Discover GOP Opprobrium

[teapeebubbles]

Today’s edition of quick hits:

* Afghanistan: “The most prominent Afghan official trying to negotiate a reconciliation with the Taliban was assassinated Tuesday night by a suicide bomber with explosives tucked in his turban who had been brought to his home by a trusted emissary.”

* The execution is set for tomorrow night: “Georgia’s board of pardons rejected a last-ditch clemency bid from Troy Davis on Tuesday, one day before his scheduled execution, despite support from figures including an ex-president and a former FBI director for the claim that he was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989.”

* The Big Dog is right: “Former President Bill Clinton has some tough words for Republican climate-change deniers: quit making the U.S. ‘look like a joke.’”

* Two veto threats in two days: “President Obama’s advisers will recommend that he veto pending House legislation that would block two key Environmental Protection Agency air-pollution rules, a White House official said.”

* Texas’ growing Latino population has given the state several new U.S. House seats, and yet, there are no new Latino districts: “The Justice Department said Monday that Texas’ state House and congressional redistricting plans didn’t comply with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), indicating they thought the maps approved by Gov. Rick Perry (R) gave too little voting power to the growing Latino population in the state.”

* There has to be a pretty interesting story behind this: “Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander has informed his colleagues that he is dropping his Whip bid and will step down from leadership in January.”

* Good point from Stan Collender: “The question that everyone should be asking is: Why is the House GOP only proposing a short-term continuing resolution?”

* Good piece from Brad Plumer on the “pseudo-debate over Solyndra.”

* In case you missed it, Elaine Kamarck had a fascinating item today on the 15th anniversary of welfare reform: “Progressives must wage many fights to shore up the safety net. Re-litigating welfare reform shouldn’t be one of them.”

* South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) recently made up some ridiculous claims about drug-testing. Yesterday, she admitted getting all of the relevant details wrong.

* Do Republicans routinely lie about employment policy? As a matter of fact, yes, they do.

* Some photos just call out for caption contests, don’t they?

* Rep. Hansen Clarke’s (D-Mich.) “Forgive Student Debt to Stimulate the Economy” plan is worth a closer look.

* A far-right state lawmaker in Texas was asked whether Republican efforts to target family planning are part of a war on birth control, and admitted it is. “Well of course this is a war on birth control and abortions and everything, that’s what family planning is supposed to be about,” Texas Rep. Wayne Christian (R) said.