memeorandum: Israel's Secret Staging Ground (Mark Perry/Foreign Policy)

8:00 PM ET, March 29, 2012

Top Items:

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: MiamiHerald.com, The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Examiner, msnbc.com, The Reaction, Angry Black Lady Chronicles, Stinque and American Power

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: Angry Black Lady Chronicles, Riptide 2.0 and Colorlines

Valerie Boey / Orlando and Central Florida News …:

EXCLUSIVE: Robert Zimmerman interview — LAKE MARY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - For the first time since that fateful night on February 26, the father of a neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed an unarmed teenager sat down for a television interview. — Robert Zimmerman …

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: ThinkProgress, Examiner, MiamiHerald.com 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: Los Angeles Times, Weasel Zippers, EURweb, Feministing and Change of Subject

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

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

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:
Police surveillance video of Zimmerman may show head injury

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Mediaite, protein wisdom, Riehl World View, Salon, Examiner, Weasel Zippers, The Lede, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, The PJ Tatler, iOwnTheWorld.com, EURweb, Gawker, Roger Ailes, Change of Subject and Pundit & Pundette

Kim Severson / New York Times:
Skittles Sales Up After Trayvon Martin Shooting

Discussion: Mediaite, Guardian and Weasel Zippers

msnbc.com:
Police video shows George Zimmerman shortly after Trayvon Martin shooting

Discussion: ABCNEWS, CNN, Gothamist, News Desk, Daily Kos, TalkLeft, Newsy and EURweb

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: ThinkProgress, RedState, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, US Politics and Talking Points Memo

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: Balkinization, New York Magazine, Althouse and Lawyers, Guns & Money

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

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:

Judicial activists in the Supreme Court — Three days of Supreme Court arguments over the health-care law demonstrated for all to see that conservative justices are prepared to act as an alternative legislature, diving deeply into policy details as if they were members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Political Memo: Whatever the Ruling in Health Case, Bipartisan Fallout

Discussion: Washington Post, Wake up America, Hotline On Call, Prairie Weather, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Moderate Voice and The Caucus

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jay Firestone / jewishjournal.com:
Sheldon Adelson on Newt: 'He's at the end of his line'

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, The Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, The Hill, ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Politico and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

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

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: Holy Bullies … and Good As You

New York Times:

Apple Supplier in China Pledges Big Labor Changes — Foxconn, which manufactures more than 40 percent of the world's electronics for such companies as Apple, Dell, Amazon and others, has pledged to sharply curtail the number of working hours within its Chinese factories and significantly increase wages …

Discussion: The Stranger …

Apickering / Fair Labor Association:
Foxconn Investigation Report

Discussion: BBC, Mashable!, TechCrunch, GigaOM 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 CNN

Ben Armbruster / ThinkProgress:
Paul Ryan: The Generals Are Lying About Their Support For Obama's Pentagon Budget

Discussion: Daily Kos and Washington Times

Alan I. Abramowitz / Sabato's Crystal Ball:

The Early Outlook for the 2012 Congressional Elections: A Forecasting Perspective — In today's Crystal Ball, Alan Abramowitz — whose election models are among the best in the business — provides an early look at what they tell us about the race for the House and the Senate.

Discussion: RedState and Ezra Klein

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
House approves 90-day highway bill, dares Senate to reject it

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

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

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

Discussion: Firedoglake and Slate

Mark Perry / Foreign Policy:

Israel's Secret Staging Ground — U.S. officials believe that the Israelis have gained access to airbases in Azerbaijan. Does this bring them one step closer to a war with Iran? — In 2009, the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. embassy in Baku, Donald Lu, sent a cable …

Discussion: National Review, Israel Matzav, Outside the Beltway, World Now, Guardian and Mother Jones

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: Don Surber, The Hinterland Gazette, Mediaite and Weasel Zippers

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

Obama budget defeated 414-0 — President Obama's budget was defeated 414-0 in the House late Wednesday, in a vote Republicans arranged to try to embarrass him and shelve his plan for the rest of the year. — The vote came as the House worked its way through its own fiscal year 2013 budget proposal …

Discussion: Hot Air, Fox News, Weasel Zippers, Questions and Observations, Jammie Wearing Fools, Scared Monkeys, americanthinker.com, Pirate's Cove and Patterico's Pontifications

George H.W. Bush / CNN:

Time to fold 'em, Bush 41 says to Romney's rivals — Houston (CNN) - Spouting some home-grown Texas wisdom, President George H. W. Bush urged his party to coalesce behind GOP candidate Mitt Romney with a formal endorsement Thursday. — “'It's time when to hold 'em and time when to fold 'em …