Top Items:
Lymari Morales / Gallup:
U.S. Adults Estimate That 25% of Americans Are Gay or Lesbian — Those with lower incomes, the less educated, women, and young people give the highest estimates — WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. adults, on average, estimate that 25% of Americans are gay or lesbian.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Althouse, Towleroad News #gay and Outside the Beltway
RELATED:
Karl Smith / Modeled Behavior:
Asking People About Statistics — As you can see 52% of US adults answered that more than 20% of Americans are gay or lesbian. — About 3.5% of Americans identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. — By contrast roughly 2.2% of Americans are ethnically or religiously Jewish and 4.8% of Americans are Asian.
Discussion:
Mother Jones
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
McConnell: I Won't Agree To Raise The Debt Limit Without Medicare Cuts — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says substantial Medicare cuts must be part of a spending and deficit cut package to get his support to raise the debt limit. — In a Capitol briefing with reporters Friday …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Balloon Juice, Outside the Beltway and The Raw Story
RELATED:
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
McConnell puts Medicare in the ransom note
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
A Cornered Animal Is A Dangerous Animal
Discussion:
Booman Tribune and The Moderate Voice
Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
Judge Voids Ban on Campaign Donations by Business — A federal judge in Virginia has declared unconstitutional a century-old law banning political contributions from corporations, a ruling that, if upheld, could have major implications for the rules governing campaign fund-raising and spending.
Discussion:
The Raw Story and Election Law Blog
RELATED:
Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Judge strikes down corporate donations ban
Discussion:
Associated Press, Gawker and Moe Lane
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
BREAKING: Republican Judge Strikes Down Ban On Corporate Contributions Directly To Candidates
Discussion:
OpenSecrets.org, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars and Taegan Goddard's …
Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:
Comedy Gold: Meghan McCain Blames Her Lousy Dating Life on Sarah Palin — America's Most Famous Dumb Blonde: — Jay Leno: Are you dating anyone? — Meghan McCain: No. I'm in, like, dating Babylon. Like, I go on dates with men and, literally, like Sarah Palin will come up in like the first 20 minutes …
Discussion:
The Lonely Conservative and Weasel Zippers
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Edward Lewine / New York Times:
Inside Meghan McCain's Bachelorette Pad — The famous daughter of the famous senator shows off her 1,100-square-foot bachelorette home in West Hollywood. — LEAST-REPUBLICAN PIECE OF CLOTHING: My black studded Christian Louboutin heels. They are hard-core. My friend nicknamed them my dominatrix heels.
Kevin Hall / The Iowa Republican:
Bachmann's Debacle — “This is a disaster,” said one prominent Polk County Republican. An elected official called it “an embarrassment”. The embarrassing disaster was the result of Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann's last minute cancellation of her appearance at the Polk County GOP's Robb Kelley Dinner.
RELATED:
Clay Dillow / Popular Science:
This Time Lapse Video of the Very Large Telescope At Work is the Coolest Thing You'll See Today — Your Universe (As Seen From the Home Planet) ESO/Stephane Guisard and Jose Francisco Salgado — There's very little we can write to preface the imagery below, so we'll just set the scene and get out of the way.
