Early Thursday morning, Democratic Representative Debbie Dingell took the podium at the House sit-in to make an impassioned call for new gun control measures, drawing on her own experience as a child terrorized by the threat of gun violence.

After Paul Ryan tried to conduct regular House business during the sit-in for new gun control measures Wednesday night, Texas congressman and GOP thought leader Louie Gohmert offered a pointed critique of his Democratic colleagues’ demands, repeatedly shouting, “Radical Islam!”

As Democrats continued their congressional sit-in demanding new gun control measures, Speaker Paul Ryan took the chair and tried to conduct unrelated House business Wednesday night, finding himself nearly drowned out by chants of “No Bill, No Break!”

After Democrats in the Senate staged a filibuster in support of gun control measures, their colleagues in the House have begun a “sit-in” aimed at embarrassing Republicans into allowing a vote on a measure that would restrict the ability of suspected terrorists to legally buy guns. The move is fantastic political theater. It’s also a tremendous waste of popular support and activist energy in support of a measure that isn’t just ineffective but also actively offensive.

Just a week after Senate Democrats filibustered for new gun control measures, the Democrats of the House have decided to get in on the fun. This time, with a good old-fashioned sit-in.

When a member of the U.S. House of Representatives commits some sort of misconduct, the House is empowered to formally censure that member, holding a public hearing devoted to airing out their misdeeds. When will it censure Dennis Hastert, the former speaker who admitted today to sexually abusing children?

On Tuesday, Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin—a professor at American University and the husband of deputy treasury secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin—won Maryland’s 8th Congressional District Democratic primary, triumphing over both a former corporate executive married to a national television anchor, and a self-funding millionaire businessman. It was an expensive loss for them both.

Now that blogs are dead and everything is apps, even the great American political tradition of Capitol Hill staffers anonymously gossiping about each other (and the interns) has had to adjust: Enter Cloakroom—Yik Yak for Congress.

Liz Cheney, an aspiring politician who is unpopular among family members and constituents alike, is taking another crack at this whole power game.

At some point in 2014, long before House Republicans offed leader John Boehner, they reportedly recruited as his replacement a man who was a mostly unknown figure at the time: Dr. Ben Carson.

Kevin McCarthy, who up until a few hours ago had been the clear frontrunner, has pulled out of the race to replace the retiring John Boehner as Speaker of the House. And now, Congress has descended into hell’s most tearful, mind-numbing pit of fiery chaos. [Updated]

Two hours before forcing a shutdown, the House of Representatives agreed to a temporary funding deal for the Department of Homeland Security on Friday night, the Guardian reports. The deal will fund DHS for a week before we have to go through this whole thing all over again.

Aaron Schock, GOP boy wonder, might soon have some problems that are much larger than office decorations or, uh, that other stuff. According to a new AP report, the Illinois representative used over $75,000 in campaign donor funds since 2011 for private air travel, several concerts—including a Katy Perry show—and, because Congressmen work very hard, massages.

Much like America, Congress–which tomorrow returns to whatever it is they do–is a picture of racial progress. Just kidding! It's still mostly run by a bunch of white, Jesus-loving men in bad suits. According to data from the Post, the 114th Congress is "80 percent white, 80 percent male, and 92 percent Christian."

The Staten Island Advance was presented with a tough choice in its district's upcoming House race. Michael Grimm, the incumbent, was indicted on federal fraud charges and once threatened to throw a reporter off a balcony. Domenic Recchia, his challenger, seems even dumber than him. Apparently, neither has ever read a book.

Look at the nice illustration Google put together for the birthday of Yosemite National Park. Thanks to anarchist Republicans in the House of Representatives, today's "Google Doodle" also marks the closing of all U.S. national parks. Even the parks' websites are shut down.

House Republicans have re-elected Rep. John Boehner as the Speaker of the House, once again.

After almost killing the fiscal cliff deal over the course of a few bizarre hours yesterday, you'd think it'd be impossible for House Republicans to make themselves look any more cruel and petty...

When I was in college I would do this thing where I would procrastinate on papers for days or weeks or months before finally buckling in and getting to work with, oh, 12 hours left before the thing was due. Then I would work furiously for a bit before giving up in the end and wrapping the paper up as sloppily as possible. It would be 3 a.m. and I would be in the library and I would say to myself, "I'm tired and I need to go home." I wasn't very good at college which is why I'm now a blogger — that's a lesson for you children.

The Boston Globe has interviewed Barney Frank, along with some of his friends and fellow representatives, as he prepares to leave office and take up private life, where he will hopefully find a way to capitalize on his increasing resemblance to the late Buddy Hackett. There are a lot of wonderful takeaways in this article, assuming you choose not to focus on the recent redistricting or the current state of the House of Representatives but instead on the fun stuff.