“A man who had every reason to call attention to himself, but never did.” The doggedly loyal stalwart of the old Senate was 88.

Image by  Yuriko Nakao / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Sen. Daniel Inouye, the highest ranking Asian-American elected official in American history and one of the longest serving members of the Senate died Monday afternoon, according to his office.

Inouye, 88, died from respiratory complications at Walter Reed Medical Center, according to his office.

His last words were, according to his office, simply “Aloha.”

His colleagues quickly began to take the floor Monday evening to speak about Inouye.

"A week ago last Friday, we spent an hour in his office together, just the two of us. And we ended the meeting saying, we should do this again. But I won't be able to do that again, he won't be able to do that again,” a clearly emotional Majority Leader Harry Reid said shortly after news of his death broke.

"We will all miss him, and that's a gross understatement."

"I wish I were capable of saying more."

"He believed in me more than I believed in myself … He said, you're going to do great things in the Senate,” Reid said of his close friend.

“No one has been a better American than Sen. Inouye.”

Noting his prestigious military and legislative career, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said Inouye "was a man who had every reason to call attention to himself, but never did."

Inouye, who was a medical volunteer following the Pearl Harbor attack in World War II, and enlisted in the military when the ban on service by Japanese Americans was lifted in 1943.

In 1945 Inouye was severely wounded in Italy. Ignoring his wounds, Inouye continued to lead his men in the fight, and although he ultimately lost his right arm as a result he was presented with a Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton for his efforts.

Inouye was elected Hawaii’s first member of the House of Representatives in 1958 before being elected to the Senate in 1962.

A longtime appropriator, Inouye has been one of the most influential, and beloved, members of the Senate in modern history.

At a time when bipartisanship and comity has been on the decline in Washington, Inouye doggedly stuck by his friends on both sides of the aisle — even when they found themselves in ethical trouble. For instance, as the late Sen. Ted Stevens, found himself under investigation by the FBI, Inouye remained one of his staunchest defenders and even actively campaigned on his friends’ behalf.

During his career, Inouye became a staunch supporter of civil rights movements, not only for Asian Americans but others as well, including gay and lesbian members of the military.

For instance, following the Senate’s 2010 vote to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Inouye hailed the legislation.

“Finally, all brave men and women who want to put on the uniform of our great nation and serve in the armed services may do so without having to hide who they are. My only regret is that nearly 13,000 men and women were expelled from the military during the 17 years that this discriminatory policy was in place,” Inouye said.

“In every war we have had men and women of different sexual orientation who have risked their lives for their country. I fought alongside gay men during World War II and many of them were killed in combat. Those men were heroes. And once again, heroes will be allowed to defend their country, regardless of their sexual orientation,” he added.

During his rehabilitation from his war injuries, Inouye essentially relearned to play the piano one handed, and music continued to play an important part of his life.

Indeed, it was Inouye who encouraged his son Kenny — who played in Marginal Man, one of DC’s most influential golden era hardcore punk bands — to take up music.

Punk may not have been the elder Inouye's speed, but in 1984 he went to the legendary 930 club on F St NW to watch Marginal Man perform with a line up of other hardcore bands. Inouye, ever the defender of fairness and equality, refused to cut the line, opting to stand in the cold with the assorted skinheads, dreds and other punk rock kids until the doors of the club opened.

Inouye was even a part owner of a record label that was set up produce Marginal Man’s records, making him by far the most punk rock senator in American history.

Inouye is survived by Irene Hirano Inouye, his son Daniel Ken Inouye Jr., Ken's wife Jessica, and granddaughter Maggie and step-daughter Jennifer Hirano.

Much of the initial information coming from news organizations was partially or entirely inaccurate.

Nancy Lanza Worked At Sandy Hook Elementary School

She didn't.

Via: nhregister.com

Adam Lanza Used Handguns To Commit The Murders

He used a Bushmaster rifle.

Via: nytimes.com

Adam Lanza Was Buzzed In

He broke in through a window.

