GOP Debate without Trump Hangover....

Here are some leftover tweets from last night's Republican debate in which Donald Trump pretended he was Matthew Broderick in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," as well as some nifty tweets that were posted today on Twitter:

1) John Fuselgang (liberal): GOP debate was like The Suicide Squad without their Joker.

2) Ian Cioffi (libertarian): If watch CNN you'd think Rand Paul had a good night. If you watch Fox News, you'd think Rand Paul never attended the debate.

3) Hugh Hewitt (conservative): I'm going to sleep because I'm agreeing with David Axelrod too much.

4) Donna Brazile (liberal): A GOPDebate can still provide winners and losers even without Trump there to proclaim himself the winner and call everyone else losers.

5) Michelle Malkin (black Republican): In case you missed Jeb last nite Immigration pandering__check. Generational pandering__check. The Cringe. It burns.

6) Markos Moulitsas (liberal): So Donald Trump is taking down the Republican Party, now he's trying to do the same for Fox? Best primary ever.

7) Michael Crowley (Politico): Gonna be a lot of 'Hey, maybe we wrote off Jeb Bush too soon' overnight and tomorrow. Might be too late though....

8) Bernie Sanders: EqualPayCantWait when women in America who do the same work earn 79 cents on the dollar compared to men.

9) John Robinson (UNC journalism professor): Politics as bloodsport is fun to watch, but I do wish presidential candidates acted with dignity and intended, at least, to be presidential.

That makes a cool nod to our Luca Libre (Mexican wrestling image) along with a still from the movie "The Hangover" with Bradley Cooper and an image of Iowa State cheerleaders. Go Cyclones! Well, we don't live close to Iowa at all actually.....

DC Week (4 of 8): A Quote from SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas

Greetings to those of you from the Myrtle Beach Tea Party in Myrtle Beach, SC, who would not normally turn to this slightly left-of-center blog for information, entertainment and road kill cooking recipes (yes, that is a joke..........we have no desire to eat Pepe Le Pew and neither does the family cat).

Today, we are quoting America's second most powerful African-American, who is a conservative Republican unlike most African-Americans. Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, 65, is an Alabama native and he reportedly disdains his alma mater Yale University.

Before we quote Thomas, we want to wish a Good Morning to our blog-readers from other parts of the world as it now 8:45 a.m. in Tel Aviv and Baghdad, and 9:45 a.m. in Muscat, Oman (we believe this is the first time we've mentioned the gulf Arab nation of Oman in a blog post).

Here is Thomas' quote, it pertains to his negative views towards affirmative action:

"I don't believe in quotas. America was founded on a philosophy of individual rights, not group rights."

For a quip from Thomas' fellow SCOTUS justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one can visit our sister blog: http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com


http://mbteaparty.us/ (Not an endorsement)

http://www.omantourism.gov.om/wps/portal/mot/tourism/oman/home (Yes, Oman has a travel web page!).

http://www.supremecourtus.gov

http://www.yale.edu

Friday Night Tweets_ Marijuana and Unemployment

A few weeks back, we were going to start a series on interesting U.S. Congressional races, and our first one was to be the race between Cong. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), perhaps the most conservative Democrat in Washington, DC, against Mia Love (R), the black Mormon mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah. The Beehive State is about three percent African-American, and Mitt Romney, who is also a Mormon, is expected to win Utah by a wide margin. But, surprise, today "The Salt Lake Tribune" endorsed President Barack Obama! This was according to a tweet from Democratic strategist Dana Vickers Shelley.

Here we go:

1) @TheOnion ("The Onion" is a faux news publication): "WARS FOR THE WHITE HOUSE: "Romney's Terrifying Google Search History Leaked."

2) @SFWeekly ("San Francisco Weekly"): "City's first Union Medical Marijuana Dispensary Opens_ Finally!"

3) @current (Current-TV): "Pot & politics: @GovGaryJohnson joins @TYTCurrent in 10 min to talk marijuana laws #Election2012" (Gary Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico, has switched parties and he is now the Libertarian Party nominee for president)

4) @WSOC_TV (WSOC TV, the ABC affiliate in Charlotte, NC): "Unemployment rates drop in both North Carolina and South Carolina."

5) @dcweatheralerts (Weather Gang Alerts, for Washington, DC-metro area): "Tornado warnings for Baltimore County until 7:30 p.m."

6) @nprscottsimon (Scott Simon of NPR): "I like GQ's defense of debate moderators: 'You sit there and try to rein in two egomaniacs....' "

Things We Learned on Google Today- President of Turkmenistan Has Very Long Name

We don't have a list of every world leader in front of us, but we firmly believe that Turkmenistani President Gurbanguly Berdimukhammedov has the longest surname of them all! He became president of Turkmenistan in 2007 after replacing 'president for life' Sapurmurat Niyazov who died in December of 2006.

