It's good to be Governor of Texas.

Rick Perry's entrance video for the NRA Convention was, like, whoa.

He took down eight tagets with an AR-15.

Then he pondered...

... and changed the magazine out like, boss.

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Ready, aim…

These targets are on display at the OPSGEAR booth and some can be ordered online.

"Zombie Robber Target."

Via: opsgear.com

Hipster with gun.

Afghan man with gun.

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The Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate wrote about his life as a Washington insider and money man in his 2007 memoir What A Party. He's probably regretting some of it.

"If not for September 11, Bush would have been gone politically. His approval ratings were sinking and his policies were hurting the country and the American people. He had nothing going for him after the attacks we knew he was going to get a huge bounce and it soon became clear that the press would come to see its role as making him look good and downplaying any criticism of his administration's fixation on being fast and loose with the facts. I was one of our party's most visible spokesmen and I had to keep a low profile after the attacks. I was like a caged rat. I couldn't travel. I couldn't make political calls. I couldn't make money calls. I couldn't do anything. I went to my office and worked with my staff to prepare for when we could finally come back out again that made me feel a little better, but basically there was nothing for us to do in the immediate aftermath."

"I never criticized Cheney for being a hunter and never would, because I love hunting. I may not have grown up with it, but I've made up for my lost time in recent years and have become an avid hunter. Among my more memorable trips were taking my son Jack wild boar hunting in Hungary with a group including Prince Andrew, and wild bird hunting with King Juan Carlos in Spain, who is a terrific guy."

"In fact, whenever I went on TV as the DNC chairman, I always found a way to mention Syracuse which I knew the people back home loved. They knew I hadn't forgotten them and never would and to this day the Syracuse papers get a kick out of covering me as one of their favorite sons."

"Dorothy was starting to well up in the backseat. She was having trouble understanding how I could be taking my wife and newborn baby to a fund-raiser on our way home from the hospital. We got to the dinner and by then Dorothy was in tears, and I left her with Justin and went inside. Little Peter was sleeping peacefully and Dorothy just sat there and poor Justin didn't say a word. He was mortified. I was inside maybe fifteen minutes, said a few nice things about Marty, and hurried back out to the car. I felt bad for Dorothy, but it was a million bucks for the Democratic Party and by the time we got home and the kids had their new little brother in their arms, Dorothy was all smiles and we were one big happy family again. Nobody ever said life with me was easy."

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Behold a video essay mocking right-wing conspiracy theories from the same man who tweeted, “that Pentagon attack is really fishy…”

MSNBC's Toure decided to use the OpEd section of The Cycle Friday to rail against conspiracy theorists who believe the federal government is buying up ammunition to deprive gun-owners of bullets.

"How can government function properly when a large portion of one of the major parties believes government is the enemy, an armed battle is in the near future and congress has to respond to those beliefs and take them seriously?"

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Speaking of wild conspiracy theories, it's been a while since we discussed these 2009 Tweets from Toure...

Source: @Toure

Source: @Toure

Source: @Toure

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An awkward fit. “After his class you'll be better off than you were before — just like the Iraqis!”

WASHINGTON — Students and professors in the City University of New York are angrily opposing the appointment of disgraced former CIA director David Petraeus to their faculty, and are circulating a satirical flyer about Petraeus.

The flyer features a series of puns with the words "drones" and "surge," plus a reference to Petraeus's affair with biographer Paula Broadwell and a fake quote attributed to CUNY's unpopular chancellor: "After his class you'll be better off than you were before — just like the Iraqis!"

Petraeus, who will be a Visiting Professor of Public Policy, may be in for an awkward time. The CUNY schools, which include eleven colleges and several professional schools, have become increasingly characterized by liberal activism and organizing in the last few years, especially during the height of the Occupy movement in New York. The same students and professors who protested tuition hikes and unilateral decisions by the school system's chancellor Matthew Goldstein are now up in arms about Petraeus, who is in the midst of a full-scale comeback attempt helmed by Washington lawyer Robert Barnett. Petraeus has also accepted another teaching job at the University of Southern California.

