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Ryan Pollyea / NBC Chicago:
Mancow Waterboarded, Admits It's Torture — “It is way worse than I thought it would be” — Shock jocks shock. — And so it went Friday morning when WLS radio host Erich “Mancow” Muller decided to subject himself to the controversial practice of waterboarding live on his show.
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
From Olbermann — This out from MSNBC ... If you haven't seen the Mancow waterboarding, you can see the full video here. It's powerful on a number of different levels. — The upshot is that the guy goes into it in cocky Hannity mode and then after maybe 5 or 6 seconds he struggles …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Conservative Radio Host Has Himself Waterboard to Prove It's Not Torture, Realizes He Was Wrong — Via John Chait, it seems that conservative talk radio host Eric “Mancow” Muller decided it would be a fun stunt to have himself waterboarded in order to prove that it's not really torture.
Shelby Grad / L.A. Now:
California Supreme Court to rule on Proposition 8 Tuesday — The California Supreme Court announced today that it will rule Tuesday on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that resurrected a ban on same-sex marriage. — The ruling, which will be posted at 10 a.m. …
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Shaila Dewan / New York Times:
After Many Firsts, Judge Has Talent for Persuasion — ATLANTA — Many things about Leah Ward Sears impressed Andrew Young, the civil rights leader who, as mayor of Atlanta, appointed her to her first judicial post at age 27. Not least was the fact that she had been the first black cheerleader at Savannah High School.
Discussion:
The Politico
Alexander Mooney / CNN:
First on The CNN Ticker: Ridge disagrees with Cheney — (CNN) — Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told CNN former Vice President Dick Cheney's repeated charge the Obama administration has made the country less safe is wrong. — “Yeah, I disagree with Dick Cheney,” …
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Michael Calderone / The Politico:
The GOP's new tool: Huffington Post — When Tom Coburn wanted to pitch his criticism of the Democrats' health care plan last month, the senator's office considered sympathetic media outlets like The Wall Street Journal and the conservative blog RedState. — Instead, the Oklahoma Republican went with The Huffington Post.
Discussion:
Hot Air
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Ray Reed / News & Advance:
Kaine calls on LU to reconsider Democratic club ban — Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. made his first public comments today about the university's suspension of the campus Democratic party club. — “That club still has the right to exist,” Falwell said, although it cannot use the university's name in its activities.
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Wendy Wright / Human Events:
Obama Aide: Not Our Goal to Reduce Abortions — Author's Note: Because of the Obama speech at Notre Dame and the widespread misunderstanding that this Administration has fostered, others have urged me to make public what the White House official in charge of finding “common ground” stated in our meeting.
Zachary Roth / TPMMuckraker:
The Newburgh Four — And The Goverment Mole Who Betrayed Them — We're starting to get a rich picture of the four hapless Jihadis who were arrested Wednesday night for plotting to bomb two New York synagogues, as well as the FBI informant who deceived them.
Discussion:
New York Post, The Nation, TalkLeft, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, City Room, Daily Kos and D-Day
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Ali Frick / Think Progress:
Steele: Obama ‘Was Not Vetted Because The Press Fell In Love With The Black Man Running For The Office’ — Apparently unable to learn from egregious mistakes from the recent past, RNC Chairman Michael Steele once again took to the radio airwaves today as a guest host for Bill Bennett.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, 24Ahead, DownWithTyranny!, Donklephant, TPMDC, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Ben Smith's Blog and MSNBC
The Huffington Post:
Jesse Ventura Challenges Hannity On Waterboarding: “I'll Get Him To Say Obama Is The Greatest President” — Jesse Ventura, the former Minnesota governor and presidential candidate, vows that if he waterboarded Sean Hannity, he'd get the right-wing Fox News host to say that “Barack Obama is the greatest president.”
Rick Casey / Houston Chronicle:
Mayor quits job for gay illegal immigrant he loves — It was, simply put, the most stunning abdication since King Edward VIII in 1936 gave up the British throne for Wallis Simpson, the twice-divorced American socialite. — Only two weeks after being elected to serve his fourth term …
Anne Reynolds / NBC Washington:
Sobbing Kindergarteners Snubbed for Steelers? — Kids locked out of White House; officials say they were too late — Thursday was supposed to be the highlight of the year for more than 100 kindergarteners from Stafford County, Va. They got up early and took a chartered bus to the White House for a school field trip.
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
The Rubicon Of Indefinite Detention — Has the Obama administration really endorsed the reality of preventative detention — an American gulag, indefinite imprisonment without trial for battlefield enemies? It depends on who you ask. Administration officials acknowledge that the question is tricky …
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Tami Luhby / CNNMoney.com:
Unemployment rate down in 21 states — Economic picture improves for some in April. Eleven states have no change in rate, while 18 and D.C. see jobless rate rise. Michigan still leads the nation. — NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The employment situation in the states showed signs of stabilizing last month.
Conor Friedersdorf / The American Scene:
“I don't know why your husband doesn't put a gun to his temple.” — En route to pick up a tux for a wedding I'm attending this weekend, I flipped on the radio in my mother's car, found it tuned to the AM dial, and heard a host so petulant that he is an outlier even on talk radio.
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Toby Harnden / Toby Harnden's blog listings:
“Out of the loop” Joe Biden says decision to shut Guantanamo was “like opening Pandora's Box” — Thank goodness for Vice President Joe Biden. In one of the few amusing parts of the Wanda Sykes comedy routine at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, she said: “God forbid that Joe Biden falls …
Rich Lowry / National Review:
President Above-It-All — EDITOR'S NOTE: This column is available exclusively through King Features Syndicate. For permission to reprint or excerpt this copyrighted material, please contact: kfsreprint@hearstsc.com, or phone 800-708-7311, ext 246. — Put Barack Obama in front of a teleprompter …
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Ka-blam! Obama gives Biden new White House duty: arms deliverer — Apparently they don't have enough guns, explosives and ammo in the Middle East. So, as long as he was in Kosovo and Serbia, etc. Vice President Joe Biden was tasked today with making the latest delivery of U.S.-made killing stuff to our side in Lebanon.