Morning Reads

Happy Wednesday morning! Lots of politics in the news — here are some of the stories we’re reading this morning…

Election news you may have missed…

In other news…

Can we have a little progress? –> A proposal to increase Social Security benefits and make the cost-of-living adjustment more generous — paid for by eliminating the cap on payroll taxes — is gaining momentum in the Senate, reports Ed Kilgore at WaMo.

Do happy stories sell newspapers? –> A Florida woman who became an overnight media sensation as the face of Obamacare “sticker shock” has learned that her insurance company was trying to rip her off and she can get much better coverage than she had for a few dollars more per month. Now she says her cancellation may be a “blessing in disguise.” MSNBC’s Steve Benen wonders whether the media will report this new development with the same zeal.

Love legalized in IL –> Chicago Tribune: lawmakers pass marriage equality in the land of Lincoln.

The coming Democratic clash –> At TAP, Harold Meyerson on what divides Democrats: Wall Street-friendly neoliberalism versus the robust liberalism of the New Deal.

The next bubble? –> David Dayen writes at Salon that Wall Street’s newest scam scheme involves securitizing rent payments, wonders what could possibly go wrong.

Serial plagiarist loses writing gig –> Dog-bites-man, except for the fact that he happens to be a sitting senator from the great state of Kentucky.

Awful, awful drug war story –> Local New Mexico TV news team on the case of  a man pulled over by police who suspected he had drugs in a body cavity. He was then forced against his will to undergo numerous invasive medical procedures during the ensuing investigation.

SCOTUS OK with bad lawyering –> Andrew Cohen reports in The Atlantic on a little-noticed case in which all nine justices ruled that having incompetent and unethical defense counsel isn’t grounds for a retrial.

Defamation? –> WaPo’s Erik Wemple on the two young Muslim men alleging that they were smeared as the Boston Marathon Bombers by the New York Post.

“Toxic monster” –> The Independent reports that a Texas-sized, floating junk pile from the tsunami that destroyed the Fukushima nuclear plant is heading toward the US Pacific coast.

Bucket-list –> California man celebrates his 100th birthday by jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

 What else is going on? Let us know in the comments!

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