memeorandum: Rand Paul: I don't promote marijuana (Kevin Cirilli/Politico)

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:

Bloomberg's TV Blitz on Guns Puts Swing Senators on the Spot — The commercial is an unambiguous appeal to gun owners: a middle-aged hunter, rifle in hand, vows that he will fight to protect the Second Amendment. But in a sensible, father-of-the-house tone, he also urges voters …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Mediaite, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Weasel Zippers, Post Politics and Politico

NRA gains upper hand on Obama — After a series of missteps that gave President Obama the early advantage in this year's gun-violence debate, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has struck back. — The powerful gun lobbying group had stumbled in the immediate wake of December's Newtown …

Discussion: Mother Jones and Prairie Weather

Christina Wilkie / The Huffington Post:
NRA Robocalls In Newtown Spark Outrage From Local Gun Control Group

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and ThinkProgress

Politico:
NRA, Joe Manchin in talks on background checks

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Monthly, CNN and The Reaction

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

The Obama Era, Brought to You by the Iraq War — WHEN prominent people in Washington spend an anniversary apologizing for being catastrophically, unforgivably wrong about a decade-old decision, you might expect that the decision in question had delivered their party to disaster or defeat.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mother Jones and Daily Kos

Zack Beauchamp / ThinkProgress:

WATCH: The Most Compelling Case For Marriage Equality In Under A Minute — California Attorney General Kemala Harris gave an impassioned, pithy defense of marriage equality during an appearance on CNN's State of the Union Sunday morning in anticipation of the Supreme Court's hearing …

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay

Michael Kranish / Boston Globe:

The story of Washington gridlock seen through the eyes of Bob Dole — WASHINGTON — It had been 16 years since Bob Dole stepped down as Senate Republican leader, ending a legislative career in which he earned a reputation as a master of bipartisanship. Yet there he was at the end of 2012, trying to close a deal.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:

Rand Paul: I don't promote marijuana — Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday that President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush could have “conceivably been put in jail” for their drug use, ruining their lives and impacting their getting elected to office.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Scared Monkeys

Scott Fujita / New York Times:

Acceptance by Example, on the Field and at Home — My three young daughters, like most kids, are curious and ask a lot of questions. My wife and I are as open and honest with them as possible. But there's one question I'm not prepared to answer: “Why aren't Clare and Lesa married?”

David Goodhart / Daily Mail:

SATURDAY ESSAY: Why we on the Left made an epic mistake on immigration — Among Left-leaning ‘Hampstead’ liberals like me, there has long been what you might call a ‘discrimination assumption’ when it comes to the highly charged issue of immigration. — Our instinctive reaction …

Discussion: Vox Popoli

Edward Cody / Washington Post:

French mother on trial for son Jihad's T-shirt — ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES - Lawyer Gaelle Genoun, right, leaves Avignon's courthouse on Dec. 19, 2012, with her client, the mother of a three-year old named Jihad who was born on Sept. 11. The woman went on trial for sending …

Discussion: AMERICAblog and Althouse

Micah Cohen / FiveThirtyEight:

Obama Has Lost Advantage Over G.O.P. on Economy — During the debate over the so-called fiscal cliff in December, public opinion surveys showed more Americans trusted President Obama than trusted Republicans in Congress when it came to handling the nation's economy.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah

Kevin Liptak / CNN:

Veterans Affairs boss: ‘No veteran should have to wait for claims’ — (CNN) - The mountain of benefits claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs is a result of an outdated paper process and new levels of complexity in returning troops' cases, the agency's boss said in an interview Sunday.

Discussion: Politico

Associated Press:

John Kerry in Iraq to press on Iran — Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Iraq on an unannounced visit to urge Iraqi leaders to stop Iranian overflights of arms and fighters heading to Syria and to overcome sectarian differences that still threaten Iraqi stability 10 years …

Discussion: CNN and Associated Press