South Carolina Honors Treasonous Slaveholders At Debutante Ball

• Dust off your fiddle and play a nice slave owner hymn: It's Secession Remembrance Week in South Carolina! And what better way to honor your treasonous, slave-owning heritage than to attend the magnificent Charleston Secession Ball this evening? (Lindsey Graham will wear his favorite gown, the one made out of ham biscuits. Good luck, eligible bachelors!) Other activities include "sitting around talking about the good ol' days" and "spitting into a cup." This year marks the Sesquicentennial celebration, which is maybe why some dingbat Kleagle from the Sons of Confederate Veterans got all hot and bothered and said this: "We could look back and say [the Civil War] wasn’t something to celebrate ... But we do celebrate the courage and the integrity of 170 men who signed their signatures to the Article of Secession -- the courage of men to do what they think is right.” Where is William Tecumseh Sherman when you need some flames? [ McClatchy ]

• Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FLA), soon-to-be chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has promised to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions with all sorts of harsh sanctions. It's nice to know that Republicans oppose nuclear proliferation! [ The Hill ]

• Mitch McConnell is doing everything he can to stop START from passing. Republicans love nuclear proliferation, yay proliferation! [ CNN ]