memeorandum: More Weiner Messages to Young Girls? Evidence the Media Was Duped into Dropping the Investigation (Patterico's Pontifications)

9:50 AM ET, June 6, 2011

Top Items:

Andrew Breitbart / Big Government:

Weinergate Bombshell: New Woman Comes Forward Claiming Cache of Intimate Photos and Online Communications with Beleaguered Congressman — A new woman has come forward with what she claims are photographs, chats, and emails with Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). These appear to undermine severely …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Other McCain, Weasel Zippers, americanthinker.com, The Gateway Pundit, POWIP, Datechguy's Blog, The Lonely Conservative and Riehl World View

Patterico's Pontifications:

More Weiner Messages to Young Girls? Evidence the Media Was Duped into Dropping the Investigation — There are new reasons to question whether Rep. Anthony Weiner sent DMs to young girls besides Gennette Nicole — and whether he sent Nicole more flirtatious DMs than just that one picture.

Discussion: Lisa Graas, POWIP, Runnin' Scared, TBogg, American Power and alicublog

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:

New #Weinergate info revealed: Porn star Miss Ginger Lee appears to have gotten more than one private message from Weiner — Newly uncovered information in the ongoing #Weinergate scandal raises more questions as to just how much private communication New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner …

Discussion: Big Government and Patterico's Pontifications

Michael Alan / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
Wasserman-Schultz on Weinergate: It's Okay, He's a Democrat

Discussion: Moe Lane, Scared Monkeys, GayPatriot, RedState, americanthinker.com and Verum Serum

Peter A. Diamond / New York Times:

When a Nobel Prize Isn't Enough — LAST October, I won the Nobel Prize in economics for my work on unemployment and the labor market. But I am unqualified to serve on the board of the Federal Reserve — at least according to the Republican senators who have blocked my nomination. How can this be?

Discussion: Washington Post, Firedoglake, The New Republic, A plain blog about politics, Outside the Beltway, Simply Left BehindThe …, The Mahablog, Don Surber, msnbc.com, Marginal Revolution and Economist's View

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

Letting a Diamond slip away — Last year, the Senate Banking Committee twice approved Peter Diamond's nomination to the Federal Reserve. And twice, the Senate wasn't allowed to vote on Diamond because Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and a handful of his far-right colleagues threw tantrums for unknown reasons.

Sydney Morning Herald:

The dangers of bone-headed beliefs — Surely it's time for climate-change deniers to have their opinions forcibly tattooed on their bodies. — Not necessarily on the forehead; I'm a reasonable man. Just something along their arm or across their chest so their grandchildren could say, “Really?

Discussion: AMERICAN DIGEST, Babalú Blog, The Lonely Conservative, Weasel Zippers, National Review, Pirate's Cove, Clayton Cramer's Blog and Pajamas Media

The Note:

Candidates Fighting For The Conservative Heart And Soul In 2012 (The Note) — By MICHAEL FALCONE (@michaelpfalcone) and AMY WALTER (@amyewalter) — Nearly every major declared or potential Republican presidential candidate made a pilgrimage to an annual conference of social conservatives in Washington …

Discussion: The Hill and Washington Post

The Huffington Post:

Rick Santorum 2012 Campaign For President Launches — AP/The Huffington Post … Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum declared his candidacy for president of the United States on Monday, vowing he's “in it to win it.” — Santorum, a favorite among his party's social conservatives …

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay

George Stephanopoulos / George's Bottom Line:
Exclusive - Rick Santorum Will Run for President: 'We're In It to Win'

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Boing Boing

James Slack / Daily Mail:

40 UK universities are now breeding grounds for terror as hardline groups peddle hate on campus — England's universities have become a breeding ground for extremism and terrorist recruitment, according to a disturbing government report. — Officials have identified 40 English universities …

Duncan Gardham / Telegraph:
Universities ‘complacent’ over Islamic radicals, Theresa May warns

Discussion: Guardian and Jihad Watch

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Vouchercare Is Not Medicare — What's in a name? A lot, the National Republican Congressional Committee obviously believes. Last week, the committee sent a letter demanding that a TV station stop running an ad declaring that the House Republican budget plan would “end Medicare.”

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Post, Prairie Weather, The Incidental Economist, Connecting.the.Dots and Paul Krugman

Wall Street Journal:

Questions Linger on Getting Debt Deal — Political leaders say they want a deal to boost the federal borrowing limit by July 4th, a month before the Treasury said the government will be in danger of a default, but it isn't yet clear how they get past stark differences on federal spending and taxes.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Politico, The New Republic and Healthwatch

Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:
Boehner Spokesman: Auto Industry Revival Is ‘Nothing To Celebrate’

Discussion: The Political Carnival and Washington Monthly

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Dems double down on new spending after discouraging jobs report

Discussion: Sky Dancing, Questions and Observations, Weasel Zippers, The Lonely Conservative, ProfessorBainbridge.com, The Gateway Pundit and GayPatriot

Doug Mataconis / Outside the Beltway:

How Bad Is The Employment Picture? This Bad — Via Business Insider, it's been called the scariest jobs chart you'll ever see, and every month it gets updated it just looks worse. — In other words, we are in the worst jobs recession since the Great Depression and we've just recently reached …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, AMERICAN DIGEST, The Lonely Conservative and Power Line

Ben Tracy / CBS News:

Chronic unemployment worse than Great Depression — The unemployed have, on average, remained unemployed longer than in the 1930s; Employers wary of job gaps in resumes — There is an unfortunate adage for the unemployed: The longer folks are out of a job, the longer it takes them to find a new one.

Discussion: HotAirPundit

Andy Soltis / New York Post:

Court's dynamic NY duo — They're in a New York state of mind. — The newest members of the nation's highest court — local Obama appointees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — have agreed with each other in all 23 cases they've voted on, which is a supreme rarity, observers said.

Discussion: City Room

Thom Shanker / New York Times:

Steeper Pullout Is Raised as Option for Afghanistan — WASHINGTON — President Obama's national security team is contemplating troop reductions in Afghanistan that would be steeper than those discussed even a few weeks ago, with some officials arguing that such a change is justified …