It's the law, Senator!
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, may have found their equal in the Senate in Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.
Although she is in her first term as a senator, she was in the U.S. House for three terms, had been her state's lieutenant governor and had been in her state legislature. But in a hearing last week about immigration laws, she seemed not to understand that people - many, many people - are in the country illegally.
Matthew Albence, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executive associate director for enforcement and removal operations, was testifying on the operations carried out by ICE.
"These individuals," he said in responding to a Hirono question, "are there because they have broken the law."
"They [illegal immigrants] have broken the law only as deemed so by the president," the senator said in response.
Patiently, Albence then clearly explained the procedures taken when illegal immigrants are detained, but the clarity was beyond Hirono.
"I'm confused," she said.
As much as Hirono might want to believe it, President Donald Trump did not make the law that is enforced on people who enter the country illegally. That law would be the McCarran-Walter Act, also known as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. It's been in place since before Hawaii became a state in 1959.
It was just a joke
"The View" host Joy Behar is still holding a candle for disgraced former Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken.
Eight months after he resigned when a photo showed him appearing to grope a sleeping radio anchor, among other allegations, she called the incident a "sophomoric joke" and him a "gentleman."
"[It was] in a time when he didn't know he was going to become a senator," Behar said, using an excuse her feminist sisters usually deride. "He was fooling around. He was a comic."
(Of course, initially, she called the allegations "disappointing" and said, "I can't back Al." She also strangely called the effort to oust him a right-wing attack.)
Apparently, though, Franken's been punished enough.
"Now," Behar said, "can we please move on and get the great senator back, and get rid of the president?"
The gabfest host also took a shot at her fellow leftist, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who spoke out against Franken's actions.
" and then Gilligrand, Gillibrand - is that her name?" Behar asked. "She was out to get him also, and the Democrats decided, 'Oh, we're going to take the high road,' and they basically lost a really good senator, in my opinion."
The discussion surfaced after Franken said last week he hasn't ruled out running for public office again.
It never gets old
You'd think people would have seen enough live police videos to know by now, but the same body cameras that individuals who were allegedly harassed by police demanded be purchased by police almost always exonerate the police who now have them.
The most recent incident occurred in Missouri, the same state where the lies about police brutality began with the Ferguson event in 2014. On this occasion, nurse Ciera Calhoun was pulled over in Lee's Summit for not having her car lights on at night. The officer also asked Calhoun whether she had thrown a baggie out of the driver-side window just before the stop. She denied it, so the officer let her go with two warnings and no ticket.
But Calhoun? She took to Facebook and wrote a post that said she'd been racially profiled, that said there were multiple officers at the scene and that she did not feel safe during the interaction.
"Now let me tell y'all," she wrote. "[Three] black nurses with [bachelor's] degrees and [master's] degrees were standing at the side of the road for an hour being harassed.
"[These] police officers had their hands on their guns the whole time I tell you. I can honestly say I don't feel safe around police officers at all. I didn't care for police before, [b]ut now I can say I hate them to the core of me."
The now-viral police video tells the whole tale. Only one policeman was shown, he was polite, explained everything and quickly let her go.
"There's nothing sinister or nefarious here," Sgt. Chris Dupue said.
It's a softball game
The annual softball game between staffers of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee is off this year because the Democrats don't want to play.
If you think it sounds like playground stuff, you're right.
The game is a yearly opportunity for a traditional show of solidarity between the two political parties.
"The game," according to the Daily Caller, "was an opportunity to put aside the partisan bickering and come together in a friendly competition. The decade-old tradition typically ended in staffers having a drink at a nearby bar."
Republican National Committee staffers said Democratic officials told them "all our players are out in the field this year. We won't be able to play."
They could mean one of several things. Maybe, as it used to mean on the playground, the Democrats are afraid of losing. Or it could mean the Democrats are so hard up for money their usual Washington staffers really are in the field. Or it could mean the staffers are acting like their elected officials and just refusing to work with Republicans.
No matter, Republicans will take the forfeit win.