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How To Lose The Sequestration Fight — Last night, the Senate proved it can fix big problems for real Americans — so long as they're rich, or relatively rich, or fly for business or what have you. — The short version is that late last night it took a break from its regular schedule …
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, Hit & Run, Gawker, National Review and Balloon Juice
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12 Programs Congress Refuses To Save From Automatic Spending Cuts — After thousands of flight delays across the country this week, the United States Senate voted Thursday night to give the Federal Aviation Administration the flexibility to keep the nation's airports running smoothly.
Discussion:
The Week, Outside the Beltway, The Fix, The Huffington Post, The Hill, Eschaton and The Progressive Pulse


The Democrats have lost on sequestration. — That's the simple reality of Friday's vote to ease the pain for the Federal Aviation Administration. By assenting to it, Democrats have agreed to sequestration for the foreseeable future. — (Elaine Thompson/AP)
Discussion:
Washington Post, Hullabaloo and Outside the Beltway

House Passes Bill to Ease Impact of Cuts on Air Traffic
Discussion:
Mediaite, CNN, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, American Prospect and TomDispatch.com

Politicians Will Only Roll Back Parts of the Sequester That Hurt Them, Naturally
Discussion:
Salon, msnbc.com, The Week, The Raw Story, Politico and ThinkProgress

Senate Democrats' Shameful Cave on Flight Delays
Discussion:
Associated Press, WCTX-TV, U.S. News, The Maddow Blog, New York Times, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly, Michelle Malkin and Politico


Obama's hubris problem — Tuesday morning, a peculiar announcement trickled out of the White House press office: President Barack Obama would be holding a moment of silence for the victims of the Boston bombings. At the White House. By himself. No press or other intruders allowed.
Discussion:
The PJ Tatler, Sense of Events and White House Dossier
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Tom Brokaw says ‘no thanks’ to White House Correspondents' Dinner
Discussion:
Yahoo! News and Washington Monthly

Carjack victim recounts his harrowing night — The 26-year-old Chinese entrepreneur had just pulled his new Mercedes to the curb on Brighton Avenue to answer a text when an old sedan swerved behind him, slamming on the brakes. A man in dark clothes got out and approached the passenger window.
Discussion:
New York Times, Business Insider, The Week, Gothamist, The Daily Caller, Daily Mail, Outside the Beltway, The Hinterland Gazette and CBS Boston
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Carjacking victim describes harrowing night
Discussion:
Taking Note, News Desk, Guardian, The Lede, First Read and Boston Globe


George Jones, Admired and Copied Country Singer, Dies at 81 — George Jones, the definitive country singer of the last half-century, died Friday at a hospital in Nashville. He was 81. — He was hospitalized on April 18 with fever and irregular blood pressure, the Web site of Webster & Associates …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, The Spectacle Blog and alicublog
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George Jones, country superstar, has died at 81
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Wonkette and National Review

Country legend George Jones dies
Discussion:
Hit & Run and Alan Colmes' Liberaland


National Income and Product Accounts — Gross Domestic Product, First Quarter 2013 (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 2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2013 …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Bloomberg, Wonkblog, Business Insider, Calculated Risk, Economix, Reuters, Hot Air, The Week and National Review
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First-Quarter Growth, at 2.5%, Misses Expectations
Discussion:
Real Time Economics, Bloomberg, MoneyBeat, Right Turn and White House Dossier

GDP Up 2.5%, But Underlying Weakness Evident
Discussion:
Economic Policy Institute, The Dish and Wonkblog

U.S. Economy Speeds Up, but Less Than Forecast
Discussion:
Free exchange, PERRspectives, Gothamist, Outside the Beltway, ThinkProgress, americanthinker.com and Calculated Risk

Surprise! Psycho Mother of Boston Bombers Also on Terror Watch List — Anyone watching the performances of this media darling can only come to a couple of conclusions: She's been lying through her teeth that her “good kids” had nothing to do with the Boston terror attack and it's probably a safe bet she put the elder son up to it.
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE, The Gateway Pundit, Althouse, Hot Air and The PJ Tatler
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Suspect separated from Boston victims
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Week, The Gateway Pundit and Jammie Wearing Fools

