Top Items:


‘No-fly’ win for lame-duck Clinton — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's revelation that she won't be staying on if there is a second Obama term may have been news to those who don't know her, but did not surprise her friends, who say she's spending an increasing amount of time considering …
Discussion:
BLACKFIVE, Reuters, Liberty Pundits Blog and Blogcritics
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U.N. Approves Airstrikes to Halt Attacks by Qaddafi Forces — UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council approved a measure on Thursday authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians from harm at the hands of forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
Discussion:
Guardian, Balloon Juice, Questions and Observations, Global Public Square, Associated Press, democracyarsenal.org, New Zealand Herald, RedState, Swampland, Mother Jones, Crooked Timber, ABCNEWS, The Daily Dish, New York Magazine, NO QUARTER, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Taylor Marsh, ThinkProgress, The Politico, National Review, JustOneMinute, Outside the Beltway, The Reaction, Liberal Values, CNN, White House Dossier, Commentary Magazine, Gawker, Right Wing News and Grim's Hall


Libya Calls Ceasefire After Britain and France Vow Action ‘Soon’ — TRIPOLI, Libya — Hours after the United Nations Security Council voted to authorize military action and a no-flight zone, Libya executed a remarkable about-face on Friday , saying it would call an “immediate cease-fire …
Discussion:
Salon, Outside the Beltway, Wonk Room, The Awl and Guardian, more at Mediagazer »


Inside classified Hill briefing, administration spells out war plan for Libya — Several administration officials held a classified briefing for all senators on Thursday afternoon in the bowels of the Capitol building, leaving lawmakers convinced President Barack Obama is ready to attack Libya …
Discussion:
Guardian, Lawfare, Taegan Goddard's …, The Daily Dish and The Lonely Conservative


Lugar: No-fly zone requires declaration of war — The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee argued against implementing a no-fly zone over Libya on Thursday, and also said that Congress must pass a formal declaration of war if the Obama administration decides to take that step.


UN backs action against Gaddafi
Discussion:
Aljazeera, Voice of America, Unqualified Offerings, Wall Street Journal, Telegraph, Truthdig, normblog, Harry's Place and Guardian

Support for Gay Marriage Reaches a Milestone — More Than Half of Americans Say Gay Marriage Should Be Legal — More than half of Americans say it should be legal for gays and lesbians to marry, a first in nearly a decade of polls by ABC News and The Washington Post.
Discussion:
Yglesias, Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine, Hotline On Call and Religion Dispatches

Reid trashes House vote to defund NPR, adjourns Senate — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) seized an opportunity Thursday night to criticize a House vote earlier in the day to defund National Public Radio. — Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who had come to the floor …
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House Budget Chairman Dismisses Social Security Reality: ‘That Just Boggles My Mind’
Discussion:
Hullabaloo and Daily Kos

Reid: GOP must give in on Planned Parenthood to get spending deal
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and The Political Carnival

The Forgotten Millions — More than three years after we entered the worst economic slump since the 1930s, a strange and disturbing thing has happened to our political discourse: Washington has lost interest in the unemployed. — Jobs do get mentioned now and then — and a few political figures …
Discussion:
Prairie Weather and Balloon Juice

Journalistic irony — On Wednesday, the Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory Jaczko, depicted the threat posed by Japanese nuclear reactors as much graver than had been suggested by Japanese officials. Yesterday, this is how The New York Times described the impact …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times and New York Times

SEC moves to charge Fannie, Freddie execs — The Securities and Exchange Commission is moving toward charging former and current Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives with violations related to the financial crisis, setting up a clash with the housing regulator that oversees the companies, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online


O'Keefe's Latest NPR Bombshell Instantly Falls Apart — Discredited conservative activist James O'Keefe is out with yet another NPR video, and its auteur took to Twitter to tease its SHOCKING REVELATION: — Yep, that's the big story, and in his narration to the tape O'Keefe delivers this breaking news …
Discussion:
Brilliant at Breakfast and AMERICAblog News
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New O'Keefe tape shows George Soros has donated to NPR before last year
Discussion:
tpmmuckraker …, Atlas Shrugs, NewsBusters.org blogs, The Jawa Report and Truthdig

Half Would Vote Against Obama — Fully half of registered voters say they would definitely or probably vote for a candidate other than President Obama if the presidential election were held today, according to a new Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll.
Discussion:
GOP 12

Union thuggery against Althouse and Meade: “We will hang up wanted posters of you everywhere you like to go.” — “We will picket on public property as close to your house as we can every day. We will harrass the ever loving s**t out of you all the time. Campus is OCCUPIED. State street is OCCUPIED.

