Top Items:
Countdown With Olbermann:
Full coverage: Virginia Tech massacre — April 18: NBC News releases a picture of Cho Seung-Hui that was in the package the Virginia Tech gunman sent to NBC between the two shootings on Monday. — Photos & audio — Virginia Tech students, faculty come to terms with the horror of the mass shooting at the Blacksburg, Va., school.
Discussion:
This Is London, NewsBusters.org, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, The Jawa Report, Redstate, The Democratic Daily, Joanne Jacobs, Threat Level, Media Blog, Ali Eteraz, The Corner, Michelle Malkin, Confederate Yankee, Middle Earth Journal, Boing Boing, alicublog, No More Mister Nice Blog, On Deadline, Ace of Spades HQ, Riehl World View, Macsmind, TIME, Daimnation!, Sister Toldjah, Verum Serum, Donklephant, NY Daily News, Romenesko, The Moderate Voice and Shakesville
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NBC Nightly / The Daily Nightly:
ONE WORD — This morning, about five miles outside of Roanoke, Va., I watched a Nissan pickup truck merge into traffic in front of us on the interstate. I noticed there was something written on the rear cab window. When we got closer, I was able to read what it was — just one word, written in white shoe polish on the glass: WHY?
Calvin Woodward / Associated Press:
McCain says he backs no gun control — WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate John McCain (news, bio, voting record) declared Wednesday he believes in "no gun control," making the strongest affirmation of support for gun rights in the GOP field since the Virginia Tech massacre.
Bill Carter / New York Times:
Package Forced NBC to Make Tough Decisions — The package that arrived yesterday at NBC headquarters in New York was almost immediately flagged as suspicious, because it had been mailed from Blacksburg, Va., and bore the return name A. Ishmael. — Last night, the anchor of "The NBC Nightly News …
Mike Nizza / The Lede:
Updates on Virginia Tech
Updates on Virginia Tech
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Huffington Post, Boing Boing, Redstate, Threat Level, Michelle Malkin, TalkLeft, Los Angeles Times and The Volokh Conspiracy
Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:
In Reversal, Justices Back Ban on Method of Abortion — The Supreme Court reversed course on abortion on Wednesday, upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-to-4 decision that promises to reframe the abortion debate and define the young Roberts court.
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MSNBC:
Top court upholds ban on abortion procedure — 'Partial birth' law at issue; first time for justices to ban a specific procedure — April 18: NBC's Pete Williams explains the Supreme Court ruling on partial birth abortions and the procedure itself. — See photos of quirky landmarks that you sent in!
Discussion:
SCOTUSblog, AlterNet.org, About U.S. Politics, On Politics, Brilliant at Breakfast, Crooks and Liars, Public Eye, Sister Toldjah, TBogg and CNN
Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns and Money:
Four Things To Remember When Reading Gonzales v. Carhart
Four Things To Remember When Reading Gonzales v. Carhart
Discussion:
the talking dog, Hullabaloo, a bird and a bottle, LiberalOasis, The Reaction, The Mahablog, Feministing, Wake up America and Matthew Yglesias
Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
High Court Upholds Curb on Abortion
High Court Upholds Curb on Abortion
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Daily Dish, Slate, Right Wing News, Scared Monkeys, Crunchy Con, SCOTUSblog, The Democratic Daily and protein wisdom
Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:
Can conservative bloggers tell the truth? — Here's a simple challenge for John Hinderaker, a writer for the popular conservative blog Power Line who recently revisited the 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign controversy. Upset by recent media references that suggested …
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The Hill:
FBI searches Republican lawmaker's home — The FBI searched the Virginia home of Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) last Friday in its investigation into ties between the congressman and his wife, Julie, and disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to law enforcement and other Congressional and K Street sources.
Discussion:
The Newshoggers, Firedoglake, On Deadline, DownWithTyranny!, TPMmuckraker and Obsidian Wings
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: Carolyn McCarthy doesn't understand her own gun-control legislation — I wish I could show you the bill (H.R. 1859) but the text isn't online at Thomas yet. It's probably identical or nearly identical to this bill, which she introduced in February, to reinstate the assault-weapons ban.
Discussion:
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
Nazila Fathi / New York Times:
Iran Exonerates Six Who Killed in Islam's Name — The Iranian Supreme Court has overturned the murder convictions of six members of a prestigious state militia who killed five people they considered "morally corrupt." — The reversal, in an infamous five-year-old case from Kerman …
Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
U.S. Says Iranian Arms Seized in Afghanistan — A shipment of Iranian-made weapons bound for the Taliban was recently captured by allied forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon's top officer said Tuesday. — It was the first time that a senior American official had asserted that Iranian-made weapons were being supplied to the Taliban.
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Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Don't Reward Failure By Giving Money to NARAL — I'm sure Nancy Keenan is licking her sweet chops over the latest SCOTUS decision. It is, after all, probably going to be the biggest fundraising opportunity she's had during her tenure at NARAL. Bigger even than Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement.
Kirk Semple / New York Times:
Bombings Kill at Least 171 Iraqis in Baghdad — Bombs ravaged Baghdad in five horrific explosions aimed mainly at Shiite crowds on Wednesday, killing at least 169 people in the deadliest day in the capital since the American-led security plan for the city took effect two months ago.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
Associated Press:
Kitty Carlisle Hart dead at 96 … NEW YORK (AP) — Kitty Carlisle Hart, whose long career spanned Broadway, opera, television and film, including the classic Marx Brothers movie "A Night at the Opera," has died at age 96, her son said Wednesday. — Christopher Hart said his mother …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Political Radar:
Fred Thompson 2008: A Matter of When — Not If — ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Fred Thompson's top cheerleader on Capitol Hill — Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. — said Wednesday that the former Republican senator's entrance into the 2008 presidential race is a matter of when — not if.
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Our benevolent surveillance state — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — The expansion of the Surveillance State is endless. Buried within an ABC report on the Virginia Tech shootings is this paragraph (h/t reader DT): … Is there any good reason whatsoever why the federal government …