What’s news today?

Well the Feinstein circus yesterday’s a good place to start, I guess. Democrat Senator Chris Murphy says if there was an assault weapons ban in place, the kids in the Sandy Hook shooting would be alive today.

Really Senator? Then how do you explain this?

From the Chattanoogan

“Connecticut already has an assault weapons ban.

Sec. 53-202c. Possession of assault weapon prohibited. Class D felony. (a) Except as provided in section 53-202e, any person who, within this state, possesses any assault weapon, except as provided in sections 29-37j, 53-202a to 53-202k, inclusive, and 53-202o and subsection (h) of section 53a-46a, shall be guilty of a class D felony and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of which one year may not be suspended or reduced; except that a first-time violation of this subsection shall be a class A misdemeanor if (1) the person presents proof that he lawfully possessed the assault weapon prior to October 1, 1993, and (2) the person has otherwise possessed the firearm in compliance with subsection (d) of section 53-202d.

See here and here for the Connecticut law, and what is considered an assault weapon.

Also Senator, there was no assault weapon used in the shooting, so a ban would have been useless. 4 handguns were used according to the Coroner. There was one in the shooters trunk, but it never left the shooters car.

How can we have an honest debate with dishonest people? Pandering doesn’t help either Senator.

____________________________________________________

I guess we’ll stick with not quite accurate statements for the next one too.

 Kerry seems to contradict Hillary’s testimony about the alleged protests.

____________________________________________________

I’d like to believe them. I really would. But I don’t. They’ll just pull another Lucy and Charlie Brown us.

From HotAir

“At the end of last year, Barack Obama had the advantage of time for his effort to get tax hikes.  If House Republicans refused to bend on tax increases on high-end earners, taxes would go up anyway on everyone.  That leverage allowed Obama to score a big legislative victory on New Years Day, although not as big as he’d hoped.

Now, however, time is on the side of Republicans.  Thanks to the 2011 Budget Control Act’s “sequesters,” spending cuts will hit whether Obama agrees to a budget plan to reduce overall spending or not.  And Republicans, led by Paul Ryan, have taken a page from Obama’s book and will cheerfully allow them to hit, whether they like the impact or not:

Republicans will insist that automatic spending cuts take effect March 1 unless other cuts are adopted, Ryan said. They may force a shutdown of the government on March 27 unless Democrats agree to additional cuts. And they will demand that any future increase in the debt limit – likely to be necessary this summer if the measure to suspend the current debt limit is adopted — be paired dollar-for-dollar with spending cuts or other reforms.

“We have a sequester kicking in on March 1, a continuing resolution [on the budget] expiring on March the 27. We have budgets that, if the Senate decides to do its job this year, will come out in April,” Ryan said Wednesday at a breakfast with reporters. “These are the kind of points we think force the kind of conversation we think we have to have.”

Here’s the WaPo story on it.

“As House Republicans prepared to vote Wednesday on a plan to suspend the debt limit, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan made clear that the party is in no way abandoning its uncompromising approach to the budget battle with President Obama.

Republicans will insist that automatic spending cuts take effect March 1 unless other cuts are adopted, Ryan said. They may force a shutdown of the government on March 27 unless Democrats agree to additional cuts. And they will demand that any future increase in the debt limit – likely to be necessary this summer if the measure to suspend the current debt limit is adopted — be paired dollar-for-dollar with spending cuts or other reforms.”

____________________________________________________

And here’s 3 interesting pieces from ZeroHedge

First,

“With eight months left until million of Americans are supposed to begin shopping at online markets created by the Obamacare ‘tax’ law, the insurance industry is concerned at the government’s lack of readiness. Bloomberg reports that Jim Donelon, the head of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, suggested that President Obama may need to delay the implementation of the health-care overhaul or “risk chaos” when the subsidized plans go on sale later this year. While it is clear that the administration has shown no sign of seeking a delay, Donelon notes that “…to rush into implementation before it’s ready would not be in the President’s best interest.””

Second,

“While it is unclear how many states’ data the BLS had to estimate today, the weekly initial claims print was impressive, sliding even lower than last week, when it came at 335K, and refuting expectations of a rise to 355K, instead reversing and printing the lowest weekly number since January 2008: 330K. What is impressive is that the NSA number dropped by a whopping 120K in the past week, making one wonder how much of the ongoing moves are simply a seasonal adjustments mismatch (a question even Goldman asked last night). Perhaps just as curious is that a whopping 365,641 people dropped off Extended Claims in the first week of January, unclear if this had anything to do with the Fiscal Cliff can kicking: certainly a third of a million Americans suddenly stopped receiving weekly jobless claims benefits from Uncle Sam.”

And the how many states question has been answered for the Third,

“And The Reason For Today’s Five Years Initial Claims Low Is…

… is not the economy, which as we pointed out earlier just crossed into “worst recovery ever” territory, or even actual layoff events. The reason is, as always when there is a massive “beat” in any US economic data, the same tried and true estimation magic out of the BLS appearing so conveniently at appropriate times, which estimated the claims numbers of 3 states, among which those of the most populous: California. ”

____________________________________________________