"There is quite a bit of opposition and resentment and antagonism to the Petraeus appointment," said Michael Busch, who teaches politics at City College and is working towards a doctorate in international relations. "I think that obviously the most immediate point of resistance is Petraeus' role in allegedly overseeing torture in Iraq and and the targeted assasinations as head of the CIA."

"Offering him a plush gig in New York is offensive to people at CUNY," Busch said. "It violates the spirit and mission of a public university."

The flyer has been making appearances elsewhere in the city, not just online. Busch tweeted a photo of it plastered on a Brooklyn-bound subway train earlier this week.

"I'm outraged by the appointment," said Mike Stivers, a sophomore at Hunter College who's also in the honors program at Macaulay, in an email. Stivers, like Busch, cited Petraeus' role as mastermind of the surge in Iraq and his oversight of the growing drone program as counts against him as a professor. "I don't think that Petraeus has a role at the City University of New York, or any other self-respecting academic institution of higher learning."

"As for the general opposition, there is a significant amount of it," Stivers said. "Many students and faculty within the Macaulay Honors College are appalled and even more within the CUNY community as a whole oppose this appointment. Students have already begun tabling and flyering to publicize this."

Stivers complained that the school was foisting an unpopular decision on the student body for political reasons.

"At an initial conversation hosted by the Macaulay Honors College General Assembly, issues were also raised as to the institutional identity that Macaulay administration is assuming - and the identity it is pushing on its students with moves such as Petraeus's appointment," Stivers said. "This represents another enormous step towards the political right for the Honors College, which launched an academic program just last September funded by Neoconservative philanthropist Roger Hertog, appropriately named the Hertog Scholars Program."

Busch noted that Petraeus's role as a visiting professor seems unclear.

"If you read the Times piece that reported on this, it's bizarre," Busch said. "The seminar he was proposing to teach seemed to have no center of gravity."

Petraeus is proposing to teach a seminar called "Are We on the Threshold of the North American Decade?"

In a post on the website of The Advocate, CUNY Graduate Center's newspaper, entitled "The Trouble with Professor Petraeus," left-wing journalist Arun Gupta presents a litany of accusations about Petraeus' role in Iraq and ends on a sarcastic note: "There is much Petraeus can obviously teach about 'international security issues, intelligence matters, and nation-building.'"

Some at CUNY have even started floating the idea that the Petraeus appointment was improperly made.

"Anyone who teaches at CUNY has to fill out and sign a Multiple Position Form, which attests to the fact that he is not doing more than eight hours of work per week outside the university," wrote Corey Robin, a political science professor at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, on his blog after the news came out about Petraeus' second teaching job at USC.

"I'll be curious to see what our newest hire writes on his. Oh well, time for a new sign: Guess Who's Not Teaching at CUNY!" Robin declined to comment further to BuzzFeed.

The university is aware of students' feelings on the subject, it says.

"We're definitely aware of these things, and we take the stance that we always encourage our students and all students in the university and we respect their opinions," said Grace Rapkin, a spokesperson for the Macaulay Honors College.

Rapkin described the process by which Petraeus was appointed.

"The appointment was handled between the dean, the chancellor, and Mr. Petraeus," Rapkin said. "As a prospective faculty member, he was presented to a committee of three CUNY faculty, who considered his credentials and recommended his appointment as Visiting Professor. The appointment was presented to the CUNY Board of Trustees, first to the Executive Committee, and then to the full board."

"There's something that it's really important for you to understand about this appointment," Rapkin said. "Dr. Petraeus brings an incredible background of professional and academic accomplishments to the university."

“Don't make me do it!”

Sarah Palin whipped out a can of chew during her speech at the NRA convention.

She started packing it like a champ while saying "Don't make me do it."

The former Alaska Governor mused that she stole the chew from her husband: "It's funny because Todd's been looking for this all morning."

Via: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

The action was in response to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg announcing he will be seeking a ban on displaying tobacco in stores in NYC.

