Top Items:
ThinkProgress:
Cliven Bundy Says If People Thought His Comments Were Racist, It's MLK's Fault — Cliven Bundy, the embattled rancher who revealed himself this week to be not just a critic of the government, but also a blatant racist, dug himself further into a hole Friday morning by saying that Martin Luther King …
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, Right Wing Watch, Daily Kos, Balloon Juice, Washington Post, Patterico's Pontifications, NPR and The Right Scoop
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Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Bundy's Black Bodyguard: ‘I Would Take A Bullet For That Man’ (VIDEO) — One of the supporters serving as a bodyguard for Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy during his standoff with federal authorities — and who also happens to be black — said he would still “take a bullet for” Bundy after the rancher made racially inflammatory comments.
Discussion:
Mediaite
Greg Botelho / CNN:
Rancher defends comments
Rancher defends comments
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Politico, New Day, Mediaite, TruthRevolt.org, Sky Dancing and The Huffington Post
John Boel / WAVE-TV:
EXCLUSIVE: Politicians at cockfighting rally caught on video — LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - It's part of Kentucky's landscape, even when it's not readily visible. This part is hidden in a Henry County valley behind the trees by Lake Jericho. — It features sprawling farms that raise chickens, but not the kind you eat.
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, Courier-Journal, Talking Points Memo, ABC News, The Daily Caller, The Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit
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Jonathan Topaz / Politico:
Mitch McConnell: Matt Bevin lied on cockfighting — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell accused his primary challenger Friday of lying about his participation at a cockfighting rally, citing a local news report that shows Bevin being asked directly about cockfighting.
Discussion:
Conservative Intelligence …
Sheila McLaughlin / Cincinnati.com:
Boehner mocks colleagues on Congress over immigration reform — House Speaker John Boehner theatrically mocked his fellow Republican Congressmen for being afraid to reform immigration policy when he spoke Thursday before the Middletown Rotary Club. — CONNECT
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Bill Ruthhart / Chicago Tribune:
Emails show Emanuel aides, producers coordinated CNN ‘Chicagoland’ scenes — If it seemed as though some scenes of CNN's documentary series “Chicagoland” were coordinated by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's City Hall and the show's producers, that's because they were.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Politico, The Daily Caller, The PJ Tatler, Mediaite and Hot Air
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Piketty Panic — “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” the new book by the French economist Thomas Piketty, is a bona fide phenomenon. Other books on economics have been best sellers, but Mr. Piketty's contribution is serious, discourse-changing scholarship in a way most best sellers aren't.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, CalWatchDog, Prairie Weather, Capitol Report, CNN, TheBlaze.com, This Is Brad DeLong's … and Forbes
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Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
Al Gore is not giving up — A rare, frank conversation with the former vice president and climate-change activist. — Al Gore is richer and skinnier than ever, 14 years out of the White House, a tech titan with elder statesman clout, whose disdain for politics in the capital where he lived …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, The Daily Caller, TruthRevolt.org, ABC News and Taylor Marsh
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Why Elizabeth Warren should run for president — BARACK OBAMA JOE BIDEN HILLARY CLINTON 2016 ELECTIONS CAMPAIGNS ELIZABETH WARREN — Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is starting a publicity tour for her new campaign-style book, A Fighting Chance. As she talks to the press …
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE
The Hill:
Issa questions role of Holder's DOJ in targeting of Tea Party groups — House Republicans on Thursday broadened their investigation into the IRS's improper targeting of conservative groups, questioning whether the Justice Department might have played a role.
Discussion:
BizPac Review and Wall Street Journal
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Mike Hayes / BuzzFeed:
Bloomberg Group Foots Bill To Send Hundreds Of Gun Reform Activists To NRA Convention — When Michael Bloomberg announced he would spend $50 million on gun control this year, he said he hoped to make the National Rifle Association “afraid.” This weekend, the Bloomberg-backed group Everytown …
Discussion:
USA Today and National Review
Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
Rand Paul and Wealthy Libertarians Connect as He Weighs Running — Frayda Levin, a New Jersey libertarian activist and former small-business owner, is a woman of many passions: promoting liberty, ending marijuana prohibition and opposing her state's recent minimum-wage increase.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, National Review and In-A-Gist
Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
What We Talk About When We Talk About Talking About Race — Deep inside the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision lies a fight about how we speak about race in America. — Is it OK if we talk about race for a minute? — The U.S. Supreme Court's decision this week in Schuette v. Coalition …
Discussion:
SCOTUSblog, Althouse, The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo and BizPac Review
Heather Haddon / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Attorney Issues Subpoena to Committee Probing George Washington Bridge Scandal — New Jersey U.S. attorney Paul Fishman has issued a subpoena to a legislative committee investigating the George Washington Bridge closures for its documents pertaining to the matter, a sign that prosecutors are continuing to delve into the issue.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
New York Times:
Ukraine Says It Will ‘Blockade’ Pro-Russian Militants — KIEV, Ukraine — Defying warnings from Moscow not to confront pro-Russian militants entrenched in towns across eastern Ukraine, the interim central government in Kiev on Friday threatened to “blockade” the Kremlin's allies in the eastern town …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Lawfare and Wall Street Journal
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Ali Weinberg / ABC News:
John Kerry Threatens Russia But No New Sanctions
John Kerry Threatens Russia But No New Sanctions
Discussion:
US Department of State, The Moderate Voice, Politico, ABC News and CNN
CNN:
2016: A Bush-Clinton rematch? — Washington (CNN) — Two families, two political parties — one family business. — It's hard to understate the depth of the Bush-Clinton impact on American politics. Think of it this way: For 32 years, there was either a Bush or a Clinton in the White House or the Cabinet.
Discussion:
OnPolitics
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Justin Sink / The Hill:
Michelle Obama scraps graduation speech — First lady Michelle Obama is scrapping her plans to deliver a graduation speech for high school seniors in Topeka, Kan., after hundreds signed a petition in protest. — Instead of delivering a graduation speech, Obama will speak before the school district …
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, BizPac Review and National Review
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