Today’s edition of quick hits:
* When it comes to buying a gun, background checks are easy. Watch Mark Kelly and Americans for Responsible Solutions prove it.
* I wish they wouldn’t do stuff like this: “North Korea cut off the last remaining military hot lines with South Korea on Wednesday, accusing President Park Geun-hye of South Korea of pursuing the same hard-line policy of her predecessor that the North blamed for a prolonged chill in inter-Korean relations.”
* Aurora massacre: “Lawyers for Colorado theater shooting suspect James Holmes said Wednesday he would plead guilty and serve the rest of his life in prison to avoid the death penalty.”
* Eight is a lot: “As the nation’s strongest bank, JPMorgan Chase used to be known for carrying special sway with regulators. Now it increasingly finds itself in the cross hairs of federal authorities…. All told, at least eight federal agencies are investigating the bank.” That includes the FBI, by the way.
* Cyprus: “The Cypriot government on Wednesday announced severe restrictions on access to funds held in the country’s banks, hoping to curb what is nonetheless likely to be a rush to withdraw money when the banks open Thursday for the first time in nearly two weeks.”
* I’m still deeply skeptical the “charm offensive” will have any effect: “President Obama apparently liked the company of Senate Republicans so much after dining them earlier this month that he will do so again in April.”
* A positive result of the stopgap spending bill: “The military is reinstating tuition assistance programs that three services had suspended due to budget cuts, the Pentagon said Wednesday.”
* A fascinating visual: “Most of the 30 companies listed on the country’s most famous stock index, the Dow Jones industrial average, have seen a dramatically smaller percentage of their profits go to U.S. coffers over the past 40 years.” * Things have gotten so bad for conservative opponents of same-sex marriage that even Bill O’Reilly is telling his viewers that “the compelling argument is on the side of marriage equality.” * And Justice Scalia may not want to hear this, but there’s just no evidence that gay parents aren’t great parents. Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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