GunBeat: In a dramatic declaration, President Obama says in an opinion piece in the NY Times today that he will not support for election any politician who doesn’t advocate gun reform.

He writes, “Even as I continue to take every action possible as president, I will also take every action I can as a citizen. I will not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform. And if the 90 percent of Americans who do support common-sense gun reforms join me, we will elect the leadership we deserve.”

The President appeared last night on CNN in a town hall meeting discussing guns and gun politics. He said, “I’m going to throw my shoulders behind people who want to actually solve problems instead of just gettin’ a high score from an interest group.”

Bullet Points: Walmart is being sued in Pennsylvania for selling to bullets to a drunk and underage customer who handed them over to a friend who then went on a murder spree, killing three people. The suit claims the store and its employees were negligent.

Econ 101: The Dow Jones closed down nearly 400 points yesterday in a rout spurred by the Chinese stock market. Investors in US stocks and markets around the world are spooked that the growth engine of the Chinese economy is grinding to a stop.

Chinese markets have been eroding since June and government actions to shore them up only seem to erode confidence further. The Chinese government has injected cash, cut interest rates, devalued its currency and eased borrowing rules, all to no avail.

Then they put in a circuit breaker to avoid panics and it appeared to do the opposite, tripping twice this week, shutting their markets after just 29 minutes. Now they have removed the circuit breaker.

Here in the US a healthy employment report is expected today and the Dow is expected to rebound a bit.

Y’all Qaeda: The group of “Patriot” gunmen occupying the buildings at a federal wildlife refuge have refused the local sheriff’s offer of safe passage if they agree to leave.

Money, Money: The Powerball lottery jackpot has hit $700 million and rising going into tomorrow night’s drawing. Your chances of winning are one in 292 million.

God is American: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has turned to God in a new commercial to attract the faithful in the Iowa caucuses. Rubio says in the ad, “Our goal is eternity … the ability to live alongside our creator for all time … to accept the free gift of salvation offered us by Jesus Christ.”

And here we thought he was running for President. Ted Cruz is also appealing to evangelical Christians for their vote.

Candidates have talked about their faith since the days of Jimmy Carter, but Rubio’s ad is an unusually direct religious appeal.

Also in the Republican circus, Donald Trump says voters shouldn’t nominate his opponent Ted Cruz because the Texan was born in Canada. Trump asked, “How do you run against the Democrat, whoever it may be, and you have this hanging over your head if they bring a lawsuit?”

The Constitution provides that the president shall be “a natural born citizen,” but doesn’t say you have to be born on American turf. Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother and held US citizenship at birth. He held Canadian citizenship until he renounced it 18 months ago.

Ma Maine Man: Maine’s lunkhead Gov. Paul LePage stepped on it this week saying black drug dealers are feeding the Maine heroin addiction and getting white girls pregnant. “These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty — these types of guys,” he said, according to a report in the Portland Press Herald.

And then he went on. “Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing, because then we have another issue we have to deal with down the road.”

Half the time? Really? Half? Not 49 percent?

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