Via: nytimes.com

Adam Lanza's Girlfriend Was Missing

It is unclear if Adam Lanza even had a girlfriend.

Via: kplu.org

View Entire List ›

No details on gun control proposals.

Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama met with senior staff and Cabinet officials Monday, a White House official said, to discuss how Washington can respond to the deaths of 27 in a mass shooting Friday in Newtown, Conn.

The official said Obama met with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Secretary of Health and Human Service Kathleen Sebelius, as well as senior advisers.

"Have no further specifics on process except to say the work will continue," the official said in an e-mail.

The Task Force on Palestine struggles. “People are losing faith,” al-Omari says.

A section of Israel's barrier runs in front of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Image by Ammar Awad / Reuters

Two years ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed to headline a fundraiser for the American Task Force on Palestine. It was a fulsome gesture of official support for what she called an “important organization,” the Washington voice of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and his technocratic vision of a functional Palestinian state.

“You have helped us see past the false choices of this conflict,” Clinton said, to applause, in the Ritz Carlton ballroom. “Being pro-Palestinian does not mean you must reject Israel’s right to exist. And being pro-Israel does not mean you must deny the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people.”

Two years later, those choices look realer than ever. The loudest pro-Israel voices are increasingly maximalists who anticipate indefinite Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The energy in the Palestinian movement, too, is increasingly on the side of those who favor a “one-state solution.” Fayyad is now viewed, as The New Republic’s Leon Wieseltier wrote recently, as a “tragic figure.”

The center is not holding. And the American Task Force on Palestine, and the American hopes for which it stands, are struggling.

“People are losing faith,” said Ghaith al-Omari, a former official within the Palestinian Authority and the executive director of the Task Force, which was founded by a Palestinian physician. “The committed core of donors are people that understand what the deal is. But it is becoming a bit more difficult in terms of convincing the public at large.”

In particular, he acknowledged, the Task Force — just two years after its glamorous vote of support from Clinton — isn't as robust as it used to be. In 2010, the last year for which numbers are publicly available, the organization raised and spent nearly $1 million.

“You see the general public in a sense moving away from donating to two-state solution organizations,” al-Omari said.

That sense of despair at an American project has become a broad feature of what used to be called the “peace process” debate.

“I no longer believe that peace between Israelis and Palestinians will occur in my lifetime,” Wieseltier wrote in his much-discussed essay. “I have not changed my views; I have merely lost my hopes.”

That mood has been shaping an American debate increasingly dominated by more confrontational voices on each sides, as the energy bleeds to the edges and once-taboo ideas about one state, under either flag, begin to be heard.

“There’s a shift going on,” said the Jerusalem Fund’s Executive Director Yousef Munayyer, who makes the case for a single binational state. “That’s a shift that’s moving away from a two-state outcome.”

Munayyer’s views have begun to get mainstream media play. He appeared on Andrea Mitchell’s MSNBC show the day that the U.N. voted to upgrade the Palestinians’ status to non-member observer state, for instance, and has been a guest on the network’s “Up With Chris Hayes.”

“So many people’s careers have been tied up in a two state outcome,” Munayyer argued. “From a personal perspective it’s impossible for them to think about a one state outcome.”

The media landscape has also shifted online. Phil Weiss’s MondoWeiss, a liberal blog that backs a one-state solution, has gained traction in a new, left-of center online political space.

“I think the thing that has changed the situation to some extent is the media landscape, and now the Internet makes things to some extent more democratic and those voices are harder to ignore,” said Ali Abunimah, a Chicago-based one-state backer whose blog Electronic Intifida was long a lone American voice promoting the one state cause.

On the pro-Israel side, meanwhile, Americans are also hearing from foes of a two-state solution. The most important Republican political donor of the cycle, Sheldon Adelson, is equally active in Israeli politics (he owns a newspaper there) and has been outspoken in his opposition to the traditional plan for a negotiated peace.

