Hi, everyone. It's good to be back. I hope those of you who have been enduring this terrible winter, like us in Toronto, are keeping warm. It seems endless, but it finally felt this weekend like winter was letting up a bit.

Anyway, let's turn our attention to what I know has been on all of your minds: CPAC! How did you enjoy the latest glimpse into that glorious insanitarium? Are conservatives just, like, the best, or what?

And while Rand Paul won that stupid straw poll again, given his core of support that is nothing if not hard, and while Jeb Bush got gleefully booed, could it really be that Scott Walker is for real?

Booman Tribune: Clinton rival Martin O'Malley talks Hillary and triangulation.

Prairie Weather: What an embarrassing gaggle of conservative justices.

Squatlo-Rant: When right-wing crushes (e.g., Putin) prove to be strongman dictators who kill their rivals.

And because all is not politics:

Lance Mannion: Thoughts on Nimoy, Spock, Kirk, Marcus, and Abrams. You know, Star Trek.

Round-up by Michael J.W. Stickings of The Reaction. (Twitter: @mjwstickings.) I'll be here all week.

Send requests and suggestions to mbru@crooksandliars.com (with "For MBRU" in the subject line).