Newark’s hero mayor, Cory Booker, the Democratic politician who can seemingly do no wrong, officially declared his candidacy today for the U.S. Senate seat left vacant after the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg last week. At a press conference announcing his much-anticipated run, Booker acknowledged the gridlock in Congress and his critics (“Too much Twitter! Too much exposure!”), but said, “I do not run from challenges. I run towards them.” Booker will now move on to a three-way race against two Democratic congressmen, where he is a favorite to win. But will Washington change the down-to-earth leader? Not on Twitter at least, where he promised his 1.4 million followers that if elected, he’ll still respond to them on the social site.

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The 44-year-old Booker had previously filed paperwork to run in the 2014 Senate election, but had not officially declared his candidacy when Lautenberg died. Many in the political world considered it all but a certainty he would win a Democratic primary next year.

But Gov. Chris Christie's plans to replace Lautenberg - an August primary and October general election - "throws a monkey wrench" in what were probably carefully laid plans for a candidacy, Ben Dworkin, the director of the Rider Institute for New Jersey Politics, said this week.

"I don’t think it’s necessarily clear that it’s Cory Booker," Dworkin said of the Democratic primary winner. "I think the governor assumed it was going to be Cory Booker. But again, low turnout, the middle of August, Booker has distinct advantages, but not as many as he would have in 2014."

Booker, a Democrat who was elected mayor in 2006, will likely face stiff competition from U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.), Rep. Rush Holt (D-12th Dist.) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) in the Democratic primary. All three have either declared their candidacies or expressed an interest in running for Lautenberg’s seat.

In early polling of a hypothetical Senate primary, responses gave Booker 59 percent of the vote, making him an immediate target for potential Democratic opponents as well as Republicans with eyes towards the general election.

In this week's address, President Obama says that the United States Senate will soon take action to fix our broken immigration system with a commonsense bill, and urges lawmakers to act quickly to pass this bill so that we can continue to live up to our traditions as a nation of laws, and also a nation of immigrants.

"See, we define ourselves as a nation of immigrants. The promise we find in those who come from every corner of the globe has always been one of our greatest strengths. It’s kept our workforce vibrant and dynamic. It’s kept our businesses on the cutting edge. And it’s helped build the greatest economic engine the world has ever known."

"But for years, our out-of-date immigration system has actually harmed our economy and threatened our security."

Obama pointed to improvements made to the system over the past four years, beefed-up border security, better use of technology, more effective deportation of criminals and focusing on the cause of what he called the "Dreamers," the young people brought here as children. But more comprehensive action is desperately needed. That's why, he said, the proposed legislation next week is so necessary, even if imperfect.

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Just one day after France's Constitutional Council approved the country's gay-marriage and adoption bill, French President François Hollande signed the bill into law. Although it was adopted by both the Senate and the National Assembly last month, right-wing opponents had taken one last stab at blocking the bill's passage by contesting it to the Council. France is now the ninth country in Europe, and fourteenth in the world, to recognize gay marriage. The first same-sex weddings can take place as soon as ten days after the bill's signing.

BBC:

After a tortured debate, the same-sex marriage and adoption bill was adopted by France's Senate and National Assembly last month.

The bill was quickly challenged on constitutional grounds by the main right-wing opposition UMP party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

But the Constitutional Council ruled on Friday that same-sex marriage "did not run contrary to any constitutional principles," and that it did not infringe on "basic rights or liberties or national sovereignty".

It said the interest of the child would be paramount in adoption cases, cautioning that legalising same-sex adoption would not automatically mean the "right to a child".

Opinion polls have suggested that approximately 55-60% of French people support same-sex marriage, and about 50% approve of gay adoption.

France is now the 14th country to legalize same-sex marriage after New Zealand in April.

It is also the ninth country in Europe to allow same-sex marriage after legalisation in the traditionally liberal Netherlands and Scandinavia, but also in the strongly Catholic nations of Portugal and Spain. Legislation is also moving through the UK Parliament.

Twelve down, 38 to go. Minnesota’s Senate voted 37–30 to allow same-sex couples to wed on Monday. It will become the 12th state to do so once Gov. Mark Dayton signs the bill, which he’s expected to do on Tuesday. “God made gays. And God made gays capable of loving other people of the same gender. Who are we to quibble with God’s intentions?” Judiciary Committee Chair Ron Latz said to the opposition.

Buzzfeed:

"The state’s sole out gay senator, Sen. Scott Dibble, spoke in support of the bill he had backed.

Of the legislature’s prior decision to push forward the vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay couples from marriage, “I felt excluded,” he says of that decision. He added, though, “In an odd way, I’m kind of grateful, because we had an amazing conversations, Minnesotans,” that he said led to Monday’s vote for marriage equality.

“Today, we have the power, the awesome, humbling power, to make dreams come true, he said. “We will be removing barriers to the full joy life has to offer.” Of himself and his husband, Richard, whom he married in California in 2008, he says, “I’ve met the person I can’t live without.”

Referencing past leaders on the issue, including the late out gay Sen. Allan Spear, Dibble said, “We have an awesome responsibility, and it’s humbling to be in this chamber right now.”

The lead Republican supporter of the bill, Sen. Branden Petersen, spoke during the closing arguments about his reasons for working with Dibble on the bill.

“I stand here, quite honestly, more uncertain of my future in this place than I ever have, but when I walk out of this chamber today … I will be on the side of liberty,” Petersen said."