“The two-state solution is a stepping stone for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people,” he told the Jewish Week.

The Israeli settler movement has long been premised on the notion of a Greater Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Jordan, and has always drawn strength from some American supporters — but those figures have increasingly found allies in Republicans like former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who is closely allied with settler leaders and has visited Israeli towns in the West Bank.

These new maximalist voices also include Caroline Glick, a Chicago native and former Israeli Defense Forces soldier who now writes at the Jerusalem Post and posited in May that “there is no chance whatsoever that the two state paradigm can work.”

Other Washington figures closer to the organized Republican Party, in particular, have little time for the old peace process narrative.

"Why is there such urgency to do something about the conflict when right now it's not amenable to a solution?”said Noah Pollak, the director of the Emergency Committee for Israel, who accused the Palestinians of “refusing to negotiate for three years.”

“Everyone's been trying to force this thing at least since 1991, and as we've seen, sometimes you make things worse the harder you push,” Pollak said.

The remaining hope for two-staters is that, despite the new energy on the edges, the alternative remains unclear.

“There’s no credible constituency on either side of divide that is promoting a one state solution,” former U.S. peace negotiator Aaron David Miller told BuzzFeed.

But “what enables the despairers on both sides is reality,” he said. “The fact is that the two state solution right now is under assault in the region by leaders who are unwilling and uninterested in promoting it.”

Despair has immediate consequences in Washington for the American Task Force on Palestine and other organizations formed to push a quick two-state deal. The Task Force, for instance, was badly weakened when its board split over the question of whether or not to support Palestinian attempts to seek recognition at the United Nations, and away from the negotiating table; the group did not ultimately support the move, infuriating some Palestinian-American activists.

“What do groups like [the liberal pro-Israel group] J Street do when it’s becoming clear that there’s no avenue for diplomacy?” asked Zvika Krieger, a senior Vice President at the Center for Middle East Peace. “What do they do when there’s no feasible pathway for resolving it?”

“I think that we’re in the kind of holding pattern twilight zone that we’ve been in for a long time for the presidential campaign, and that’s about to end,” said Alan Elsner, J Street’s vice president for communications.

The Task Force’s al-Omari said he’s worried that the next stop for the spreading apathy is U.S. policy-makers.

“I’m afraid that because of the complexity and challenges what we will see is even the policy world giving up,” he said. “When you have this kind of energized conversation about alternatives, those who want a two solution, it becomes harder for us.”

On cuts to spending, at least. “The devil's in the details,” says Rep. McMorris Rodgers.

Image by Carolyn Kaster, File / AP

WASHINGTON — For now at least, House Republicans are standing with Speaker John Boehner as he negotiates a massive fiscal cliff measure with the White House, even as the two sides appear to move closer to a deal that could increase tax rates on the wealthy.

"There's unity around the spending side," said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the No. 4-ranking House Republican. "But the devil's always in the details."

McMorris Rodgers said she remained "hopeful" that a deal would be reached by the end of the year.

Boehner briefed House Republican leadership Monday on President Obama’s latest proposal, which would raise tax rates on income exceeding $400,000, include some stimulus measures, and lift the debt limit for two years.

The plan would also tie Social Security benefits to the Consumer Price Index, which would reduce costs of that program by $130 billion over ten years by cutting payments to seniors by a small amount.

All told, the president's latest offer would cut approximately $930 billion from spending and add $1.3 trillion in new revenue, according to a source familiar with the offer. If the Budget Control Act of 2011 and the savings from the draw-down of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are included, that would add up to over $4 trillion in deficit reduction.

Although Republicans rejected that plan, McMorris Rodgers and others said the conference is still united behind Boehner and that the shifting positions of both sides the high-stakes negotiations represent progress.

"Any movement away from the unrealistic offers the president has made previously is a step in the right direction, but a proposal that includes $1.3 trillion in revenue for only $930 billion in spending cuts cannot be considered balanced," said Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck. "We hope to continue discussions with the president so we can reach an agreement that is truly balanced and begins to solve our spending problem."

