memeorandum: Bahrain unrest: Protesters reoccupy Pearl Square (BBC)

9:25 AM ET, February 20, 2011

Top Items:

Tea Party Descends on Madison Protests — Wisconsin Tea Party Activists Are Now Weighing In on the Ongoing State Worker Protests and Exploring Measures to Recall the Missing Democratic Senators — Wisconsin tea party activists are now weighing in on the ongoing state worker protests …

Discussion: Sky Dancing, The Gateway Pundit, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The “Badger 14”

Pejman Yousefzadeh / A Chequer-Board of Nights …:

Everyone Should Have Seen This Coming — Consider the following from this profile of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (all emphasis mine): … As the excerpt, and the highlighted material makes clear, Walker has been an open book as a politician. He has never tried to disguise his stance …

Discussion: POWIP

Michelle Malkin:

Photo gallery: What Big Labor protesters are teaching kids (language warning); Update: Slobs and more vulgarity and Fox hate — Thanks to reader Justin Falk for sending along these pictures from the progressive Peace&Love march in Madison, Wisconsin today (language warning). Keep it classy, progs!

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, BLACKFIVE, Pajamas Media, Pundit & Pundette and CNSNews

Wall Street Journal:

Protests Fail to Sway Wisconsin Governor — Madison, Wisc. — With Democratic senators still out of state and tens of thousands of demonstrators converging on the muddy grounds of the statehouse, Gov. Scott Walker Saturday refused to compromise with Democrats, rejecting their offer …

Discussion: Truthdig

Monica Davey / New York Times:
For Wisconsin Governor, Battle Was Long Coming

Discussion: Prairie Weather, Sky Dancing, New York Magazine, Runnin' Scared and JSOnline

Gov. Tim Pawlenty / Big Government: I Stand with Scott Walker

Charles Lane / PostPartisan:
Tyranny in Wisconsin, Part 4

Discussion: Mother Jones, Balloon Juice, GayPatriot, Taylor Marsh and AFL-CIO NOW BLOG

New York Times:
Dueling Protests in a Capital as Nothing Much Gets Done

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Agence France Presse, Right Turn, CBS News, Mercury Rising and New York Times

Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:
HERMAN CAIN VIDEO ADDED

Discussion: TPMDC, Fox News, Pundit Press, Maggie's Notebook, National Review, Althouse, GayPatriot, Instapundit and Moe Lane

Lady Liberty / The Gateway Pundit:
Bloggers For Peace Flotilla Arrives In Madison...SITUATION TENSE ...Update: Thousands of Walker Supporters Are Here!

Discussion: American Power, Atlas Shrugs, Althouse, National Review, Weasel Zippers, UrbanGrounds and Da Techguy's Blog

Patrick McIlheran / Real Clear Politics:
FDR's Ghost Is Smiling on Wisconsin's Governor

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Right Sphere, Maggie's Farm, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, Weasel Zippers and Althouse

Karoli / Crooks and Liars:

Wisconsin Protesters Breitbarted Over Bogus Teachers' Excuses — Fox News broke this bulletin about an hour ago. It stems from a video posted by the MacIver Institute Wisconsin alleging that a doctor is signing bogus excuses for teachers protesting in Madison.

Discussion: The Right Sphere, Da Techguy's Blog, Outside the Beltway, Pirate's Cove, Big Journalism, ABCNEWS, iOwnTheWorld.com and American Power

MacIver Institute:

Fake Doctors' Notes Being Handed Out at Wisconsin Gov. Union Rally — [Madison, WI] As tens of thousands of public employees skipped work this week to attend protest rallies outside the Wisconsin State Capitol, many wondered if they would face any disciplinary action for unexcused absences.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, Pundit Press, Instapundit, Pajamas Media, The Gateway Pundit, Doug Ross, Daily Kos and A Chequer-Board of Nights …

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Video: Doctors handing out fake medical excuses at WI union protest — Teachers playing hooky. How instructive. — Via Drudge, one of the more hypocritical moments of the union protests in Madison gets committed to videotape by MacIver Institute. Why hypocritical?

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

At the Wisconsin protest, doctors offer to write excuse notes for teachers who called in sick. — Details and video here. — I saw these people myself today. At first I thought it was some sort of comic street theater, but it was, apparently, real doctors, defending what they were doing.

Discussion: Instapundit and The Gateway Pundit

Michelle Malkin:
Badger State Battle: Unions vs. Tea Party in Wisconsin; Runaway Dems could be AWOL “for weeks …

Discussion: Althouse, Nice Deb, Pundit Press, Doug Ross, The Page, GayPatriot, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, Gawker, Pundit & Pundette, Blogging Blue, JSOnline and AmSpecBlog

Nick Meo / Telegraph:

Libya protests: 140 ‘massacred’ as Gaddafi sends in snipers to crush dissent — Women and children leapt from bridges to their deaths as they tried to escape a ruthless crackdown by Libyan forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. — Snipers shot protesters, artillery and helicopter gunships …

The Independent:
Gaddafi: What now for Libya's dictator, and where does Britain stand?

Discussion: Firedoglake, Reuters and Libya February 17th

Anthony Shadid / New York Times: Cycle of Suppression Rises in Libya and Elsewhere

CNN:
Libyan demonstrators say they'll soldier on despite violent crackdown

Discussion: The Daily Beast, New York Magazine and The Other McCain

BBC:

Bahrain unrest: Protesters reoccupy Pearl Square — Anti-government protesters rejoiced as they entered Pearl Square — Thousands of anti-government protesters in Bahrain have resumed an occupation of Pearl Square, the focal point of protests in the capital Manama.

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, New York Times, FrumForum, Outside the Beltway and Aljazeera

Nicholas Kristof / Nicholas D. Kristof:
Delirious Joy in Bahrain

Discussion: msnbc.com, EA WorldView, The Daily Dish, The Reaction, Hit & Run and CNN

Alexander Burns / The Politico:

Florida threatens to shred 2012 calendar — A deepening standoff between national Republicans and top party leaders in Florida has the potential to blow up the 2012 presidential primary calendar — and do lasting damage to the GOP in the nation's largest swing state.

Ian Lovett / New York Times:

Nevada Seeks to Cut Funds for Treating Gambling Addiction — Gordie Greco was hooked on gambling almost from the first time he shot dice at age 16. And for 35 years, gambling was his life: he worked in the industry and made his own bets on sports and horses.

Discussion: FrumForum

Lexington Green / Chicago Boyz:

Getting to a Wisconsin Senate Quorum — Wisconsin Senate rules require a 3/5 quorum in the Senate. There are currently 19 Republican senators, and 14 Democrat senators. — The GOP needs one more to get to 20. — The Democrat senators have apparently said they will stay away for weeks if necessary.

Discussion: A Chequer-Board of Nights … and The Other McCain

Frank Rich / New York Times:

The G.O.P.'s Post-Tucson Traumatic Stress Disorder — SIX weeks after that horrific day in Tucson, America has half-forgotten its violent debate over the power of violent speech to incite violence. It's Gabrielle Giffords's own power of speech that rightly concerns us now.