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Peter Baker / New York Times:
Banned Techniques Yielded ‘High Value Information,’ Memo Says — WASHINGTON - President Obama's national intelligence director told colleagues in a private memo last week that the harsh interrogation techniques banned by the White House did produce significant information that helped the nation in its struggle with terrorists.
Discussion:
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Washington Post:
Harsh Tactics Readied Before Their Approval — Intelligence and military officials under the Bush administration began preparing to conduct harsh interrogations long before they were granted legal approval to use such methods — and weeks before the CIA captured its first high-ranking terrorism suspect …
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The Note, Prairie Weather, AMERICAblog News, Time, The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Daily Dish, Daily Kos and The Plank
New York Times:
In Adopting Harsh Tactics, No Inquiry Into Their Past Use — WASHINGTON — The program began with Central Intelligence Agency leaders in the grip of an alluring idea: They could get tough in terrorist interrogations without risking legal trouble by adopting a set of methods used on Americans during military training.
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WTOP.com:
Acting Freddie Mac CFO commits suicide — VIENNA, Va. — David Kellermann, acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac, committed suicide in his Hunter Mill Estates home Wednesday morning. — Fairfax County Police spokeswoman Mary Anne Jennings tells WTOP police responded to the Kellermann home …
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Associated Press:
Reports: Freddie Mac official found dead — WASHINGTON - David Kellermann, the acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac, was found dead at his home Wednesday morning in what broadcast reports said was an apparent suicide. — WUSA-TV and WTOP Radio reported that David Kellermann was found dead in his Northern Virginia home.
Discussion:
The Page
CBS News:
Freddie Mac Exec Found Dead At Home — David Kellermann, Acting Chief Financial Officer Of Embattled Mortgage Company, Committed Suicide — (WUSA) A top executive at Freddie Mac was found dead Wednesday morning from an apparent suicide, according to CBS affiliate WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C.
Jonathan S. Landay / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Report: Abusive tactics were used to find Iraq-al Qaida link — WASHINGTON — The Bush administration put relentless pressure on interrogators to use harsh methods on detainees in part to find evidence of cooperation between al Qaida and the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime …
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Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:
Report Details Origins of Bush-Era Interrogation Policies
Report Details Origins of Bush-Era Interrogation Policies
Michael Tomasky / Guardian:
How they lie: a case study — Did an Obama judicial nominee really express a preference for Allah over Jesus? No, not by a long shot — From the second I read the sentence, I knew there was something fishy about it. Many years' experience in reading and then looking into rightwing canards set off …
Robert / Jihad Watch:
Muslim who called for engagement with Muslim Brotherhood to advise White House — Mogahed, along with John Esposito, cooked the results of a Gallup survey of Muslims to increase the number of “moderates.” — Mogahed was also a member of U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project, which called for engagement with Muslim Brotherhood.
Discussion:
Stop The ACLU
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Dr. Sanity:
THE POLIITICAL LEFT: UNITED IN HATE WITH AMERICA'S FOES — Cliff May reminds us that there is a reason why the political left in this country has made common cause with Militant Islamists: … In the few short months that the dedicated leftist Barack Obama has been in the White House …
Discussion:
alicublog, Right Pundits, Macsmind, Pajamas Media, AMERICAN DIGEST, TBogg, Riehl World View and American Power
ABCNEWS:
RFK Jr. Blasts Obama as ‘Indentured Servant’ to Coal Industry — Critics Say Clean Coal Is a Boondoggle; ‘Clean Coal Is a Dirty Lie’ — “Clean coal is a dirty lie,” says environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who calls President Barack Obama and other politicians who commit taxpayer money to develop it …
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Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Court Debates Strip Search of Student — WASHINGTON — The United States Supreme Court spent an hour on Tuesday debating what middle school students are apt to put in their underwear and what should be done about it. — Justice Stephen G. Breyer, for instance, said it struck him as …
CNN:
Shirtless Obama to appear on magazine cover — (CNN) - It's not every day a President of the United States lands shirtless on a magazine cover. — But the May issue of Washingtonian Magazine, to hit newsstands Wednesday, is causing a bit of a sizzle inside the beltway.
Discussion:
Townhall.com
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
To Tweet or Not to Tweet — Alfred Hitchcock would have loved the Twitter headquarters here. Birds gathering everywhere, painted on the wall in flocks, perched on the coffee table, stitched on pillows and framed on the wall with a thought bubble asking employees to please tidy up after themselves.
Steve Connor / The Independent:
Fertility expert: ‘I can clone a human being’ — Controversial doctor filmed creating embryos before injecting them into wombs of women wanting cloned babies — A controversial fertility doctor claimed yesterday to have cloned 14 human embryos and transferred 11 of them into the wombs …
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Don Surber, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications and Wake up America
Associated Press:
Fidel Castro says Obama misinterpreted his brother's remarks — The former Cuban president rejects suggestions that the island should free political prisoners or cut taxes on remittances from the U.S. — HAVANA — Former Cuban President Fidel Castro said President Obama misinterpreted remarks …
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
White House Cheat Sheet: The Gore-acle's Influence — Former vice president Al Gore has emerged as a key behind-the-scenes counselor to the White House and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate on a variety of issues including his trademark push to curb global warming.
John Cook / Gawker:
Matt Drudge Goes Into Hiding — Days after Matt Drudge popped up to tell New York magazine about how he doesn't enjoy having sex with men, The New Republic looks into his descent into Howard Hughes-like isolation. — As Gabriel Sherman puts it, Drudge fears the media …
NY Daily News:
Somali pirate's smile turns to tears; could face life — Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, right, cries as the judge asks his lawyer, Phillip Weinstein, about Muse's age in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday. The judge ruled he could be tried as an adult. — A Somali sea bandit wept as he was hit …
David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
Civil War Raging in Right-Wing Blogosphere — Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, jazz musician and Web designer Charles Johnson has devoted his blog, Little Green Footballs, to exposing Muslim extremism in and outside the United States. His targets have included the Council …
Mary Kate Cary / US News:
Democrats Hysterical Over Tea Party Republicans — By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog — Why is the left so angry? It's a question posed by columnist Byron York today, and he's got a great point. With control of House, Senate, and White House, you'd think they'd be sitting on top of the world.
Mickey Kaus / Kausfiles:
Why Hillary Is President — You know those figures that Hillary Clinton strategist Mark Penn used in his WSJ column, the ones that seemed like BS? … Well, they were BS! Room 8 notes that Penn a) assumed that all bloggers saying they'd like to make money are actually making money.
Discussion:
Wonkette, Room Eight blogs, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Hot Air, GayPatriot, Liberal Values and The Huffington Post
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
For Housing Crisis, the End Probably Isn't Near — The closest thing to a real estate crystal ball in the last few years has been the house auctions that are regularly held around the country. — In 2006 and early 2007, the official housing statistics were still showing that house prices were holding up.
Discussion:
Calculated Risk
Jerry Markon / Washington Post:
Prosecutors Considering Dropping Espionage Charges Against Former AIPAC Lobbyists — Review Comes Amid Reports That Rep. Harman Was Overheard on Wiretaps Agreeing to Seek Lenient Treatment for Them — Federal prosecutors are considering whether to drop the charges against two former pro …
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NPR:
Harman ‘Outraged’ Over Alleged Wiretapping
Harman ‘Outraged’ Over Alleged Wiretapping
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker, I Am TRex, CNN, Daily Kos, MyDD, Gawker, The Swamp, Mondoweiss, The Huffington Post and Balloon Juice