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.

I might be jumping the gun but my reaction right now is …

Screw you, Chuck Schumer.

Progressives are hammering Sen. Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) for his agreement with Senate Republican leadership to end the government shutdown on Monday.

Even House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has spoken out against the deal, saying there was no reason to support it.

“I don’t see that there’s any reason — I’m speaking personally and hearing from my members — to support what was put forth,” Pelosi said at a press briefing shortly before Schumer signaled Senate Democrats would agree to it.

There is one sign of hope.

“The Majority Leader’s comments last night fell far short of the ironclad guarantee I needed to support a stopgap spending bill,” said Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) “I refuse to put the lives of nearly 700,000 young people in the hands of someone who has repeatedly gone back on his word. I will do everything in my power to continue to protect Dreamers from deportation.”

Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) all voted against closing debate on the agreement.

The Dallas Republican Party has filed a lawsuit to have 128 Democrats kicked off the Democratic primary ballot because … oh yeah get ready for this … they claim the Dallas County Democratic Chair did not sign the petitions of 128 candidates.

Here’s the deal – everybody with stuffing between their ears knows that Democrats are going to win almost every election in Dallas in 2018, so all the Republicans have left is voter suppression.

Democrats were caught off guard by something this petty but hell, we’re talking about a Party that by all appearance is run by Stephen Miller.

So, this mess is going to court because, you know, Republicans don’t believe in clogging up the court system with frivolous lawsuits and by gawd, we need smaller government.

If you click the graphic below, it will talk you to the email addresses of the Dallas County Republican leadership.  Their leader, Missy, y’all, her name is Missy Shorey, might need to hear from you.

Oh Lord in heaven above, they’ve had to take another Republican off the House Ethics Committee because he’s a creep.

A Republican congressman was removed from the House Ethics Committee on Saturday after it was reported that he used thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to settle a misconduct complaint by a former staffer.

Bye, bye, Patrick Meehan, Republican from Pennsylvania.

A married father of three, Mr. Meehan, 62, had long expressed interest in the personal life of the aide, who was decades younger and had regarded the congressman as a father figure, according to three people who worked with the office and four others with whom she discussed her tenure there.

He made life miserable for her when she did not reciprocate.  A settlement was made using taxpayer money.

Finding an ethical Republican in congress is like trying to find a virgin in a bawdy house.

Thanks to Barb in DeeCee for the heads up.

Here’s a great list of signs you’ll enjoy from the women’s marches around the country.

And a couple from Houston.

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Thanks to Sarah for the heads up.