BY THE NUMBERS

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/sen-barrasso-administration-cooking-books
Sen. Barrasso: Administration 'Cooking The Books' On Obamacare Enrollment

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/03/31/the-aca-enrollment-surge-by-the-numbers/?wprss=rss_politics&clsrd
Although we won't know for at least a few weeks how many people signed up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act, one thing is clear: There clearly has been an uptick in enrollment in recent days. . . .

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/31/obamacare-by-the-numbers.html
Assessing Obamacare By the Numbers

Republicans have to kiss the ring

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/christie-walker-kasich-bush-sheldon

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/george-w-bushs-chief-strategist-blasts-jeb

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/bow-down-to-pharoah

NEITHER party is doing a very good job of courting Latino voters

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/us/hopes-frustrated-many-latinos-reject-the-ballot-box-altogether.html?hp&_r=0

In case you missed the Sunday talk shows

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/30/sunday_talk_shows_5_clips_you_missed/

Bonus item: Hilarious. A fiction overlaid on a fiction, you can't ask how "accurate" the film "Noah" is

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2014/03/okay-then.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

ANGER MANAGEMENT

The Christie defense report isn't just intemperate in tone, it is positively vicious in attacking Bridget Kelly and others. Why?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-christie-way

What do you do when the demographics of voting turn against you? Make it harder for those groups to vote. But it's hard to do it in a way that doesn't make your discriminatory intent obvious

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/us/new-gop-bid-to-limit-voting-in-swing-states.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

New G.O.P. Bid to Limit Voting in Swing States

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/judge-tells-north-carolina-republicans
Judge Tells North Carolina Republicans To Hand Over Docs And Emails Related To Voting Law

Help us Jebbie One, you're our only hope!

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/03/29/influential_republicans_working_to_draft_jeb_bush.html
 
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_03/give_all_your_money_to_jeb049684.php?

Dick Cheney is another loser who just can't stop trying to rewrite history to justify himself

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_03/an_actually_weak_president049681.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_03/i_want_my_torture049677.php

The Sunday talk show line-ups

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/sunday-morning-bobblehead-thread-3
ABC's "This Week" —Assemblyman John Wisniewski, D-N.J.; Roundtable: ABC News contributor and Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd, ABC News contributor and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, and ABC News contributor and former Obama White House senior adviser David Plouffe. ESPN’s Keith Olbermann.  

NBC's "Meet the Press" — Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Fmr. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and New Jersey State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck); Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic and Avik Roy of Forbes magazine; Michael Leiter, former White House adviser on counterterrorism. Roundtable: former Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum; national editor of the Cook Political Report Amy Walter; Peter Baker of the New York Times; and the youngest mayor in the history of Ithaca, NY, Svante Myrick.  

CBS' "Face the Nation" — NCAA President Mark Emmert; Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA); Michael Hayden, former head of the CIA and the National Security Agency; Michael Morrell, former deputy CIA director and member of NSA Surveillance Review Group; Cmdr. William J. Marks, U.S. Navy 7th Fleet, which is involved in the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines jet. Panel: Gwen Ifill of PBS, Carolyn Ryan of The New York Times, David Ignatius of The Washington Post, and David Gergen of CNN.  

MSNBC's "UP with Steve Kornacki" - Andrew Zimbalist, Smith College; T.J. Moe, professional football player; Kasie Hunt, NBC News; Jon Ralston, “Ralston Reports” Host; Daivd Brock, Media Matters for America; Benjy Sarlin, MSNBC.com 

MSNBC's "Melissa Harris Perry" -- Saru Jayaraman, Director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley; Mark Alexander, Former Senior Advisor to Barack Obama / Law Professor at Seton Hall University; Akhil Reed Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University; Igor Volsky, Managing Editor at Thinkprogress.org; Roben Farzad, Writer at Businessweek.com; Carl Kenny, Columnist at Columbia Faith and Values; Christina Bellantoni, Editor in Chief, at Roll Call; Lenny Alcivar, Republican Strategist / Senior Vice President at Hynes Communications.

