Top Items:
Fernanda Santos / New York Times:
Arizona Governor Vetoes Bill on Refusal of Service to Gays — PHOENIX — Ending a day that cast a glaring national spotlight on Arizona, the state's Republican governor, Jan Brewer, decided late Wednesday to veto a bill that would have given business owners the right to refuse service to gays and lesbians on religious grounds.
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Rich Lowry / Politico:
Brewer's Foolish Veto — In addition to the federal government, 18 states have such statutes and about a dozen other states interpret their state constitutions as extending the same protections, according to the letter. The statutes, the scholars write, “say that before government can burden …
Discussion:
Hinterland Gazette and alicublog
Don Banks / Sports Illustrated:
Source: NFL begins exploring Super Bowl XLIX relocation options — The NFL previously stripped Arizona of a Super Bowl in 1993, relocating the game to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. — Even as momentum continues to build against Arizona's controversial bill that would allow businesses …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, Guardian, Deadspin, ProFootballTalk, The Raw Story, CBS Detroit, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Daily Kos and NFL.com
Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
IT'S DEAD: Brewer Vetoes Anti-Gay Bill
IT'S DEAD: Brewer Vetoes Anti-Gay Bill
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, CNN, Democratic Strategist, Hinterland Gazette, Firedoglake and The Reaction
Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:
Rick Scott Now Says He Would Veto Arizona Anti-Gay Bill
Rick Scott Now Says He Would Veto Arizona Anti-Gay Bill
Discussion:
Cato Institute, The Reaction, The Dish, Naked Politics and The Huffington Post
Guardian:
GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide — • Optic Nerve program collected Yahoo webcam images in bulk — • 1.8m users targeted by UK agency in six-month period alone — • Yahoo: ‘A whole new level of violation of our users’ privacy'
Discussion:
BBC, Hit & Run, Gawker, The Verge, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Shakesville, emptywheel, The Agonist and Eschaton
Bradley A. Smith / Wall Street Journal:
Bradley A. Smith: Connecting the Dots in the IRS Scandal — The ‘smoking gun’ in the targeting of conservative groups has been hiding in plain sight. — The mainstream press has justified its lack of coverage over the Internal Revenue Service targeting of conservative groups because there's been no …
Discussion:
Power Line, Center for Competitive …, Betsy's Page and Jammie Wearing Fools
Cameron Joseph / The Hill:
Cruz won't promise to stay out of primaries — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Thursday didn't rule out involvement in GOP primaries this year against incumbent Republican senators. — Cruz said he had made no “ironclad promise” to stay out of the primaries. — “What I have said is that I'm likely …
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Tal Kopan / Politico:
Ted Cruz: GOP's 2014 on track to be 2010 — Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday that Republicans have a good chance of having a “surprising” pickup in the Senate in 2014, perhaps on the scale of the 2010 sea-change election. — “I think 2014 is poised to be a very, very strong Republican year,” …
Robert Costa / Post Politics:
Rand Paul: McConnell is no Arlen Specter
Rand Paul: McConnell is no Arlen Specter
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
CBS News:
Most Americans disappointed in Obama's presidency, poll says — Shares - — Amid continued pessimism about the economy and direction of the country, 59 percent of Americans say they are disappointed in Mr. Obama's presidency (including 37 percent who are very disappointed); 40 percent are satisfied.
