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Today’s edition of quick hits:
* North Korea’s Kim Jong-il died Saturday of a heart attack. By most accounts, the loony/brutal communist dictator was 69 years old.
* Meet his successor: “With the abrupt death of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, the fate of his isolated, nuclear-armed regime has dropped into the hands of his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, who is such an unknown that the world did not even know for sure what he looked like until last year.”
* As of this afternoon, four Republican senators — Lugar, Brown, Snowe, and Heller — were all publicly pressuring House Republicans to stop screwing around and pass the Senate’s version of a payroll tax-break extension.
* This won’t help sectarian divisions: “Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government was thrown into crisis on Monday night as authorities issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni vice president, accusing him of running a personal death squad that assassinated security officials and government bureaucrats.”
* The U.S. Supreme Court scheduled an unprecedented three days of oral arguments in the case challenging the Affordable Care Act. The hearings will be held March 26 through March 28.
* Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey has heard Republican presidential candidates talk about “listening to the generals,” and he doesn’t like it.
* Senate Republicans blocked William Boarman’s nomination to head of the Government Printing Office, but no one knows why.
* Arvo Mikkanen, a highly-praised prosecutor in Oklahoma City, was nominated by President Obama to be a federal judge in Tulsa, and would have been the only enrolled member of an American Indian tribe to serve on the federal bench. Senate Republicans killed his nomination, too.
* A heroic figure passes: “Vaclav Havel, the writer and dissident whose eloquent dissections of Communist rule helped to destroy it in revolutions that brought down the Berlin Wall and swept Havel himself into power, died on Sunday. He was 75.”
* Looks like Minnesota’s Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch (R) has found herself in the middle of a sex scandal that could derail her career.
* In more ways than one, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio doesn’t appear to know what the phrase “civil-rights violations” means.
* I’m beginning to think the Heritage Foundation isn’t a reliable source of accurate information.
* Occupy College: “Many protestors connected to the Occupy movement are very concerned about tuition. But while President Obama is interested in a ‘candid discussion about why higher education costs so much,’ protesters have a general, though perhaps ultimately more compelling, demand: stop privatizing public colleges.”
* And Media Matters pulled together Fox & Friends’ “10 Stupidest Moments Of 2011.” There are some real doozies in there.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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hells littlest angel on December 19, 2011 5:34 PM:
Any truth to the rumor that many Republicans who've been casting around desperately for the next not-Romney are devastated by the loss of the charismatic dark horse Kim Jong Il?
schtick on December 19, 2011 5:56 PM:
angel, the tealiban want his son. He means new blood in more ways than one.
crapcha....appear entsbra....appear to be trees bra?
Texas Aggie on December 19, 2011 6:16 PM:
One of the comments on the 10 stupidest Fox & Friends moments was this one on Hank Williams, Jr.
What has 32 teeth and an IQ of 100?
The front row at a Hank Williams, Jr. concert.
Caitlin Halligan and Scott Brown on December 19, 2011 6:24 PM:
I am always interested in hearing the other perspective, and so I emailed my state's Senator Scott Brown after he joined the Caitlin Halligan filibuster and asked him to explain why he had done so. A week later I have my answer. I cannot for the life of me understand his reasoning. Believing that fellow readers here might also be curious, and might be able to decipher his logic, I paste his answer below:
Dear Rob,
Thank you for contacting me regarding the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to serve as a United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia. As always, I value your input and strive to keep you updated on the important issues facing us today.
President Obama nominated Caitlin Halligan on January 5, 2011, to serve as a United States Circuit Judge. The Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on Ms. Halligan’s nomination on February 2, 2011, and subsequently approved her nomination. On December 1, 2011, the Senate Majority Leader filed cloture, or a motion to end debate, on the nomination of Ms. Halligan. In order to move Ms. Halligan’s nomination forward, 60 affirmative votes would have been needed, but on December 6, 2011, Ms. Halligan’s nomination failed by a vote of 54-45, with one member voting present.
I believe that the Senate’s “advice and consent” role is one of the most important jobs I have as a United States Senator. During my time in the Senate, I have supported the vast majority of the President’s judicial nominees. In this case, the D.C. Circuit has a comparatively small caseload, unlike many regional Courts of Appeals, like the First Circuit in Boston. We must focus on filling judicial vacancies in areas of the country that have the greatest needs, especially when courts across the country have seen their budgets cut. For this reason, I voted against Caitlin Halligan to the D.C. Circuit.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. If you have any additional questions or comments, please feel free to contact me or visit my website at www.scottbrown.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
Scott P. Brown
United States Senator
Trollop on December 19, 2011 6:48 PM:
"Scott P. Brown" is a juvenile treasure trove all on it's own, just like his voting record. I also love the IQ/teeth joke version for Hank.. Not everybody is meant to be as stupid as a cowboy!
Grumpy on December 19, 2011 6:49 PM:
...would have been the only enrolled member of an American Indian tribe to serve on the federal bench. Senate Republicans killed his nomination, too.
You might say his nomination is 'finnished'! Seriously, what tribe is he enrolled in? The Anaheim Ducks?? (Four players from Finland, see.)
As a Finnish-American, I claim Arvo Mikkanen for my tribe.
exlibra on December 19, 2011 10:18 PM:
“With the abrupt death of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, the fate of his isolated, nuclear-armed regime has dropped into the hands of his youngest son, Kim Jong-un [...]
Not so fast:
http://www.borowitzreport.com/2011/12/19/trump-to-run-for-president-of-north-korea/
Anonymous on December 20, 2011 12:39 AM:
It's funny, if you click on the link about the Republicans who support the payroll tax extension, all you see is a bunch of comments criticizing democrats and the three republicans but no actual discussion of the bill. It's telling, I have yet to see a republican who actually wants to discuss the bill.
Matt on December 20, 2011 12:53 AM:
"We must focus on filling judicial vacancies in areas of the country that have the greatest needs, especially when courts across the country have seen their budgets cut. For this reason, I voted against Caitlin Halligan to the D.C. Circuit."
Seems like his whole justification for blocking that nomination was that the D.C. Circuit has enough judges already. Seems like a pretty crappy answer to me.
bob h on December 20, 2011 6:40 AM:
Boehner cannot even round up the 25 or so votes it would take to pass the Senate bill with all the Democrats? There are not even 25 semi-autonomous Republicans left in the House?
The Oracle on December 20, 2011 6:42 AM:
I just heard a rumor that since there is now a top job opening in North Korea, the Republicans are scheduling their next debate in Pyongyang, with Republican leaders figuring that all their presidential candidates are qualified, if not over-qualified, to replace Kim Jong-Nuts.
And North Korea is a perfect match for all the Republican "dear leader" aspirants. The military and a few wealthy North Korean families running the joint. A huge prison system. No "miranda rights," no habeas corpus, no trial by jury, no due process, but a whole lot of "enhanced interrogation techniques" practiced to perfection. No social safety net for North Korean citizens. No EPA. No OSHA. No NLRB. Indefinite detentions. Anything liberal banned from North Korean society, with secret renditions/disappearances of "liberals" to make certain everything liberal stays banned. Widespread North Korean black sites, especially at night (I've seen the night-time satellite images, with North Korea literally being a black hole into which 25 million North Koreans have fallen or been dragged)). Independent judiciary? Women's rights? Gay rights? Pro-choice? Child labor laws? Religious freedom and the right to be free from religious tyranny? All non-existent in Kim Jong-Nut's right-wing militant paradise. And then with all the North Koreans sobbing uncontrollably upon hearing of the death of their "dear leader," I thought I was watching a John Boehner cry-athon.
So, what better place for Republicans to hold their next debate.