Apparently this month's crop of stabbings, armed robberies, rapes/molestations and teacher/student sex scandals in Catawba County, North Carolina aren't enough to keep the sheriff's department busy. Or maybe they just have too many deputies on the payroll.

Hall of Fame pitcher and two-term U.S. Senator Jim Bunning died just before midnight Saturday. He was 85. Bunning had suffered a stroke in October.

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a top White House adviser, proposed a secret back channel between the Kremlin and the Trump transition team during a December meeting with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. Kushner spoke with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about creating that line of communication to facilitate sensitive discussions aimed at exploring the incoming administration's options with Russia as it was developing its Syria policy, a person familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press.

In a positive episode of "The Trews," host Russell Brand analyzes a surprisingly moving television advertisement that demonstrates how social categories based on race and class are superficial and quickly break down.

Still a few days left in Echidne's fundraiser week. Daily blogging is hard work and bloggers like Echidne, who bring a wealth of experience, knowledge and thought deserve to be compensated.

Last Wednesday, on the eve of his election to the House of Representatives, Montana Republican Greg Gianforte beat up Ben Jacobs, a reporter for the "Guardian" newspaper. What prompted the violence? Jacobs had asked Gianforte for his reaction to the Congressional Budget Office's report showing that the House Republican substitute for the Affordable Care Act would result in 23 million Americans losing their health insurance.

As we witness President Trump declaring that Iran is the main source of terrorism in the world while standing in the very Kingdom of Terror right next to Terror's biggest architects and financiers; the above words of the Quran come to mind. Anyone who has witnessed the rise of Al-Qaida and ISIS and who has been paying attention with even some modest degree of intelligence and impartiality knows that President Trump is lying.

In the aftermath of Edward Snowden's revelations in 2013, a grudging acceptance was made by the Obama administration that something had to be done about a roguish surveillance complex unhinged from its foundations. The National Security Agency had overstretched its powers, to the point where it was not only conducting its standard mischief against foreign targets, but against US citizens roped into the exercise.

Trump bombed at the G7 summit in Italy. Despite an "intense" discussion with Germany, France and the others, who made it clear as sunshine that they wanted the US to meet its Paris Climate obligations, Trump refused to join in the issuance of a joint statement on the issue.

Josh Gerstein, Politico: A federal judge in Washington has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Hillary Clinton's lax security surrounding her emails led to the deaths of two of the Americans killed in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

Gregg Allman, the singer, organist and founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, died Saturday at his home in Savannah, Georgia. He was 69. Allman idolized his older brother Duane, joining a series of bands with him before forming the nucleus of The Allman Brothers Band.

Face it, you have always wished that someone, somewhere would make a straight-up film noir about the French Revolution. Dangerous dames, sharp, rat-a-tat dialogue and danger lurking in the deep shadows as Maximilien Robespierre's henchmen stalk the streets of Paris looking for his stolen Death Book.

The Drudge Retort has moved to a secure server by implementing a security certificate. This is a measure that makes the data you send the site more secure.

MSNBC executives plan to cancel Lawrence O'Donnell highly-rated prime time television show "The Last Word" after his contract... Using actual data to derive the number of people in a crowd. What an alien concept that must be for so many exhausted Trump supporters.

When Donald Trump rode down that golden escalator in June, 2015 and announced he would run for President of the United States, the guffaws could be heard round the world. What a colossal doofus! A shady real estate mogul, a beauty pageant owner, a dubious celebrity famous for firing people, saw himself as the perfect person to fill the highest job in the land.

President Trump rounded out his first foreign trip since taking office by joining other G7 leaders as they walked the streets of Taormina, Sicily. There was just one difference: as the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan walked on foot, Trump followed in a golf cart, The Times of London reported on Saturday.

Ariana Grande has announced a concert in Manchester, England, on June 4 to raise funds for the victims of the terror attack that targeted her fans. Other performers are being recruited to perform with her.

MSNBC executives plan to cancel Lawrence O'Donnell highly-rated prime time television show "The Last Word" after his contract... Welcome back, Saturday Campaign D.I.Y.ers! For those who tune in, welcome to the Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic campaign. Each week we discuss issues that help drive successful campaigns.

America's beekeepers watched as a third of the country's honeybee colonies were lost over the last year, part of a decade-long die-off experts said may threaten our food supply. The annual survey of roughly 5,000 beekeepers showed the 33% dip from April 2016 to April 2017.

MSNBC executives plan to cancel Lawrence O'Donnell highly-rated prime time television show "The Last Word" after his contract... Critics in the 1980s said wind power would never be cheap enough to compete economically with fossil fuels, so it didn't matter whether it could compete with them environmentally. See post by Ohiodem1 below.