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Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
An Early Military Victory for Obama — It was one of the earliest tests of the new American president — a small military operation off the coast of a Third World nation. But as President Bill Clinton found out in October 1993, even minor failures can have long-lasting consequences.
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Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:
How SEALs Carried Out Their Mission — The operation to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips involved dozens of Navy SEALs, who parachuted from an aircraft into the scene near dark Saturday, landing in the ocean. The SEALs were part of a group of Special Operations forces involved in the effort, according to military officials.
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 …
Discussion:
NY Daily News, Balloon Juice, Blogs and Stories, Cold Fury, Preemptive Karma, Gateway Pundit and American Power
Shailagh Murray / Washington Post:
Obama's Chief of Staff Grants Access, Gets Results — Lawmakers Respond to Improved Access to White House — As the House and Senate debated the budget earlier this month, Rahm Emanuel's spacious West Wing office took on the feel of a legislative bazaar.
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 …
Discussion:
George's Bottom Line, The Mahablog, Flopping Aces, BitsBlog, Founding Bloggers, Atlas Shrugs, Reuters, Gateway Pundit, Donklephant, Daily Kos, Wake up America, The Plank, Right Wing News, TigerHawk, Outside The Beltway, American Power, Scared Monkeys, Think Progress, The Other McCain and neo-neocon
Washington Post:
Kill the Pirates — With the rescue of American Richard Phillips from the hands of pirates yesterday, there was a blip of good news from the Indian Ocean, but it remains a scandal that Somali pirates continue to routinely defeat the world's naval powers. And worse than this ongoing demonstration …
Associated Press:
Obama twice approved force to rescue hostage
Obama twice approved force to rescue hostage
Discussion:
Think Progress, Associated Press, Financial Times, The Moderate Voice, A Blog For All, New York Post, Stephanie Miller, Politics and Critical Thinking, Agence France Presse, MSNBC, Democracy in America, No More Mister Nice Blog, Blue Crab Boulevard, Open Left, Macsmind, Buck Naked Politics and Oliver Willis
ABCNEWS:
Pirates Vow Revenge: ‘In the Future, America Will Be the One Mourning’
Pirates Vow Revenge: ‘In the Future, America Will Be the One Mourning’
Discussion:
Global Guerrillas
R.M. Schneiderman / New York Times:
U.S. Captain Held by Pirates Is Freed
U.S. Captain Held by Pirates Is Freed
Discussion:
Slate, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, FP Passport, Balloon Juice, USA Today, Patterico's Pontifications, Los Angeles Times, Time, RebelReports, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, GINA COBB, Political Punch, Power Line, Boston Herald, The Moderate Voice, Crooks and Liars, Commentary, Clusterstock, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Washington Post, CNN, JustOneMinute, Don Surber and Information Dissemination
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Tea Parties Forever — This is a column about Republicans — and I'm not sure I should even be writing it. — Today's G.O.P. is, after all, very much a minority party. It retains some limited ability to obstruct the Democrats, but has no ability to make or even significantly shape policy.
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Riehl World View, Brilliant at Breakfast, GayPatriot, The Rhetorican and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
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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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New York Times:
‘Surgical’ Bankruptcy Possible for G.M. — By MICHELINE MAYNARD and MICHAEL J. de la MERCED — DETROIT — The Treasury Department is directing General Motors to lay the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing by a June 1 deadline, despite G.M.'s public contention that it could still reorganize outside court …
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Politico Tries To Mix Steak And Sizzle — If I were trying to maximize my online hits for this column, the headline might be: “Politico Blamed for Decline of Journalism.” — But maybe that's a tad too nuanced to draw the Drudge link that would boost my numbers. Perhaps I should go with “Web Site Addicted to Mini-Scoops.”
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org
Roger Cohen / New York Times:
Realpolitik for Iran — For Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, “a combination of ignorance and arrogance” under the Bush administration squandered countless diplomatic opportunities with Iran and so allowed it to forge ahead with its nuclear program.
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
White House Cheat Sheet: Obama's Vigilance — The resolution of the Somalian pirate hostage situation on Sunday revealed a White House working actively behind the scenes to avoid the sort of disaster that could come to define the early days of President Obama's administration.
Discussion:
Power Line
Ari Fleischer / Wall Street Journal:
Everyone Should Pay Income Taxes — It's bad for our democracy to exempt half the country. — If you thought Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme was bad, wait until you hear about the inverted pyramid scheme the federal government is working on. While Mr. Madoff preyed on people who trusted …
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 …