As the nation's capital panics over a potentially record-breaking two feet of snow today and tomorrow – an event that already has its own Twitter hashtag, #snOMGasm – what else do we now know?
We now know that Republican senator Richard Shelby is holding America hostage by using the Senate rules to tie up 70 White House appointments all by himself. Because he can. If anything can kill off the filibuster, it's stunts such as this:
Report: Shelby Blocks All Obama Nominations In The Senate, TPM
Paul Krugman patiently explains why the size of the US government deficit isn't the big deal that Republicans are making it out to be – and that this is more evidence of "deficit hysteria" leading to the wrong choices being made:
Fiscal scare tactics, New York Times
After giving Wall Street the matches to set itself on fire, the Republican party is now back, cap in hand, asking for campaign contributions from banks, in order to save them from Democrats' regulation plans:
GOP chases Wall Street donors, Wall Street Journal
Don't ask, don't tell – and don't care? A new poll for FOX News finds that 61% of Americans are in favour of allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. Even 44% of Republican voters favour allowing them in:
Same-Sex Marriage, Gay Rights, Polling Report
It's been nicknamed "Demon Sheep" and has its own Twitter hashtag (#demonsheep), the totally weird internet ad by Carly Fiorina's campaign to be the Republican party's candidate for California's next governor. Redstate says: "The demon sheep ad is undoubtedly the most bizarre ad to come down the pike that didn't involve someone's genitalia and butterscotch pudding." (Not sure what that's a reference to.) Slate's Chris Beam discusses the ad's creator, Fred Davis:
The weird genius behind Carly Fiorina's "demon sheep" ad, Slate