MSNBC's "Disrupt with Karen Finney" -- Raul Reyes, USA Today; Anne Filipic, Enroll America; Jackie Kucinich, Washington Post; Perry Bacon, TheGrio.com; David Brock, Media Matters for America; Laura Bassett, Huffington Post; Ilyse Hogue, President, NARAL.  

CNN's "State of the Union" — Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; former U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte; Governor Jay Inslee joins us from Arlington, Washington. Panel: Bill Burton, Kevin Madden, Darlene Superville.  

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" -- New Yorker’s Evan Osnos; Tina Brown, founder of the Women in the World Summit, Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post and the new book Thrive, Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature, and Joseph Nye, a professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. 

MOYERS & COMPANY: Public Schools for Sale? Preeminent education historian and public school advocate Diane Ravitch talks to Bill this week about the private sellout of public schools.

Bonus item: Theocrat heads explode over "Noah"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/29/1288167/-Saturday-nutpick-a-palooza-Satanic-Christian-films-in-da-house

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/30/what-noah-gets-right.html

Fossils! http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/two-christian-sc-senators-block-third

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Your daily Christie

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/christie-scandal-open-questions
Four Big Questions Left Unanswered In Christie's Self-Exoneration

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/28/chris_christies_work_of_fiction_what_his_defense_lawyers_fake_probe_overlooked/
Chris Christie’s work of fiction: What his defense lawyer’s fake “probe” overlooked 

Sexist too: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/03/chris-christie-report-slammed-as-sexist.html

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/28/christies_creepy_misogyny_behold_his_despicable_%E2%80%9Cblame_bridget%E2%80%9D_strategy/

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/david-samson-resigns
Port Authority Chairman Resigns In Response To Christie Scandal Report

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/christie-scandal-never-know-motive
Christie: 'I Don't Know If We'll Ever Know What The Motive Is'

Hurry up

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/27/1287874/-White-House-provides-more-information-on-proposal-to-end-NSA-bulk-data-nbsp-collection
White House provides more information on proposal to end NSA bulk data collection 

More: http://www.emptywheel.net/2014/03/28/more-clarity-and-lack-thereof-in-the-obama-dragnet-reform

http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/03/28/dissecting-obamas-proposed-nsa-reforms/

Wisconsin makes it harder to vote

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/gov-scott-walker-ends-early-absentee

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_03/war_on_early_voting_continues049675.php

Koch addiction

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/28/campus_crusaders_inside_the_koch_brothers_plot_to_transform_higher_education_partner/
Inside the Koch brothers’ plot to transform higher education

A headline for our times: GOP chairman decides to quit congress and go into talk radio, where he can really make a difference

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/us/politics/representative-mike-rogers-will-not-run-again.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Head of Intelligence Panel in House Says He’ll Retire to Take Job as Radio Host

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/03/28/mike-rogers-wants-to-move-the-needle-on-the-2016-elections/?wprss=rss_politics&clsrd

The right-wing attack on Stephen Colbert

http://americablog.com/2014/03/stephen-colbert-must-destroyed.html

Bonus item: Do both sides do it?  

http://prospect.org/article/some-notes-outrage-industrial-complex 

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

TANGLED WEB

The report by Christie's lawyers not only doesn't clear him, it raises new questions 

http://news.firedoglake.com/2014/03/27/investigation-of-governor-chris-christie-by-christies-lawyers-exonerates-christie/
Brace yourselves, the tax-payer funded million dollar investigation into Governor Chris Christie’s conduct by Governor Chris Christie’s lawyers has found that Governor Chris Christie did nothing wrong. 

Case closed. Unless you think there might be a conflict of interest in having your own lawyers – paid to defend you – investigate your conduct.  You don’t, do you?  

The report is written like a political document labeling opponents as “crazy” and disclosing a personal relationship between Bill Stepien and Bridget Kelly. . . 

