Tell us what you really think, Mr. Mayor  —  There are things that people know, or think that they know, about Rahm Emanuel: He is voluble, tireless, notoriously profane.  And yet, when I met him last month, all the stories hadn't prepared me for his intensity in person.

Jeb Bush Talks Approach If He Runs for President  —  COLLEGE STATION, Tex. — With eyes increasingly on him, Jeb Bush signaled on Sunday the kind of campaign he would mount if he runs for president, one arguing against ideological purity tests while challenging party orthodoxy on issues like immigration and education.

Oligarchs and Money  —  Econonerds eagerly await each new edition of the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook.  Never mind the forecasts, what we're waiting for are the analytical chapters, which are always interesting and even provocative.  This latest report is no exception.

Obama moving again on equal pay  —  President Obama is preparing to lean on companies that do business with the government with a pair of new executive actions designed to close the wage gap between men and women.  —  The orders, detailed by a White House official, reflect the latest steps taken …

ACA data leave GOP exposed  —  “What a difference a day makes — 24 little hours.”  Those lyrics about romance and spring flowers also fit the bill last week for congressional politics and the 2014 midterm elections.  —  Last Tuesday, the White House hit the 7 million-plus mark …

A View From the Inside  —  TPM Reader FL has a take from inside the tech industry which is sort of sitting right there in plain view but somehow has received not that much attention.  In short, an industry and community already engulfed in a pervasive discrimination crisis simply …

Mullen: More guns on bases not the answer  —  A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff argued Sunday against calls to relax gun restrictions on the nation's military bases in the wake of last week's deadly shooting spree at Fort Hood.  —  During an appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press …

Mickey Rooney, Legendary Actor, Dies at 93  —  Mickey Rooney, the pint-sized actor who was one of MGM's giant box office attractions in the late '30s and early '40s, died on Sunday.  He was 93.  —  As adept at comedy as drama and an excellent singer and dancer, Rooney was regarded as the consummate entertainer.

29 rebels dead in Syria premature car bomb blast: NGO  —  DAMASCUS: At least 29 rebels died in a blast Sunday in the central Syrian city of Homs as they primed a car bomb for an attack, a monitoring group said.  —  In the capital, meanwhile, two people were killed when mortar fire struck the Damascus Opera House, state media reported.

Rangel didn't pay rent but state bailed him out  —  New York City's longest-serving congressman won't pay his rent.  —  State taxpayers were stiffed out of at least $87,000 when Rep. Charles Rangel stopped paying for the district office he rents in Harlem's Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building …

The Red Line and the Rat Line  —  Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoan and the Syrian rebels  —  In 2011 Barack Obama led an allied military intervention in Libya without consulting the US Congress.  Last August, after the sarin attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, he was ready to launch …