Top Items:
Politico:
Robert Menendez donor courted President Obama, Harry Reid — Salomon Melgen had a knack for going straight to the top. — He posed for pictures with President Barack Obama, flew Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on his private jet and sought advice on a port security deal from an ex-CIA agent …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, The Hill, Weasel Zippers and msnbc.com
RELATED:
Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Reid guts Senate gun control bill — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday he will not include a renewal of the federal assault weapons ban in a Senate gun control bill because it could not win even 40 votes on the Senate floor. — “Right now her amendment using …
Jesse Helfrich / The Hill:
Obama honeymoon may be over — The second-term honeymoon for President Obama is beginning to look like it is over. — Obama, who was riding high after his reelection win in November, has seen his poll numbers take a precipitous fall in recent weeks. — A CNN poll released Tuesday showed …
Discussion:
Prairie Weather
Michael McAuliff / The Huffington Post:
Obama's Gun Reform Package Loses One Major Provision, Another In Danger
Obama's Gun Reform Package Loses One Major Provision, Another In Danger
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Washington Post, The National Memo and Wonkblog
RealClearPolitics Video Log:
Harry Reid Implies Sequester Caused Explosion That Killed 7 Marines In Nevada
Harry Reid Implies Sequester Caused Explosion That Killed 7 Marines In Nevada
Discussion:
Power Line and Twitchy
Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:
Shameless Harry Reid Uses Dead Marines to Fearmonger on Sequester
Shameless Harry Reid Uses Dead Marines to Fearmonger on Sequester
Discussion:
Hot Air
Tina Burnside / CNN:
7 killed in explosion at Nevada Marine training exercise
7 killed in explosion at Nevada Marine training exercise
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, NBCNews.com, This Just In, Mediaite and SFist
John Gramlich / Roll Call:
Feinstein Says Assault Weapons Ban Won't Pass
Feinstein Says Assault Weapons Ban Won't Pass
Discussion:
The Fix, The Maddow Blog and Post Politics
Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:
Assassination ‘Joke’ Sheriff Doubles Down, Compares Critics To Nazis — Plymouth County, MA Sheriff Joe McDonald (R) — A day after ThinkProgress and others reported that Joseph D. McDonald, Jr. (R), Sheriff of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, told a “joke” at a Republican St. Patrick's …
Discussion:
The Political Carnival, Mediaite, Wonkette and Blue Mass Group
RELATED:
Casey Meserve / Plymouth, MA Patch:
Sheriff Defends Joke, Calls Critics ‘Hypocrites’
Sheriff Defends Joke, Calls Critics ‘Hypocrites’
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Blue Mass Group, Wonkette and The Raw Story
Manu Raju / Politico:
Clinton courts alternative to Judd — Democratic heavy hitters — including Bill Clinton — are quietly trying to woo a new candidate to jump into the race to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, even as actress Ashley Judd is taking steps toward launching a star-studded campaign of her own.
Discussion:
The Fix
RELATED:
James Hohmann / Politico:
Conservatives' Arkansas poll: Tom Cotton strong
Conservatives' Arkansas poll: Tom Cotton strong
Discussion:
Power Line, Smart Politics and The Fix
CNN:
Breaking: Colbert Busch wins Democratic primary in S.C. special election, CNN projects — (CNN) - CNN projects Elizabeth Colbert Busch, sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, will win Tuesday's Democratic primary for the the South Carolina special election to represent the state's 1st Congressional District.
RELATED:
New York Times:
G.O.P. Opposition to Immigration Law Is Falling Away — WASHINGTON — Republican opposition to legalizing the status of millions of illegal immigrants is crumbling in the nation's capital as leading lawmakers in the party scramble to halt eroding support among Hispanic voters …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and The Week
RELATED:
Jordy Yager / The Hill:
House GOP grills top Obama immigration official over release of illegal detainees
House GOP grills top Obama immigration official over release of illegal detainees
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and Patterico's Pontifications
Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:
Top Democrat endorses Syria no-fly zone — Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) endorsed Tuesday the idea of establishing a no-fly zone inside Syria and attacking the air defenses and air power of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. — Levin chaired a hearing …
Discussion:
Yahoo! News and Hot Air
RELATED:
Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
Does Obama have a plan for Syria?
Does Obama have a plan for Syria?