Via: Pool / Reuters

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Haley's spokesman blasts “lowest common denominator” politics.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in March.

Via: Alex Wong / Getty Images

A spokesman for South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley Friday fired back at the latest in a long string of attacks that seem to invoke her status as an Indian-American woman presiding over her Southern state.

South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian, a trial lawyer, longtime Democratic leader, and legendary figure in local politics, reportedly told a South Carolina Democratic Party dinner that the Democratic challenger would send "Nikki Haley back to wherever the hell she came from."

Haley was born in South Carolina. Her parents are from India.

Haley has weathered — and effectively jiu-jitsued — attacks on her ethnicity during her 2010 campaign and her governorship, first from Republicans and more recently from her Democratic foes. (One state Democratic official labeled her the "Sikh Jesus.") And voters have, if anything, rallied around her against the perceived slurs.

"Unfortunately, this seems to be a trend coming from the South Carolina Democratic Party," Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey told BuzzFeed. "Fortunately, the people of South Carolina are better than Harpootlian and his ilk, and we have faith that they will see right through their consistent attempts to play to the lowest common denominator."

Jon “Bowzer” Bauman flew out from California to serenade South Carolina voters

The singer and actor says Colbert Busch, the Democratic congressional candidate in South Carolina, is the best candidate to help preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Voters were impressed.

And here's Bowzer rocking some serious sideburns on the Flip Wilson show

Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch met voters at a Charleston Farmer's Market on Saturday Morning Here's a look at three voters.

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the Democratic candidate in the special election for Congress in South Carolina's first district, greeted voters on Saturday morning . Voters here think she's personable and friendly, but everyone's mind was pretty much made up as to how they were going to vote on Tuesday. Colbert Busch is running against former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. Here's a look at three kinds of voters in South Carolina's first.

The "Anyone But Mark Sanford" Voter

Brittney Butler: "I really don't want Mark Sanford to win. We have a huge unemployment problem here and I just graduated from college. It's a lesser of two evils, but I really can't support anyone that wants to cut education. When you do that you are really putting us behind."

The "Elizabeth Colbert Busch Is the BEST" Voter

Sharon Bohn: "I've been a long time fan. We need her around here. This state is so needy in a lot of ways, but Elizabeth is a breath of fresh air. We need some one who is agreeable and everything isn't 'no, no, no.' Sanford just says no to everything.

The "I'm a Republican so I'm voting Republican" voter

Mike Shaughnessy : "I'm Republican. The fact that [Mark Sanford] slept with somebody else doesn't bother me -- that's his business. His life is his life. There are so many issues in this country, we need someone there that's not going to just go along with the party and really try and change things. To me, she represents what's already there now.

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At an investment conference in California, Niall Ferguson blames Keynesianism on the gay and barren. UPDATE: Ferguson apologizes.

John Maynard Keynes

Via: leftfootforward.org

According to a blistering report in Financial Advisor magazine, Harvard History Professor Niall Ferguson dismissed the economic philosophy of John Maynard Keynes because Keynes was gay and had no children. As reported by Financial Advisor, Ferguson criticized Keynes for discounting long-term economic concerns in his economic theories because he did not have children of his own (and, implicitly, no regard for future generations). Keynes is the most famous advocate for increasing government borrowing and spending to limit the damage done by downturns in the economy. Ferguson spoke before a crowd of over 500 at the Altegris Conference in Carlsbad, California; two online reports from attendees at the conference confirm the thrust of Ferguson's criticism. Ferguson's remarks appear to be based on several misunderstandings of Keynes' biography and stated views.

Ferguson to McCulley: Keynes didn't care about the long-run 'cause he was a homosexual, had no children. #AltegrisSIC2013

— Dan Jamieson (@dvjamieson) May 2, 2013

An excerpt from Lance Roberts' post at StreetTalkLive.com reporting a question from former PIMCO banker Paul McCulley (in bold) and Robertson's notes on Ferguson's response (its not clear whether these notes are verbatim or paraphrased):

Question By Paul McCulley

"The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs…in the long run we are all dead."

