I.M.F. Chief's Arrest Throws French Politics Into Disarray  —  PARIS — For months, France has been buzzing with speculation that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the popular chief of the International Monetary Fund, would quit his job in Washington to take on President Nicolas Sarkozy in next year's presidential elections.

Shadow Stat Misery Index Highest on Record  —  John Williams, over at Shadow Stats, compiles economic data for inflation and unemployment the way it used to be calculated pre-1990.  Based on that data, the CPI inflation rate is over 10%, and the unemployment rate is over 15% (see charts).

Newt Gingrich Proposes Reviving “Poll Tests” Of The Sort Outlawed In The Civil Rights Era  —  Ta-Nehisi Coates heard the dog whistle loud in clear in Newt Gingrich's proclamation last night that Barack Obama is “the most successful food stamp president in modern American history.”

Huckabee: ‘I would have made a fine president’  —  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said on Sunday he “would have made a fine president,” but added that he “was at peace” with his decision not to run for the White House in 2012.  —  Huckabee also told Chris Wallace of “Fox News Sunday” …

Ryan will decide soon on Wisconsin Senate race  —  House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on Sunday he'll decide this week if he'll run for the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Herb Kohl.  —  “Herb just announced this Friday,” Ryan said on CNN's “State of the Union.”

What kind of immunity does the IMF Managing Director Have?  —  The arrest on sexual assault charges of IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Khan (or “DSK” as he's known to the French tabloids) is big news this morning.  Most of the main stream media attention (quite naturally) …

Newt Tacks Left, Slams Ryan's Medicare Plan  —  Newt Gingrich's appearance on “Meet the Press” today could leave some wondering which party's nomination he is running for.  The former speaker had some harsh words for Paul Ryan's (and by extension, nearly every House Republican's) plan to reform Medicare, calling it “radical.”

An Evening On The Beltway Yuengling and Minor Assault Circuit  —  So . . . I was walking back from the home of Megan McArdle and Peter Suderman and instead of doing the normal thing and taking Q Street west to 5th and then walking south, I wanted to take a shortcut by walking south on North Capitol to then cut southwest on New York.

Union whistleblowers: We were beaten and harassed after they accused bosses of looting  —  Unionized phone company employees say they were beaten or threatened after they accused their labor bosses of looting their coffers through various scams.  —  One member of Communications Workers …

Patterico Criticizes Google; Gets Locked Out of Gmail  —  Over the last day or so, I have written several posts criticizing Google's treatment of Ann Althouse.  So did my guest blogger Aaron Worthing.  —  I collected several examples of people getting locked out of their Google accounts …

Obama's hypocritical rhetoric on immigration reform  —  Senior Political Analyst Follow Him @MichaelBarone  —  Barack Obama's immigration speech in El Paso, Texas, on May 10 was an exercise in electioneering and hypocrisy.  Hypocrisy because while Obama complained about “politicians” …

Secret Desert Force Set Up by Blackwater's Founder  —  ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Late one night last November, a plane carrying dozens of Colombian men touched down in this glittering seaside capital.  Whisked through customs by an Emirati intelligence officer …

Texas House of Representatives Seeking to Ban Current TSA Pat-Down  —  What's our take on the Texas House of Representatives voting to ban the current TSA pat-down?  Well, the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article.  VI. Clause 2) prevents states from regulating the federal government.