Bill O'Reilly takes a vacation

Let's hope he's on an overbooked United flight.   To nowhere.

In the midst of an ongoing scandal surrounding Bill O’Reilly in the wake of a NY Times report that he’d paid out $13 million in sexual harassment settlements, O’Reilly is going on vacation. O’Reilly, however, insists that it is not a suspension, and that he had been planning the vacation since last fall. It is merely a coincidence that the vacation falls in the middle of the week. After over 60 advertisers have dropped his program. 

Could it have happened to a more deserving cad?

New York Magazine, however, is reporting that (Tuesday night)’s show may be his last. Fox News is conducting its own investigation into sexual harassment allegations against O’Reilly, and there is a battle between Rupert Murdoch and his son, 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch, over whether to keep O’Reilly around. Rupert wants him to stay, while James does not.

More from Think Progress.  Watch for news about Billo and Roger Ailes getting a new conservo-news network going with Steve Bannon (as soon as Trump fires him).

United

In the New World Order, there's always room for one more authoritarian overlord.  To emulate the president, everybody thinks being the biggest, baddest bully is the way to go these days.

The company prevented two girls in their early teens from boarding their flight just a couple of weeks ago because they were wearing leggings.  They added surcharges -- 'tiered' ticket pricing -- for fliers who wished to use the overhead bins a year ago.

It seems obvious to me that the invisible hand of the free market needs to remove a large number of United's paying customers.  Unless we don't actually have a choice, in that the airline industry has become an oligopoly, like our media, our food supply, etc. 

Oh wait, they already are.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance would rather be taking in a baseball game than covering the Lege with this week's lefty blog post roundup.

Off the Kuff has a bunch of updates about various Texas voting rights-related lawsuits.

SocraticGadfly took note of the centennial of American entry into World War I and noted why, in detail, we never should have gotten involved.

The 59-Tomahawk Tweet Trump sent to Syria isn't paying off in polling dividends just yet, according to PDiddie at Brains and Eggs, and jobsanger sees the Syrian bombing as a publicity stunt.

Neil at All People Have Value commented on the Republican universal access plan for basketball. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

Texas Leftist thinks the GOP is cracking up.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston takes a swipe at the Harris County Republican Party.

In Lewisville, the Education First High School Year Exchange and their good works are acknowledged by participants in the Texan Journal.

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More blog posts and news from around Texas!

The Texas Observer, on the scene at the #Megamarch for immigrants rights in Dallas yesterday, saw Joaquin Castro and Beto O'Rourke and thousands of others.

Meagan Flynn at the Houston Press recorded five highlights from the 15-hour debate over the state budget in the Texas House last Thursday.

Texas Freedom Network's Dan Quinn celebrated the defeat of Dan Patrick and school vouchers in the House, but despaired that the assault on women's health goes on.

Raise Your Hand Texas introduces us to Mr. Voucher III: The Frankenvoucher.

PoliTex (the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's blog) rounds up a few Lege items, including one state lawmaker whining about politics stalling his effort to outlaw abortions in Texas.

Texas Watch names the all-stars on the fantasy sports industry's lobbyist team.

Burkablog reported on Hillary Clinton's keynote speech at the Annie's List fundraiser luncheon in Houston, where she gave unqualified support to Trump's missile attacks in Syria.

Former Sanders supporter (and Trump voter) Digital Heretic joins the chorus of those denouncing the Syrian Tomahawk strike.

Paradise in Hell has a few choice words for former Baylor basketball coach Dave Bliss.

Lila Mankad explains why the Legislature should let cities regulate plastic bags if they choose to.

Michael Li has the latest updates in the Texas redistricting litigation.

And CultureMap Houston and Houston Streetwise collected some snapshots from the Art Car Ball and Parade.

Sunday Funnies

Eyewitness says Syria anticipated US missile strikes

Syrian bombing not yet helping Trump's low approval ratings

Initial reports in fact reveal some Trump Train passengers are disembarking.

Some of President Trump’s most ardent campaign supporters were among his most vocal opponents on Thursday after he ordered the missile strike against Syria, charging him with breaking his promise to keep the United States out of another conflict in the Middle East.

