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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, The Week, Hot Air, Mediaite, Booman Tribune, The PJ Tatler, No More Mister Nice Blog, CANNONFIRE, First Read and The Plum Line
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In surprise, unemployment benefits advance — In a surprise, several Senate Republicans on Tuesday morning joined with Democrats to break the filibuster of a bill to extend unemployment benefits for three months. — By 60-37, Senate Democrats secured the votes needed to advance the bill …
Discussion:
Slate, CNN, Taylor Marsh and The Raw Story


Morning Plum: Republicans reframing fight over unemployment benefits — With the three month extension of unemployment benefits set for a Senate vote this morning, multiple Republicans are going all in on the suggestion that they would support extending benefits if only it were paid for.

Narrow Senate Vote Advances Bill to Extend Jobless Aid — WASHINGTON — A Democratic push to extend unemployment benefits that have expired moved forward in the Senate on Tuesday morning, barely avoiding a Republican filibuster. — The 60-to-37 vote to take up a three-month extension …
Discussion:
The World's Greatest … and National Review


Democrats get Republican help to get unemployment bill over first hurdle
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Business Insider

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.


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 …
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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


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.

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


Senate Conversations: Paul Broun ‘Fighting For Liberty’ — The primary race for Georgia's open U.S. Senate seat heats up in the first weeks of 2014 with the election looming May 20. — For Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens), the race is all about liberty. — “What I'm fighting for is liberty.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Ajc Blogs: &lsquo and Taegan Goddard's …


Why Women Aren't Welcome on the Internet — “Ignore the barrage of violent threats and harassing messages that confront you online every day.” That's what women are told. But these relentless messages are an assault on women's careers, their psychological bandwidth, and their freedom to live online.
Discussion:
The Switch and The Verge


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.

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:
Politico, Hit & Run, Hot Air, The Dish, Washington Wire, NewsBusters, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider and KDVR.com

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:
Mirror of Justice and National Review


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.


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 …

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


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


How the NSA Threatens National Security — Our choice isn't between a digital world where the agency can eavesdrop and one where it cannot; our choice is between a digital world that is vulnerable to any attacker and one that is secure for all users. — Secret NSA eavesdropping is still in the news.
Discussion:
Washington Post


Ted Cruz's dad backs tea partier Katrina Pierson for Sessions' seat — Rafael Cruz says he's always liked tea party leader Katrina Pierson. — On Monday, Cruz, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz, endorsed the Garland Republican in her bid to beat incumbent Pete Sessions in the March primary for the 32nd Congressional District seat.
Discussion:
Politico and Post Politics