Stock Selloff May Have Been Triggered by a Trader Error  —  In one of the most dizzying half-hours in stock market history, the Dow plunged nearly 1,000 points before paring those losses—all apparently due to a trader error.  —  According to multiple sources, a trader entered a “b” …

Tories ‘just short of majority’  —  David Cameron will fall 21 seats short of a Commons majority, according to a BBC/Sky/ITV general election exit poll.  —  The Conservatives would have 305 MPs, up 95 on 2005, Labour would have 255, down 94, and the Lib Dems 61, down 1.  Nationalists and others would have 29.

Let's shake it up in California!  —  I'd like to tell you about a Commonsense Conservative running for office in California this year.  She grew up in a modest home with a school teacher dad, worked her way through several colleges, and then entered an arena where few women had tread.

Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees  —  Freedom of expression or cultural disrespect on Cinco de Mayo?  —  TWITTER  —  On any other day at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Daniel Galli and his four friends would not even be noticed for wearing T-shirts with the American flag.

Documents reveal AT&T, Verizon, others, thought about dropping employer-sponsored benefits  —  (Fortune) — The great mystery surrounding the historic health care bill is how the corporations that provide coverage for most Americans — coverage they know and prize — will react …

Dick Durbin: Let my nominees go!  —  The Senate confirmation process has bogged down.  Sometimes, the delay is public, as when Richard Shelby placed a hold on all nominees.  Sometimes, the delay is opaque, as in the case of secret holds.  But the outcome has been a dysfunctional process …

Why the Media Ignored the Nashville Flood  —  As you may have heard, torrential downpours in the southeast flooded the Tennessee capital of Nashville over the weekend, lifting the Cumberland River 13 feet above flood stage, causing an estimated $1 billion in damage, and killing more than 30 people.

George Rekers Is a Homosexual, Escort Says  —  Rekers allegedly named his favorite maneuver the “long stroke” — a complicated caress “across his penis, thigh... and his anus over the butt cheeks,” as the escort puts it.  “Rekers liked to be rubbed down there,” he says.

Greek Debt Crisis On Verge Of ‘Going Global’: Pimco's El-Erian  —  Problems with Greek debt are about to spread to other countries and could infect the US unless the nation tackles its own mounting problems, Pimco's Mohamed El-Erian told CNBC.  —  About an hour or so after El-Erian spoke …

Shahzad's Friends Describe a Growing Seriousness  —  Theirs was an arranged marriage: two well-educated children of prominent Pakistani families set up through a mutual friend.  He was the quiet one; she was the one who laughed at parties.  —  The couple in this Web photo are identified as Faisal Shahzad and Huma Mian.

Congress, Up In Arms  —  There seems to be a strong sentiment in Congress that the only constitutional right suspected terrorists have is the right to bear arms.  —  “I think you're going too far here,” said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday.

Pelosi: ‘Be very careful’ about Lieberman, Brown terror citizen bill  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she likes the “spirit” of a proposal to strip the citizenship of Americans who join terrorist groups but stopped short of backing the measure.  —  The bill introduced Thursday by Sens. Joseph Lieberman …

DCCC to ‘re-evaluate’ Hawaii special  —  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is re-evaluating whether to continue to spend money in this month's Hawaii special election, Chairman Chris Van Hollen told POLITICO Thursday.  —  With former Democratic Rep. Ed Case …

Navy SEAL Found Not Guilty of Assaulting a Suspected Terroristyeah,  —  Military jury found a Navy SEAL not guilty on charges of punching a suspected Iraqi terrorist.

Poll: Charlie Crist holds lead in U.S. Senate race — for now  —  Gov. Charlie Crist holds an early lead as an independent candidate in the U.S. Senate race, but his edge is a “proverbial house of cards,” according to a new poll, because support from Democratic and black voters is unlikely to hold up through the Nov. 2 election.

Truth is the First Casualty of Kos  —  Last Friday Markos Moulitsas, the Kos in DailyKos, put up a fundraising post titled “AR-Sen: Hell to Pay: Chamber-backed group runs racist ad against Bill Halter.”  After displaying the ad the bulk of the post starts with “The group running this ad is funded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce...”

Dem chair: Sestak win ‘cataclysmic’  —  The chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party issued a severe warning to members of his party this week, declaring that nominating Rep. Joe Sestak over Sen. Arlen Specter could have “cataclysmic” consequences for the Senate campaign this fall.

Comedy Central developing Jesus Christ cartoon  —  Comedy Central might censor every image of the Prophet Muhammad on “South Park,” yet the network is developing a whole animated series around Jesus Christ.  —  As part of the network's upfront presentation to advertisers (full slate here) …

Eric Cantor: Not Jewish Enough for Matt Yglesias — By: Kevin D. Williamson  —  I hate even to take notice of this sort of thing, but it is bothersome: … Just as Clarence Thomas and Condoleezza Rice are abominated for the crime of being black and conservative, Miguel Estrada for being Hispanic …

Dems fear losing four-decade grip on Pa. seat  —  JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — In what was the late U.S. Rep. John Murtha's western Pennsylvania district — reachable through John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport or John P. Murtha Highway — Democrats watch nervously, hoping his former top aide can hold on to the House seat.

Rove, GOP plot vast network to reclaim power  —  The Republican Party's best-connected political operatives have quietly built a massive fundraising, organizing and advertising machine based on the model assembled by Democrats early in the decade, and with the same ambitious goal — to recapture Congress and the White House.