I'm not sure each and every provision of the new gun law is necessary (NYS already has really high mandatory penalties for committing a crime while in possession of a firearm), a I’m also not sure whether every provision meets constitutional muster (though there are no obvious atrocities like singling out housing project residents from being allowed to have a legal weapon in their homes), but I've no real personal objection to finding out later.

That being said, the Times has a good point about the process.

As I've pointed out before, bills like this are the Real Albany Big Ugly. When they arise, the press and the public start paying attention to how things are really done up there, and that scares the bejesus out of the powers that be.

The natural response is to abandon all deliberation and get rid of thing quick so people go back to sleep.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/16/opinion/new-york-leads-on-gun-control.html?ref=opinion

The strange and sad saga of Noah Gotbaum and the women in his life keeps getting stranger (though not necessarily sadder), though in fairness, (1) I Noah has the support of a strong plurality of his relatives, and (2) Betsy's Gotbaum is probably the last person on earth I’d rely upon for choosing the direction taken by the Public Advocate's Office.  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/nyregion/betsy-gotbaum-ex-public-advocate-backs-stepsons-opponent-in-race.html?ref=nyregion&_r=0

I got one of those Restler polling calls, and pole-ing is an extremely accurate description of what the “questions” were doing to Stephen Levin. As Restler said, the poll was "exploratory" and he was giving Levin a deep probe.

Anyway, I've been tough of Restler lately, so let me say something nice: he's innovative and thinks out of the box--especially when he's interpreting the City's Campaign Finance Law.

http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/blogs/insider/2013/01/brooklyn-councilman-calls-foes-poll-gutter-politics/

JJ&M! https://twitter.com/ChrisBragg1/status/291670483362004993

Douthat (to the GOP): Wake up and smell the debt ceiling coffee! (National Review and the Koch Bother have since jumped on this bandwagon). http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/14/how-to-lose-at-american-politics/

Goldberg: "Obama isn’t making unreasonable demands. Israeli concerns about the turmoil in Syria and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood are legitimate in the American view, and Obama knows that broad territorial compromise by Israel in such an unstable environment is unlikely.

But what Obama wants is recognition by Netanyahu that Israel’s settlement policies are foreclosing on the possibility of a two-state solution, and he wants Netanyahu to acknowledge that a two-state solution represents the best chance of preserving the country as a Jewish-majority democracy. Obama wants, in other words, for Netanyahu to act in Israel’s best interests.

So far, though, there has been no sign that the Israeli government is gaining a better understanding of the world in which it lives." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-14/what-obama-thinks-israelis-don-t-understand-.html

Great minds think alike as Sully channels Gate. http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2013/01/real-anti-semitism.html