Voters of America, President Obama has made you a mix. The president shared a Spotify playlist on his Facebook page Thursday: 29 tunes that he’ll be pumping on the campaign trail between now and Nov. 6. There are songs from artists you’d expect ( Bruce Springsteen ), artists you wouldn’t ( Ricky Martin ) and artists that are actually from Canada ( Arcade Fire .) Read full article > >

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On Spotify, Obama’s campaign playlist is a mixed bag

After three days of “careful consideration” and increasing pressure, CNN suspended political contributor Roland Martin for a series of Super Bowl tweets that GLAAD and other groups condemned as homophobic and promoting anti-LGBT violence. Read full article > >

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The TV Column: CNN suspends Roland Martin over ‘regrettable’ tweets

In a large yet cozy house in North Arlington, Christen Bensten has a lot going on. Between carpools and ballet classes for three children under the age of 5, Bensten is painting old furniture, selling it online and blogging about it all as fast as she can. “I always wanted to be a writer,” she says. She never dreamed she would be writing about furniture rescue through a blog called Blue Egg Brown Nest . Read full article > >

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An Arlington blogger’s home renovation

After Rachel and Rob Gibson married in October, they wanted their bedroom to feel “different and special.” They’ve lived in their Bethesda apartment since 2009 and call the room a “hodgepodge of old furniture” from their single days. Read full article > >

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A bedroom makeover for newlyweds

In both style and substance, Sherry Rehman was born to be a Washington diplomat and hostess. She has a designer wardrobe, a chestnut coif and camera-ready makeup. She also has a BA from Smith, a CV full of democratic credentials and the articulate self-confidence of her country’s Westernized elite. Read full article > >

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Pakistan’s new envoy brings liberal charm but faces slim chance for diplomatic thaw

It’s nine months until Election Day, but President Obama is already bringing out the big guns. Specifically, he is shouldering the Extreme Marshmallow Cannon . Obama walked into the State Dining Room at midday Tuesday and encountered 14-year-old Joe Hudy and the compressed-air cannon he invented to launch marshmallows as part of a science fair. Read full article > >

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Obama’s lucky break

“Smash,” which NBC hyped as heavily as the Super Bowl, premiered Monday night. The show is many things: a musical within a show, a heavy-on-the-glitter-but-light-on-the-grit look behind the scenes of Broadway and an ode to every musical theater trope you know and possibly love, from the wide-eyed Iowa girl aching for her big break to the slimy director who wouldn’t mind breaking her in. Perhaps you expected this. Read full article > >

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Playwright Grote takes a turn at writing for ‘Smash’

As the Modern Cupcake Moment swirls into its second decade, America just might have to admit that what we’re dealing with — 669.4 million sold from October 2010 to October 2011, according to the market research firm NPD — is not a fad. It’s an enduring love affair. Read full article > >

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The psychology of cupcakes

Last week, Google tracked the Web sites I visited and, like most technology companies, tried to guess who I was based on the places I visited. Its goal: to target advertising to me. The result? The search engine thought I was a 70-year-old man based in Atlanta. Read full article > >

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Beware of privacy policies: Time to clean up your digital footprint

Anheuser-Busch InBev is introducing a new beer, Bud Light Platinum, and they’re doing it in grand style by buying a pair of 30-second spots during the first quarter of the Super Bowl , a marketing strategy that is certainly setting the company back several million dollars. Read full article > >

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Bud Light Platinum has got the blues

The American people, a small slice of them, have spoken, and they are none too pleased. The rest are yet to be heard, as the men who would be president march West , to caucuses Saturday in Nevada , where the unemployment rate is 13 percent, and then to Colorado and Minnesota on Tuesday. Read full article > >

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Voter frustration makes for tumultuous GOP primary

For about 15 hours Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Donald Trump was going to endorse Newt Gingrich for the Republican nomination. The news media — or at least several highly respected parts of it — said so. Read full article > >

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How Trump’s non-endorsement of Gingrich made the news

A huge day in television: 1. Madonna announced she would not allow her wardrobe to malfunction during NBC’s broadcast of her Super Bowl halftime show Sunday. 2. “Celebrity Apprentice” star Donald Trump endorsed GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on the eve of his reality-competition show’s season debut. Read full article > >

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Column: Madonna promises ‘no flashing’ at Super Bowl

Does the Internet have a soul? The question occurred to me as I spent an hour browsing the Web, and on inspection, it seemed to me not entirely nutty. Technology is changing the way we think about all kinds of theological concepts, such as community, prayer, ritual and worship. Why should it not expand our definition of “soul”?   Read full article > >

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Rethinking the soul as the ’Net becomes more lifelike

Enjoy the government’s new airfare rule. It might not last. On Jan. 26, the Transportation Department began requiring airlines and ticket agents to quote fares that include all mandatory taxes and fees. Since 1988, they’d been allowed to advertise fares that didn’t include government-imposed taxes and fees. Read full article > >

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The Navigator: Bill aims to scuttle new airfare pricing rule