Samuel Knight

The President just concluded a press conference in which he announced the formation of an inter-agency commission that will submit a gun control proposal to Congress in a matter of weeks. But while he expected to discuss the political response to the Newtown tragedy, he was barraged with inquiries about the fiscal cliff. This sparked […]

Nothing exposes GOP flailing about debt for the fraud that it is like defense budget scrutiny. When genuine deficit hawks point out how bloated and porky the Pentagon has become, Republican Keynesians come out of the woodwork in droves. So it comes as no surprise that a leading balance-the-budget corporate lobby has been found to […]

I would have posted this earlier, but had a dentist appointment scheduled six months ago that I forgot about until Monday — kind of like my own personal fiscal cliff, to draw a poor analogy that rightly deserves to be pilloried in the comments section. Anyhow, here are some interesting reads, should you find yourself […]

Earlier this week, President Obama floated a Social Security-cutting proposal for fiscal cliff evasive action that shocked the Democratic Party. And by “the Democratic Party,” I mean Dems who didn’t watch the first Presidential debate. The plan, which is known as “chained CPI,” is an alternative way to calculate inflation by assuming that consumers substitute […]

One issue that would have featured prominently on Sunday talk shows before the tragic events in Newtown unfolded is “right to work” legislation. The discourse would have been courtesy of the union busting bill that Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed into law last Tuesday. But the issue – whether or not employees working for a […]

In the wake of Newtown, it was only a matter of time before a gun loving politician unleashed a torrent of verbal diarrhea upon video games. Enter Colorado’s Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper. “Look at the level of violence in our media, video games,” he told CNN’s Candy Crowley today. “The depiction of assault weapons again […]

On “Meet The Press” this morning, Dianne Feinstein announced that she and Chuck Schumer will introduce an assault weapons ban when the 113rd Congress convenes on January 3rd. “I can tell you that he is going to have a bill to lead on because as a first-day bill I’m going to introduce in the Senate […]

According to reports (read: administration leaks to access journalists), John Kerry is set to be nominated the next Secretary of State. It seems likely that Republicans will be happy to let him coast to the position, as it would lead to a special election in Massachusetts – one that could see Scott Brown return to […]

The New York Times’ Charlie Savage detailed yesterday how the Justice Department shelved proposals to make background checks more robust in the wake of the 2011 Tuscon shooting that left six dead and thirteen injured. It pains me how cliche this has become in my writing on Newtown, but it highlights the massive struggle the […]

If there’s one federal agency that gun control advocates will want strengthened after Friday’s killings in Newtown, its the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Will Congress actually do it, though? Don’t bet your bulletproof vest fund on it. The ATF has been defanged for years. After the Beltway Sniper murders of 2003, Brent […]