The $58,500 that Senator Bob Menendez paid as reimbursement for two trips to the Dominican Republic on Dr. Salomon Melgen’s plane represented 18% of his net worth. Dr. Melgen has had repeated run-ins with the IRS, which placed multi-million dollar liens against him on multiple occasions. The liens did not prevent Dr. Melgen from ramping up his political contributions.

Mark Steyn’s column for this week is called “Containing Hagel”: “This week, an over-sedated Elmer Fudd showed up at the Senate claiming to be the president’s nominee for secretary of defense, and even the kindliest interrogators on the committee couldn’t prevent the poor chap shooting himself in the foot.”

Ted Cruz followed up his questioning of Chuck Hagel with a good op-ed piece criticizing his confirmation day conversions. Cruz should have published it somewhere other than Politico.

The Newtown Board of Education asked the city to station armed guards in its schools.

Scott Brown will not run for John Kerry’s Senate seat.

The Department of Health and Human Services claims that it’s exempting “religiously affiliated organizations” from ObamaCare’s contraception mandate, but Hobby Lobby is still screwed.

The State Department again delayed a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline.

Steven Chu resigned as Energy Secretary.

A study of the District of Columbia’s Opportunity Scholarship Program (the one Obama doesn’t want to fund) showed that it produced $2.62 in benefits for every dollar spent on it.

Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, South Carolina, and Michigan are all courting Remington Arms and its parent company, trying to convince them to move away from Ilion, New York, where they employ more than 1,300 people.

McLaren released an unusual ad yesterday – it stars the ghost of the team’s founder, Bruce McLaren, who died in a testing accident in 1970: