Quick Read: Social. Justice. News.

Mary Sanchez, op-ed writer for the Kansas City Star, offers in her column something many of us probably didn’t know:

“There’s a little-known fact about guns in America, and it’s one that the firearms industry and its political allies don’t like to dwell on: The rate of gun ownership in America is declining.

“This has been the case for decades. Rates peaked way back in the 1970s, the era of disco balls and bell bottoms. In 1977, 54 percent of American households reported owning guns. In 2010, the last time the General Social Survey data was compiled, the percentage had shrunk to 32.”

Sanchez concludes that the strong opposition to anti-gun violence measures is driven more by the need of gun manufacturers to sustain their market than it is about the Second Amendment.

Yesterday on MSNBC’s Up w/ Chris Hayes, former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in an interview that when he took that position, he was told not to discuss the government’s secret drone program or even acknowledge its existence. According to Gibbs:

“When I went through the process of becoming press secretary, one of the first things they told me was, ‘You’re not even to acknowledge the drone program. You’re not even to discuss that it exists.'” 

He added:

“Here’s what’s inherently crazy about that proposition: you’re being asked a question based on reporting of a program that exists. So you’re the official government spokesperson acting as if the entire program … pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

At this point, after a leaked Justice Department memo, the John Brennan hearings, several ongoing U.N. negotiations, and coverage by most major news organizations, any denial of a drone program is laughable. It does exist, it is not a secret, and it is regularly killing people in several countries. 

According to a new state-by-state analysis released today by the Center for American Progress, if Congress fails to act by March 1, millions of women and children across the United States could lose the critical support and services they need. 

“By refusing to replace the sequester with smarter spending cuts, conservative members of Congress are continuing their track record of sacrificing the lives and livelihood of millions women and their children to protect millionaires and special interests. Congressional inaction would prevent women from accessing health care programs and childcare assistance... If Congress leaves the sequester un-checked millions of women, in every state in the nation, will pay for the inaction of a few members of Congress” said Tara McGuinness, Senior Vice President for Communications at the Center for American Progress.

The sequester will have devastating ramifications by slashing about $725 million from Title I funding which would affect 2,700 schools and place 9,880 teachers at risk of losing their jobs. Furthermore, the sequester would cut federal programs that help women access critical health care programs and endanger the health of children by cutting Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). To have a complete look at the effects of the sequester click here. 

With a short note to the Congressional leadership, President Barack Obama announced last week that a total of 100 U.S. troops are now in Niger to “provide support for intelligence collection and will also facilitate intelligence sharing with French forces conducting operations in Mali.”

The Washington Post reported:

“A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to provide details about military operations, said that the 40 troops who arrived in Niger on Wednesday were almost all Air Force personnel and that their mission was to support drone flights.

“The official said drone flights were “imminent” but declined to say whether unarmed, unmanned Predator aircraft had arrived in Niger or how many would be deployed there.”

The Predator drones will be unarmed and carry out surveillance missions. But The Post noted that theadministration had not ruled out arming the Predators with missiles in the future.