Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval is being floated as a vice presidential candidate; he and Mitt Romney could make up history's first all-Mexican American ticket. A federal appeals court ruled Idaho's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional -- on a somewhat unrelated note, "Spuds" would be a really great name for a gay bar. And a Republican controlled Congress would likely only have two female committee chairs. Presumably the select Committee on the War for Women would help remedy that. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, October 7th, 2014:
LOBBYISTS PANICKING OVER PAT ROBERTS - It's like "The Natural," but instead of Robert Redford it's an aging legislator who's trying to pull out one last dial-for-dollars from ADM. The Hill: "Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) is leaning heavily on K Street as he tries to save the Senate seat he’s held for 18 years...'The old man is raising 100 grand a day. I’m serious. Ask any lobbyist of anyone in Washington if they’ve gotten a call from Pat Roberts. He’s stepping up,' said one Republican source close to the campaign. 'It’s amazing what a little fear will do to somebody,' the source added. A survey of prominent Republican lobbyists revealed that Roberts, the senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, is reaching far and wide to collect chits he’s earned over 34 years in Congress. 'I got a call from Pat; I was glad to get it...,'.... said former Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.), who is now a lobbyist with Greenberg Traurig." [The Hill]
THE GREAT GAYENING CONTINUES - BuzzFeed: "Idaho and Nevada’s bans on same-sex couples’ marriages are unconstitutional, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday. Judge Stephen Reinhardt, writing for the panel, applied additional scrutiny to the claimed sexual orientation discrimination the same-sex couples in the two states faced by the bans. The 9th Circuit held earlier this year that such additional scrutiny — heightened scrutiny — applies to sexual orientation claims." [BuzzFeed]
Yeah, but they'll totally vote for LaRouche "A New York appeals court will consider this week whether chimpanzees are entitled to 'legal personhood' in what experts say is the first case of its kind." [Reuters]
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Ebola is notably absent from this Tom Cotton fever dream scenario: "The problem is with Mark Pryor and Barack Obama refusing to enforce our immigration laws, and refusing to secure our border. I’ll change that when I’m in the United States Senate. And I would add, it’s not just an immigration problem. We now know that it’s a security problem. Groups like the Islamic State collaborate with drug cartels in Mexico who have clearly shown they’re willing to expand outside the drug trade into human trafficking and potentially even terrorism. They could infiltrate our defenseless border and attack us right here in places like Arkansas. This is an urgent problem and it’s time we got serious about it, and I’ll be serious about it in the United States Senate." Did I mention that my opponent worships Satan? [WashPost]
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DNC NERVOUS ABOUT SANDOVAL - BuzzFeed: "In meetings in the last month top DNC officials have repeatedly mentioned that Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval is best positioned to peel away Latino voters from the Democratic Party in 2016, if he were named the vice presidential nominee, three sources told BuzzFeed News...Sandoval, a popular governor, with approval ratings consistently north of 60%, is Mexican-American and resides in the Southwest, two factors the DNC officials believe would work in his favor since close to 70% of Latinos in the U.S. are Mexican. He is expected to be reelected next month...Sandoval has made moves on immigration policy that would appease Democrats, as well. In January, he signed a law passed by Nevada’s Democratic-controlled legislature that gave licenses to undocumented immigrants. He also has praised the U.S. Senate’s bipartisan immigration overhaul." [BuzzFeed]
Now that Leon Panetta is taking his ritualistic dump on Obama, allow Sam Stein to explain the White House's attitude toward its many memoirists.
GOP HAS A WOMEN PROBLEM, PART GABILLION - Binders full of wonky subcommittee chairs. NJ: "After Republicans lost the last presidential race, a Republican National Committee autopsy report concluded that among other things, the party must promote more women and minorities into leadership roles to keep in step with changing demographics. But if Republicans take control of both houses of Congress next year, they will—by one important measure—be taking a step in the other direction. If the GOP wins the Senate this year, come January just two out of 36 standing committees in the two chambers would be helmed by women. That would mark a steep drop from the current Congress: Today, female members hold the same percentage of committee chairmanships as they do seats in the House and Senate—a little less than one-fifth—and more than a third of committee chairs in the current, Democratic-controlled Senate are female." [National Journal]
Don't miss the latest #SmartTake on why a Republican Senate could actually be good for Obama.
AMAZON WAREHOUSE WORKERS HEADING TO SUPREME COURT - Dave Jamieson: "Anyone who's ever worked filling orders in an Amazon warehouse knows the drill: Once your shift is over, you must stand in line and wait to be screened for stolen goods before you can leave...Workers across the country have sued to be paid for that time, and now they'll have their day at the Supreme Court, where oral arguments in Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk are expected to begin this Wednesday. Integrity, the temp firm that helps staff Amazon's warehouses, is arguing that the screenings aren't 'integral and indispensable' to the work, and that therefore it shouldn't have to pay workers for the time...But the broader and more significant question... is whether or not an employer can require you to do other tasks deemed nonessential to the job -- for free." [HuffPost]
CREEPING SHARIA ALERT! - Those individuals with questions can contact their local Caliphate sleeper agent. AP: "Supreme Court justices appeared united Tuesday as they picked apart prison rules in Arkansas that allow full Afros and mustaches, but no beards, in a case about a Muslim inmate's claim that his religious beliefs require that he be allowed to keep a half-inch beard... There was no such division evident in the courtroom Tuesday as several justices were openly skeptical of arguments made by a lawyer for Arkansas in defense of the state's no-beard policy, which has no exception for religious beliefs." [AP]
We can neither confirm nor deny tha... oh: "The U.S. government inaccurately told a federal judge last month that the CIA did not have a copy of the unabridged version of a Senate committee report on treatment of detainees, but the spy agency in fact does have a copy of the 6,300-page report, a Justice Department lawyer said Tuesday. 'There was a miscommunication over at the agency as to what we were looking for,' DOJ attorney Vesper Mei told U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg Tuesday. 'They didn't realize that they had it.; Speaking during a court hearing on several Freedom of Information Act lawsuits related to the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA's rendition, detention and interrogation program, Mei said the confusion may have been due to the full report being on a compact disc, rather than thousands of pieces of paper." [Politico]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a banker cat.
HANDS UP, DON'T WHOOPS - Igor Bobic: "The St. Louis County Board of Elections said Tuesday that officials had erroneously compiled numbers showing a surge in voter registration since a police officer shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown in August. The actual figures on new voters in Ferguson, Missouri, are much lower than previously announced. Officials said earlier this month that 3,287 residents of Ferguson had registered to vote since the shooting, a significant number for a town with a population of 21,203, according to the last census." [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
- Reimagining carrots as an app.
- A look at Israel's (often fashionable) bomb shelters.
- If buying condoms were like buying birth control.
- Don't lick vomit off the street, and other tips to stay ebola free.
TWITTERAMA
@JGreenDC: Time to doxx @_christopher pic.twitter.com/lUXFsR2MOB
@ralstonreports: Breaking: Ninth Circuit decision on gay marriage allows more Nevada politicians to claim they have "evolved."
@jessetaylor: RT @SpeakerBoehner:
① Like a dream come true
② Just wanna be with you
③ Girl it's plain to see
④ Repeat 1-3
⑤ Make you fall in love with me
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