Top Items:
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Dems spark alarm with call for national ID card — A plan by Senate Democratic leaders to reform the nation's immigrations laws ran into strong opposition from civil liberties defenders before lawmakers even unveiled it Thursday. — Democratic leaders have proposed requiring every worker …
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Ezra Klein:
Is a biometric, national ID card an immigration game changer? — The Democrats' immigration-reform proposal (pdf) is 26 pages long. Pages 8 through 18 are devoted to “ending illegal employment through biometric employment verification.” I don't think the Democrats are going to like me calling …
John Cole / Balloon Juice:
Holy Loads of Tone Deaf — Talk about misreading the public mood. The Democratic immigration reform bill contains the following: … Apparently they think the outcry over the Arizona “SHOW YOUR PAPERS” bill is that it will only be applied to Hispanics. Polls pretty clearly demonstrate …
Discussion:
Obsidian Wings
Campbell Robertson / New York Times:
Oil From Spill Is Reported to Have Reached the Coast — NEW ORLEANS —Coast Guard officials were investigating reports early Friday morning that oil from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico had washed ashore overnight, threatening fisheries and wildlife in fragile marshes and islands along the Gulf Coast.
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Atlantic Online, White House.gov Blog Feed, Swampland, ACS Blog, The Washington Independent, Think Progress, Daily Kos, The Lede, Dot Earth, Climate Progress, Time, The Confluence, Below The Beltway, Gothamist, The Caucus, New York Magazine and LA Times Environment Blog
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Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:
EXCLUSIVE: Administration Vows No New Offshore Drilling Until Investigation — Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Threatens to Jeopardize President Obama's Offshore Drilling Policy — As some Democratic lawmakers call on President Obama to suspend his plans to expand offshore oil drilling …
Wall Street Journal:
Drilling Process Attracts Scrutiny in Rig Explosion — An oil-drilling procedure called cementing is coming under scrutiny as a possible cause of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico that has led to one of the biggest oil spills in U.S. history, drilling experts said Thursday.
NPR:
Boehner: GOP Will Repeal Health Care Law — House Republican Leader John Boehner has said that his party will repeal the new health care law if the GOP gains a congressional majority in November. — “I think that we need to repeal the health care law and replace it with common-sense steps …
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Boehner: GOP could pick up 100 seats — House Republicans could win 100 or more seats in this fall's elections, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Friday. — Boehner said he believes there is no seat that the GOP cannot win during this election cycle, judging by Sen. Scott Brown's …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
BOEHNER TAKES CREDIT FOR DEMOCRATIC HEALTH CARE ADVANCES.... House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) spoke to NPR's Steve Inskeep this morning, and twice said Republicans would repeal the Affordable Care Act if given congressional majorities next year. (thanks to reader A.D.)
Peter Wallsten / Washington Wire:
Greene Enters Fla. Senate Race — Just when we thought the Florida Senate race couldn 't get any stranger... No sooner did GOP Gov. Charlie Crist announce that he'll run as an independent, clearing the way for Marco Rubio to secure the Republican nomination, than billionaire credit default …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, The Caucus, Indecision Forever, Real Clear Politics, Wall Street Journal, The Politico and New York Times
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Jordan Fabian / Ballot Box:
Former Crist ally LeMieux decries his Independent Florida Senate bid
Former Crist ally LeMieux decries his Independent Florida Senate bid
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
Scott / Power Line:
At some point you have grabbed enough power — Given that poorer citizens always outnumber the rich, the classic political philosophers held that government based on majority rule was untenable. They were of the view that it would lead to organized theft from the wealthy by the democratic masses.
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New York Times:
Prosecutors Said to Start Inquiry at Goldman — By LOUISE STORY and MICHAEL J. de la MERCED — Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into trading at Goldman Sachs, raising the possibility of criminal charges against the Wall Street giant, according to people familiar with the matter.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, No More Mister Nice Blog, Politics Daily, DealBook, Wonkette, Law Blog, Washington Post, The Washington Independent, Opinionator, The Mahablog, Prairie Weather, The Page, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Newshoggers.com and New York Magazine
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Catherine Rampell / New York Times:
Consumers Help Drive U.S. Economy to 3.2% Growth Rate — The United States economy continued to expand in the first quarter, but economists cautioned that the pace of growth is still not nearly fast enough to recover ground lost during the recession. — National output grew …
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Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
GDP growth drops to 3.2% in first quarter of 2010
GDP growth drops to 3.2% in first quarter of 2010
Discussion:
Washington Post
Wall Street Journal:
Republicans Might Want to Rent, not Own, the House — President Barack Obama went on a campaign-style barnstorming tour of the Midwest this week, a reminder that this is a big political year posing a big political question: Can Republicans take back control of the House of Representatives?
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Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Arizona Expands Its Discrimination: Teachers With Heavy Accents Can't Teach English, Ethnic Studies Are Banned — Arizona's supporters of the state's draconian new immigration law insist that it has nothing to do with race and isn't meant to discriminate against certain ethnic communities.
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Margalit Fox / New York Times:
Leslie Buck, Designer of Iconic Coffee Cup, Dies at 87 — It was for decades the most enduring piece of ephemera in New York City and is still among the most recognizable. Trim, blue and white, it fits neatly in the hand, sized so its contents can be downed in a New York minute.
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Tweet Of The Day — “Every a**hole who ever chanted ‘Drill baby drill’ should have to report to the Gulf coast today for cleanup duty,” - Bill Maher. — I have always been in favor of Cape Wind off Cape Cod but the confluence of these two events will surely help swing public opinion further in favor of non-carbon energy.
Discussion:
New York Times
Paul Krugman:
Why Isn't Britain In More Trouble? — There have been various versions of the “Britain is the next Greece!” story out there; a good rundown at FT Alphaville. As they note there, however, the CDS and bond markets don't seem to agree: — So is Britain different, and why?
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
MLBPA: AZ Immigration Law “Could have a negative impact on hundreds of Major League players” — The executive director of the Major League Baseball Player's Association has released a strong statement condemning the Arizona immigration law. I've pasted it below the fold:
New York Times:
Obama Criticizes Liberal Supreme Courts of '60s and '70s — WASHINGTON — In a seeming rejection of liberal orthodoxy, President Obama has spoken disparagingly about liberal victories before the Supreme Court in the 1960s and 1970s — suggesting that justices made the “error” …
Discussion:
Washington Post, SCOTUSblog, The Plum Line, Law Blog, New York Times, BuzzFlash.org, The BLT, The Huffington Post and NPR
John F. Harris / The Politico:
The man in the middle — Back in 1987, the man hired to crack wise at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner had a case of jagged nerves. — Ronald Reagan was president, and Jay Leno was just turning 37 — already a celebrated comic, not yet one of the country's most familiar faces.
Fox News:
Arizona Legislature Passes Bill to Curb ‘Chauvanism’ in Ethnic Studies Programs — After making national headlines for a new law on illegal immigrants, the Arizona Legislature sent Gov. Jan Brewer a bill Thursday that would ban ethnic studies programs in the state that critics say currently advocate separatism and racial preferences.