‘Shoe Truthers’ Wonder If Hillary Staged Shoe Throwing Incident  —  Call them the shoe truthers.  —  Some conservative media figures are openly wondering if Hillary Clinton staged an incident during a speech in Las Vegas on Thursday in which a woman in the audience threw a shoe at her.

Budget Office Lowers Estimate for the Cost of Expanding Health Coverage  —  WASHINGTON — The insurance expansion under the Affordable Care Act will cost $1.383 trillion over the next decade, more than $100 billion less than previous forecasts, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday.

CHELSEA CLINTON MAKES HER MOVE  —  CHELSEA CLINTON IS THE PRODUCT OF TWO OF THE MOST POWERFUL BRANDS IN THE WORLD.  NOW SHE'S FINALLY CARVING OUT HER OWN IDENTITY—BY JOINING THE FAMILY BUSINESS.  —  Once upon a time, Chelsea Clinton was a little girl from Arkansas.  —  And deep down, she still is.

APNEWSBREAK: RUSSIAN JET PASSES NEAR US WARSHIP  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — A Russian fighter jet made multiple, close-range passes near an American warship in the Black Sea for more than 90 minutes Saturday amid escalating tensions in the region, U.S. military officials said Monday.

Bundy Ranch ‘Militia’ Considered Using Women As Human Shield  —  It appears that the anti-government activists protesting the Bureau of Land Management's actions against a Nevada cattle rancher were considering using women as a human shield if a gun battle had erupted during the standoff.

Perry hires lawyer for inquiry into veto threat  —  AUSTIN — Texas Gov. Rick Perry has hired a high-profile Austin defense lawyer to represent him in an investigation into whether he illegally withheld money from the Travis County District Attorney's office.

More Than Half of Americans Say Federal Taxes Too High  —  Fifty-four percent say they are fair, the lowest since 2001  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — As many Americans scramble to prepare their taxes ahead of the April 15 deadline, a majority, 52%, say the amount they have to pay in federal income tax is …

State GOP gets to vote on secession at convention  —  To secede or not to secede.  —  That will be the question for Wisconsin Republicans at next month's convention.  —  Earlier this month, the party's Resolutions Committee voted in favor of a proposal that says the state party …

Washington Post wins Pulitzer Prize for public service, shared with Guardian  —  The Washington Post won two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, including the prestigious public-service medal for a series of stories that exposed the National Security Agency's massive global surveillance programs.

Food Stamp Recipients Outnumber Women Who Work Full-Time  —  (CNSNews.com) - People participating in the food stamp program outnumbered the women who worked full-time, year-round in the United States in 2012, according to data from the Department of Agriculture and the Census Bureau.

Remy: Happy (Tax Day Edition)  —  Remy reworks the Pharrell Williams hit, “Happy,” for tax season.  —  Approximately two minutes.  —  Written and performed by Remy.  Video produced by Sean Malone.  All instruments and backing vocals by Ben Karlstrom.  —  LYRICS:  —  It might seem crazy what I'm about to say.

China Property Collapse Has Begun  —  Nothing is going right for Hangzhou at this moment.  Walmart will be closing its Zhaohui store in that city on April 23 as a part of its overall plan to dump marginal locations—about 9% of the total—in China.  —  Thanks to the world's largest retailer …

Why You Should Be Sympathetic Toward Cliven Bundy  —  On Saturday, I wrote about the standoff at Bundy Ranch.  That post drew a remarkable amount of traffic, even though, as I wrote then, I had not quite decided what to make of the story.  Since then, I have continued to study the facts and have drawn some conclusions.

Obamacare, The Unknown Ideal, Continued  —  The current state of public opinion on health reform is really peculiar.  If you've been following the issue at all closely, you know that the Affordable Care Act is one of the great comeback stories of public policy: after a terrible start, it has dramatically exceeded expectations.

Blackburn: GOP 'Led The Fight For Women's Equality' (VIDEO)  —  Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Sunday insisted that even though Republican Senators blocked the Democrats' equal pay bill last week, her party is fighting for women's rights.  —  “I find this war on women rhetoric just almost silly …

Accusation of FBI spying stalls 9/11 hearing  —  GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — A military judge abruptly recessed the first 9/11 trial hearing of the year Monday after defense lawyers accused the FBI in open court of trying to turn a defense team security officer into a secret informant.

Ukraine Falters in Drive to Curb Unrest in East  —  KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine's failure to enforce its own ultimatums and its appeal on Monday to the United Nations to send peacekeepers laid bare a grim reality for the shaky government in Kiev, where political leaders and security forces …

Eric Holder Says He Wasn't Playing Race Card When Decrying GOP Opposition  —  Racial Politics Al Sharpton Eric Holder Louie Gohmert Justice Department Eric Holder Civil Rights Eric Holder Civility Department of Justice Race Justice Department Ryan J. Reilly on Justice Eric Holder Eric Holder Race

Telephone conversation with President of the United States Barack Obama  —  Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the United States of America Barack Obama.  —  The leaders discussed various aspects of the crisis in Ukraine, first and foremost in the southeastern regions engulfed …