Veto Threat Scrambles CISPA’s Prospects
Boehner: House To Vote Friday On Student Loans
Scenes From Obama’s Pop-Culture Push
TPM Editors’ Blog Opinions, Context & Ideas from TPM Editors
Crank It Up
The Obama campaign has pegged May 5 as the day the President “officially” hits the campaign trail
Hold Everything
Where Obama’s veto threat leaves CISPA.
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Kumbaya (If You’re White And Speak English)
For the longest time, liberals had cornered the market on embarrassingly hokey protest music. No longer. But it’s the combination of lameness and intolerance that makes this performance today on the steps of the Supreme Court so special.
An iPhone it Ain’t
Join us on a tour of the shameful and awesome history of big ass cell phones of yesteryear.
TPM Hiring: Energy & Transportation Reporter
TPM is hiring an Energy & Transportation Reporter to write for our Tech vertical, TPMIdeaLab. Could it be you? If you’re interested see our full listing after the jump …
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Puts Student Loan Debate In New Light
Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) says the federal government shouldn’t be involved in student loans at all: “America has got the equivalent of the stage three cancer of socialism because the federal government is tampering in all kinds of stuff it has no business tampering in.”
The Ultimate Newt Mashup
That whole Newt for President thing really did happen. Watch.
Slow Jammin’ the Whole Campaign
Inside Obama’s pop culture push.
How Hard Can This Be?
Marco Rubio gets his veep tryout.
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Wrong Message
There’s no doubt Mitt Romney has had a good couple weeks. He got the hold outs to finally agree that he is the Republican nominee. Now the RNC itself has said the race is over. And he’s had a perceptible tightening in the polls. But his push against “unfairness” he rolled out last night is just weak.
Read More →No Clear Majority Emerged
Sahil Kapur’s initial report from this morning’s Supreme Court oral arguments on the constitutionality ofArizona’s immigration law.
Obama Stays Right in His Grill
President Obama tells Rolling Stone he doesn’t believe Mitt Romney will be able to walk back his “severely conservative” primary rhetoric.
A Minivan With A 5-Kiloton Punch
JPL released this photo of that fireball-creating meteor widely reported in the Western United States on Sunday.
Shocked!
What really shocked Jon Stewart in Secret Service prostitution scandal.
Ed. Note: I believe Stewart taped that segment before reports that some of the agents were actually too drunk to sleep with prostitutes in Colombia.
Profoundly And Fundamentally Zombie
Newt Gingrich will make his withdrawal from the presidential race official next week, but to anyone with a brain it’s been obvious for weeks that his campaign is over. Kaput. Finis.
We’ve put together some data points to demonstrate what his zombie campaign looks like.
The Verdict Is In
For the last three years, we’ve been in the midst of a transatlantic debate about post-economic crisis fiscal policy – broadly speaking it’s been between Keynesianism and austerity, with the US starting with the first and more recently edging toward the second.
Throughout, the UK has been the leading advocate of growth through austerity. And now we have the verdict: the UK economy has officially slid back into recession.
Where We Break News First
TPMLiveWire is our breaking news application, where we report the news first. And now you can follow TPMLiveWire on Twitter.
Click right here … Follow @TPMLivewire
I Predict Armageddon
Why January 2013 is the new Armageddon, fiscal-style.
Stay Classy
All-around class act John Edwards called his mistress Rielle Hunter a “crazy slut” upon learning she was pregnant, says his former aide Andrew Young.
Slow Jamming The News
Brilliant. Just watch.
TSA Screeners Arrested In Los Angeles Airport Drug Probe
Two current and two former TSA screeners at LAX were arrested on charges of taking bribes to let illegal drugs through.
I’m Going To Be The Nominee: The Best Of Newt (VIDEO)
A look back at almost a year of Newt being Newt on the 2012 presidential campaign trail.
Most Recent Latest news stories from TPM reporters
Release The Campaigner In Chief: Obama To Officially Hit The Trail May 5
Republicans insist President Obama has been on the campaign trail for months already, but the Obama campaign told reporters Wednesday evening Obama’s campaign travel doesn’t kick off until May 5.
That’s when the president and First Lady Michelle Obama travel to Ohio State University and Virginia Commonwealth University for what his campaign officials said were the first official stops of the campaign.