The bill was passed by the House last week and will go into effect on August 1.

As the Senate holds its first-ever public hearing on drones and targeted killings, we turn the second part of our interview with Jeremy Scahill, author of the new book, "Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield." Scahill charts the expanding covert wars operated by the CIA and JSOC, the Joint Special Operations Command, in countries from Somalia to Pakistan. "I called it 'Dirty Wars' because, particularly in this administration, in the Obama administration, I think a lot of people are being led to believe that there is such a thing as a clean war," Scahill says. He goes on to discuss secret operations in Africa, the targeting of U.S. citizens in Yemen and the key role WikiLeaks played in researching the book. He also reveals imprisoned whistleblower Bradley Manning once tipped him off to a story about the private security company Blackwater. Scahill is the national security correspondent for The Nation magazine and longtime Democracy Now! correspondent. For the past several years, Scahill has been working on the "Dirty Wars" film and book project, which was published on Tuesday. The film, directed by Rick Rowley, will be released in theaters in June.

Full transcript of the discussion available here.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) said Tuesday that most opponents to his controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) are teenagers in their basements as the Obama administration threatened to veto the measure for its potential to violate civil liberties.

"People on the Internet -- if you're, you know, a 14-year-old tweeter in your basement … I took my nephew, I had to work with him a lot on this bill because he didn't understand the mechanics of it," Rogers continued. "I hear that a lot. Once you understand the threat and you understand the mechanics of how it works and you understand that people are not monitoring your content of your emails, most people go, 'got it.'"

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, reflected concerns shared by the White House and many civil liberties groups, arguing that the bill did not do enough to ensure that companies, in sharing cyber threat data with the government and each other, strip out any personal data of private citizens.

"They can just ship the whole kit and caboodle and we're saying minimize what is relevant to our national security," the Democrat said. "The rest is none of the government's business."

Rogers stressed that his bill doesn’t extend any extra surveillance powers to the federal government, despite condemnation from critics that say exactly that. “It does something very simple: it allows the government to share zeroes and ones with the private sector,” he said. Rather, he called it "a critical bipartisan first step for enabling American’s private sector to defend itself" and "improves cybersecurity without compromising our civil liberties."

“We have yet to find a single United States company that opposes this bill,” said Rep. Rogers.

But companies do in fact oppose CISPA. Facebook rescinded their support of the act, according to Cnet’s Declan McCullagh, because a spokesperson for the social media site says they prefer a legislative "balance" that ensures "the privacy of our users.” Facebook made the decision to rescind their support for the legislation after facing pressure from Demand Progress, the Internet freedom advocacy group founded by Aaron Swartz.

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As support for a background-check deal collapses in the Senate, Harry Reid broke with the National Rifle Association and declared his support for an assault-weapons ban. “We must strike a better balance between the right to defend ourselves and the right of every child in America to grow up safe from gun violence,” the A-rated Nevada Democrat said on the Senate floor. Unfortunately for him, the outlook for gun-control legislation looks bleak. A bipartisan amendment on background checks that is a vital ingredient in a passable gun bill appears to lack the necessary votes. Sen. Joe Manchin, one of the bill’s cosponsors, said on the floor that he knows they’re close but doesn’t know what the outcome will be.

Reid added “I’ll vote for the ban because maintaining the law and order is more important than satisfying conspiracy theorists who believe in black helicopters and false flags,” he said. “I’ll vote for the ban because saving the lives of police officers, young and old, and innocent civilians, young and old, is more important than preventing imagined tyranny.”

The Senate will vote Wednesday afternoon on gun measures that may determine the shape of legislation inspired by the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut.

A new video from MoveOn.org features a daughter asking her mother to do what she can to ensure senators keep dangerous guns out of schools by passing the Assault Weapons Ban. This is part of MoveOn.org members' gun violence prevention campaign, which advocates background checks, limits on high-capacity magazines, and a ban on assault weapons.

The video ad above was put together by VoteVets.org, and is currently running on various social media. It asks viewers to contact Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona and urge him to support universal background checks for all firearms. Glenn Kunkel, an Iraq War veteran who received two Purple Hearts during two tours of duty, is featured in the ad firing an AR-15 at a water-filled mannequin.

Kunkel says:

"I had to pass a background check to join the Marine Corps, before I could carry a weapon similar to this one in Iraq. Here at home, anyone can purchase this weapon, no questions asked."

"I support the Second Amendment, but we've seen what can happen when these fall into the wrong hands."

"I needed a background check to carry similar weapons in combat. We should require the same here at home. Call Senator Flake and tell him to support Universal Background Checks."

VoteVets says there are other versions available for other Senators, as well.

The U.S. Senate is set to vote on universal background checks in early April, and despite the fact that 92% of Americans support the measure, its passage remains in doubt. Watch VoteVets video ad, and tell your Senators that you support universal background checks.

Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, joins Current TV’s John Fugelsang to react to news that the Senate has voted to pass a federal budget for the first time in four years.

Reich weighs in on criticism that the budget drawn up by the Democratic senators doesn’t balance out. “There is nothing that is particularly important about balancing the budget,” Reich says. “It sounds good, but you don’t really want the budget to be balanced if you have a lot of people who are unemployed or underutilized capacity. And there’s no reason to balance the budget on the backs of the poor.”