Reid Goes Full YOLO: Having announced he’s leaving the Senate in 2016, Minority Leader Harry Reid, the top Democrat, is not holding back. In an interview airing Thursday night, Reid tells MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that, although the Republicans holds serve in the Senate, he’s calling out Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: Cut the crap and schedule a confirmation vote for Loretta Lynch or he’ll schedule one for him: “We’ve put up with this far too long and we’re going to need to have a vote on her very soon that’s created by Mitch McConnell or I’ll create one. I can still do that. I know parliamentary procedure around here and we’re going to put up with this for a little while longer but not much.” The threat (or promise – Reid’s known as a master tactician) comes just days after Reid called the long list of GOP presidential aspirants – which includes at least three of his Senate colleagues – a no-account pack of “losers” who should wake up and apologize for challenging Hillary Clinton, and suggested McConnell, from Kentucky, was basically a lump of coal.

History Lesson: One of those possible 2016 contestants, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, dealt a reality check to another, Sen. Ted Cruz, for an email Cruz sent to supporters that played up the GOP’s love of gun culture and wrapped itself in the Gadsden flag for good measure: "The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution isn't for just protecting hunting rights, and it's not only to safeguard your right to target practice. It is a Constitutional right to protect your children, your family, your home, our lives, and to serve as the ultimate check against governmental tyranny – for the protection of liberty." Um, not quite, says Graham, recalling that the Civil War – which started with the fall of South Carolina’s Fort Sumter 154 years ago this week – was predicated on that whole “taking up arms against a tyrannical government” thing, and the rebels didn’t do so well in the long haul. Then Graham, no fan of gun control, nonetheless offered up a real-world response to the “2nd Amendment remedies” crowd: "I think an informed electorate is probably a better check than, you know, guns in the streets." he said.