Top Items:
Jim Tankersley / Los Angeles Times:
‘Top kill’ effort succeeds in blocking oil leak, Coast Guard admiral says — Thad Allen, who is coordinating the government response, says the well still has low pressure, but cement will be used to cap the well permanently as soon as the pressure hits zero.
Discussion:
WWL, Hot Air, Instapundit, Wall Street Journal, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Matthew Yglesias, Taylor Marsh, Mother Jones, Firedoglake, TPM LiveWire, Outside the Beltway, Ezra Klein, Mediaite, ProPublica, newsfeed.time.com, The Mahablog, Townhall.com, The Consumerist, Michelle Malkin, Washington Post, Corrente, Left Coast Rebel, The Political Carnival, Another Black Conservative, Weasel Zippers, Raw Story, Guardian, The Oil Drum, The Faster Times, The Corner on National …, Sense of Events, Questions and Observations and MyFox Philadelphia
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New York Times:
‘Top Kill’ Effort Seems to Be Working, U.S. Says Cautiously — HOUSTON — The latest effort to plug a gushing underwater oil well in the Gulf of Mexico appeared to be working, officials and engineers said on Thursday morning, though definitive word on its success was still hours away.
Ian Urbina / New York Times:
BP Used Riskier Method to Seal Oil Well Before Blast — WASHINGTON — Several days before the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, BP officials chose, partly for financial reasons, to use a type of casing for the well that the company knew was the riskier of two options, according to a BP document.
New York Times:
Senate Panel Votes to Repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy — WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday voted to let the Pentagon repeal the ban on gay men, lesbians and bisexual people from serving openly in the military, a big step toward dismantling …
Discussion:
The Note, ABCNEWS, The Politico, Hot Air, The Daily Dish, Joe. My. God., MyDD, The Hill and Mediaite
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Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Senate Panel Votes To End Don't Ask, Don't Tell — Equal rights activists scored a major victory today, as the Senate Armed Services committee voted 16-12 to give the Pentagon the power to overturn Don't Ask, Don't Tell—a policy that bans openly gay people from serving in the military.
Alex Seitz-Wald / Think Progress:
Rove Finally Admits That Bush Really Blew It During Katrina — Today in the Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove pens an op-ed titled: “Yes, the Gulf Spill is Obama's Katrina.” He predictably places blame on Obama for a “lethargic,” “slow,” and “unacceptable” response to the BP oil spill.
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Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Obama: Critics 'don't know the facts' — Tackling an environmental crisis quickly becoming one of the most serious political threats to his presidency, President Barack Obama insisted Thursday that critics of the federal government's response to the oil spill in the Gulf “don't know the facts.”
Gene Fynes / Ezra Klein:
Here comes impeachment — What's at stake in the elections this fall? Energy/climate? Tax cuts? Management of the economy? — Well, sure, all those things. It's worth pointing out, however, that what's also at stake is the impeachment of Barack Obama.
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Erick Erickson / RedState:
BREAKING: We Know Who Did It — Who paid Will Folks? He was allegedly offered money. A LOT of money. In fact, RedState now confirms through a whole heap of sources that he's been trying to sell this story for a year. — We know who bit. — We know who didn't bite.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Liberty Pundits Blog, Charleston City Paper, TPMMuckraker, Right Now, The Daily Caller and The Other McCain
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Palin neighbor sought author as tenant — Sarah Palin's next-door neighbor sought out author Joe McGinniss as a tenant, McGinniss's son said. — “No one is stalking anyone,” Joe McGinniss, Jr., a novelist whose father is the non-fiction writer, wrote in response to an email from a Palin supporter …
Discussion:
PostPartisan, Conservatives4Palin.com, The Plum Line, Swampland, The Political Carnival, The Daily Caller, Wonkette and TBogg
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Shannyn Moore / The Huffington Post:
Sarah Palin Takes Up Fencing.
Sarah Palin Takes Up Fencing.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, ABCNEWS, palingates, The Daily Dish, Gretawire, Tim Blair, The Political Carnival and Right Now
Daniel Indiviglio / The Atlantic Online:
Kenneth Starr Charged With Running $30 Million Ponzi Scheme — [Somewhere, Bill Clinton is smiling. One-time special prosecutor who uncovered the dirty details of the former President's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky has been engaged in some bad behavior of his own …
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, U.S. Securities …, FT Alphaville, The Daily Beast and Pajamas Media
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
DEFINE ‘SUFFICIENTLY ENRAGED’.... The New York Times's Jeff Zeleny live-blogged President Obama's press conference this afternoon, and wrapped things up asking whether the president demonstrated to the country that he's “in control of the crisis on the Gulf.” … At least he resisted the urge to compare Obama to Spock.
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Kate Phillips / The Caucus:
Live Blogging Obama's News Conference
Live Blogging Obama's News Conference
Discussion:
New York Times, Left Coast Rebel, Grist, The Confluence, Firedoglake, Daily Kos and JustOneMinute
David Einhorn / New York Times:
Easy Money, Hard Truths — ARE you worried that we are passing our debt on to future generations? Well, you need not worry. — Before this recession it appeared that absent action, the government's long-term commitments would become a problem in a few decades.
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Kos / Daily Kos:
KY-Sen: A real race in red territory — Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 5/24-26. Likely voters. MoE 4% (5/10-12 results) — Rand Paul (R) 44 (42) — Jack Conway (D) 41 (39) — Undecided 9 — Favorable/Unfavorable — Paul 53/33 (56/27) — Conway 48/43 (46/44)
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Clinton: ‘The rich are not paying their fair share’ — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a rare foray into domestic politics today, offering her view that — given America's high unemployment — wealthy Americans don't pay enough taxes. — “The rich are not paying their fair share …
Yuval Levin / The Corner on National Review Online:
'Obama's Katrina' — By: Yuval Levin — I think it's actually right to say that the BP oil spill is something like Obama's Katrina, but not in the sense in which most critics seem to mean it. — It's like Katrina in that many people's attitudes regarding the response to it reveal completely unreasonable expectations of government.
Fox News:
Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as ‘Legitimate Tenet of Islam’ — White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan speaks to reporters in the White House Jan. 7. (AP Photo) — The president's top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday called jihad a “legitimate tenet of Islam,” …
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Oil Spill Alters Views on Environmental Protection — Majority now favors protecting environment over developing energy supplies — PRINCETON, NJ — Between March and today, with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill intervening, Americans' preferences for prioritizing between environmental protection …
Lee Fang / Think Progress:
O'Reilly tells African-American Columbia University professor that he looks like a ‘cocaine dealer.’ — Last night on Fox News, during a conversation about sending military forces to the U.S.-Mexico border, host Bill O'Reilly suggested that a larger show of soldiers would “intimidate” drugs dealers from entering the country.