It's West Virginia Republican Party Day at the state's Capitol and Republicans from all across the Mountain State have gathered in Charleston to promote their party's values. Vendors have set up tables throughout the Capitol Building, offering the finest in wingnut lit including this classic from die-hard Islamaphobe Robert Spencer. Read the rest “West Virginia GOP hangs a poster calling Rep. Ilhan Omar a terrorist in state capitol”

Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander has introduced a plan to completely upend the existing student loan payback system. How big is this plan? About 40 million borrowers big. Read the rest “GOP wants to grab student loan payments right out of your paycheck”

There are 17 Mac's Fresh Markets throughout Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana and this week, shoppers got a message about immigration in their sales flyer along with ads for discounted pork chops.

You know, because nothing goes better with pork chops than a steaming side dish of xenophobic bullshit.

Reggie McDaniel owns the Mac's chain and when asked about the message, which has some shoppers calling for a boycott, he told Louisiana's KALB, " If I used a political message, and I’m very aware it's political, to highlight Jesus Christ, then I’m guilty of it."

McDaniel says he plans on including more political messages in the future.

Local grocery store company stirs controversy with ad mailer (KALB) Read the rest “Southern grocer tells shoppers "Hell has open borders"”

On Friday morning, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey announced he's running for President. The former mayor of Newark was elected to the Senate in 2013 in a special election to replace the late Senator Frank Lautenberg.

In his video announcement, Booker said, "I believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind; where parents can put food on the table; where there are good paying jobs with good benefits in every neighborhood; where our criminal justice system keeps us safe, instead of shuffling more children into cages and coffins; where we see the faces of our leaders on television and feel pride, not shame."

Booker is the fourth Democrat to officially declare their candidacy. Elizabeth Warren has said she'll make an announcement on February 9th; widely expected to be her official entry into the 2020 race.

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons) Read the rest “Cory Booker announces he's running for President”

Having served a whopping 16 days in office, Florida's Republican (shocker) Secretary of State Mike Ertel has resigned after the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper obtained photos of Ertel in blackface, dressed as a Hurricane Katrina survivor. Read the rest “Florida's Secretary of State resigns after discovery of blackface photos”

The New Orleans Saints lost the NFC Championship on Sunday to the Los Angeles Rams in overtime. The Saints were the victims of one of the worst blown pass interference calls in recent memory and ended up losing 26-23 after a 57-yard field goal by the Rams' Greg Zuerlein.

A clearly disappointed Saints fan expressed his displeasure by obliterating his flat screen TV with a single punch.

Some fans are handling the Saints loss perfectly fine. pic.twitter.com/kp7mfZLHQy

— Ryan (@Haggs_88) January 21, 2019

Ouch.

The Rams will play Tom Brady (🐐) and the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl on February 3rd in Atlanta.

(Photo: Douglas Peale/Wikimedia Commons) Read the rest “New Orleans Saints fan destroys TV with a single punch”

On The View's Monday episode, Women's March co-founder Tamika Mallory refused to condemn anti-semitic comments made by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Read the rest “Women's March leader won't condemn anti-semitic comments by Louis Farrakhan of Nation of Islam”

She was living her best life. Read the rest “Walmart bans woman after she rode around on mobility scooter drinking wine from Pringles can”

On Friday, GoFundMe said it plans to close Brian Kolfage Jr.'s campaign to pay for Donald Trump's border wall. Read the rest “GoFundMe shuts down Trump border wall campaign”

The Tappan Zee will meet its maker on Saturday as New York state contractors plan to blow up what's left of the 63-year-old bridge. Replaced by the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge in 2017, the iconic Tappan Zee will be loaded up with explosives and sent to a watery grave in the Hudson River. The steel will be recovered by a marine salvage team. Restaurants and businesses in the area are planning watch parties for Saturday morning, including the “Dim-Sum-struction of the Tappan Zee Bridge," and "The Big Bang Brunch." Several New York news outlets plan to carry the detonation live.

Lyndhurst, local restaurants host Tappan Zee Bridge farewell, specials on Saturday (lohud.com) (Photo: Brett Weinstein/Wikimedia Commons) Read the rest “New York will blow up the Tappan Zee Bridge on Saturday”

President Barack Obama released his annual list of favorite books, movies, and songs on his Facebook page yesterday. Remember when we had an intellectually and culturally curious president who did things like reading books? It seems so long ago...

