Which one of you guys is the smart alec?

About compromising on abortion ...

Ten weeks into my first pregnancy, I had a miscarriage. It was really devastating. My doctor said, ‘You know, this happens all the time and there’s no reason for you to not try again when you’re ready.’

So, a month later, I was pregnant again. We made it through the first trimester with no problems. Then we started to get some concerning blood test results and my pregnancy was elevated to be high risk. I was transferred to a high risk maternal fetal medicine obstetrician in New York City and was highly monitored, getting checks every couple of weeks, and as the weeks went on the complications racked up.

Over time, serious muscular issues came to light, like bilateral club feet, and the hands were always clenched tightly in every ultrasound. There was very little fetal movement, my amniotic fluid was really really high and most concerning, the fetus was not growing. These were things that my doctors couldn’t have known until the third trimester. Eventually our doctor determined the fetus was not swallowing. Swallowing is how a developing baby practices breathing — no swallowing, no breathing, that’s it.

We asked our doctor what would happen if I carried to term, and he said I would likely give birth to a baby who would choke for a few moments and then die. We got that information at 30 weeks.

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Republican Jesus here.

Republican hostile takeover of Twitter may be in the works.

A major Republican donor has purchased a stake in Twitter and is reportedly seeking to oust its chief executive, Jack Dorsey.

Bloomberg News first reported that Elliott Management has taken a “sizable stake” and “and plans to push for changes at the social media company, including replacing Dorsey”.

Paul Singer, the billionaire founder of Elliott Management, is a Republican mega-donor who opposed Donald Trump during the real-estate magnate’s run for the presidential nomination but has since come onside.

After a White House visit in February 2017, Trump said Singer “was very much involved with the anti-Trump or, as they say, ‘Never Trump’, and Paul just left, and he’s given us his total support and it’s all about unification”.

Trump famously communicates with the public largely through Twitter, at the expense of traditional media strategy.

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Croatia's president condemns burning of gay couple effigy (Reuters)

Croatia’s president on Monday condemned the burning of an effigy of two men and a child at a festival weeks after the country’s highest court ruled that same-sex couples could foster children.

Zoran Milanovic said the burning of the effigy, which depicted two men kissing, at a festival in southern Croatia on Sunday was “inhumane and totally unacceptable”.

Organizers of the event in the town of Imotski “deserve the strongest condemnation of the public because hatred for others, intolerance and inhumanity are not and will not be a Croatian tradition”, Milanovic posted on his verified Facebook page.

The Imotski carnival organizers did not respond to a request for comment via their Facebook page.

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A third of Poland has now been declared an 'LGBT-free zone', making intolerance official

A third of Poland has declared itself to be an official “LGBT-free” zone as local municipalities sign a pledge adopting resolutions against “LGBT propaganda”.

Nearly 100 Polish municipal or local governments have now proclaimed themselves to be “free from LGBTI ideology”. Local authorities in these areas pledge to refrain from acts that encourage tolerance and must avoid providing financial assistance to NGOs working to promote equal rights.

An “Atlas of Hate” map created by activists reveals the extent of Poland that has signed up to this pledge – and it covers an area greater than the size of Hungary.

The area has continued to grow after the European Parliament passed a resolution that strongly condemned the concept of LGBT-free zones in December.

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Buttigieg's "Gay Problem" With Black Voters Is Probably A Mirage

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The Associated Press decided to tackle that subject this week, with a focus on the upcoming South Carolina primary. The title of their article is rather blunt, to say the least. “In SC, Buttigieg faces black voters wary of a gay candidate.” To steal a catchphrase from George Takei… Oh, my! But the further you read into their report, the more they seem to undermine their own premise. In fact, they cite a recent poll taken among voters in the Palmetto State and there was almost no difference between Black and white voters when it comes to tolerance for an LGBTQ candidate.

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Fox News nonplussed as White House spokesperson suggests illegal purge of government

White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley appeared on Fox’s America’s Newsroom, where he was asked about reporting that President Donald Trump is looking into a purge of anti-Trump government officials.

Gidley admitted that such a purge is under consideration, and he suggested the administration is looking at millions of federal government workers -- not just the political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the president and can be fired for any reason.

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The Fox News anchors immediately changed the subject.

Purging civil servants for being anti-Trump is blatantly illegal:

Under federal laws dating back to the late 1800s, government workers can only be hired or fired based on their merit and work performance. It’s illegal to make those decisions based on political affiliations or patronage. Additional laws passed in the wake of Watergate and President Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre strengthened those protections, mandating that supervisors show cause for firing any federal worker and setting up the Merit Systems Protection Board for employees to appeal their cases.

Trump has flipped the 9th Circuit -- and some new judges are causing a 'shock wave' (LA Times)

When President Trump ticks off his accomplishments since taking office, he frequently mentions his aggressive makeover of a key sector of the federal judiciary — the circuit courts of appeal, where he has appointed 51 judges to lifetime jobs in three years.

In few places has the effect been felt more powerfully than in the sprawling 9th Circuit, which covers California and eight other states. Because of Trump’s success in filling vacancies, the San Francisco-based circuit, long dominated by Democratic appointees, has suddenly shifted to the right, with an even more pronounced tilt expected in the years ahead.

Trump has now named 10 judges to the 9th Circuit — more than one-third of its active judges — compared with seven appointed by President Obama over eight years.

“Trump has effectively flipped the circuit,” said 9th Circuit Judge Milan D. Smith Jr., an appointee of President George W. Bush.

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We CAN afford "Medicare for all" but ...

... but not unless we give up being World Cop.

I'm all for it.

But we will have to choose. Nobody can afford both.

We already know what Republicans choose.
When Republicans say we can't afford it, this is what really is going on.
They don't even think of themselves as lying, they just take being World Cop as a given.

What about Democrats? Still room for peaceniks in this party?