News

Via Yahoo News: Country legend Merle Haggard, often called “the Poet of the Common Man,” whose music reflected his hardscrabble roots and hard-living ways as well as a tenderness that made him a revered songwriter, has died at his home near Redding, Calif. He was 79. The Associated Press confirmed his death. Haggard along with fellow Bakersfield, Calif., superstar Buck …

Last week it was announced the George Mason University was naming its law school after Antonin Scalia, prompting some of you to immediately note that the new name, the Antonin Scalia School of Law, yielded the acronym ASSoL, which is especially funny in our hashtag-happy era. Well, snicker no more. Or at least, snicker less. Via the Wall Street Journal: …

Politico reports: State lawmakers in Alabama said they had begun the impeachment process for the state’s governor on Tuesday. Rep. Ed Henry, a Republican, announced during a news conference at the statehouse in Montgomery that a bipartisan group would follow through and move to impeach the governor unless Gov. Robert Bentley resigns on his own. “We will start this process. …

From the New York Daily News: Sen. Chuck Schumer issued an urgent plea Monday for iGun Control ahead of the release of a new firearm that looks like a smartphone. The .380-caliber double-barrel handgun, manufactured by Ideal Conceal, is expected to hit the shelves in mid-2016 and will only cost $395, Schumer said. “At first glance or even second glance …

From Radar Online: Embattled White House candidate Ted Cruz‘s cheating scandal is set to explode wide-open, with fresh — and blockbuster — allegations that the married conservative senator was named in the black book of a notorious Washington D.C. madam who mysteriously died, RadarOnline.com has learned. Montgomery Blair Sibley, a former lawyer for madam Deborah Palfrey, has filed a dramatic …

Oh, let’s have a happy ending story. ABC News reports: A Chihuahua is in animal custody after leading police on a chase across the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge. The California Highway Patrol tweeted the small black dog “led us on quite a chase” Sunday and posted a video of it running furiously on the upper level of the bridge while …

The Hill reports: Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly said in an interview broadcast Sunday that there have been threats against her life since her hard-lined questioning of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump. “It’s how he gins up anger among so many. So it manifests in my life in several ways,” Kelly said during an interview with Charlie Rose on “CBS …

Mediaite recaps: The deep-dive on Sunday night’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver took a look at the role of money in politics, but not in the we-all-know-there-should-less-money-in-politics sort of way. Instead, the segment examined the hours lost to congressional fundraising, and the mind-numbingly dull process for elected officials to ensure that they stay competitive in their reelection bids. Oliver …

Bernie Sanders is on a roll after sweeping last Saturday’s three Democratic caucuses and according to a CBS/YouGov poll issued today, he has a narrow lead in Wisconsin, where 96 delegates are at stake on Tuesday. The same poll shows Clinton holding a ten-point lead in New York’s April 19th primary. This weekend the two campaigns are battling over proposed …

From the Wall Street Journal: George Mason University School of Law, named after a founding father known for his refusal to sign the Constitution, is renaming itself after a man famed for a strict adherence to its words: Justice Antonin Scalia. George Mason University’s Board of Visitors, who are appointed by the Virginia governor, voted in favor of the renaming …

Megyn Kelly’s new hairstyle has prompted a minor Twitter meme comparing her look to the Star Trek: Voyager character Seven Of Nine, who was a former member of the Borg. Last night Kelly acknowledged the meme by appearing at the end of her Fox News show in a Starfleet uniform. Jokes about Fox News and the Borg are just too …

Talking Points Memo reports: The Republican National Committee has launched a website to inform the public about what happens in the event of contested GOP convention, the Washington Examiner reported. The website, ConventionFacts.gop, lists party rules regarding the delegates required for a candidate to be nominated to lead the GOP’s 2016 convention, as well as the process if no candidate …

Barney Frank slammed Bernie Sanders yesterday in an interview with Slate: It’s ironic that we complain about voter suppression and shortened voting times and then we have so many caucuses. The caucuses are the least democratic political operation in America. They cater to the people who have a lot of time on their hands, and what’s interesting is Sanders is …

The Hill reports: Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has been charged in the alleged battery of former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, local police said Tuesday morning. The Jupiter, Fla., Police Department said Lewandowski has been charged with one count of simple battery for “intentionally” touching Fields. Video released by the police department appears to show Lewandowski reaching his left …

From the New York Daily News: A teacher from North Carolina was arrested after he and a handful of animal rights activists disrupted the noon Easter Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Security guards wasted no time sprinting toward Jacob Martin during the packed Midtown service, ushering the 23-year-old down the empty aisle as he yelled into a bullhorn, according to …

Via Politico: There are plenty of plausible reasons why Republicans might eventually fold in the standoff over the Supreme Court: Overwhelming public opinion, a Democratic pressure campaign, and vulnerable GOP senators trying to save their jobs, to name a few. But there’s another even more persuasive reason they won’t: The wrath of the right wing. The activist right has been …

Via Talking Points Memo: Following a report that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) may win more delegates in Louisiana’s primary than Donald Trump, even though Trump won the state, the Republican presidential frontrunner threatened to file a lawsuit on Sunday. Trump complained about the “rotten political system” during a Sunday interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “The Republican tabulation system is a …

USA Today reports: Ivanka Trump, daughter of the Republican front-runner Donald Trump, has given birth to a baby boy, she announced via Twitter Sunday. Theodore James is her third child with her husband Jared Kushner. “Jared and I feel incredibly blessed to announce the arrival of Theodore James Kushner,” Ivanka Trump tweeted. Donald Trump has made frequent reference to his …

The Hill reports: After three big wins out west, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said he thinks many of the party’s superdelegates who have pledged to rival Hillary Clinton will switch to his side. “I think the momentum is with us,” Sanders said on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper on Sunday. “A lot of these superdelegates may …

CNN reports: Though organizers postponed a Sunday march in the Belgian capital out of security fears, those who gathered at Brussels’ Place de la Bourse were confronted by protesters raising their arms in Nazi salutes and shouting anti-immigrant slogans. The gathering, which took place in a commercial district in the capital, started out peacefully with mourners laying flowers at the …