From Facebook:

As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books, movies, and music that I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved. It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors, artists, and storytellers – some who are household names and others who you may not have heard of before. Here’s my best of 2018 list - I hope you enjoy reading, watching, and listening.

Here’s a reminder of the books that I read this year that appeared on earlier lists: Becoming by Michelle Obama (obviously my favorite!) An American Marriage by Tayari Jones Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die by Keith Payne Educated by Tara Westover Factfulness by Hans Rosling Futureface: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging by Alex Wagner A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong’o A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History by Mitch Landrieu Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela The New Geography of Jobs by Enrico Moretti The Return by Hisham Matar Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Warlight by Michael Ondaatje Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick Deneen The World As It Is by Ben Rhodes

Here are my other favorite books of 2018: American Prison by Shane Bauer Arthur Ashe: A Life by Raymond Arsenault Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday Feel Free by Zadie Smith Florida by Lauren Groff Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W.

Another child has died in the custody of U.S. immigration officials. Felipe Alonzo-Gomez was taken to a hospital in New Mexico on Monday and released after treatment for a cold and fever. He was given antibiotics and ibuprofen. He was brought back to the hospital Monday night and died a few hours later. This is the second Guatemalan child to die in U.S. custody in December. Jakelin Caal, a 7-year-old girl died earlier this month.

Merry fucking Christmas.

CBP: 8-year-old Guatemalan child apprehended by CBP dies Christmas Day (Kelsie Blazier/ABC15.com) (Photo: CBPPhotos/Flickr) Read the rest “8-year-old Guatemalan boy dies in U.S. Border Patrol custody on Christmas morning”

The Boston Globe is reporting Kevin Spacey has been charged with felony indecent assault and battery of a teenage boy. The alleged incident, which took place in a Nantucket, MA bar in 2016 was brought to law enforcement's attention by the boy's mother, Heather Unruh, a former news anchor for WCVB in Boston.

From the Globe:

In Nov. 2017, during an emotional news conference, Unruh publicly accused Spacey of sexually assaulting her son.

Unruh said that in July 2016 her then 18-year-old son was at The Club Car, where the actor was among the late-night crowd in the dimly lit restaurant. Her son was mesmerized by Spacey and told him he was old enough to drink, Unruh said previously.

Unruh said Spacey purchased alcohol for her son until he was drunk and then stuck his hand inside the man’s pants and grabbed his genitals. During the encounter, Unruh said, her son tried to shift his body away from Spacey but was “only momentarily successful.” The actor urged her son to accompany him to an after-hours party to drink more, she said.

Unruh said her son fled the restaurant when Spacey excused himself to use the bathroom and a woman urged the youth to run. He sprinted to his grandmother’s house and told his sister what happened, Unruh said. The siblings then called Unruh, who traveled to Nantucket in the morning, she said.

Shortly after the charges were revealed, Spacey posted a bizarre video on his official YouTube channel, seemingly in character as Frank Underwood from House of Cards. Read the rest “Kevin Spacey charged with felony indecent assault and battery, releases video as Frank Underwood”

Brian Kolfage is an Air Force veteran who lost both legs and an arm in Iraq in 2004. He is the most severely wounded Airman to survive any war and has spent the past several years as a motivational speaker and supporter of Cadet Bone Spurs aka Donald Trump. Yesterday, Kolfage launched a GoFundMe to pay for Trump's border wall. "We The People Will Fund The Wall" aims to raise one billion dollars.

No, this is not The Onion.

From GoFundMe:

Like a majority of those American citizens who voted to elect President Donald J Trump, we voted for him to Make America Great Again. President Trump’s main campaign promise was to BUILD THE WALL. And as he’s followed through on just about every promise so far, this wall project needs to be completed still.

As a veteran who has given so much, 3 limbs, I feel deeply invested to this nation to ensure future generations have everything we have today. Too many Americans have been murdered by illegal aliens and too many illegals are taking advantage of the United States taxpayers with no means of ever contributing to our society.

I have grandparents who immigrated to America legally, they did it the correct way and it's time we uphold our laws and get this wall BUILT! It’s up to Americans to help out and pitch in to get this project rolling.

Is there anything more 2018 than a veteran raising millions of dollars to fulfill the wet dream of a racist draft dodger? Read the rest “Triple amputee veteran starts GoFundMe for Trump's border wall”