryland. I would not allow private prisons in our country either.

9) Duke Volleyball: Set 3: Georgia Tech starts the third set with a 6-4 lead over Duke.

http://www.winthrop.edu

http://www.duke.edu

http://www.politico.com

Democratic Forum Debate Tweets from Winthrop U (1 of 3): Live from Rock Hill, SC, it's Saturday Night Live........

Welcome to those of you in Greece where perhaps tourists heading to Turkey, my late father's country, have decided to stay put following the re-election of ultra right wing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, perhaps they will join Syrian refugees who have decided not to head north to Serbia!

Tonight's Democratic Party Forum at Winthrop U in Rock Hill, SC, is perhaps just over now, but we got some tweets from the debate including one from Bakari Sellers, a former Democratic state legislature from Denmark, SC, who was at the debate himself (he is a contributor to CNN; yet he slams the media in his tweet).

Our images are of Democratic Party front-runner Hillary Clinton (top), a bald eagle (center, since Winthrop's mascot is an eagle), and Dale Earnhardt Jr., since the band Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (now Jr. Jr.) was playing gig at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, where everyone not watching the debate in the nation's capital were probably gathered.

Here are the tweets:

1) Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, SC, newspaper, earlier in the day): "Rand Paul talks about Keystone XL while stumping in Spartanburg." (the GOP candidate Paul later went to Rock Hill).

2) Overheard in Newsroom (not about the debate, but we thought it was amusing): "Those pesky interns with their creative impulses and their hope."

3) Shane Goldmacher (Politico): "So Marco Rubio is asking for Scott Walker's endorsement."

4) Ken Rudin: "Ben Carson, accused of making things up and not being truly informed, announces he would appoint Judge Reinhold to the Supreme Court." (This is a joke, Judge Reinhold was a teen movie actor in the '80s).

5) Jack Miller (Clinton campaign): "Hillary Clinton supporters loud and proud! Turnout is amazing!"

6) Martin O'Malley: Hillary Clinton wants to go after Jeb Bush for making excuses on guns. But, she did the same thing in 2008."

7) Washington Post: "Amid national coverage about race, Yale acknowledges failing its minorities."

8) Shannon Greene ("Rock Hill Herald" reporter): Meet Hillary "fangirl," Madison Kimrey, the first in line for the debate.

9) Bakari Sellers: Mainstream Media....there is one reason your Bernie is making a comeback like in '08 is really off, Bernie is not Barack Obama. You're welcome.

http://www.930.com

Democrats Who May Run for President in 2014: Hillary Plus Nine

There was a great cover for the center-left magazine "The New Republic" which showed Hillary Clinton is a room with 100 women who were wearing Elizabeth Warren masks. The presumed point the illustrator was making is that Hillary Clinton has two challenges, besides separating herself from husband Bill Clinton, that is: 1) rallying younger and more progressive voters to her political bid for the highest office and 2) maintaining the support of centrist or even conservative Democrats who could help Democrats maintain Virginia and Florida and possibly gain North Carolina and Georgia in 2016.

Here is our look at ten Democrats we feel may very well choose to run for president in the 2016 cycle; we should point out to folks that we are NOT Gwen Ifill, the veteran PBS politics reporter:

1) Hillary Clinton (New York,pictured top)

2) Sen. Mark Warner (Virginia, pictured middle)

3) Sen. Tim Kaine (Virginia)

4)  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass., pictured bottom)

5) Gov. Martin O'Malley (Maryland)

6) Gov. Andrew Cuomo (New York)

7) Gov. Deval Patrick (Mass.)

8) Sen. Cory Booker (New Jersey)

9) Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (New York; she replaced Clinton in the Senate)

10) Vice President Joe Biden (Delaware)

http://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/

http://www.newrepublic.com/

http://www.rollcall.com/

Pre-Convention Tweets from DNC in Charlotte, NC

Tomorrow night, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) gets underway in Charlotte, NC, tomorrow, so we checked out some tweets from earlier in the day, here they are; incidentally Chubby the bear is the mascot of Charlotte Checkers, a minor league hockey team, and Marc Anthony (pictured above) is singing the National Anthem at the DNC:

1) @steelbackbone (Steel Backbone; this is a conservative tweeter): Currently reading Hillary Clinton Not Attending DNC in Charlotte.

