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Trump Not Running for President: ‘Decision Does Not Come Easily Or Without Regret’ — ABC News' Michael Falcone, Jennifer Wlach, Sara Just and Devin Dwyer report: — After a roller-coaster flirtation with a presidential bid, Donald Trump bowed out of the 2012 contest in true Trump fashion on Monday …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, TPMDC, Washington Post, The Caucus, The Daily Beast, Speakeasy, Firedoglake, msnbc.com, CNN, The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly, Balkinization, Taylor Marsh, Wonkette, Jack & Jill Politics, Salon, Runnin' Scared, The Gateway Pundit, The Moderate Voice, GOP 12, Michelle Malkin, FrumForum, The Atlantic Wire, The Lonely Conservative, Simply Left BehindThe …, The Democratic Daily, Gawker, Politics, Philly.com, Left Coast Rebel and The Page
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What Trump can teach the GOP field — Wealthy businessman Donald Trump's Icarus-like rise and fall in the 2012 presidential race is likely to wind up as no more than a footnote in the story of this election. — But, that doesn't mean the Trump saga — and, it was a saga …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Taegan Goddard's … and Dean's World


The Donald ducks — Donald Trump to Donald Trump: “You're fired.” — The publicity-loving New York developer and reality-TV star pulled the plug on his would-be 2012 presidential run Monday afternoon, saying he still believes he'd be best for the job but that he's not ready to give up on making money in the private sector.
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, Media Decoder and Daily Kos


Full release: — “After considerable deliberation and reflection, I have decided not to pursue the office of the Presidency. This decision does not come easily or without regret; especially when my potential candidacy continues to be validated by ranking at the top of the Republican contenders in polls across the country.
Discussion:
National Review, Weasel Zippers, No More Mister Nice Blog and Hot Air

Not a Good Sign for Donald Trump
Discussion:
New York Post, The Daily Caller and The Note

GOP Rep. Ryan swipes at Gingrich: ‘With allies like that, who needs the left?’ — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) took a swipe Monday at Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich after the former House Speaker criticized hiss proposed Medicare reforms. — “With allies like that, who needs the left?”
Discussion:
The Politico, Healthwatch, Crooks and Liars, Swampland, Ballot Box, TPMDC, Hot Air, Sister Toldjah, New York Times, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, theblogprof, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, CNN, The Daily Caller, The Note, ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, Pirate's Cove, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo and FrumForum
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BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL — Gingrich reaction: Republicans livid …
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Mediaite, Hot Air, National Review, The Gateway Pundit, The Apothecary and Pajamas Media

Ryan telling GOPers he's unlikely to run
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …


Gingrich Blasts House GOP's Medicare Plan
Discussion:
TPMDC, ThinkProgress, Weekly Standard, Don Surber, Betsy's Page, Washington Examiner, The Other McCain, Left Coast Rebel, Washington Wire, Wonkette, Jack & Jill Politics, msnbc.com, YID With LID, Gawker, Questions and Observations, AmSpecBlog, American Spectator, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Pajamas Media and The Lonely Conservative

Newt Gingrich Releases Video In Which He Opposes Mandate He Defended Yesterday
Discussion:
American Spectator, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, msnbc.com, Wonk Room and Weasel Zippers

Ryan Defends Medicare Privatization As Strengthening ‘Welfare For Those Who Need It’
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!, Blue Mass Group, Talking Points Memo, The Monkey Cage, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo and Salon

Newt: I oppose the Obamacare mandate. Period.
Discussion:
National Review, Hot Air, GOP 12, Taylor Marsh, msnbc.com, Pajamas Media and Ballot Box

Ryan's Mediscare Rebuttal
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Reality-Based Community, The Incidental Economist and Washington Monthly


Judge Denies Bail to I.M.F. Chief in Sexual Assault Case — Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the leader of the International Monetary Fund, was ordered on Monday to be held without bail over allegations that he had sexually assaulted a maid in a $3,000-a-night suite at a Midtown hotel.
Discussion:
Sky Dancing, Balloon Juice, Reuters, The Lonely Conservative, New York Magazine, Newshoggers.com, Gothamist, Outside the Beltway and TalkLeft
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French gals burned by pol ‘in heat’ — He's un animal. — IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn acted like a “chimpanzee in heat” during a creepy previous grab-and-grope with a French journalist — an incident with eerie similarities to his alleged attack on a Manhattan hotel maid Saturday, according to an explosive interview.
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool, Weasel Zippers and Little Green Footballs


IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn Charged With Rape, Sexual Abuse, Unlawful Imprisonment — International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn allegedly forced a New York City hotel housekeeper to perform oral sex and submit to anal sex, in addition to allegedly attempting to rape her …
Discussion:
Guardian, Associated Press, RedState, Mediaite, The Other McCain, The Gateway Pundit, TVNewser, FrumForum and Capital Tonight


IMF chief to remain jailed, defense says alleged sex assault ‘not consistent with a forcible encounter’
Discussion:
New York Times, ProPublica, Law Blog, Above the Law, Gothamist and EconomicPolicyJournal.com

Filing Details Alleged Attack By IMF Chief
Discussion:
Guardian, Reuters, Patterico's Pontifications, Pajamas Media and New York Times


As Debt Limit Reached, Agreement Still Far Off — The U.S. government is expected to hit the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling Monday, setting in motion an uncertain, 11-week political scramble to avoid a default. — The Treasury Department plans to announce Monday it will stop issuing …
Discussion:
Yglesias, Washington Post, TPMDC, Outside the Beltway, theblogprof, Gawker, The Moderate Voice, New York Magazine, Open Congress, Free exchange, Patterico's Pontifications, Firedoglake, Hullabaloo, The Lonely Conservative, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress, Confederate Yankee, Fox News and The Page
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WWRD (What Would Reagan Do) on the debt limit
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Philly.com and CNN

Geithner tells Congress the US has reached $14.3T debt limit
Discussion:
The Politico, AmSpecBlog and Vox Popoli


Why do one-in-five American voters now believe Osama bin Laden is still alive? — Here we go again. — It's been only two weeks since President Obama reported on national television that an American commando team in four military helicopters had killed Osama bin Laden in his Pakistan bedroom.
Discussion:
Right Wing News and The Daily Caller
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Obama's Post-Bin Laden Bounce Disappears In Gallup Poll — The bump President Obama received after the killing of Osama bin Laden more than two weeks ago in Pakistan has vanished completely, according to the latest Gallup Tracking poll released Monday. — At National Journal:
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Runnin' Scared, Hot Air, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Patterico's Pontifications

Exclusive: Private letter from CIA chief undercuts claim torture was key to killing Bin Laden — CIA chief Leon Panetta has written a private letter to Senator John McCain that offers the most detailed answer yet to questions about the relationship between torture and Osama Bin Laden's death …

New York 26: Move to Toss-Up/Tilt Democratic — With a week to go until the May 24 special election in New York's open 26th C.D., Democrat Kathy Hochul now looks well-positioned to pull off a significant upset. — Both parties agree that the race remains close - “within the margin of error” …
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel
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Stephen Hawking: 'There is no heaven; it's a fairy story' — In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the cosmologist shares his thoughts on death, M-theory, human purpose and our chance existence — A belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a “fairy story” for people afraid of death, Stephen Hawking has said.
Discussion:
newsfeed.time.com, The Huffington Post, Boing Boing, Outside the Beltway, Althouse and TMZ.com


M-Bone's life in photos. — At about 10:30 p.m. PT Sunday night, police were called to the 400 block of North La Brea in Inglewood. When police arrived on the scene, they found Talbert seated in the driver's seat of a black unspecified vehicle with at least two gunshot wounds to the head.
Discussion:
newsfeed.time.com, The Stir, Washington Post, Michelle Malkin and BuzzFeed

A Requiem for Huckabee — Most candidates for the highest office in the land spend months, if not years, currying favor with the rich and powerful: glad-handing at fund-raising dinners, schmoozing in mansions, pressing the flesh in Aspen and Manhattan and Nob Hill. — Not so Mike Huckabee.
Discussion:
The Brody File, msnbc.com, Yglesias, Ross Douthat, Eunomia, CatholicVote.org and AmSpecBlog

Justices Allow Search if Police Hear Evidence Being Destroyed — WASHINGTON — The police do not need a warrant to enter a home if they smell burning marijuana, knock loudly, announce themselves and hear what they think is the sound of evidence being destroyed, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in an 8-to-1 decision.
Discussion:
The Agitator, LewRockwell.com Blog and Prairie Weather


Huntsman Won't Self-Fund 2012 Bid — Without any fanfare, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has taken off the table one of the chips that might have made him a formidable Republican White House hopeful right out of the gate: He will not bankroll his presidential campaign with the Huntsman fortune.


Democratic analysis: GOP's 2010 win short-lived — President Obama's successful targeting of Osama bin Laden, nearly a decade after 9/11, has provided him a much needed boost and set in stark relief the differences between the two Parties on the central dimensions of leadership, competence, resolve, and results.
Discussion:
Yglesias, Daily Kos and Booman Tribune