The Senate is holding a hearing on guns today. Here's a recap from The Atlantic.

Here's who is speaking and their positions.

David Koppel of Colorado is one of the speakers. He is the Research Director for the Independence Institute in Golden, Colorado, an Associate Policy Analyst for the Cato Institute, and an Adjunct Professor of Advanced Constitutional Law at the Univ. of Denver Law School. I recommend his prepared testimony, available here. (All of the prepared statements are accessible here.

Morning! Bad GDP number for the 4th quarter. Reason? Drastic drop in government spending. But, but, but Fix the Debt! Idiots.

My own budget policies now include a sizable investment on the 49ers (-4) over the Ravens. Geithner Lew should take a look at that. (I kid.)

Open Thread.

The Colorado Sheriff's Association, which represents Colorado's 62 elected County Sheriffs, has come out swinging against President Obama's executive orders on gun control. The Sheriffs also oppose assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazine bans. Their position paper is here.

The Sheriff's say (and I agree) the tragedies of Sandy Hook and Aurora, Colorado should not be used as a "backdrop" for gun control laws.

CSOC will not waver on our defense of the Constitution, and will stand to preserve every constituent's right to possess a firearm. We believe the Second Amendment is no less important than the other nine Amendments contained in the Bill of Rights.[More...]

Via Wired, Congressmen Darryl Issa and Elijah Cummings have written this letter to the Department of Justice asking for information on the Aaron Swartz prosecution.

Among other things, the letter inquires as to whether the prosecution's decisions were influenced by Aaron's opposition to SOPA or his association with other advocacy groups. It also asks if the investigation uncovered other hacking attempts by Aaron. Why not ask if it was influenced by the FBI's prior investigation into his downloading of PACER documents. In 2009, Aaron posted the FBI documents on the investigation, which he received via an FOIA request.

I'd have more confidence if someone other than Issa was leading this inquiry. But at least someone is asking.

Speaking in Las Vegas today, President Obama outlined his new immigration plan, including a path to citizenship for most of the 11 million undocumented residents currently present in the U.S.

The White House has issued this fact sheet on the plan.

Immigrants living here illegally must be held responsible for their actions by passing national security and criminal background checks, paying taxes and a penalty, going to the back of the line, and learning English before they can earn their citizenship. There will be no uncertainty about their ability to become U.S. citizens if they meet these eligibility criteria. The proposal will also stop punishing innocent young people brought to the country through no fault of their own by their parents and give them a chance to earn their citizenship more quickly if they serve in the military or pursue higher education. [More...]

It's official. The Senate voted today 94 to 3 to confirm John Kerry as Secretary of State.

When British matron Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced to death in Bali last week, I said my sympathies weren't all with her because it appeared after she got busted, she worked with police to set up four innocent people up to take the fall as her suppliers in the syndicate, by claiming they orchestrated her smuggle. She knew if charged, they be facing the same penalty: death. And she did it anyway. Luckily for the others, the cops seem to have figured out she wasn't telling the truth.

The reasons I doubted her story are here.

Three of the four were sentenced before her to relatively light terms -- 5 years, 4 years and 1 year -- all for possession of minor amounts of drugs they had in their homes at the time of arrest. They were cleared of being involved in Lindsay's smuggling deal. [More...]

Mondays always seem to be busy around here. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

JonBenet Ramsey was 6 years old when her body was discovered in her home on December 26, 1996. Today she’d be 22. No one has been charged with her murder.

There were problems from the outset with the collection of evidence and a compromised crime scene and misreporting by the media, which were compounded by infighting between the Boulder police and prosecutors. In 1998, the Governor stepped in, and experienced prosecutors from adjoining counties joined Hunter’s team in presenting the case to a Boulder grand jury. [More...]

Regular readers will remember my description of the policy differences between then political rivals President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as not being "a dime's worth of difference." After watching their joint appearance on 60 Minutes, I feel vindicated:

The president lavished praise on Mrs. Clinton for her discipline, stamina and talent. And they put a glossy shine on history by brushing off the tough primary attacks five years ago as the product of trying to find differences where, they now say, there actually were not that many.

“Despite our hard-fought primary, we had such agreement on what needed to be done for our country,” Mrs. Clinton said. “Made for tough debates, by the way,” Mr. Obama added, “because we could never figure out what we were different on.” “Yeah, we worked at that pretty hard,” she said.

It was a rather extraordinary event. And to my eye, a real degree of warmth, and yes, chemistry, shone through. Was Obama tapping his preferred successor? Not formally of course. But it seemed rather clear to me. Time will tell.

Speaking for me only

A blueprint for immigration reform, including a path to citizenship some undocumented residents, is expected to be released this week by a 6 member Senate working group, that includes Senators Dick Durbin, John McCain, Lindsay Graham, Mark Rubio, Charles Schumer and Robert Menendez.

The Republicans in the group are going to stress tougher border security and more employer penalties. The Democrats (hopefully) will stress family reunification.

Mr. Durbin added that the effort will be focused on unifying families, and will include a version of the Dream Act, which would give undocumented students a path to permanent residency status.

[More...]

Anonymous has hacked the website of the U.S. Sentencing Commission in retaliation for the suicide of Aaron Swartz and in protest of the overly harsh federal sentencing guidelines and policies of the Department of Justice, particularly for hactivists. More here.

From the video: They have been plotting and holding their tongue, but with the death of Aaron, they will wait no longer. They have decided to give the Justice Department a taste of its own medicine and show it the true meaning of infiltration. It wants legislative change and a return to proportionality in sentencing. Today is just the beginning. [More...]