Hillary Clinton: Presumptive 2016 Democratic Party Nominee for President

And um, yeah. We kinda knew that. Hillary Clinton didn't want it announced yet. Bernie Sanders certainly didn't want it announced yet. And Sanders' supporters have frankly lost their fricking minds by this point (I'm voting Jill Stein! I'm writing Bernie in!, I'm not voting! I'm voting Trump! All the same thing, by the way). But the time has finally come, bad timing or not, we have our first major party presidential nominee who is a woman. And that woman, Hillary Clinton, is--for reasons I've yet to comprehend, despite living in America for 50 years--despised by roughly half of Americans.

I really, seriously will never understand the Hillary Hatred that has existed in this country for more than half my life. I didn't get it then, don't get it now. I've seen her in person. She commands a room. She's smart. She is, near as I can figure, a heck of a lady, maybe even a broad. So, what's the problem? Damned if I know.

Fortunately, Hillary is running against another despised famous human, Donald Trump. The reasons for despising The Donald are many, and obvious. But this blog--as left to lie fallow as I've allowed it--has long had a feature called Captain Obvious (yes, before that hotel chain stole it) for the express reason that what should be obvious to sentient humans isn't always obvious. Trump's default mode is: this is so wrong on so many levels, you'd have to be deaf, dumb, blind, stupid and half-past insane not to see it, but still some people somehow don't see.

Hillary was fortunate though, that on the very same day that she hit the magic number, Trump seems to be self-destructing. I won't declare it outright, as nothing about his campaign has been "normal." But even some diehards have been awakening from a Trump high to a Drumpf hangover. And this bit about not understand how judicial conflicts of interest works (or how racism is bad, or much of anything about how anything really happens in government) is showing as glaringly as Trump's fiberglass hair weave/combover, and bad orange fake tan. So, assuming a Bernie mutiny doesn't happen, and that something even weirder doesn't happen, Hillary should win this by default. It's certainly hers to lose.

[Excerpt]

BREAKING: Hillary Declared Presumptive Nominee

NBC News reports: Striding into history, Hillary Clinton will become the first woman to top the presidential ticket of a major U.S. political party, capturing commitments Monday from the number of delegates needed to become the Democrats’ presumptive nominee. The victory arrived nearly eight years to the day after she conceded her first White House campaign to Barack Obama. . .

Read more at: Joe.My.God.

Pennsylvania State Rep. Brian Sims Awesome for Several Reasons

An appropriate shot of Brian Sims
from his Facebook page.

For some time, a politician in Pennsylvania named Brian Sims has been on the liberal radar, mine included. Part of the reason is kind of shallow: he's a former football player who is big, beefy and very attractive. But after you discover that part, you find out he's also very smart, well spoken, and a strong liberal with integrity. That's pretty awesome. Then, if you didn't already know, he turns out to be openly gay, and was electable in a state where that hadn't happened before.

So, Sims wins a seat in the Pennsylvania legislature, and everyone who was paying attention probably still has him in their Twitter feed and is still following him on Facebook, and you start to see that he's a pretty awesome dude like, all the time. He really seems like the real deal, saying and doing all the right things, and looking great doing it. And now, he's really gone and done it: he's warmed the hearts of both the pro-choice constituency and those of us opposed to the intrusion of church into state.

I'm going to keep following him.

[Excerpt]

Brian Sims, Pennsylvania Democrat, On Abortion: We Did Not 'Swear To Uphold The Bible'

. . ."This legislation is about advancing an ideology of oppression and suppression, even if such a plan means ignoring the oath of office that each of us swore," Sims told his colleagues during a floor debate in the House of Representatives. "As a reminder, Mr. Speaker, I do believe this has been forgotten entirely by many of my colleagues today: Each of us put our hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. We did not place our hands on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible. . ."

Read more at: Huffington Post

Cher & Kathy Griffin: Don't Let Mitt Turn Back Time on Women!

Good advice from two of my favorite people. But we can turn back time just one hour this weekend. . .

Celebrity Women for Obama (MoveOn Ad)

Scarlett Johansson, Eva Longoria, and Kerry Washington are here to tell women why they should not vote for Mitt Romney, and why they should vote for President Barack Obama. Gotta say, I agree.

Celebrities Speak Out for Women's Reproductive Rights

In case you missed it. Celebrities on board for the Bill of Reproductive Rights include Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Martha Plimpton, Sarah Silverman, Tea Leoni, Sandra Bernhard, Olympia Dukakis and more. Sign it yourself here.

Republican "War on Women" is Not an Invention of the Left

I'm not sure if this is a new tactic, or one I've just never noticed before. If you're called out for bad behavior, behavior that is obvious and well documented, just deny it. Deny it vociferously and often. Blame it on the other guy! That's the GOP/Romney tactic on the so-called "war on women." The name may be made up (at least it's not WomenGate), but there are reasons--lots and lots of reasons--that the label is being attached to Romney and the Republicans.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Trans-Vaginal Airlines

Mike in Raleigh can even make tragically unfunny things funny, which is probably why he is so often featured on The Stephanie Miller Show.