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/03/christie-lawyers-engage-special-pleading-their-client
Tell me: does this sound like a dispassionate review of the evidence? Or does it sound like the closing arguments to a jury on behalf of a client accused of corruption? . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/new-problem-for-christie 
Despite the gloss, there were some real pieces of news that came out of the BridgeGate report just released by Chris Christie's lawyers. 

Chief among them was the revelation that the governor was told about the traffic jams on the George Washington Bridge in September while they are still ongoing. .  . . .

But as TPM has detailed previously, the timeline seems to get more problematic for Christie with each new data point added. That's because early on in the scandal, he made statements claiming to have known nothing about the traffic jams until they were over. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-chris-christies-news-conference-on-george-washington-bridge-scandal/2014/01/09/d0f4711c-7944-11e3-8963-b4b654bcc9b2_print.html
[Christie, January 9] I don't know what else to say except to tell them that I had no knowledge of this -- of the planning, the execution or anything about it -- and that I first found out about it after it was over. 

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2014/03/and-your-response-was.html
So the Christie story is now "I was told about it but I forgot." But he didn't, at the time, respond "no dude that's wrong don't do that." 

More: http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/chris-christie-denies-being-told-wildstein

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/27/team-christie-clears-christie-over-bridgegate.html
For all their interviewing and document reviewing, Mastro and his team left out some really important figures. They did not speak to the three most important people involved in the Bridgegate scandal (aside from Christie himself): Kelly, Wildstein and Port Authority Chairman David Samson. Kelly and Wildstein, Mastro said, plead the Fifth. Samson, he said, “refused.”  

Mastro did not seem worried about questions regarding how he came to any conclusion at all—let alone one that exonerates Christie—without talking to key figures in the Bridgegate scandal. 

Why is Samson treated differently? http://on.msnbc.com/1jBgyeq 

More highlights: http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/chris-christie-bridge-scandal-report-key

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/03/christie-bridge-scandal-report-juicy-parts.html 

Obamacare signups reach 6 million

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/obamacare-6-million-enrollees

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/27/obamacare-enrollment_n_5044003.html

Meanwhile: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/27/obamacare-modification_n_5044278.html
Eager to respond to the angst over the Affordable Care Act, a group of six moderate Democratic and Independent senators have introduced a series of policy proposals designed to fix the health care law.  The proposals, from Sens. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Angus King (I-Maine), would provide consumers with options for cheaper, less comprehensive coverage, increase the portability of the health plans they already have and ease the financial burdens on small businesses that provide coverage.  . . . But while the senators pitched the package as a "commonsense" way of "making the Affordable Care Act work better," it's unlikely they'll see legislative results anytime soon . . 

Money talks

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/27/robert_reich_billionaires_are_poisoning_american_democracy_partner/
Robert Reich: Billionaires are poisoning American democracy 

For example: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/us/politics/major-gop-donor-tests-his-influence-in-push-to-ban-online-gambling.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Seeking to Ban Online Betting, G.O.P. Donor Tests Influence 

Will the House kill unemployment assistance?

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/senate-advances-jobless-bill-faces-house

Our unrepresentative judiciary

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/we-need-more-diversity-in-diversity.html

Koch addiction

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/27/1287748/-Chris-Hayes-tries-to-deal-with-a-boatload-of-Koch-crazy

Video: http://www.salon.com/2014/03/27/conservative_guest_yells_at_chris_hayes_over_obamacare/

Bonus item: Jon Stewart on Hobby Lobby

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/27/1287707/-Jon-Stewart-explains-Hobby-Lobby-s-idiotic-anti-Obamacare-rationale

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

THE GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT

The GOP has a target-rich political environment right now . . . but of course they can't stop screwing it up

http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/03/26/3419075/mccain-russia-g8-2/
McCain Mocks Expelling Russia From G-8, A Move He Once Advocated

