Top Items:
Meredith Woerner / io9:
George W. Bush's decapitated head appeared on Game of Thrones — There's one hell of a dragon egg hidden in Game of Thrones season one. Turns out one of the many heads on a spike decorating King's Landing belonged to ex-president George Bush. — If you keep your eyes peeled …
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Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:
Bush decapitated in ‘Game of Thrones’ — In the “Game of Thrones,” you win or you die, and George W. Bush did the latter in the HBO series — by decapitation. — That is, a prop head of the former president appears in the TV show, according to series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss …
Alicia Mundy / Washington Wire:
Adelson Gives $10 Million to Pro-Romney Super PAC — Billionaire conservative casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who helped keep Newt Gingrich's failed presidential campaign alive during the Republican primaries, is giving $10 million to the super PAC supporting the presumptive GOP nominee …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Mother Jones, Politico, Booman Tribune, ABCNEWS, Hullabaloo, Guardian, The New Republic, WBUR, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Taylor Marsh and Mondoweiss
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Tara Palmeri / New York Post:
A blue man ‘dupe’: Parent panic at 32G ‘progressive’ school — The Blue School is one big play date in desperate need of adult supervision. — Parents are yanking their kids out of the “progressive,” $32,000 per-year private school founded by the Blue Man Group — which has no books and no tests …
Elizabeth Flock / US News:
AFL-CIO Pulling Funds From Obama Campaign — The AFL-CIO has told Washington Whispers it will redeploy funds away from political candidates smack dab in the middle of election season, the latest sign that the largest federation of unions in the country could be becoming increasingly disillusioned with President Obama.
Discussion:
“The Lid”, Weasel Zippers and Race 4 2012
William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
Perjury charge against Shellie Zimmerman raises more questions of prosecutorial overreaching (Update: Prosecution misleadingly edited transcript) — Florida prosecutor Angela Corey has come under withering criticism from Alan Dershowitz for overcharging and leaving out important details …
Discussion:
EBL and PoliPundit.com
Brian Beutler / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPMDC — Senators Fawn Over JPMorgan CEO After Massive Trading Debacle — The long-shot big hope for Wall Street reformers Wednesday was that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon would trip up before the Senate Banking Committee and expose the need for tighter rules governing big banks.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, naked capitalism, Guardian, Hullabaloo, The Daily, Talking Points Memo and Lawyers, Guns & Money
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Brian Beutler / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPMDC — Jeff Merkley Scolds JPMorgan CEO: ‘This Is Not Your Hearing’ (VIDEO)
TPMDC — Jeff Merkley Scolds JPMorgan CEO: ‘This Is Not Your Hearing’ (VIDEO)
Discussion:
Esquire, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice and OpenSecrets.org
Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
DOJ drops John Edwards case — The Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that it won't pursue the remaining five felony charges against former presidential candidate John Edwards. — “Last month, the government put forward its best case against Mr. Edwards, and I am proud of the skilled …
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Kate Sheppard / Mother Jones:
House GOP Blocking Abortion Access for Raped Soldiers — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) wants to expand access to abortion for servicewomen who are raped. Only a few Republicans are willing to help. — Republican Senators John McCain, Scott Brown, and Susan Collins all support an effort …
Discussion:
Indecision Forever, Daily Kos, Taylor Marsh, ThinkProgress and The Reality-Based Community
Luke Funk / myfoxny.com:
Health panel talks about wider food ban — MYFOXNY.COM - — The board hand-picked by Mayor Michael Bloomberg that must approve his ban of selling large sugar-filled drinks at restaurants might be looking at other targets. — The New York City Board of Health showed support for limiting sizes …
BuzzFeed:
Study: Liberal Anti-Mormonism On The Rise — The left have turned against the faith since 2008, according to a new study, spurred by Romney and same-sex marriage. — Americans' aversion to voting for Mormons has spiked since Mitt Romney's first presidential bid in 2007 …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Ross Douthat, Mediaite, The Daily Dish, JOSHUAPUNDIT, GOP 12, Fire Andrea Mitchell! and The Spectacle Blog
Rasmussen Reports:
Wisconsin: Romney 47%, Obama 44% — Mitt Romney now leads President Obama for the first time in Wisconsin where the president's support has fallen to its lowest level to date. — The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Romney with 47% of the vote to Obama's 44%.
Zach Carter / The Huffington Post:
Obama Trade Document Leaked, Revealing New Corporate Powers And Broken Campaign Promises … REACT: — FOLLOW: — 2012, Elections 2012, Barack Obama , Mitt Romney, Economy, Careers, Barack Obama , Politics, Video, November Election, November Elections, Trans-Pacific Partnership …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Mediaite, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Hot Air and The PJ Tatler
Jonah Lehrer / Frontal Cortex:
Why Smart People Are Stupid — Here's a simple arithmetic question: A bat and ball cost a dollar and ten cents. The bat costs a dollar more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? — The vast majority of people respond quickly and confidently, insisting the ball costs ten cents.
Discussion:
Boing Boing and Vox Popoli
Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
CNN Is Ending John King's Political Show — The ailing cable news channel CNN on Wednesday abruptly ended “John King, USA,” its 6 p.m. political news program. — The program will be replaced at the end of the month by “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” which will expand from two hours long to three hours.
