Top Items:
The Hill:
Hoekstra considers hearings on Pelosi, interrogations — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is under renewed fire after the Obama administration released documents that critics say contradict her claim that she was never told that U.S. detainees were being waterboarded.
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
CIA Admits That Info About Torture Briefings For Dems May Not Be Accurate — As I noted below, newly released documents appear to show that according to the CIA, officials briefed Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats back in 2002 about the use of torture techniques on terror suspects.
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Steele on judges with ‘empathy’: 'I'll give you empathy. Empathize right on your behind!' — Last week, when Supreme Court Justice David Souter said that he intended to retire, President Obama said that in naming a replacement, he would not only “seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Washington Monthly, Taegan Goddard's …, Wonkette, TPMDC, The Washington Independent and Salon
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Anne E. Kornblut / Washington Post:
Obama to Address Muslim World From Egypt — President Obama will make his promised speech to the Muslim world from Egypt, a White House official said on Friday. — Obama pledged during the campaign to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capital within the first few months of taking office.
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Haaretz:
Jerusalem worried over breakdown of U.S.-Israel cooperation under Obama — Senior officials in Jerusalem expressed concern recently over the sharp decline in the coordination between Israel and the United States on security and state affairs since President Barack Obama's entered the White House …
Satyam Khanna / Think Progress:
Obama sends handwritten letter to gay soldier ousted from the military promising to repeal DADT. — In January, Sandy Tsao, an army officer based out of St. Louis, MO, told her superiors that she is gay — a violation of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law. Tsao then wrote to President Obama …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, BuzzFlash.org, TPMCafe, glaadBLOG.org, Taylor Marsh, Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Salon and The Bilerico Project
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Family Research Council: We Could Support Gay SCOTUS, But Not One With “Pro-Gay Ideology” — Yesterday I reported that the religious right group Focus on the Family said that they wouldn't oppose an openly-gay nominee to the Supreme Court on the basis of their sexual orientation.
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Dana Stevens / Slate:
Go See Star Trek — It's logical. … J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (Paramount Pictures) is a gift to those of us who loved the original series, that brainy, wonky, idealistic body of work that aired to almost no commercial success between 1966-69 and has since become a science fiction archetype and object of cult adoration.
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Dave Itzkoff / ArtsBeat:
A Mind-Meld Q&A With Leonard Nimoy — Leonard Nimoy is an author whose poetry collections include “A Lifetime of Love: Poems on the Passages of Life,” a photographer whose monographs include “Shekhina” and the director of seven films including “Three Men and a Baby.”
CNN:
Palin pulls out of White House Correspondents' Dinner — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will miss a chance to chat up President Obama this weekend because she's cancelling plans to attend the White House Correspondents' dinner, but she's got a good excuse.
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Brutally Honest:
Someone at Best Western gets it — If this ad doesn't present a story worth telling, nothing does: — With props to Bob McCarty.
Discussion:
Dr. Melissa Clouthier
Bloomberg:
Geithner Bets U.S. Can Avoid Japan Trap on Banks — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is betting that U.S. banks can do something their Japanese counterparts were unable to accomplish in that country's “lost decade” of the 1990s: earn their way out of trouble.
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Stressing the Positive — Hooray! The banking crisis is over! Let's party! O.K., maybe not. — In the end, the actual release of the much-hyped bank stress tests on Thursday came as an anticlimax. Everyone knew more or less what the results would say: some big players need to raise more capital …
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John Consoli / Hollywood Reporter:
Obama drama — Nets take a stand against primetime pre-emptions — By and large, they personally forked out for his campaign, they voted for him, and they know he is capable of boosting TV ratings just by making an appearance. — But executives at the Big Four broadcast networks …
Frank Newport / Gallup:
Democrats Do Best Among Generation Y and Baby Boomers — Republicans do better among Generation X — PRINCETON, NJ — Although Democrats currently enjoy a party identification advantage over Republicans among Americans at every age between 18 to 85, the Democrats' greatest advantages come among …
Evan Halper / Los Angeles Times:
U.S. threatens to rescind stimulus money over wage cuts — The Obama administration threatens to rescind billions in stimulus money if Gov. Schwarzenegger and lawmakers do not restore wage cuts to unionized home healthcare workers. — Reporting from Sacramento — The Obama administration …
Discussion:
Townhall.com, No Sheeples Here!, Hot Air, The Strata-Sphere, The Volokh Conspiracy, Wonk Room and Shot in the Dark
E! Online:
Palin “Supports” Prejean, Dad Claims — Carrie Prejean and Sarah Palin go together like lipstick and pigs. — So says Prejean's father, at least, who tells E! News in an exclusive interview that the Alaska governor has already been in touch with his lightning-rod spawn.
DealBook:
Dissident Chrysler Group to Disband — The decision to dissolve the unofficial group was made in connection with the withdrawal of OppenheimerFunds and Stairway Capital Management, said Glenn M. Kurtz, a White & Case partner representing the bloc. With those two firms pulling out …
Shaila Dewan / New York Times:
Ready or Not, Katrina Victims Lose Temporary Housing — NEW ORLEANS — Earnest Hammond, a retired truck driver, did not get any of the money that went to aid property owners after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. — He failed to qualify for one federal program and was told he missed the deadline on another.
Brian Joseph / Total Buzz:
Tran launches Congressional campaign... in wrong district — After years of will-he or won't-he speculation, Assemblyman Van Tran officially launched his quest to unseat Rep. Loretta Sanchez at a press conference this afternoon at a Little Saigon office building in Westminster.
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
The Line: The Republican Influencers — Former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge's no-go Senate decision on Thursday robbed Republicans of a potentially appealing face to lead their party back to relevancy in 2010. — Ridge, a decorated Vietnam veteran and the first head of the Homeland Security department …
Katherine Mangu-Ward / Reason:
Your Yard Sale Is Illegal — Thinking of having a yard sale this weekend? Before you do, be sure to consult CSPC Publication #254 [PDF]. — This handy 28-pager from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reminds the American people that, thanks to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act …