I Have 20 Open Tags and I Must Scream Have to Close at least 15 Before Midnight

• I try to post this annually. I usually fail. I'm still a fighting liberal, and Steve Gilliard's fine essay is my credo in this matter.
• Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance.  
• There was a 6 part documentary on the Spanish Civil War that I happened upon via Comrade Misfit, who noted that Franco was still dead 40 years later.
  
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3
  • Part 4
  • Part 5
  • Part 6
  Some of this may remind one of Star Wars. This may not be an accident.
• From Mercury Rising:  The New York Times admits error in supporting increased surveillance.  And about time.
• Too much of the bleatings of politicians leads to *headdesking* and the cri de coeur "What is wrong with those people?"  Did none of these people study World War II, if only to play games?  I've long thought that there should be an examination for candidacy at least as rigorous as the citizenship test given to immigrants.  Hello!  At least know what went on in this country prior to 1990!  This may be why "conservatives" want to abridge the study of history.
• Susie Madrak (Crooks & Liars) notes CNN's suspension of a foreign-affairs journalist for alluding to an Emma Lazarus poem.  Yes, that Emma Lazarus poem.
• Driftglass reports on Donald Trump's real face.  
• John Scalzi cites the Cato Institute.
• George Takei (who was interned with his family during WW2) rebukes the mayor of Roanoke, VA, who apparently had never heard of the history of internment in this country.  (I'm afraid I find the word "clueless" too kind.)  By Mike Moffitt, sfgate.com.
• Southern Beale anathematizes her Congressperson.

  Jim Cooper voted “aye” on the “American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act,” AKA the Let’s-punch-Syrian-and-Iraqi-refugees-because-we’re-scared-and-crapping-our-pants-and-also-we’re-ignorant Act.

• Boko Haram. Remember Boko Haram? Boko Haram is worse.
• What's going on with the working class?  

  Here’s a possible explanation that takes us back to economic factors. Beginning in the 1980s, the U.S. economy started trending toward greater inequality. The less-educated lost the semi-skilled jobs that they had held in previous decades. The uneducated class became a floating low-skilled labor force, which decreased the marriageability of white working-class men. That impaired family formation. A couple of decades later, the lack of family support started to take a big bite out of the emotional health of working-class whites, causing them to turn to alcohol, drugs and suicide once they reached middle age.

  Warning: It's Bloomberg.  Via skippy the bush kangaroo.
  
• Meanwhile groundwater takes a long time to replace, and we can't drink oil.