We have a primary-free Tuesday this week, but there is still plenty to discuss. Join us for a pint and political conversation at this evening’s gathering of the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern. We start at 8:00pm.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. Tonight, the Federal Way, Tri-Cities and Redmond chapters meet. On Thursday, the Kent chapter meets. Finally, on Monday, the Aberdeen and Yakima chapters meet.

There are 180 chapters of Living Liberally, including nineteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find (or start!) a chapter near you.

I was watching this, video of the sister of one of Dennis Hastert’s victims (video audio plays, h/t). She has clearly been pushing this story. And fuck all happened. Some decent shoe leather reporting might have cracked this open when he was in power.

1 Kings 1:1-4
King David was now an old man, and he always felt cold, even under a lot of blankets. His officials said, “Your Majesty, we will look for a young woman to take care of you. She can lie down beside you and keep you warm.” They looked everywhere in Israel until they found a very beautiful young woman named Abishag, who lived in the town of Shunem. They brought her to David, and she took care of him.

Discuss.

Seth Meyers: Bernie on why young people love him.

Thom: Exposing the diploma mills.

Panamonium:

• Obama looks to Congress on Panama Papers.
• Sam Seder: An insider explains the Panama Papers
• Mark Fiore: Hiding Secret and Shell.
• Young Turks: Panama papers expose massive global corruption scandal
• Thom: What the Panama papers tells us about global capitalism
• What are the Panama papers?
• Trevor: South African President Jacob Zuma & The Panama Papers

Mental Floss: 38 facts about the internet.

Robert Yasumura: Republicans are a sausage party and you’re not invited:

Thom: Should the FBI be able to hack you?

Colbert: Political week in review.

Seth Meyers: A closer look at paid family leave.

The 2016 Clown Show:

• Young Turks: Koch brothers pause presidential funding amid GOP chaos
• We won’t go back!
• Ann Telnaes: Republicans celebrate Ted Cruz’s Wisconsin victory
• David Pakman: You’d have to be mentally ill, incompetent, or a bad person to vote for Ted Cruz
• Stephen: The road to the White House has gotten lumpy.
• Samantha Bee: Team Cruz
• Pap and Farron Cousins: Ted Cruz taking advantage of Drumpf’s sexism…is still freaking creepy
• Young Turks: Drumpf accuses Cruz of breaking the law.
• Maddow: Cruz & Drumpf support pro-life killers and criminalization of women
• Cheeseheads don’t like Donald, Donald likes boobs
• SNL: Drumpf ‘n Women
• Can a brokered convention stop Drumpf?
• Young Turks: Drumpf will eliminate the DEP…which doesn’t exist.
• Stephen: Cartoon Donald Drumpf has the biggest numbers
• Ann Telnaes: Donald Drumpf has always been about Donald Drumpf.
• Stephen: The Department of Environmental…you’re fired.
• Pap and Howard Nations: Hey Republicans, stop pretending Paul Ryan is going to save you
• Young Turks: Paul Ryan releases campaign video, swears he’s not running

Pap and Farron Cousins: GOP policies always lead to death and destruction

Young Turks: Feds raid anti-Planned Parenthood activist’s home.

Seth Meyers: Bernie on his cable access show and Hillary:

Republican’s Voter Suppression is Voting Fraud:

• Thom: The GOP is now bragging about their voter suppression success.
• Sam Seder: Republican admits voter ID laws are about winning elections
• Seth Meyers: A closer look at long lines in the WI primary.

Jimmy Dore: Hero woman shouts Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) out of a Starbucks.

Obama: The U.S. economy.

What the Zika virus probably looks like.

Seth Meyers: “Ya Bernt” with Bernie Sanders.

Kimmel: The week in unnecessary censorship.

State Sanctioned Discrimination:

• Young Turks: States ban travel to Mississippi
• David Pakman: You can now deny service to Gays in Mississippi
• Matthew Filipowicz: Mississippi Celebrates Its Horrible LGBTQ Discrimination Bill
• Young Turks: How police will enforce transgender bathroom ban.
• Daily Show: The trans-panic epidemic
• Young Turks: Bruce Springsteen takes stand against bigotry by canceling North Carolina show.
• David Pakman: Civil war developing over states passing anti-gay bills.
• Young Turks: Interracial couple evicted for being interracial in Mississippi

Mental Floss: Where did emojis come from?

White House: West Wing Week.

Stephen: The do-nothing Congress is about to do something magical:

McConnell is not taking calls.

Jimmy Dore: Political jokes of the week.

Palin’ Around with Terrorists:

• Young Turks: Why Sarah Palin makes no sense.
• David Pakman: Visibly disoriented Sarah Palin gives unhinged speech at Trump rally.
• Michael Brooks: Sarah’s back on the beat poetry circuit?

Getting a grip on the Space Station.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Since this is a local politics blog, ostensibly, I was wondering if y’all have any interest in any local or statewide candidates this cycle. I’m generally pretty big on Angie Marx who I wrote about here, Darcy Burner, who Goldy wrote about, um just do a Google Search, and Tina Podlodowski who we haven’t really written about much, but she’s great. Also, despite my disappointment on charters, I’m still mostly positive on Inslee’s time in office, and will be enthusiastically voting to reelect him.

But I’m probably missing some great candidates. Those are all Western Washington and all white, for instance. So if you’ve got any candidates you’re liking this cycle, this is as good a place as any to drop a line.

I’m never particularly thrilled when debate behind the scenes are the news. But there will be another debate in New York. I’m generally happy with more debates, so yay.

But I’m even less happy when I see the names of the moderators. Not because I think, in this case CNN people and a local reporter, will be fuck ups. But I don’t think we actually need moderators. I say just have the candidates have a conversation. Sanders and Clinton are both smart people with interesting things to say. They don’t need Wolf Blitzer to coax a debate out of them. If it’s on a network like CNN, you can have someone say they’re going to commercial, but otherwise butt the hell out.

Tuesday is election day…in Wisconsin. But a pair of high-stakes presidential nominating contests and one important state Supreme Court race in the Badger State is a great reason to get together for drinks and political conversation at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally. Please join us!

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern. We start at 8:00pm, but show up early for the 6pm (PDT) poll closing time.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities, Long Beach, and West Seattle chapters also meet. The Lakewood and Bellingham chapters meet on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Tacoma chapter meets.

There are 177 chapters of Living Liberally, including nineteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find (or start!) a chapter near you.

Seattle Times editorial board:

Charter schools have already been embraced by 42 other states…

So has an income tax, yet I don’t see the editors jonesing to follow suit on that.

Well, it’s pretty dispiriting that Inslee let the charter schools bill become law. I don’t know what I could add on the policy since the last time I wrote about charters. It would be nice if we could fund education before we start these sorts of things. This won’t take money directly out of public schools, but it will take it away from ancillary things.

If the legislature were serious about charters, they could have had a new revenue source rather than one that already goes to educational sources. But of course, charters were never about improving the quality of education so much as an attempt to break the unions.

James 5:1-4
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

Discuss.

Jimmy Dore interviews Hollywood conservative Vince Vaughn.

Mental Floss: 35 facts about rock bands.

Al Franken speaks after speaking with Chief Judge Merrick Garland.

Stephen: The NRA should rewrite all the classics.

Obama commutes the sentences of 61 prisoners.

Thom: How FAUX News brainwashed your dad.

Jim Earl: Nancy Reagan obituary:

PsychoSuperMom: Religious freedom doesn’t mean the freedom to discriminate.

Mark Fiore: #pray for [blank].

The 2016 Festival of Loonies:

• Farron Cousins: Can the GOP race get any more juvenile? Probably.
• Kimmel: American Girl Doll, Presidential Collection
• Stephen with Elizabeth Warren comments on Drumpf.
• Sam Seder: SHOCKING! Donald Drumpf breaks his pledge!!!
• Young Turks: Trump wants punishment for women…
• Kimmel: Donald Drumpf is a nice guy.

Ted’s face and Donald’s wall for the uterus.

• Drumpf and punishing women.
• Seth Meyers: A closer look at Drumpf’s Abortion comments.

