you will seriously enjoy Dana Milbank's column today. The puns are glorious! I was driving my husband crazy over coffee this morning with my howling.

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/03/20/dana-milbank-devin-nunes/

My daughter gave me the new Tidying Up book for Christmas. Subtle hint?

Anyway, I sorted through my bookshelves and found three large boxes of books that I didn't need any more. I decided to let them go to another house to be loved by someone else. So I took the boxes to a local used bookstore. They told me they would either give me cash or credit towards other books. Knowing that I didn't need to bring more books back into the house, I called the high school to see if one of my daughter's favorite English teachers was still there so I could give him the credit to use for his class. He had recently retired, but the Admin at the school told me that the teacher of one of the special needs classes was trying to track down 18 used copies of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for his students.

Excellent! So I took the credit (plus a few bucks) back to the bookstore, bought the three new copies they had in stock and ordered the other 15. These kids will all have new books that their teacher certainly couldn't afford, and I got to clean out some extra stuff in my house. A win-win, I would say.

What do you have in your closets or cupboards?

Apparently this is partly in response to the Panama Papers and Deutch Bank's role in helping their customers hide their money offshore to avoid paying taxes.

Joyce Vance tweeted about it and NYT has an article. Here is the report from CNN. It's difficult to stay up with the crazy these days.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/29/business/deutsche-bank-police-raid/index.html

This afternoon, while I was volunteering at an equine rescue barn (where my heart resides!), cleaning out 26 horse stall waterers, I casually asked a young volunteer who was also working in the barn if she was registered to vote. Her answer surprised me.

"No. I don't vote. I don't like politics."

She was pretty forceful in her tone and I resumed my task. Not wanting to bombard here with "WTF", I decided to consider an approach that might encourage a dialog. I am a 65 yo woman and she is in her 20s. Just as I decided to talk to her about the "Republican men in Congress who want to ban contraceptives" which was a topic that I thought might resonate with her, another volunteer entered the barn and I decided to let it slide. I will see this young woman again on Sunday and it's likely that we will have some time alone together, bringing the horses into the barn from the fields.

Any ideas about how I might broach the subject of civic engagement again in a positive and constructive manner? I'm not looking for a full semester civics class here, just something that might get her to pay attention. It will be her country after I am long gone and my last ballot has been cast.

Please take the time tomorrow to call your Senators (Collins, Murkowski, Flake) and tell them to vote NO on Kavanaugh!! Their phone lines need to LIGHT UP! I have notified both of my Senators (Dems) that I expect them to stay strong and I have been assured that they will.

This is HUGE! If we can get one of them to vote against him (until McCain's replacement is seated - then we need two) we will defeat him!

Now - GO!

HOLY SHIT!

Not that Kennedy was a reliable moderate - but he was at least an occasional swing vote. We are royally screwed! Mitch will force someone even more toxic than Gorsuch on us.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/06/justice-anthony-kennedy-announces-plans-retire-supreme-court/

I purchased tickets for his gig on Thursday evening. He will be offering prepared remarks and then have a Q&A at the end. He has been so eloquent on MSNBC etc. and I'm excited to hear what he has to say. He will be specifically addressing Watergate, but it's not too difficult to bring it all to our current day.

Anybody on DU have any suggestions for questions?

Other than: "OMG WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO NOW??"

Assistance is much appreciated.

Shared post: "My friend Ånika Łodzinski is a flight attendant. Today her coworker posted the following about a REDEYE flight from Arizona to Miami last night:

“Through all the adversities we faced last evening with computer outages, cancellations and delays, nothing prepared me or my crew for 16 passengers. Sixteen. All dressed in black and gray cheap Walmart sweat suits, quietly boarding the 12:30am flight.

Children! Thirty-two scared eyes looking straight forward dazed. We try to speak, yet none speak English.

During the beverage service, one of the crew comes to me in tears. They can’t face these children that have been ripped from their families with a smile.

These children were probably ranging in age from 11, to the most adorable little girl maybe 6 years old. At 2:30 in the morning, deplaned here in Miami not knowing if they will ever see their loved ones again that they were separated from in Phoenix.

Those sweet innocent children, dressed as criminals silently deplaned with the same fear as our initial meeting. Except for the little girl. She looked up at me as she turned left for the main cabin door, with tears of fear streaming down her face. I’m not sure the protocol, but I leaned over hoping to offer some hope, she hugged me, which was returned - much to the scowl and comments from the adult escort.

I pray that these 16 scared little souls, as well as all the other thousands, find their way to reuniting with their loved ones.

We are trained yearly in hundreds of possible scenarios as attendants. Something like this isn’t remotely one of those. I had only met one of my crew a few years earlier, the rest never. Thank God, we had one another to lean on to not only get through the flight, but also maybe some glimmer of hope for those babies.”

What have we become?

Just saw him on Chris Hayes. He says he's focused on his anti-gerrymandering project, but he's considering it.

That would be fabulous!

And what he said gave me the tiniest little bit of peace.

"Mueller and Rosenstein pulled the greatest end-run around Donald Trump, and no one saw it coming, and it's this: by referring this matter to the Southern District of New York, it ensures that this legal exposure and culpability between Trump and Cohen survives the dismissal of Mueller and survives the dismissal of Rosenstein.

"And why that matters is that an impeachable event does not arise out of an investigation by the Special Counsel....[T]he Mueller probe can be shut down because Trump and Cohen are now involved in this legal exposure in New York. If Trump is found to be legally culpable, that can still be an impeachable matter for the U.S. Congress."

More at the link.

https://crooksandliars.com/2018/04/david-jolly-explains-muellers-brilliant