Top Items:
Laura Leslie / @NCCapitol:
Proposal would allow state religion in North Carolina — A bill filed by Republican lawmakers would allow the state to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the US Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies in North Carolina.
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John Celock / The Huffington Post:
North Carolina May Declare Official State Religion Under New Bill — Republican North Carolina state legislators have proposed allowing an official state religion in a measure that would declare the state exempt from the Constitution and court rulings. — The bill, filed Monday …
Discussion:
The Week, The Hinterland Gazette, Outside the Beltway, @NCCapitol and The New Civil Rights Movement
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Eleven North Carolina Republicans Sponsor Resolution Saying Their State Can Ignore The Constitution
Nathan Hardin / Salisbury Post:
Lawmakers file Rowan County Defense of Religion Act
Lawmakers file Rowan County Defense of Religion Act
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Lou Chibbaro Jr / Washington Blade:
Cuccinelli challenges Va. sodomy ruling — Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon — Send via Email — Send this page to Print Friendly — Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli is challenging a ruling that overturned the state's sodomy law.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Taegan Goddard's …, msnbc.com, The Raw Story, Stinque and First Read
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Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Ken Cuccinelli Fights To Keep Sodomy Law On The Books — The conservative Virginia attorney general asked an appeals court to allow the state to use to the sodomy law to prosecute a man for soliciting a minor. — Image by Steve Helber, File / AP — WASHINGTON — Although most people …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Chairman Reince Priebus / RedState:
Media Covers up Democrat-Backed Planned Parenthood's Support for Infanticide — For almost as long as there have been two parties, there have been accusations of mainstream media bias. Conservatives know it's real. Liberals insist it's imagined. Bias is evident not only in how events …
Discussion:
Ballot Box, msnbc.com, Mediaite, Hullabaloo, Taegan Goddard's … and LifeNews.com
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Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
RNC Chair Priebus Suggests Democrats Support Infanticide — In an article published Wednesday on the conservative website RedState, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus blasted Democrats for supporting Planned Parenthood, while floating the damning suggestion that the likes …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs
Don Van Natta Jr / ESPN:
Video shows Mike Rice's ire — NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — In several dozen hours of video of Rutgers men's basketball practices obtained by “Outside the Lines,” coach Mike Rice is seen hurling basketballs from close range at his players' heads, legs and feet; shoving and grabbing his players …
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ESPN:
Rutgers fires coach Mike Rice — PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Rutgers fired basketball coach Mike Rice on Wednesday after a videotape aired showing him shoving, grabbing and throwing balls at players and using gay slurs during practice. — The videotape, broadcast Tuesday on ESPN's “Outside the Lines …
Discussion:
New York Times, Crooks and Liars, GLAAD, CollegeBasketballTalk, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Deadline.com
Scott Gleeson / USA Today:
Rutgers fires coach Mike Rice, more actions ahead?
Rutgers fires coach Mike Rice, more actions ahead?
Discussion:
New York Post, The Moderate Voice and Joe. My. God.
Washington Post:
Q: Do you support or oppose a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants? — This poll was conducted for The Washington Post and ABC News by telephone March 27 to 30, 2013 among a random national sample of 1,014 adults, including users of both conventional and cellular phones.
Discussion:
The Fix, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, American Prospect and National Review
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
The Morning Plum: Republicans increasingly isolated on many major issues
The Morning Plum: Republicans increasingly isolated on many major issues
Discussion:
Power Line, Washington Post, The Fix and Booman Tribune
Mark Murray / First Read:
Morning Joe poll: 60 percent of Americans want stricter gun laws
Morning Joe poll: 60 percent of Americans want stricter gun laws
Discussion:
The National Memo, msnbc.com, Daily Kos and The Daily Caller
New York Times:
In a Budget Gesture, Obama Will Return 5% of His Salary — President Obama plans to return 5 percent of his salary to the Treasury in solidarity with federal workers who are going to be furloughed as part of the budget cutting process known as sequester, an administration official said Wednesday.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, First Read, The Caucus and Jammie Wearing Fools
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Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
GOP frets Mark Sanford could blow it — Mark Sanford won over primary voters Tuesday night, but national Republicans aren't celebrating: Many privately concede the former governor could hand a safe Republican seat to Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch. — The affair that sent Sanford's …
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David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:
Mark Sanford: Stephen Colbert Isn't On The Ticket
Mark Sanford: Stephen Colbert Isn't On The Ticket
Discussion:
Politico
Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:
Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit — The Obama administration is engaged in a broad push to make more home loans available to people with weaker credit, an effort that officials say will help power the economic recovery but that skeptics …
Brad Plumer / Wonkblog:
The case for expanding Social Security, not cutting it — Nowadays, whenever Social Security comes up in policy debates around Washington, the discussion often focuses on how best to cut benefits in order to shore up the program's finances. — Time for an expansion?
