Comment on Obstacles — and silence — on Capitol Hill even as clamor for new gun laws grows

Jury selection for Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial began Monday, and “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart broke down the allegations against him. The New Jersey senator and former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is accused of taking bribes from three businessmen, among other crimes. The evidence against Menendez includes 13 gold bars seized by authorities during a raid of his home "I don't mean to get sentimental here,” Stewart joked, “but in what other country in the world can a Cuban American senator work hand in hand with an Egyptian-born businessman to corner the halal meat market?" Menendez’s defense team has indicated they will be arguing the gold bars in his possession are the result of "intergenerational trauma." Stewart mocked this dubious strategy, saying, "These are simply my emotional support gold bars." But for Stewart, this was just a starting point for a conversation about political corruption.read more

Fox's Laura Ingraham decided to conveniently omit a good deal of what Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker actually said during his commencement speech at Benedictine College this week, and used the backlash as an excuse to attack the "woke secularists" who dared to be offended by the sexist and bigoted remarks that came out of his mouth: Butker, a devout Catholic, delivered the commencement speech at Benedictine College in Kansas on Saturday.

A caller on C-SPAN's morning show explained that she had left the Republican Party because its lawmakers "do nothing but interfere" and "endorse everything [Donald] Trump does." During Wednesday's Washington Journal program, a caller from Maryland named Mary said she used to be a Republican but changed her party affiliation to Independent. "The reason I'm calling is to just say that anybody voting for a Republican is voting against their best interest," the caller announced.

More than a year after a Travis County jury convicted Daniel Perry of murdering a BLM protester in Austin, Greg Abbott pardoned Perry, 37, on Thursday. Via the Texas Tribune: A Texas state district court judge sentenced Perry in May 2023 to 25 years in prison for shooting and killing U.

As we know, the deep-fried Cheeto isn't allowed to attack certain people under his gag order, but it looks like he's instead been writing the script for his muppets. One of the journalists covering the trial says Trump was “editing” and “making notations” to the speeches his allies made outside of the courtroom Tuesday.

“House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Thursday faulted Republicans for a delay in installing a plaque commemorating the officers who protected the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot,” Politico reports. Said Jeffries: “It simply awaits a decision by the Republican majority to have an appropriate ceremony of recognition and have it placed in a location of honor here.”