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Pope Francis Suggests Donald Trump Is ‘Not Christian’ — ABOARD THE PAPAL AIRLINER — Inserting himself into the Republican presidential race, Pope Francis on Wednesday suggested that Donald J. Trump “is not Christian” because of the harshness of his campaign promises to deport more immigrants …
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DONALD J. TRUMP RESPONSE TO THE POPE — If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS's ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened.

Trump goes to war with the pope — Pope Francis suggested Thursday that Donald Trump is “not Christian” because he wants to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Trump fired back with his own statement, suggesting to the leader of the Roman Catholic Church that the Islamic State …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Yahoo Politics, ABC News, New York Times and Right Wing Watch


Pope on Trump: Anyone who wants border walls isn't Christian — ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Thursday that Donald Trump is “not Christian” if he wants to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. Trump immediately fired back, saying it is disgraceful for a religious leader to question a person's faith.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Daily Wire


Pope Francis Rips Capitalism, American Immigration Policy at Mexican Border — Pope Francis, apparently desperate to reach out to the Catholic Church's growing base in Latin America, spent the day slapping Americans in the face from across the US-Mexico border.
Discussion:
Daily Wire and Reuters

Pope says Trump ‘not Christian’ in views, plans over immigration
Discussion:
Washington Post and Politico


Pope Francis Says Contraception May Be ‘Lesser of Two Evils’ During Zika Virus Outbreak
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, CRUX and abc11.com

Pope Francis Says Donald Trump Is ‘Not Christian’
Discussion:
Vox, addictinginfo.org, abc11.com and Associated Press


CBS News poll: Trump maintains commanding lead over GOP field — Donald Trump (35 percent) continues to hold a commanding lead over the rest of the field, with a 17 point lead over his closest rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz (18 percent). John Kasich (11 percent) has now risen to a virtual third-place tie with Marco Rubio (12 percent).
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NBC News, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Politico and USA Today
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CBS News poll: The next Supreme Court justice, Obama, and the economy — The U.S. Supreme Court — With an unexpected vacancy on the Supreme Court as a result of Justice Antonin Scalia's death, it's unclear if he will be replaced before the November election.
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ABC News, New York Times, Politico, NBC News, mprnews.org, BizPac Review, Wall Street Journal, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, abc11.com, The Week and Washington Post


The Republicans' Scalia Hysteria — A half-century ago, the brilliant British comedy troupe Beyond the Fringe produced “The End of the World,” a skit in which a group of cultists gather atop a mountain to greet the Apocalypse, prophesied for that very day. “Now is the end!” they chant.
Discussion:
New York Times, BloombergView.com, SCOTUSblog, Fusion, Prairie Weather and PrawfsBlawg


Scalia's death has landed Republicans in a nasty trap
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, CBS News, Common Dreams, Politico and Political Insider blog

White House: Obama ‘regrets’ his filibuster of Supreme Court nominee
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American Spectator, Politico, ABC News, The Daily Signal, CNBC, Power Line and The Week

Outside Groups Warn GOP: Don't Even Think About Holding A SCOTUS Hearing
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

Controversy Erupts At A T14 Law School Over How (Or Even Whether) To Mourn Justice Scalia
Discussion:
Independent Journal Review, Althouse, Instapundit, Campus Reform, The Daily Caller and The College Fix

Summing Up Scalia — Getting right to the point:
Discussion:
Balkinization

Donald Trump Falls Behind Ted Cruz in National NBC/WSJ Poll
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Salon, Mediaite, The Right Scoop, Hullabaloo, New York Times, CNN, TPNN, Refinery29, The Week, Politico, Business Insider, The Last Refuge, Talking Points Memo, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Caller, MSNBC, Charleston City Paper, National Review, AOL, Hot Air, Daily Wire, RedState, Washington Post, Conservative Review, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Fox News, Bloomberg Business, Florida Politics, Political Insider blog, New York Magazine, The Moderate Voice and Taylor Marsh

The Potential for the Most Liberal Supreme Court in Decades
Discussion:
Prairie Weather, ACS Blog and BloombergView.com

Glenn Beck: God took Scalia to give America Ted Cruz as president
Discussion:
TPNN, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit

JCN Launches “Let the People Decide” Campaign
Discussion:
Politico and Talking Points Memo

