Weigel

Opening Act: Back to War

U.S. soldiers arrive at the scene following a suicide attack against a bus carrying Afghan army personnel in Kabul on February 27, 2013.

Photo by SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images

The Star-Ledger burrows into the story of Bob Menendez and Salomon Melgen, which has sort of foundered as it’s become limited to finance.

John Stanton talks to a soldier who’s going back to war because the 27 percent pay cut of sequestration ruined his finances.

Pamela Engel finds kids losing Head Start access in Indiana, thanks to sequestration.

Dave Agema keeps talking.

Charlie Cook reports on Tennessee’s end-run around the 17th Amendment.

Tennessee state Sen. Frank Nicely, a Republican from Strawberry Plains, has introduced S.B. 471, which would, beginning in 2016, eliminate party primaries for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee. Members of the state Legislature would instead select the nominees. Republican House and Senate caucuses would pick the GOP nominee, and  their Democratic counterparts would select their candidate. State Rep. Harry Brooks, R-Knoxville, has also introduced the bill in the Tennessee General Assembly.

We’re already seeing Ted Cruz referred to, matter-of-factly, as a presidential candidate.

And Erin Lee Carr’s report on Texas twentysomethings building guns on 3-D printers is very well done.