Heritage Foundation:
Auto Bailout or UAW Bailout? Taxpayer Losses Came from Subsidizing Union Compensation — Abstract: The U.S. government will lose about $23 billion on the 2008-2009 bailout of General Motors and Chrysler. President Obama emphatically defends his decision to subsidize the automakers …
Discussion:
Doug Ross, The Heritage Foundation, Race 4 2012, The Daily Caller and Cafe Hayek
Paul Krugman:
Guess Who's Emerging From the Crisis? — FT Alphaville: … From Statistics Iceland: — GDP is still below previous peak, but I think one could argue, much more so than in say America, that a significant part of that peak involved a Ponzi financial sector that isn't coming back.
Discussion:
FT Alphaville, DownWithTyranny! and Mother Jones
Joe Klein / Swampland:
Krauthammer and Reagan — A break from the road trip for one small quibble with Charles Krauthammer: he has now completely abandoned any intellectual integrity he may have had and joined the cult of Reagan mythmaking. Reagan did some fine things as president, like challenging and then negotiating with the “Evil Empire.”
Discussion:
RedState, Conservatives4Palin, The Daily Caller and RealClearPolitics Video Log
ICANN New gTLDs:
You are here — Enter the terms you wish to search for. — ICANN developed the New generic Top-Level Domain Program to increase competition and choice by introducing new gTLDs into the Internet's addressing system. What is a gTLD? It is an Internet domain name extension such as the familiar .com, .net, or .org.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Media Decoder, WBUR, AllThingsD, Mashable!, TPM IdeaLab, Poynter, The Daily Caller, Engadget, New York Magazine, New York Times and BuzzFeed, more at Mediagazer »
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Romney Touts Presidential Salary Plan That Was Literally A Saturday Night Live Skit — Apparent Romney policy adviser Dana Carvey in 1992 — In an interview with conservative radio host Neal Boortz, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney floated an unusual profit-making opportunity …
Discussion:
Sky Dancing, Mediaite, Wonkette and CNNMoney.com
Reuters:
Analysis: Obama's gamble: Asking for more time to fix economy — (Reuters) - So far, President Barack Obama has not been able to convince most Americans that they are better off than they were four years ago. His next step may be to try to convince them that they would be worse off under his Republican rival, Mitt Romney.
Discussion:
Hot Air, BuzzFeed, Firedoglake, The New Republic and Politico
Nicole Ebat / KPTM-TV:
Cafe Owner After Hosting Romney Event: “I felt like it was a mocking” … © Bauer says she asked Romney staffers not to touch the memorial to her father and son — COUNCIL BLUFFS(KPTM)— Dianne Bauer opened up her cafe to Mitt Romney and his campaign for a small round table discussion Friday morning …
Discussion:
The Political Carnival, Sky Dancing and The National Memo
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Yup: Romney's plan would indeed cut billions from cops, firefighters and teachers — Yesterday Mitt Romney claimed that it was “ completely absurd” of the Obama campaign to argue that he favors cutbacks in cops, firefighters and teachers. “The federal government doesn't pay for teachers …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, New York Magazine and Daily Kos
CNBC:
Roubini Tells Europe to Stop ‘the Savings Madness’ — Governments in Europe should lower taxes and increase salaries to boost growth rather than insisting on austerity and continued saving, famous economist Nouriel Roubini told a German newspaper in an interview on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Firedoglake and The Impolitic
John Avlon / The Daily Beast:
Romney Writes Off His Home States — The Republican with roots in three blue states gives up on all of them, writes John Avlon. — There are a lot of things different about this presidential campaign: an African-American incumbent running against a Mormon, most obviously.
Discussion:
Indecision Forever
Betsy Woodruff / National Review:
The FDA Chomps Down on Cigars — By proposing a ban on large sodas in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg made himself a competitive candidate for Chairman of the Anti-Fun Committee. But the FDA just might have him beat: They've moved to regulate cigars as they already do cigarettes.
Discussion:
Maggie's Farm and Jammie Wearing Fools
Josh Kraushaar / 2012 Decoded:
In Colorado Focus Group, Obama Voters Disillusioned — Last night, veteran Democratic pollster Peter Hart conducted a focus group featuring 12 undecided, ticket-splitting voters in Colorado, which illustrated the tough challenge President Obama faces in winning a second term.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Speaker.gov, The Moderate Voice, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Washington Wire
Stephen Kilcullen / Wall Street Journal:
Women Don't Belong in Ranger School — Do individuals serve the military or does the military serve them? — The United States Army is debating whether to admit women to Ranger School, its elite training program for young combat leaders. Proponents argue this is to remove a final impediment to the careers of Army women.
Discussion:
Shakesville
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
What might cause another 9/11? — It is supporters of Obama's aggression, not its opponents, who are likely to provoke another Terrorist attack — Today's defense of President Obama from Andrew Sullivan is devoted to refuting Conor Friedersdorf's criticism of Obama's drone program. Says Sullivan:
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, The PCTC Blog, The Daily Dish, Hullabaloo and Balloon Juice
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Statistical Noise in Election Polls — The probability that President Obama receives a given number of Electoral College votes. — Tipping Point States — The probability that a state provides the decisive electoral vote. — Return on Investment Index
Discussion:
Washington Post, Little Green Footballs, The New Republic and Outside the Beltway
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
NBC reports demand for Holder resignation ... but not why — Hey, NBC finally reported on Operation Fast & Furious! Of course, it took a high-profile call for the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder to get them to do so, but at least they mentioned the scandal …
Discussion:
BREITBART.COM, NewsBusters.org blogs, The Conservatory and Ed Driscoll