2) @andylancaster (Andy Lancaster, Charlotte-based animator): After such a great time at the RNC, it will be hard to be in Charlotte with a convention that I'm not part of.

3) @jgolden (Jenna Golden): Best news ever! There is a Starbucks and Pinkberry at media workplace in Charlotte. I already love it here more than Tampa.

4)@CLTparent.web (Charlotteparent.com): @MichelleObama_ we are helping build wealthier families in #charlotte with Our First Family Challenge.

5) @WeBackJack (Gov. Jack Markell, the Democratic governor of Delaware): Nothing better than arriving and seeing DE flags flying in Charlotte.

6)@TheFix (The Fix/Chris Cillizza, a non-partisan politics reporter for "The Washington Post"): BOOOO! RT (retweet) @miswann: I was born and raised in North Carolina. I'm a BBQ fiend. There IS no good BBQ in CLT. I'm serious.

7) @TomPerriello (Tom Perriello, a former Democratic Virginia Congressman): Great piece at CNN about why women are not buying what Romney and RNC are selling.


http://www.charlottesgotalot.com

http://www.wfae.org

http://www.charlotteobserver.com

http://www.gocheckers.com

http://www.charlotteparent.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/thefix

Quote of the Day/Week-Barry Goldwater

Today, we continue our series of quips from men who tried to become American presidents, but didn't quite get enough votes to pull it off.

Barry Goldwater (1909-1998), the Republican candidate who lost to Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 presidential election is widely believed to be most conservative Republican to have ran for his office, though some may argue that Ronald Reagan, who was president from 1980-88 was just as or even further to the right.

Goldwater actually lost many states that Republicans have won in recent election cycles, including Oklahoma. Goldwater was a U.S. senator who represented Arizona.

One of the great political ironies is that Hillary Clinton, who came from a conservative family in suburban Chicago was a 'Goldwater girl.'

Here is his quote:

"It's a great country where everyone can grow up to be president except me."

Things We Learned on Google Today- All Things Belarusian

Today, we continue our look at the former Soviet republics that are now independent countries with a look at Belarus. Though known for some dubious things, such as the fact that President Alexander Lukoshenko has ruled the nation with an iron fist since 1994. This lead former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to say that 'Belarus was the last true remaing dictatorship in Europe.' Assuredly, Hillary Clinton, in spite of political differences, would agree with that sentiment.

We asked Google what the population of the capital city of Minsk was, and the answer is 1,837,000 people. The whole country of Belarus has a population of 9.5 million.

But, one of the most famous people from Belarus, former Olympic gymnast Svetlana Bogenskaya (pictured here), born 1973, lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and two kids. Editorial comment: Are there any gorgeous women who aren't taken? The gymnast won gold on vault at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and she retired at a late age (for gymnasts) in 1997.

She is still active with gymnastics as she has an online retail business selling sporting equipment pertaining to gymnastics.

Special Quote of the Week- Bill Bradley

While the Republicans like Newt Gingrich are having their brewhaha this weekend in New Orleans, we thought we'd quip the NBA legend and former Democratic New Jersey senator Bill Bradley, who was among the first to endorse Barack Obama in his party nomination bid (I actually backed Hillary Clinton!).

While researching this piece, we learned that Bradley has a new book called "The New American Story" and he hosts a Sirius Satellite Radio show called "American Voices." Bradley is also the corporate director of Starbucks; we wonder if he has dropped into the Starbucks in Front Royal, Va., but he is probably a bit too busy for that.

Though he grew up in Missouri, Bradley came to prominence in New Jersey early in life as a member of the Princeton University Tigers. He won a team gold medal for the United States at the 1964 Olympics, and he was named NCAA player of the year in 1965.

