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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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TwitLonger — My full statement: — I'd like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV. — Editorially, Countdown had never been better. But for more than a year I have been imploring Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to resolve our issues internally …

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.
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Scared Monkeys, Hollywood Reporter, Guardian, Gothamist, Liberal Values and dallasmorningviewsblog …, more at Mediagazer »


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:
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Business Insider, Truthdig and iOwnTheWorld.com


Current TV Fires Keith Olbermann, Replaces Him With Spitzer Immediately, Olbermann to Sue — The New York Times' Brian Stelter breaks the news that Current TV has let go Keith Olbermann, and will replace him starting tonight with Eliot Spitzer, denying Olbermann to give a send-off or special comment to his viewers.
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Show Tracker, Hollywood Reporter, TBogg, Business Insider and Booman Tribune, more at Mediagazer »


Olbermann Fired From Current TV — Keith Olbermann (photo: WEBN-TV/flickr) — Less than a year after he returned to television with an equity stake in the broadcaster, Keith Olbermann has flamed out again. He has been terminated by Current TV, effective immediately.
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The Daily Caller

Will a Tea Party Supreme Court guarantee Obama a second term? — The court's conservative wing appears ready to engage in some despicable judicial activism on ObamaCare. Politically, at least, the justices are doing Obama a favor — Recall the scorn toward health reform dripping from the lips of Injustice Antonin Scalia.
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protein wisdom and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
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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.

Supreme Court May Be Most Conservative in Modern History
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Ezra Klein

IRS not investigating Nikki Haley for tax fraud — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's office Friday provided IRS documentation that she is not facing investigation for tax fraud, calling accusations that she was “totally contrived.” — Haley denied the rumors of a looming tax indictment on Thursday.
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No IRS Investigation into SC Governor Nikki Haley
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Palmetto Public Record and FITSNews

SC governor denies she is tied to tax probe
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FITSNews, The Reaction, Washington Monthly, The PJ Tatler, Politico, The Hill, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Palmetto Public Record


Barrett will run in recall election — By Daniel Bice of the Journal Sentinel — It took a little while, but Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has finally decided whether or not to run in the upcoming recall election. — He's in. — In a Friday afternoon email to supporters, Barrett …
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Daily Kos, Washington Post and Althouse
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GAB sets historic recall elections; GOP to field fake Dems
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RedState, The Blotter, The Maddow Blog, msnbc.com, Taegan Goddard's … and Guardian

Recall vote scheduled in Wisconsin, Republican ad war continues
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Hot Air and Washington Monthly

Arizona Outdoes Everyone With New Anti-Abortion Bill — Bills limiting the time period during which abortion is legal have proliferated in recent years as other states have followed Nebraska's lead and banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. But a law under consideration in Arizona …
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ThinkProgress, ECHIDNE of the snakes and Hullabaloo
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Georgia lawmakers pass abortion bill on last, emotional day
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Daily Kos, Associated Press, ThinkProgress, WXIA-TV and The Moderate Voice

NH House votes to ban abortion after 20 weeks
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Angry Black Lady Chronicles, Salon, LifeNews.com and ThinkProgress


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.
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Ezra Klein, Prairie Weather and Health Care at the High Court

Unpaid bloggers' lawsuit vs Huffington Post tossed — AOL Inc on Friday won the dismissal of a lawsuit by unpaid bloggers who complained they were deprived of their fair share of the roughly $315 million that the company paid last March to buy The Huffington Post website.
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his vorpal sword, Politico, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »


Justice Breyer on Obamacare: 'I Haven't Read Every Word of That, I Promise' — (CNSNews.com) - In oral arguments in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Justice Stephen Breyer “promised” he had not read the entirety of the 2,700-page health-care legislation the court was examining.
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protein wisdom
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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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CNN
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Report: Obama Camp Calls For Romney Tax Returns
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Campaign 2012, Daily Kos, Wonkette, Hot Air, Wall Street Journal and Business Insider

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.
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American Power, Washington Monthly and Shakesville


No Fooling: U.S. Now Has Highest Corporate Tax Rate in the World — This April Fool's Day, the joke is on all of us. That's because as of April 1, the U.S. now has the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. — Our high corporate tax rate has long made the U.S. an uncompetitive place for new investment.
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Weasel Zippers and Doug Ross


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 …
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CNN


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.


Obama Clears Way for Measures Against Iran — BURLINGTON, Vt. — President Obama has determined there is enough oil in world markets to allow countries to rely less on imports from Iran, a step that could increase Western actions to deter Tehran's nuclear ambitions, an administration official said Friday.
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New York Magazine and Truthdig
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Obama says oil markets can handle expanded sanctions on Iran
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Politico and Washington Free Beacon

MSNBC, the Faux News Network [Updated With MSNBC's Response] — Liberals have been feverishly attacking Fox News for years now, irate that the Left's monopoly on television news outlets has been broken. Conservatives, on the other hand, have tended to ignore MSNBC, even though that network …
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Hit & Run

Federal court strikes down parts of Act 10 — By Bruce Vielmetti and Patrick Marley 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.
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Althouse

Ever Closer Union — On the day that the Eurozone's leadership announces that it has blended its old bailout fund (the European Financial Stability Facility) with what was originally intended to be its replacement (the European Stability Mechanism) to build a bigger, better emergency stash amounting to¸ …