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Kim Curtis / Associated Press:
Crips Gang Co-Founder Executed in Calif. — SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) - Convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips gang co-founder whose case stirred a national debate about capital punishment versus the possibility of redemption, was executed Tuesday morning.
Discussion:
Right Wing Nut House, The Mahablog, the talking dog, La Shawn Barber's Corner, Joust The Facts, Street Prophets, chicagoboyz.net, Street Prophets, Middle Earth Journal, Patterico's Pontifications, Donklephant, La Shawn Barber's Corner, Ravenwood's Universe, Classical Values and BlondeSense
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Sarah Kershaw / New York Times:
Stanley Tookie Williams, Crips Gang Co-Founder, Is Executed — SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13 - Stanley Tookie Wiliams, a condemned gangster whose execution drew more national and international attention than any here in decades, was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 12:35 this morning at San Quentin State Prison.
Los Angeles Times:
Governor Didn't Believe Williams Had Reformed — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did not just reject Stanley Tookie Williams' request for clemency, he aggressively attacked the central element of the former gang leader's case: Williams, he said, had never really reformed.
Los Angeles Times:Tookie Williams Is Executed
Discussion:
Booker Rising, dcthornton.com, Sentencing Law and Policy, The Heretik, baldilocks, How Appealing and Booman Tribune ~ Boo!
Michelle Malkin:THE TOOKIE FILES: NOTES ON THE FREAK SHOW
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, baldilocks, Right Wing Nut House, The Belmont Club, The Anchoress, The Rude Pundit, Patterico's Pontifications, Booman Tribune ~ Boo!, Diggers Realm, Ed Driscoll.com, The Moderate Voice, California Conservative, Comments From Left Field, Shakespeare's Sister, Ace of Spades HQ, Wizbang, Debbie Schlussel and Blogs of War
Kieran Healy / Crooked Timber:
Knock Knock, Bang Bang — Jim Henley points us to Radley Balko's extensive coverage of the astonishing case of Cory Maye. Here is Radley's initial post on the case; and here are a series of posts of his updating and clarifying the details—1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and 8 (the first and last will tell you a lot).
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Kirk Semple / New York Times:
Iraqi Ministry Denies Captives Were Abused — RAMADI, Iraq, Dec. 12 - The Iraqi Interior Ministry insisted Monday that none of the 625 prisoners discovered last week in an Iraqi detention center had been tortured or abused, despite assertions by American officials to the contrary.
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John Dickerson / Slate:
The Grinch Who Doctored Photos — The RNC's fraudulent new ad. — The RNC's new Web video "Retreat and Defeat" starts with a flat-screen TV playing clips from Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, Sen. Barbara Boxer, and Sen. John Kerry. As they speak, a white flag waves over their faces while ominous music moans.
Discussion:
Blogs for Bush, Running Scared, Nitpicker, The Carpetbagger Report, The Fix, Wonkette and The Huffington Post
David Aaronovitch / Times of London:
Here's my apology on the 'disaster' of the Iraq war. Now, where's yours? — MANY MORNINGS begin with the Today snort: an almost indefinable simultaneous use of sinus and larynx, it is the audio equivalent of one of Jeremy Paxman's eyebrows leaping off his head and making a bid for freedom among the studio lights.
Discussion:
Austin Bay Blog
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Zogby:
Bush Job Approval at 38% After edging above 40%, it fades again — President Bush's job approval rating languishes under 40%, despite an upturn in the economy and a public relations onslaught defending the role of the U.S. military in rebuilding Iraq, a new telephone poll by Zogby International shows.
Navid Iqbal / dailyrecord.com:
Newsweek's Fineman blasts Bob Woodward — Political reporter says famed journalist's mission has changed — DAILY RECORD — MADISON — Howard Fineman, Newsweek's chief political correspondent, said Monday night in the first program of a Drew University lecture series …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Marty Kaplan / The Huffington Post:
Journalism's Slo-Mo Suicide — Dan Froomkin's "White House Briefing" column, which appears on washingtonpost.com, is a sparkling daily anthology of the deceit, disingenuousness, evasiveness, hypocrisy and lack of accountability of the W administration. What Froomkin does is artfully compile links …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Editor and Publisher, Talking Points Memo, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Eschaton, BuzzMachine and Daily Kos
Brian Williams / MSNBC:
President Bush on Iraq, Katrina, the economy — The 43rd president speaks exclusively with NBC's Brian Williams — WASHINGTON - — Brian Williams — •Profile — Our day started early this morning, when we greeted President George W. Bush in the Oval Office.
H-Bomb / anklebitingpundits.com:
DeLay Having an Impact in Vulnerable Congressional Districts — For the past couple of weeks, we have been reporting on the rumblings in the House of Representatives; is a coup afoot? If so, who is involved? Could it really be successful? — Well, information obtained by ABP yesterday might add fuel to such speculation.
ReddHedd / firedoglake:
...And the WaPo Confirms My Little Bird — The WaPo reported this morning, during the political chat online, that Jim VandeHei "misspoke" and meant to say Libby on last night's Hardball instead of Hadley. … I bet he did appreciate the opportunity to set the record straight.
E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Beyond The War Spin — After this week's elections in Iraq, will our national debate be about what the United States should do to salvage the best outcome it can from a war policy that has been riddled with errors and miscalculations? Or will we mostly discuss how politicians should position themselves on the war?
Jodi Wilgoren / New York Times:
After 14 Weeks, Evacuees Settle Into 14th Home — BATON ROUGE, La., Dec. 8 - The small room where Tracy Jackson, Jerel Brown and their four young children share a twin bed and thin mattress on the floor is the 14th place they have laid their heads since Hurricane Katrina struck just over 14 weeks ago.
Peter Baker / Washington Post:
Bush Estimates Iraqi Death Toll in War at 30,000 — PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 12 — President Bush estimated Monday that 30,000 Iraqis have died in the war since U.S.-led forces invaded in March 2003, but he offered no second thoughts about ordering the attack and said the threat of terrorism …
New York Times:
Bush Says He's Confident That He and McCain Will Reach Agreement on Interrogation Policy — WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - President Bush said Monday that he was "confident" that he could reach an agreement with Senator John McCain over legislative restrictions on American interrogations of captives in the fight against global terrorism.
