Top Items:
Ben Shapiro / BREITBART.COM:
WHAT ‘GUTSY CALL’?: CIA MEMO REVEALS ADMIRAL CONTROLLED BIN LADEN MISSION — Today, Time magazine got hold of a memo written by then-CIA head Leon Panetta after he received orders from Barack Obama's team to greenlight the bin Laden mission. Here's the text, which summarized the situation:
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, NO QUARTER and The Gateway Pundit
RELATED:
ABCNEWS:
FLASHBACK: Obama Campaign Accused Clinton Of Using Bin Laden To ‘Score Political Points’ In 2008 — ABC News' Michael Falcone reports: — The Obama campaign opened up a new line of attack on Mitt Romney Friday, suggesting that as commander-in-chief Romney might not have made the same decision …
Paul Waldman / American Prospect:
Cool Kids Versus Squares, Continued — Yesterday, I wrote a post looking at an ad aired by GOP uber-super-PAC American Crossroads that went after Barack Obama for being a “celebrity” and doing things like going on Jimmy Fallon's television show. I argued that it looked like once again …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Balloon Juice, Booman Tribune, Washington Monthly and Hullabaloo
Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
Obama Web ad says Romney wouldn't have ordered bin Laden raid — President Obama's campaign is using Bill Clinton to argue Mitt Romney would not have launched the raid to capture Osama bin Laden last year. — The argument is being made to coincide with the one-year anniversary of bin Laden's death.
Discussion:
Ballot Box, CNN, American Power, ABCNEWS, PERRspectives, Weasel Zippers, The White House, Booman Tribune and Pirate's Cove
Dylan Byersand Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Obama talks bin Laden in rare sit room interview — Brian Williams of NBC News held a rare interview with President Barack Obama about the killing of Osama bin Laden in the White House Situation Room yesterday. — The interview, which will air on Rock Center with Brian Williams on May 2 …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Washington Free Beacon and Ballot Box
Wall Street Journal:
Strassel: The President Has a List — Barack Obama attempts to intimidate contributors to Mitt Romney's campaign. — Try this thought experiment: You decide to donate money to Mitt Romney. You want change in the Oval Office, so you engage in your democratic right to send a check.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, The Jawa Report, Betsy's Page, Wake up America, Hit & Run and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Bill Plante / CBS News:
Secret Service probing foreign hard-partying allegations going back to 2000 — (CBS News) WASHINGTON - The Secret Service sex scandal is getting wider. — The dispute over payment to a prostitute in Cartagena, Colombia, by a Secret Service agent has triggered new charges of hard partying and impropriety by agents around the globe.
Discussion:
Politico, New York Magazine and HotAirPundit
RELATED:
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
More Secret Service sexcapades coming to light
Tim Mak / Politico:
Kids at work at State scandal briefing
Kids at work at State scandal briefing
Discussion:
newsfeed.time.com and Indecision Forever
Fox News:
Issa, Chaffetz confirm contempt plans for Holder over Fast and Furious — House GOP leaders said Friday they are pursuing a plan to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and the Justice Department in contempt for “stonewalling” them over information regarding the administration's failed Fast and Furious gun-tracking program.
Discussion:
protein wisdom and Campaign 2012
RELATED:
Richard A. Serrano / Los Angeles Times:
Republicans seek to hold attorney general in contempt over Fast and Furious
Republicans seek to hold attorney general in contempt over Fast and Furious
Discussion:
The Raw Story, The Hill, The Daily Caller, The Heritage Foundation, Prairie Weather and JustOneMinute
Mark Hemingway / Weekly Standard:
Elizabeth Warren Isn't the Only One — Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren finds herself in a bit of a quandary. In the mid-90s there was a minor kerfuffle over the lack of diversity on Harvard Law's teaching staff. At the time, 54 of Harvard Law's 71 professors were white males.
Discussion:
Boston Herald and Campaign 2012
RELATED:
Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
Tax returns show Brown, Warren both earned more than most voters
Tax returns show Brown, Warren both earned more than most voters
Discussion:
CNN
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Arizona Is (Probably) Not a Swing State — Two polls released this week show the presidential race essentially tied in Arizona, with one giving Barack Obama a lead of two percentage points and the other giving Mitt Romney a lead of two percentage points. The Obama campaign has suggested …
Alan Schwarz / New York Times:
At 92, Bandit to Hollywood but Hero to Soldiers — MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. — One of the world's most prolific bootleggers of Hollywood DVDs loves his morning farina. He has spent eight years churning out hundreds of thousands of copies of “The Hangover,” “Gran Torino” and other first-run movies …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Techdirt, Boing Boing, The Daily Caller, The Consumerist, Gawker, City Room, New York Magazine and Gothamist
Washington Wire:
Romney Charters Jet From Campaign Treasurer — Mitt Romney has a new ride, a midsize jet that his campaign is chartering from its own treasurer. … Mr. Romney's campaign has paid more than $483,000 since Jan. 19 to Easterly Capital LLC to charter the Cessna CJ4, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Discussion:
Politico
RELATED:
Matthew J. Franck / National Review:
Who Is Richard Grenell Anyway?
