Top Items:
ACLU:
Abuse of Power: The Bush Administration's Secret Legal Memos — On April 16, 2009, the Department of Justice released four secret memos used by the Bush administration to justify torture: — A 18-page memo, dated August 1, 2002, from Jay Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, OLC, to John A. Rizzo, General Counsel CIA.
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Mark Mazzetti / The Caucus:
Obama Releases Interrogation Memos, Says C.I.A. Operatives Won't Be Prosecuted — Updated After a tense internal debate, President Obama officially announced this afternoon that his administration would not prosecute C.I.A. operatives for carrying out controversial interrogations of terrorist suspects …
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Obama to release OLC torture memos; promises no prosecutions for CIA officials — [updated below - Update II -Update III (Interview w/ACLU's Jameel Jaffer - calls for a special prosecutor)] — In a just-released statement, Barack Obama announced that — in response to an ACLU FOIA lawsuit …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Crooks and Liars, The Daily Dish, MoJo Blog Posts and Swampland
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Obama Explains Memo Release Decision — In sum: he's decided to redact the identities of the CIA officers who conducted the interrogations, but everything else will be released without censorship. The full statement is after the jump; here's the part that reflects, I think, what Obama really thinks:
Discussion:
Political Machine
US Department of Justice:
Department of Justice Releases Four Office of Legal Counsel Opinions — In connection with ongoing litigation, the Department of Justice today released four previously undisclosed Office of Legal Counsel ("OLC") opinions - one that OLC issued to the Central Intelligence Agency in August 2002 …
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Banality Of Evil — Perhaps you are reading these documents alongside me. I've only read the Bybee memo, as chilling an artefact as you are ever likely to read in a democratic society, the work clearly not of a lawyer assessing torture techniques in good faith, but of an administration official tasked …
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Obama's huge test today: do we believe in secret law? — (updated below - Update II) — Today is the most significant test yet determining the sincerity of Barack Obama's commitment to restore the Constitution, transparency and the rule of law. After seeking and obtaining multiple extensions …
Paul Haven / Associated Press:Spanish AG says no torture probe of US officials
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, BBC, Blogs and Stories, RebelReports, The Atlanticist, Wizbang and Hot Air
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel: CIA Officers Granted Immunity From Torture Prosecution *** UPDATE ***
Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:Administration Won't Charge CIA Officers for Approved Interrogations
Discussion:
United States Senator …, Democracy in America, The Raw Story, Democrats.com and RebelReports
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
“Tea Party” Protests Appear to Draw At Least 250,000 — This is an update and probably the last one. Those of you who are interested in extending the analysis (there are undoubtedly many events missing, although most of the major ones should now be covered) are encouraged to do so at Wikipedia or elsewhere.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel, Ross Douthat, Wall Street Journal, The Fix, www.washingtonexaminer.com, Tom Watson, Democratic Strategist, Pajamas Media, Firedoglake, The Next Right, Infinite Monkeys, Newshoggers.com, Donklephant, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Corner, The Mahablog and Outside The Beltway
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Fox News:
Cable Anchors, Guests Use Tea Parties as Platform for Frat House Humor — Cable anchors and guests covered the anti-tax tea party protests by cracking a litany of barely concealed sexual references. — FOXNews.com — For thousands of Americans, Tax Day was a moment to protest …
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit, Michelle Malkin, Sister Toldjah, Atlas Shrugs, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Political Machine and Don Surber
Eric Zimmermann / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:
Schakowsky: Tea parties ‘despicable’ — Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) blasted “tea party” protests yesterday, labeling the activities “despicable” and shameful. “The ‘tea parties’ being held today by groups of right-wing activists, and fueled by FOX News Channel, are an effort to mislead …
Discussion:
The Market Ticker
David Neiwert / Crooks and Liars:
Shepard Smith blows the ‘DHS is picking on the Tea Parties’ meme out of the water — You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player! — Shepard Smith brought that rarest of things to Fox News yesterday: amid the cacophony over the Tea Parties, he actually committed an act of journalism.
Discussion:
The Caucus
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:Fox News Anchor: We Did Public Relations For Tea Parties
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Jay Bookman:
Georgia Senate threatens dismantling of USA — It wasn't quite the firing on Fort Sumter that launched the Civil War. But on April 1, your Georgia Senate did threaten by a vote of 43-1 to secede from and even disband the United States. — It was not an April Fool's joke.
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John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:
Georgia Senate threatens to secede — What do they plan on fighting with, peaches? Mind you, this comes on yesterday's threat by the GOP governor of Texas to secede as well. — Of course, what's really going on here is that Republicans are intentionally fanning the flames of violence …
Brian Faughnan / Weekly Standard:
House Democrat Leaders: Tea Partiers Are Racist, Nazi, Gun Nuts — If the Obama administration has taken flak for suggesting that conservative groups might be home to domestic terrorists, it looks like some House Democrat leaders are willing to go even further:
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fra.dot.gov:
High-Speed Rail — Vision of High-Speed Rail in America — President Obama proposes to help address the nation's transportation challenges by launching new an efficient, high-speed passenger rail network in 100-600 mile corridors that connect communities across America.
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Newsdesk / Clout St:
Burris fundraising total: $845 — U.S. Senator Roland Burris, the controversial appointee to the seat once held by President Barack Obama, is holding his first campaign fundraiser since he took office this weekend—and the financial report he filed this week shows he could use some political donations.
New York Post:
CNBC SWEATS ‘OBAMA-BASHING’ — THE top suits and some of the on-air talent at CNBC were recently ordered to a top-secret meeting with General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt and NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker to discuss whether they've turned into the President Obama-bashing network, Page Six has learned.
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Politico's Mike Allen claims that author of DHS report on right-wing extremism couldn't be from ‘real America.’ — On Tuesday, the Washington Times revealed a recent Department of Homeland Security assessment that warned about increased activity by “rightwing extremists.”
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Peter Urban / ConnPost.com:
Only 5 state residents donated to Dodd — WASHINGTON — Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd appears to have looked everywhere but his home state to fuel what pundits anticipate will be one of the most hotly contested races in the nation in 2010. — The five-term incumbent reported raising just $4,250 …
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Perry: No Secession, At Least for Now! — We've just gotten comment from Gov. Perry's press spokesman on the governor's apparent interest in seceding from the union. It's pretty vague but basically it seems like he's saying no need to secede for now. But in the future, who knows.
George F. Will / Washington Post:
America's Bad Jeans — On any American street, or in any airport or mall, you see the same sad tableau: A 10-year-old boy is walking with his father, whose development was evidently arrested when he was that age, judging by his clothes. Father and son are dressed identically — running shoes, T-shirts.
Discussion:
The Plank, Washington Monthly, Outside The Beltway, Hot Air and The Washington Independent
Forbes:
The Dangers Of The Drinking Age — The government pressured states to raise it to 21. So why didn't the move save lives? — For the past 20 years, the U.S. has maintained a Minimum Legal Drinking Age of 21 (MLDA21), with little public debate about the wisdom of this policy.
Discussion:
Reason
Aaron Deslatte / Central Florida Political Pulse:
Florida Senate passes budget that taps fees, taxes, casinos — TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Senate passed a stitched-together $65.6 billion spending plan Thursday that pays the bills with a huge infusion of federal stimulus cash, higher taxes on tobacco and fees on motorists and court-filers, along with a dramatic expansion of gambling.
Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2009: Virginia Governor Election — GOP's McDonnell Pulls Further Ahead in Virginia Governor's Race — Republican Bob McDonnell has lengthened his lead on all three Democratic hopefuls in the race to be Virginia's next governor, but it's a long way to Election Day.
Anchorage Daily News:
Lawmakers reject Ross as attorney general — JUNEAU — The Alaska Legislature today rejected Wayne Anthony Ross as attorney general. — Meeting in joint session, the House and Senate voted 35-23 against confirming the Anchorage attorney. Ross was nominated by Gov. Sarah Palin to replace Talis Colberg …
Brian Stelter / New York Times:
Gotcha TV: Crews Stalk Bill O'Reilly's Targets — When Bill O'Reilly's camera crew ambushed Mike Hoyt at a bus stop in Teaneck, N.J., a few months ago, the on-camera confrontation and the microphone in his face reminded him, oddly enough, of the “60 Minutes” interviewer Mike Wallace.
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