memeorandum: House Passes Budget Blueprint (Jonathan Weisman/New York Times)

10:45 PM ET, March 29, 2012

Top Items:

Adrian Chen / Gawker:

White Supremacist Hacks Trayvon Martin's Email Account, Leaks Messages Online — The racist smear campaign against Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teen shot to death last month in Florida, has reached a new level of ghoulishness. A white supremacist hacker says he's broken into Martin's email …

Discussion: Mediaite, Angry Black Lady Chronicles, Riptide 2.0, Little Green Footballs and Colorlines

Washington Post:

Tracy Martin recounts police version of son Trayvon's death — A police detective told the father of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin that his son initiated two confrontations with the neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot him. — Tracy Martin, describing the police version of events …

Discussion: msnbc.com, MiamiHerald.com, Los Angeles Times, Examiner, Angry Black Lady Chronicles, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Stinque, The Reaction and American Power

David Remnick / News Desk:

Bruce and Trayvon: American Skin — Last night, I bolted work to catch the first show of two by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band in Philadelphia. I first saw Springsteen when he was the opening act for Chicago, in 1973 (which means I saw him even before Jon Landau branded him, indelibly, as “rock and roll's future").

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Examiner, MiamiHerald.com, ThinkProgress and Feministe

Extra:

‘Extra’ Exclusive: Oprah Winfrey Sounds-Off on Trayvon Martin Tragedy — “Extra's” AJ Calloway sat down exclusively with Oprah Winfrey in St. Louis, where she spoke for the first time about the tragic death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. She also talked about cancelling Rosie O'Donnell's show …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, EURweb, Los Angeles Times, Gothamist and Change of Subject

Valerie Boey / Orlando and Central Florida News …:
EXCLUSIVE: Robert Zimmerman interview

Dan Riehl / BREITBART.COM:
BLAME PALIN? ‘KILL ZIMMERMAN’ TWITTER ACCOUNT LAUNCHED

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Jawa Report, Little Green Footballs, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Atlantic Online, The Mahablog, americanthinker.com and ThinkProgress

Toddstarnes / Fox News:
Palin Believes Obama Orchestrated Martin Remarks

Discussion: Hot Air, Little Green Footballs, Weasel Zippers and Conservatives4Palin

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

How did legal observers and Obamacare backers get it so wrong? — I didn't mention this yesterday, but in his interview with me about the limiting principle, former Reagan Solicitor General Charles Fried was scaldingly critical of the willingness of the conservative bloc of Supreme Court justices …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Taylor Marsh, Mother Jones, RedState, Wake up America, American Prospect, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, ThinkProgress, americanthinker.com, Prairie Weather, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and US Politics

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:

A Moment of Silence for Obamacare — Prayers, depression, and Latin phrases. Obamacare looks to have had another very bad day. — The Supreme Court heard three days of oral argument on the Affordable Care Act — Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. — It bears pointing out that for all …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Post, Health Care at the High Court, The Mahablog, Above the Law, Politico, Daily Kos, New York Times, Courthouse News Service and Taylor Marsh

New York Post:

A supreme shock for ‘La-La’ libs — The panicked reception in the mainstream media of the three-day Supreme Court health-care marathon is a delightful reminder of the nearly impenetrable parochialism of American liberals. — They're so convinced of their own correctness …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Patterico's Pontifications, Betsy's Page, Viking Pundit and Opinionator

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

Tony Scalia's Retirement Has Started Early — Here's the deal. I think Justice Antonin Scalia isn't even really trying any more. It's been clear for some time now that he's short-timing his job on the Supreme Court. The job bores him. All these inferior intellects coming before him.

Discussion: Althouse, his vorpal sword, Balkinization, Washington Free Beacon, THE WESTERN EXPERIENCE and New York Magazine

Digby / Hullabaloo:

Overconfidence: the fatal flaw — Overconfidence — Greg Sargent has a good piece up about the political myopia of the Democrats toward the possibility that the Supreme Court conservatives would be hostile to Obamacare. … I've already said what I think of this: after Bush vs Gore …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Taylor Marsh

Conn Carroll / Campaign 2012:
Breyer's unhinged Commerce Clause ramblings

Discussion: ACS Blog, Wake up America, Hit & Run, Pundit & Pundette and The Huffington Post

Democracy in America:

Just a flesh wound — NEWT GINGRICH does not eat sandwiches; he fundamentally transforms them, radically changing them from solid foodstuff to masticated bolus to energy. Last summer, Mr Gingrich fundamentally transformed the nature of modern political campaigning. How did he do that?

Discussion: American Prospect, Washington Post, Washington Monthly and A plain blog about politics

ABCNEWS:
Mitt Romney Confirms Secret Meeting With Newt Gingrich Last Week

Discussion: Campaign 2012 and Hot Air

Matt K. Lewis / The Daily Caller:
Mitt Romney can thank President Obama's “flexibility” for Marco Rubio's endorsement.