Discussion:
Questions and Observations
Maggie Haberman / The Politico:
Rudy Giuliani leads new national poll — Here we go again, Rudy Giuliani edition. — A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national poll shows the former New York City mayor atop the slow-forming Republican primary field. — The survey shows Giuliani getting 16 percent of independents and Republicans …
Discussion:
Fox News
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Daoud Tyler-Ameen / NPR:
Gil Scott-Heron, Poet And Musician, Has Died — Gil Scott-Heron died Friday afternoon in New York, his book publisher reported. He was 62. The influential poet and musician is often credited with being one of the progenitors of hip-hop, and is best known for the spoken-word piece “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”
Discussion:
The Daily What, Firedoglake, Balloon Juice and Notes From Underground
Matt Taibbi / Rolling Stone:
Wikileaks: Speculators Helped Cause Oil Bubble — When oil prices surged to a ridiculous $147 a barrel in the summer of 2008, conventional wisdom held that normal supply and demand issues were the cause. Both the Bush administration (in the form of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) …
Discussion:
Pacific Views, Notes From Underground, Firedoglake and naked capitalism
RELATED:
Neil MacFarquhar / New York Times:
Saudi Arabia Scrambles to Limit Region's Upheaval
Discussion:
Doc's Talk, Newshoggers.com and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
Amazon.com:
Amazon.com Reveals the Most Well-Read Cities in America — Cambridge, Mass., tops the list with the most books, magazines and newspapers purchased per capita of any city in the United States — (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Just in time for the summer reading season, Amazon.com announced its list of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and The New Editor
Reuters:
G8 leaders omit mention of 1967 borders in Middle East statement — Diplomats say that Canada objected to a specific mention of the 1967 borders in statement issued by world leaders calling for resumption of Israel-Palestinian peace talks. — Group of Eight leaders had to soften …
Discussion:
The Lede and Washington Post
RELATED:
Dr. Helen:
Is “Now Hiring” the new “We do our part” sign of the Depression? — Why are there “Now Hiring” signs in front of so many businesses these days when so many people are complaining about not finding a job? Everywhere I go in Knoxville, there are generic “Now Hiring” signs from the hotels …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice and alicublog
Glenn Hubbard / Financial Times:
Forget the debt ceiling and focus on debt — On May 15, the US hit its “debt ceiling” of $14,300bn, covering publicly owned debt held by the Federal Reserve and government trust funds, and Washington is in a furore. While budget debates are often more talk than action, this one needs more talk - but of a different kind.
Discussion:
Paul Krugman
Joby Warrick / Washington Post:
Iran reportedly aiding Syrian crackdown — U.S. officials say Iran is dispatching increasing numbers of trainers and advisers — including members of its elite Quds Force — into Syria to help crush anti-government demonstrations that are threatening to topple Iran's most important ally in the region.
The Note:
Rolling Thunder Riders Praise Sarah Palin's Participation in Rally — ABC News' Sheila Marikar [@sheilaym] reports: For the riders of Rolling Thunder, the news that Sarah Palin will participate in their national rally on Sunday came as a surprise. A welcome surprise.
Discussion:
Fox Nation, Mediaite, TBD All News, Washington Post, Ben Smith's Blog, Weasel Zippers and msnbc.com
The Politico:
Spotlight takes toll on first lady's staff — Less than three years into the job, first lady Michelle Obama is on her third chief of staff and third social secretary. She is on her second communications director, the White House chief usher recently departed, and her press secretary's last day is Friday.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative
The Note:
Mitt Romney Supports Ethanol Subsidies, Opposes Tim Pawlenty's ‘Hard Truth’ — ABC News' Emily Friedman (@emilyabc) & Matthew Jaffe (@jaffematt) report: — Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are at odds on one of the biggest issues to voters in Iowa, home of the nation's first presidential caucuses.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Ballot Box, Daily Kos, Ben Smith's Blog, Outside the Beltway, GOP 12 and The New Republic
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Mediscare: The Surprising Truth — Republicans are being portrayed as Medicare Grinches, but ObamaCare already has seniors' health care slated for draconian cuts. — The Obama administration has repeatedly claimed that the health-reform bill it passed last year improved Medicare's finances.
Discussion:
National Review, Wonk Room, Pajamas Media, JSOnline and Doug Ross
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Breaking: Several Jewish Dems in Congress back Obama on Israel, characterize his stance accurately — Since it's being widely reported that many leading Democrats in Congress are criticizing Obama's stance on the pre-1967 lines, it's perhaps also worth mentioning that a few Jewish Congressional Dems have stepped forward to defend him.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Washington Monthly and New York Times
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