The Truth About the Republican War on Caterpillars  —  From an exterminator in the House leadership to trying to bring back DDT, the GOP has been no friend to America's larvae.  —  RNC Chairman Reince Priebus (left) and a caterpillar (right).  —  In a statement widely taken as a metaphor …

Barack Obama: If the Supreme Court throws out the federal health care law, it “would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.”  —  Obama attaches stark terms to possible Supreme Court ruling on health care law

Keith Olbermann files suit against Current TV  —  When Current TV terminated Keith Olbermann's contract last week, the outgoing host announced his intention to file suit against the company.  —  He has apparently followed through on his word: According to an “exclusive” report from TMZ …

Obama's War On Women  —  President Obama believes it is “long past the time” for women to be admitted to the traditionally all-male Augusta National Golf Club, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday.  —  The remarks were viewed by some as a conscious effort by the White House …

Lawyers: Zimmerman whispered ‘punks’ before shooting Trayvon Martin  —  Sanford, Florida (CNN) — George Zimmerman told his lawyers that he whispered “punks,” not a racial slur, in the moments before he shot Trayvon Martin, his attorneys told CNN on Thursday.

DWS?s ?  Jewbag? hire questioned  —  The staffer for DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz who posted the controversial ‘Jewbag’ photo on her Facebook page in 2006 is no anonymous aide — but the daughter of Mark and Nancy Gilbert, two major Florida donors who have raised more than $500,000 for the Obama campaign.

Romney using ethics exception to limit disclosure of Bain holdings  —  Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, whose wealth has become a central issue in the 2012 campaign, has taken advantage of an obscure exception in federal ethics laws to avoid disclosing the nature and extent of his holdings.

Rick Santorum huddles with conservatives about future  —  Rick Santorum huddled in Virginia Thursday with a group of conservative leaders led by Reagan-era activists Richard Viguerie and Rebecca Hagelin to chart a path forward in the presidential race, multiple sources familiar with the meeting told POLITICO.

TPM2012  —  Romney, Who Holds Two Harvard Degrees, Says Obama Spent ‘Too Much Time’ At Harvard  —  Mitt Romney again bashed President Obama for his connections to Harvard on Thursday, despite holding multiple degrees from the university himself and relying heavily on Harvard advisers as part of his presidential campaign.

Healthy polar bear count confounds doomsayers  —  WINNIPEG— From Thursday's Globe and Mail  —  The debate about climate change and its impact on polar bears has intensified with the release of a survey that shows the bear population in a key part of northern Canada is far larger than many scientists thought, and might be growing.

Matt Lauer to Stay With NBC's ‘Today’ Show  —  NBC News has signed Matt Lauer to a new multiyear contract to remain as the co-host of the “Today” show, addressing one of the division's most pressing issues.  —  The news will be announced formally on the air during the show Friday morning.

MSNBC duped: Network runs satirical fake news from Daily Kos as a real story  —  If you've ever tuned into to MSNBC weekdays between 11 a.m. and noon ET, you are likely to have sees at least one segment focused on a LGBT issue moderated by host Thomas Roberts.

Next Great Depression?  MIT researchers predict ‘global economic collapse’ by 2030  —  A new study from researchers at MIT and produced for an international think tank, says that the world could suffer from “global economic collapse” and “precipitous population decline” …

Buck up, Republicans: Romney is stronger than you think  —  I was on Morning Joe Thursday to talk about Paul Ryan's budget.  But the segment before mine was on Mitt Romney's emergence as the Republican Party's clear nominee.  And the panel — Scarborough in particular — seemed downright dejected.

GSA Again Under Fire, Now Over Video Spoof  —  The same government agency already under fire for wasteful spending at a Las Vegas conference is under further scrutiny today for a newly discovered video featuring a U.S. General Services Administration employee joking about excess government spending.