Politics and other nightmares

With Tim Russert as the host, NBC's "Meet the Press" was a strong No. 1 among the Sunday talk shows. Under David Gregory, it's a dismal third and still sliding, and the network hotshots are in a panic:

Mike Pence's name keeps getting tossed around as a potential 2016 GOP presidential contender. Hee's a generally positive report at Bloomberg:

Well, good luck with that, pal:

Michael R. Bloomberg, making his first major political investment since leaving office, plans to spend $50 million this year building a nationwide grass-roots network to motivate voters who feel strongly about curbing gun violence, an organization he hopes can eventually outmuscle the National Rifle Association.

A consensus seems to have been reached about the Cliven Bundy case: 1) He has no legal leg to stnd on in his creative interpretation of government authority leading him to believe he doesn't have to pay no stinkin' grazing fees. But, 2) The federal government so overreached in its reaction (tasering a woman from behind, for God's sake) that it had no choice but to stand down in the face of public disgust.

So, the Pulitzer Prize was awared for the reporting based on Edward Snowden's document dump. I don't feel quite as strongly about it as Rep. King:

But today’s announcement of the 2014 Pulitzer Prizes stoked an old debate about whether a former NSA contractor who leaked details about the surveillance programs — among other leaks — is a traitor or a whistleblower. Today, he was the muse of award winners.

Thank God John Paul Stevens is off the bench -- he's downright dangerous. Here's his op-ed in the Washington Post urging that the Second Amendment be "fixed":

I have a spectacularly lousy record of political predictions, so take that into account, but I think the ship has sailed on this possibility, Gov. Pence:

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence says national Republicans have reached out to him about running for president in 2016.

Eric Holder, explaining why he has a "vast amount" of discretion in how the Justice Department prosecutes federal law, veers into self-justifying gibberish:

Procrastinator that I am, I finally did my taxes on Sunday. So this yearly reminder seems especially vivid and painful:

"Happy Equal Pay Day!" food for thought: