The Texas Department of Public Safety has a press release.

Here’s what it says:

To ensure the safety and security of the general public and those who seek to exercise their right to peacefully assemble and protest, effective immediately, certain items may be prohibited from the Capitol Grounds unless worn or carried by a licensed peace officer.

Any item manifestly designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of preparing a person to engage in physical combat may be prohibited, including but not limited to:

• Firearms and other deadly weapons, except when authorized under License to Carry authority
• Improvised items used to lock a person to another person or object
• Plastic bottles containing alcohol or non-consumable substances
• Open flame torches
• Metal signs
• Metal, plastic, and wood objects longer than 12 inches
• Sticks or other objects with protruding nails
• Balloons not filled with air, oxygen or helium
• Bricks, stones or rocks
• Projectile launchers, including water cannons
• Spray paint cans
• Gas masks or similar equipment
• Glass bottles
• Hammers
• Crow bars
• Toxic fluid, gas or solids in any container
• Improvised shields
• Helmets
• Drones
• Pepper spray
• Tasers

Do I see a battery powered mix-master?  No, I do not.

A rattail comb?

Nope. And I can kill a man with one.

Do I see a hairdryer, a long intension cord, and a bucket of water? Nope.

Bois d’arc balls?  Not on the list.

Apparently, you are still free to throw a dictionary at someone as needed.

But, here’s the big question, they will not allow a helmet but they will allow Borris Miles’ reputation on the grounds of the Capitol. That’s crazy.

Thanks to another Susan for the heads up.

Oh crap, the Evangelicals are hitting people with their Bibles again, daring anyone to pass judgement on Trump.  Passing judgment is only permissible against Democratic presidents, according to Corinthians 2.

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council on Stormy —

“We kind of gave him—‘All right, you get a mulligan. You get a do-over here,’” Perkins told me in an interview for the latest episode of POLITICO’s Off Message podcast.

Evangelical Christians, says Perkins, “were tired of being kicked around by Barack Obama and his leftists. And I think they are finally glad that there’s somebody on the playground that is willing to punch the bully.”

Yeah, just like Jesus did.

And Franklin Graham insists on shaming Baptists again.

Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham and current president of his Evangelistic Association, said he saw no reason to believe the allegations about Trump and Stormy Daniels, nor the reports that the president called certain countries “shitholes,” despite the fact Trump reportedly bragged about saying it in private phone calls.

Head, meet sand.

Mulligan.  Trump gets a mulligan in the name of Jesus.  Holy Crap.

Pennsylvania Republican Pat Meehan (R-Pa.) says he absolutely did not sexually harass a young aide,  but if he did, it’s Obama’s fault.

Yep.  You knew it was Obama’s fault but you just didn’t know why.  So, here’s the deal.

Meehan wrote the aide a letter in May of 2017.  He was all mushy and told her, “You are and have been a complete partner to me and you have brought me much happiness.”

Meehan denied that he retaliated against her and instead blamed any negative behavior on stress over the Republican effort to dismantle Affordable Care Act. On the day Meehan penned the letter to his aide, the House voted to partially repeal and replace the health care law.

Well, in his defense, there were a lot of Republicans acting like total loons that day.

He paid her a settlement but wouldn’t say how much.  Much like how he wouldn’t tell us how much it’s gonna cost us to replace Obamacare.

Thanks to everybody for the heads up.

Remember how I told you about Dallas Republicans filing paperwork to remove 128 candidates in the Democratic primary and how completely absurd that is?

Well, our buddy Glen Maxey – who probably wrote the law and who can read writing – put the answer on Facebook.

Here ya go, straight from Glen —

Hear about that frivilous lawsuit filed by the Dallas Republicans? (See I put “frivoulous lawsuit” and “filed by Republicans” in the same sentence: Pigs do fly!) They claim the Democratic Chair didn’t sign candidate applications. Oh, my. There’s a blank right there on the form for the Chair to sign their name. Oh, but the Chair didn’t sign them, the Primary Director did. What a travesty! Oh, my! We can knock 128 Democrats off the ballot because these crazy Democrats didn’t follow the law!

To start off, Collins stood with a straight face and heard Texas Senator Ted Cruz talking to the teevee news …

“Look, we shouldn’t be shutting the government down. I have consistently opposed shutdowns. In 2013, I said we shouldn’t be shutting the government down,” Cruz told reporters on Monday.”I went to the Senate floor repeatedly asking unanimous consent to reopen the government.”

Being as how most senators lay the blame for the shutdown directly at Cruz’s feet (Remember Green Eggs and Ham?), and Cruz was one of the 18 senators who opposed stopping the 2013 shutdown, Collins was … well …

“You’ve rendered me speechless,” she said, then paused. “2013. 2013.”

Then, truly bless her heart, she tried to get a group of bipartisan senators together in her office to negotiate during the shutdown.  She tried a schoolteacher idea, a talking stick.  Only the person holding the stick gets to talk, everyone else has to listen until they get the stick.

It worked fine until … (You know what’s coming, right?)

At one point, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee forcefully tossed the stick toward Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia after Warner interrupted him, nearly shattering a glass elephant belonging to Collins, according to two people briefed on the throw.

Collins reportedly decided to switch to a ball after the dustup, presumably assuming it would be a little less destructive.

Yes, because grown Republican men cannot be trusted with a stick.

Thanks to everybody for the heads up.

You know, $100,000 just doesn’t buy what it used to.

#Disgrace, indeed.

Thanks to Deb for the heads up.