Prominent writers and bloggers on the far right attacked Mr. Trump. They accused him of turning against his voters by waging an attack that he had for years said would be a terrible idea. They also criticized him for launching the strike without first seeking congressional approval — something he said on Twitter in 2013 would be a “big mistake.”

The most vocal in their outrage were leaders from the small but influential white nationalist movement.

Well.  Who cares what those racists think anyway?

Nothing rebuilds bipartisanship post-nuclear strike in the Senate like a war.  Marco Rubio, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton all agree.

Missiles flying. Rubio's happy. McCain ecstatic. Hillary's on board. A complete policy change in 48 hrs.

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) April 7, 2017

Business as usual for the neoliberals and neoconservatives.  It does also help with that pesky Kremlin buddies problem he's been having, so there's something gained for Cheetolini by starting a proxy war with Russia this week, the latest worst of his presidency.

You may recall his namesake offspring once compared the Syrian refugee crisis to a bowl of Skittles.

And if that guy's dad keeps bombing Syria, there will probably be many more Syrian refugees bowls of Skittles.  Unfortunately that can't be considered progress.  On the other hand, Pops did get to start his Mar-el-Lago golf weekend early, so hey, this may all turn out well by Monday.

At the very least, we should have a new Supreme Court Justice by this evening.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance has a story it wants to tell you in this week's roundup, and it doesn't require a guarantee of immunity for that.

Off the Kuff looks at the Beto O'Rourke for Senate campaign and how it might be successful, and jobsanger also feels encouraged by O'Rourke's candidacy.

SocraticGadfly looks at Texas Senate Democrats all voting FOR Dan Patrick's budget, and the ugh "fear the police" bill from Whitmire-West, and for those who want to #resist, suggests another voting option.

A couple of somewhat dubious sources reported that Michael Flynn's offer to flip had Trump thinking about resigning the presidency.   PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has lots of corn ready to pop just in case.

Neil at All People Have Value continues to attend weekly protests outside the Houston office of wrongdoing U.S. Senator from Texas John Cornyn.  Never let up against Bannon/trump and all the wicked servants of Bannon/trump.  APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

Before leaving on a month-long fishing trip, CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme points to the McAllen Monitor's op-ed accusing Texas legislators of using religion to discriminate.  That's not what Jesus would have done.

Lewisville ISD's handling of a sexual assault allegation by a student requires some improvement, editorializes the Lewisville Texan Journal.

Alex Kotch at Rewire reports on the political action committees of three law firms, one trade association, and eight other companies that signed the letter against SB 6 (the bathroom bill) that have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaigns of Republican state senators who sponsored the bill.

And Texas Vox highlights Rep. Rafael Anchia's resolution committing the state to lead the way in ratifying an amendment to the US Constitution that overturns Citizens United.

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More news of interest from across Texas, focusing on the legislative session ...

Texas Freedom Network takes note of SB522, which allows county clerks to exercise religious discrimination against virtually anyone.

Better Texas Blog reviews where we are in the state budget process, and Raise Your Hand Texas tells the truth about vouchers and school district costs.

Conservative state legislator Jason Villalba lines up with Equality Texas -- and not Dan Patrick -- on the bathroom bill, and Scott Braddock reminds us that where there is bigotry and hatred in Texas politics, there's Steve Hotze.

The Texas Election Law Blog answers your questions about the redistricting ruling, and Michael Li examines how CD35 could be changed by it.

Grits for Breakfast wonders if the Trump administration's pivot on the opioid crisis might spur Greg Abbott to change his position on 'Good Samaritan' legislation in the Lege, which he vetoed in 2015. 

Maggie Gordon documents the efforts of Ted Cruz's constituents to find him doing his job, and DBC Green Blog reads some of Cruz's weekly email blasts and wonders why he subscribed to them in the first place.

Therese Odell has a Monday morning wrap-up of the Trumpcare debacle, and Paradise in Hell takes a guess at how low Dear Leader Trump's approval rating can go.

And Zachery Taylor has the Walmart crime report from March.

Sunday Funnies

(^^--click it to big it--^^)