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/03/26/romney-russia-is-not-a-threat-to-us/?wprss=rss_politics&clsrd
Mitt Romney seems to agree with President Obama when it comes to Russia -- at least in one respect. . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/al-candidate-shoots-obamacare-says-lets-do
AL Candidate Shoots Obamacare, Says "Let's Do Some Real Damage"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/03/26/morning-plum-is-obamacare-repeal-fatigue-setting-in-2/
Is Obamacare repeal fatigue setting in?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/03/26/gop_efforts_to_recruit_women_fizzle.html
GOP Efforts to Recruit Women Fizzle

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/26/gops_toxic_contraception_ploy_why_being_the_party_of_uncle_sugar_will_doom_them/
GOP’s toxic contraception politics

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/03/26/on-immigration-the-gops-window-for-action-is-closing-fast/
On immigration, the GOP’s window for action is closing fast

http://elections.firedoglake.com/2014/03/26/obama-helped-the-gop-become-the-party-of-old-people/
How Obama Helped the GOP Become the Party of Old People 

Obamacare opponents pirate a woman's photo without her permission -- and she supports Obamacare

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/childish-nasty-and-dishonest-gop.html

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is running one of the worst campaigns in the country

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/us/politics/mcconnell-increases-lead-in-embarrassing-viral-videos.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
With Videos, McConnell Finds More Bloopers Than Hits

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/26/is-mitch-mcconnell-trying-to-lose.html
Is Mitch McConnell Trying to Lose?

How Georgia might help the Dems keep control of the Senate

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/03/26/will_republicans_self-destruct_in_georgia.html
Will Republicans Self-Destruct in Georgia?

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_03/more_fun_with_georgia_republic049640.php

Doh!

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/03/26/quote_of_the_day.html
"I did not prepare well enough to run for the presidency of the United States."  
     -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R)

What happens if Hobby Lobby wins

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-hobby-lobby-slippery-slope-its-not.html

Trial and error

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/03/26/mcdonnells_want_separate_trials.html
Former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell (R) and his wife "want separate trials on the federal corruption charges they both are facing . . ."

Payday loans -- this has always bothered me. Now it's gettng some attention

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/26/there-are-almost-as-many-payday-lenders-as-mcdonalds-and-starbucks-no-really/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/26/payday-loans-arent-the-problem-the-problem-is-poverty/

Theocracy watch

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/pat-robertson-longs-days-when-gays-where
Pat Robertson Longs For The Days When Gays Were Stoned To Death

More: http://www.salon.com/2014/03/26/pat_robertson_the_gay_rights_movement_is_satans_doing/
 

Bonus item: When Republicans try to be funny . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/right-wing-humor-oxymoron.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

THREE WOMEN

Not surprisingly, the three female justices blast the Hobby Lobby case before the Supreme Court. Here are their very powerful arguments

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/supreme-court-women-hammer-birth-control-challengers

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/25/justices_ginsburg_sotomoyor_and_kagan_come_out_swinging_against_hobby_lobby_corporate_religion_claim/

Ouch: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/elena-kagan-antonin-scalia-birth-control-mandate
Kagan Throws Scalia's Own Religious Liberty Arguments Back In His Face

Analyses: what will happen?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/25/contraception-looks-like-a-loser-at-the-supreme-court.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/25/1287240/-SCOTUS-Hobby-Lobby-oral-argument-first-takes

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/03/25/politics_of_contraception_before_scotus.html

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/03/hobby-lobby-case-probably-doesnt-depend-much-what-law-says

Scarlet letters 

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/fox-news-andrea-tantaros-hobby-lobby-case 

Fox News' Tantaros: Funding Contraception Is 'Subsidizing' Women's Sex Lives 

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/25/gop_lawmaker_women_arent_responsible_enough_to_take_birth_control_because_they_binge_drink/ 
GOP lawmaker: Women aren’t responsible enough to take birth control because they “binge drink”

