Morning Reads: Net Neutrality Victory; Wall Street's Next Bubble

Good morning — it’s International Polar Bear Day!

On this date in 1922, almost two years after American women won the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the Supreme Court beat back a challenge in Leser v. Garnett and upheld women’s suffrage.

Big win –> On Thursday, the FCC stood up to a blizzard of lobbying and approved a plan to regulate broadband as a utility, and our very own Michael Winship was there to witness the historic vote. At The Verge, Chris Welch rounds up some reactions to the vote, which ranged from cries of victory to threats of litigation. AND: Tim Wu looks back at how we got here at The New Yorker and explains “why what so many people thought they knew turned out to be wrong.”

Shock-waves –> Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich, a top candidate for the state’s 2016 gubernatorial race, was found dead from an apparent suicide. Kevin McDermott and Virginia Young report for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Schweich’s candidacy had sparked an “unusually bitter in-party conflict” that had pitted him against some of the party’s biggest players. AND: Catherine Thompson reports for TPM that, “just days before his death, Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich (R) told the editorial page editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper that he was concerned about an anti-Semitic whisper campaign he believed a top state GOP official was making.”

CPAC –> The Conservative Political Action Conference is in full swing in Washington, DC. At TAP, Nathalie Baptiste offers some highlights from the conference’s opening day. AND: Wisconsin Gov Scott Walker told the crowd that he was qualified to defeat ISIS because of his past experience defying union protesters. Alec MacGillis writes at Slate that it’s not the first time he’s used the line in the early stages of his quest for the White House. AND: The Daily Beast’s Olivia Nuzzi hilariously writes up Sarah Palin’s barn-burning speech.

The worst police force in the US? –> MoJo’s AJ Vicens reports that “the Puerto Rico Police Department’s record of abuse and corruption has been extensively documented,” but “few police officers have faced consequences for alleged abuses.” Last year the federal government stepped in, arresting 16 officers “on charges of robbery, extortion, drug trafficking, and taking bribes.”

The next bubble –> At TNR, David Dayen warns that Wall Street has securitized a growing pile of subprime auto-loans, and warns that it might trigger another crash if the government doesn’t intervene.

More “combat zone” problems for Bill-O –> Reporters have been digging into Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly’s biography after Mother Jones exposed his false claims about being engulfed in deadly protests in Argentina during the Falkland Islands War. Now The Guardian’s John Swaine reports that some of O’Reilly’s former colleagues are disputing “his account of surviving a bombardment of bricks and rocks while covering the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.”

Faux pause –> Global warming has slowed down but Jeffery DelViscio writes for Quartz that it’s no cause for celebration, as scientists believe that the lull is caused by natural fluctuations in the Earth’s atmosphere, won’t last, and will be followed by a period of accelerated warming. AND: Vox’s Brad Plumer looks at some theatrics on Capitol Hill put on by science-denying Sen. Jim Inhofe and concludes that it was “the dumbest thing that happened on the Senate floor.”

Dueling headlines –> Here’s McKay Coppins at Buzzfeed: “Jeb Bush, 2016’s Gay-Friendly Republican” and Salon‘s Luke Brinker: “Jeb Bush to meet with anti-gay activist who thinks LGBT rights could lead to a new Holocaust.”

He’s baaack –> Eight months after a stunning defeat, Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is back in the Washington limelight. With a new investment bank to run, Anna Palmer and Tarini Parti report for Politico that “Cantor is lending his name to events for 2016 candidates, reconnecting with his strong donor network, giving counsel to former colleagues and hiring advisers to brief him on political happenings on Capitol Hill.”

Those llamas –> Many Americans dropped everything yesterday to witness a lengthy chase as police in Sun City, Arizona tried to capture a pair of llamas. Here’s the whole chase, at double speed, set to “Yakety Sax”…