The Assault Weapons ban clears the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party line vote. Now it will likely die. As the cliche goes; it's a marathon, not a sprint. You don't have to win every battle to win the war.
Gutless gun freaks sneak pro-gun measures in a Senate bill preventing a government shut down. And man are they stupid. One of the provisions is aimed at "preventing the Justice Department from requiring firearms dealers to conduct inventories to make sure weapons haven’t been stolen," because that's such a fucking hardship. Veto the bill and demand a clean one, Mr. President.
Barack Obama has totally lost me on the budget deal. He tells Republicans he's serious about cutting the social safety net. Here's hoping he's lost a lot of Democratic allies on the hill, as well. If he's as serious as he claims to be, this is a complete betrayal. Means testing for Medicare, OK -- within reason. But Chained CPI is plain theft. On the bright side, selling out the lower and middle classes doesn't seem to be getting the President anywhere. For once I pin my hopes on pigheaded Republican intransigence.
Jeb Bush's name is not on the CPAC straw poll ballot because Jeb asked to be left out. A spokesperson says "it is too early to think about 2016." I'm sure that CPAC's sterling record of picking losers has nothing to do with it.
Justice Anthony Kennedy warns that the sequester will cause serious harm to our nation's court system, saying the budget cuts under the scheme are "simply unsustainable."
Also in effed up court system news: the Wisconsin Supreme Court is for sale to the highest bidder. At least, Club for Growth hopes it is.
Louie Gohmert said something stupid again.
Republicans simply cannot leave the failed attempt to turn Benghazi into a scandal alone. Now they want to subpoena survivors, so they can harass them with this bullshit. Has anyone in the party considered the optics of doughy and comfortable Senate demagogues browbeating survivors of a brutal massacre -- one where they watched friends and colleagues die? I sincerely doubt it. I'm having a hard time imagining a move more politically boneheaded.
CPAC does not represent a temporary truce in the GOP Civil War. It's just a quieter battle of snipers, instead of infantry.
Finally, Marco Rubio says that opposing marriage equality doesn't make him a "bigot." Good thing people like Sen. Rubio don't get to make those sort of decisions or nothing would ever make anyone a bigot. Bigots don't get to define bigotry for the same reason that thieves don't get to define theft. You're a bigot, Marco. If you can't live with that, change.
[cartoon via US News]
