Des Moines, Iowa.  Two brothers, both in their 50’s, get into a fight over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  It quickly escalated into a serious situation.

The victim told police that his brother, Jerome Davis, “made three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ate them in the living room. Within the next hour, the suspect made another three of these peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bringing his total consumption of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to six. This angered the victim…”

Now, my Momma taught me some important things.  The main one is that you should never pick a fight with someone who is in the kitchen.  There are weapons in the kitchen, not even counting the damage you could do with a MixMaster.

So Jerome, dangerous hyped up on six peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, decided he had just about enough of his brother making fun of his eating habits.  Words like “lazy” and “eating again” started getting tossed around.  Them’s fightin’ words.

Davis then pulled out a folding knife and held it to the face of his brother, threatening to cut him, according to the report.

When police arrived, they took two folding knives from Davis, who told police he had made the threats against his brother because he wouldn’t “shut the (expletive) up and mind his own business.”

And that’s how Jerome Davis ended up in the Polk County Jail charged with domestic violence.  I like to think his brother is at home finishing off the peanut butter.  No mention in the police report if it was smooth or crunchy.  I’m betting crunchy.

Thanks to Monty for the heads up.

If you thought for one minute that things might have calmed down in the GOP, you would be wrong.  There ain’t no Kumbaya in the Republican Congress.

Peter King of New York took on Rand Paul of Kentucky.  And it wasn’t pretty.

Appearing on Fox News Channel on Sunday, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) defended the National Security Agency from attacks on its intelligence gathering practices. He specifically said the charges made against the NSA by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) are “lies” and that he “doesn’t deserve to be a U.S. Senator.”

Nice to see you catching up there with the rest of us, Peter.  Of course, Rand Paul could respond with “I’m rubber and you’re glue …” and I’d switch sides and agree with him.

Thanks to Brian for the heads up.

If you’re just getting up, please allow me to be the first to deliver some fabulous news.

Liz Cheney is ending her campaign for Senate in Wyoming, the Republican announced in a statement early Monday morning.

Citing health concerns in her family, Cheney said the issues arising prompted her to end her GOP primary challenge to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.).

Yes, health concerns, you know, because her Dad has been the picture of health for the past two decades.

It’s more like the health of poll results.

Republicans — including some Cheney supporters — privately expressed surprise at Cheney’s move, though she is also said to have been discouraged by Enzi’s persistent polling lead and apparent determination to buck pressure to retire.

Ya think?

She should win some sort of award for the damn mess she left behind her.  What a spoiled brat.

Thanks to everybody for the heads up.

A picture is worth a thousand words.  (Click the picture to see it full size.)

Thanks to Dori for the heads up.

New York.  Apparently it’s not cold enough.

A man in a Mendon restaurant accidentally shot himself and the person he was eating with on Saturday.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s department said a man was eating at the Cottage Hotel of Mendon at the corner of Routes 64 and 251 when his gun went off accidentally.

He ended up shooting himself in the hand and ankle and also striking one of the people he was eating with in the ankle as well.

So far, no charges are being filed.

Oh come on, guys, there has to be some sort of penalty for stiffing the waiter on the tip.

Thanks to Brian for the heads up.

I know you’re going to find this hard to believe, but Rick Perry has just found another way to rip off poor people.  You’d think there would be some sort of universal limit to the number of ways you can do that, but apparently not.  He can’t count to three in debates but he can count to infinity trillion when it comes to ways of parting poor people and their money.

Payday lenders are going to hell.  You know it.  I know it.  And they pretend they don’t know it.  The Bible talks about usury and not in very nice terms.  If you recall, the only time Jesus lost his temper was with the moneychangers.  I’m hanging with Jesus on that one.

Here’s Perry latest deal.  First he builds toll roads, you know, so that rich people don’t have to drive with the riffraff and he doesn’t have to raise taxes to build an infrastructure.  But just in case some working poor people will save enough in gas to justify using the toll road, guess where you have to go to pass the toll road account?

Oh yeah, he went there.

The El Paso Times reports that the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority will be working with the payday lender ACE Cash Express to help collect tolls for the César Chávez Border Highway toll road, which is expected to open Jan. 8.

While people who want to set up an account to use the road or pay off their toll charges can do so by phone, mail or online, the only places to do so in person in El Paso are at ACE stores. Those individuals who make the transaction at the payday lender “will be charged a $3 fee to set up the account and a $2 convenience service fee to replenish a non-credit card,” the paper notes.

If you don’t have a credit card, you are charged $5 extra and have to go to a Payday lender to buy it.  And if you think that Payday lenders aren’t going to try every gimmick possible to get people to take loans they can’t afford to pay back, you’re not going to hell but you are, indeed, an idiot.

Does anybody see irony in this being the César Chávez toll road?  Seriously?  You named ripping off poor people after César Chávez?  You’re going to hell.

What ACE is getting from the partnership is far more valuable than just a small fee.

“What the partnership is essentially doing is potentially sending thousands of potential first customers directly into the stores of a payday lender, giving them what they admit is one of their most important factors,” said Diane Standaert, senior legislative counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending.

But it does not stop there.

Additionally, the man Perry appointed to oversee Texas’ consumer watchdog, William White, is also vice president of payday lender Cash America. The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently fined the company $19 million.

Do you wanna know what interest Cash America charges for a 14 day loan?  533%.  No, that’s not a typo.  It’s three numbers starting with a 5.  Some poor guy working two jobs living paycheck to paycheck has a sick kid.  Where’s he going to get medicine before his next paycheck?  Welcome to Cash America!  He even charged higher rates to United States service men and women.

William White is going to hell.  But, meanwhile, he’s Texas’s consumer watchdog.

Holy crap.  Holy crap.  Holy crap.

Y’all, I hate Republicans.  I do.  I just hate them.