memeorandum: Parents of murdered British students criticise Barack Obama (Paul Thompson/Telegraph)

10:10 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: msnbc.com, MiamiHerald.com, Los Angeles Times, Examiner, Daily Kos, Angry Black Lady Chronicles, The Huffington Post, The Reaction, Stinque, Christian Science Monitor 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, Little Green Footballs, Colorlines and The Daily Caller

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: Los Angeles Times, Weasel Zippers, EURweb, Gothamist and Feministing

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, No More Mister Nice Blog, Little Green Footballs, The Atlantic Online, The Mahablog, americanthinker.com and ThinkProgress

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

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, Health Care at the High Court, Above the Law, Politico, Daily Kos, New York Times, The New Republic and Taylor Marsh

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

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, New York Magazine and Lawyers, Guns & Money

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

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

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Judicial activists in the Supreme Court

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 Monthly, Washington Post and A plain blog about politics

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

Discussion: Campaign 2012 and Hot Air

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

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

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, Washington Wire, GOP 12 and Guardian

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

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

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

David Rogers / Politico:
Paul Ryan budget passes on partisan vote

Discussion: The Hill and Indecision Forever

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

Discussion: Firedoglake and Slate

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 Daily Caller, Taegan Goddard's … and Business Insider

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

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

Discussion: Politico

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: Holy Bullies … and Good As You

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, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Hot Air and Los Angeles Times

Byron Tau / Politico:
John Kerry: They're swiftboating Obama

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

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

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, Examiner, Deadline.com, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Rush Limbaugh, 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

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, World Now, Outside the Beltway, Israel Matzav, Mother Jones and Guardian

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 …

Discussion: Politico