“Best Wishes, Donald Trump”: A Future President's Letter to Vanity Fair  —  The Donald has inveighed (in Sharpie!) against our intrepid blogger.  We found his comments so delightful, we had to share.  —  It was with great delight and a sense of kinship that we at Vanity Fair read Donald Trump's letter …

Michele Bachmann stares down heckler in Iowa  —  IOWA CITY, Iowa — Michele Bachmann said again Monday that the American intervention in Libya was a mistake — but this time she had to talk over a heckler who shouted vulgarities at her.  —  Jenny Watkins, 22, shouted at Bachmann …

D.C. Mayor Vince Gray arrested on Capitol Hill  —  Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and other top city officials were arrested on Capitol Hill Monday during a protest of the budget deal House Republicans cut with President Barack Obama.  —  A crowd of about 200 to 300 gathered near …

Statement & Account of Ramona Kitzinger, Waukesha Board of Canvassers member since 2004:  —  (Waukesha County Democratic Party)On Tuesday night, I received a voice message from someone in the office of Clerk Kathy Nickolaus informing me of a Wednesday canvass meeting, which I returned …

Chicago school bans some lunches brought from home  —  To encourage healthful eating, Chicago school doesn't allow kids to bring lunches or certain snacks from home — and some parents, and many students, aren't fans of the policy  —  A Little Village Academy student cringes at an enchilada dish served at his school.

Gas Prices Climbing Toward $5 Per Gallon  —  CHICAGO (CBS) - At one time, $5 per gallon gas seemed like a farfetched idea, but that is no longer the case.  —  As CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports, as of Monday, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the Chicago area is $4.11 …

Chris Matthews: Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan Will ‘Kill Half the People Who Watch My Show’  —  MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Monday spent much of show scaring viewers about Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-Wisc.) recently released budget proposal.  —  So apoplectic was the “Hardball” …

With Government Shutdown Averted, Obama Surprises 8th Grade Students on School Trip to DC  —  ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports:  —  President Obama today surprised a group of 8th graders from Colorado visiting the White House today who would not have enjoyed their trip to Washington, D.C. …

Japan rates nuclear crisis at highest severity level  —  TOKYO — Japanese authorities raised Tuesday their rating of the severity of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis to the highest level on an international scale, equal to that of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Our Structural Disadvantage  —  The intertubes are clogged with the choral wailing of frustrated liberals.  Digby provides a good example, but the same is available pretty much anywhere else you'd think to look. … This is exactly right.  But what's strange is that it almost seems to come as a surprise to people.

Democrat in Missouri to Oppose Health Care Law  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri's Democratic attorney general broke with his party on Monday and urged a federal judge to invalidate the central provision of the new health care law.  —  The filing of the court brief by Attorney General Chris Koster …

Blaska Blogs the smoking gun of the teachers union's illegal sick-out  —  Only a fool would think that the sick out that closed down Madison schools for five days in February was anything but an illegal, union-coordinated, illegal strike.  —  But there are a lot of fools in Madison, aren't there?

Chevy Recalls Cruze After A Steering Wheel Falls Off … Imagine turning your car's steering wheel, or giving it a gentle tug, and having it break away from the steering column.  Now you're speeding along holding the suddenly useless wheel.  —  It sounds like a vision from a cartoon, or every driver's nightmare.

Jonathan Alter out at Newsweek  —  The final member of the “Newsweek Six” has left the building.  —  Jonathan Alter, the only remaining member of the gang of television-loving newsweekly scribes so dubbed by Slate's Jack Shafer, is no longer with the publication.

Leading California Democratic strategist Kam Kuwata dies at 57  —  This post has been corrected.  See the note at the bottom for details.  —  Kam Kuwata, one of California's leading Democratic political strategists and a droll wit whose lively quotes and keen analyses enlivened many campaigns …

WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO OFFER THE LOW-WAGE WORKFORCE FOR FOREIGN COMPANIES.... Ikea's labor dispute in Southern Virginia should be a bigger story. … It's quite an ordeal.  Workers are forced to work overtime, often with little notice, and those who don't go along face disciplinary action.

The Defenders  —  Charleston Harbor, S.C., April 12, 1861  —  Among the private papers of Maj. Robert Anderson, commander of the Union garrison at Fort Sumter, is a single elegant sheet of faded lavender-blue notepaper, neatly creased where it was once folded between the gloved fingers of a Confederate adjutant.

Koran Burned in Iran (video)  —  Two anonymous young men in Iran, one Iranian and one Afghan, have burned a Koran in protest.  This seven-and-a-half minute long video shows the two men, their faces obscured, holding the Muslim holy book and reading prepared statements.