Bradley then went on to play for the New York Knicks where he helped win NBA titles in 1970 and 1973, with teammates such as Walt Frazier and Willis Reed. Bradley's number 24 was also retired by the Knicks.

He was a senator for New Jersey from 1979 to 1997, and he unsuccessfully sought the 2000 Democratic nomination which went to Al Gore. Bradley was endorsed by none other than Michael Jordan, who is featured on our other blog "The Daily Vampire" today.

Here is the quote from Bradley who will turn 68 on July 28th:

"Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in."

Dr. Oz Competes in Celebrity NBA All-Star Game

Dr. Oz (Mehmet Oz) was among the competitors in last night's NBA All-Star celebrity game in Arlington, Tex. The game featured Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban, actor-comedian Chris Tucker, actor Anthony Anderson ("Law and Order") as well as the musicians Common and Pitbull.

The East won the game over the West by a 41-37. I had a hard time finding the score of the game which I partially watched at a restaurant in Roanoke, Va., where Dr. Oz's show airs at 3:00 p.m. on WSLS/Channel 10 on weekday afternoons.

Thankfully, my friend Jeff in North Carolina found the score for me! (I almost gave up several times!).

We are posting an entry about the game because Dr. Oz is now the most famous Turkish-American in history. Though other Turkish-Americans, like the late, great record producer Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records, progressive talk-show Cenk Uygur (love his show, and his politics!) and Washington, DC, hairstylist Nuri Yurt (the personal hairstylist for Hillary Clinton) not to mention pro female wrestler Lisa Marie Varon/Victoria (who is also half-Vietnamese) have made a prominent name for themselves in their fields.

There are also two highly regarded NBA players from Turkey, including Mehmet Okur of the Utah Jazz, who has previously played in an All-Star game, and Hidayet (Hedo) Turkoglu of the Toronto Raptors.

A blog for the Utah Jazz said that anyone who actually watched this game likely had no social life and too much time on their hands, and from what I could tell there were a lot of missed shots, especially by Cuban, but it looked like all the 'players' had a good time. The game was coached by Magic Johnson (pictured here) for the losing West team and Alonzo Mourning for the East team, which I believe Dr. Oz played for.

Dr. Oz is the son of Mustafa Oz, who was also a doctor in Cleveland, Ohio, where the Oz family resided. Dr. Oz actually maintains dual citizenship with the United States and Turkey, according to Wikipedia and he served in the Turkish army.

The more famous Dr. Oz came to prominence for becoming one of America's leading heart surgeons. I actually got an email from him after I talked to him about an appearance on "The Charlie Rose Show." But, he was soon 'discovered' by Oprah Winfrey and the rest is (pardon the cliche) history. I doubt he would answer my emails now as he probably gets thousands a day!

Dr. Oz, who performed an actual prostate exam on his nationally syndicated show last week, actually does not (reportedly) treat patients who smoke which is ironic because Turkey has a large segment of the population which smokes though anti-smoking have recently been passed throughout the country!

The celebrity doctor also has a Twitter page in which he jokingly said that he looked forward to slamming the backboard on Friday night!

Zip Code USA- Berlin, New Hampshire 03570

Today we are featuring a city of 10,000 residents nestled in the White Mountains of northern New Hampshire.

Berlin, NH, was featured in John Irving's novel "The Hotel New Hampshire," which later made into a film with Rob Lowe.

03570 was also visited by the likes of John McCain and Hillary Clinton during the days and weeks prior to the last New Hampshire Primary.

The city is nicknamed the The City That Trees Built, and it was a mostly farming community with 65 residents during the 19th century.

Berlin, NH, is also the place where America's first ski club was founded in 1882.

And, the city was the place of residence for Earl Silas Tupper (1907-1983) who founded Tupperware.

This concludes our series of entries devouted to the falling of the Berlin Wall in 1989.