A brief new thread for you early risers:

• Nothing terribly new from overnight in regards to medical condition.  Latest from Arizona Republic is as follows: “As of 4:30 a.m. Sunday, Giffords remained in critical condition at University Medical Center in Tucson, according to hospital spokeswoman Darcy Slaten.”
• The idea that Rep. Gabby Giffords may survive is tempered by the thought that the bullet that entered her head, and exited, naturally did some damage.  Permanent, irreparable damage is, I think, a safe presumption; guesses as to the extent of it (cognitive or otherwise) are not.  None of this lessens the horror at all.  On that point: total death toll still stands at 6.
• John Boehner to speak at or around 0830 ET.  My guess is that the Sunday chatshows (Face the Nation, Meet the Press, etc.) are going to flood the zone.  Whether or not anybody wants to say anything provocative (for example: “this is what happens when you rile people up,” “how dare you,” and the cream-pie tossing that would naturally follow) is a big question.  I think that a Dem or two might hint at Going There, but not actually do it.
• Word is that there will be no business done in the House this week, at all.  Whether or not they actually gavel in is up in the air, but I think at some point they probably will, at least in a pro forma, “the government continues to function” sort of way.  HCR repeal vote is certainly off.
• Nothing further on the possibility of an accomplice that was raised last night.  Speculation on Loughner’s motivation and level of mental illness continues, shedding more heat than light as you would expect. [ADD: Fearless Leader posted comments by Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, speaking to Olbermann last night.  That comes as close to “informed analysis” as we have seen thus far.

Stinque Book Club will appear at its regularly scheduled time, I am reliably informed.  Further updates as warranted.

UPDATE: SIX OTHERS HAVE BEEN KILLED, TWELVE WOUNDED.

UMC Hospital news conference, 4pm ET:

• 10 patients: one died — “a young child” — five critical. (This does not include other hospitals receiving victims.)

• Giffords’ condition is “very optimistic” following surgery.

NPR (updated):

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head by a gunman at a public event in Tucson on Saturday. There are reports of numerous injuries and the White House said “some had passed away.”

The dead included U.S. District Judge John Roll, U.S. Marshal for Arizona David Gonzales told the Associated Press…

The suspect fired indiscriminately from about four feet away, Michaels said. A congressional official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that the gunman was using an automatic weapon…

Giffords’ Tucson office was one of three damaged last March by vandals who targeted Democrats in advance of the U.S. House vote on the controversial health care legislation. A glass panel at her office was shattered, and at the time her staff said that it appeared the window had been damaged by a pellet gun.

The shooter is in custody; he is being described as a “white male born in 1988.” CNN reports that he used a 9mm Glock.

AP:

People familiar with the investigation tell The Associated Press that the gunman held in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and others has been identified as Jared Lee Loughner.

Post being updated as the story develops.

Read more »

So, here it is.  Senate votes on DREAM, and then on DADT, are set to roll at 1030 Eastern War Time. 

The rules are simple.  A majority vote is required to pass legislation in any parliamentary system.  So if 51 Senators out of a hundred vote —

Oh, screw it.  You know something? If the Founding Fathers knew that the “saucer to cool the tea” crap that they were pushing, in order to head off the possibility of mob rule, would lead to this 60% majority to do anything, they would have said “forget it — let’s just have a unicameral legislature.”  Seriously.

But: play it as it lies.  Scott Brown, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe hold the keys to the kingdom today.  And who said the GOP was dead in New England?

It’s an open thread, y’all.  GO!

Word now comes that the Big Munnie Bill ($1.1tn, give or take a few billion) is dead over in The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body — thanks to GOP senators’ objections to it. 

And thus the Grand Plan (“pass the tax-cut extension and the Omnibus to Hell, and then we might let you vote on DADT, DREAM and START… mebbie”) comes crashing apart.  At least on the Senate side.  There may be a DADT vote this weekend, but Snowe, Brown et al may jump ship again, because of the failure of the bill relating to munnie.

Meanwhile, the House is now set to vote on the tax cut side of things at around 2300 Eastern War Time.  Debate/grandstanding happening now, LIVE, on C-SPAN.  (“Live” is, naturally, a loaded term.)  Dems, in debate I’ve seen in the last few minutes, seem spoiling for a fight. 

God only knows what will happen.  One thing seems clear, though.  Black Eagle’s attempt to bring peace to the valley by ditching the dirty hippies to appease people who hate him?  FAIL.

The coast is clear, folks!  The Bush tax cuts are safe for another two years!  And unemployment insurance is good to go until January 2012.  Hooray!

And there’s an ironclad guarantee that the GOP will not, in any way, put the whole tax cut issue out front when the expiration date comes around again just before the 2012 elections.  No ads that suggest, for example, that if Obama gets a second term, taxes will go up.  No way that happens.  The Republicans will have no ability to beat Obama up on this issue again.

Like they just did.

Jesus Christ.  Does anybody in the White House know how to play this game?

The high point for gays in the Land of Lincoln, so far this year, was having Brent Sopel bring the Stanley Cup (pictured) to the Gay Pride Parade in Chicago — the first time the Blackhawks made an appearance at the party.  But the bloom kind of came off that rose, as Sopel promptly departed for Atlanta, after a trade to the Thrashers. 

It was a neat story, actually.  Sopel promised to go even after he learned he was on his way out — all in honor of Brendan Burke, an out hockey player (and son of Brian Burke, GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team), who died in a car crash in February.

But this is the second best moment, it seems, for those with a case of the gay in Illinois this year.  Moment No. 1 just might come tomorrow:

After waiting years for a political climate that would generate enough support, gay-rights activists won one of their biggest fights in history Tuesday when the Illinois house voted to allow civil unions for same-sex couples…. The legislation was approved by a 61-52 vote [and] now moves to the Senate, and a spokeswoman said it could be called for a final vote there Wednesday.

It’s taken me seven years, since I moved to Chicago, to say something this brash and bold.  And tomorrow, I just might be able to say…. suck it, Wisconsin.

Rev. Mark D. Boykin of the Church of All Nations in Boca Raton: “We are asking that before he takes the oath of office, Gov.-elect Scott gets rid of his stocks from [Playboy Mexico-affiliated] QuePasa Corporation. The governor of the state of Florida should not be benefiting or have an interest in pornography. It goes against our family values.” [Miami Herald, via Raw Story]