Are we in a liquidity trap, are we at a zero bound of interest rates and stuck at 8% unemployment?

[Ferguson:] Keynes was a homosexual and had no intention of having children. We are NOT dead in the long run…our children are our progeny. It is the economic ideals of Keynes that have gotten us into the problems of today. Short term fixes, with a neglect of the long run, leads to the continuous cycles of booms and busts. Economies that pursue such short term solutions have always suffered not only decline, but destruction, in the long run.

Several details of Ferguson's remarks that were included in the Financial Advisor story have not been confirmed by other sources. For example, Financial Advisor reported that Ferguson asked his audience how many children Keynes had and "explained that Keynes had none because he was a homosexual and was married to a ballerina, with whom he likely talked of "poetry" rather than procreated." Other sources have not reported that rhetorical question or the additional disparaging remarks in Ferguson's answer to it. No full transcript or video of Ferguson's remarks has yet emerged.

Keynes' personal life and sexuality are complicated subjects. During his 20s and early 30s, Keynes kept a diary of his sexual affairs with a number of men at Eton and Cambridge. In 1925, at age 42, Keynes married a Russian ballerina named Lydia Lopokova; she became pregnant in 1927, but miscarried. Keynes and Lopokova remained married until his death in 1946. (Virginia Woolf, a friend of Keynes and his wife, based the character Lucrezia Warren Smith in Mrs. Dalloway on Lopokova. Woolf's character--an foreign-born outcast in the London society she inhabits--deeply loves her husband Septimus but struggles alone with his mental illness.)

Ultimately, Ferguson's bigoted criticism may have been prompted by a misunderstanding of Keynes' views. The Keynes quotation in McCulley's question that Ferguson reacted to is a foreshortening of a longer statement:

"But this long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if, in tempestuous seasons, they can only tell us that when the storm is long past the ocean is flat again."

As Henry Blodget of Business Insider writes, "Keynes was in no way suggesting that the future doesn't matter. Rather, when this remark is read in context, it is clear that Keynes was chiding economists for ducking responsibility for their own lousy short-term predictions."

UPDATE (1:30 p.m.): This afternoon, Niall Ferguson apologized for his statements on his blog:

"I had been asked to comment on Keynes's famous observation "In the long run we are all dead." The point I had made in my presentation was that in the long run our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are alive, and will have to deal with the consequences of our economic actions.

But I should not have suggested – in an off-the-cuff response that was not part of my presentation – that Keynes was indifferent to the long run because he had no children, nor that he had no children because he was gay. This was doubly stupid. First, it is obvious that people who do not have children also care about future generations. Second, I had forgotten that Keynes's wife Lydia miscarried.

My disagreements with Keynes's economic philosophy have never had anything to do with his sexual orientation. It is simply false to suggest, as I did, that his approach to economic policy was inspired by any aspect of his personal life. As those who know me and my work are well aware, I detest all prejudice, sexual or otherwise.

My colleagues, students, and friends – straight and gay – have every right to be disappointed in me, as I am in myself. To them, and to everyone who heard my remarks at the conference or has read them since, I deeply and unreservedly apologize.

Niall Ferguson."

(h/t Matt Zeitlin)

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“I was not intending to offend anyone,” he said. “I'm sorry if they took it that way. That's not what the metaphor means.”

Randy Voller

Source: b.vimeocdn.com

The top Democratic Party official in North Carolina compared Republican actions in the state to rape Thursday. Randy Voller, the North Carolina Democratic Party chairman and mayor of Pittsboro reportedly said, "the GOP that's leading us – we don't know where they're taking us, but they're raping us along the way."

Voller was speaking to the Democratic Women of Guilford County at their annual President's Spring Banquet according to the News-Record.

The quote came out in a tweet from the Guliford County Democrats, who were live tweeting the event. Voller said the tweet, which was quickly deleted, was being taken out of context.

