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.

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 …

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.

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'

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.)

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 …

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 …

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.

Federal Budget Deficit Falls to Smallest Level Since 2008  —  The Treasury Department reported Thursday that the federal government's deficit was $680 billion in the last fiscal year, $409 billion less than in 2012, largely because of increased revenue.  —  WASHINGTON — Closing the books …

Obama unveils 'My Brother's Keeper,' opens up about his dad, drugs and race  —  (CNN) - The President has a message for young minority men who grew up like he did.  —  “No excuses.  Government, and private sector, and philanthropy, and all the faith communities, we all have a responsibility to help provide you the tools you need.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

After government shutdown, dozens of lawmakers gave to charity  —  From the very outset of the 16-day government shutdown last fall, members of congress recognized its potential for political damage.  So many of them, seeking to contain the possible fallout, pledged to give …

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 …

Study: Global Warming Will Cause 180,000 More Rapes by 2099  —  Controversial new research predicts that over the coming century, rising temperatures will result in more violent crime.  —  aijohn784/Thinkstock  —  Global warming isn't just going to melt the Arctic and flood our cities …

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.

SC officer shoots man reaching for cane  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. — A police officer in South Carolina shot a 70-year-old motorist who was reaching for a cane during a traffic stop because he thought the man was grabbing a rifle from the bed of his pickup truck, investigators said.  The man was expected to survive.

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 …

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.