Mississippi tea partier State Sen. Chris McDaniel: It’s probably the hip-hop that’s responsible for gun violence.

This is why there was no gun violence before hip-hop was invented. Oh, wait.

Gingrich notes that “life was fine” during the “age of the dinosaurs” when the Earth was in fact dramatically warmer than today.

We might also note in Gingrich’s defense that if we went back to dinosaur era temperatures, sports would likely be dramatically more awesome since the atmosphere had like 50% more oxygen. 2 minute mile. No prob.

In case you missed it yesterday evening (it pubbed late), you need to check out this piece we published on the toll taken by GOP efforts to sabotage Obamacare at the state level. We’ve known this has been happening – rejecting Medicaid expansion, refusing to set up an exchange and most insidiously preventing nonprofits and state officials from helping people enroll for care. The toll is striking when you look at this chart. The price of sabotage has been very high.

Mitch McConnell offers to extend unemployment benefits for a year in return for delaying Obamacare’s individual mandate.

Ed Kilgore: “[W]hen you consult the professionals on how gubernatorial races look, there doesn’t appear to be any Democratic counter-landslide in the offing for 2014.”

This is a really important chart and article. It’s based on some number crunching by Theda Skocpol. Basically, what’s the toll of intentional efforts to sabotage health care reform at the state level, whether that’s simply not allowing Medicaid expansion, refusing to set up exchanges, or more insidiously preventing non-profit organizations from helping people enroll. Check out the chart. It’s eye-popping.

New York State’s chief of homeland security apparently freaked the crap out of a foreign delegation during a presentation when he used his handgun’s laser sight as a presentation laser pointer. Three normally laconic Swedes “were rattled when the gun’s laser tracked across one of their heads before Hauer found the map of New York, at which he wanted to point.”

Paul Strauss dumps some cold water on the idea that the Supreme Court is ready to hail a new era of marriage equality: “That view, however, puts too much faith in the idea that our courts – particularly the Supreme Court – are governed by logic and precedent.”

Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY) on his call with Liz Cheney after she dropped out of the Senate race against Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY): “It was a very wonderful conversation. At the end she said I love you and I said I love you too.”

It looks like we’re about to find out whether GOP lawmakers really think it’s a great idea to radically increase the cost of their staffers’ health care coverage.