"I think it's a complete misquote, or a redaction," Voller told WRAL in North Carolina. "I did use the term contextually."

"It's as if barbarians are pillaging and plundering. I'm talking about the destruction that's going on," he said referring to Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature. "It's no different than saying that fracking is raping the land.

Voller said he was "sorry" if people were offended.

"I was not intending to offend anyone," he said. "I'm sorry if they took it that way. That's not what the metaphor means."

When a News-Record reporter told Voller there was a likely chance a woman at the event had been a victim of rape, Voller said he could have been a victim as well.

"I don't know that," Voller said. "Women and men are both victims of abusive power and violence. I personally could have been raped."

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Via:

“As Dante said, the hottest places in hell are reserved for folks who in times of great crisis, did nothing,” said Anne Ubelis, a member of the Beauford Tea Party . The Tea Party Express works to get out the vote.

Sanford with Tea Party Express chairman Amy Kremer.

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. – With three days to go to election day, former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford picked up the support of the Tea Party Express and local Tea Party leaders.

"I'm here because this is the beginning of the 2014 election cycle. This race is extremely important and it's going to have consequences all across this country," said Amy Kremer, chairman of the Tea Party Express. "South Carolina is a conservative state and the people want a conservative representative."

Though they were not able to run ads at this late in the game, Kremer said she and her group made the decision to come up in the final stretch of the campaign to try and mobilize voters and convince skeptical Republicans Sanford was needed in Congress.

"Look it doesn't matter how much money has been poured into this race on the other side, it's all about the energy and momentum of the grassroots. We've done it before, we can do it again," she said. "We're suffocating with all this debt, people are hurting and that's what's going to push them out to vote for Gov. Sanford on Tuesday."

Sanford's race against Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch for South Carolina's first congressional district House seat is close: There's a big conservative bent in the district, but Colbert Busch has run a tough campaign, positioning herself as a moderate Democrat. Because of Sanford's personal baggage (as Governor, he disappeared for six days and later admitted he had been in Argentina having an affair), national Democrats saw the seat as a potential pick up.

But Sanford has worked to nationalize the race, and capitalize on the fact that Colbert Busch has received financial support from congressional Democrats, and repeatedly linked her to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

"This really sets the stage for what happens in 2014, and the composition of the United States Congress," he said.

Anne Ubelis, a member of the Beauford Tea Party, said Republicans who don't vote in the election were doing so at their own peril.

"As Dante said, the hottest places in hell are reserved for folks who in times of great crisis, did nothing. I say ask yourself, if you do not vote for Mark Sanford, will you be happy when Pelosi's policies are put in place, Obamacare is not repealed, gun control is enforced and drones fly over your house?" she asked. "Who will you blame? Those of us who got off the couch and voted or those who stayed home?"

“I wouldn't necessarily want him marrying my daughter, or my sister,” one voter said. They don't approve of his 2009 extra-marital affair, but Sanford supporters said they're willing to look past it.

Via: Rainier Ehrhardt, File / AP

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. – Mark Sanford was on a mission.

When an NBC reporter here in South Carolina asked Sanford if he was worried about his standing with women voters --especially after recent news his ex-wife accused him for trespassing--Sanford said no. He told reporters that the affair he had as governor was not a major impediment to his potential political comeback. He then dragged the small gaggle of reporters from store to store to "try to find a woman who doesn't like me."

The group ran into Patty Hulbard, who was out shopping with her husband. They cheerfully approached Sanford, telling him he had their vote and a Sanford lawn sign was prominently displayed in their yard.

"I appreciate that," he said, then pointed to the NBC News reporter and jokingly explained he was trying to find a woman that hates him "for her story."

Hulburd paused for a moment.

"I'm not your biggest fan. What you did I don't appreciate, but that should not influence my vote necessarily," she said. "Politically I'm in line with you and fiscally you line up with my thinking so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."

