NBC News reports: U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has “asked not to be considered” for nomination to the Supreme Court to take the spot formerly occupied by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Administration insiders had concluded more than a week ago that Lynch’s nomination would create an opening for Senate Republicans to demand Justice Department …

The Verge recaps: The sixth season of Game of Thrones begins on Sunday April 24th, and this new trailer has us near trembling with excitement. Set to the melancholic strains of James Vincent McMorrow’s “Wicked Game,” it promises a difficult future for the main characters, including the imprisonment of Daenerys Targaryen, the introduction of Sansa Stark to the “great game,” …

Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed: Puerto Rico’s marriage ban remains valid and the law of the territory, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. Because Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory, the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex couples’ marriage rights does not automatically apply there, U.S. District Court Judge Juan Pérez-Giménez ruled in a 10-page decision. The judge had previously upheld …

From the Los Angeles Times: Michigan was the day’s big prize, not only because it offered the largest number of delegates, 59, but because it presented the first test of the candidates’ appeal in the industrial Midwest, a traditional fall battleground. If nominated, Trump hopes his protectionist talk could win over blue-collar workers skeptical of foreign trade deals and put …

The first real upset of the primary season. Via the Guardian: Bernie Sanders pulled off his biggest win of the Democratic presidential race on Tuesday, defeating Hillary Clinton in the Michigan primary on a night which also confirmed strong anti-establishment support for Donald Trump in the battle for the Republican nomination. In an industrial state hit hard by the decline …

INCREDIBLE. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Missouri is grabbing national headlines as word of Senate Democrats’ day-long filibuster spreads. A proposal by Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, is designed to protect wedding vendors and clergy from legal liability and government penalties if they decline to participate in same-sex marriage ceremonies. Republicans are trying to put the question on the …

Donald Trump has been declared the winner of the Michigan primary with John Kasich running about 12 points behind at this writing. Bernie Sanders currently has a slight lead in Michigan and it may be some time before we get the Democratic winner there.

Literally seconds after the polls officially closed, CNN projected Hillary Clinton as the winner of the Mississippi primary based on exit polls conducted earlier. This is Clinton’s 12th state win this primary season. UPDATE: Mississippi has now also been called for Trump.

UNBELIEVABLE. And it’s STILL going. Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: A Democratic-led filibuster in the Missouri Senate of a religious freedom constitutional amendment passed the 24-hour mark late Tuesday afternoon as opponents of the measure charged it would enable anti-LGBT discrimination in the state. The filibuster, which was in response to Senate Joint Resolution 39, began shortly after …

Above are the GOP delegates at stake in Michigan, Mississippi, Hawaii, and Idaho. Democrats are voting in Michigan (130 delegates) and Mississippi (36 delegates). Embedded below is a live news feed. Watch along with us as the results roll in.

Politico reports: The National Republican Senatorial Committee tweeted Tuesday that Illinois Senate Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth, who lost both her legs while serving in the Iraq War, “has a sad record of not standing up for our veterans.” Her campaign shot back immediately, calling the tweet “tasteless and dishonest, just like everything else to do with Mark Kirk’s flailing campaign.” …

World Net Daily founder Joseph Farah, the man who spawned anti-Obama birtherism, has endorsed Canada-born Ted Cruz. He writes: Ted Cruz’s history demonstrates he has the clearest, most Reaganesque vision of where the country needs to go in its much-needed recovery from eight years of Barack Obama. Cruz is principled, sophisticated and a solid conservative whose understanding of and commitment …

Just in from One Iowa: The Iowa Senate passed a bill adding gender identity and gender expression to the state’s hate crimes law today with a 27-21 vote. Adding gender identity and gender expression to the law would provide transgender Iowans with legal protection from hate crimes. The bill will now make its way to the Iowa House of Representatives. …

Mediaite recaps the clip: DeGeneres was surprised that anyone could be excited about the debates anymore, saying that whether the GOP was trying to appeal to younger audiences or not, “I don’t think the debates are really appropriate for anyone of any age.” DeGeneres, of course, was talking about how Trump responded to Marco Rubio‘s “small hands” jabs by twisting …

The Washington Post reports: Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is now playing an even more active role in the 2016 campaign: He’s working the phones. On Monday, Romney recorded a phone call paid for by the presidential campaign of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that is being sent to Republicans in four states voting on Tuesday — Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho …

A few weeks ago I reported that Christian activist Ted “Death To Gays” Shoebat had agreed to debate fellow anti-LGBT Christian activist Michael Brown over Shoebat’s claim that Jesus himself would have beaten homosexuals to death. That debate happened yesterday and Right Wing Watch has the details: When Brown asked him point blank if he thinks it is a good …

The Daily Beast reports: An evangelical Christian magazine has apologized for running a personal ad for a woman created by her father—without her knowledge. “Her: godly, gorgeous, athletic, educated, careered, humorous, travelled, bilingual, 26-year-old virgin,” the ad said. “You: unworthy, though becoming less so daily.” Even creepier, it was posted in the jobs section of Christianity Today. It was too …

Politico reports: Donald Trump’s standing among Republican registered voters nationwide fell slightly in the latest ABC News/Washington Post national poll released Tuesday. Trump, who earned 34 percent (down 3 points from January), is losing steam to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, up four points from the last survey, conducted in January, to 25 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came next with …

Metro reports: Get ready to channel your inner Regina George once again – because Mean Girls is all set to make a comeback as a musical. Rumours that the 2004 movie that inspired us to wear pink on Wednesdays is being given a stage makeover have been circulating for some time now – but its creator Tina Fey has finally …

Fuck. Shit. Pussy. Via Politico: A new anti-Donald Trump TV ad takes a unique approach in trying to take down the brash front-runner: It highlights his foul language. The 30-second commercial, from American Future Fund Political Action, is titled “Best Words,” and takes a montage of clips from Trump rallies and imagines a storm of bleeped-out words, profanities, and vulgarities …