Jan 8, 2014
Big #GunFAIL roundup today, with the publication of the New Year's Eve "celebratory gunfire" reports. New Year's Eve and July 4th are like Black Friday for GunFAIL. Twenty-three kids were accientally shot last week. And only two of them were hit by celebratory gunfire. Fifteen houses shot up, and five people hit, too. And three more people out shopping or dining with their guns strapped on accidentally set them off in stores and restaurants. In other news, Joan McCarter joined us for her weekly round-up. Unemployment Insurance renewal inches forward in the Senate, perhaps only to hang up on finding an unnecessary "pay-for." Dan Coates says he voted for cloture on moving UI forward because he ddin't want to strengthen Harry Reid's nuclear option hand. But on the other hand, even with the filibuster out of the way on judicial nominations, the White House didn't renominate William Thomas, who (if confirmed) would have been the first openly-gay African-American man on the federal bench. Joan walks us through the gigantic WaPo report on the vast web of Koch brothers political money and interlocking PACs, non-profits, etc. And Politico's report that "internet sensation" Mark "Coonrippy" Brown will post a primary challenge to Tennessee's sitting governor, just as soon as he's finished editing his videos of himself showering with his pet raccoon. Goodnight, everybody! Tip your waiters! Oh, wait, also the mostly-missing debunking of Obamacare "horror stories." The Chris Christie George Washington Bridge closure scandal blew up again while we were on the air, too. We followed-up Joan's Koch brothers story with Paul Waldman's take on it in "The Circle of Scam." And finally, the NYT's coverage of how gun enthusiasts, and more importantly, the gun manufacturers, hounded a Guns & Ammo writer out of his job for suggesting there might be common sense compromises that should be pursued on gun safety. All just days before many of the same people claimed it was un-American for others to try to do the same with Duck Dynasty.