From Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo

I've been watching closely as Hillary Clinton's popular vote lead has grown and grown since election day. It now stands at over 2.6 million votes, a 2 percentage point lead in the popular vote. Of course, the electoral college determines who becomes President. But contrary to what some say, the popular vote is still important. It shows that Trump will be a minority President. It also helps focus Democrats on what did an did not go wrong.

But I wanted to flag a short opinion column which I believe captures a critical element of what is happening in the country right now: our constitutional architecture can allow popular minorities to dominate or at least disproportionately influence the nation's politics. But not permanently. This was the case for most of the 19th and 20th century. But it can't do so forever. Even in this period of nationwide Republican dominance I think most Republicans realize it is a fragile grip.

Here's the rather breathtaking column by Michael Barone, in which he argues that the electoral college is important because it is preventing California from exercising 'colonial' rule over the rest of the country.It is a very unlovely argument. It has a number of statistical ins and outs. But these two passages capture it.

It is a very unlovely argument. 

So much more at link.

Just read it.

We have 100 days to stop Donald Trump from systemically corrupting our institutions


The country has entered a dangerous period. The president-elect is the least qualified man to ever hold high office. He also operated the least transparent campaign of the modern era. He gave succor and voice to bigoted elements on a scale not seen in two generations. He openly praised dictators — not as allies but as dictators — and threatened to use the powers of his office to discipline the media. He also has a long history of corrupt behavior, and his business holdings pose staggering conflicts of interest that are exacerbated by his lack of financial disclosure. But while most journalists and members of the opposition party think they understand the threat of Trump-era corruption, they are in fact drastically underestimating it. When we talk about corruption in the modern United States, we have in mind what Andrei Shleifer and Robert Vishny define as “the sale by government officials of government property for personal gain.”

Credit to Occupy Democrats

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Indiana GOP Curt Nisly, R-Goshen proposes total abortion ban in Indiana This guy reps an area just a few miles from me. From the article.

INDIANAPOLIS — A Hoosier lawmaker hoping to permanently end abortion in Indiana could get an assist from a U.S. Supreme Court reshaped by Republican President-elect Donald Trump. State Rep. Curt Nisly, R-Goshen, said Tuesday he plans to file a “Protection at Conception” proposal when the Republican-controlled General Assembly convenes in January.

 If enacted into law, it would prohibit all abortion in Indiana in all circumstances and authorize the criminal prosecution of any doctor or woman who participates in an abortion. “It’s time to bring the Roe v. Wade era to its logical conclusion,” Nisly said. “My goal is to deregulate abortion right out of existence in Indiana.”

Good Read

Nice people made the best Nazis. 
 Or so I have been told. 

My mother was born in Munich in 1934, and spent her childhood in Nazi Germany surrounded by nice people who refused to make waves. 

When things got ugly, the people my mother lived alongside chose not to focus on “politics,” instead busying themselves with happier things. 

They were lovely, kind people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away. I don’t remember the first time I heard the stories my mother told me; I feel like I always knew them. 

She’s dead now. If she were alive, I imagine she would be quite sanguine; all her anxieties would be realized, so there would no longer be anything left to fear. More goodness at link.

Farm Bill Compromise Cuts Food Stamps For 850,000 Families

From By Elissa Gomez via The National Memo. Congressional negotiators announced on Monday that they’d reached a deal on a farm bill that saves $24 billion over the next decade and includes an $8 billion cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – the program responsible for providing food stamps to millions of Americans nationwide. Yep. There's the ticket cut more aid to the people who need it most. Please sign this petition to tell Hoosier senators Joe Donnelly and Dan Coats ABSOLUTELY NO MORE CUTS TO FOODSTAMPS!

Will Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion Continue?

From the National Memo: Again, I don’t want to make more of this than the evidence can support. But for what it’s worth, early evidence supports the liberal optimist (and conservative pessimist) view: that where it’s in place, Medicaid expansion is here to stay. If that’s truly the case, then sooner or later Obamacare’s Medicaid component will expand to all 50 states. Eventually, every state will have a governor who is willing to embrace it. Provided that trend is not counteracted by reversals in states that were in the first wave of Medicaid expansion, we’re talking about a one-way street. The only question is how long it takes.

I sure hope this is the case. Kind of hard to believe Mike "right-to-life" Pence will continue to refuse the medicaid expansion here in Indiana when so many Hoosier lives are at risk.

My Recent Healthcare Experience....and I have "EXCELLENT" Insurance

Rally with Community Coalition 4 Immigration Reform. With South Bend Mayor @PeteButtigieg Fri~June14th~4pm

This was on my car tis morning.

There are some ugly people out there. My grandmother was a daughter of the American  Revolution