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Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
NAF Proposes Big Expansion of Social Security
NAF Proposes Big Expansion of Social Security
Discussion:
The Great Debate, Hullabaloo and susiemadrak.com
Michael Hirsh / NationalJournal.com:
Mary Schapiro and Lanny Breuer Give Us the Ultimate Dog-Bites-Man Story — They failed to prosecute a single Wall Streeter over the 2008 disaster. Now it's home to mama. — As head of the Securities and Exchange Commission for the past four years, Mary Schapiro failed to win …
Discussion:
Hot Air
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Jim Carrey / The Huffington Post:
I Never Wanted to Take Your Guns Away — I disagree wholeheartedly with those who say that there are just too many guns out there to control and that more gun laws won't make a difference. Change must start someplace. I'm pretty sure that no worthwhile endeavor has ever been accomplished without …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers and NewsHounds blog
Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:
Embassy Cairo shuts down Twitter feed after Muslim Brotherhood spat — The U.S. Embassy in Cairo shut down its Twitter feed Wednesday following a public fight with the Egyptian Presidency and the Muslim Brotherhood over the arrest of an Egyptian television star.
Joe Klein / TIME:
Obamacare Incompetence — Let me try to understand this: The key incentive for small businesses to support Obamacare was that they would be able to shop for the best deals in health care super-stores—called exchanges. The Administration has had 3 years to set up these exchanges. It has failed to do so.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Hot Air, Power Line, Rush Limbaugh and JustOneMinute
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Happily Never After? — I'm worried about the Supreme Court. — I'm worried about how the justices can properly debate same-sex marriage when some don't even seem to realize that most Americans use the word “gay” now instead of “homosexual”; when Chief Justice John Roberts thinks gays …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and msnbc.com
Bill Carter / New York Times:
NBC Confirms Fallon Will Succeed Leno — “The Tonight Show” will begin a new era in February when Jimmy Fallon succeeds Jay Leno as host of the most storied and successful program in late-night television. — NBC plans to announce on Wednesday its plan to install Mr. Fallon as the show's sixth host …
Discussion:
Guardian, KUOW, Mediaite, Splitsider and The Week, more at Mediagazer »
BBC:
The Great British class calculator — Traditional British social divisions of upper, middle and working class seem out of date in the 21st Century, no longer reflecting modern occupations or lifestyles. — The BBC teamed up with sociologists from leading universities to analyse the modern British class system.
Discussion:
IHT Rendezvous, Daily Mail, Telegraph and Spectator
Jason Schreier / Kotaku:
Disney Shuts Down LucasArts, Cancels Star Wars 1313 And Star Wars: First Assault — Disney has laid off the staff of LucasArts and cancelled all current projects. — Staff were informed of the shutdown this morning, according to a reliable Kotaku source.
Discussion:
The Raw Story, The Tell and AllThingsD
Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Hunting group wants background checks — The leader of a hunting advocacy group said Wednesday that implementing criminal background checks is part of the “ethics of responsible gun ownership.” — “Background checks fall within the ethics of responsible gun ownership that American sportsmen …
Discussion:
CNN
Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:
Head Of Gun Organization: ‘Time To Hunt Democrats’ — As the Senate prepares to take up a comprehensive gun violence prevention plan later this month, gun advocates have amped up their already inflammatory rhetoric against any additional gun regulations. Ahead of President Obama's visit …
Discussion:
NPR, The Raw Story and No More Mister Nice Blog
Mike Fleming Jr / Deadline.com:
GLAAD Media Awards To Honor Bill Clinton, Top Hollywood Attorney Steve Warren — EXCLUSIVE: The 24th annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles has set its honorees: former President Bill Clinton will receive GLAAD's first Advocate for Change Award; and Steve Warren, the top Hollywood attorney, will receive the Stephen F. Kolzak Award.
Discussion:
GLAAD