Stories to watch: 5/6/14

A new front in the GOP Civil War: Republican senators don't want Republican senators to run for president in 2016. The argument against a run from the Senate is that Washington is so toxic to voters that a senator doesn't stand a chance. The problem with that argument is that Hillary Clinton, who's far and away the current favorite, is just as much a creature of Washington as any of them. When you look at the GOP senate frontrunners -- Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio -- it becomes obvious that the argument is less about DC and more about the Republican Klown Kar. GOP Governors like Jeb Bush or Scott Walker aren't guaranteed losers (they're just extreme longshots), so their boosters trot out the "toxic Washington" argument as a smokescreen.


Republican congress critters are busy elbowing each other out of the way to get on Boehner's select committee on BENGHAZI!! That's truly bizarre if you this about it; GOP opportunists fighting over the scraps of an imaginary scandal. Harry Reid says there won't be a Senate panel, surprising no one.


Mozilla, the organization behind the popular Firefox browser, offers the FCC  a credible third way to maintain net neutrality.


The Stanford University endowment divests all investment in coal. "Moving away from coal in the investment context is a small but constructive step while work continues at Stanford and elsewhere to develop broadly viable sustainable energy solutions for the future," Stanford president John Hennessy says. While they don't give away specifics of their investments, the endowment's total worth $18.7 billion -- with a B -- so the divestment could be very substantial. According to Wonkblog, Stanford is the "twelfth and most prestigious university to divest under pressure from foes of fossil fuels. There's a surprisingly successful divestment campaign going on out there and it's flying under the radar. Here's hoping it's not too late.


Sen. Jay Rockefeller calls out Republican racism.


Finally, the Koch brothers attack the Columbus Zoo of all places.


[cartoon via Truthdig]