Politics and other nightmares

This is just one ruling by one judge, but I think it's pretty indicative of where we are as a society and where we're headed:

OMG, has FEMA been alerted?

Physicists have long predicted that the universe may one day collapse, and that everything in it will be compressed to a small hard ball. New calculations from physicists at the University of Southern Denmark now confirm this prediction – and they also conclude that the risk of a collapse is even greater than previously thought.

Everybody seems to be having a good laugh either over President Obama's selfie at the Mandela funeral or the breathtaking con job done by the fake interpreter for the deaf. But if we can get serious for a moment, let's think about what we can learn from Nelson Mandela's life story about one of the enduring questions of civilization: When in a political struggle is violence justified? And don't say "never," or you'd be ruling out all wars, including ones most people agree were necessary.

Yeah, that "budget deal" pretty much sucks:

Can we just chill it a little on that handshake? Conservatives are in a sputtering rage over President Obama, eeeuu, actually touching tinpot dicator Raul Castro. Liberals are almost ecstatic over it as a "symbol" of a new world of peace and love. I tend to agree with the Boston Globe that it's no bfd:

This isn't quite up there with Obamacare in the "taking a bad situation and making it far worse" category, but it's certainly worth a "what the hell were they thinking?" shout out:

Well, good for us:

States took unprecedented action this year to tighten gun laws after last year’s mass shooting at a Connecticut school, two gun control groups said Monday.

Indiana, however, was among the states that moved in the opposite direction, according to a report released by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

We frequently hear lawmakers talking about the risk of getting too far ahead of their constituents. Is there an equal danger of lagging too far behind their constituents?

Legislators may balk at the idea of easing the penalties for marijuana, but a new poll shows a majority of Hoosiers support legalizing the drug and taxing it like alcohol and tobacco.

You know, if Daily Kos is worried, I should be ecstatic:

Seems like the Democrats have their own little internal battle going, which I suspect will not get nearly the coverage the Republican one has gotten: