memeorandum: Pentagon to Seek Less for Missile Defense in 2014 Budget (Tony Capaccio/Bloomberg)

10:10 AM ET, April 8, 2013

Top Items:

Margaret Thatcher dies — Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died “peacefully” at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke, her family has announced. — David Cameron called her a “great Briton” and the Queen spoke of her sadness at the death. — Lady Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Shakesville, BizPac Review, Mediaite and FP Passport

Andrew Sparrow / Guardian:

Margaret Thatcher dies: live reaction and updates — Sort by: — 2.55pm BST — This is from George W Bush, the former US president. … 2.52pm BST — This is from FW De Klerk, the former president of South Africa. … 2.50pm BST — Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, has now issued a statement.

Discussion: The Week, Twitchy, Scared Monkeys, The Hinterland Gazette, Joe. My. God., Taylor Marsh, Towleroad News #gay and Jammie Wearing Fools

Sky News:

Margaret Thatcher Dies After Stroke — Baroness Thatcher, Britain's Iron Lady, has died after suffering a stroke at the age of 87. — Her children Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother had died peacefully following a stroke this morning. — Speaking to Sky News …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, americanthinker.com and Vox Popoli

Telegraph:

Margaret Thatcher dies of stroke aged 87 — Baroness Thatcher, Britain's greatest post-war prime minister, has died at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke, her family has announced. — Her son, Sir Mark, and daughter Carol confirmed that she died this morning.

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Week and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Joseph R. Gregory / New York Times:

Margaret Thatcher, Who Remade Britain, Dies at 87 — Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady” of British politics who pulled her country back from 35 years of socialism, led it to victory in the Falklands war and helped guide the United States and the Soviet Union through the cold war's difficult last years, died Monday.

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show

Fred Barbash / Washington Post:

Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister, dead at 87 — View Photo Gallery — Margaret Thatcher: 1925-2013: Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the grocer's daughter whose overpowering personality, bruising political style and free-market views transformed Britain …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Booman Tribune

Michael White / Guardian:

Margaret Thatcher dies aged 87 — The first woman elected to lead a major western state changed way Britons viewed politics and economics — Margaret Thatcher, the most dominant British prime minister since Winston Churchill in 1940 and a global champion of the late 20th century free market economic revival, has died.

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Washington Monthly

Richard Allen Greene / CNN:
Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female PM, dead at 87

Discussion: Hot Air

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Margaret Thatcher, UK's first female prime minister, dies aged 87

Discussion: CNN

David Wright / ABCNEWS:
Margaret Thatcher, Britain's Iron Lady, Dead at 87

Discussion: Yahoo! News and The Raw Story

Jonathan Allen / Politico:

Hill holds Obama's legacy in its hands — It's now or never for the White House. — President Barack Obama's second-term agenda is in doubt as Congress returns to Washington this week for a spring and summer stretch that could go a long way to define the scope of Obama's legacy.

Discussion: Capital New York, msnbc.com, ThinkProgress and The Hill

Jackie Calmes / New York Times: Obama Must Walk Fine Line as Congress Weighs Agenda

Washington Post:
Gun legislation's prospects improve

Discussion: The Hill and Prairie Weather

Politico:
Obama's make-or-break week on guns

Discussion: Roll Call

Hartford Courant:
Obama Comes To Hartford To Push Gun Control

Discussion: msnbc.com

Washington Post:
Gun legislation's prospects improve

Discussion: American Prospect, The Fix and First Read

Hollywood Reporter:

Westboro Baptist Church to Picket Roger Ebert's Funeral — The anti-gay group says it will protest outside the movie critic's memorial service Monday in Chicago. — Leaders of Kansas' Westboro Baptist Church, notorious for picketing at the funerals of soldiers and gay teenagers …

Discussion: The Raw Story, Guardian and Mashable

Tony Capaccio / Bloomberg:

Pentagon to Seek Less for Missile Defense in 2014 Budget — The Pentagon will request $9.16 billion for missile defense programs for the 2014 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, about $550 million less than this year's $9.71 billion, according to internal budget figures obtained by Bloomberg News.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Weekly Standard and Washington Free Beacon

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Americans' Concerns About Global Warming on the Rise — Majority believe global warming is happening, but many still say it's exaggerated — PRINCETON, NJ — U.S. worry about global warming is heading back up after several years of expanded public skepticism.

Discussion: Post Politics and Politico

James Hohmann / Politico:

Libertarianism goes mainstream — Stereotyped for decades as pro-pot, pro-porn and pro-pacifism, libertarians are becoming mainstream. — Fair or not, Ron Paul epitomized to a swath of voters the caricature of a goofy grandpa who invests in gold, stockpiles guns, sees black helicopters whirling overhead and quotes Friedrich Hayek.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, his vorpal sword, Hot Air, LewRockwell.com Blog and Mediaite

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Insurance and Freedom — President Obama will soon release a new budget, and the commentary is already flowing fast and furious. Progressives are angry (with good reason) over proposed cuts to Social Security; conservatives are denouncing the call for more revenues. But it's all Kabuki.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Alastair Beach / The Independent:

Coptic Christians under siege as mob attacks Cairo cathedral — Alastair Beach sees gunfire exchanged as armed gang descends on funeral of five Christians killed in recent sectarian clashes — Hundreds of Christians were under siege inside Cairo's Coptic cathedral last night as security forces …

Discussion: americanthinker.com, FP Passport and Jihad Watch

Ashraf Fahim / Reuters:
Five die in Christian-Muslim clashes in Egypt

Discussion: New York Times, Guardian, ParaPundit, The Gateway Pundit, The Jawa Report and Atlas Shrugs

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

At least 28 of Max Baucus's former aides are now tax lobbyists — Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. That means he's the guy in the Senate charged with writing any overhaul of the nation's tax laws. And that means that anyone who has ever worked …

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy