Today’s edition of quick hits:
* With the sequester set to hit in two weeks, House Democrats would like to know why House Republicans have decided to take all of next week off. “They manufacture a crisis and then instead of trying to avert that crisis they go on a nine day recess. Why?” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi asked.
* A breathtaking scene over Russia: “A meteor 15 meters across flared through the skies over Russia’s Chelyabinsk region early Friday, triggering an atomic bomb-sized shock wave that injured nearly a thousand people, blew out windows and caused some Russians to fear the end of the world.”
* Slain educators from Sandy Hook Elementary were honored today at the White House this afternoon.
* You won’t believe some of the stuff he bought: “Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has been charged with spending $750,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses. His wife was charged with filing false income tax forms.”
* A bipartisan agreement in the Senate is reportedly near on expanding the gun background-check system.
* The banking industry thinks Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is too mean. That’s probably a good sign.
* The House Science Committee intends to hold a hearing on how to “better identify and address asteroids that pose a potential threat to Earth.”
* No, CNN, the Carnival Triumph cruise ship story is not like Hurricane Katrina, and to draw the comparison is ridiculous. * Fox News hired Herman Cain? Who could have imagined? * Oh my: “The former Arizona director of a leading tea party group says he has scrapped plans to deliver Valentine’s Day cards that featured murderous dictators including Adolf Hitler to Republican lawmakers believed to oppose anti-union legislation.” Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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