Al Franken's last day in the Senate will be January 2nd.

Courtesy of Reuters:  

U.S. Democratic Senator Al Franken, who earlier this month announced his plan to resign following sexual misconduct allegations against him, will step down on Jan. 2, a representative for the lawmaker said on Wednesday.

The 66-year-old former comedian from Minnesota had been seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, but faced growing calls from fellow Senate Democrats to step down as allegations against him mounted. 

Franken is one of several influential men who have lost their jobs after being accused of sexual misconduct, assault or harassment, including Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein and journalists Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose and Tavis Smiley. 

He will be the third lawmaker facing misconduct allegations to depart from Congress following Democratic Representative John Conyers and Republican Representative Trent Franks. Two others, Democratic Representative Ruben Kihuen and Republican Representative Blake Farenthold, have said they will not seek re-election next year.

I'm just really saddened by this so I don't have much to add here. 

Al Franken was a much needed voice in the Senate and losing him will be devastating to the progressive cause.

The biggest celebrity filled shindig in Washington DC this month will not be the inauguration, it will be a farewell party for the Obamas.

Courtesy of the Obama Diary.

Courtesy of the Washington Post: 

January 2017 will definitely see an onslaught of A-list tourists at the White House. But they’re not coming for the inauguration. 

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will host a goodbye party for close friends and major donors Friday, according to a person with knowledge of the marquee affair. The Obamas themselves confirmed during an interview with People Magazine last month that they’d have one final bash at the White House. The president told a young fan that they’d have a “grown up” party before packing their bags. 

Of course, there’s no official word from the White House yet. Typically the Obama administration keeps a tight lid on celebration details until the 11th hour, releasing a just-the-facts statement the day of the event. But the big names thought to be on the guest list have been slowly trickling out this week.

Those big names are said to include Oprah, Beyoncé, Jay Z, Bradley Cooper, Stevie Wonder, Usher, Samuel L. Jackson, as well as directors George Lucas and J.J. Abrams. Among others of course.

Why do I get the feeling that Donald Trump would give his left shriveled orange nut for just one of these people to show up at his inauguration?

Damn I'm going to miss this POTUS and FLOTUS.

They have really raised the bar for class in the White House.

Too bad that bar is about to be buried along with Michelle Obama's vegetable garden after they bulldoze it and replace it with a Hugh Hefner like grotto featuring its own stripper pole. 

P.S. Of course news of this has agitated the little Tasmanian she-devil in Alaska as well.

In my opinion that is just the cherry on top.

Trump claims that he does not care that no big stars want to perform at his inauguration. "Parties aren't his thing."

Courtesy of TMZ: 

Donald Trump's inauguration is going to be "strictly traditional" and the President-elect has no interest in courting big Hollywood stars or entertainers to hobnob or perform at the events ... TMZ has learned. 

Sources involved in inaugural prep tell TMZ ... Trump is hardly engaged in the party planning at all. We're told he does feel, however, the parties should not be "over the top," but he's leaving all the details to others. 

One Trump insider says the Prez-elect is "obsessed" with energizing American business and industry ... the parties just aren't his thing. 

Yeah parties aren't his thing.  Right.

Trump loves parties, and everybody knows it. Hell he even showed up to a party that he was not invited to.

The source also claimed that Trump did not want a bunch of "big names" at his party because they certainly did not help Hillary's campaign to succeed. 

Please, does anybody really buy that?

No Trump is being pissy because no A list celebrities want to perform at his inauguration/white supremacist cross burning on January 20th.

Obviously nobody who did not like having celebrities around him would have hosted a show called "Celebrity Apprentice."

Personally I find this hysterical.

The guy is so thin skinned that I dread the first time that some foreign leader snubs him or hurts his stubby vulgarian feelings.

Shooting with the Palin gals.

So the above image showed up on Annie Okey-Dokey's Facebook page along with a whole passel of others.

Here was the accompanying post from the woman who claimed that she was "passing on that online time that enables broken people to try to break others is a way to live life vibrantly without inviting their hate to cloud my home."  

Proudly Clinging To God, Guns, and Constitutional Rights to Keep 'Em What a great gift! 

What a great way to spend the day with family and friends. (Remember this, guys, as you seek that perfect Valentine's Day gift!) My daughters and I shared the day with friends getting a gun safety refresher course - and learned so much more about self-defense, home defense, and safety. 