• Maddow: Donald Drumpf exposes truth of anti-abortion politics
• Young Turks: Trump on releasing his tax returns.
• David Pakman: Drumpf sounds like a 5-year-old defending attack on Heidi Cruz
• Sam Seder: Drumpf defends his campaign manager while sitting on his stupid plane.
• Cartoon Donald Drumpf tells Stephen who started it.
• Kimmel: Donald Drumpf’s huge campaign announcement.
• Sam Seder: Cruz & Fiorina—Horrible humans unite.
• Jonathan Mann: Ted Cruz Is Like Breaking Your Penis
• Stephen: Tatiana Maslany reveals the German word for Ted Cruz
• Sam Seder: John Kasich is still really creepy.

Glass Ceiling: A game for girls.

Red State Update Feels the Bern.

Stephen: Late Night wheel of news…with Bernie Sanders.

Minute Physics: Why you should care about nukes.

State Sanctioned Bigotry:

• Seth Meyers: A closer look at GA and NC anti-LGBTQ laws
• Mississippi passes anti-LGBT law.
• Young Turks: Mississippi tries to outlaw premarital sex.

Sam Seder chats with Katherine Harris.

White House: West Wing Week.

Thom: We’re Koched-out on freebees for billionaire polluters.

Friday #hottakes.

Young Turks: Unions win huge in Supreme Court case.

Kimmel: People get mad when Jimmy has a politician on the show.

Farron Cousins: Bush Administration War Crimes Even Worse Than We Thought.

How airplanes changed the global economy:

Jimmy Dore: Political jokes of the week.

How to mount a Titanosaur in 10 steps.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Oh hey. It’s April Fools Day. AKA, the day to ignore any press release. AKA, why the fuck is this a holiday? I mean, I’m sure there’s some backstory if you Google it. But pranks are generally a not fun way to kick down. Great job of a holiday, everybody.

This morning as I was looking at The Seattle Times’ editorials, hoping for something to write about when I came across this editorial on the special session. It’s so Seattle Times, that you know the jokes I’d have made. They’d go like this:

• Stop obsessing about process over results, assholes
• You can’t complain about what the legislature cut if you don’t propose other cuts, or more taxes, assholes
• That’s not really a fair characterization of Inslee’s vetoes, assholes

Etc.

But what I want to focus on here is much more specific:

This time, the gimmicks included taking $227 million over coming years from a fund that pays for municipal bridges and sewer projects. It also wrongly wiped away $10 million to pay for performance audits of government agencies. Taxpayers want more efficiency, not a neutered watchdog.

That’s not how neutering works. Seriously, unless you’re breeding a dog, get it neutered. Here’s what the Humane Society has to say if you’re interested:

Myth: Neutering will take away the “guard dog” instincts.
Not true: Neutering a dog does not reduce its ability as a guard dog or watch dog. He will still be as protective of his territory as he was before the surgery.

So, what is it that a neutered watchdog would actually mean about performance audits? They’ll be fine, but the performance audits won’t have kids? They’ll hump fewer legs? They’ll be less likely to run away looking for sex? I mean I know metaphors are often imperfect, but the fuck are we even talking about?

And this is a dangerous myth to spread. We don’t need more unwanted puppies out and about. And as the Humane Society post I linked to earlier mentioned, not neutering a pet can make them go free-roaming. So dogs are more likely to get lost or get hit by a car. This throw away line is so bad, it may be the second worst thing someone at The Seattle Times has ever done for dogs.

I guess can kicking budget is better than no budget. And the legislature passed a can-kicking-no-new-taxes budget. There will surely come a point when the legislature’s being in contempt for failing to do their job will actually make them act, right? Right?

Did you caucus on Saturday? If so, how did it go? Perhaps you want to join us this week for a “debriefing over a beer” edition of the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally, as we take a breather from primaries and caucuses.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern. We start at 8:00pm.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings this week. The Tri-Cities chapter also meets tonight. The Woodinville chapter meets on Thursday. And next Monday, the Yakima and South Bellevue chapters meet.

There are 178 chapters of Living Liberally, including twenty in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or go out and start—a chapter near you.