This Is What A Twitter Firestorm Looks Like  —  The outrage over Hilary Rosen's criticism of Ann Romney peaked, and has begun to fall.

Trayvon's mom says ‘shooting was accident,’ Zimmerman to face judge  —  George Zimmerman woke up in a Seminole County jail cell this morning as the mother of Trayvon Martin, the teen he killed, revealed on national television that she thinks the shooting was an accident.

Governor Jan Brewer Signs Arizona's Extreme New Abortion Law  —  Life now starts earlier in Arizona: In practice, the state has banned abortions after about 18 weeks.  —  Despite its name, critics derided the Women's Health and Safety Act that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law today as cruel …

Fox News Poll: Romney Edges Obama as Approval of President Drops  —  April 11: Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, waves before addressing an audience during a campaign event, in Warwick, R.I.AP  —  Republican Mitt Romney holds a slim edge over President Obama …

North Korea rocket appears to have broken up  —  Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN) — Defying warnings from the international community, North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Friday, but it appears to have broken apart before escaping the earth's atmosphere, officials said.

In Pivot to Messaging, Ron Johnson Looks to Purge Staff  —  Freshman GOP Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) is looking to purge nearly his entire Washington, D.C.-based legislative team, according to multiple Republican sources familiar with the situation.  —  Johnson's frustration with his legislative staff …

Gingrich Unloads on FOX News in Private Meeting  —  DOVER, Del. — During a meeting with 18 Delaware Tea Party leaders here on Wednesday, Newt Gingrich lambasted FOX News Channel, accusing the cable network of having been in the tank for Mitt Romney from the beginning of the Republican presidential fight.

The Sexual Sadism of the Michigan Department of Corrections  —  Screen shot from video produced by ACLU on the strip-search procedure (photo: ACLU)  —  A consortium of civil liberties, religious and health organizations, and experts including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) …

VA Speaker And Ex-ALEC Chair Berates Woman — 'I'm Not Speaking In Little Enough Words For You To Understand'  —  Virginia House Speaker William Howell (R)  —  ProgressVA recently released a report on the legislative influence of the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council …

The ‘Fox News Mole’ Only Cost Gawker $5,000  —  What's the going rate for inducing someone to commit career suicide?  Apparently you can do it for five grand, as long as that person has a sufficiently large ax to grind against his employer.  —  Gawker's John Cook tells …

Religious Right Marks Anniversary of Titanic's Sinking by Exposing the ‘Iceberg’ of the ‘Radical Homosexual Agenda’  —  The anniversary of the Titanic's sinking and release of ‘Titanic 3D’ has apparently inspired Truth in Action Ministries, formerly Coral Ridge Ministries …

Death to Word  —  It's time to give up on Microsoft's word processor.  —  Nearly two decades and several text-handling paradigms ago, I was an editorial assistant at a weekly newspaper, where a few freelancers still submitted their work on typewritten pages.  Stories would come in over the fax machine.

South Jersey Man Gives Up His Obama Flag But Not His Opinions  —  LUMBERTON, N.J. (CBS) — A South Jersey man has come up with what he hopes is a solution to a controversy over the American flag that he flew in his yard — a flag bearing the image of President Barack Obama in place of the field of stars.

U.S. Indicts 1st Anti-Gay Hate Crime  —  For the first time in history, the United States has issued an indictment in hate crime case involving a crime against an individual based on their sexual orientation, the Justice Department said Thursday: … The two defendants allegedly kidnapped …

SWAT teams surround Modesto home after deputy, another man gunned down  —  UPDATE - 5:15 p.m. As the standoff entered its seventh hour, SWAT teams from Stanislaus County, Modesto, Ceres and Merced County had the home surrounded.  Two SWAT teams from San Joaquin County were on standby.

Why American Food Used to Be So Bad and Other Lessons From Tyler Cowen  —  For the past four years, I've been ordering the most unappatizing sounding item on the menu when I eat at nice restaurants.  This counterintuitive advice from Tyler Cowen's 2007 book Discover Your Inner Economist has worked surprisingly well.

Obama Hammered for ‘Jetting Around,’ Taking Vacations While Americans Suffer  —  President Obama, during an interview with St. Louis's KMOV, was hammered for “jetting around, [taking] different vacations and so forth, sometimes ... under the color of state business.”

White House Bombarded With Questions About Why Obama Punted On Issuing Anti-Discrimination Order  —  White House spokesperson Jay Carney sought to explain the administration's decision to punt on issuing an executive order that would have prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation …

ALEC Hunkers Down As Sponsors Run, But Untold Damage Has Already Been Done  —  Poor, poor ALEC.  They're being victimized, don't you know?  Wednesday they went into full damage control mode even as more corporate donors bailed out on them.  The list now includes Wendy's, Intuit, McDonalds …

Robert Caro's Big Dig  —  Robert Caro probably knows more about power, political power especially, than anyone who has never had some.  He has never run for any sort of office himself and would probably have lost if he had.  He's a shy, soft-spoken man with old-fashioned manners …