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) — In a just-released statement, Barack Obama announced that — in response to an ACLU FOIA lawsuit — he has ordered four key Bush-era torture memos released, and the Associated Press …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, Democrats.com, Political Machine, Donklephant 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:
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 …
MSNBC:
CIA employees won't be tried for waterboarding — Former CIA Director says torture memo release endangers the country — WASHINGTON - Seeking to move beyond what he calls a “a dark and painful chapter in our history,” President Barack Obama said Thursday that CIA officials …
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 …
Paul Haven / Associated Press:
Spanish AG says no torture probe of US officials
Spanish AG says no torture probe of US officials
Discussion:
BBC, JustOneMinute, Blogs and Stories, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, RebelReports, The Atlanticist, CNN, DISSENTING JUSTICE and Jules Crittenden
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel: CIA Officers Granted Immunity From Torture Prosecution *** UPDATE ***
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Banality Of Evil — Perhaps you are reading these documents alongside me.
The Banality Of Evil — Perhaps you are reading these documents alongside me.
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.
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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 …
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.
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, Don Surber, Atlas Shrugs, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Political Machine, Think Progress and Daily Kos
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Fox News Anchor: We Did Public Relations For Tea Parties
Fox News Anchor: We Did Public Relations For Tea Parties
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Byron York / www.washingtonexaminer.com:
Small-town rally shows true meaning of tea parties
Small-town rally shows true meaning of tea parties
Discussion:
Hot Air
Chris Good / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Tea Pary Turnout: A Rundown of Estimates
Tea Pary Turnout: A Rundown of Estimates
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
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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Alexander Mooney / CNN:
Texas governor says secession possible — (CNN) — Texas Gov. Rick Perry isn't ruling out the possibility his state may one day secede from the nation. — Speaking to an energetic and angry tea party crowd in Austin Wednesday evening, the Lone Star State governor suggested secession …
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Go Rick! — MSNBC is now picking up on the story of Gov. Perry …
Go Rick! — MSNBC is now picking up on the story of Gov. Perry …
Discussion:
Open Left
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.
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:
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight
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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:
Washington Monthly, Outside The Beltway, The Plank, The Washington Independent, Shakesville and PoliGazette
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.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Frum on Conservative Paranoia — David Frum's Spectator article on the political challenges facing the modern Republican Party has a nice ditty on the tide of extreme paranoia sweeping the conservative mediaverse: … Now to be fair, during the Bush years more than one person passed me this …
Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
NY-20: A WINNER EMERGING? — From NBC's Domenico Montanaro — Is Democrat Scott Murphy moving closer to winning the still very close 20th congressional district race in Upstate New York? — This morning, the state elections board, updated its numbers and now shows Murphy widening his lead to 167 votes …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
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
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.
Discussion:
Hotline On Call