Really worth your time to catch up on who the players are in the Menendez-faux hookers-Cuban intel story so that you can fully appreciate the spectacle. You will not be disappointed.

Iowa GOP Senate nominee: “Dictator” Obama’s “impeachment” should be an option.

Back in the late 90s at The American Prospect I edited an article and became interested in the somewhat obscure but high-stakes debate over whether to destroy the last stocks of the smallpox virus, which was finally eradicated in nature in the 1980. The Russians and the US both have remaining stockpiles, under intense technical and security protection at two laboratories, one in each country. So that’s where the debate still remained – except for the vials of smallpox virus in a cardboard box a government scientist found while cleaning out a storage closet near Washington last week.

This has got to be the most transparently contrived “feud” between two politicians of the same party that I’ve ever seen. It’s Mark Begich (D-AK), running for re-election in a tight race that could tip the balance in the Senate, taking on Claire McCaskill (D-MO), whose own re-election in 2012 was fraught until the GOP nominated Todd Akin. After letting Begich knock her around for a few days on an issue of great importance to Alaskans, McCaskill really “retaliated” today in a statement to TPM: “There has consistently been one problem—Mark Begich. He single-handedly protects Alaska and the ANCs.”

How dastardly!

Dylan Scott explains the whole thing.

Hometown paper thinks Mississippi blacks are going to feel pretty stupid thinking Chris McDaniel is racist after they learn he played basketball in college.

Attention TPM Prime readers: If you liked former employment attorney Sheila Bapat’s excerpt from her book Part of the Family? Nannies, Housekeepers, Caregivers and the Battle for Domestic Workers’ Rights, then good news! She’ll be here Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern to talk about her book along with Demos’ Sharon Lerner. Get your questions in for the live chat now!

Neo-Nazi holocaust denier takes seat on EU Parliament civil rights committee.

We’re now down to 165 sign ups short of our final membership drive goal of 2000 new members of TPM Prime. That’s 111 new sign ups since yesterday. Thank you to all 1835 of you who’ve signed up. Can you help us get to the finish line. Click here.

Religious right conservatives are prepping a crop of post-Hobby Lobby ‘religious freedom’ bills to turn back gay rights gains.

Whatever you think of the name “Redskins”, the epically hapless response from the Redskins organization and more pratfalls like this one only becomes comprehensible when you remember that the team hired Lanny Davis and Ari Fleischer to direct their public campaign to defend the name.