Health Chaos Ahead — It was always going to be difficult to implement Obamacare, but even fervent supporters of the law admit that things are going worse than expected. — Implementation got off to a bad start because the Obama administration didn't want to release unpopular rules before the election.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and JustOneMinute
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Democratic Senators Tell White House of Concerns About Health Care Law Rollout
Discussion:
Hit & Run, The Hill, Wonkblog, The Plum Line, Wake up America, Via Meadia, Weekly Standard, Hot Air and Politico


Former Congressman Todd Akin breaks silence: talks comeback, takes on Karl Rove — ST. LOUIS (KSDK) - Could Todd Akin be the new comeback kid? — The 65-year-old former congressman says don't rule him out. Nearly six months after losing the Senate race he continues to be attacked from all sides of the political spectrum.
Discussion:
The Hill, Daily RFT, Politico, msnbc.com, CNN, The Raw Story, Post Politics and Shakesville


Farm Loan Bias Claims, Often Unsupported, Cost U.S. Millions — In the winter of 2010, after a decade of defending the government against bias claims by Hispanic and female farmers, Justice Department lawyers seemed to have victory within their grasp. — Ever since the Clinton administration agreed …


OBAMA BACKS PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN POLITICAL FIGHT — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama vowed Friday to join Planned Parenthood in fighting against what he said are efforts by states to turn women's health back to the 1950s, before the Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide …
Discussion:
CNN, Michelle Malkin, LifeNews.com, CNSNews, Weasel Zippers, Twitchy, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller and Jammie Wearing Fools
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Obama to Largest Abortion Provider: ‘God Bless You’
Discussion:
Post Politics, Rush Limbaugh and National Review


The Presidential Wheel Turns — Disaffection for Bush gave us Obama. That explains the new affection for Bush. — Barack Obama was elected president in 2008 because he was not George W. Bush. In fact, he was elected because he was the farthest thing possible from Mr. Bush.
Discussion:
New York Times, Esquire, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wake up America, Washington Monthly, Taylor Marsh, ParaPundit, TheBlaze.com, Wonkette and alicublog

Debt, Growth and the Austerity Debate — IN May 2010, we published an academic paper, “Growth in a Time of Debt.” Its main finding, drawing on data from 44 countries over 200 years, was that in both rich and developing countries, high levels of government debt — specifically …
Discussion:
Paul Krugman, Wonkblog, The Week, The Big Picture, Firedoglake, Vox Popoli, Jared Bernstein, Angry Bear, The Maddow Blog, Business Insider, CEPR and Washington Post

After the last two weeks, is it time for a laugh? — (CNN) - President Barack Obama has had to give some tough speeches in the past couple of weeks. From consoling Boston and West, Texas to scolding Congress for failing to pass gun control legislation, the president's messages have been heavy.
Discussion:
Politico
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Tom Brokaw says ‘no thanks’ to White House Correspondents' Dinner
Discussion:
Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Rick Perry ‘explosion’ cartoon published to make a point — Several readers wrote me this morning expressing varying levels of concern about the cartoon depicting Gov. Rick Perry's marketing of Texas' loose regulations, juxtaposed with the explosion of the fertilizer plant in West, Texas.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, ProPublica, National Review, Twitchy and Balloon Juice

The 1 Percent's Solution — Economic debates rarely end with a T.K.O. But the great policy debate of recent years between Keynesians, who advocate sustaining and, indeed, increasing government spending in a depression, and austerians, who demand immediate spending cuts, comes close — at least in the world of ideas.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Campaign for America's Future, The Week and Prairie Weather


Fox guest Michelle Malkin links Grover Norquist to Boston Marathon bombing — During an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday night, conservative commentator Michelle Malkin alleged that influential anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist was indirectly linked to the Boston Marathon bombing.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hinterland Gazette and Booman Tribune


Federal Helium Program: How temporary becomes forever — Video: In the 1930s the government created a giant helium reserve, in case we needed it for blimp warfare. That never happened, but the goverment hasn't been able to get rid of the helium fast enough. David Fahrenthold is on set to explain why.
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog, Hot Air, Post Politics, TheBlaze.com and The Daily Caller


Was this hottie deported from Saudi Arabia for being ‘too handsome’? — Religious police in the conservative country allegedly feared that three men from the United Arab Emirates were so handsome that ‘female visitors could fall for them.’ Whether or not Omar Borkan Al Gala is one of those three …