The current president, like the man before him, has been cited for human rights abuses by Amnesty International (amnesty.org), but hey we worry more about Republicans here! And, in all seriousness, while human rights abuses are a serious matter, I want to focus on this very remote country that few Americans have probably been to.

The capital of Turkmenistan is Ashagabat, which sounds like a city in a "Harry Potter" book, which has a population of 695,300.

Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan border this former Soviet Republic.

There is apparently lots of unique cuisine in Turkmenistan, including the national dish plov (pictured here) which consists of mutton, rice and carrots.

Blogger Jon Rosenweig visited Turkmenistan and he discovered some other foods there, including chorek, which sounds similar to the Turkish dish borek, both of which consist of baked bread. There is also kohlbasa, a lunch dish made from fried kielbas with onions and boiled eggs.

Turkmenistan is the seventh former Soviet republic we have profiled in this series; Belarus was the pervious one.

SIDEBAR_ He's back. "Independent Weekly" in Durham, NC, is reporting that fringe Republican candidate Vernon Robinson will challenge Cong. Larry Kissel (D-NC), a moderate in North Carolina's 8th district.

Robinson, who has been nicknamed The Black Jesse Helms, challenged Cong. Brad Miller (D-NC) in 2006, even though he does not reside in Miller's 13th district.

To our knowledge, the only political office that Robinson has ever held was in Winston-Salem where he was a city council member who allegedly missed a lot of meetings.

Robinson also managed to get lots of media attention, even outside of North Carolina, for his racist anti-Hispanic ads back in 2006.

Status Update_ I Wish I Could Go to NYC Just to See a Movie

The Film Forum in New York is currently screening the original 1968 gem "Planet of the Apes" with a rare print, but they are only showing the film until Thursday!

I am a huge fan of the original film, and even like some of the kinky seuqels. And, I must give Tim Burton credit as the 2001 remake was better than I expected. Still, nothing compares to the original.

Closer to home (I live on the Virginia-North Carolina border), Joe Scott will be screening the 1987 film "The Lost Boys," a teenage vampire saga, at the Carolina Theatre in Greensboro, NC, on Thursday night.

And, my good friend Jason Garnett will be presenting "Jaws" at The Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke, Va., on July 23rd.

SIDEBAR: I was wondering just how many Republicans were trying to run for president. As it turns out, the official number, which does not include possible candidates like Sarah Palin, is 17. The most established candidates at this juncture appear to be Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty.

But, there are plenty of secon-tier candidates, including the radical, far-right Michele Bachmann who has supposedly promised to ban pornography and 'cure homosexuality.' This batch also includes former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who is also known for making over-the-top statements regarding gays. Then, there is the Godfather's Pizza baron Herman Cain, one of two African-Americans in the running.

This brings us to the no-name candidates, which includes the other African-American Jimmy McMillan, a Vietnam vet who established an activist group called The Rent is Too Damn High. There is also Tom Miller, a career flight attendant with no political experience (we're not making this up!) and the radical lunatic activist Anyd Martin who tried to sue the state of Hawaii in regards to President Barack Obama's birth certificate.

Finally, there is a gay rights activist (?!) named Fred Karger who may very well have eggs thrown at him, given the extreme nature of today's Republican Party. But, we wish him well.

Of course, it will be up to a car mechanic in Sioux City, Iowa, and a janitor in Manchester, New Hampshire, to determine who gets the party nomination.

Even though I'm a Democrat, I have no doubt that it will 'get interesting.'

Quote of the Week- Chester Arthur

It is quite ironic that Vermont, which is perhaps the most liberal state in America, was the birth state of Republican President Chester Arthur (1829-1886). Arthur, who was the 21st president, got his promotion to the oval office rather quickly as his predecessor James Garfield was assasinated by Charles J. Guiteau, who was later hanged in Washington, DC, in spite of considerable evidence that Guiteau was mentally ill.

Garfield was shot in Long Brnach, New Jersey, on July 2, 1881, but the 20th president remained alive until Sept. 19.

Arthur would only serve out the remainder of Garfield's term, and his own would end abruptly as he died on Nov. 17, 1886, at age 57, a mere 103 days after leaving office on March 4th of that year.

This quote illustrates that some of the men who were president in the 19th century may have problems coping with the modern presidency:

"I may be president of the United States, but my private life is nobody's damned business."

This month, we hope to quote famous New Englanders around Monday of each week. Last week, we quoted poet E.E. Cummings.

SIDEBAR: Though I missed the film's screenings in North Carolina, I am very interested in a new documentary film by Trenton, NJ, filmmaker Kevin J. Williams called "Fear of a Black Republican" even though I'm neither African-American or a Republican. As one might expect, the very conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is featured in the film.

The documentary will be screening in Wilmington, Del., on July 28 at 7:00 p.m.