Top Items:
CNN:
American captain rescued, pirates killed, U.S. official says — (CNN) — The captain of the Maersk Alabama was freed Sunday after being held captive since Wednesday by pirates off the coast of Somalia, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told CNN.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Reuters, NO QUARTER, Associated Press, Crooks and Liars, Wake up America, The Gun Toting Liberal, The Strata-Sphere, American Power, Mudville Gazette, Think Progress, DownWithTyranny!, Atlas Shrugs, Blue Crab Boulevard, Scared Monkeys, The Impolitic, Buck Naked Politics, TalkLeft, The Daily Dish, Comments from Left Field, Matthew Yglesias, Riehl World View, Connecting.the.Dots, Hot Air, Islam In Action, Balloon Juice, Exurban League, SWJ Blog, Clusterstock, MyDD and Fausta's Blog
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Associated Press:
Obama twice approved force to rescue hostage — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama twice authorized the military to rescue a U.S. captain who was being held by Somali pirates and whose life appeared to be at risk, administration officials said after Sunday's rescue.
Pundit Review Radio / BLACKFIVE:
How the rescue happened — I just finished listening to the press conference w/ ADM Gortney about the rescue of Captain Phillips. At the time it happened the USS Bainbridge was towing the lifeboat to calmer waters as the sea state was deteriorating. One of the pirates was on board …
R.M. Schneiderman / New York Times:
U.S. Captain Held by Pirates Is Freed — Richard Phillips, the captain of an American cargo ship held hostage by armed Somali pirates for more than four days, was freed on Sunday after three of his captors were killed, government and shipping officials said.
Caleb / Caleb's blog:
Captive Captain Saves President Obama — From the Daily News: … (h/t) Tammy Bruce & Moe Lane. — Playing pansy politics with pirates put the Captain's life at increased risk. His first escape attempt was thwarted by the thugs as Phillips remained adrift from the aid and cover of the US Navy …
Fox News:
Ship Captain Rescued From Somali Pirates — American sea Captain Richard Phillips was safely rescued Sunday from four Somali pirates, who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa, a U.S. intelligence official said. — Three of the pirates were killed …
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, Atlas Shrugs, The Two Malcontents, Confederate Yankee, PERRspectives, Jay Currie, Tim Blair and Neptunus Lex
Associated Press:
Official: US sea captain freed in swift firefight … MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) - An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday in a U.S. Navy operation that killed three of the four Somali pirates who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa, a senior U.S. intelligence official said.
Dena Potter / Associated Press:Rescued merchant ship captain grateful to US Navy
Discussion:
The Obama Legacy
Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:Heroic U.S. captain escapes; SEALs kill 3 Somali ‘pirate’ …
Discussion:
Fox News, Crooks and Liars, Boston Herald, Information Dissemination, The Obama Legacy and JustOneMinute
Mark R. Probst:
Amazon Follies — On Amazon.com two days ago, mysteriously, the sales rankings disappeared from two newly-released high profile gay romance books: “Transgressions” by Erastes and “False Colors” by Alex Beecroft. Everybody was perplexed. Was it a glitch of some sort?
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Carolyn Kellogg / Jacket Copy:
Amazon de-ranks so-called adult books, including National Book Award winner — One of these books has been removed from Amazon's sales rankings because of “adult” content; the other has not. — “American Psycho” is Bret Easton Ellis' story of a sadistic murderer.
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books:
Amazon Rank … Making this the top result, which is also dependent upon algorithms and s**t, requires help from you savvy folks. — I've created a page with the definition for “amazon rank.” LINK TO http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/ amazonrank with “Amazon Rank” as the anchor text.
Vashtan / Meta Writer:
Amazon Censorship - Who is affected? — following this: — http://community.livejournal.com/meta_ writer/11369.html — I've been asked for more information and am collecting the books/authors that are affected — Author/title — Level of explicitness/genre — GLTB content?
Discussion:
Jezebel
Paul McGeough / Sydney Morning Herald:
Warning that Pakistan is in danger of collapse within months — PAKISTAN could collapse within months, one of the more influential counter-insurgency voices in Washington says. — The warning comes as the US scrambles to redeploy its military forces and diplomats in an attempt …
Keith Bradsher / New York Times:
China Slows Purchases of U.S. and Other Bonds — HONG KONG — Reversing its role as the world's fastest-growing buyer of U.S. Treasuries and other foreign bonds, the Chinese government actually sold bonds heavily in January and February before resuming purchases in March, according to data released this weekend by China's central bank.
Discussion:
naked capitalism
Michael Vazquez / The Huffington Post:
Why We Don't Condemn Our Pirates — Guest Post by K'naan — As the first pirate attack of a U.S. ship in 200 years comes to a climax, I'm re-posting an essay I solicited and received several weeks ago from K'naan, a Somali-Canadian singer and activist. A video of a performance by K'naan …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Philip Elliott / Associated Press:
Obama girls name their new puppy ‘Bo’ — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - Bo? It's no jest. — The first family has settled on a first pet — a 6-month-old Portuguese water dog that the Obama girls are naming Bo.
RELATED:
Frank Rich / New York Times:
Awake and Sing! — “I am pronouncing the depression over!” declared CNBC's irrepressible Jim Cramer on April 2. The next day the unemployment rate, already at the highest level in 25 years, jumped yet again, but Cramer wasn't thinking about the 663,000 jobs that disappeared in March.
RELATED:
Kyle / Right Wing Watch:
Has Dobson Thrown In The Towel? Not Quite — I have already written a few posts this week trying to beat back the notion that the Religious Right is on the verge of collapse, pointing that that such declarations are made every few years and noting that right-wing leaders have repeatedly declared …
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