Top Items:

Burglars Who Took On F.B.I. Abandon Shadows — Stealing J. Edgar Hoover's Secrets: One night in 1971, files were stolen from an F.B.I. office near Philadelphia. They proved that the bureau was spying on thousands of Americans. The case was unsolved, until now.
Discussion:
Liberaland, Talking Points Memo, The Verge, Business Insider, Guardian, NBCNews, Mashable, BillMoyers.com, The Week, Freedom of the Press …, Retro Report and Pressing Issues

Republicans Really Could Win It All This Year — A definitive guide to the 2014 elections from our new columnist. … Another midterm election beckons, and over the next 10 months we'll see headlines about a thousand supposedly critical developments—the “game changers” and the “tipping points.”
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune, The PJ Tatler, The Week, No More Mister Nice Blog, CANNONFIRE, First Read and The Plum Line


Spitzer caught sucking Lis Smith's toes in topless hot tub romp — Sleazy Eliot Spitzer turned a resort hot tub into a steamy love cauldron over the weekend — kissing and sucking the toes of his topless mistress, Lis Smith, in front of families with children, mortified witnesses told The Post.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, TheBlaze.com, Politicker, Betsy's Page, Weasel Zippers, Gawker, Riehl World News and National Review


Angry Dennis Rodman defends North Korea basketball game — (CNN) — Basketball star Dennis Rodman defended his controversial visit to North Korea with a team of former NBA players in a combative exchange Tuesday, saying it was a “great idea for the world.” — In an exclusive interview …
Discussion:
Liberaland, Weekly Standard, Politico, Deadspin, Global Grind, Hot Air, Business Insider, Towleroad News #gay, Gawker and The Daily Caller
RELATED:

Dennis Rodman Screams at CNN's Chris Cuomo, Implies Kenneth Bae is Guilty in Bizarre Interview
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, TIME, Washington Free Beacon and National Review

How Janet Yellen's Agenda Could Transform Washington — The next Fed chair is an old-school progressive economist. Just wait until she starts sharing her passions. — Every Federal Reserve Board chairman comes into office with a secret agenda, a hidden passion.
Discussion:
New York Times
RELATED:

Janet Yellen confirmed as Federal Reserve chairman
Discussion:
The Week, Wonkblog and Booman Tribune


Unemployment benefit extension clears first hurdle — Washington (CNN) — [Breaking news update at 11:12 a.m. Tuesday] — A $6.4 billion plan to extend unemployment insurance benefits to eligible workers for another three months cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Business Insider
RELATED:

Income gap takes shape as central issue for both parties ahead of 2014 midterms
Discussion:
Business Insider, NBCNews and Associated Press

Barack Obama courts GOP ahead of uphill Senate vote
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Associated Press, The Hill, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, Talking Points Memo and CNN


Chicago Ban on Gun Sales Within City Struck Down by Judge — A Chicago law prohibiting the sale of guns within the third-most populous U.S. city was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal judge. — “Chicago's ordinance goes too far in outright banning legal buyers and legal dealers …
Discussion:
Chicago Sun Times, Taylor Marsh, Scared Monkeys, The Volokh Conspiracy and National Review
RELATED:

NBC's ‘Meet The Press’ hits historic lows in the final quarter of 2013 — It's no secret that NBC's “Meet The Press” has been in bad shape of late. Indeed, the show has been on the decline since David Gregory took over in 2008. But the most recent numbers are especially troubling.
Discussion:
Althouse and NewsBusters


If You Can't Go to Cedars-Sinai Anymore, Is It Obamacare's Fault? — Consumer choices, cachet, and health care reform — At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, originals by Picasso and Warhol hang in the hallways. The deluxe maternity rooms—three-bedroom, two-bath suites with views of the city …

Leading Republican jumps into hot House race — Washington (CNN) - A former aide to retiring Republican Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia Tuesday is officially jumping into the race for his U.S. House seat, which will be among the most contested and expensive congressional battles in this November's midterm elections.
Discussion:
Politico

CNN Poll: Support for legal marijuana soaring — Washington (CNN) - In a major turnaround from past decades, a majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana, according to a new poll. — The CNN/ORC International survey released Monday also indicated that the number of people who say smoking pot is morally wrong has plunged.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Politico, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider and KDVR.com


3 Amtrak Trains With Hundreds of Passengers Stranded Since Monday — About 500 passengers aboard three Amtrak trains were stranded overnight in a remote part of northern Illinois because of blowing and drifting snow, Amtrak officials said today. — The trains were halted late Monday near Mendota, about 80 miles west of Chicago.
Discussion:
Hot Air


New York City Murders Are Twice As Likely To Be Solved When The Victim Is White Instead Of Black — As the number of homicides dropped in New York City in the 1990s, so, too, did the percentage of murders considered solved. But in boroughs outside Manhattan with a large number …
Discussion:
Liberaland


Ten freshman governors who have shrunk their states' bureaucracies — In 2010, Americans went to the polls and elected a whole crop of new governors — 26 in all, if you count the election of governors who had previously served non-consecutive terms in Iowa and Oregon.


What Pope Francis Can Teach the GOP — With his softer message on gay and divorced families, the pope has figured out what the Republicans haven't grasped—you've got to tone it down if you want to keep a modern flock. — When the Catholic Church eclipses the Republican Party on social policy …
Discussion:
Advocate, Shakesville and Liberaland

Ghosts of Burke and Paine Still Haunt U.S. Politics — Sometimes the deepest differences in politics aren't about the conclusions people draw but the way they reach them. — The British statesman Edmund Burke and the Anglo-American revolutionary Thomas Paine both favored free trade, for example, but for different reasons.
Discussion:
National Review


Sasheer Zamata Joins ‘Saturday Night Live’ As New Cast Member — EXCLUSIVE: Three years after she graduated from the University of Virginia, Sasheer Zamata is landing a very big break — the young comedy performer has been selected to join Saturday Night Live as a new cast member.
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Week, The Verge, Guardian, New York Times, Gawker, Shakesville, Gothamist, Taylor Marsh, The Hinterland Gazette and Global Grind