Democrats argue party failing to humanize cuts, losing message war — A growing chorus of Democratic loyalists argue their party is losing the messaging battle over spending by failing to put a human face on cuts proposed by the GOP. — Instead of shining the spotlight on the programs slashed …
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool and AMERICAblog News

Haley Barbour's son says he doesn't want father to make a White House run — WASHINGTON — The son of potential presidential contender Haley Barbour told a conservative columnist on Thursday that he hopes his father doesn't mount a White House bid. — In a personal e-mail to the columnist …
Discussion:
The Note, Wall Street Journal and Taegan Goddard's …
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Dealing on Detentions — There are a disagreements between Congressional Republicans and the Obama administration on military detentions, but the gulf between Obama and the left is bigger. — House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon wants to make a deal with the Obama administration on detention policy.
Discussion:
Lawfare


Libya Declares Immediate Ceasefire After UN No-Fly Resolution — Libya said it is ceasing all military action and will start talks with rebels, reacting the day after a United Nations vote cleared the way for strikes against leader Muammar Qaddafi's regime.
Discussion:
TPMDC

Obama to focus on economic issues, repairing relations in Brazil trip — RIO DE JANEIRO — Shortly after taking office, President Obama declared Brazil's charismatic president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva “the most popular politician on Earth.” And Lula said he was “a fan” of Obama's.
Discussion:
Politics Daily, The Politico and Oliver Willis
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Obama's foreign trip to focus on U.S. jobs
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Politico, Weasel Zippers, Fox Nation and White House Dossier


NAACP files suit over map impasse — Move follows state Senate's rejection of House redistricting — It appears increasingly likely a court will intervene in legislative redistricting - or, as Sen. John Horhn put it, the process of drawing new House and Senate maps is headed for a “train wreck.”
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and The Maddow Blog

Union equates lavish benefits to black civil rights — Chief Political Correspondent Follow Him @ByronYork — “Madison is just the beginning!” AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka told a union rally in Annapolis on Monday. “Like that old song goes, 'You ain't seen n-n-n-n-nothing yet!' ”
Discussion:
Betsy's Page


20 Days of Left-Wing Thuggery in Wisconsin: When Will Obama, Democrats, and MSM Call for Civility? — Below, you'll find a compilation of 20 days worth of the death threats, vandalism, and intimidation practiced by pro-union thugs opposed to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill.
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and JSOnline


Frantic Repairs Go On at Plant as Japan Raises Severity of Crisis — HONG KONG — Japanese engineers battled on Friday to cool spent fuel rods and restore electric power to pumps at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station plant as new challenges seemed to accumulate by the hour …
Discussion:
Neptunus Lex


$350,000 Goal Is Set For Re-election Donors — WASHINGTON — The top contributors to President Obama's re-election campaign were given an ambitious set of marching orders on Thursday, with an elite group of 450 donors each asked to raise $350,000 this year to help finance what is likely …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, CNN, The Politico, Washington Post and TPMDC

OPINION: Cutting off NPR funding means less news, job losses — These days, I'm frequently asked, “Can public broadcasting survive without federal funding?” I understand the reason for the question — we all understand the terrible burden of our national debt — but the real question is …
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool


Anti-teacher climate humbles the conservative husband of a Cleveland educator: Connie Schultz — It's a question on a lot of parents' minds these days: How do we teach character? — New York Times columnist David Brooks was in Cleveland on Monday to talk about his new book, “The Social Animal …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and The Majority Report …

War — I got on a plane in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where I spent the morning trying to explain the war in Afghanistan to students and alumni of my high school — how the war started, why we are still there after nine years, how the war has changed since 2008, and where I see the war headed in 2011.
Discussion:
Armchair Generalist, The Daily Dish and Eunomia