Michele Bachmann claims September 11, 2001 and the 2012 Benghazi embassy attacks were judgments from God, calls for 9/11 Day of Prayer and Fasting.

The last known rhinoceroses in Mozambique have been wiped out by poachers apparently working in cahoots with the game rangers responsible for protecting them, it has emerged.

In Alabama, a 1992 state law requires that sex education teachers tell students that homosexuality is a crime and that it is “not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public.” Now two Alabama students have started a petition on change.org in support of a bill introduced in the state legislature to repeal the law.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego’s mayor has ordered a two-month nighttime shutdown of a beach after cameras set up to monitor a seal colony captured people kicking, punching and sitting on top of mother seals and their pups

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal wants Republicans to stop being the stupid party — but apparently the memo hasn’t gotten out to state legislatures around the country.

February has been a banner month for truly silly and anti-intellectual bills in state capitals across the country. Well, mostly across the South and Midwest. Some of these bills are based on the idea that birth control is poison, and that students should not fail for arguing in biology class that dinosaurs and humans coexisted. Others would stop gun control efforts by making it a felony to try to enact gun control.

This is not the Onion: Here are some of the actual proposals.

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MSNBC’s Chris Hayes joins Rachel Maddow to discuss President Barack Obama’s proposal to make changes to climate policy alone if Congress doesn’t back him. Hayes offers his assessment of the proposal. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell talks about the previous failures of the Cap and Trade bill and expresses his doubt that the GOP will change its stance.

Washington (CNN) — Taxes on the wealthy are going up, House Speaker John Boehner conceded on Wednesday in challenging President Barack Obama to sit down with him to hammer out a deal for avoiding the fiscal cliff.

Obama, however, continued to insist on Republicans first ensuring no tax hike for anyone but the top 2% of Americans as a first step toward a broader agreement on tackling the nation’s chronic federal deficits and debt.

The statements reflected how negotiations on the automatic spending cuts and tax hikes set to occur on January 1 — the fiscal cliff — have evolved since Obama’s re-election last month.

Republicans once opposed to any new revenue in their quest to shrink government now realize Obama’s victory and public support for the president’s campaign theme of higher taxes on the wealthy leave them with little negotiating leverage.

(CNN)

Boehner is probably lying again if I had to guess. He said the same thing in 2010 but ended up sitting on his hands. 

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will soon take on a new role as the sponsor of at least two nationwide health insurance plans to be operated under contract with the federal government and offered to consumers in every state.