Top Items:
Lois Romano / Politico:
Rand Paul: ‘Seriously’ weighing 2016 bid — Before Thursday, Rand Paul — tea party firebrand — hadn't vaulted into the top tier of Republican power players. — But all that seemed to change this week. The Kentucky Republican senator showed serious clout by holding a 13-hour filibuster …
Discussion:
Ballot Box, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite, First Read, CANNONFIRE, Hot Air, BuzzFeed, NationalJournal.com and National Review
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Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Newt Gingrich: John McCain attacks on Rand Paul ‘sad’ — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is slamming Sen. John McCain for criticizing Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, saying it's “sad” for someone who was once known as a maverick in Congress. — “What I find sad about Sen. McCain's recent comments …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's … and The Immoral Minority
Luke Johnson / The Huffington Post:
Rand Paul Filibuster Leaves Senate Democrats Struggling To Explain Absence
Rand Paul Filibuster Leaves Senate Democrats Struggling To Explain Absence
Discussion:
Slate, Truthout Stories, Hit & Run, Shakesville, The Last Refuge and Crooks and Liars
Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Paul fires back: Sens. McCain, Graham think the ‘whole world is a battlefield’
Paul fires back: Sens. McCain, Graham think the ‘whole world is a battlefield’
Discussion:
Politico, NO QUARTER USA NET and Weasel Zippers
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
2 G.O.P. Senators Assail Colleague's Filibuster Over Drones
2 G.O.P. Senators Assail Colleague's Filibuster Over Drones
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Caucus, msnbc.com, Mother Jones, Lawfare, The PJ Tatler, Hit & Run, Firedoglake and Politico
Internet Broadcasting / WPLG-TV:
Rand Paul ‘happy’ with drone response, ready to allow vote
Rand Paul ‘happy’ with drone response, ready to allow vote
Discussion:
The Week, Hit & Run, Washington Examiner and ProfessorBainbridge.com
Catalina Camia / Associated Press:
Rand Paul filibuster ranks among Senate's longest
Rand Paul filibuster ranks among Senate's longest
Discussion:
FP Passport, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller and ABCNEWS
Kate Nocera / Politico:
Rand Paul filibuster blasted by John McCain, Lindsey Graham
Rand Paul filibuster blasted by John McCain, Lindsey Graham
Discussion:
Power Line
Sarah Wheaton / New York Times:
Senate Confirms Brennan as C.I.A. Chief
Senate Confirms Brennan as C.I.A. Chief
Discussion:
Slate, The Caucus, Politico, Lowering the Bar, Guardian, Outside the Beltway and Gawker
Bill Clinton / Washington Post:
It's time to overturn DOMA — In 1996, I signed the Defense of Marriage Act. Although that was only 17 years ago, it was a very different time. In no state in the union was same-sex marriage recognized, much less available as a legal right, but some were moving in that direction.
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Obama sets end-of-July goal for bipartisan agreement on deficit — President Obama wants to complete a grand bargain to reduce the deficit by the end of July, an aggressive timeline coinciding with the expiration of the nation's debt limit. — Obama told a small group of Republican senators …
Discussion:
First Read
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Matthew Continetti / Washington Free Beacon:
Obama on His Heels — In January, pretty much all of respectable …
Obama on His Heels — In January, pretty much all of respectable …
Discussion:
PJ Media
Tim McDonnell / Mother Jones:
The Scariest Climate Change Graph Just Got Scarier … Back in 1999, Penn State University climate scientist Michael Mann released the climate change movement's most potent symbol: The “hockey stick,” a line graph of global temperature over the last 1,500 years that shows an unmistakable …
Discussion:
jobsanger and Hullabaloo
RELATED:
sciencemag.org:
A Reconstruction of Regional and Global Temperature for the Past 11,300 Years — 1College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA. — 2Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Gautam Naik / Wall Street Journal:
In Study, Past Decade Ranks Among Hottest
In Study, Past Decade Ranks Among Hottest
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and MarketBeat
Lee Smith / Weekly Standard:
Samira Ibrahim Speaks — Yesterday, THE WEEKLY STANDARD first reported that the State Department was about to bestow an International Woman of Courage Award on an anti-Semite and 9/11 fan. Egypt women's rights activist Samira Ibrahim had left a record on her Twitter feed of statements quoting Hitler …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Israel Matzav, Washington Free Beacon, Hot Air and Weasel Zippers
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Shira Kallus Zwebner / The Times of Israel:
Yup, Samira probably sent those tweets
Yup, Samira probably sent those tweets
Discussion:
Israel Matzav, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Twitchy, American Power, National Review, Atlas Shrugs and The Atlantic Online
Bradley Klapper / The Huffington Post:
US postpones award for Egyptian woman over tweets
US postpones award for Egyptian woman over tweets
Discussion:
Israel Matzav, Politico, Weasel Zippers and Weekly Standard
Ta-Nehisi Coates / New York Times:
The Good, Racist People — Last month the actor Forest Whitaker was stopped in a Manhattan delicatessen by an employee. Whitaker is one of the pre-eminent actors of his generation, with a diverse and celebrated catalog ranging from “The Great Debaters” to “The Crying Game” to “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.”