The White House plan would include additional spending for infrastructure and the extension of unemployment benefits. The debt limit would be increased for a two-year stretch, but for periodic symbolic votes, as suggested by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Nevertheless, the two sides remain divided, and aides for both sides said progress has been made since Boehner submitted his latest offer to the White House, a deal is still not imminent.

Republican aides said the next 24 hours will be "critical" to the direction of talks to avert the nation's looming austerity crisis, determining whether Boehner and Obama will reach a grand bargain or punt on most decisions until next year.

The latter option, which would require a simple extension of current law, could be cobbled together quickly and agreed to as late as Christmas Eve with enough time to approve it before Christmas. White House aides have refused to set a timeline on the negotiations.

But a sweeping compromise would require more time before a vote: Congressional leaders would need to craft a denser piece of legislation, and securing the votes to pass a major compromise would be a more intensive process. Such a package would also include the types of details, such as a tax hikes, that would be unpalatable to some Republicans and could carve fault lines within the conference.

In the absence of a framework for an agreement, the talk of exact deadlines has been scant.

"We aren’t setting any deadlines," said Michael Steel, Boehner's press secretary. "For the sake of our economy and American jobs, the sooner the better."

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have both indicated that their respective chambers will be in session during the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve if a deal is not reached by then.

The gun group has been silent since a mass shooting Friday, and took down its Facebook page. Here's a cached version.

Obama's flirts with a trio of white guys for the top posts. “If he wants smooth sailing, send us [Michelle] Flournoy,” says a Senate Republican staffer.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy testifies before the House Armed Services Committee in June, 2011.

Image by Alex Wong / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The leading figures for President Obama’s top three cabinet posts are all white men, opening the possibility of a Cabinet that looks more like 1997 than 2013 and producing new pressure to appoint a woman to one of those top jobs — likely Secretary of Defense.

The first black president is understandably insulated from criticism on the grounds of diversity, but the increasingly diverse American cabinet has come to be seen as a source of, in particular, diplomatic strength: Three of the last four Secretaries of State confirmed have been women, and their high profile has been part of America’s tacit case about women’s rights from Africa to Afghanistan.

But the White House has signaled that the next Secretary of State will be Senator John Kerry. Chief of Staff Jack Lew is widely expected to be come Secretary of the Treasury when Tim Geithner leaves after the fiscal cliff debate.

And as a result, aides and strategists of both parties see the stock of Michèle Flournoy, the former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, rising to replace Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta when he leaves the Pentagon — likely early next year.

“I think she’s definitely getting a second look after Rice,” said a long-time Democratic defense policy hand, referring to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s withdrawal from consideration for the post at State.

Feminist groups are also pushing the White House to appoint Flournoy.

“There is no doubt that the woman knows her business,” said Marie Wilson, the founder of the White House Project, which advocates for women to take on leadership roles in all spheres.

“It’s Defense — the area where we have the slowest movement of women into top positions,” she said. “It would be a breakthrough.”

Obama’s reliance on the votes of women to defeat Mitt Romney raises the pressure on him to do more than seriously consider a woman for the top job, said one Democratic strategist.

“All the research we have right now shows that if you want to get a better decision, you want a diverse group,” said Wilson, who said she has worked with Flournoy on several projects designed to help women take on national security leadership roles.

Flournoy, the highest-ranking woman at the Pentagon until she stepped down from the post in January, is the co-founder of the Center for a New American Security, a DC think tank that has produced a host of Obama administration appointees. During the Clinton administration, Flournoy served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Threat Reduction and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy.

Flournoy’s foreign policy has been characterized as “liberal realist” and she’s been a champion of Obama’s rebalancing of forces with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. She’s also a strong support of forward-deploying U.S. troops to potential conflict regions to ensure rapid response in the event of a flare-up and to promote stability the rest of the time.

On Friday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney addressed the loss of diversity in top Cabinet posts by Rice’s decision to withdraw her name from consideration the day before.