It depends what you think "the" means

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/03/25/ukraine-or-the-ukraine-its-more-controversial-than-you-think/?wprss=rss_politics&clsrd
‘Ukraine’ or ‘the Ukraine’? It’s more controversial than you think

You gave 50 bucks. He gave $93 million

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/03/25/sheldon-adelson-spent-93-million-on-the-2012-election-heres-how/?wprss=rss_politics&clsrd
Sheldon Adelson spent $93 million on the 2012 election

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/03/25/how-the-koch-brothers-are-dominating-the-senate-ad-race-in-one-chart/?wprss=rss_politics&clsrd
An amazing chart on how the Koch brothers are dominating the Senate ad race

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/25/1287304/-The-Koch-brothers-are-badly-outspending-the-top-two-Democratic-Super-PACs-on-congressional-races 

Koch addiction

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/25/koch-brothers-poll_n_5030735.html
Half The Country Doesn't Know Who The Koch Brothers Are

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/03/people-who-know-koch-brothers-sure-dont-them-much
People Who Know the Koch Brothers Sure Don't Like Them Much

Bonus item: If you've never seen this riveting testimony from James Comey, take a few minutes to do so. He recounts an episode during the Bush administration when Alberto Gonzales and other thugs tried to force John Ashcroft, then Attorney General, to sign off on a surveillance program that he and other Dept of Justice lawyers deemed illegal. Comey was the Acting AG while Ashcroft was incapacitated, hospitalized and in intensive care, and showed true heroism in standing up to the pressure -- ultimately threatening to resign along with other lawyers from DOJ and the Director of the FBI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxHjWYA50Ds 

Well, now we know a lot more about the program under dispute and the role VP Dick Cheney played in the whole affair. This NYRB article provides important new details about the story (sub. req.) 

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/apr/03/dick-cheney-he-remade-our-world/

Cheney and his allies—most prominently the vice-president’s formidable counsel, David Addington—seem to have had a similar attitude toward the Department of Justice. The lawyers worked for the president; if they forgot that, let them go ahead and resign. Yet in the end the Stellar Wind confrontation—with whose consequences, in the form of the Snowden revelations, among other things, we are still living—serves as a kind of reductio ad absurdum of this particular position. Bush himself summarizes it rather eloquently: “I was willing to defend the powers of the presidency under Article II,” he writes in Decision Points, “But not at any cost.” . . .

Bush would disappoint Cheney, bowing, in the steely unforgiving view of the older man, to the shoddy demands of politics and the fear of “negative press stories.”  . . Talking to Cutler for his film, Cheney is more explicit and in his typically precise phrases lets peep through more than a hint of a sneer:      

If you’re a man of principle, compromise is a bit of a dirty word. The President made the decision that he wanted to avoid major controversy. It was his call so that’s what we did.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN

Obama plans major changes to NSA

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/obama-eyes-major-nsa-overhaul

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/us/obama-to-seek-nsa-curb-on-call-data.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/03/obama-proposes-end-nsa-phone-records-program 
[Kevin Drum] This is better than I expected. But I wonder what Congress will do with the proposal. . . [read on]

Koch addiction

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/03/24/how-you-support-the-koch-brothers-even-if-you-dont-know-it/
How you support the Koch Brothers (even if you don’t know it)

http://prospect.org/article/what-koch-brothers-can-do-liberals
What the Koch Brothers Can Do For Liberals

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/24/koch_brothers_next_victim_the_republican_party/
Koch brothers’ next victim: The Republican Party? 

A primer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/03/25/the-american-encyclopedia-of-buying-elections/?wprss=rss_politics&clsrd
The ABCs of Buying Elections

The G8 just became the G7 again

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/03/24/white-house-no-g8-meeting-in-sochi/?wprss=rss_politics&clsrd
White House: No G8 meeting in Sochi

More: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/03/russia-thinks-the-g8-is-lame-anyway.html
Russia Thinks the G8 Is Lame Anyway

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/03/russia-not-exactly-big-winner-crimean-dispute
And what has Russia gotten in return? Ten thousand square miles of territory that, nationalistic pride aside, mostly represents a political and economic drain on the state. That Putin sure is a master geopolitical strategist, isn't he?

