Sen. Menendez (D-NJ) announces support for the repeal of the ‘Defense of Marriage Act’ (DOMA) and passage of the ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ which would guarantee equal treatment of all lawfully married couples by the federal government.
North Korea has announced that the country’s supreme leader Kim Jong Il has died.
Kim was 69 years old and had ruled North Korea for 17 years. He came to power in 1994 on the death of his father Kim Il Sung, who had ruled the country since its founding in 1948. The report of the younger Kim’s death came via a noontime report on state television in North Korea.
The North Korea TV announcer said that Kim died “of fatigue during a train ride on Saturday”, which sounds like one of the ways the deaths of dictators in extremely repressive regimes are often described. That’s not meant to be cheeky. But that sounds like one of the semi-preposterous causes of death that are often given when the nature of the regime doesn’t allow for any actual discussion of the leader’s health.
I’m not sure you can die from ‘fatigue’. You can die while you’re suffering from fatigue. But I’m not sure you can die from fatigue.
Late Update: Here, for a taste of the bizarre, is the English language version of the North Korean state news agency.
Later Update: The cause of death appears to be a heart attack. From the North Korean state news agency: “[Kim] suffered an advanced acute myocardial infarction, complicated with a serious heart shock, on train on December 17, Juche 100 (2011) for a great mental and physical strain caused by his uninterrupted field guidance tour for the building of a thriving nation.”
Crushed by negative ads from all sides, Newt Gingrich has dropped into third place after Paul (23%) and Romney (20%) in the latest PPP poll of Iowa out tonight. The latest result has Newt down to 14% support compared to 27% two weeks ago. In the last two weeks his net favorability numbers have also moved an eye-popping 32 points, from +31 to -1.
Takeaway: Attack ads work; especially when they’re unrebutted. And even more so against a deeply flawed candidate.
On Friday night it seemed the payroll tax holiday compromise was on a smooth path to passage. Today, however, things are looking very different indeed.
Sarah Palin has a grim message for the Republican presidential candidates hunkered down in the snowy wastes of Iowa, desperately hoping for a sudden surprise to break their polling impasse.
Now that Republicans have reneged on the payroll tax cut deal struck last week, Brian Beutler assesses what to expect next.
Democrats in Wisconsin will almost certainly meet the threshold of signatures required to launch a recall of Governor Scott Walker — and soon.
But if the state GOP can’t stop a recall, they’ll at least do their best to slow it down. The lawsuit filed last week by the state GOP, alleging Walker’s 14th amendment rights are being infringed by the process, seems designed to do just that.
On Monday Walker made clear that suit is fine by him.
Newt’s supporters start to wonder whether his turn-the-other-cheek routine was such a wise move after all.
TPM State Media has this special report on important news regarding the dear leader.
It hasn’t been such a great day for Mitt Romney. Breakfast was a course of yet more Bain Capital connections causing headaches and headlines; lunch was a gritty little dish about how his “blind trust” isn’t so blind after all; and dinner was a regurgitation from 2010 – when he used to think Obama’s dreaded “individual mandate” wasn’t so bad after all.