With Florida now at the epicenter of a fast-changing national gun debate, the state’s Republican governor is so far refusing to budge from his long-standing opposition to new limits on firearms.

The approach of Gov. Rick Scott, who holds an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association and is preparing to enter what would be a hotly-contested Senate race, stands in contrast to fellow Republicans such as Sen. Marco Rubio and President Trump who in recent days have expressed openness to some new gun regulations.

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame unveiled on Saturday its finalists for the 2018 Hall of Fame class, with first-time nominees Ray Allen, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash leading the group.

But one person headed for the September ceremony in Springfield, Mass., stands out: Doris Burke, the recipient of the Hall’s Curt Gowdy award for electronic media. It’s a well-deserved honor for a trailblazer and role model who this season became the first woman to hold the job of full-time NBA color analyst.

My favorite movie critic Ann Hornaday's Wash Post review of Black Panther.

Who here has seen it?  The 10:40 AM showing this past Saturday was sold out.  My favorite character was the smarty pants smart ass sister of the hero, Shuri.  She was precious.  My favorite line from the movie involved her: 

(self explanatory)

The mayor of Dallas is saying no to future NRA conventions until that organization works to help avert rather than enable these tragedies.  The Florida kids are taking matters into their own hands.  And a wealthy GOP donor is saying no more until his party grows a conscience on this matter  (on other matters would be nice, too).

David Lynch and Damian Paletta, WaPo this AM.

There are times when our federal government needs to be able to run deficits.  Elevating balanced budgets to an overriding priority regardless of circumstances, as the Pete Peterson crowd has seemed to, is foolhardy. 

Informed insider speculation on the budget negotiations, from Greg Sargent, who as many of you know worked with Josh at tpm some time ago.  WashPost, earlier this morning.  This is not a "news" piece, I readily acknowledge, but is offered as a window into current state of play at the federal level.  

by Darla Cameron and Kim Soffen, WaPo, Feb. 1, 2018

Matt Zapotosky, Karoun Damirjian, Robert Costa, Ellen Nakashima, WashPost today.

I thought this was interesting:

William Kristol, editor at large of the Weekly Standard and a conservative Trump critic, said: “It’s pretty astonishing to have members of Congress and fairly serious commentators clamoring for the release even as Trump’s Justice Department says they should wait for a full review. It’s a distressing sign that the irresponsibility and conspiracy theorizing on the right is not just on the far right but among top people.”

....

Mike DeBonis, WashPost, January 26

OMRO, Wis. — Again and again, constituents at Rep. Glenn Grothman’s town hall meetings this week wanted to talk about DACA, “chain migration” and “the wall” — the right half of the vocabulary of the fierce immigration debate now playing out in Washington.

“Can’t they go back and get in line?” asked one woman who came to a dim municipal basement here, about 12 miles west of Oshkosh, on a recent weekday morning. “Why can’t they go back and do it legally?”

............

Super Bowl LII was planned to be Costas’ last, but NBC announced this week that the longtime  commentator would not be hosting the pregame show on Feb. 4. It was thought NBC might have yanked Costas for his comment in November that “the reality is that this game destroys people’s brains.”

But Costas dismissed that notion in an email to Sports Business Daily.

Julia Reinstein, BuzzFeed

Are there sections devoted to the importance of clear thinking, common sense judgment, and humility?

(full disclosure, Jim is a law school classmate)  

....

If you want to fight Trump effectively, you have to learn to think like they do and give up the prospect that scandal will one day undo him.

....

Jennifer Rubin, conservative author of "The Right Turn" blog (I am unclear on whether she remains a Republican or not), authored this piece.

A well-known independent DC bookstore, Kramerbooks, stayed open until 1 AM this morning, offering copies of Wolff's book for sale at midnight.  I don't recall them doing so even on release of the Harry Potter volumes.

Jonathan Capehart and Eugene Robinson also have opinion pieces in the Post online edition now which readers may find of interest.

Lynn was also interviewed on NPR yesterday by Ailsa Chang: http://www.npr.org/2017/08/31/547491063/google-funded-think-tank-fires-s...