RINO George W. Bush Totally Supports Obama's Goal Of Beating Bad Guys

• George Dubya gave an interview on CNN and said some stuff. Like how when he heard about the grand jury in New York refusing to indict the cop who choked Eric Garner to death, it made him "sad that race continues to play such a, you know, kind of emotional, divisive part of life." And how if his brother Jeb runs for president, he will SO full-on win. And also how it was a real comfort to him sometimes, when he was president, that his daddy had been president too, because his daddy could, like, totallyget it, man.

  But I hope when people read this, and I hope they do, is that they understand that when he reached across and grabbed my arm after the speech on September the 14 in the National Cathedral, I mean, incredibly emotional moment for me, it was in many ways symbolic of what he'd meant for me as president. In other words, he was a comforter.

  Bush also had some super deep "thoughts" on ISIS, like how it is bad and we should defeat it somehow. Yet in a treacherous move of treachery, which really makes you wonder if he's even a Republican anymore, he refused to say how it is all Obama's fault for being a secret terrorist-lover, even though he was given the perfect opportunity to do so:

  First thing is there has to be a goal, and the president has laid out what I think is a good goal, and that is to degrade and defeat ISIS. Once you state the goal, then you have to put plans in place to achieve the goal. And seems like to me the initial plans are being adjusted, and all I hope is that we succeed, because ISIS is lethal.

  Sure hope Republicans don't hear about Dubya's gushing over the current president's "good goal," or they might have to IMPEACH!

• Surprising no one, and disappointing few, Sen. Mary Landrieu, the supposed Democrat from Louisiana, lost her run-off against Republican Bill Cassidy on Saturday. Sure is hard to imagine why Democrats aren't crying about it:  

  On Friday, Landrieu appeared on the morning show of radio host and Tea Party supporter Jeff Crouere, and the two engaged in a combative exchange. [...]

  Crouere argued that Landrieu’s support for Obama and the Affordable Care Act, which he called the president’s signature legislative achievement, had sunk her campaign.

  Landrieu shot back that she was not a rubber stamp for Obama, and argued that ObamaCare was not the president’s signature legislative achievement because he and other liberals wanted a single-payer healthcare system. She said she voted for the Affordable Care Act because she believed it would help Louisianans.

  “I voted for the Affordable Care Act,I did not vote for Obama,” she said. “I voted for the Affordable Care Act for Louisiana and that’s the truth.”

• There was a big ol' drama at The New Republic last week, with Very Serious Journalists Very Seriously Upset that their beloved "liberal" institution -- with a long history of blatant sexism and racism and hawkishness and disdain for liberals -- is changing under new ownership. Many of them even demanded to have their names pulled from the masthead in protest. Save yourself the eye-rolling at trying to understand all the back-and-forth business, and just read Digby:  

  This week those editors got a taste of what their vaunted modern capitalist America is all about. A baby billionaire product of Wall Street's inexplicable value system bought the place for his own amusement. And then decided, as his CEO has been quoted saying recently, to "break some shit." And so he did.

  Fortunately for the people who are no longer employed at TNR, they will all likely end up working somewhere else doing what they do and being successful at it. After all, Washington DC is one of the richest, most thriving cities in the world right now. But a lot of Americans who have suffered this experience are not so lucky --- the death of their company spelled the death of their town and the end of their middle class lifestyles as well. But one can at least hope that some of those editors who were so disdainful of the impulse that led people to take to the streets and protest this ongoing, painful economic dislocation might have a little more empathy now.

  After all, it can happen to anyone. Even The Liberal New Republic.

• Yes, it's been raining in California for, like,days, so this totally doesn't mean anything, but:

  The last three years of drought were the most severe that California has experienced in at least 1,200 years, according to a new scientific study published Thursday.

  The study provides the state with breathtaking new historical context for its low reservoirs and sinking water tables, even as California celebrated its first good soaking of the season.

  Analyzing tree rings that date back to 800 A.D. -- a time when Vikings were marauding Europe and the Chinese were inventing gunpowder -- there is no three-year period when California's rainfall has been as low and its temperatures as hot as they have been from 2012 to 2014, the researchers found.

• Did you hate-watch the live teevee production ofPeter Pan? If you did, then you'll appreciate this write-up from our friends at Happy Nice Time People. And if you skipped it, you'll appreciate it just as much:

  Ahhh, Peter Pan. You remember him from your childhood, right? He’s the perpetual man child known for sneaking into your bedroom window in the middle of the night, making you snort something called “fairy dust” that he insists will make you “fly,” and then whisking you away to a far off land where your parents will NEVER EVER FIND YOU!

  Fast forward to the present day. You’re all grown up. You’ve blocked out of your memory that brief period of time when you were part of the child slave trade. Everything is OK, or so you think.

•  One of those things on the interwebs you really, REALLY hope is real, and can enjoy even if it's not: