Scalia: Voting Rights Act Is ‘Perpetuation Of Racial Entitlement’  —  WASHINGTON, DC — There were audible gasps in the Supreme Court's lawyer's lounge, where audio of the oral argument is pumped in for members of the Supreme Court bar, when Justice Antonin Scalia offered his assessment of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.

W.H. says no part in ICE decision  —  The White House and the Department of Homeland Security were unaware of Immigration Customs and Enforcement's decision to release detainees until the agency announced it, administration officials said Wednesday.  —  “This was a decision made by career officials …

BOB WOODWARD: Obama Is Showing 'A Kind Of Madness I Haven't Seen In A Long Time'  —  The Washington Post's Bob Woodward ripped into President Barack Obama on “Morning Joe” today, saying he's exhibiting a “kind of madness I haven't seen in a long time” for a decision not to deploy an aircraft carrier …

A political DUI  —  Some of us can recall the helpless feeling of being in a vehicle driven by someone who is intoxicated.  If you're like me, you don't want to cause a scene unless the driving is really erratic.  But there comes a moment when you need to say: Stop the car.  You're going to hurt someone.

Christie dismisses lack of CPAC invite  —  (CNN) - Gov. Chris Christie, the outspoken Republican from New Jersey, says he isn't offended that an invite to the Conservative Political Action Conference was not offered to him this year.  —  “Listen, I wish then all the best.

Brief Supporting Same-Sex Marriage Gets More Republican Support  —  More than two dozen Republicans — including a top adviser to Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, and a former congresswoman who made banning same-sex marriage her signature issue — have added their names …

Sarah Palin: Feds ‘stockpiling bullets’ to use against us  —  Sarah Palin says America will eventually default on its debt and claims that the federal government is “stockpiling bullets in case of civil unrest” to prepare.  —  “If we are going to wet our proverbial pants over .3% …

W5 + H = A Baseline for Integrity  —  UPDATE: Let me add up top an update out of the gate.  The issue here is not RedState, but a larger issue among conservatives as we keep growing new and expanding existing outlets for reporting the news.  With our jobs board up (if you haven't noticed) …

N.H. state representative says some people may ‘like being in abusive relationships’  —  Some people may like being in abusive relationships, and they're free to leave them at any time, a state representative said yesterday during a debate on a bill to reduce the penalty for simple assault in some cases.

Senate GOP ponders shifting power to Obama  —  Days before the March 1 deadline, Senate Republicans are circulating a draft bill that would cancel $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts and instead turn over authority to President Barack Obama to achieve the same level of savings under a plan to be filed by March 8.

Teacher pink slips claim by Duncan not backed by evidence  —  The descriptions of the post-sequester landscape that have been coming out of the Obama Administration have been alarming, specific—and, in at least some cases, hyped.  —  “There are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips …

As Budgets Face Cuts, Austerity Kills Government Jobs  —  WASHINGTON — The federal government, the nation's largest consumer and investor, is cutting back at a pace exceeded in the last half-century only by the military demobilizations after the Vietnam War and the cold war.

The story of Pope Benedict's controversial red shoes, which he will give up  —  Shoemaker Antonio Arellano poses with a red shoe he made for Pope Benedict XVI.  (Tony Gentile/Reuters)  —  Pope Benedict XVI will give up his Swiss Guard protection, his Twitter account and even the name “Benedict” when he officially abdicates Wednesday.

BREAKING: House Republicans Backing Down On Violence Against Women Act  —  After nearly a year of resistance that has damaged them politically with women voters, House Republicans have found a clever way to back down on the reauthorization of an expanded Violence Against Women Act, aides confirmed to TPM late Tuesday.

Gatsby, Galbraith and the Myth of Coolidge's Crash  —  What's next after the Oscars?  More Gatsby, of course.  “The Great Gatsby,” featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and coming in May, will be the fourth, or by some counts the fifth or sixth, movie version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel …

This Charming Man: An Interview With Morrissey  —  I don't think I really need to introduce you guys to Morrissey, but just in case: He's been an icon for, oh, more than three decades now.  He began his career in the early '80s as the frontman (and heart) of the Smiths before going solo in 1987 …