Donkeys bray to communicate their needs.

The first federal gun control law was passed in 1968 after the assassinations of the Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., and the Brady bill mandating background checks on gun purchases was enacted in the years following the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981.

The former Commerce secretary would become another strong Chicago presence as the Obama administration undergoes a midterm reshuffling.

Even with the deep partisan divide, Obama and Congress worked together in the lame-duck session. But pressure on the president from the left and right will grow in the new year.

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders are congratulating themselves for their bipartisan tax-cut compromise, hoping to be viewed as pragmatists who can work across party lines.

Political Parties Aside.

Horrible.