Adventures in really bad parenting.
TPM's David Kurtz highlights two legislative reactions to the Newtown Massacre -- one thoughtful, the other amazingly stupid. Meanwhile, Michigan's Governor Snyder says he'll veto a bill allowing concealed carry in schools -- another jawdroppingly stupid reaction that deserves the veto it'll get.
Adventures in tasteless advertising.
President Obama's push for stricter gun control is looking pretty ambitious. One thing that bothers me, Dick Durbin talks about "looking at violence in movies and video games." The world sees the same video games and movies America does, yet the trend toward gun massacres is a uniquely American. Clearly, entertainment is not the problem. Let's not add First Amendment challenges to the almost certain Second Amendment ones if anything passes, OK? Besides, if we start bringing up video games in a gun debate, what do you think Republicans will use to highjack the debate? Don't cloud the issue with bullshit, Dick. Stick to the subject.
Marc Ambinder reminds us that ammo is a big part of the problem -- and maybe the most effective to address.
Not only will The Discovery Channel cancel the upcoming reality show American Guns in the wake of Newtown, but also the already aired Ted Nugent's Gun Country. In the case of the latter, though, it's as much because it sucked and no one watched it as anything else.
Here's a surprise: the "traditional family values" group Family Research Council is also a terribly anti-woman workplace. These people really just hate pretty much everybody.
The NRA finally comes out of hiding -- but only long enough to announce they'll come out of hiding again on Friday.
Florida's "stand your ground" law really keeps people safe, huh?
Bob McDonnell and Rick Perry make an excellent case for the argument that Republicans are mentally helpless.
Newsweek's Megan McArdle suggests the answer to gun massacres is to turn the nation into a squad of unarmed volunteer kamikazes on foot. You think I'm kidding, I'm not. It might just save time to say that every reaction to the massacre from beyond the center right has been stupid, insane, or both.
Republicans' approvals on the fiscal cliff keep getting worse.
Finally, Patrick Leahy is the new Senate President Pro Tempore, replacing the recently deceased Daniel Inouye.
[cartoon via McClatchy Newspapers]