It's a line you'll hear many times over in South Carolina's conservative first district, where Sanford is running against Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in a special election to replace now-Sen. Tim Scott. Sanford's supporters shrug off his past—or at least are willing to look beyond it for the sake of keeping the seat in Republican hands. And most of the Colbert Busch supporters Buzzfeed interviewed didn't mention his past, but his policies as the reason to vote against him.

Democrats view the district as a potential pick-up in large part due to Sanford's past. But with three days to go before the election, Republican voters here seem to be willing to let bygones be bygones.

"I wouldn't necessarily want him marrying my daughter, or my sister. But his constitutional voting record is more than enough to carry the day versus the absolutely unconstitutional voting positions of his opponent," said John Hull. "It's no contest, it's good versus evil."

Sanford says he addressed the affair at length, and his forthrightness has helped him on the trail. And he insists, the only people who really care about his personal baggage are "the media, especially the out of town media."

"I've said many times over, I failed and I failed very publicly. The question is what you do about moving on with your life," he told Buzzfeed. "I've acknowledged it, I've talked about it at length and people say 'I don't approve of that, I believe in you as a human being and I believe in the politics you espouse."

Faye Campbell, a Summerville voter and avid Sanford supporter, said she admired him in part because Sanford had admitted to his infidelity so publically.

"It's one of things where he who is without sin can cast the first stone. None of us are without sin, and I know a bunch of politicians have crossed the line. He has stood up front and admitted 'yes I did,' and I regret the damage. Others have not done this, from Bill Clinton on down. The list is long," she said.

CORRECTION: A reporter's question to Sanford dealt specifically with his alleged trespassing incident. An earlier version of this story did not indicate this. (5/4/13)

Up's Steve Kornacki unloaded a Sunday morning op-ed against Anthony Weiner's comeback sans the former congressman's Twitter scandal.

MSNBC's Steve Kornacki offered up an unpleasant chapter from Anthony Weiner's early political career during an appeal to New York voters to reject the former congressman's apparent bid for Mike Bloomberg's job:

"This is the story that reveals something important about what Weiner's been willing to do in his public life. He made an ugly appeal to voters' worst nature. He did it at a very sensitive time. He did it to get ahead and because he figured no one would catch him. Really he did get away with it. If it hadn't been for the Twitter silliness, he'd be well on his way to being Mayor right now and maybe more."

View Video ›

LINK: Up with Steve Kornacki on MSNBC

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Beyond the pale at the NRA convention. “They thought it looked too much like President Obama,” says a worker.

The Zombie Industries booth at the NRA Convention in Houston.

HOUSTON, Texas — The National Rifle Association has asked a vendor at its convention to remove a target that resembles Obama from its booth, a worker told BuzzFeed.

The company, Zombie Industries, sells a range of three-dimensional "life sized" targets that "bleed when you shoot them." The Obama likeness has been on display for two days, but was notably absent on Sunday.

"Someone from the NRA came by and asked us to remove it" a Zombie Industries booth worker told BuzzFeed in hushed tones. "They thought it looked too much like President Obama."

When asked if the Obama likeness was intentional the worker said, "Let's just say I gave my Republican father one for Christmas."

"They are just scared some liberal reporter will come by and start bitching" another booth worker said to men gathered around the booth. "But ya know, he does look very familiar."

The model, named "Rocky" is still available for purchase at the booth but is hidden from sight, leaving a gap among the targets on display which range from Osama bin Laden to a Nazi soldier.

'Rocky' on the Zombie Industries website.

Via: zombieindustries.com

Via: zombieindustries.com

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Candidate Elizabeth Colbert Busch has said Obamacare is problematic and expensive “I'd have to see the bill. Let's get elected May the 7th and we'll go from there,” she said.

Via: Rainier Ehrhardt, File / AP

For Elizabeth Colbert Busch to win a special election in South Carolina's conservative first district on Tuesday, she'll need to convince enough voters that she won't be a rubberstamp for Democratic policies. She's promised to be an independent voice in the House, and has said she's laser-focused on fiscal issues.

