The Proposition 8 oral argument  —  Much will be written about the Proposition 8 oral argument.  The bottom line, in my opinion, is that the Court probably will not have the five votes necessary to get to any result at all, and almost certainly will not have five votes to decide the merits of whether Proposition 8 is constitutional.

How not to seem like a racist  —  A tip for right-wingers angry about charges of racial bias: Try treating the Obama daughters with decency  —  Writing my piece on Andrew Breitbart and Tucker Carlson, I missed a huge example of overlap between their two sham-empires: the reporter who broke …

Steele: Priebus ‘crapping’ on my legacy  —  Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele continued to feud with his successor Reince Priebus on Tuesday, accusing the current chairman of “crapping” on his legacy.  —  “I kept my mouth shut for two years because, hey …

Secret Service Gets First Female Director  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday appointed Julia A. Pierson, a longtime Secret Service agent, as the first woman to head the agency best known for protecting the president, vice president and their families.

Despite Abortion Bans, TRAP Law Is the Real Threat to Abortion Access in North Dakota (UPDATED) … “Personhood,” heartbeat bans, forcing women to give birth to babies diagnosed with genetic anomalies that make them unlikely to survive long after birth, if they make it that long …

Egyptian mosque turned into house of torture for Christians after Muslim Brotherhood protest  —  Islamic hard-liners stormed a mosque in suburban Cairo, turning it into torture chamber for Christians who had been demonstrating against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in the latest case …

Actor Jake McClain Tweeting Every Word Of 906-Page ‘Obamacare’ Health Reform Law  —  Actor and director Jake McClain has taken on the monumental task of tweeting every single word of the 906-page “Obamacare” health reform law in hopes of drawing attention to the bill's content …

South Carolina special a toss up  —  PPP's first look at the special election in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District finds a toss up race.  Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch leads Republican Mark Sanford 47-45 and ties Curtis Bostic at 43.  —  This is a Republican leaning district …

Alito's provocative question  —  I'm still working my way through the transcript (pdf) of today's Supreme Court oral argument on California's Prop 8, but there's one quote that already seems to be generating quite a bit of attention.  It comes by way of Justice Samuel Alito:

David Keene, NRA President, Has No Regrets About Newtown Massacre Response  —  WASHINGTON — “We had to change the subject,” said David Keene, as if making an obvious, unobjectionable point.  —  We were sitting at the back table of his favorite Italian restaurant.

Banking gavel could fall to Wall Street critic  —  Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), one of Wall Street's harshest critics, could end up leading the Senate Banking Committee if Democrats retain control of the Senate in 2014.  —  Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), who has led the Banking Committee since 2011 …

The Killing Chain  —  Let's say you were writing a novel about a homicide.  You'd want to describe the killer's neighborhood and family background.  You'd want to describe his school, his culture and his gang.  —  You'd want to describe how he got into crime, his prior arrests …

Study: Health overhaul to raise claims cost 32 pct  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Insurance companies will have to pay out an average of 32 percent more for medical claims on individual health policies under President Barack Obama's overhaul, the nation's leading group of financial risk analysts has estimated.

Ted Cruz flip-flopped on guns, Democrats say  —  Senate Democrats are accusing Sen. Ted Cruz — one of the conservatives threatening to filibuster gun-control legislation — of flip-flopping on the issue.  —  Majority Leader Harry Reid's office posted a video of Cruz raising the possibility …

The reducio ad absurdum of American constitutional jurisprudence  —  Jim Palmer once said of Earl Weaver, after the manager had offered the Hall of Fame pitcher a tip, “All Weaver knows about pitching is he couldn't hit it.”  —  As I write this, the Supreme Court of the United States …