TPM’s hiring an Assistant Web Producer. A cool, entry-ish level gig working in our NY office. Details after the jump … Read More

I’m not sure what I think of the merits but as a practical matter the chances seem pretty low that this plan survives much past the first time a state gives its electoral votes to a nominee who didn’t win that state.

Scientists in England confirmed publicly today that the remains found last year under a parking lot in Leicester, England, are “beyond a reasonable doubt” those of the notorious Richard III.

By rights Republicans should have won the Senate in 2010 but didn’t. They probably should have again in 2012 but lost seats. Some degree of the 2012 success was due to the fact that President Obama’s coalition and campaign were more potent and better organized than expected. But the overriding reason was that Republican primary electorates kept nominating candidates who ripped it in the conservative rage bubble but barely survived first contact that with a bipartisan, non-gerrymandered electorate, even in relative conservative states like Missouri and Indiana. Read More

Krugman: “They have this vision that we’re living in a ‘Mad Max’ movie and that nothing can be done about it.”

Chris Kyle, former Navy SEAL and best-selling author of American Sniper, was shot and killed a Texas shooting range on Saturday. Read More

Maine warns schoolchildren that the biggest danger the state faces is newspapers.

Republicans said they wanted evidence that Obama shoots skeet at Camp David and here’s the evidence from last August.

I just found out that last September the NRA published an official list of gun enemies including the ADA, AMA, ADL, Mel Brooks, Chaka Khan and hundreds of other domestic gun enemies. More after the jump … Read More

In the spirit of the bipartisan, but toothless rules reforms the Senate passed last week, Senate Minority Mitch McConnell and over 40 of his members are vowing to block confirmation of a permanent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director unless Democrats agree to pass legislation dramatically weakening the agency.

Republicans pulled the same trick in 2011. It was a back door attempt to nullify an existing law they didn’t like because they couldn’t change it via normal democratic processes. But at least back then they had a decent case for slowing Obama’s legislative juggernaut ahead of a referendum in 2012. They lost, of course, but that hasn’t deterred them one bit. Read More