CNN:
Martin attorney: Put Zimmerman in jail — (CNN) — George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer accused of wrongly killing Trayvon Martin, will not immediately have to turn over donations made to his website, a Florida judge said Friday. — Zimmerman collected about $204,000 …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Colorlines, New York Magazine and Balloon Juice
Jonathan Martin / Politico:
Why Jeb Bush doesn't want veep — He's the GOP vice presidential pick that Democrats fear most — a brassy choice who would likely deliver his crucial home state, boost the ticket with Hispanics and Catholics and appeal to both conservatives and independents. — The problem: Jeb Bush apparently doesn't want the job.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and GOP 12
Sarah Palin / Facebook:
Mourdock For Indiana — I join commonsense conservatives in endorsing Richard Mourdock to be the next Senator from Indiana. Conservatives of all stripes are uniting behind Richard Mourdock. It's not just Indiana that benefits from sending the right Senator to serve for the right reasons …
Discussion:
CNN, GOP 12, Mediaite, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air, ABCNEWS and Conservatives4Palin
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Death of a Fairy Tale — This was the month the confidence fairy died. — For the past two years most policy makers in Europe and many politicians and pundits in America have been in thrall to a destructive economic doctrine. According to this doctrine, governments should respond …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, The Enterprise Blog, Paul Krugman, democracyarsenal.org, The Bonddad Blog, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos and Eschaton
Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:
Romney's Advice To Students: Borrow Money From Your Parents — If you're young and you want to start your own business, Mitt Romney's has some advice from you: Borrow money from your parents. At a “lecture” for students at Otterbein University in Ohio today, Mitt Romney told students that …
Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Club for Growth urges Republicans in House to vote against student-loan bill — The well-funded, fiscally conservative Club for Growth has urged House Republicans to vote against legislation that would extended lower interest rates on federal student loans, a move that could complicate Speaker John Boehner's …
Discussion:
Politico and Washington Monthly
CNN:
Former Edwards aide says he was intimidated by donors — Greensboro, North Carolina (CNN) — A former campaign aide for John Edwards said in court Friday that he had been intimidated in his dealings with the former senator and two high-priced donors. — “I was scared for my life,” …
Discussion:
Guardian and Clayton Cramer's Blog
Anthony Faiola / Washington Post:
Dutch court upholds ban on foreign tourists buying pot — AMSTERDAM — A Dutch court on Friday upheld a new law that will prevent foreign visitors from buying marijuana in coffee shops across the Netherlands, potentially ending the decades of “pot tourism” for which this city and others became universally known.
Discussion:
The BLT and Macleans.ca
Alex Pareene / Salon:
Tucker Carlson's downward spiral — Once a promising young magazine writer, the bow-tied Daily Caller pundit has come to epitomize right-wing hackdom … In many ways Tucker Carlson's a better symbol of the pathetic state of what passes for conservative journalism than even Glenn Beck …
Discussion:
The Other McCain and Eschaton
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis:
National Income and Product Accounts Gross Domestic Product, 1st quarter 2012 (advance estimate) — Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012 …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Bloomberg, Hot Air, The Enterprise Blog, New York Times, Ezra Klein, Campaign 2012, msnbc.com, Outside the Beltway, The League of Ordinary …, Guardian, The Gateway Pundit, Business Insider, Weasel Zippers, Wake up America, Daily Kos, The Maddow Blog, Economix, American Power and americanthinker.com
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Expected Retirement Age in U.S. Up to 67 — Average expected retirement age was 60 in mid-1990s — PRINCETON, NJ — The average nonretired American now expects to retire at age 67, up from age 63 a decade ago and age 60 in the mid-1990s. — The results are from Gallup's annual Economy …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Via Meadia, HotAirPundit and americanthinker.com
Nigel Davies / Reuters:
Spanish economy in “huge crisis” after credit downgrade — (Reuters) - Spain's sickly economy faces a “crisis of huge proportions”, a minister said on Friday, as unemployment hit its highest level in two decades and Standard and Poor's weighed in with a two-notch downgrade of the government's debt.
Discussion:
americanthinker.com
Mitt Romney for President of the United States …:
MEMO: An Incumbent With No Rationale For Candidacy — Location — MEMORANDUM — To: Interested Parties — Elections are about choices. — This past week previewed the stark contrast facing voters in this election. Governor Romney's speech Tuesday night …
Discussion:
The New Republic and GOP 12
Erica Martinson / Politico:
Jackson: ‘Crucify’ disappointing — EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Friday she's spoken to Region 6 chief Al Armendariz about his “crucify” comments that have some GOP congressmen calling for his resignation but doesn't at the moment see a need for that step. — “I've spoken to Dr. Armendariz.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers