Opinion

TheDC Morning: Meet the man who ended the gun debate

Jamie Weinstein Senior Writer
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1.) Meet the man who ended the gun debate — Finally, James Taylor has spoken on gun control. TheDC’s Nicholas Ballasy reports:

“Addressing the issue of gun control, singer-songwriter James Taylor told The Daily Caller that Americans ‘need to make some sacrifice[s] to our freedoms’ in order to keep children safe. Following his performance at President Obama’s second inauguration, TheDC asked Taylor if he agreed with Obama’s executive actions on gun control. ‘I think the nation is very divided on gun control,’ Taylor told TheDC, ‘but I think the majority of us feel strongly — even the majority of gun owners feel strongly — that we need to make some sacrifice[s] to our freedoms, if that’s the way to put it. We need to make some sacrifices to what we might want to have, in order to safeguard our children.'”

Well, now that we know what singer James Taylor thinks about gun control, Americans can finally come to a decision on what’s to be done, right? Oh wait! Scratch that. We still don’t know what Pee Wee Herman and Weird Al Yankovic think.

2.) A divider, not a uniter –President Obama unleashed his liberalism in his inauguration speech Monday, TheDC’s Neil Munro reports:

“President Barack Obama’s second inauguration speech promised a sharply ideological second term where ‘the people’ will use government to accomplish the tasks that he declared cannot be accomplished by individuals. … Obama repeatedly suggested that economic and social success is a matter of luck, not skill or diligence. ‘We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few,’ he claimed. Obama extended that claim of individual helplessness to lay out his progressive vision of a society led by government experts — rather than independent individuals and non-government groups.”

Welcome to Obama’s second term — it’s going to be a real treat.

3.) Sore winners — Magnanimous Obama supporters graciously greeted Paul Ryan at the inauguration, TheDC’s Caroline May reports:

“Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan was met with boos as he left the Capitol for President Obama’s second inauguration ceremony Monday, according to news reports. The former Republican vice presidential nominee last week had said it was his ‘obligation’ to attend Obama’s public swearing-in and on Monday congratulated Obama on his Facebook page.”

If only Mitt Romney had won, Paul Ryan wouldn’t have had to face such a searing indignity. If only.

4.) Piers Morgan and the law of familial transference — Actually, there is no such thing as a law of familial transference. But somebody didn’t tell Piers Morgan. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein opines on Morgan’s exploitation of his brother:

“Piers Morgan wants to you to know that he is an expert on guns — or at least his British Army officer brother is an expert on guns, so therefore he must be one by extension. Morgan, whose CNN show ‘Piers Morgan Tonight’ has become a nightly hour-long screed ridiculing anyone who doesn’t precisely agree with the host on gun control, regularly mentions his brother’s biography in what appear to be lame but sincere attempts to buttress his own moral authority on various political topics. … Despite Morgan’s appeals to his brother’s expertise, it is unclear what law of familial transference makes him a gun expert as well. It also remains unclear what his brother’s actual position on gun control is since he has never, as far as The Daily Caller can tell, publicly spoken about it.”

Piers Morgan, keeping it classy since never.

5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Matt Yglesias: Pro tip: Best view of the inauguration is from your couch, inside where it’s warm. They show this on television. #technology

6.) Today in North Korean News –BREAKING: “Kim Jong Un Sends Replies to Foreign Heads of State”

VIDEO: Krauthammer says Obama basically “declar[ed] the end of Reaganism in his speech”

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