Florida’s politicians really just can’t take a hint. After they failed to force widespread privatization on the state’s prison system, against the wishes of the director of their DOC (but at the behest of companies that spent a million dollars lobbying the legislature), the asshats in the state legislature are back at it, this time with a vengeance. Even the fact that the GEO Group is under FBI investigation over a deal that brought a private prison to the state, and the state’s Circuit Court ruling the initial push unconstitutional, have failed to slow down the push to privatize.

Another debate between GOP candidates for President, sponsored by ABC News, the Iowa GOP, Yahoo News, WOI-TV and The Des Moines Register,

I don’t know what it will take for Herman Cain to realize that his ride in the 2012 GOP Clown Car is over, but I’m guessing that the numerous accusations from women that he sexually harassed/assaulted aren’t doing the trick. After a bold, insane statement like this, I’m sure of it (via TPM): “Herman Cain: For Every Person Who Says I Harassed Them, There Are ‘Thousands’ Who Say I Didn’t.”

Two interesting pieces here regarding the influence the private prison industry wield in its political affiliations and activities. Most of the reason the industry has been so successful in securing contracts despite decades of failing to perform is the cozy relationship it has cultivated with state and federal officials who control the disbursement of public funds and criminal justice sentencing. They cultivate these relationships through donating to individual politicians and various campaigns they embark upon, but also through hiring professional lobbyists to promote their will while the legislature is in session.

Tom Tomorrow is a master of the nutshell who has found an inexhaustible supply of nuts. Every week, he crystallizes deadly accurate criticism of Republican insanity and Democratic insincerity into just a handful or two of pithy cartoon panels, and yet never seems to leave anything out. As anyone who has ever written or blogged can attest, this is a very rare and valuable skill, and I think I can safely say that we all hate him for it.

One of the most compelling elements of this political drama has been the interaction between The LGBT movement and the migrant youth movement. What to an outsider might be perceived as two unrelated constituencies, perhaps even hostile to each other, have been working long before this moment to build unity and solidarity. It is one thing to believe in the truth that we are all woven into a “single garment of destiny.” It is another to live that truth and act on it. The migrant youth movement and the LGBT movement having been living and acting on that truth, as we all should. My freedom is tied up with the freedom of everyone else in the universe, and today we have a chance to set close to a million people free.

As mentioned last week, Republican Party of Minnesota chair and Baja Sol owner Tony Sutton, despite all the evidence to the contrary, insists via his wife and co-owner Bridget that Baja Sickly is going to be back on the mend once Army Group Steiner shows up.

Carl Paladino, Buffalo real estate developer and Republican candidate for New York State governor, wants to turn New York State prisons into housing for welfare recipients.

[Welcome author, Gregory Koger, Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Miami, and Host Jonathan Bernstein , A Plain Blog About Politics] [As a courtesy to our guests, please keep comments to the book.  Please take other conversations to a previous thread.  - bev] Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate Sometimes, [...]