Stories to Watch: 4/21/14

Conservatives' sick  fascination with firearms and the use of force and their utter hatred for minimum wage workers converge when a PJ Media blogger expresses open admiration for a lunatic who pulled a gun on a McDonald's worker who got his order wrong. You think I'm exaggerating -- I'm not. 95% of the Tea Party is nothing but punks, bullies, assholes, and trolls. And they think that's something to be proud of. Hey, if conservatives really want the minimum wage to be $7.25, they should be prepared to get what they pay for -- which ain't a whole lot. You want someone to do a good job? Then you have to give them a good job to do. Pulling a gun on some poor schmuck who's not getting paid enough to give a damn is exactly the wrong solution to the problem.


Marriage equality comes to Michigan.


American schools are suspending pre-schoolers. No, seriously. African-American kids get the worst of it, of course.


Ted Nugent may have a new career -- being a professional pariah. It seems the city of Longview, Texas is willing to pay him $16,000 not to play at their Fourth of July celebration this year. Organizers say that after his recent racism scandal, he's "not the right feel for this kind of community event" and they'd very much like to cancel his appearance. I'd hate to go to the sort of event where he'd fit right in. There'd be plenty of pointy white hoods. The NRA still likes him fine, though.


Speaking of people who are totally fine with racism: the University of Alabama student government.


The economic news continues to be good.


Finally, Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner -- like the rest of his party -- really does hate economically disadvantaged people very, very, very much. You have to wonder if any of these "Party of Jesus" people have even heard of the Sermon on the Mount -- spoiler alert: it's not about hating abortion and gays.


[cartoon via McClatchy Newspapers]