“I think the President has always believed that in order to achieve the highest level of excellence in his Cabinet, and more broadly, in his administration, that diversity is important,” Carney said.

Administration officials are tight-lipped about Obama’s Cabinet plans, and refuse to comment on the selection process.

Picking Flournoy would also be a smoother path through the Senate than another leading contender, former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, whose criticism of the “Israel lobby” has drawn criticism from Republicans and Jewish groups.

One Senate Republican foreign policy aide said while Flournoy would face scrutiny, she would likely not provoke a bitter confirmation fight.

“Where Hagel is viewed as anti-Israel, Flournoy gets to tout her credentials of expanding U.S.-Israel defense relations,” the aide said, noting that Republicans tried to brand Obama as soft on Israel during the general election. “Obama responded by citing the unprecedented defense cooperation between the US and Israel — and Flournoy was the lead on that agenda.”

The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol wrote Friday that the selection of Flournoy or Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter would be far more amenable to Republicans.
“The Weekly Standard would expect to differ with such nominees on many issues,” he wrote. “But they wouldn’t be out on the fringes like Chuck Hagel.”

“If the President wants a messy fight, send us Hagel; if he wants smooth sailing, send us Flournoy,” the Senate Republican aide said.

“It is important not to spread this rumor/report.” Engel escaped his captors in Syria Monday night.

Shortly before 7:30 AM yesterday morning, reports came in the from Turkish media that NBC News Middle East correspondent Richard Engel had been missing since Thursday morning. The report also said that Aziz Akyavaş, a Turkish cameraman working with Engel had also vanished.

Engel's disappearance has been a closely guarded secret, and the subject of a major media blackout.

The first tweet about Engel's disappearance didn't appear until 8:30 a.m., when a self-described Turkish news junkie named Serif Turgut tweeted "Very Sad! 2 other reporters are missing in Syria. No news from NBC's ME Correspondnt Richard Engel&Cameramn Aziz Akyavaş from last Thursday."

The first report in the American media came at 3:10 a.m when Michelle Malkin's website Twitchy, citing tweets, posted the story "Rumor mill: NBC News reporter Richard Engel missing in Syria?" When Twitchy became alerted to reports of the news blackout they updated the post with "it's going to be impossible to put this to the genie back in the bottle."

View Entire List ›

Cerberus's move is the clearest sign yet that this time is different. The firm didn't want to be “drawn into the national debate.”

A Bushmaster BA-50 bolt action rifle on display at a trade show in January.

Image by Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Cerberus Capital Management, one of the world's largest investment funds and a dominant player in the American gun industry, is getting out of the business, it said Tuesday morning, citing the horror of the shooting — not the commercial risk or negative attention — as the decisive factor in its decision.

Here's the company's full statement:

We were shocked and deeply saddened by the events that took place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT on December 14, 2012. We cannot comprehend the losses suffered by the families and friends of those killed by the unthinkable crimes committed that day. No words or actions can lessen the enormity of this event or make a dent in the pain that was inflicted on so many.

In 2006 affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. made a financial investment in Freedom Group. Freedom Group does not sell weapons or ammunition directly to consumers, through gun shows or otherwise. Sales are made only to federally licensed firearms dealers and distributors in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. We do not believe that Freedom Group or any single company or individual can prevent senseless violence or the illegal use or procurement of firearms and ammunition.

It is apparent that the Sandy Hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level. The debate essentially focuses on the balance between public safety and the scope of the Constitutional rights under the Second Amendment. As a Firm, we are investors, not statesmen or policy makers. Our role is to make investments on behalf of our clients who are comprised of the pension plans of firemen, teachers, policemen and other municipal workers and unions, endowments, and other institutions and individuals. It is not our role to take positions, or attempt to shape or influence the gun control policy debate. That is the job of our federal and state legislators.

