Top Items:

More backlash against Senators on gun vote — New PPP polls in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, and Ohio find serious backlash against the 5 Senators who voted against background checks in those states. Each of them has seen their approval numbers decline, and voters say they're less likely …
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog, Taegan Goddard's … and Booman Tribune
RELATED:

Americans Wanted Gun Background Checks to Pass Senate — Support varies from 85% among Democrats to 45% among Republicans — PRINCETON, NJ — Sixty-five percent of Americans say the U.S. Senate should have passed the measure that would have expanded background checks for gun purchases …
Discussion:
CNN, The Political Carnival and The Hill

Dems push gun control agenda in DC, but not in battleground states
Discussion:
Jammie Wearing Fools


‘Misha’ Speaks: An Interview with the Alleged Boston Bomber's ‘Svengali’ — As the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings continues, one of the more clouded aspects is the tale of “Misha,” a mysterious US-based Islamist who has been accused by members of the Tsarnaev family …
RELATED:

REPORT: FBI IDENTIFIES ‘MISHA,’ MAN ALLEGEDLY BEHIND TSARNAEV RADICALIZATION
Discussion:
Jihad Watch, Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit


“I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay,” says Jason Collins. — I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay. — I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation.
Discussion:
The Hill, CNN, Gawker, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Blade, Good As You, theGrio and CBSSports.com


If Hillary is running for prez, I'm out — Cuomo quietly ‘concedes’ 2016 race — Gov. Cuomo has quietly told associates that he is resigned to the fact that he can't run for president in 2016 if Hillary Rodham Clinton enters the race, as is widely expected, sources told The Post.
Discussion:
Ballot Box, Hot Air, First Read, Politicker, Capital New York, Weekly Standard and Taylor Marsh

The Story of Our Time — Those of us who have spent years arguing against premature fiscal austerity have just had a good two weeks. Academic studies that supposedly justified austerity have lost credibility; hard-liners in the European Commission and elsewhere have softened their rhetoric.
Discussion:
AEIdeas
RELATED:

C.I.A. Delivers Cash to Afghan Leader's Office — KABUL, Afghanistan — For more than a decade, wads of American dollars packed into suitcases, backpacks and, on occasion, plastic shopping bags have been dropped off every month or so at the offices of Afghanistan's president — courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, World News, Guardian, Telegraph, BBC, Wired, Booman Tribune, emptywheel, IHT Rendezvous, Business Insider, Weasel Zippers, Hit & Run, Gawker, Prairie Weather and Jihad Watch


Black pols stymied in Obama era — More than five years after Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses and demolished the notion that white voters wouldn't support a black presidential candidate, progress for other African-American politicians remains elusive. Even as the country elected and reelected Obama …
Discussion:
CNN, Roll Call, New York Times, First Read, ABCNEWS, FiveThirtyEight and msnbc.com
RELATED:


After Casting Key Fifth Vote For Bush, Justice O'Connor Now Regrets Bush v. Gore — Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the conservative retired justice who provided the fifth vote to install George W. Bush as president, is now having second thoughts about that decision:
Discussion:
The Hill, Mediaite and Lawyers, Guns & Money


Hoax emergency message sends police to Wolf Blitzer's house in Bethesda — Montgomery County police received an urgent message at about 6:25 p.m. Saturday saying someone had been shot at Wolf Blitzer's home in Bethesda. Officers streamed toward the CNN host's residence near Congressional Country Club.
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications, The Verge, Twitchy, Scared Monkeys, Politico and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »


We tried to weaponize the weather — Cold War secrets: Melting polar ice cap with nukes, changing the sea level, even LSD weapons were all on the table — Excerpted from “Arming Mother Nature: The Birth of Catastrophic Environmentalism” — The years between the rst hydrogen bomb tests …

The Optimist's Case For Obamacare Implementation — Are you worried by all the baleful predictions being made by critics of the Affordable Care Act about how its implementation will proceed? It's hard not to worry. Sure, you can dismiss a lot of the conservative talk of a “disaster” or …
Discussion:
New Republic and Eschaton


After string of setbacks, more charm may be the last, best option for Obama — There was little time to mingle Tuesday night at the White House. Five minutes after greeting them, President Obama ushered 20 female senators into the State Dining Room and invited each to offer her thoughts on the issues of the day.
Discussion:
Daily Kos and Right Wing News


Are there more abortion doctors like Kermit Gosnell? Do we want to know? — “I don't know why you want to know all this; just do it.” - Clinic worker in the Bronx, answering questions about late-term abortion from a woman who was 23 weeks pregnant. — An antiabortion activist appears …
RELATED:

The truth about late-term abortion
Discussion:
Betsy's Page, National Review and Patterico's Pontifications