HUFFPOST HILL - Jeb Bush Has Gun, Confidence

Republicans have asked President Obama not to nominate a replacement for Antonin Scalia, and also to consider their request to just stop being president and let someone else have a turn. Donald Trump is talking an independent run again, the GOP is preparing for a brokered convention, and this is all going to end in tears. And everyone's talking about the "Thurmond rule," which, like the "Hastert rule," is one of those unofficial Washington customs that just so happens to be named after a disgraced person. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, February 16th, 2016:

OBAMA BEGINS SEARCH FOR PERSON WILLING TO ENDURE A LIVING HELL FOR UP TO 11 MONTHS - Just because our system of government is a smoldering ruin doesn't mean Obama can't nominate somebody to succeed the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. The White House evens says Obama will preva-- no, sorry. We can't even. Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin: "A person close to the administration, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect those relationships, said the pick is likely to be someone 'super-qualified' who had been confirmed by overwhelming majorities of currently sitting Republicans; that would make it difficult for the GOP to argue that the nominee is unqualified." Super-qualified, you say? Well that changes everything. Congrats, Justice Bill Ayers! [WashPost]

Orrin Hatch has a very high opinion of himself.

THOM TILLIS ADMIRAL AKBARS - Scott Keyes: "Appearing on The Tyler Cralle Show on Tuesday morning, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) cautioned against vowing to automatically block any nominee. 'I think we fall into the trap if just simply say sight unseen, we fall into the trap of being obstructionists,' Tillis said." [ThinkProgress]

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Scalia will lie in repose at the Supreme Court Friday and his funeral mass will be held the following morning at Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast D.C.

MITCH MCCONNELL VS. MITCH MCCONNELL - 2008 Mitch McConnell should have a word with 2016 Mitch McConnell. "Speaking during a Senate session in July 2008, Sen. Mitch McConnell criticized the concept of the 'Thurmond Rule' which some suggest allows senators to oppose the president's judicial nominations in the months before a presidential election. McConnell said Feb. 13 that the vacancy left by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia should not be filled until after the presidential election." [WashPost]

HuffPost DC bureau chief Ryan Grim has a modest proposal: Obama should nominate himself to the Supreme Court.

TRUMP BENGHAZIS SCALIA'S DEATH - Late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has only been dead a few days, but of course Donald Trump and loads of other crazy weirdos are theorizing he was murdered, because this is how we live now. Sam Levine: "Trump raised questions about the circumstances surrounding Scalia's death. 'I'm hearing it's a big topic -- that's the question. And it's a horrible topic, but they say they found a pillow on his face, which is a pretty unusual place to find a pillow,' he told radio host Michael Savage on 'The Savage Nation.'" [HuffPost]

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WITNESS OUR NATION BURN TO THE GROUND IN SLOW MOTION - Time for stories about a brokered convention to pick a GOP nominee! What's really disconcerting is they seem a lot more plausible this year than they usually do. America was pretty nice while it lasted. Ben Shreckinger: "While a contested convention could be the last chance for the Republican establishment to deny the nomination to Trump or Cruz, it is far from clear that a multi-ballot process will hand power to an establishment-friendly candidate such as Rubio. In an earlier era, a handful of party bosses could settle on a nominee in a back room. Now, the current rules of delegate selection in many states are set up to reward grassroots activists with trips to the convention, making it difficult for party officials to control the process." [Politico]

CLINTON REALLY, REALLY NEEDS MINORITY VOTERS - With the South Carolina primary and Nevada caucuses coming up, Hillary Clinton is working hard to gin up support from African Americans and Latinos. Anne Gearan: "Black Democrats in the South and large urban areas in the Northeast and Midwest have long been presumed to back Clinton, but her campaign is trying to counter inroads by rival Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont before the South Carolina primary on Feb. 27." [WashPost]

SANDERS CAMPAIGN WANTS TO BERN NEVADA - David Weigel and John Wagner: "Until quite recently, Clinton’s campaign saw Nevada as a chance for a face-saving victory after an anticipated defeat in New Hampshire. But that defeat turned out to be a trouncing. Now, the Sanders campaign is trying to prove that she can be beaten anywhere. ­Nevada, where the senator from Vermont is facing off against Clinton’s allies among organized labor leaders and a ­Latino-heavy electorate, has become the first test." [WashPost]

Watch this video of Hillary Clinton barking like a dog. No, really.

WHINER-IN-CHIEF TRUMP THREATENS TO TAKE HIS BALL AND GO HOME - Donald Trump is probably going to win the Republican nomination for president at this point, so why is he still talking about running as an independent? Must be because everything that comes out of his mouth is rubbish. Nick Visser: "Trump, who polls show is the front-runner for the GOP nomination, promised party leaders in December that he would run under the Republican banner and support the eventual nominee. But he said during a news conference in South Carolina on Monday that the party has broken the agreement by packing the weekend debate audience with party loyalists who booed him and for failing to condemn Sen. Ted Cruz' intensifying attacks." [HuffPost]

MEDIA ELITE'S LOVE FOR RUBIO IS BLIND - It's almost cute. Marco Rubio is an animal the political press understands, so they really, really wish he were doing better in the polls. Won't someone think of the beat sweeteners? Igor Bobic: "Everyone loves a comeback, but the media has been predicting a Rubio surge for months, even before his disappointing third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and even worse fifth-place showing in the New Hampshire primary. That narrative has continued, although Texas Sen. Ted Cruz appears to be seeing a bigger surge in the polls ahead of the South Carolina race." [HuffPost]