There are, however, actions that we as a firm can take. Accordingly, we have determined to immediately engage in a formal process to sell our investment in Freedom Group. We will retain a financial advisor to design and execute a process to sell our interests in Freedom Group, and we will then return that capital to our investors. We believe that this decision allows us to meet our obligations to the investors whose interests we are entrusted to protect without being drawn into the national debate that is more properly pursued by those with the formal charter and public responsibility to do so.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and communities impacted by this tragic and devastating event.

Because Reid says it can't pass the Senate.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney answers questions from reporters during a media briefing at the White House in Washington December 17, 2012.

Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

WASHINGTON — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney rejected Speaker of the House John Boehner's fall-back measure to maintain the middle class tax cuts Tuesday.

In a statement to reporters hours after Boehner outlined his "Plan B" if negotiations with Obama continue not to produce a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, Carney said the speaker's plan doesn't meet Obama's test of "balance" because it won't pass the Senate and doesn't include spending cuts.

Earlier Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Boehner proposal couldn't pass in his chamber.

Boehner's plan would only deal with the revenue side of the equation, allowing the mandatory spending cuts from the failure of the super committee to kick in. It would provide a tax break for all income below $1 million — a higher threshold than the White House had supported.

"The parameters of a deal are clear, and the President is willing to continue to work with Republicans to reach a bipartisan solution that averts the fiscal cliff, protects the middle class, helps the economy, and puts our nation on a fiscally sustainable path," Carney said in a statement. "But he is not willing to accept a deal that doesn’t ask enough of the very wealthiest in taxes and instead shifts the burden to the middle class and seniors. The Speaker’s “Plan B” approach doesn’t meet this test because it can’t pass the Senate and therefore will not protect middle class families, and does little to address our fiscal challenges with zero spending cuts."

Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck fired back that "the White House’s position defies common sense."

"After spending months saying we must ask for more from millionaires and billionaires, how can they reject a plan that does exactly that," he asked. "By once again moving the goal posts, the President is threatening every American family with higher taxes.”

The two biggest shows at MSNBC won the holy grail of ratings demographics for four of the first five weeks after Obama's reelection — and Fox News doesn't appear to have a plan to stop them.

President of MSNBC Phil Griffin, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O' Donnell. (Getty Images)

The cable-news ratings battle between Fox News and MSNBC has been getting very interesting since Barack Obama's reelection in November.

MSNBC's back-to-back prime-time opinion shows, The Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, topped both Fox News and CNN for the coveted 25–54 demographic during the week of Dec. 3. That gives Phil Griffin's network the number one ranking in the demo for four of the first five weeks since the presidential election. Adding to the impressive numbers is the fact that the MSNBC shows outperformed their Fox counterparts despite having guest hosts fill in for Maddow Dec. 5 through Dec. 7.

Fox News still dominates prime time, thanks mostly to the ratings behemoth that is Bill O'Reilly, but the cracks are showing there, too.

Roger Ailes' juggernaut can't go on pretending like MSNBC isn't a real threat to their standing as "number one in cable news." Here's why:

After years of rubbing their ratings dominance in the faces of their competitors, Fox News is showing signs of toning down the public bragging.

A foxnews.com URL from 2009 touting a seven-year stranglehold on ratings was removed after BuzzFeed reported that the over-the-top announcement was still active.

View Entire List ›

Eleven Senate Democrats have expressed support for raising rates on millionaires over the last two years. Majority Leader Harry Reid insists it can't pass the chamber.

Image by Jason Lee / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may not like Speaker John Boehner’s plan to raise taxes on millionaires as part of a fiscal cliff deal, but that doesn’t mean his Democratic colleagues don’t.

In fact, over the last two years 11 Senate Democrats — Sens. Chuck Schumer, Kent Conrad, Mark Begich, Barbara Boxer, Tom Carper, Bob Casey, Joe Lieberman, Claire McCaskill, Bill Nelson, Jim Webb and Robert Menendez — have all publicly backed increasing tax rates on millionaires in one form or another.

“Drawing the line at $1 million is the right thing to do,” Schumer told Politico in 2011.

