Trump Is Really a Tea-Party Phenomenon: There’s been a lot of talk about Trump representing working-class rage, but Tea Partiers are affluent, white racists—a demographic Trump fits into all too well. (Paul Krugman)
Rand Paul’s New Mission: Take Down Trump: Paul intends to expose Trump as “an empty suit full of bravado but not anything meaningful for the country.” But what if everyone already knows that? (Time)
Hillary Clinton Says Donald Trump’s ‘Outrageous’ Comments Are Part of a Republican Theme: What’s more offensive, Clinton asked yesterday, Trump’s comments about Megyn Kelly or Marco Rubio’s position on abortion? (New York Times)
Donald Trump, Wrecking Ball: Not only is Trump not getting weaker, the candidates he’s hurting most are precisely those that represent the biggest threat to Democrats. (TPM)
Showtime Is Adapting Patti Smith’s Memoir Just Kids: Smith has said she’d be interested in seeing Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson play herself and Robert Mapplethorpe—or two unknowns. (Vulture)
No, Bernie Sanders Is Not a Jacksonian: The Democratic Party is distancing itself from the chief genocidist represented on American currency, and good for them. And that doesn’t disqualify Democrats to speaking to low-income voters in a populist way. (Washington Monthly)
R.I.P. Columbia House, Mail-Order Music Club to Cease Operations: No more 13 CDs for 1 cent; now you can pay Spotify ten bucks a month to play that one Timbuk 3 track on repeat endlessly. (Consequence of Sound)
The Republican War on Women Intensifies: The GOP’s premise, that women should be coerced to carry their pregnancies to term under all circumstances, is now out in the open. “If you think pregnancy being a state-enforced death sentence sounds awesome, you definitely want one of these gentlemen picking replacements for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.” (Lawyers, Guns, & Money)
Should Prison Sentences Be Based on Crimes That Haven’t Been Committed Yet? Pennsylvania is on the verge of becoming one of the first states in the country to base criminal sentences not only on what crimes people have been convicted of, but also on whether they are deemed likely to commit additional crimes. But isn’t this built in to sentencing anyway? Isn’t this part of the reason that murder gets stricter sentences than jaywalking? (FiveThirtyEight)
The World’s Largest Seller of Sugary Drinks Is Telling People How to Lose Weight: Amid a national obesity epidemic, Coca-Cola has been quietly supporting a new nonprofit organization called the Global Energy Balance Network, whose primary goal is to spread the message that we might be a little too worried about what we eat and drink. (Wonkblog)
Even Paul Haggis Doesn’t Think Crash Deserved Best Picture: Personally, contra Haggis, I prefer Crash to Good Night and Good Luck—but Munich and Brokeback Mountain? That’s a whole different story. (AV Club)
What if Matthew McConaughey could fly?