Republicans weigh denying Supreme Court nominee a hearing
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Politicus USA, Daily Kos and Washington Post

Sandra Day O'Connor: Obama should name Scalia's replacement
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Vox, Business Insider, The Huffington Post, Above the Law, addictinginfo.org and The Week


Mainstream G.O.P. Field of Three Faces Brutal Delegate Math — If the Republican Party remains divided for much longer, it will start getting more difficult for a mainstream candidate to win the nomination. — Yet Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and John Kasich all have incentives to stay in the race …
Discussion:
Shakesville
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Fox News Poll: Trump leads in South Carolina
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Talking Points Memo, Power Line, Political Wire, Politico and Hot Air

Jeb Bush confronted like never before by worried supporters
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National Review, addictinginfo.org, FiveThirtyEight, Marco Rubio, Florida Politics, Yahoo Politics, BostonGlobe.com and Politico

Trump leads Republican field nationally by more than 20 points: poll
Discussion:
Power Line


MSNBC's Town Hall With Donald Trump Was Disgraceful — The media's coverage of Trump has been soft, insufficient, and without substance. — Is Donald Trump in trouble? After facing hostile questions from Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Wednesday night—they comprehensively laid out his flip-flops …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Politicus USA, Washington Post and Mother Jones
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Trump: I'll be ‘neutral’ on Israel and Palestine — GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Wednesday refused to pick sides in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. — “You know, I don't want to get into it,” he told hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski during a MSNBC town hall in Charleston, S.C.
Discussion:
RedState, Daily Wire, Yahoo Politics, Betsy's Page, Hot Air, American Spectator and Mondoweiss

Trump Mistakenly Thinks Description Of Sanders Is About Himself (VIDEO)
Discussion:
MSNBC, Daily Wire and The Week


President Obama is going to Cuba. Here's why: — Cuba is only 90 miles from Florida, but for a long time the distance between our two countries seemed a lot greater. — For more than fifty years, the United States pursued a policy of isolating and pressuring Cuba.
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President Obama to Visit Cuba in Historic Trip Next Month
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CNN, abc11.com, Guardian, The Right Scoop, Weasel Zippers, New York Magazine and The Week

Oregon Occupier Countersues For $666 Billion, Citing ‘Works Of The Devil’ — Shawna Cox, one of the last militants to be arrested for occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge last month, has filed a counter-suit against the U.S. government and others in which she alleges “damages from the works of the devil in excess of 666,666,666,666.66.”
Discussion:
Friendly Atheist
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Cliven Bundy indicted by federal grand jury
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New York Magazine, Politicus USA, Mashable and The Atlantic

How to Break a Party — Beginning with the Tea Party wave and continuing through the not-Romney musical chairs of the 2012 Republican primary and the battles over debt limits and fiscal cliffs, most coverage of the Republican Party's internal divisions during the Obama era fell into an easy groove …


A note from the editorial director — Earlier today, SB Nation posted a story called “Who is Daniel Holtzclaw?” that attempted to find out the backstory of convicted serial rapist Daniel Holtzclaw. The story focused on his football background in particular.
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New York Times, Deadspin, Jezebel, Talking Points Memo, Slate, archive.is, Shakesville, FanSided and Slantpoint, more at Mediagazer »


Obama ‘Hope’ designer endorses Sanders — Artist and activist Shepard Fairey, who designed the iconic “Hope” poster during then-Sen. Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, is backing Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. — “I'm supporting Bernie Sanders …
Discussion:
Daily Wire, Politico, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, Vox and The Huffington Post


Apple Unlocked iPhones for the Feds 70 Times Before — A 2015 court case shows that the tech giant has been willing to play ball with the government before—and is only stopping now because it might “tarnish the Apple brand.” — Apple CEO Tim Cook declared on Wednesday that his company …
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The Moderate Voice, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Techdirt, Guardian, TechCrunch, Hit & Run, Common Dreams, USA TODAY College, KTLA, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Week, Infowars, Defense One, Jihad Watch, New York Times, Sputnik International, Slantpoint, CBS Boston, blog maverick, Ars Technica UK, New York Magazine, The Verge, Vox, VentureBeat, LawNewz, Fox News, CNN, Investor's Business Daily, The People's View, protein wisdom, alec.org, Mashable, The Next Web and NPR