Even if you've been around guns your entire life, I guarantee you'll pick up new, valuable information to keep you on target if you hire superb tactical instructors like our guys, Peter Menage and Rich Bolender. Mat-Su Tactical, LLC keeps us up to speed on the latest in firearms, various state laws employed to protect the good guys, and your Constitutional right to bear arms. 

Contact matsutactical.com 907-357-GUNS for more information, including info on tapping into gun experts in your local area. Let me add my cousin, Jason Morgan, is another excellent instructor; his exemplary military service led him to his position as Director of Operations for NarrowGate Security Agency, Executive & Dignitary Protection. www.narrowgate.com. 

Thank you Alaska Directional Drilling for that great gift today! It was a pleasure spending time with you in your home training to be vigilant, prepared and safe... all under the tutelage of great patriots who know how to protect the innocent. Thank you, Mat-Su Tactical. 

To all who value your freedom and security, I encourage you to enroll in firearms training courses and get in touch with Mat-Su Tactical and Narrowgate Security. Protect those you love! 

-Sarah Palin

You know if I did not know better I might assume that this was just a Facebook style advertisement for a local gun supplier instead of a woman simply sharing personal information with her online followers or celebrating time with her daughters.

Nah!

As it turns out Bristol also shared a few photos of her time helping mom pimp the Valley security business.

There is even a video of her a rootin' tootin' shootin' a target.

Boy those jeans seem awful tight to somebody who only gave birth about ten days ago, don't they?

Must be those Palin tight abs we hear so much about.

Oddly enough the one picture that is no longer on Palin's Instagram page is this one.

Weird huh?

Especially since last night it seems to important to get it up and diffuse those nasty "rumors" that she had given birth on November 4th.

As a certain young lady named Alice might say, "Curiouser and curiouser."

P.S. By the way I am not the only one to have saved the image before Bristol tried to delete it.

Even Google is finished with caring about Sarah Palin.

December 19, 2012. Sarah Palin's last appearance on Fox News.

Courtesy of US News: Searches for Palin's name on Google have spiked and dropped many times in the years since she ran alongside Arizona Sen. John McCain, but interest in her had always been high—and it had always surpassed interest in her former running mate. 

In January, however, searches for Palin dropped to their lowest point ever since 2009, and became almost as low as the number of searches for McCain for the first time.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the interest in Palin that does remain is concentrated in Alaska, where she still resides. If Palin's social presence is any indication, she seems to know interest in her has waned. In November 2010, fully two years after the election was over, Palin tweeted more than 100 times in the month, according to the analytics site Tweetstats. In November 2012, she sent out tweets only eight times. 

You know it has seemed like an eternity that we have been waiting for Palin to finally disappear from the public arena, and now that it has come well.....it is JUST as satisfying I as I always imagined it would be!

Like I said earlier politically Palin is persona non grata, but remember she has dropped off of the radar before, only to reemerge in another arena.

Though admittedly I am not at all sure what other venues are still open to the Grizzled Mama. Perhaps one of these:

• Opening a school dedicated to road kill wig making. 
• Appearing on QVC to sell unwanted illegitimate children.
• Starting the Sarah Palin Evangelical church and shooting range.
• Or perhaps simply finishing her promised fitness book "Getting Skinny the Wasilla Way: With diet pills, Red Bull, and the reduction of water weight through tears of shame."

Well whatever happens next I doubt too many people are holding their breath to see what it is.

Let's face it, after awhile EVERYBODY'S star burns out. Especially when that star was never really anything more than a sparkler shoved up a reindeer's butt, before it was sent running across the tundra.

Update: Well speak of the devil. I just finished writing this post, and look who immediately took to Twitter to prove the article wrong.

You won't move forward if you keep letting things from your past bring you down! God forgave you!
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) February 1, 2013

I'm not sure what it means, or even if Palin wrote it, but apparently the corpse still has a few signs of life in her.

Hmm, I wonder what things from the past, that she needs God's forgiveness for, could Palin be referring to? After all the list is so damn long!

President Obama's swearing in for his second term in office. The best video you will watch today.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"I did it." He says to Sasha.

Yes Mr. President you sure did!

Of course tomorrow is when we have the OFFICIAL swearing in with all the pomp and circumstance, but I have to say that I might actually prefer this more intimate swearing in ceremony.

I like the idea of it just being the President and his family with Justice Roberts and a gaggle of reporters. The bigger venues, and larger crowds, make me nervous anyhow.