National

Yeah, the marriage equality battle is over. We won. We are tied in Utah, 48-48. Josh Marshall:

It's even more clear now that the battle for the principle of marriage equality is genuinely over. Not just in blue states, which we knew, but even in many of the most conservative states in the country. (Nate Silver argued last year that Mississippi and Alabama are likely to be the final same sex marriage hold outs.) What we have now isn't so much a battle as a vast moping up operation, a race between legislatures and the courts to catch up with galloping public opinion. Since last month we know have this most recent federal court decision in Oklahoma, another state with some claim to being the most conservative state in the country, tossing out the state's ban on same sex marriage. To play the devil's advocate, we can note that the judges in the Utah and Oklahoma cases were Clinton and Obama appointees. (The Judge with the narrower ruling in Ohio is another Obama appointee.) We've yet to see a judge appointee by Republican president make a similar ruling. But judges don't generally like to get overruled or get too far out in front of higher court rulings. One judge going off on his or her own is one thing. Three making such a finding in short order suggests that Justice Scalia was right in stating what most others recognized: that the Court's decision in Windsor leaves virtually no constitutional ground for states to reject same sex marriage.

For the nation's idiots, this is going to be a hill worth dying on, but it doesn't really matter. The Washington area NFL team will be called something other than the "redskins" in our lifetime (probably within the next ten years.)

Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder has turned DeAngelo Hall into the voice of reason. The oft-fined cornerback conceded this week that the team "probably should" change its name. "I think eventually they will change it," Hall responded when asked about the team's name during an appearance on FOX Sports' "Keeping It Real With Mike Hill."

Just imagine a team called the Heebs, or the Chinks, or the Whites and it is easy to see that the name is not going to make it. My suggestion is ...

A true friend of Delaware Liberal, Steve Newton, will run for the 22nd Representative District seat currently held by Republican Joe Miro. Miro, BTW, is one of those legislators who has basically retired, but never bothered to tell anybody. If any third party candidate has a real shot, Steve is at the top of the list. He is consistently one of the most thoughtful and on-point analysts of public policy in our state. Here is the press release in its entirety.. inside.....

Bridgegate has boosted Hillary in 2016. A new NBC/Marist Poll has found that the former Secretary of State now leads New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) 50% to 37%. Last month, Hillary's lead was only 3 points, 48% to 45%. Speaking of Hillary, the bipartisan Senate Benghazi report, released today, has debunked all the right wing conspiracy theories. Not that truth and facts matter to the right wing.

We here at the Delaware Shakespeare Festival are incredibly excited to produce Hamlet this summer (July 11-27 at Rockwood Park!), but there's so much to talk about in this play, so much that's relevant to the world and to Delaware, that we can't wait for July. And that's why we're launching the "I Am Hamlet" Project. Through the "I Am Hamlet" Project, we plan to take Hamlet to the people of Delaware, from classroom workshops to retirement home discussions, from on-the-street interviews to the Twitterverse. We want to explore the themes of Hamlet that resonate strongly with Delawareans, sparking a conversation that will hopefully lead to self-reflection in ourselves and in our community. At the end, we plan to bring it all together in a big public forum, an "I Am Hamlet" Project town hall at Wilmington University. To do all that, we need your help.

The House has passed a $1.1 trillion spending plan that would fund the government through September. The Senate is expected to take up the measure by the end of the week. The spending bill would roll back some forced spending cuts, raise federal worker pay and protect disabled workers and some military spouses from a pension cut that is to go into effect next year. The deal is a break from several years of budget brinksmanship, stopgap funding measures and down-to-the-deadline negotiating, such as the one that forced the 16-day government shutdown in October.

I know, I know. The winners and losers will be revealed, and the teabags probably got everything they've ever demanded and more, but I've been spoiling for a little triumphalism.

Joe Klein has what he says is the "Last Word" on Benghazi. Oh Joe. Conservatives are still talking about Vince Foster. So we will be talking about Benghazi in 2034.

[A] recent extensive report in the NY Times found no organized attempt by Al Qaeda to attack the consulate. And now we have this, from the latest budget deal:

Despite the concern over security after the 2012 attack on the United States Mission in Benghazi, Libya, the spending bill earmarks less to embassy security, construction and maintenance than it allotted for fiscal 2013 — $2.67 billion, down by $224 million.

I mean, if the neoconservatives are so concerned about the safety of U.S. diplomats, why don’t they put their money where their mouths are?