Huckabee compares gay marriage to drinking, swearing

Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee says expecting Christians to accept same-sex marriage is "like asking someone who's Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli." The former Arkansas governor, winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses and likely 2016 contender's comments came during an appearance Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," as he defended an excerpt from his new book in which he says he has friends and associates who are gay.

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A user's guide to the Oklahoma Legislature's 2015 session

The Oklahoma Legislature convenes Monday for its regular legislative session. Gov. Mary Fallin will present her executive budget proposal and deliver the State of the State address at noon to a joint meeting of the House and Senate.

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Sunday Talking Heads: February 1, 2015

Topic du jour appears to be 2016 presidential politics . Or, Terror in Middle East.

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Scott Walker: GOP Needs a 'Name from the Future' in 2016

Fresh off a first-place finish in a Des Moines Register poll, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker sounded ready to pick up the mantle as GOP frontrunner. Appearing Sunday on ABC's "This Week," Walker was quick to latch onto 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney's assessment that the 2016 party nominee would be someone who has yet to carry his message across the country.

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Obama Proposes 14 Percent Tax on Foreign Earnings

President Barack Obama's fiscal 2016 budget would impose a one-time 14 percent tax on some $2 trillion of accumulated U.S. corporate profits earned abroad and set up a 19 percent tax on future foreign earnings, a White House official said on Sunday. Revenues from the one-time tax be used to fund infrastructure projects and fill a projected shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund.

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McConnell blames Obama for lack of compromise

In the premiere of the broadcast television version of Capital Download Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blamed President Obama for not coming to the table to compromise with the Republican held Congress. McConnell blames Obama for lack of compromise In the premiere of the broadcast television version of Capital Download Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blamed President Obama for not coming to the table to compromise with the Republican held Congress.

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GOP senator: 'Alarm ringing' in Middle East

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, is criticizing the Obama administration for what she sees as a lack of a cogent strategy to fight militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria , warning that it could hurt American efforts to build a strong coalition. "I think there is a real concern out there not only about a lack of strategy, but in order to be a leader, to bring everyone together and work together, you have to be able to be counted."

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Paul Ryan: 'Appropriate' for House GOP to invite Israeli PM

Rep. Paul Ryan defended the House GOP's decision to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress without consulting the White House. "Do I think it's wholly appropriate for the Speaker of the House of a separate but equal branch of government is free to invite a foreign leader to address us? Absolutely," Ryan said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

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For Clinton, deciding how to prepare for a low-key primary

Clinton still isn't officially a candidate. But the former secretary of state is far atop early polls against a small field of potential rivals for the Democratic nomination.

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Redskins spent $180,000 lobbying to keep name, Patriots all in for Democrats

The Washington Redskins, under attack from some congressional leaders over its "racist" image, spent $180,000 to lobby for its name, according to a new report on NFL political spending. The remarkably high fee to Washington's McGuireWoods consulting covered just the last half of the year when Hill leaders such as Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid was demanding that the team change its name, considered by some as offensive to native Americans.

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Baird in U.S. applauds a truly historica rapprochement with Cuba

Canada's foreign affairs minister used a trip to the United States to applaud that country's reopening of relations with Cuba. John Baird raised the issue during a news conference Saturday where he appeared alongside his counterparts from the U.S. and Mexico.

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Republicans marching toward curbs on Ritz's authority

Republicans who are frustrated with Democratic state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz are moving forward with legislation that would shift influence over education policy away from her. Ritz's supporters in the Legislature protest that Republicans are disenfranchising voters who in 2012 elected Ritz.

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The NFL's other public relations crisis

The next round of NFL controversy may be about to begin, and it has nothing to do with underinflated balls . A new study from Boston University School of Medicine found that retired NFL players who played tackle football before age 12 were more likely to suffer cognitive impairment in retirement than peers who didn't tackle until adolescence.

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'This Week' Transcript: Gov. Scott Walker

Below is a rush transcript for "This Week" on February 1, 2015. It may contain errors and will be updated.

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Kelly Ayotte renews criticism of White House over 'terrorism' terms

"It very much matters [what America calls its enemies] because you have to define your enemy," the New Hampshire Republican said on "Fox News Sunday," specifically referring to the use of terms such as "radical Islam" or "Islamic terrorism." The Obama administration should "spend less time about being worrying about being politically correct ... and more time on a strategy on how to defeat them," Ayotte said on "Fox News Sunday."

