The 89-year-old Democratic senator from New Jersey decides not to seek re-election.

Check this out: the United States redrawn with a new 50 states, but each with an equal population size (about 6 million people) and conforming to real cultural zones. Visit Microsoft headquarters in the new state of Rainier or go south for vacation in the winter in Canaveral.

You get a sense of what the NRA’s about when the best case they can make for their policies is that you’ll need these guns for when the inevitable debt/hurricane race war finally breaks out.

It looks an awful lot like Friday’s vote to break the GOP’s Chuck Hagel filibuster will fall short, leaving his nomination in limbo while the Senate recesses for President’s Day.

If that’s how things shake out, you’ll hear a lot from Democrats about how Republicans have set a dangerous new precedent, while Republicans will counter that they would have set aside their objections if Democrats had just fork over more information (about Hagel, Benghazi, god knows what else).

The truth is we haven’t moved beyond the realm of typical, tedious Senate obstruction — at least not yet. Today’s dust up is much more about intra-Senate squabbling over the idea that holds should be honored than it is a reflection of the GOP’s ultimate intentions vis-a-vis Hagel. Read More