Republicans Tuesday also noted that in 2010 the Senate voted 53 to 37 in support of a plan that would have raised taxes on millionaires.

Of course, the details of those plans and Boehner’s larger fiscal cliff “plan b” differ, and Democrats insist they have the public’s support thanks to November’s election results.

But Republicans were nevertheless gleefully using their statements and votes against them.

“For years, Washington Democrats – led by Sen. Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi – have been calling for a bill to stop the tax hikes except on millionaires. They even voted in favor of it. To oppose it now would make them entirely responsible for the tax hikes that tens of millions of Americans face in less than two weeks. They know that, and the President knows that,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.

An ad uses wordplay on the president's name to sell a smartphone/tablet package.

An ad for a Polish telecommunications company Plus depicts President Obama on Air Force One, thanking a mysterious Polish associate for his new smartphone and tablet.

"Oba ma" is a play on words in Polish, meaning "he has both" — it's a reference to the package smartphone/tablet deal being offered.

Polish political reporter Paulina Kozlowska emailed over the following translation of the conversation between "Obama" and his interlocutor:

- Oba ma? (there is a pause, so it's more "oba ma" than "Obama")
- Yes.
- Smartphone ma? (not a particularly correct way to say: do you have a smartphone?)
- Yes.
- Tablet ma? (again, not a really nice way to ask: do you have a tablet?)
- Yes.
- So, what do you say?
- Dziekuję - Thank you (with a strong American accent).

The ad never actually uses Obama's likeness, cutting away every time his chair swivels around.

Carney says Obama would back assault weapons ban, closing the gun show loophole and banning high-capacity magazines.

Image by Mark Wilson / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney expanded on President Barack Obama's call for "meaningful action" in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting last week, saying Obama is calling for "reexamining gun laws" as part of a larger solution.

Briefing reporters, Carney outlined some of the proposals Obama is backing, noting "his support for reinstatement of the assault weapons ban, his support for closing the so-called gun-show loophole."

Carney said that Obama spoke with Sen. Joe Manchin — an NRA member who has expressed support for new regulations in the wake of the shooting — about what they can do.

"He is absolutely supportive of Sen. Feinstein's stated attempt to revive [the assault weapons ban]," Carney said, saying he would also support a ban on high-capacity magazines.

The Google search trend chart “reflects how many searches have been done for a particular term, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time.” Post-Sandy Hook a huge spike in searches for gun control.

Via: google.com

Sometimes, they get it so right.

The time Rep. Walter Jones met with Honor Flight WWII veterans.

The time Gov. Chris Christie comforted New Jersey.

Image by The Star-Ledger, David Gard, Pool, File / AP

The time Speaker John Boehner helped hammer leader Nancy Pelosi's nail.

Image by Jason Reed / Reuters

The time Newt Gingrich fed a panda.

Image by U-T San Diego, John Gastaldo / AP

View Entire List ›

Republicans offer tax hikes for income of more than $1 million, which some Democrats used to support. But that was just “a plan to smoke out the Republicans’ true position,” Pelosi says.

Image by J. Scott Applewhite / AP

WASHINGTON — As House Republicans on Tuesday pitched a "plan B" to avert the fiscal cliff that would raise taxes on income exceeding $1 million, Democratic leaders defended their shift away from backing a similar proposal.

Leading House and Senate Democrats have previously gone on the record in support of raising taxes on millionaires alone — but, during fiscal cliff negotiations, have instesad echoed President Barack Obama's demand that $250,000 be the threshold for tax hikes.

Some Democrats suggested the change of heart and policy was less a genuine shift than a crafty test of Republican intentions.

"Earlier this year, I put forward a plan to smoke out the Republicans’ true position: a proposal to raise taxes on those making over $1 million per year in context of a big, bold, and balanced plan," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in a statement. "Republicans said ‘no’ six months ago; the President took his case to the American people to use $250,000 as a threshold for higher tax rates, and the public supported him."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid explained that one such proposal, by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, had been pitched in 2010, when Democrats' legislative motives were different.