She has also refused to commit to a vast array of policies in the House, and has remained vague on her working relationship with Democratic leadership. This was on display Sunday, when she appeared with assistant leader Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third ranking Democrat in the lower chamber.

When a reporter asked her if she would vote to repeal Obamacare — and Majority Leader Eric Cantor has said the House will move to have another repeal vote soon — Colbert Busch said the law was "problematic" and "expensive," a line she used during the debate.

Asked again how she would take a simple up or down vote on repeal, a frustrated Colbert Busch replied: "I'd have to see the bill. Let's get elected May the 7th and we'll go from there."

Her opponent, former Governor Mark Sanford, has worked to tie Colbert Busch to party leadership and national Democrats. As Colbert Busch appeared with Clyburn, Sanford blasted out a statement that summed up his talking points on the trail here.

"It's fascinating that my opponent on one hand claims to be an independent voice, yet on the other hand would campaign with one of the most fiscally liberal and partisan members of the current Congress," Sanford said.

Reporters did question Colbert Busch on how her policies differed from Clyburn's or Democratic leadership. She instead pointed to the budget President Barack Obama introduced as something she disagreed with.

"You heard Congressman Clyburn himself say, sometimes you agree and sometimes you don't," she said. "Let's wait till the 7th, lets get elected and we'll sit down and we'll all talk to each other. We'll collaborate with each other, we'll work with each other."

This is what happened at the NRA convention when I asked NRA members to write a message to the protesters across the street.

About 40 or 50 protesters showed up to the second day of the NRA convention in Houston, Texas.

They held signs and mostly stood in silent protest across the street from the convention center.

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With and without a head scarf, not much difference.

Source: facebook.com  /  via: @TheBigPharaoh

A tactical boost to the opposition — but a propaganda point for Assad. The regime claims the Israelis are in league with al-Qaeda!

Damage is seen in what appears to be a chicken farm following an air strike near Damascus on May 5 in this handout photograph distributed by Syria's state news agency

Via: Sana / Reuters

WASHINGTON — A reported Israeli air strike over the weekend on a military and scientific research facility near Damascus may have further weakened the regime of Bashar al-Assad, but the move hasn't led to any warming of the frosty relationships between Israel and its Arab neighbors, as some in the American pro-Israel community hope.

The Egypt, the Arab League, and even the Syrian opposition have all put out statements condemning the action, which reportedly targeted missiles bound for Hezbollah. The Egyptian presidency said in a statement that the strike "violated international law and principles that will further complicate the situation" in Syria. Egyptian state news agency MENA reported that the Arab League's Secretary General Nabil Elaraby asked the UN Security Council to immediately stop "the Israeli attacks on Syria."

And the main umbrella Syrian opposition group, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces put out a long statement criticizing Israel for the strike, calling the timing "suspicious" and blasting the international community for not doing more.

The Syrian Coalition condemns the Israeli attacks on the Syrian Center for Scientific Research in Jamaraya near Damascus. The Coalition holds the Assad regime fully responsible for weakening the Syrian Army by exhausting its forces in a losing battle against the Syrian people; who are the reason for its existence.

It is clear that the regime, which claims to be an opposing force, is instead weakening Syria in the face of an enemy. Until this point, the regime has worked at maintaining the best interests of the Assad family and the Assad rule. This has lead to wasted human capacity, a declining economy and weakened national foundations, which are gradually bringing the nation closer to total collapse.

The Syrian Coalition is suspicious of the timing of this attack. These strikes have given the regime the necessary time to draw attention away from its crimes and massacres on the Syrian coast. It is not unlikely that as a result of these attacks, and world distraction, more crimes will be committed.

We call on the Syrian people to hold steadfast onto the revolution, and to reject the regime's consistent aggression against the interests of the country and its people. We ask the Syrian people to continue working towards our goal of ridding the country of the destruction and chaos created by the Assad ruling family, who has consistently allowed its interests to take precedent over national interests.

