Top Items:
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Most transparent White House ever... Police chased reporters away from the White House and closed Lafayette Park today in response to a gay rights protest in which several service members in full uniform handcuffed themselves to the White House gate to protest “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.”
Discussion:
Big Journalism, Mediaite, Towleroad News #gay, AMERICAblog Gay, Another Black Conservative, Pam's House Blend, Top of the Ticket, The Sundries Shack, Wonk Room, Pat Dollard, American Power, AMERICAblog News, Left Coast Rebel, NewsBusters.org, RedState, Weekly Standard, The Foundry, Hot Air and Riehl World View
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John Aravosis / AMERICAblog Gay:
6 military vets handcuff selves to White House gates to protest Obama inaction on DADT — The President is no longer helping get Don't Ask Don't Tell repealed this year, even though he promised to do so in his State of the Union. So the gays are finally fighting back.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Hill, LGBT POV, Joe. My. God., Towleroad News #gay, Truth Wins Out, Don Surber and AMERICAblog News
Christina Bellantoni / TPMDC:
White House: Obama Won't Make Cautious Court Pick Because GOP …
White House: Obama Won't Make Cautious Court Pick Because GOP …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Corner on National …, Washington Monthly and The Political Carnival
J.P. Freire / Beltway Confidential:
Is Goldman Obama's Enron? No, it's worse (Updated) — Campaign contributions from Goldman Sachs employees to President Obama are nearly seven times as much as President Bush received from Enron workers, according to numbers on OpenSecrets.org. — President Bush's connections to Enron …
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
GOP seeks SEC records on Goldman — Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight committee, is demanding a slew of documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission, asserting that the timing of civil charges against Goldman Sachs raises “serious questions about the commission's independence and impartiality.”
Discussion:
Reuters, Doug Ross, Pat Dollard, Clusterstock, Gateway Pundit, ProfessorBainbridge.com and The Agonist
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Lincoln says she won't return Goldman contributions
Lincoln says she won't return Goldman contributions
Discussion:
CNN, The Note, The Politico, Swing State Project, Swampland, Firedoglake, Daily Kos and Agence France Presse
Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
A national deficit of trust
A national deficit of trust
Discussion:
PostPartisan, Crooks and Liars, The Corner on National …, Bob McCarty Writes and The Daily Caller
Associated Press:
Ariz House: Check Obama's Citizenship — PHOENIX — The Arizona House on Monday voted for a provision that would require President Barack Obama to show his birth certificate if he hopes to be on the state's ballot when he runs for reelection. — The House voted 31-22 to add the provision to a separate bill.
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Anill / Think Progress:
Arizona legislature demands immigrants and President of the United States verify their status. — Just a few days after Arizona lawmakers passed an immigration law that will essentially require anyone who is or looks like an immigrant to carry their proof of residency at all times …
Discussion:
The Gun Toting Liberal, Arizona Republic, AMERICAblog News, The Political Carnival and TPM LiveWire
The Huffington Post:
Lindsey Graham Gay? Conservative Group ALIPAC Demands Senator ‘Admit Homosexuality’ — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — William Gheen, head of the conservative, anti-"amnesty," anti-illegal immigration group Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), spoke at a Greenville …
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
EVEN LINDSEY GRAHAM DOESN'T DESERVE THIS.... I'm not generally in the habit of defending Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), but some of the abuse he's been receiving from the right is ridiculous. — Over the weekend, an even-crazier-than-usual Tea Party event was held in Greenville, South Carolina …
John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Arizona has turned into a police state: ‘Show me your papers’ — I had a friend who isn't into politics, but would say that Bush's goal was to enact martial law over the country. I told her she was not based in reality. But this new law in Arizona gives the police exactly that type of power …
Discussion:
CNN, American Prospect, Media Matters Action Network, The Huffington Post and Philly.com
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John Meroney / The Atlantic Online:
Ronald Reagan and James Dean: Rare Video From 1954 — Today, it's an astonishing, even eerie, scene: the icon of modern American conservatism, whose rise to political prominence was galvanized by the cultural rebellion of the 1960s, fighting off an attack-at-gunpoint by the quintessential modern American rebel.
