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Senate floor debate is happening right now on the Buffett Rule, with a procedural vote expected later today. And Republican leaders have made clear how they will justify filibustering the common sense position that all multimillionaires should pay a higher tax rate than their secretaries.

With incoherent whining.

This past weekend, tens of thousands of people participated in what amounted to the largest effort to train progressives in nonviolent direct action in recent history.

As I write this, little more than a 2.5 mile walk from my office (according to Google Maps), the nine members of the U.S. Supreme Court are considering the arguments they recently heard regarding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Sometime between now and November, they'll let us know what they think. Depending on the outcome, conservatives may finally achieve in the courts what they could not accomplish at the ballot box or through the legislative process. People who know far more about the Court, the constitution, and the law are having a hard time predicting which way the court will go, how far it will go, and what impact that will have on the Affordable Care Act. So, I won't even hazard a guess.

As the Court heard oral arguments, and court-watchers consulted their tea leaves, I reading story after story of people whose have benefited from the health care reform — and will benefit, if the law stands and more of its provisions are implemented in the next couple of years. Republicans have inveighed against those benefits since the Affordable Care Act's passage, and promised to take them away. Since they may be on the cusp of victory, it's fair: What alternative do conservatives have in mind for millions of American's who will lose the Affordable Care Act's benefits and protections if they win in the Supreme Court what they couldn't in every other arena so far.

We already know the answer, of course. But it bears asking while we wait for the Court — and perhaps even more so after the Court rules.

So a reporter standing outside on the sidewalk at a Mitt Romney fundraiser overheard the pitch. And guess what? Mitt's openly telling people that his campaign is dishonest:

The Senate is scheduled today to vote on Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse's "Paying a Fair Share Act of 2012," which seeks to enshrine into law the "Buffett Rule" that millionaires and billionaires should not be paying taxes at a lower rate than the people who work for them.

This story about the potential merging of the Republican Super PACs is downright chilling: