Top Items:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Broccoli and Bad Faith — Nobody knows what the Supreme Court will decide with regard to the Affordable Care Act. But, after this week's hearings, it seems quite possible that the court will strike down the “mandate” — the requirement that individuals purchase health insurance — and maybe the whole law.
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Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Obamacare Is On Trial. So Is the Supreme Court. — Before this week, the well-being of tens of millions of Americans was at stake in the lawsuits challenging the Affordable Care Act. — Now something else is at stake, too: The legitimacy of the Supreme Court. — Nobody knows how the justices will rule.
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
News Analysis: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy May Be Key to Health Law Ruling — WASHINGTON — The way to frame a Supreme Court argument meant to persuade Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is to talk about liberty. It is his touchstone and guiding principle, and his conception of liberty is likely …
Discussion:
USA Today, Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, The Hill, Althouse and The BLT
Tom Goldstein / SCOTUSblog:
The RNC shoots itself in the mouth — Opponents of the Affordable Care Act and the Obama Administration really could not have had a better week. They did a tremendous job framing their constitutional argument against the statute to the public, the lawyers on their side were brilliant …
Discussion:
Ballot Box, The Maddow Blog, Law Blog, Hullabaloo, Health Care at the High Court, The Raw Story and Daily Kos
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Supreme Court May Be Most Conservative in Modern History
Supreme Court May Be Most Conservative in Modern History
Discussion:
Ezra Klein
Bloomberg:
Republicans Tampered With Court Audio in Obama Attack Ad
Republicans Tampered With Court Audio in Obama Attack Ad
Discussion:
Politico, ThinkProgress, Health Care at the High Court, Business Insider, The Impolitic, Taylor Marsh and New York Magazine
Terry / CNSNews:
Justice Breyer on Obamacare: 'I Haven't Read Every Word of That, I Promise'
Justice Breyer on Obamacare: 'I Haven't Read Every Word of That, I Promise'
Discussion:
protein wisdom
Amanda Peterson Beadle / ThinkProgress:
Michele Bachmann Thinks People ‘Choose’ To Not Have Health Insurance, Not Because They Can't Afford It
Michele Bachmann Thinks People ‘Choose’ To Not Have Health Insurance, Not Because They Can't Afford It
Discussion:
Dave Winer's …, The Raw Story and Wonkette
Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
Current TV Dismisses Keith Olbermann — 5:13 p.m. | Updated Current TV said Friday afternoon that it had terminated the contract of its lead anchor, Keith Olbermann, scarcely a year after he was hired to reboot the fledgling channel in his progressive political image.
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Keach Hagey / Politico:
Olbermann out, Spitzer in on Current TV — Current TV has terminated its relationship with Keith Olbermann and will replace his show with a program hosted by Eliot Spitzer. — The complete memo:
Discussion:
Ed Driscoll, Truthdig and iOwnTheWorld.com
Current TV:
Open letter to the viewers of Current — To the Viewers of Current: — We created Current to give voice to those Americans who refuse to rely on corporate-controlled media and are seeking an authentic progressive outlet. We are more committed to those goals today than ever before.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, TVbytheNumbers and The Daily Caller
NY Daily News:
George Zimmerman lost job as party security guard for being too aggressive, ex-co-worker says — Zimmerman at center of firestorm for fatally shooting unarmed teen Trayvon Martin last month — Trayvon Martin was shot along a dark walkway just behind Cheryl Brown's apartment while her son Austin …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, The Lede, Shakesville and The Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »
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Alexander Burns / Politico:
Romney campaign: Release all transcripts of all meetings with foreign leaders — Via National Journal, the Mitt Romney campaign ratchets up the transparency game in a novel direction, in response to a call for Romney to release decades' worth of tax returns:
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Mark Maremont / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Campaign Seeks Romney Tax Returns
Obama Campaign Seeks Romney Tax Returns
Discussion:
Business Insider
Mj Lee / Politico:
Paul Ryan: Why I'm backing Mitt Romney — Rep. Paul Ryan threw his support behind Mitt Romney on Friday, hailing him as the “best person to beat the president” and warning that the Republican primary needs to come to an end soon. — “Who will make the best president?
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Mark Murray / msnbc.com:
NBC/Marist Poll: Romney leads in Wisconsin primary
NBC/Marist Poll: Romney leads in Wisconsin primary
Discussion:
The Caucus, JSOnline, Washington Post, The Current.com, Guardian, Reuters, Hot Air, Firedoglake, Don Surber, Outside the Beltway, Campaign 2012, Newsy, Ballot Box and americanthinker.com
Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Gingrich: Ryan endorsement ‘a great achievement’ for Romney
Gingrich: Ryan endorsement ‘a great achievement’ for Romney
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Post, GOP 12, The Maddow Blog, Guardian, Conservatives4Palin and ABCNEWS
Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Mitt Romney's PAC Funded Anti-Gay Marriage Group Under The Radar … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Elections 2012, Mitt Romney, Video, Mitt Romney Gay, Election 2012, Free And Strong America, Marriage Romney, Mitt Romney 2012, Mitt Romney Gay Marriage, Romney Gay Marriage, Romney Gay Marriage Funding …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Towleroad News #gay, Good As You and Gay Politics
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Scott Wooledge / The Huffington Post:
How Much Racial Division and Hostility Did Mitt Romney Buy with His $10,000 Donation to NOM?
How Much Racial Division and Hostility Did Mitt Romney Buy with His $10,000 Donation to NOM?
Discussion:
Washington Post, Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD
Matthew O'Brien / The Atlantic Online:
Wall Street Thinks It Knows the Future of Obamacare—Why? — Nobody except Justice Anthony Kennedy knows what will happen to Obamacare. But Wall Street, whose predictive powers are dubious, thinks it does. The proof is in the healthcare stocks. — The below chart shows Aetna's stock price the past week.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Health Care at the High Court and Prairie Weather
Scott Walker / CNN:
Recall vote scheduled in Wisconsin, Republican ad war continues — (CNN) - The recall election against Republican Gov. Scott Walker was ordered on Friday by Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board, the board's public information officer confirmed to CNN.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Hot Air
RELATED:
Patrick Marley / JSOnline:
GAB sets historic recall elections; GOP to field fake Dems
GAB sets historic recall elections; GOP to field fake Dems
Discussion:
The Blotter, RedState, msnbc.com, The Maddow Blog and Taegan Goddard's …
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
MasterCard, VISA Warn of Processor Breach — VISA and MasterCard are alerting banks across the country about a recent major breach at a U.S.-based credit card processor. Sources in the financial sector are calling the breach “massive,” and say it may involve more than 10 million compromised card numbers.
Discussion:
Guardian, Mashable!, BBC, The Raw Story and Gothamist
Jamelle Bouie / American Prospect:
Willful Ignorance — This, from YouGov, tells you everything you need to know about contemporary race relations in a single, compact chart: — For 66 percent of white Americans to agree with this statement—"Irish, Italian, Jewish, and many other minorities overcame prejudice and worked their way up.
Discussion:
American Power and Shakesville
Byron York / Campaign 2012:
Biden: I don't want ‘real job...you have to produce’ — Vice President Joe Biden offered a frank assessment of his career in remarks at a Democratic fundraiser in Chicago Thursday night. According to a White House pool report, Biden, surrounded by the city's movers and shakers …
Tim Mak / Politico:
C-SPAN hammers Sen. Saxby Chambliss — C-SPAN unloaded Friday on Sen. Saxby Chambliss after he charged that its televised proceedings of Congress were responsible for the partisan rancor in the Senate, pointing out the Georgia Republican had appeared on the network 599 times.
Wall Street Journal:
Not-So-Smooth Operator — Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest. — Something's happening to President Obama's relationship with those who are inclined not to like his policies. They are now inclined not to like him. His supporters would say, “Nothing new there,” but actually I think there is.
Petula Dvorak / Washington Post:
A clinic's landlord turns the tables on anti-abortion protesters — Ricky Carioti/THE WASHINGTON POST - Todd Stave at his home in Rockville, Md. Stave founded a group, Voice for Choice to turn the tables on the anti-abortion protesters harassing his family. The group now has about three thousand volunteers.
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org, Jezebel and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
John Bresnahan / Politico:
Dem treasurer admits stealing $7M — Kinde Durkee, once a trusted treasurer to dozens of California Democrats, pleaded guilty in the biggest campaign embezzlement case ever to hit U.S. politics. — In a federal court in Sacramento, Durkee admitted to stealing more than $7 million …
Discussion:
CNN
Bruce Vielmetti / JSOnline:
Federal court throws out parts of public union law — By Bruce Vielmetti of the Journal Sentinel — A federal judge in Madison on Friday ruled that portions of Act 10 — which removed most collective bargaining for most public employees — are unconstitutional.
Discussion:
Main Street
Brad Plumer / Ezra Klein:
Mega Millions frenzy: Can you ever beat the lottery's long odds? — The country is in the throes of lottery fever, with millions of people in multiple states buying up tickets for a chance at winning the Mega Millions jackpot Friday night, now at $540 million. But are they suckers?
Discussion:
CBS News, Associated Press, msnbc.com, The Barrometer, Runnin' Scared and Real Time Economics