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Alessandra Prentice / Reuters:
Ukraine leader warns Russia after armed men seize government HQ in Crimea — (Reuters) - Armed men seized the regional government headquarters and parliament in Ukraine's Crimea on Thursday and raised the Russian flag, alarming Kiev's new rulers, who urged Moscow not to abuse its navy base rights …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, BBC and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
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Dan Merica / CNN:
Clinton endorses looking at Obamacare fixes, but defends law — Orlando (CNN) - Hillary Clinton backed efforts to alter Obamacare on Wednesday, but also used her remarks to a health care group in Florida to offer a full defense of the sweeping and controversial law.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Hot Air and Washington Post
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Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Republicans too focused on health-care law, some in GOP warn
Republicans too focused on health-care law, some in GOP warn
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Salon, addictinginfo.org, Talking Points Memo, The Fix and kff.org
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Republicans flip-flop on ‘judicial activism’ — There was a time not too long ago when Republicans decried “activist judges.” Now they're lamenting that judges are not being activist enough. — “Unfortunately, the courts have been reluctant to exercise their constitutionally conferred power …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, JONATHAN TURLEY and Balloon Juice
Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:
New F.D.A. Nutrition Labels Would Make ‘Serving Sizes’ Reflect Actual Servings — WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration for the first time in two decades will propose major changes to nutrition labels on food packages, putting calorie counts in large type and adjusting portion sizes to reflect how much Americans actually eat.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Reuters, CNN, NPR, Politico, The Verge, The Daily Caller, Business Insider and Gizmodo
Peter Beinart / The Atlantic Online:
Was Bush Really a Champion of Democracy? — For five years now, it's happened again and again. A dictatorship somewhere wobbles, protesters crowd the streets, and the Obama administration strikes a careful tone, urging respect for human rights while trying to safeguard various American interests.
Greg Gilman / The Wrap:
Paula Deen Compares Her Struggles to ‘That Black’ Openly Gay NFL Prospect Michael Sam — The celebrity chef also expressed a newfound “empathy” for other controversial public figures such as “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson — Paula Deen's $100 million empire crumbled last year …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Raw Story, Shakesville and Joe. My. God.
RELATED:
Michelle Tauber / People.com:
Paula Deen: 'I'm Fighting to Get My Name Back'
Paula Deen: 'I'm Fighting to Get My Name Back'
Discussion:
E! Online, Mediaite, Towleroad News #gay and ABC News
Brent Budowsky / The Hill:
Bill Clinton's rescue ride — Springtime is coming, baseball teams have reassembled for training, Robert Redford is back on cable playing Roy Hobbs in “The Natural” and Bill Clinton has begun his ride to rescue Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections. — In politics, the trick …
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE
Alan I. Abramowitz / Sabato's Crystal Ball:
Generic Ballot Model Shows Senate Control at Tipping Point — Look for more partisan conflict and polarization in new Senate — Crystal Ball Senior Columnist Alan Abramowitz's discussion of his Senate elections model not only confirms how close we expect the 2014 Senate campaign will be …
Discussion:
Political Insider blog and The Plum Line
Elise Viebeck / The Hill:
Insurers become O-Care foot soldiers — Insurance companies are serving as foot soldiers for ObamaCare with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign intended to push customers into the insurance exchanges. — Though the companies are reluctant to publicize their role in the unpopular law …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Politico
Ted Carter / Mississippi Business Journal:
UPDATED: House subcommittee tosses discrimination elements from religious freedom bill — The Mississippi House of Representatives Civil Subcommittee late Wednesday voted to strike provisions of a so-called “religious freedom” bill that the ACLU and other legal experts said invites widespread discrimination …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, AMERICAblog News, LGBTQ Nation and ACLU of Mississippi
Raúl M. Grijalva / New York Times:
Obama's Pipeline — WASHINGTON — WHEN I was elected to Congress in 2002, George W. Bush was president and big business wrote environmental policy. We all remember Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force — a who's who of mining and oil interests — and the administration's constant questioning of climate science.
Discussion:
Businessweek
USA Today:
De Blasio's school fight: Column — New York disagreement over charter schools spotlights Democrat vs. Democrat battle. — Most non-New Yorkers know only two things about Bill de Blasio, the city's new progressive mayor: He eats pizza with a knife and fork, and Al Roker attacked him for sending students to school in a snowstorm.
Discussion:
Eduwonk
Glenn Thrush / Politico:
Joe Biden in winter — “The only thing I know is I ain't changing my brand. I know what I believe. I'm confident in what I know. And I'm gonna say it. And if folks like it, wonderful. If they don't like it, I understand.” — Vice President Joe Biden and I were riding the Amtrak to Philly on a frigid February day.