Really Dems?  From the “Keep it Classy” file we discover Democrats felt last night was the perfect time to do some fundraising. They could have gone after one of our candidates on a policy point or some area where they felt particularly aggrieved but no – The Weekly Standard shows how they decided to fundraise off the death of a SC Justice:

“Breaking news from the GOP debate stage:

In tonight’s debate, the Republican presidential candidates were asked whether or not President Obama should nominate a new justice to the Supreme Court. They said Congress should block, delay, or otherwise refuse to allow the President to fill this vacancy.

There’s no excuse for this, You. It’s putting partisan politics above the Constitution and the rule of law, and it’s appalling to hear from any public official — let alone someone who thinks he should be the next President of the United States.

…

Add your name to call on Republicans to follow the Constitution instead of obstructing the confirmation of our next Supreme Court justice:”

(They put a specific link here that I won’t bore you with)

And when you click on the link you’re taken to a Dem fundraising webpage.

Troops just want their dogs back: The NY Post has up a tearjerker today for any vet or animal lover. Seems highly trained military dogs are being adopted out (dumped) onto civilians after returning from overseas, even though soldiers were told they could apply for the dogs. But most, never get their canines back.

 “I guess I had PTSD before, but I never really noticed till I gave Fistik up,” Kornse says. “I started having nightmares. I never experienced that before. She made ­everything better for me — that’s the best way I can describe it.”

The soldiers point to a subcontractor who takes control of the dogs once they’re back stateside. But, government employees are also involved. The “dumping” is a problem, not just for the troops who cared for them and trained with them, but also because the dogs are coming back with PTSD.

Well, this is unsettling:  Friday, researchers were flying over the Atlantic near Florida beaches when they spotted sharks. Yahoo says it’s not just one or two…

“There are literally tens of thousands of sharks a stone’s throw away from our shoreline,”  You could throw a pebble and literally strike a shark. They are that close,” said Florida Atlantic University biological sciences professor Dr. Stephen Kajiura.”

If you still have questions on SCOTUS:  Here are two articles that might give you more than you ever wanted to know. They come from Scotusblog. One is entitled “Is a recess appointment to the Court an option? ” from Lyle Denniston. Remember, the Senate is in recess until 2/22/16.

“Could President Obama make a nominee during that recess?  Only if the Senate is taking a recess lasting longer than three days, and does not come in from time to time during that recess to take some minimal legislative action.  Both of those circumstances would be entirely within the Senate’s authority.”

The other article is from Tom Goldstein, “What Happens to this Term’s Close Cases.” There are some major cases coming. Interesting stuff in here.

“Because it is very unlikely that a replacement will be appointed this Term, we should expect to see a number of such cases in which the lower court’s decision is “affirmed by an equally divided Court.”

Be warned, some of the SCOTUS stuff is kinda weedy.

• Quickhits : CBS News Battleground Poll. This poll is part online and part calling. The interviews were done 2/10 – 2/12. Here are the numbers. Trump 42, Cruz 20, Rubio 15, Kasich 9, Bush 6, Carson 6.    The MoE is 5.7
• Hey, we got our missile back! The US has retrieved that dummy Hellfire missile that was accidentally sent to Cuba.  There was apparently a “logistical mixup in Europe” a couple years ago and Cuba ended up with our missile.
• This is embarrassing: A Ft. Smith, AR man called police last week so they could remove him from a pair of handcuffs. The man and his wife used the cuffs, for something the night before, but lost the key. Once the cuffs were off, officers did a routine data search and discovered the man was wanted on an outstanding warrant for criminal mischief. Back in handcuffs he went
• Possible Options:  Since the news of the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia names have been floated around as to potential replacements.  Yahoo has up a list of four. Go ahead take a look. But take note, two of them currently sit on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Today is the anniversary of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.  (After last night’s debate, somehow it just seemed apropos.)

No Trumpism today –  Instead, here’s a nice quote from Antonin Scalia  where he was making reference to the Court’s decisions on gay marriage

“It’s not up to the courts to invent new minorities that get special protections,” he said.

That’s today’s Water Cooler. The top half is filled, it’s up to you to fill in the bottom. Leave breaking news, comments on things from here or interesting bits from elsewhere. The cooler is always an Open Thread.

* all emphasis mine