Top Items:

Why Chris Christie never went after Donald Trump — Twenty-four hours before Chris Christie dropped out of the presidential race, the New Jersey governor chatted on his campaign bus about taking on Donald Trump the way he went after Marco Rubio. — Three days earlier …
Discussion:
Politico
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Cruz, Trump tied in WFAA Texas poll … DALLAS - Six days before Super Tuesday, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are now tied in Texas, according to a new public opinion poll commissioned by WFAA-TV. — Cruz and Trump both had 32 percent support from likely and actual GOP primary voters, with a 3.9 percent margin of error.
Discussion:
The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, The Federalist, Washington Times and Buffalo News


It's Time for an Anti-Trump Manhattan Project — For the last eight months or so, a significant portion of the Republican party's voters have been in thrall to a bizarre, Occupy-esque conspiracy theory, which holds as its central thesis that sabotage and pusillanimity are the root causes of the Right's recent woes.
Discussion:
The Last Refuge, alicublog and Balloon Juice

Debate Another Chance for Rubio, Cruz to Try to Slow Trump — With Donald Trump's grasp on the Republican presidential nomination tightening, the billionaire businessman's rivals get one more chance to challenge the GOP front-runner on the debate stage before next week's slate of Super Tuesday contests.
Discussion:
ABC News

RNC sees leverage over Trump — Donald Trump has steamrolled toward the Republican nomination by lambasting all things political establishment, and now that establishment thinks it can convince their insult-wielding front-runner he needs them. — Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus …
Discussion:
Political Wire


Romney suggests a ‘bombshell’ in Trump's tax returns — There might be a “bombshell” revelation to be discovered in Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump's tax returns, 2012 party nominee Mitt Romney said Wednesday. — He also called on the entire GOP field to release their tax returns.
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and CBS New York

Cecile Richards: “I Appreciate Donald Trump's Kind Words About Planned Parenthood” — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been taking criticism from pro-life voters for his repeated claims that the Planned Parenthood abortion business does “good work” and “wonderful things.”
Discussion:
RedState, The Resurgent and Independent Journal Review


Can Donald Trump be stopped?
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Examiner, Business Insider, Raw Story and Downtrend

Marco Rubio Gets Party's Blessing, but Not Voters'
Discussion:
Politico and Washington Post

Republicans' Last-Ditch Hope To Stop Donald Trump
Discussion:
The Week

Conservative Leaders Hedge on Support for Cruz
Discussion:
Trail Blazers Blog

The Only Strategy For Hillary Clinton Is To Scorch The Earth
Discussion:
Guardian, CNN, Taylor Marsh, New York Magazine and Political Wire

Republican governor of Nevada Brian Sandoval being considered for Supreme Court — Brian Sandoval, the centrist Republican governor of Nevada, is being vetted by the White House for a possible nomination to the Supreme Court, according to two people familiar with the process.
Discussion:
The Week, CNN, Associated Press, Power Line, Slantpoint, New York Times, Instapundit, Business Insider, Hot Air, Guardian, Towleroad, The Atlantic, Politico, The Federalist, New York Times, Des Moines Register, ThinkProgressPage Array, Hullabaloo, Trail Blazers Blog, NBC News, American Spectator, Reno Gazette-Journal, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, Althouse, Mediaite and LawNewz
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Struggle Over Supreme Court Pick Enters a New Level of ‘Hardball Politics’
Discussion:
Slantpoint and Balloon Juice

Kirk would meet with Obama SCOTUS nominee
Discussion:
Politico, Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo


Justice Scalia spent his last hours with members of this secretive society of elite hunters — When Justice Antonin Scalia died 11 days ago at a West Texas ranch, he was among high-ranking members of an exclusive fraternity for hunters called the International Order of St. Hubertus, an Austrian society that dates back to the 1600s.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Little Green Footballs, The Week, Booman Tribune and Associated Press


Apple Is Said to Be Working on an iPhone Even It Can't Hack — WASHINGTON — Apple engineers have already begun developing new security measures that would make it impossible for the government to break into a locked iPhone using methods similar to those now at the center of a court fight in California …
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Business Insider, Mashable, The Scoop Blog, The Verge, MacRumors, LawNewz and Slantpoint
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Exclusive: Apple CEO Tim Cook Says iPhone-Cracking Software ‘Equivalent of Cancer’
Discussion:
Washington Post, Mashable, NPR, The Week and Associated Press


New White Supremacist PAC Robocalls: 'Don't Vote For A Cuban,' Vote Trump! (AUDIO) — A white supremacist super PAC is rolling out a fresh robocall campaign this week in Vermont and Minnesota telling voters, “Don't vote for a Cuban. Vote for Donald Trump.”
Discussion:
Mediaite
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Charges dropped in gang rape probe at Brownsville playground after victim recants story — BROWNSVILLE, Brooklyn — Charges have been dropped against the five teens who had been accused of raping an 18-year-old girl at a Brownsville playground last month after the victim changed her story.
Discussion:
FOX31 Denver and KTLA
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Boy removed from plane over allergies, passengers applaud — COUPEVILLE, Wash. - Instead of sightseeing on a ferry, 7-year-old Giovanni, his mom, Christina Fabian, and dad, George Alvarado should have already boarded a flight. — “We were on Flight 171,” said Fabian.
Discussion:
FOX2now.com, KTLA and KOIN-TV


Does Ben Carson Suspect His Campaign Was a Scam? — For months, reporters and political operatives (including me) have been pointing out that Ben Carson's campaign bears many of the hallmarks of a political scam operation. Now Carson seems to agree. On CNN on Tuesday, Carson discussed his year-end staff shake-up:
Discussion:
ThinkProgressPage Array, The Lonely Conservative, Hullabaloo, The Stranger … and RedState


‘DARK DAY’: Sheriff's deputy killed, 2 deputies injured in Colorado shootout — Police say deputies were approached at a rural home while serving an eviction notice (KDVR) — DEVELOPING: A sheriff's deputy was killed and two others were injured Wednesday in a shootout shortly after serving …
Discussion:
FOX31 Denver and John Hawkins' Right Wing News
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Baby sitter charged with murder in death of Staten Island 16-month-old — STATEN ISLAND - The baby sitter charged with killing 16-month-old Staten Island toddler faced the family of the young boy amid sobs, shrieks of pain and shouts of “you should rot in hell forever.”
Discussion:
KTLA and myfox8.com


Trump Is A Rump, But He Has A Point — Let me begin by telling you what I think about Donald Trump. I stress that I am not trying to tell you what you should think about The Donald; I am merely telling you what I think, how I react to him. — I have despised Trump for 35 or 40 years …
Discussion:
Bill James Online and Politico


Woman, 50, died after being ‘deprived of water’ at Charleston County jail — A woman who was arrested at a hospital over the summer for failing to pay court fines died the next day because she was deprived of water at the Charleston County jail, her family's attorneys said Wednesday.