The Syrian Coalition deeply regrets the deafening silence and powerlessness of the international community in the face of such grievous violations of international laws, continued by the Assad regime and taken advantage of by Israel in order to fulfill clear objectives. We urge the Security Council, with the support of the international community, to fulfill their duties to save the Syrian people in this time of crisis; and we renew our call for them to do whatever necessary to save the Syrian people.

The blanket Arab condemnation of the attack comes despite a broad understanding that many of Syria's foes appreciated it, and speaks as much to the region's intransigent dynamics as to any new development.

Though the Syrian opposition "were probably quite happy about this," according to Trita Parsi, a Middle East analyst and head of the National American Iranian Council, "they still condemned it."

"It reflects a reality in the region that it's not a question of Israel being unpopular on the Arab street, it's a question of Israel not being seen as legitimate on the Arab street," said Parsi, whose group urged a more conciliatory American line toward Iran, a key Syrian ally. "Most countries in the region at one point or another have had some form of tactical collaboration or arrangement with the Israelis. But they deny it."

Pro-Israel Americans are hopeful that the image of Israel coming to the aid of an oppressed Muslim people against their dictator — even if that wasn't fully Israel's intent — could prove powerful in mending fences with Arab nations in the region.

"There has been an increasing convergence of interests between Israel and certain Arab states for quite a while," said Josh Block, former AIPAC spokesman and director of The Israel Project. "Much like the quiet support that Israel enjoyed when she acted in self-defense against Syria's nuclear program in 2007, against Hamas in Gaza in 2008 and more recently, against Hezbollah in 2006, and on and on, there is a broad wellspring of support among in the region for moves, including those possibly by Israel, that undermine Assad, Hezbollah and Iran's ability to slaughter the Syrian people, and for stopping Assad from arming al Qaeda or Hezbollah with 'game-changing weapons.'"

And certainly, in the small but fervid Syrian opposition twittersphere, there were signs that Blocks' prediction was bearing out. Some Syrian activists were expressing gratitude for Israel's actions on Twitter on Saturday night, including the widely-retweeted tweeter The 47th, from Homs:

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Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint charges undocumented workers will reap “$3 in benefits for every $1 in taxes paid under this amnesty program.” The supposed price tag: $6.3 Trillion.

Demonstrators calling for immigration reform march to the Minnesota State Capitol.

Via: Jim Mone / AP

WASHINGTON — With the Senate set to begin marking up bipartisan immigration reform legislation, conservatives rolled out a new analysis — and a new message: They charge that a "pathway to citizenship" will cost some $6.3 trillion over the next five decades.

The report, conducted by the Heritage Foundation, is the opening salvo in what is expected to be a politically brutal fight over the coming weeks between different factions of the Republican Party.

The study includes costs associated with local, state and federal benefits like social security and health care benefits that families headed by non-high school graduates would receive. It does not take into account any costs or savings associated with the legislation's broader reforms to the immigration system and border security — or the economic or tax benefits advocates for the bill hope will come with legalizing a vast gray economy.

The Judiciary Committee will begin formal work on the bipartisan "Gang of Eight"'s bill this week, a process that is expected to take several weeks.

Although at this point it appears all but certain that the bill will have at least 60 votes when the full Senate takes it up, supporters want to run up the score as much as possible to put pressure on House Republicans to back the bill.

But that could be difficult if conservatives can make claims that the bill will result in a surge in federal spending.

The bipartisan bill, which is being championed on the right by Sen. Marco Rubio, is "like Obamcare, which created numerous new federal programs … [and it] also violates the rule of law that makes our nation a beacon of freedom for people around the world, and its unfair to immigrants who want to come here the right way," Heritage President Jim DeMint said during a press conference Monday.

"Amnesty will only make the problem worse in the future," he added, arguing that, "Taxpayers, including immigrants who've come here legally, will be saddled with 63 trillion in costs over the next 50 years."

"No matter how you slice it, amnesty will add a tremendous amount of pressure on America's already strained public purse," said the study's author Robert Rector, Heritage's senior research fellow in domestic policy studies.