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Kagan Was ‘Not Sympathetic’ as Law Clerk to Gun-Rights Argument — Elena Kagan said as a U.S. Supreme Court law clerk in 1987 that she was “not sympathetic” toward a man who contended that his constitutional rights were violated when he was convicted for carrying an unlicensed pistol.
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Finding Meaning in Kagan's Tie to Justice Marshall — WASHINGTON — In the spring of 1988, Justice Thurgood Marshall assigned a clerk, Elena Kagan, to write a first draft of his opinion in a case considering whether a school district could charge a poor family for busing a child to the nearest school, which was 16 miles away.
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Panel approves Liu nomination — Goodwin Liu, one of President Barack Obama's most controversial lower court nominees, cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a partisan 12-7 vote Thursday, signaling a fierce floor fight over one of the more liberal judicial picks of the Obama presidency.
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Kagan backers cite intellect, foes her slim written record
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Washington Post
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Sources: Dems Seek To Protect Lincoln By Delaying Action On Wall Street Reform — One of the most far-reaching pieces of the Senate's Wall Street reform bill has powerful enemies. The White House doesn't like it. FDIC chief Sheila Bair doesn't like it. Obama adviser Paul Volcker …
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Ezra Klein, Open Left, Liberty Pundits Blog, Rortybomb, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, The Washington Independent and Wonkette
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‘PARTY PURGES’.... Every time a major media outlet insists …
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PostPartisan
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Arizona lawmaker laughs at McCain's border fence ad — Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) couldn't contain himself Thursday when he saw footage of Sen. John McCain's latest campaign ad. — Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) couldn't contain himself Thursday when he saw footage of Sen. John McCain's (R) latest campaign ad.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
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McCain: Obama ‘false’ on immigration — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says President Barack Obama is spreading “false” information about the Arizona immigration bill. — McCain was rebutting a joke the president recently made about the law that grants police in the state the ability to ask anyone …
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Two detained in FBI sweep from Times Square probe — Watertown, Brookline locations connected to Faisal Shahzad — Three men were taken into custody on immigration violations today after raids in Watertown, Brookline and in other parts of the Northeast in connection with the attempted …
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Michelle Malkin, NY Daily News, JammieWearingFool, Jules Crittenden, Weasel Zippers, The Other McCain and Riehl World View
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Oil spill: BP had wrong diagram to close blowout preventer — WASHINGTON — In the days after an oil well spun out of control in the Gulf of Mexico, BP engineers tried to activate a huge piece of underwater safety equipment but failed because the device had been so altered that diagrams BP got …
Discussion:
ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES
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White House pushes back against criticism of NYC anti-terror funding — The White House rejected criticism of cuts to some New York City anti-terror programs Thursday, saying that overall funding for the city is higher than it was under President George W. Bush.
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Fact Check: New York's Homeland Security Funding Is Rising — Rep. Peter King: “The fact that the Obama Administration would cut New York's homeland security funding just 11 days after the Times Square car bomb attempt is dangerous and unconscionable. — Rep. Anthony Weiner …
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The New Poor: The Economy Shifts, Leaving Some Behind — JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Many of the jobs lost during the recession are not coming back. — Period. — For the last two years, the weak economy has provided an opportunity for employers to do what they would have done anyway …
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Firedoglake, The Awl, JustOneMinute, Outside The Beltway, Free exchange, The New Republic and Suburban Guerrilla
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A Hidden History of Evil — In the world's collective consciousness, the word “Nazi” is synonymous with evil. It is widely understood that the Nazis' ideology—nationalism, anti-Semitism, the autarkic ethnic state, the Führer principle—led directly to the furnaces of Auschwitz.
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Cuomo Is Said to Question Banks' Influence on Ratings — The New York attorney general has started an investigation of eight banks to determine whether they provided misleading information to rating agencies in order to inflate the grades of certain mortgage securities, according to two people with knowledge of the investigation.
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I Don't Like Roger Ebert — I love Twitter. I use it all the time. When I say use, hear it the way an addict would say it. I use Twitter. I'm pretty good at it too. Not in the sense of having lots of followers, or being really popular, or anyone knowing who I am.
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Riehl World View, Gawker, TBogg, The Moderate Voice, Crooks and Liars and Jesus' General
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Dicks bent on appropriations gavel — In today's Politico, Jonathan Allen covers Rep. Norman Dicks's desire to assume the chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee. Dicks seeks to succeed the retiring David Obey as chairman of the committee. Allen reports that Dicks began burning …
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Voters Shifting to GOP — Republicans have solidified support among voters who had drifted from the party in recent elections, putting the GOP in position for a strong comeback in November's mid-term campaign, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
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Politics Daily, msnbc.com, ABCNEWS, Wake up America, RedState, Taylor Marsh, Los Angeles Times, Time, No More Mister Nice Blog, Scared Monkeys, Washington Wire, Jules Crittenden, Shot in the Dark, Hot Air, The Corner on National …, NewsBusters.org, The Lonely Conservative, Pollster.com All Content, Riehl World View and The Plum Line
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Sestak Surges Against Toomey In November Matchup, Quinnipiac University Pennsylvania Poll Finds; Corbett Has Small Lead In Governor's Race — U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, who has narrowed the gap against Sen. Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary, also is surging …
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In Kentucky's Senate race, ties to Mitch McConnell could be helpful or harmful — MONTICELLO, KY. — When Senate candidate Rand Paul told a lunchtime crowd at Shearer's Buffet that “we have to do things differently” in Washington and “bring 'em home and send some different Republicans,” …
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Right Now, The Note, Taylor Marsh, BAGnewsNotes, Mediaite, Wonkette, Real Clear Politics and The Eye
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Jupiter loses one of its stripes and scientists are stumped as to why — Jupiter has lost one of its iconic red stripes and scientists are baffled as to why. — The largest planet in our solar system is usually dominated by two dark bands in its atmosphere, with one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere.
Discussion:
The Onion
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U.S. SENATE RACE: Tea Party power fuels Angle — Ex-Reno assemblywoman moves up in crowded GOP primary field — Fueled by a burst of support from the Tea Party, Sharron Angle has rocketed into a near dead heat with Sue Lowden in the white-hot U.S. Senate Republican primary …
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Pentagon rethinking value of major counterinsurgencies — WASHINGTON — Nearly a decade after the United States began to focus its military training and equipment purchases almost exclusively on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. military strategists are quietly shifting gears …
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Our activists' coalition against Arizona's xenophobic immigration law is spreading: Diamondbacks CEO is nervous — Here's the audio from our activist coalition that sent a letter signed by all parties to Bud Selig and Major League Baseball, and we're demanding that they denounce Arizona's SB 1070 …
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USNA reconsiders Herndon Climb — The Herndon Climb is a signature annual event at the United States Naval Academy. Each May, a thousand first-year midshipmen surge to the top of a 21-foot granite obelisk coated with 200 pounds of lard. The first mid to the top plants a midshipman's cap.
Discussion:
The Other McCain
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Russia warns U.S. against unilateral Iran sanctions — MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the United States and other Western nations on Thursday against imposing unilateral sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, Interfax news agency reported.