Top Items:
Tami Luhby / CNNMoney.com:
Now on your restaurant bill: Obamacare fee — Several restaurants in a Florida chain are asking customers to help foot the bill for Obamacare. — Diners at eight Gator's Dockside casual eateries are finding a 1% Affordable Care Act surcharge on their tabs, which comes to 15 cents on a typical $15 lunch tab.
Guardian:
Yahoo webcam images from millions of users intercepted by GCHQ — • 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:
New York Times, TechCrunch, Los Angeles Times, The PJ Tatler, Taylor Marsh, AMERICAblog News, Gizmodo, PandoDaily, Engadget, Hit & Run, Shakesville, Gawker, The Verge, BBC, Mashable, susiemadrak.com, emptywheel, BillMoyers.com, The Agonist and Eschaton
Ramsey Cox / The Hill:
GOP blocks veterans bill — Senate Republicans stopped Democrats from advancing a bill that would have expanded healthcare and education programs for veterans. — In a 56-41 vote Thursday, the motion to waive a budget point of order against the bill failed, as Democrats fell short …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The Moderate Voice and PoliticusUSA
RELATED:
Alan Fram / Associated Press:
Senate Blocks Dems' Bill Boosting Vets' Benefits — A divided Senate on Thursday derailed Democratic legislation providing $21 billion for medical, education and job-training benefits for the nation's veterans, as the bill fell victim to election-year disputes over spending and whether to slap sanctions on Iran.
Discussion:
The Hill, Politico and ThinkProgress
Alan I. Abramowitz / Sabato's Crystal Ball:
Generic Ballot Model Shows Senate Control at Tipping Point
Generic Ballot Model Shows Senate Control at Tipping Point
Discussion:
Political Insider blog, The Plum Line, Washington Monthly and VodkaPundit
Abby D. Phillip / ABC News:
An Unhappy 5th Birthday For The Tea Party … Five years after the Republican Party birthed the tea party movement, mother and child have never been more at odds. — The tension between “establishment” Republicans and tea party activists was on full display today at a 5th Anniversary event in Washington.
Discussion:
Politico and his vorpal sword
RELATED:
NorthJersey.com:
GWB Scandal: Release of previously redacted messages reveals new information — The private messages that linked Governor Christie's office to lane closures at the George Washington Bridge also contain jokes about causing “traffic problems” at the home of a New Jersey rabbi associated …
Discussion:
New York Times, Taylor Marsh, Politico, Firedoglake, Business Insider and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Eugene Volokh / Washington Post:
Not safe to display American flag in American high school — Today's Dariano v. Morgan Hill Unified School Dist. (9th Cir. Feb. 27, 2014) upholds a California high school's decision to forbid students from wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo. (See here and here for more on this case.)
Discussion:
National Review, Hit & Run and The PJ Tatler
RELATED:
Miranda Blue / Right Wing Watch:
Tea Party Nation: Brewer's Veto Imposed ‘Slavery,’ Mandatory Penis Cakes For ‘Homosexual Weddings’ — Judson Phillips, president of Tea Party Nation, is a little upset about Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's decision last night to veto a bill that would have expanded the ability of business owners …
Michael J. Feeney / NY Daily News:
Harlem pastor makes bizarre homophobic claim about president on church sign: ‘Obama has released the homo demons on the black man’ — Pastor James David Manning's homophobic sign was unveiled Sunday in front of the ATLAH World Missionary Church near the corner of W. 123rd St and Lenox Ave.
Discussion:
Towleroad News #gay, The Daily Caller, Hinterland Gazette and Mediaite
RELATED:
Jessica Chasmar / Washington Times:
Harlem church sign warns: Obama has released ‘the homo demons’
Harlem church sign warns: Obama has released ‘the homo demons’
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared, Talking Points Memo and VodkaPundit
Associated Press:
Obama plan aims to improve odds for minority boys — WASHINGTON (AP) — In strong, often personal terms, President Barack Obama on Thursday called for vigorous efforts to reverse underachievement among young black and Hispanic males. He also cautioned young minority men not to repeat his own youthful mistakes in an unforgiving world.
Discussion:
Power Line
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Russell Berman / The Hill:
Boehner says Republicans will lead, but backs away from votes — Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday defended the House GOP's go-slow approach on immigration, tax reform and replacing ObamaCare, saying the party wanted to avoid repeating mistakes Democrats made and had to face the “reality” of its limited power in Washington.
