Note to press: Barack Obama is HIDING from you.

Specifically: when Barack Obama closes the signing ceremony for the designation of five new federal monuments (which, as House Natural Resources committee chairman Doc Hastings apparently put it, is a case of “the government spending money it doesn’t have on properties it doesn’t own”), it’s because he’s scared.  He thinks that somebody will ask awkward questions.  He doesn’t know how to handle a press that doesn’t worship him.

If the press ever wonders why it’s despised so, this is why.  Three weeks’ worth of a 24/7 full court press by the journalist corps and the Obama administration would abruptly stop their strategy to give the news media the mushroom treatment.  I know this, Obama knows this, the media knows this… but apparently journalism is a remarkably masochistic field to work in, these days.  So this will just fade into the background, too – and, what the hell: it’s not like I’m the one who’ll be looking in the mirror every morning between now and 01/20/2017 and asking myself what went wrong with my life…

Via Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.

Senator Tim Johnson to retire?

Looks that way:

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat, does not plan to run for re-election when his current term ends in 2014, sources close to the matter and key Capitol Hill staffers said on Monday.

Johnson, 66, joined the Senate in 1997 and has been widely expected to retire at the end of his term. He plans to make the announcement on Tuesday, the sources said. Johnson’s staff said that he will hold a press conference at the University of South Dakota on Tuesday.

Normally I’d say something mocking about this, but it’s medical: the man had a blood vessel burst in his brain in 2006.  Whoever at the DSCC made Sen Johnson run anyway in 2008 should be dragged out onto the street and beaten with sticks for that petty cruelty…

Moe Lane

PS: Yup, on my list as Serious Risk.  The Democrats are very likely to triage this race, too…

 

Family members of elected officials should not go to expensive private resorts…

while the rest of us are trying to make ends meet. I have nothing against Obama’s kids doing that sort of thing when the economy’s good; but the economy ain’t good, and it’s largely the fault of Barack Obama. I don’t expect coupon clipping, but there’s a Presidential retreat for a reason.

Honestly, I know that the man’s not really capable of noticing this kind of social nicety: but surely his wife realized how bad that was going to look?

James Taranto: universal background firearms checks means that anybody can request one.

An-y-bo-dy.

James Taranto makes an excellent point about the major problem with proposals to expanding who can request a background check on firearms:

Currently access to the FBI’s background check system is limited to licensed firearms dealers, who have an incentive not to abuse it lest they lose their license. If it’s opened up to all prospective sellers of guns–that is, to everybody–what’s to prevent someone from abusing it, say by requesting a background check on Greg Sargent, who presumably has no interest in acquiring a gun?

The system only gives a yes-or-no answer as to whether the putative buyer is eligible to own firearms under federal law. But if you’re looking to dig up dirt on someone, a “no” answer on a firearms background check would give you a nice clump of it.

Continue reading James Taranto: universal background firearms checks means that anybody can request one.

My primary camera is not much longer for this world (replacement advice bleg).

This is, by the way, the major reason why there hasn’t been much CPAC footage from me: the video came out awful, and the photos aren’t doing much better.  I’ve had this camera for a while; I shouldn’t be shocked that it’s starting to fade.

Suggestions on a replacement?  I don’t need something as light as my current one, but I need good video recording quality and I don’t have the budget for a $2K camera. Or $1.5K.  Or $1K… actually, I don’t really have a budget at all, but I can scrounge up a decent amount by August.

Moe Lane

Continue reading My primary camera is not much longer for this world (replacement advice bleg).