Discussion:
The Other McCain and Smartypants
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Mark Gongloff / The Huffington Post:
Elizabeth Warren: Banks Get Wrist Slaps While Drug Dealers Get Jail — Sen. Elizabeth Warren unloaded on bank regulators Thursday about the fact that British bank HSBC is still doing business in the U.S., with no criminal charges filed against it, despite confessing to what one regulator called “egregious” money laundering violations.
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Business Insider and The Baseline Scenario
RELATED:
Peter Schroeder / The Hill:
Senators blast financial regulators over ‘prosecution-free zone for large banks’
Senators blast financial regulators over ‘prosecution-free zone for large banks’
Discussion:
Politico, Booman Tribune and Blue Mass Group
Justin Sink / Ballot Box:
Messina: Obama may meet with OFA donors amid controversy — Former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said Friday that President Obama may meet as soon as next week with donors to the nonprofit group that has sprouted from the remnants of his reelection campaign.
Discussion:
NBCNews.com and Hot Air
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Jim Messina / CNN:
Why we're raising money to support Obama agenda
Why we're raising money to support Obama agenda
Discussion:
BillMoyers.com, Hot Air, Mother Jones, Sunlight Foundation Blog and Post Politics
Des Moines Register:
Priebus: GOP needs new strategy — He says party must look beyond early caucuses, primaries. — If the GOP is going to win presidential elections, candidates can't compete just in Iowa and the seven other early states, the party's national chairman said during a visit here Thursday.
Discussion:
NationalJournal.com and Politico
Bill McBride / Calculated Risk:
February Employment Report: 236,000 Jobs, 7.7% Unemployment Rate — From the BLS: … Click on graph for larger image. — The headline number was above expectations of 171,000 payroll jobs added. Employment for January was revised lower, but jobs added in December was revised higher.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, New York Times, The Maddow Blog, Daily Kos, Guardian and Business Insider
Joe Battenfeld / Boston Herald:
Markey who? GOP: Poll ‘speaks volumes’ … Massachusetts GOP leaders say they are encouraged by a new UMass Lowell/Boston Herald poll showing Democratic front-runner U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey remains largely unknown by most voters despite a 36-year career in Congress.
Discussion:
Ballot Box and Taegan Goddard's …
John Hinderaker / Power Line:
New Study Finds Firearms Laws Do Nothing to Prevent Homicides — That's the headline you should be seeing, but won't. Instead, you will see headlines like this one, on CNN: “Study links gun laws and lower gun mortality.” Or this one, from the Chicago Tribune: “States with strict gun laws found to have fewer shooting deaths.”
Discussion:
archinte.jamanetwork.com, Reuters, Prairie Weather, Clayton Cramer's Blog and CNN
Wonkette:
Wonket Sexclusive: Totally Blameless Crime-Stopper James O'Keefe To Pay $100,000 To ACORN Criminal — James O'Keefe—the blonde bombshell who set the conservative world of hidden-camera YouTube movies ablaze—has just agreed to a $100,000 settlement to calm down the unjustly fired …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Firedoglake, Mediaite, The Raw Story, Gawker, Crooks and Liars, Little Green Footballs and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Devin Leonard / Businessweek:
How Disney Bought Lucasfilm—and Its Plans for ‘Star Wars’ — One weekend last October, Robert Iger, chief executive officer of Walt Disney (DIS), sat through all six Star Wars films. He'd seen them before, of course. This time, he took notes. Disney was in secret negotiations to acquire Lucasfilm …
Discussion:
Empire News, Outside the Beltway, FirstShowing.net, Deadline.com and Moe Lane
Carl Levin:
Sen. Carl Levin announces he will not seek re-election in 2014 — WASHINGTON - Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., announced today that he will not seek re-election in 2014. He released the following statement: — I have decided not to run for re-election in 2014.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, emptywheel, The Agonist, The New Civil Rights Movement and National Review
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Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Levin retirement leaves Dems defending fourth open seat in 2014 cycle
Levin retirement leaves Dems defending fourth open seat in 2014 cycle
Discussion:
CNN, Liberal Values and Politico
CBS New York:
Officials: 80 Percent Of Recent NYC High School Graduates Cannot Read — NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — It's an education bombshell. — Nearly 80 percent of New York City high school graduates need to relearn basic skills before they can enter the City University's community college system.
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Betsy's Page, Jammie Wearing Fools and Twitchy
Mike Moore / centralkynews.com:
Lexington man accused of embezzling $274,000 in campaign donations — (Jessamine County Detention Center / March 7, 2013) — The Nicholasville Police Department is investigating a Lexington man it says stole $274,000 in campaign-contribution checks intended for the Democratic Governors Association.
Discussion:
Politico