IN THE NEWS TODAY, 1-2-2016, by Richard Parker

Starting the year off with shared highlights of a few political points of interest, or not...some serious, some seriously funny...peculiar, and worth a giggle..

by Richard Parker

IN THE NEWS TODAY

1-2-2016

• Responsible gun owners in Florida celebrating New Year's Eve by randomly firing their weapons, shot a 9 year old girl.
• A new report from the Wall Street Journal reveals that NSA wiretaps found that the the Israeli Prime Minister and other officials of the Israeli governments attempted to, and most likely succeeded, to bribe American Republican legislators in exchange for their support against the Iran deal. Tip of the iceberg on this story…
• Reported in The Washington Post: Marco Rubio used his political office in Florida to help cocaine dealer Orlando Cicilia obtain a real estate license that he otherwise would have been unlikely to receive, going so far as to send an official letter on government stationery urging that the convicted felon be granted the unusual privilege. One problem: Rubio forgot to mention to the Florida Real Estate Commission that the drug dealer he was speaking up for was his own brother in law.
• The four time married Donald Trump, who was accused by one wife of rape and is currently married to a nude model, thinks Bill Clinton's sex life is "fair game." Bring it on Donald.
• A responsible gun owner in South Carolina put his gun on a bathroom chair before taking a shower. He got out of the shower, sat on the gun, and shot a hole in his butt. (This is the second "shot himself in the butt" story in two days!)
• A Princeton University study just found that our nation is no longer an actual democracy, but an oligarchy – “a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes.” (Source: Princeton)
• A judge for the Leon Circuit in Florida has ruled in favor of district maps drawn up by voters’ groups, and not the GOP-controlled legislature. These maps give voters a fair shot at actually electing who they vote for, by making districts "a level field" again.
• A responsible gun owner (and cop) in Las Vegas "accidentally" shot at her mother 27 times, wounding the older woman. (How does one "accidentally" shoot at someone 27 times?)
• After Ben Carson's three top aides quit a couple of days ago, 20 of his staffers quit on Thursday. Alone in a sinking ship…In related news, Ben Carson earlier this month threatened to leave the Republican Party. Too late, Ben. It already left you.
• Political writer Harry Jaffe this week released a pro-Bernie Sanders biography. Even though the book supports Bernie, the author also states that Sanders’ dislike for foreign policy would make him a "lousy commander in chief."
• The Sinaloa drug cartel run by most wanted fugitive "El Chapo" just "declared war" on ISIS. Uh...in this particular case, which side are we on again?
• Trump demanded an apology from Hillary when she said that terrorists were using video of Trump to recruit members, calling it a lie. He changed the subject quickly when a video from the terrorist group Al-Shabab was revealed, which showed terrorists using video of Donald Trump to recruit members. (Sources: ABC News, CBS News and many others.)
• To those who claim Hillary Clinton is controlled by big donors, 94% of her donations are in increments of $100 or less. (Business Insider)
• Now he's getting to the real issues! Donald Trump claimed that Barack Obama was keeping him from using hair spray.
• A responsible gun owner in Texas shot a college student in the head in an apparent case of road rage.
• The new Tea Party Governor of Kentucky, after keeping his campaign promise to kill Obamacare in his state, found out that his low-information voters didn't even know that was what he planned to do. So, when he did it, they screamed like crazy, threatening to recall him. So, he caved. Kentucky will keep its Obamacare and all its uninformed voters.
• Other sources: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Associated Press, Politico, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS News, PoliticusUSA,USA Today and others.