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Associated Press
Charles Lane / Washington Post:
Why should food stamps pay for junk food? — Kudos to The Post's Eli Saslow for a vivid story in Sunday's paper about the burgeoning federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and its impact on struggling Woonsocket, R.I. Because of the 2008-09 recession and new eligibility rules …
Discussion:
NewsBusters, msnbc.com, Weasel Zippers, Balloon Juice and TheBlaze.com
RELATED:
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Bachmann's claim that 70 percent of food stamps go to ‘bureaucrats’
Bachmann's claim that 70 percent of food stamps go to ‘bureaucrats’
Discussion:
Daily Kos and Booman Tribune
Lynn Horsley / Kansas City Star:
Angry man takes microphone from KC mayor at speech — Mayor Sly James of Kansas City was delivering an upbeat State of the City speech Tuesday when an irate man commandeered the microphone at the Gem Theater. — The man was quickly tackled on the stage by bodyguard Marlon Buie and taken to a back area …
Discussion:
The Raw Story, Mediaite and ABCNEWS
Se Young Lee / Reuters:
South Korea raises alert after hackers attack broadcasters, banks — (Reuters) - South Korean authorities were investigating a hacking attack that brought down the servers of three broadcasters and two major banks on Wednesday, and the army raised its alert level due to concerns of North Korean involvement.
Discussion:
New York Times, Deadline.com and Vodkapundit
Sam Baker / The Hill:
Supreme Court to release same-day audio of marriage arguments — The Supreme Court will release audio recordings on the same day it hears oral arguments over same-sex marriage — a rare step reserved for especially high-profile cases. — The court will hear oral arguments next Tuesday …
Discussion:
CNN
RELATED:
Felix Salmon:
Cyprus's bad haircut day — Cyprus has said χι to the idea of taxing deposits: good for them. And the parliament did so decisively, as well: 36 “no” votes, 19 abstentions, and zero “yes” votes. Even the president, who initially said that Cyprus had no choice but to say yes …
Discussion:
Slate, Some of it was true, The Dish, The Week, Marginal Revolution, FT Alphaville and The Reality-Based Community
Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:
GOP catfight: Michael Steele calls Reince Priebus ‘numb nuts’ … The catfight between former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and his replacement, Reince Priebus, has reached screech level, with Steele belittling the party's new focus on minorities as old news.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Yahoo! News, The Hill, Taegan Goddard's … and Conservatives4Palin
Charlie Cook / NationalJournal.com:
The GOP Faces 2 Stark Choices: Change or Go Over the Cliff — As they head into the future, Republicans need to decide whether they will follow the path of hope or the road to ruin. — The past 96 hours should provide thinking Republicans both hope and despair about their party's future.
Discussion:
Des Moines Register, Rush Limbaugh and Booman Tribune
James Hohmann / Politico:
5 reasons why you should take Rand Paul seriously — A few weeks ago, Rand Paul was far down the list of 2016 GOP presidential prospects — a freshman senator with a devoted but mostly marginal following of young libertarians. — Now he's being mentioned in the same breath as Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush.
Discussion:
New Republic
Noah Michelson / The Huffington Post:
Westboro Equality House: Aaron Jackson Paints Rainbow Home Across From Anti-Gay Church — The Westboro Baptist Church is about to get a big surprise in the form of a new neighbor who plans to give the notoriously anti-gay group a taste of its own medicine. — Aaron Jackson …
Discussion:
Advocate, Gay Star News and The Raw Story
Yuxing Zheng / Oregonian:
Bill to legalize, tax marijuana scheduled for legislative hearing — SALEM — Marijuana would become legal, and the state would regulate and tax it under a bill under consideration in the Oregon Legislature. — House Bill 3371 would allow the production, processing and sale of marijuana and marijuana-infused products.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Toddstarnes / Fox News:
Family's Home Raided over Facebook Photo of Child's Rifle — New Jersey police and Dept. of Children and Families officials raided the home of a firearms instructor and demanded to see his guns after he posted a Facebook photo of his 11-year-old son holding a rifle. — FOLLOW TODD ON FACEBOOK FOR CULTURE WAR NEWS.
Discussion:
BizPac Review and protein wisdom
Peter Orszag / Bloomberg:
Medicare Cost Slowdown Could Close U.S. Budget Gap — New evidence that the slowdown in health care costs over the past five years is happening not only because of a weak economy comes from the Economic Report of the President, released last week by the President's Council of Economic Advisers.
Declan McCullagh / CNET:
Cops: U.S. law should require logs of your text messages — Silicon Valley firms and privacy groups want Congress to update a 1986-era electronic privacy law. But if a law enforcement idea set to be presented today gets attached, support for the popular proposal would erode.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Mashable! and Outside the Beltway