NOTED WRONG PERSON WRONG ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE - Of course he has to say it, but does former President George W. Bush really believe his little brother/anthropomorphized yawn Jeb has a chance in hell to catch up to Donald Trump? Mark Hensch: "'Jeb will listen to the voices of the disenfranchised. He will rise above the petty name-calling. Once elected, he won’t need a poll or focus group to tell him what to do.' George W. Bush then warned against selecting the next president based on voters' outrage and fear. 'I understand that Americans are angry and frustrated,' he said." Oh, so now he understands people are angry and frustrated? Better late than never! [The Hill]

CIVIL WAR REMAINS LEADING CAUSE OF ECONOMIC ANXIETY - South Carolina's many, many racists are leaning Trump, have other terrible opinions. Harper Neidig: "A new poll shows 38 percent of Donald Trump's supporters in South Carolina wish the South had won the Civil War.... Eighty percent say they support his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country. Less than half -- 44 percent -- think that practicing Islam should even be allowed in the United States, while a third say it should be illegal. Furthermore, 40 percent say they support shutting down all mosques in the country, compared to 36 percent who oppose the idea. Sixty-two percent want to create a national database of Muslim citizens." [The Hill]

LEFT-WING EGGHEADS NOT FEELING THE BERN - It's starting to seem like every liberal with a PhD and a calculator is lining up to crap all over Bernie Sanders' single-payer health care plan. Jackie Calmes: "By the reckoning of the left-of-center economists, none of whom are working for Mrs. Clinton, the proposals would add $2 trillion to $3 trillion a year on average to federal spending; by comparison, total federal spending is projected to be above $4 trillion in the next president’s first year. 'The numbers don’t remotely add up,' said Austan Goolsbee, formerly chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, now at the University of Chicago." [NYT]

Former United Nations secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt has died at 93.

THIS MAY SEEM BORING BUT IT'S SUPER-IMPORTANT - Neel Kashkari is the new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and formerly ran the Troubled Asset Relief Program (a.k.a. the bank bailout) back in 2008. On Tuesday, Kashkari broke with Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen by declaring the big banks need to be broken up, like, yesterday. Maybe he's feeling the Bern? Christopher Condon: "'The cost to society of letting a reactor melt down is astronomical,' said Kashkari, who was a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker before joining the Treasury during the administration of Republican President George W. Bush. 'Given that cost, governments will do whatever they can to stabilize the reactor before they lose control.'" [Bloomberg News]

Congress and Obama just made it a lot harder to sell Americans seafood caught by slaves.

PROGRESSIVES DRAWING KEY SUPPORT FROM WHIPPERSNAPPERS - The kids love their hip-hop and their Snapchat and their liberal public policy, according to some numbers. Janet Hook: "'I kind of hate to say it,' says GOP pollster Bill McInturff, 'but the millennial generation is now important. Their views are becoming the dominant public views. Their attitudes about gay marriage and social tolerance are radically different than the previous generations, and they are restructuring our views.'" [Wall Street Journal]

MASTER OF HORROR HORRIFIED BY TRUMP - Stephen King, who should be immune to fear by now, is a little freaked out by Donald Trump's presidential run. Marlow Stern: "'[T]his guy can say that 'Megyn Kelly was after me' because she was on her period. He can say he didn’t mean that, but that’s obviously what he meant. He can talk about Ted Cruz being a pussy and it just bounces off! It’s like he’s bulletproof. Will he get nominated? I would’ve said the idea is ridiculous even four months ago, but now I’m not so sure. Then people are saying that if he does get nominated he’d never get elected, and I’m saying, well, hopefully that won’t happen. But who knows?'" [Daily Beast]

FARM BILL ALERT! Mary Clare Jalonick: "The Agriculture Department unveiled new rules on Tuesday that would force retailers who accept food stamps to stock a wider variety of healthy foods or face the loss of business as consumers shop elsewhere." [AP]

IS THIS A CRY FOR HELP?

OKAY, FINE. HERE'S A THING ABOUT BEN CARSON - America is tingling with anticipation for the moment we can go back to not caring about Ben Carson. In the meantime, here's the good doctor saying something idiotic. Nick Gass: "American Muslims who adhere to Islamic sharia law while also embracing the American values of democracy, including the separation of church and state, must be 'schizophrenic,' Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Tuesday. 'Only if they're schizophrenic. I don’t see how they can do it otherwise, because you have two different philosophies' in conflict with each other, he explained to Breitbart News Daily host Stephen Bannon, who had posed the question to the retired neurosurgeon." [Politico]

BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Death Valley is set for a super bloom.

LOL BOB - Josh Gerstein: "Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell could wind up one of the biggest losers as a result of Justice Antonin Scalia's unexpected death and the potentially protracted battle shaping up over his replacement…. Last August, McDonnell was perhaps weeks away from being required to report to prison when the Supreme Court stepped in, granting him a stay that remains in effect today. Just one month ago, the high court formally agreed to hear McDonnell's appeal, which argues that his convictions relied -- at least in part -- on 'routine political courtesies' too commonplace to be considered the kinds of official acts that could support a charge of receiving bribes. Scalia was considered among the most receptive justices to McDonnell's argument that his conviction on corruption charges improperly relied on the kind of favors that are commonplace on the American political scene." [Politico]

COMFORT FOOD

- Here is a dog that doesn't play by your rules, man.

- Ice cream bread? Ice cream bread.

- Check out all these super-sweet dunks, basketball fans.

TWITTERAMA

@charstarlene: My dentist texted me today STILL GOT IT

@ladybirdj: Cheers to all of our moms who read an interesting Wiki article on why we should build a wall between the US and Mexico!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@mattyglesias: Why do Mexicans even bother immigrating to the US when NAFTA already sent all the jobs south of the border? Just for the Obamaphones?

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