STFU

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/03/25/rumseld-bashes-obama-on-afghanistan-says-a-trained-ape-could-do-better/?wprss=rss_politics&clsrd
Rumseld bashes Obama on Afghanistan, says ‘a trained ape’ could do better

The Republicans are still blocking Obama's judicial nominations

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/24/1287048/-White-House-losing-patience-on-judicial-nbsp-nominations

The GOP is losing the fight over Obamacare

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/25/republicans_losing_it_over_new_obamacare_data_why_their_position_is_collapsing/

How will Scalia twist his previous record to justify blocking birth control under Obamacare?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/antonin-scalia-past-haunt-him-on-birth-control 

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/25/1287202/-Abbreviated-pundit-roundup-Corporations-can-t-have-religious-beliefs
Corporations can't have "religious beliefs"

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/25/4_things_you_need_to_know_about_the_hobby_lobby_scotus_case/
4 really important things you should know about the Hobby Lobby SCOTUS case 

Theocracy watch

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/25/calling_the_christian_right_soon_you_will_be_outnumbered_partner/
Research suggests Americans raised in Christian households are increasingly shunning the faith of their parents 

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/why-are-we-as-taxpayers-paying-to-teach.html
Why are we as taxpayers paying to teach creationism to our kids?

In Fox World

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/24/bill_oreilly_shrugs_off_his_critics_says_people_hated_jesus_too/
Bill O’Reilly shrugs off critics, says people hated Jesus too

Bonus item: Something else Ted Cruz has in common with Joe McCarthy - a really, really annoying voice

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/24/this_video_of_ted_cruz_imitating_winston_churchill_will_break_your_brain/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

OH, NO

Each of these stories makes me uncomfortable. Each upsets an easy, safe presupposition and suggests a more complex, difficult picture

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/us/politics/us-intelligence-officials-believe-snowden-is-working-with-russia-lawmaker-says.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
U.S. Intelligence Officials Believe Snowden Is Working With Russia, Lawmaker Says

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/03/whats-difference-between-barton-gellman-and-glenn-greenwald
What's the Difference Between Barton Gellman and Glenn Greenwald?

http://www.samefacts.com/2014/03/international-affairs/the-nation-back-col-putin/
The Nation backs Col. Putin

What to do about the long-term unemployed

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_03/four_policies_that_would_provi049595.php

Don't go there Rand, just don't go there

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/23/1286392/-Did-Rand-Paul-just-accuse-Barack-Obama-of-being-not-black-enough
"The first African-American president ought to be a little more conscious of the fact of what has happened with the abuses of domestic spying...Martin Luther King was spied upon, civil rights leaders were spied upon, Muhammad Ali was spied upon." [read on] 

Mitt Romney, still bashing the guy he lost to

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/03/23/romney_slams_obama_on_russia.html

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/romney-could-have-stopped-russias-invasion

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/durbin-romney-suffering-political-amnesia

McCain too: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/sunday-funnies-stop-bullshit-edition.html

The discredited Bush war gang gets to recycle their BS once again

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/theyre-baaaaack.html

Your daily Christie

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/03/christie-is-innocent-according-to-his-lawyers.html
Christie Had Nothing to Do With Bridgegate, According to Christie’s Lawyers

Fox World produces books, too

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/24/the_conservative_book_industry_isnt_dead_its_just_embarrassing/
 

In case you missed the Sunday talk shows

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/03/23/sunday-show-roundup-five-must-watch-clips-from-this-mornings-shows/?wprss=rss_politics&clsrd

Bonus item: When you are producing a "Navy memo" to support your story, you'd better check that it actually is from the Navy

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/03/24/osborn_memo_not_authentic.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***