Republicans reach deal for budget plan, target Obamacare Reuters – David Lawder. It should be noted that this budget is non-binding and merely represents a policy manifesto of sorts for Congressional Republicans. It’s quite a manifesto too – it boosts military spending and cuts social programs. Sound familiar? The lack of innovative and new policy directions in the GOP is by far the most interesting aspect of this budget plan. A progressive’s lament about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Washington Post – Katrina vanden Heuvel The author, vanden Heuvel, is stunned by the intense lobbying effort put forward by the Obama administration. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) noted that Democrats have been “talked to, approached, lobbied and maybe cajoled by more Cabinet members on this issue than any issue since Barack Obama’s been president. That’s just sad.”  It’s an odd digression for Obama, who up until the TPP negotiations, was pleasing many progressives with his actions and stances on immigration and minimum wage. For the GOP ‘one man, one vote’ becomes ‘one billionaire, one ballot’ Washington Post – Dana Milbank Is it just me or is Dana Milbank’s becoming more progressive? In his latest article, Milbank points out how the primary process has been hijacked by the wealthy and acts as a microcosm for how our political system has been taken over by the 1 percent (or more accurately the 0.01 percent). Think this is hot air? The Center for Responsive Politics shows that the top 1 percent of donors to super PACS contributed 67 percent of super-PAC funds in 2012. The Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage battle, explained Vox – German Lopez Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on whether state’s can ban same-sex marriage. Vox provides a very neat and tidy overview of how far the US has come in the last ten years and where our judges most likely stand on this pivotal point in the marriage equality movement. Comments comments