Did Republicans just get defanged on the debt ceiling? It sure looks like it. Paul Krugman approves.
Two Portland, OR gun freaks created a panic in that city by walking through town carrying assault weapons. They say they did it to "educate" people about gun laws -- open carry is legal in that state and they had concealed carry permits to boot. Here's the thing though, they think they're helping their cause, but they're so not. Portland residents called police, believing that guys walking down the street with AR-15s were serial killers and breaking the law. Now those people are outraged to find out that it's legal to walk around armed like you're in a war zone. What these two dopes have managed to do is "educate" the people of Portland as to how crazy Oregon's gun laws are. Walking down the street armed to the teeth is a real shitty way to win friends, but it's a damned good way to convince people that gun laws need to be tightened up a notch.
President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai released a joint statement today saying the Afghanistan War will end this spring.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller won't run for reelection in 2014. His West Virginia seat could be a pickup for Republicans.
Actual headline: "Satanists organize rally in support of Florida governor Rick Scott."
While not supportive of an all-out assault weapons ban, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says he's open to limiting high-capacity magazines. As I said earlier, cracks tend to spread.
Did Hitler really take away everyone's guns? That's not as cut and dried as gun nuts would have you believe. It's a little bit yes and a little bit no. But the key takeaway is this: "Gun ownership in Germany after World War I, even among Nazi Party members, was never widespread enough for a serious civilian resistance to the Nazis to have been anything more than a Tarantino revenge fantasy. If Jews had been better armed... it would only have hastened their demise."
Finally, here's some good ol' fashioned conservative family values.
[cartoon via McClatchy Newspapers]
