Happy Conclave Day, everyone. While you are discreetly scanning TMZ on your office computer or contemplating the Chipotle you will eat for lunch, 115 cardinals have gathered at the Vatican to select God’s new representative on earth.

But there is something more than just choosing a spiritual leader for the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics weighing on the cardinals today: Gay bathhouses.

News broke on Tuesday that the Holy See had purchased a $30 million dollar share of …

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The Better Business Bureau chapter that predominantly served the Los Angeles area is no more.

The BBB of the Southland was expelled Tuesday from the national organization, losing the right to use the BBB name and logo.

The move comes after a 2010 ABC News report which detailed the group’s practice of accrediting new members and awarding them inflated ratings in exchange for cash.

“Over a period of more than two years, BBB of the Southland failed …

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A favorite saying of Official Washington is that “the cover-up is worse than the crime.” But that presupposes you accurately understand what the crime was. And, in the case of the two major U.S. government scandals of the last third of the Twentieth Century – Watergate and Iran-Contra – that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Indeed, newly disclosed documents have put old evidence into a sharply different light and suggest that history has substantially miswritten …

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In his Wall Street Journal op-ed laying out the case for the House Republican budget, Paul Ryan contends that “the most important question isn’t how we balance the budget”. When a politician tells you something he’s doing isn’t so important, that’s probably a good place to look at where the ball’s been hidden.

And judging by the budget he just released, the “how” here is pretty darn important. The budget will be balanced, if Ryan gets …

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(Reuters) – Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei announced plans on Monday to release a heavy-metal album that he said would “express his opinion” just as he does with his art.

The burly and bearded Ai said 81 days in secretive detention in 2011, which sparked an international outcry, triggered his foray into music.

“When I was arrested, they (his guards) would often ask me to sing songs, but because I wasn’t familiar with music, I was embarrassed,” …

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Colorado students are planning to walk out of the state’s mandatory assessment this week and protest at the state Capitol, the latest in growing student pushback against high-stakes tests around the country.

In Providence, R.I., students recently dressed up as zombies and marched at the State House; in Oregon, students are organizing an opt-out campaign to persuade other students not to take state standardized tests; in New York, California and other states, students are increasingly opting …

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BUDAPEST, March 11 (Reuters) – Hungary’s ruling party is set to push through changes to the constitution on Monday that critics say will curb democratic rights, despite warnings from European leaders and a protest by thousands of people in Budapest at the weekend.

The changes are seen by critics as the latest in a series of moves by centre-right Fidesz party to cement its position in public institutions via its large parliamentary majority.

They scrap all decisions …

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President Barack Obama is expected to tap Thomas Perez, the head of the Department of Justice’s civil rights division, to serve as his next labor secretary. The appointment would make Perez the only Latino in the president’s second-term cabinet.

Multiple media reports have indicated that Perez is Obama’s likely pick to become the next head of the Department of Labor. Perez, 51, previously served as Maryland’s labor secretary between 2007 and 2009 before joining the …

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Mohammed Al-Qahtani and Abdullah Al-Hamid, two prominent Saudi human rights activists, were handed 10-year prison sentences this weekend, concluding a trial that began in June 2012, and has since gained international attention.

Al-Qahtani, an economics professor, has been an outspoken critic of the Saudi judicial system and monarchy. He has spent most of his energy focusing on the arbitrary detention of political prisoners. In 2012, he pushed his criticism to dangerous levels when he demanded the …

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• Listen to this segment

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:

HARTMANN: It is Brunch with Bernie. Senator Sanders welcome to the program. What’s going on with the Senate?

SANDERS: I’m on five committees. And one of the committees I’m on is the Budget Committee. And I think listeners can guess that the Budget Committee has been working overtime lately, in fact, I think we have about five separate meetings this week. As an Independent, I …

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