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Rebranding: Who Needs It? — The Mike Huckabee brouhaha yesterday offered about the 155th recent opportunity for non-conservatives to observe that the “rebranding” exercise of the Republican Party isn't going that well. But as The Atlantic's Molly Ball observes today, Republicans really just don't care:
Discussion:
Booman Tribune
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Does the Republican Party Have to Change? — The members of the Republican National Committee gathered in Washington this week. On Thursday, Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and former presidential candidate, was the featured speaker. “The Democrats,” Huckabee declared …
Discussion:
Mediaite

Why Republicans Keep Calling Women Sluts
Discussion:
The Mahablog, Booman Tribune, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, Feministing and No More Mister Nice Blog


Exclusive: Republican Party Calls For End To NSA Domestic Phone Records Program
Discussion:
Independent Journal Review, CANNONFIRE, Techdirt, The PJ Tatler, Guardian, TechCrunch, Hot Air and The Hill

For GOP, Adjusted 2016 Primary Calendar Is All About The Money
Discussion:
ABC News, Los Angeles Times, Politico and The Week

Republicans Vote to Streamline Nominating Process
Discussion:
Washington Post and She The People

Court gives nuns a compromise on health care issue — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday offered a short-term compromise that would continue to exempt a group of Denver nuns that operates charity nursing homes from the birth control mandate of the nation's health care law if they declare their objections in writing.
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WFPL
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Contraceptive mandate delay granted — The Obama administration cannot enforce the Affordable Care Act's contraception coverage requirements against a Catholic nuns' order for the time being, if the nuns tell the government they object to providing that coverage, the Supreme Court ruled Friday afternoon.
Discussion:
Becket Fund, CNN and The Heritage Foundation

Supreme Court says nuns are exempt for now from Obamacare contraceptives rule
Discussion:
The Democratic Daily


Supreme Court Exempts Religious Nonprofits From Contraception Mandate Paperwork During Appeal
Discussion:
SCOTUSblog, ThinkProgress and Election Law Blog

In Nuns' Suit, Justices Block Key Mandate in Health Law
Discussion:
ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

Simas heads up new office at White House — The White House on Friday announced David Simas, a senior adviser to President Obama who managed the healthcare rollout, will head up a new post at the White House: Office of Political Strategy and Outreach. — The White House created the role …
Discussion:
CNN
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White House to launch new political office — Democratic campaign operatives have been getting worried that the White House wasn't doing enough to help them in the midterms, and that President Barack Obama didn't care enough to change that. — Friday, Obama is will provide the answer …
Discussion:
CNN, The Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers


Judge Orders Hospital to Remove Pregnant Woman From Life Support — FORT WORTH — A Texas judge ruled on Friday that a Fort Worth hospital must remove the life support of a pregnant brain-dead woman, siding with the husband and family in a case that has drawn national attention.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Moderate Voice and Althouse
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Judge orders JPS Hospital to withdraw life support for brain-dead pregnant woman
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The Raw Story and NPR


Attorney: George Zimmerman stole photographer's work to make painting — Lawyer for photographer who took picture of Angela Corey: “You just can't do that.” — The special prosecutor who charged George Zimmerman with second-degree murder in the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin …


EXCLUSIVE: POLITICO TRIES TO MANIPULATE HANNITY COMMENT ON MICHAEL SAVAGE — On Friday, Politico was set to release a puff piece on Michael Savage, the polarizing host tapped by Cumulus to replace iconic talker Sean Hannity on its affiliates. In the process of putting together that puff piece, Politico contacted Hannity for comment.
Discussion:
American Spectator


GWB scandal: Port Authority won't pay legal bills for David Wildstein — The Port Authority will not pick up the legal bills of a former executive at the center of an investigation into the George Washington Bridge access lane closures. — On Friday morning the agency notified David Wildstein …
Discussion:
The Raw Story, Liberaland and Talking Points Memo


Glitch Is Causing Thousands Of Emails To Be Sent To One Man's Hotmail Account — David S. Peck is getting a lot of emails. In a glitch possibly related to the massive Gmail outage underway right now, there's an odd bug in Google search which is pointing users directly to his personal email address.


Old Democratic Name (Nunn) Stakes Bid on Shifting Georgia — PERRY, Ga. — As a little girl, Michelle Nunn clutched her father's hand as they strolled the pecan groves of the family's 2,400-acre farm, a moment captured in a black-and-white photograph that Sam Nunn used to help win election to the Senate.


RNC tightens 2016 primary calendar, rules — A series of changes aimed at tightening the GOP presidential primary calendar sailed through a vote at the Republican National Committee's winter meeting, giving the party new tools to control its nomination process.
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Monthly, The Impolitic and americanthinker.com
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Growing Dem opposition could doom ObamaCare
Discussion:
The Federalist, News Desk, VodkaPundit, TheBlaze.com and Reuters


The Keeping-Up-With-the-Joneses Myth — Behind the Great Recession, there was a credit crunch. Behind the credit crunch, there was a housing bust. And behind the housing bust, there was an explosion in debt in mid-2000s among low-income households. — So what was behind that?
Discussion:
Daily Kos


Pope Francis Is Drafting An Encyclical On The Environment — VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has begun drafting an encyclical on ecology. — The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the document was still very much in its early stages and that no publication date has been set.

Milestone: 3 Million in Marketplaces — Since the beginning of open enrollment, millions of Americans are gaining access to health coverage-many for the very first time—thanks to the Affordable Care Act. The most recent data indicates that approximately 3. million people have now enrolled …
Discussion:
The New Republic, Politico, TIME, The Daily Caller, ACASignups.net, Weasel Zippers and Balloon Juice
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