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Uprising’s guest expert Rahul Mahajan, sociologist and news analyst and author of Full Spectrum Dominance: US Power in Iraq and Beyond, analyzes today’s news headlines:

Newly obtained documents show that the American Legislative Exchange Council has lost a significant amount of funding and members. The Guardian newspaper has just published an exposé on the state of ALEC – a controversial collaboration between corporations and state lawmakers. The report reveals that in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s shooting in Florida, ALEC hemorrhaged funders and members, so much so that it even considered turning to the online gambling industry for funding. ALEC has come under fire in the last few years for coordinating the passage of conservative and corporate-friendly bills state-by-state. Click here for a Guardian report about the story.

As we approach the one year anniversary next week of the mass shooting of children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Connecticut, gun control advocates are cautiously celebrating a possible victory, albeit a tiny one. The House this week renewed an existing ban on plastic firearms that can evade X-ray machines. According to Associated Press, “The House bill only requires that a plastic gun have some piece of metal in or on it, but it can be removable and doesn’t have to be used to fire the weapon.” The Senate is expected to pass a similar bill when it returns from recess. Click here for an Associated Press report about the story.

President Obama at the White House yesterday kicked off a series of events over three weeks to revive the popularity of his signature healthcare law. Attempting to get past the embarrassing glitches that the healthcare.gov website has been plagued by, he urged people to “refocus on what’s at stake.” The President challenged his detractors to bring him better ideas but Republicans deflected the call saying the onus was on Obama to fix the problems. Click here for a CNN article about the story.