Utah Republicans made a rap video about making a bill into a law, set to the theme song of "The Prince of Bel-Air".  Yes, rap.  (Warning: you really can't unsee this).

By Tim Mak @ NPR.org, March 1

Updated at 10:25 p.m. ET

A prominent Kremlin-linked Russian politician has methodically cultivated ties with leaders of the National Rifle Association, and documented efforts in real time over six years to leverage those connections and gain access deeper into American politics, NPR has learned.

Russian politician Alexander Torshin claimed his ties to the National Rifle Association provided him access to Donald Trump — and the opportunity to serve as a foreign election observer in the United States during the 2012 election.

Torshin is a prolific Twitter user, logging nearly 150,000 tweets, mostly in Russian, since his account was created in 2011. Previously obscured by language and by sheer volume of tweets, Torshin has written numerous times about his connections with the NRA, of which he's a known paid lifetime member. NPR has translated a selection of those posts that document Torshin's relationship to the group.

These revelations come amid news that the FBI is investigating whether Torshin [....]

Pew Reesarch Center, March 1, 2018

The divisions between generations are now as wide as they have been in decades and are reflected in many political values and preferences, including in views of the president. Wide and growing divides in views of racial discrimination.....

Table of Contents  from right side of page (PDF link available)

• Overview
  • Generations divide on a range of political attitudes
  • A portrait of generations’ ideological differences
  • Racial and ethnic diversity and religiosity across generations
• 1. Generations’ party identification, midterm voting preferences, views of Trump
• 2. Views of scope of government, trust in government, economic inequality
• 3. U.S. foreign policy and America’s global standing, Islam and violence, NAFTA
• 4. Race, immigration, same-sex marriage, abortion, global warming, gun policy, marijuana legalization

Senators on both sides of the aisle unveiled proposals, though it’s unclear what might gain traction.

By Elena Schor @ Politico.com, March 1

President Donald Trump's unexpected openness to expansive gun control measures set off a scramble in the Senate Thursday, with lawmakers in both parties laying out a raft of competing proposals and jockeying for position.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) outlined his caucus' three top priorities in the gun control debate — expanded background checks, judicial orders that would temporarily let guns be taken from dangerous individuals, and at least a vote on banning assault weapons — as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) pitched his own package of gun and school safety plans

Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) [....]

This Thursday, the Department of Labor will induct President Ronald Reagan into the Labor Hall of Honor, joining fellow inductees like Cesar Chavez, Mother Jones, and A. Philip Randolph. The only U.S. President to have led a major union, the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan launched the modern era of union-busting when he fired striking air traffic controllers in 1981. According to labor historian Joseph A. McCartin, the 1981 strike and defeat of PATCO -- the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization -- was "one of the most important events in late twentieth century U.S. labor history."

No, not an article headline from The Onion.  From "Union City", publication of the Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO, today. 

Every time you think these bottom feeders have written the Guinness book of world records on cynicism, they come up with something new. 

There is a protest demonstration surrounding the induction ceremony today.  I wouldn't be surprised if Fox gives it substantially more attention than most others.  But then again it may go mostly unreported.   

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has been investigating a period of time last summer when President Trump seemed determined to drive Attorney General Jeff Sessions from his job, according to people familiar with the matter.

By Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey & Rosalind S. Helderman @ WashingtonPost.com,  Feb. 28, 7:04 pm

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has been investigating a period of time last summer when President Trump seemed determined to drive Attorney General Jeff Sessions from his job, according to people familiar with the matter who said that a key area of interest for the inquiry is whether those efforts were part of a months-long pattern of attempted obstruction of justice.

In recent months, Mueller’s team has questioned witnesses in detail about Trump’s private comments and state of mind in late July and early August of last year, around the time he issued a series of tweets belittling his “beleaguered” attorney general, these people said. The thrust of the questions was to determine whether the president’s goal was to oust Sessions in order to pick a replacement who would exercise control over the investigation into possible coordination between Russia and Trump associates during the 2016 election, these people said.

The issue of Sessions’s tortured relationship with the president reared up again Wednesday morning when the president tweeted: [.....]

The group’s goal was to win enough Senate seats to deprive either major party of a majority, forcing them to compromise with each other and to cooperate with Unite America. They ask candidates to endorse their five principles and to pledge that if elected to the Senate they will not caucus with either party.

This is gonna be great.

If it works.

Actually, I am completely behind the five principles. Oh, no!  Am I actually gonna sign my name to a political party?

Thinking....thinking.