It's been a long day. Although, it is amusing the wrong way... Fixed.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

We report the news. This is news. And very sad news, at that.

The crux of my upset is this part of the piece:

***
You told CNN, “My son came to Jane, my wife, and I, told us that he was gay, and that it was not a choice, and that it’s just part of who he is, and that’s who he’d been that way for as long as he could remember.”

And then you said, “It allowed me to think of this issue from a new perspective, and that’s of a Dad who loves his son a lot and wants him to have the same opportunities that his brother and sister would have — to have a relationship like Jane and I have had for over 26 years.”
***

I applaud and am grateful for his evolution. But I expect lawmakers to examine the issues before they vote, esp. on civil rights issues. And he admits he did not.

Touché!, Jay!

"To be fair, the contract was originally for $2.75 million, which is a paltry sum to spend in the name of The Lord."
Actually, the original contract had a max of $500,000, and John Boehner has (secretly) upped it every year. So, not only is the $3 million a big deal, it's six times bigger than when he started, and they've lost every case.

You're actually calling a 3-year old who, "died after accidentally shooting himself in the head while playing with his uncle’s gun in a bedroom of his uncle’s home," a moron.
And I need to be slapped?
Wow.

"30,000+ gun deaths each year."
I think what we have here is a reading comprehension issue.
Three days after Sandy Hook, we reported on a 3-year old who, as we wrote, "died after accidentally shooting himself in the head while playing with his uncle’s gun in a bedroom of his uncle’s home." His "uncle is an Oklahoma state trooper, and the gun was a personal weapon, not state-issued..."
Pretty sure this is one of the 30,000 gun deaths and that if there were less guns this might not have happened.
What's "dishonest and manipulative" is refusing to accept the fact that guns kill, and less guns mean less gun deaths.

"the Institute of Politically Biased Non-Facts" AKA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
All firearm deaths: Number of deaths: 31,672 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm

I have no strong opinion on Hagel, because, to your point in the Atlantic piece, what LGBT group has sat down with him? Frankly, in 1998, what GOP elected official would have been supportive of LGBT people. I think we have to allow for "evolution."
And frankly, as I and as Aravosis suggested, the factions behind the anti-Hagel attacks make me think perhaps he's a good choice.
The swiftboating of Hagel is not surprising, but its lack of sophistication is.