Opponents of renewal of the Violence Against Women Act say the law should go because it’s unfair to men.

New Frontline episode airing Tuesday night on the last two year’s of budget battles recounts how the White House had not anticipated that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) would be in attendance at the 2011 speech where Obama ripped into the Ryan budget plan.

I was just reliving the glory of the last GOP rising star to take on the task of the State of the Union response, Gov. Bobby Jindal in 2009. Read More

Why Marco Rubio probably ain’t the savior DC Republicans and Beltway reporters imagine him to be.

I’m curious to hear from church or medieval historians about this.

Has there really ever been a papal resignation like Benedict XVI’s? News reports note the resignation of Gregory XII in 1415. And this was technically a resignation. But Gregory resigned as part of the broader effort to end the Western Schism (the Avignon Popes and all that). So that’s significantly different from resigning the papacy because of age or coming incapacity. Read More

Amazing eyewitness video of that tornado that touched down Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Watch.

NYT: “The last pope to resign was Gregory XII, who left the papacy in 1415 to end what was known as the Western Schism among several competitors for the papacy.”

In the wake of news that Sen. Lindsey Graham is threatening to block the nominations of Hagel and Brennan, there’s a whole new conspiracy theory bubbling up on the right. From ground zero of Obama era conspiracy theories comes the conspiracy theory to top them all: that CIA nominee John Brennan is himself a Muslim. Read More

Let’s just say it: Marco Rubio is the Wes Clark of 2013. Only with many fewer accomplishments. Read More

Nicole Wallace on Marco Rubio: “He’s everything we need and more. He’s modern. He knows who Tupac is. He is on social media.” Read More