Top Items:
New York Times:
Bloomberg Severs G.O.P. Ties, Fueling Talk of '08 Bid — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced Tuesday that he was dropping his Republican affiliation, a step that could clear the way for him to make an independent bid for the presidency. — The announcement was released during …
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Ben Smith / The Politico:
Billion-dollar elephant inches toward run — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg revealed Monday that he has ended his marriage of convenience with the Republican Party, thrusting himself firmly onto the national stage as a potential independent candidate for president - a billion-dollar elephant in the room of presidential politics.
Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
N.Y. Mayor Bloomberg Leaves GOP — Move Fuels Speculation About Independent Bid for the White House — New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg abruptly left the Republican Party yesterday, declaring himself free of a "rigid adherence" to ideology and stoking speculation that he will use …
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Boston Globe, New York Post, Cincinnati Enquirer, The Politico, Dick Polman's American Debate, City Room and New York Times
Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Bloomberg Quits G.O.P., Stirring Talk About '08 Race
Bloomberg Quits G.O.P., Stirring Talk About '08 Race
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Don Surber, WCBS-TV, QandO, New York Sun, Outside The Beltway, ImmigrationProf Blog and MyDD
Quinnipiac University News and Events:
June 20, 2007 - Clinton Tops Giuliani, Bloomberg In New York State, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Thompson Tops McCain Among Republicans — In a hypothetical all-New York presidential race, Sen. Hillary Clinton wins with 43 percent of voters statewide, followed by former …
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The Politico:
Edwards looks to N.H. to stay alive — John Edwards, battling signs he may be left behind by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, is seeking to reinvigorate his candidacy with a new focus on New Hampshire and a renewed emphasis on his populist "two Americas" message, advisers say.
Los Angeles Times:
Passports, answers in high demand — Travelers and lawmakers are asking why officials weren't ready for the rush caused by post-9/11 regulations. — Desperate to obtain their U.S. passports, world travelers have been flying to Seattle, where the passport office is considered one of the nation's most efficient.
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Captain's Quarters
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Ann Althouse / Althouse:
The new Hillary Clinton video is a take on the last scene of "The Sopranos." — It's clever, the way the video uses the jukebox business from the last "Sopranos" episode to remind us of Hillary's theme song contest. In case you care, I'll just tell you that the winner is "You and I," …
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INSTAPUTZ, HillaryClinton.com, Firedoglake, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Carpetbagger Report, Obsidian Wings, Taylor Marsh, Shakesville, Comments From Left Field, D-Day, Washington Times, AMERICAN DIGEST, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Unqualified Offerings, PrezVid, alicublog, Matt Zeitlin, TalkLeft, The Huffington Post, Pajamas Media, In The Company Of Glenn, Think Progress, Sadly, No!, The Swamp, Majikthise, National Review, Done With Mirrors, Lawyers, Guns and Money, The Caucus, TIME: Swampland and Liberal Values
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Danny Kemp / Agence France Presse:
Muslims hold new protests against Rushdie knighthood — ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Anger mounted in the Muslim world Wednesday over Britain's knighthood for novelist Salman Rushdie, with protests spreading to Malaysia for the first time and fresh demonstrations in Pakistan.
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Little Green Footballs
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National Lampoon Humor Network:
National Lampoon's 72 Virgins — Two idiot college students unwittingly join an Al Qaeda cell in order to get the 72 virgins promised to terrorists when they die. From the makers of Animal House, Van Wilder, and the Vacation movies. Join the Jihad at NationalLampoon.com!
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Ladies and Gentlemen, Digby — From the Take Back America conference — Joe Wilson, Digby, Rick Perlstein. — No Trackbacks to "Ladies and Gentlemen, Digby" — dakine01 says: … SeamusD says: … Joe Klein's conscience says: … Jane Hamsher says:
Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
U.S. Seeks to Block Exits for Iraq Insurgents — In more than four years in Iraq, American forces have been confounded by insurgents who have often slipped away only to fight another day. The war in Iraq has been likened to the arcade game of whack-a-mole, where as soon as you knock down one mole another pops up.
Ryan Lizza / The New Republic:
RICHARDSON'S LATEST: — Yesterday at the Take Back America conference Bill Richardson attacked his Democratic primary opponents for supporting recent legislation on Iraq. Said Richardson: … What is the nefarious legislation Richardson's opponents supported?
Ahmed Yousef / New York Times:
What Hamas Wants — THE events in Gaza over the last few days have been described in the West as a coup. In essence, they have been the opposite. Eighteen months ago, our Hamas Party won the Palestinian parliamentary elections and entered office under Prime Minister Ismail Haniya …
Matthew Yglesias / Guardian:
How to lose Afghanistan — Air strikes against a counter-insurgency should be a last resort. But the US is undertaking them - and creating more enemies. — A headline like Seven afghan children killed in US-led airstrike, which I read in Monday's New York Times, can't help but make you angry.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online
Emmanuel Sivan / Haaretz:
Thus are reports about the Mideast generated — A friend of mine, a Lebanese journalist, tells the following story: — Three years ago, when his country was under Syrian control, he was stopped at a surprise Syrian roadblock north of Beirut. A strong-looking mustachioed officer asked to see his papers.
Steve Herman / Associated Press:
Simulation finds 9/11 fireproofing key — INDIANAPOLIS - A computer simulation of the 2001 World Trade Center attacks supports a federal agency's findings that the initial impact from the hijacked airplanes stripped away crucial fireproofing material and that the weakened towers collapsed under their own weight.