Jonathan Weisman / Washington Wire:
Next Up? Obama Calls Sen. Scott Brown About Immigration — President Barack Obama called Massachusetts' new Republican senator, Scott Brown, from Air Force One today to deliver some news: Democrats are moving forward with an immigration overhaul in a month.
Discussion:
The Politico, Mother Jones, Hot Air, The Hill, The Hill, Gateway Pundit, 24Ahead and TPM LiveWire
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
GOPer Tries to Ape My Snark — I'm not quite sure what to make of this. A couple weeks ago our Eric Kleefeld came up with video showing Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden suggesting that “bartering” for medical care would be a good way to rein in spiraling health care costs.
St. Petersburg Times:
U.S. attorney, IRS and FBI investigating Florida GOP credit card use — Federal law enforcement agencies have launched a criminal investigation into the use of American Express cards issued by the Republican Party of Florida to elected officials and staff, according to sources familiar with the probe.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Hitler Is Very Upset That Constantin Film Is Taking Down Hitler Parodies — For my money, memes on the Internet don't get any better than the Hitler one. You know, the one in which you take some current event (the more mundane, the better) and shove it into the scene from the German film Downfall …
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Geoffrey Dickens / NewsBusters.org:
Matthews: Republicans Like Rubio Taking Part in ‘Stalinesque’ Purge of GOP — Chris Matthews — who was offended by Rush Limbaugh calling the Obama administration the “regime”— claimed the Republicans were engaged in a “Stalinesque” purge. On Tuesday's Hardball Matthews charged …
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Daniel Larison / Eunomia:
McCain's Integrity — There is a new round of “where have you gone, John McCain?” liberal commentary starting up. I used to find this amusing, but it is all based on a profound misunderstanding of McCain the politician. Recently, McCain has been making a fool of himself by repudiating …
Barbarossa / The Jawa Report:
Insider: Top Ohio homeland security officials falsify credentials, obtained fake diploma mill degrees — ***Sticky until noon. Scroll down for more updates. Our correspondent inside the Ohio Department of Homeland Security brings even more troubling news.
Andrew Grice / The Independent:
Brown trains his sights on a ‘new politics’ - with the help of the Lib Dems — The Prime Minister tells Andrew Grice why his commitment to electoral reform is now at the core of Labour's appeal to voters. — Gordon Brown appealed yesterday for a “progressive alliance” …
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Obama Approval Slips Further in Fifth Quarter to 48.8% — Ranks among lowest fifth-quarter averages for elected presidents — PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama averaged 48.8% job approval for his fifth quarter in office, spanning Jan. 20-April 19 Gallup Daily tracking.
George Russell / Fox News:
U.N.'s Ballooning $732 Million Haiti Peacekeeping Budget Goes Mostly to Its Own Personnel — The United Nations has quietly upped this year's peacekeeping budget for earthquake-shattered Haiti to $732.4 million, with two-thirds of that amount going for the salary, perks and upkeep of its own personnel …
Discussion:
Townhall.com
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Halperin Takes A Stand — It isn't every day that a consumate inside-game reporter/pundit type like Mark Halperin aggressively calls out one party for lying, but that's exactly what Halperin did early this morning on MSNBC, talking about the GOP claim that the Dem financial reg reform bill will lead to a permanent bailout.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
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Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
420 Meaning: The True Story Of How April 20 Became ‘Weed Day’ — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — This piece was first published last year on April 20. — Warren Haynes, the Allman Brothers Band guitarist, routinely plays with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, now touring as The Dead.
Paul Krugman:
Lucy And The Football — Talking Points Memo reports that Democrats are largely unprepared for the possibility that Republicans will filibuster financial reform. — Is this really possible? I'm afraid it is. My own conversations with administration officials over the past few weeks …