Wiretap: Zen Congress still working hard at doing nothing

 
It’s just another day on Capitol Hill, where nothing seems to ever get done. John Boehner says that immigration reform, which he was championing not long ago, doesn’t seem to have any real chance in the House. And despite getting 59 votes – one vote short in filibuster world — long-term unemployment fails in the Senate. Isn’t it time for another recess?

Republicans can’t act on immigration because of, you guessed it, the president. Via the New York Times.

RedState loved Colorado U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck in 2010 and RedState loves him now. The original Tea Party politics site is raising money for him and arguing that the Quinnipiac poll numbers released yesterday suggest he’ll win the youth vote in his race against Democrat incumbent Mark Udall. So, really, Ken Buck will win the youth vote?

Coal ash pits and the slow gray death of a North Carolina river. “How do you clean this up?” he said, shaking his head as he churned up the ash with his paddle. “Dredge the whole river bottom for miles? You can’t clean this up. It’s going to go up the food chain, from the filter feeders, to the fish, to the otters and birds and people. Everything in the ecosystem of a river is connected.”

This won’t shock you, but, according to the annual National Journal ratings, this is the most divided Congress ever. Until the next one.

Bridgegate will be a long road for Christie, with one investigation to cross after the other. Via Jeffrey Toobin at the New Yorker.

Obamacare will reduce economic growth. Via Byron York at the Washington Examiner.

Or is that just one more GOP Obamacare delusion? Via the Hill.

The guy who made Labradoodles and started the designer dog craze is sick about it. “I opened Pandora’s Box.” “I created a Frankenstein.” “Pandora” and “Frankenstein,” though, those are good designer dog names.

The Winter Olympics finally begin. In pictures. Via the Atlantic.

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