The first ever picture of a black hole and the inside of Donald Trump’s heart.

Read about it here. It really is a big deal.

Y’all, Devin Nunes got his feelings hurt again.

You know that Nunes is suing a Republican consultant, Twitter, and some anonymous people on Twitter for hurting his feelings over things they said about him.

Now he’s suing his hometown newspaper for a headline that says,

The accompanying story, oddly enough, is about a winery partly owned by Nunes putting on a fundraiser that had a yacht, cocaine and prostitutes and one of the people at the party is suing the winery.

They reported the fact that a lawsuit had been filed and the basis for the lawsuit.  All of that is public record.

So Nunes sues the newspaper.  He knows he cannot win, but suing people makes him feel better about himself and the unethical things he does.   .

Okay, Twitter went wild.  You can click right here to read some of the funniest things said about Nunes and his lawsuit.  They are trying to make it trend and they are #1 now. Nobody likes Nunes.

Especially Twitter.

Thanks to Kyle and SGray for the heads up.

In one of the latest entries into the Encyclopedia of Gleeful Cruelty and Dickishness, Trump announced last week that he is stopping immigration at the southern border because “the country is full; sorry”.  He can’t do that, of course, and the courts will stop him (again), but this is his campaign strategy for 2020, keeping the entire country whipped up into a lather while Heinrich Himmler Stephen Miller cooks up more nasty things to do to innocent people trying to save themselves and their families from the violence caused (or made worse) by US foreign policy in Latin America.

New York Times

Not only is this yet again new policy completely unnecessary and gaslighting of the worst kind,  Trump’s declaration is 100% false.  The country is not full; as a matter of fact, the work force is shrinking in many parts of the country.  As the country ages, the economy will suffer from lack of workers.  The NY Times published a story about this just this am.  This just another lie piled onto the Mount Everest of lies that Trump has built the the GOP has allowed to happen.

C’mon 2020.

Last night with all the other networks going full steam on the purge at the Department of Homeland Security, Fox News just forgot to mention it.  Not totally, but close.

Hummmm … isn’t Fox always in the forefront on immigration news?

Instead, they ran reruns of the Clinton impeachment and announced that they have hired Sherlock Holmes to find Obama’s birth certificate.

Georgia, y’all.

Georgia House Speaker and avid Republican David Ralston, a lawyer, got himself in a bit of a twist this year.  The Atlanta Journal Constitution revealed that he had extensively used his legislative privilege to keep legal cases from going to trial.  Lawyers in the legislature have the privilege of postponing their dockets while the legislature is in session or on business.  Members frequently sign-on and are paid to be co-counsel so the cases don’t get to trial for years.  Ralston got caught with his hand in the horrible-injustice-to-victims jar.

Well, Honey, that just got the whole Georgia Republican party in a tizzy. The problem wasn’t with their elected official, the problem was with … oh yeah, you got it: the messenger.

So the Republicans proposed some legislation to fix nasty reporters who stick their noses in important people’s business.  They think reporters should have ethical standards laws.  Written, of course, by the very people reporters write about.

As a sidenote:  most of you know I was a political columnist for a local newspaper for many years. Someone who was miffed at me for writing something they didn’t like asked my boss exactly what was my job description. She responded without missing a beat, “To go find out what people are doing and make them stop it.”

That’s what we do, so this proposed legislation, where you can even be certified as an ethical reporter (hello Fox News!), consists of all manner of things meant to trample the First Amendment, including …

If approved, the bill would also mandate that anyone interviewed by the media would be able to request and receive copies of photographs and audio and video recordings taken by reporters and photographers. Such copies would have to be provided free of cost, even though state and local governments are allowed to charge the public for copies of any documents it provides.

If a media outlet refuses to provide the copies, it would be subject to a lawsuit and a civil penalty, under the bill.

And the real kicker?  The Georgia Legislature exempted itself from the Open Records Act so you cannot get a damn thing from them.

If I slander you in the damn newspaper, you have a remedy: sue me. Our ethical standards are truth, justice, and the American way, by gawd.

I kinda suspect these Georgia fellas skimmed over the First Amendment in their excitement to get to the Second, which makes their winkies bigger.  The First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech or of the press.” That that includes Georgia.

Thanks to Ralph for the heads up.

During all this kerfuffle over immigration, it might be interesting to note that, in the course of our country’s history, 8 people – 6 men* and 2 women – have been granted honorary US citizenship, although most of them were dead when they got it.

The two who were granted it in life were Winston Churchill and Mother Teresa.  William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, and his wife Hannah Callowell Penn, who administered the Province after Penn got sick and continued after he died, were awarded the honor posthumously, as was Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat in Hungary who issued thousands of passports to Jews and sheltered them in buildings designated as Swedish territory during the Holocaust.

The three other foreign nationals rendered great service to the nascent United States in our War of Independence.  The Marquis de Lafayette we’ve all heard of.  Bernardo de Gálvez was a Spanish colonial governor of Louisiana who provided critical supply-lines to the Americans, then generaled some impressive victories over the Brits along the Gulf Coast, winning Florida back (temporarily) for the Spanish Crown.  Galvez, LA is named for him, as is Galveston.

The third Revolutionary War hero to be given honorary US citizenship is General Kasimierz Pulaski.  Pulaski became a special hero to Chicago schoolchildren: every year, for his birthday, they would get the first Monday in March off as, outside of Poland, Chicago has the largest population of Poles on the planet.

Pole Flag

Pulaski is considered the Father* of the US Cavalry.  During the Battle of Brandywine, before even receiving an official rank, he took some men, reconnoitered the British advance, and determined that the fleeing Americans were about to be cut off.  Washington told him to rally such troops as he could and to use his discretion to secure the retreat.  Pulaski decided to charge!  His audacious act saved the Army, George Washington’s life, and the United States.  He was made a Brigadier General, and in time turned the US riders from a disjointed scout force into a cavalry worthy of the name.

Thanks, Kazzie!

Pulaski was later wounded in battle during the Siege of Savannah and taken aboard the first warship ever named the USS Wasp.  He died within 48 hours, but accounts conflicted as to the disposal of the body.  The captain of the Wasp said he had been taken ashore in Georgia and died there.  Others said he died aboard and was buried at sea. Still others averred that he died aboard and was buried in Charleston.

A set of bones buried in Savannah and said to be Pulaski’s were exhumed in 1996. Although certain wounds apparently matched those garnered over a career of hard fighting, the results of that study were inconclusive, and the body was re-interred with military honors in 2005.  Subsequent mitochondrial DNA analysis funded by the Smithsonian revealed just this year that these remains are indeed those of Pulaski.

*However…

…many characteristics of the skeleton we now know to be Pulaski’s – a short, slim, confirmed bachelor and teetotaler – are female in appearance.  Pulaski’s baptism was conducted in private due to something referred to in the records as a “debility.” There are some indications that this debility may have been Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, which can lead to many male-seeming characteristics in a female child.

Tonight the Smithsonian Channel will present a show about Pulaski, leaning towards the conclusion that he was intersex. I’ll be watching!

During all this kerfuffle over the role of men, women and trans people serving in the military, it might be interesting to note that, in the beginning of our country’s history, Kazimierz Pulaski may have actually been the Mother of the US Cavalry.

Thanks, Kasi?