Discussion: Hot Air, News Desk, The Caucus, Mail Online, Eunomia, GOP 12, Washington Wire and Guardian

Ralph Z. Hallow / Washington Times:
Gingrich says no deal after a secret talk with Romney

Discussion: Reuters, CNN, Politico, Examiner, The Caucus, ABCNEWS, jewishjournal.com, Indecision Forever, Newsy, The PJ Tatler, americanthinker.com, The Hill, ThinkProgress and Cagle Post

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Report: Gingrich and Romney held secret meeting

Discussion: CNN, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette, Shakesville and The Hill

Logan Smith / Palmetto Public Record:

Haley indictment imminent? Stay tuned... Two well-placed legal experts have independently told Palmetto Public Record they expect the U.S. Department of Justice to issue an indictment against South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on charges of tax fraud as early as this week.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Washington Monthly, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Daily Caller, Taegan Goddard's … and Business Insider

David Rogers / Politico:

Paul Ryan budget passes on partisan vote — Split along party lines, the House approved a new Republican-backed budget Thursday that promises to cut by half the 10-year deficits forecast by President Barack Obama but also walks away from the landmark debt accords hammered out last summer.

Discussion: The Hill and Indecision Forever

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
House Passes Budget Blueprint

Discussion: Truthdig

Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:
House approves Ryan budget plan to cut spending, taxes

Discussion: Firedoglake and Slate

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

House approves 90-day highway bill, dares Senate to reject it — The House on Thursday morning approved a 90-day extension of federal highway programs over the objections of angry Democrats, a move that dares Senate Democrats to reject the bill just days before federal authorization expires.

Discussion: Reuters, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, CNN and Booman Tribune

Alan I. Abramowitz / Sabato's Crystal Ball:
The Early Outlook for the 2012 Congressional Elections: A Forecasting Perspective

Discussion: RedState and Ezra Klein

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Pelosi: Pray for transportation bill

Discussion: Politico

Byron Tau / Politico:

John Kerry: They're swiftboating Obama — Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) has lent his name to a fundraising solicitation that raises the specter of millionaires and billionaires funding an outside effort against President Obama. — “When I was the Democratic nominee for president in one of the closest …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Mitt Romney Made Fun Of John Kerry For Having A Large Home — Mitt Romney has been in the news for ill-timed plans to triple the size of his California home. But in a 2004 speech to the Republican Governor's Association, for George Bush's reelection Romney himself attacked the Democrat …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Hot Air and Los Angeles Times

Paul Thompson / Telegraph:

Parents of murdered British students criticise Barack Obama — The parents of two British students murdered in Florida have criticised President Barack Obama for his lack of compassion over their son's deaths. — Shawn Tyson — His failure to respond to three letters sent to the White House …

Discussion: Power Line, The Right Scoop, Don Surber, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers and The Hinterland Gazette

Brian Brown / NOM Blog:

“Gay Marriage has Backfired...”, NOM Marriage News — “Gay marriage has backfired on the Democratic Party.” — With those words one of my personal heroes, New York State Sen Rev. Rubén Díaz (a Democrat from the Bronx) opened his press release titled, “What you should know.”

Discussion: Good As You and Holy Bullies …

New York Times:

Electronic Giant Vowing Reforms in China Plants — Responding to a critical investigation of its factories, the manufacturing giant Foxconn has pledged to sharply curtail working hours and significantly increase wages inside Chinese plants making electronic products for Apple and others.

Discussion: Fair Labor Association, New York Magazine and The Stranger …

Apickering / Fair Labor Association:
Foxconn Investigation Report

Discussion: Mashable!, TechCrunch, GigaOM, BBC and Mike Daisey

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Paul Ryan: 'We don't think the generals are giving us their true advice' on budget — House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) expressed skepticism Thursday that U.S. military leaders were being honest in their budget requests to Congress. — “We don't think the generals …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Mother Jones

Steven Hayward / Power Line:

The Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Month for the Left — It is typical for politically-engaged people to note the weaknesses and defects of their own side, while overestimating the strength and prowess of their opponents. This is not a bad instinct, but sometimes it's worth stepping back and trying …

Discussion: Instapundit and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Limbaugh sees heat over comments turn down to a simmer

Discussion: Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Deadline.com, Examiner, The Daily Caller, Rush Limbaugh, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Hotline On Call, Don Surber, Mediaite, Associated Press and HotAirPundit, more at Mediagazer »

Health Care at the High Court:

GOP Ad Uses Doctored SCOTUS Audio — The GOP ad released online earlier this week makes it appear Solicitor General Donald Verrilli gave a worse presentation than he did, a Bloomberg News analysis of the ad and the court's official audio recording shows. The full story follows:

Discussion: SCOTUSblog and Daily Kos