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Iowa Poll: Jeb Bush Has a Big Problem

His family ties aren't being held against him, but the Republican base is worried about his stands on immigration and Common Core. Jeb Bush has major problems in Iowa.

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Paul Ryan: Romney's 2016 Decision Was A 'Class...

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that his running mate Mitt Romney was a "class act" for putting the country first and deciding not to run for president in 2016. RYAN: Well it's the right decision for Mitt and Ann based upon what they decided was ultimately the best thing to do for the country.

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Bush-Wack III 2016

If so, twitter is a safer battleground. If you haven't yet, sign up for twitter today and join the forces fighting the right wing disinformation legions.

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The Daily Bucket Winter Rainforest part 1

The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note of any observations you have made of the world around you.

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Angels: Street Prophets Sunday All Day Brunch

Welcome to Sunday All Day Brunch. This is an open topic thread so help yourself to the goodies and sit a spell and let us know what is new with you.

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Ayotte To Obama: Spend Less Time Being PC And More Time Fighting Radical Islam

Republican New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte called out the White House on "Fox News Sunday," telling them to stop spending so much time worrying about political correctness and more time actually fighting radical Islam. AYOTTE: It very much matters, because you have to define your enemy.

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Why Obama won't call terror fight a war on radical Islam

President Barack Obama once again refused to label the fight against terrorism as a war on radical Islam or any kind of "religious war," insisting that such labels hurt efforts to root out radical ideologies in Muslim communities. Obama also cautioned against the risk of overplaying the threat of terror groups and said the U.S. should instead align itself with the overwhelming majority of Muslims who reject the radical ideology and tactics of terrorist groups like ISIS and al Qaeda.

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McCain defends 'low-life scum' remark

Sen. John McCain says the Code Pink protesters he called "low-life scum" at a hearing last week deserved it. The Arizona Republican made the remark after protesters rushed a Senate Armed Services Committee witness table where 91-year-old Henry Kissinger, the secretary of state under President Richard Nixon, was testifying.

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Will an SEC Primary Take Away the Power of Blue State Republicans?

This morning, Nate Cohn of the New York Times Upshot tries to answer the question asked by many Tea Party leaning Republicans in southern states: Why does it seem that the GOP presidential candidate always ends up being a moderate, rather than a 'true conservative?' And, he finds some interesting data about the power of the GOP in the states won by President Obama: But the blue-state Republicans still possess the delegates, voters and resources to decide the nomination. In 2012, there were more Romney voters in California than in Texas, and in Chicago's Cook County than in West Virginia.

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The Morning Note: Who do you think should be Mitt Romney's running mate?

Will Mitt Romney's choice be Paul Ryan, Pat Toomey, Mitch Daniels, Tom Ridge, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie or someone else? Good morning . It's Thursday, May 31, 2012 .

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Obama Dithers While Terrorism Escalates

Islamists were responsible for 80 percent of 17,958 deaths from terrorism worldwide in 2013, according to the Global Terrorism Index of the Institute for Economics and Peace, an Australian think tank. Deaths from terrorism have risen 500 percent since 9/a 11/a 2001, with the major players being the so-called Islamic State in the Middle East, Boko Haram in Africa and al-Qaida.

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Vexed by School Choice

National School Choice Week, which shouldn't have been a partisan occasion, came and went last week. It was partisan, of course, as most things in American public life are these days.

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Auntie Karen Foundation educating and empowering through the arts

On Saturday, the Foundation celebrated the 11th year of its African American History Program with local vendors, performers and artists showcasing their talents held at the Columbia Museum of Art. The foundation also announced a new partnership with the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary to start an artist village.

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The NFL's other public relations crisis

The next round of NFL controversy may be about to begin, and it has nothing to do with underinflated balls .

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Only One Group in America Is Having Enough Babies to Replace Itself....

In a Thursday report on the Pew Charitable Trusts' Stateline blog, analysts laid out the increasingly Hispanic future of the U.S. by showing the percentage of each state's population that is made up of Hispanics - and the much larger percentages of births to Hispanics. In California and Texas, roughly 38 percent of the population is Hispanic, but Hispanics account for nearly half of each state's births.

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