The Divided Kingdom

From BBC News:

Tory rebels and opposition MPs have defeated the government in the first stage of their attempt to pass a law designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

Original DVD cover

Boorish Johnson

In the words of Daughter/Wife Unwanted Ivanka:

“Congratulations @BorisJohnson on becoming the next Prime Minister of the United Kingston.” Yeah, she tweeted that.

Original image

(Click on image for larger version)

Twitler Über Alles

Washington (CNN) Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna [Romney] McDaniel is attempting to clarify a tweet she sent on Wednesday that warned anyone who does not supports President Donald Trump’s agenda “will be making a mistake.”

“Complacency is our enemy. Anyone that does not embrace the @realDonaldTrump agenda of making America great again will be making a mistake,” McDaniel tweeted Wednesday night.

Original German propaganda poster

Showdown at the Not-So-Okay Corral

From RAWSTORY:

House conservatives, led by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), are privately plotting a leadership challenge against Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, the Washington Post reports.

During closed-door discussions, Meadows and other members of the House Freedom Caucus have floated potential replacements for Ryan, including former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Rick Santorum. As the Post notes, the Constitution does not require the speaker be an elected member of Congress.

Original movie poster

(Click on image for larger version)

He’s leaving to spend more time with his phony medals

From the Minneapolis StarTribune:

MILWAUKEE — The tough-talking sheriff of Milwaukee County, David Clarke, resigned without explanation Thursday, capping a tumultuous year for the divisive, provocative lawman whose unabashed support for President Donald Trump and in-your-face personality earned him a national following among some conservatives.

Original image

(Don’t squint, my darling Raisinettes, click on image for larger version)

Sheet Music

From Mother Jones:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has fallen out of favor with President Donald Trump, but that hasn’t stopped him from moving quickly to reshape the federal government’s approach to law enforcement. He has implemented new policies that will turn more offenses into federal crimes, confiscate suspects’ property, and crack down on sanctuary jurisdictions. The policies fit Sessions’ tough-on-crime attitude toward criminal justice—but he isn’t taking credit for them.

In announcing recent reforms, Sessions has said he is carrying out the recommendations of the Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety. […] But what exactly is this task force? It’s hard to say. The Justice Department has declined to disclose the task force’s membership, its meeting agendas, or its recommendations to the attorney general. The task force was slated to deliver a report to Sessions last week, but it has not been made public. Instead, the group supposedly behind some of the Trump administration’s most consequential policy moves remains an almost complete mystery.

Oooooh, I think I might know what the task force might look like! Please, I have my hand up. Pick me! Pick me!

Original sheet music cover     (emphasis on sheet)

Schooling Betsy

From NEW REPUBLIC:

Conservatives frame privatization as a civil rights issue, but Trump’s extreme agenda is energizing racial justice and public education advocates.

Last September, at a rally in Roanoke, Virginia, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump made a promise to black America. “I will fight to make sure every single African-American child in this country is fully included in the American dream,” he said. “That includes the new civil rights issue of our time: school choice.” This has been a familiar refrain for Trump. “At rallies last year across the country,” The New York Times reported in March, “Trump said over and over again that he would use the nation’s schools to fix what he described as failing inner cities and a virtual education crisis that most hurts black and Hispanic children. In North Carolina, he called school choice ‘the great civil rights issue of our time.’ In Florida, he declared that ‘every disadvantaged child in this country’ should have access to school choice.”

“School choice” is conservative-speak for charter schools and vouchers, both of which represent a different degree of privatization in education. Vouchers use taxpayer dollars to fund attendance at private and religious schools, while charters are publicly funded but, in many cases, privately controlled. Trump’s education policy advocates for both, and in his controversial appointment of Betsy DeVos as education secretary, he elevated a longtime champion of the cause.

Original painting, Happy Birthday Miss Jones, with apologies to the late, great Norman Rockwell

(Click on image for larger version)

Health Care Leaves the GOP Feeling Sick

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The seven-year Republican quest to undo the Affordable Care Act appeared to reach a dead end on Tuesday in the Senate, leaving President Trump vowing to let President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement collapse.

Original movie poster

(Click on image for larger version)