Discussion:
Politico and BobCesca.com
RELATED:
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Bob Corker: Obama talks ‘were never serious’
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:
protein wisdom, Center for Competitive …, Betsy's Page, Power Line, Jammie Wearing Fools and Shot in the Dark
Josh Rogin / The Daily Beast:
The GOP Already Has a 2016 Front-Runner... for Vice President — As defense and foreign policy return to the fore and with a Hillary candidacy looming, the first term New Hampshire senator is looking more and more like the GOP's best veep choice to sure up the ticket in 2016.
Discussion:
Hot Air, NationalJournal.com and Fox News
Jerry Brown:
To my fellow citizens of California: — To my fellow citizens of California: — Four years ago, I asked that you support my candidacy for governor based on my bringing an “insider's knowledge but an outsider's mind” to fix the budget breakdown and overcome Sacramento's poisonous partisanship.
Discussion:
OnPolitics and blog.sfgate.com
Carol Costello / CNN:
HotJesus: Must He be sexy? — Editor's note: Carol Costello anchors the 9 to 11 a.m. ET edition of CNN's “Newsroom” each weekday. Watch at 9:40 a.m. ET Thursday for a discussion of the new film about Jesus. — (CNN) — Clearly Jesus was sexy. — After all, He is the Son of God.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite and The Huffington Post
Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:
Bitcoin: By The Privileged, For The Privileged — A protester stands outside of Mt Gox headquarters in Tokyo after the Bitcoin banking site's collapse. — CREDIT: AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi — Every once in a while — most recently with the collapse of online exchange site Mt Gox …
Discussion:
Hit & Run and New York Times
Andrew Wolfson / Courier-Journal:
Gay marriages recognized in Kentucky for now — At least for now, Kentucky must recognize same-sex marrriages performed in states where it is legal. — U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn today made final a ruling issued earlier this month in which he found that Kentucky's marriage amendment …
Discussion:
Lexington Herald-Leader, Daily Kos, GLAAD and Towleroad News #gay
RELATED:
Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Kentucky Ordered To Recognize Same-Sex Couples Marriages
Kentucky Ordered To Recognize Same-Sex Couples Marriages
Discussion:
Freedom to Marry Blog
Carl Campanile / New York Post:
De Blasio starts his war on charter schools — The de Blasio administration is blocking the opening or expansion of three Success Academy charter schools run by Eva Moskowitz. — The charter schools received approval last year from former Mayor Mike Bloomberg to operate rent-free in existing city buildings starting in the fall.
Discussion:
The Heritage Foundation, USA Today, Washington Free Beacon, Joanne Jacobs and Jammie Wearing Fools
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:
Reuters, NPR, CNN, Politico, Business Insider, TVNewser, ThinkProgress, Balloon Juice, The Daily Caller, The Verge and Gizmodo
New York Times:
Complete Results: New York Times/CBS News February Poll — The nationwide poll was conducted Feb. 19 to 23 by landline and cellphone among 1,644 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for all adults and plus or minus 6 points for Republicans, Democrats and independents.
Discussion:
Mediaite, National Review, The Plum Line, Hit & Run and American Power
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:
Firedoglake, People.com, Talking Points Memo, The Raw Story, E! Online, The Huffington Post, Gawker, Colorlines, Shakesville, Hinterland Gazette, Mediaite, ABC News and Joe. My. God.
Ana Marie Cox / Guardian:
How to fight the war on voting rights: truth, justice and not the Biden way — Don't tell the conservative believers of the ‘voter fraud’ myth they're racist or full of hate. Tell 'em they're afraid - and wrong — Biden, and the rest of us, shouldn't make ‘white boy’ jokes.
Discussion:
NAACP LDF
Peter Suderman / Reason:
Obamacare's Failed State Exchanges — The federal government spent more than $1.2 billion on state-based online insurance portals that remain broken. — The federal government spent more on broken state-run exchanges than it did on its own troubled system.
Discussion:
Hit & Run and Washington Post
Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Bill O'Reilly: There MUST Be A Downside To A Woman President (VIDEO) — There has got to be a downside to electing a woman to the presidency, and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly is determined to mansplain just what that could be. — On Wednesday's “The Factor” O'Reilly followed up on Rep. Michele Bachmann's …
Discussion:
ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, PoliticusUSA and Mediaite
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Clinton Library to make first release of withheld records — The Clinton Presidential Library will make its first release on Friday of records that were previously withheld from the public under legal provisions that expired early last year, a spokeswoman for the National Archives said.
Discussion:
The Week and Post Politics