“Remember, at that time what we were trying to do was do something to stimulate the economy," Reid told reporters.

And still other Democrats placed the blame squarely with Republicans.

"Republicans should've taken Sen. Schumer's offer two years ago when they had the chance," said Brian Fallon, a spokesperson for Schumer. "We've had an election on the president's tax plan, the president won, and Republicans can't turn the clock back."

"It's not surprising Republicans are having buyer's remorse," Fallon added, "but we need higher revenues now."

Regardless, the scuffle between parties could soon be moot: Reid has vowed that the Republicans' "plan B" would be dead upon arrival in the Senate.

Boehner objects to gimmicks when Obama tries them.

Image by J. Scott Applewhite / AP

WASHINGTON — House Republicans have repeatedly used the same arithmetic to beef up the size of proposed spending cuts that they oppose now that President Barack Obama is using it.

Obama's debt ceiling counteroffer to Republicans Monday night amounted to $1.22 trillion in spending cuts according to a source familiar with the negotiations, including $290 billion saved from lower-interest payments. House Republicans discount those spending cuts, with Speaker of the House John Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck saying the Obama plan only included "$930 billion in spending cuts."

But Republicans have employed this very same tool — counting the billions saved from not having to borrow billions more — to pad the size of deficit reduction, sometimes to placate their own restless base.

After the passage of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which raised the debt ceiling, and established the super committee and the fiscal cliff, Boehner bragged that the spending cuts outpaced the size of the debt ceiling hike, counting that as a major victory for Republicans. That was only a victory because the Congressional Budget Office included $156 billion in reduced borrowing costs.

Even the Paul Ryan budget, formally known as "The Path to Prosperity," included $514 billion in interest savings compared with Obama's budget, to claim nearly $5.3 trillion in overall savings.

And last week, when Boehner presented a chart prepared by Ryan showing the projected growth of government spending under the CBO's Alternative Fiscal Scenario, he was pointing to a model that treats interest as spending.

The gun group breaks its silence. “We were shocked, saddened, and heartbroken.”

National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam emails the first statement from the organization since Friday's massacre in Newtown.

National Rifle Association of America is made up of four million moms and dads, sons and daughters – and we were shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders in Newtown.

Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting.

The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.

The NRA is planning to hold a major news conference in the Washington, DC area on Friday, December 21.

Plans for rare honor of formal funeral proceedings being prepared for legendary Hawaiian lawmaker.

Image by J. Scott Applewhite, File / AP

WASHINGTON — Sen. Daniel Inouye will be laid in state in the Capitol Rotunda as part of a formal farewell to the legendary lawmaker and war hero, a rare honor that has been reserved in recent years for former presidents and civil rights leaders.

According to Senate aides, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have begun the legislative process to hold the ceremony, although when it will occur remained unclear at press time.

Although Inouye, one of Hawaii’s first elected officials, was not a president, his shadow looms large over the civil rights movement: he was a life long champion of the Asian American community and a fierce proponent for LGBT rights.

Although once a fairly common practice, in modern times “lying in state” has become an increasingly rare practice for members of the Senate. In 2010 the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the West Virginia titan, was “laid in repose” on the Senate floor for a viewing by family, friends, lawmakers and Senate aides. Byrd was only the 46th senator to have a funeral take place in the Senate chamber, and the first since Sen. William Langer’s funeral in 1959.

30 people have been laid in state in the Capitol Rotunda: although most of those have been former or current presidents at the time of their deaths, a handful of congressmen, senators and others have also been given that honor.

Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks; Washington, D.C. architect and city planner Pierre Charles L’Enfant; and several unknown soldiers have also been laid in state in the rotunda.

Being laid in state is one of the highest honors that Congress can bestow on an individual.

Inouye, a Medal of Honor winner and the highest ranking Asian American in history, passed away Monday evening.