White House Veto Threat Scrambles CISPA’s Prospects
Time for a reboot? The White House on Wednesday shocked lawmakers and advocacy groups by announcing that President Obama would veto a proposed national cybersecurity bill known as CISPA if it reaches his desk in its current form. That news was unequivocally bad for the bill’s sponsors and backers, coming as it did just two days before the full House of Representatives was set to vote on the bill on Friday. Even if it passes, CISPA, which stands for the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and…
Republicans Believe Gingrich’s Legacy Will Be As Romney Debate Coach
Sometime next week, the long, slow death of Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign will finally come to an end. After a year of dizzying highs and terrifying lows, Gingrich is throwing in the towel and suspending his bid for the White House after winning two states and several more presidential debates. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus perhaps summarized Gingrich’s impact on the race best. “I don’t know that. I just don’t know right now,” he told TPM on a conference call when asked what…
TSA Screeners Allegedly Took Bribes To Let Drugs Pass Through Los Angeles Airport
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced criminal charges against four security screeners who worked at Los Angeles International Airport and were allegedly paid thousands of dollars in bribes to look the other way while drug shipments slipped through security checkpoints. Two of the screeners were fired by the Transportation Security Administration during the past two years, but two others were still on the government payroll up to their arrest. All four were arrested within the…
I’m Going To Be The Nominee: The Best Of Newt’s Doomed Run (VIDEO)
With the news that Newt Gingrich has finally figured out that he will not be the Republican presidential nominee and will suspend his campaign, TPM takes a look back at almost a year of Newt being Newt on the trail.
Facebook’s Lack of Women Board Members Inspires Small, But Growing, Protest
NEW YORK – Facebook’s normally inauspicious office in midtown Manhattan was the target of about 30 protesters on Wednesday, who gathered to demand that the world’s most successful social networking company appoint a woman to its currently all-male, all-white board of directors – and that the appointment occur soon, before the company begins trading publicly on the nearby NASDAQ exchange, anticipated in mid-May or June. The protest was organized by Ultraviolet, a new nonprofit…
Jimmy Carter Defends Mitt Romney Against The Democratic Playbook
Mitt Romney has singled out President Jimmy Carter as an example of a failed president who is “anti-jobs, anti-investment, anti-growth.” But the feeling, it turns out, isn’t mutual.
While Democrats scramble to paint Romney as a political opportunist at best and a hardcore conservative at worst, Carter is singing a different tune about the likely GOP nominee.
He thinks he’s a pretty good guy, one who wouldn’t make a terrible president.
Slow Jamming The Campaign: Obama’s Pop-Culture Push
Away from his Washington bully pulpit, on the trail and on late-night television, from singing the classics to slow jamming the news, President Obama’s ease as a campaigner – as opposed to his likely Republican rival – is once again emerging. Here are a few scenes from Obama’s pop-culture push. It starts at a fundraiser at the Apollo theater in January. Obama surprised the crowd by singing a few bars of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” Unbeknownst to many, it turned out the Late,…
Scalia Likens Undocumented Immigrants To ‘Bank Robbers’
In his fervent defense Wednesday of Arizona’s right to crack down on illegal immigration, Justice Antonin Scalia likened immigration enforcement to crackdowns on bank robbers.
“What’s wrong about the states enforcing federal law?” Scalia said during his aggressive questioning of U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli. “There is a federal law against robbing federal banks. Can it be made a state crime to rob those banks? I think it is.”
Veep Tryout? Marco Rubio Strikes Bipartisan Tone In Foreign Policy Speech
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), already the most fervently discussed of all of Mitt Romney’s potential vice presidential candidates, boosted his profile further on Wednesday with a broad address on foreign policy to the Brookings Institution.
Rubio was introduced by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), the GOP’s favorite Democratic caucus member on foreign policy, and launched his speech with a lengthy passage praising bipartisanship – and harshly condemning many members of his own party.
Reps. Want To Know If Wal-Mart Worked To Weaken Bribery Law
The Democratic lawmakers who earlier this week asked for a meeting with Wal-Mart officials who can answer questions about the company’s Mexican bribery scandal are now interested in the retailer’s connection to lobbying efforts to amend the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the U.S. law that makes it illegal to bribe foreign officials. The Justice Department is reportedly investigating Wal-Mart for possible FCPA violations.
Ariz. Law Backers Have Reason For Hope After Supreme Court Arguments
By the end of Wednesday’s Supreme Court oral arguments on the constitutionality of Arizona’s immigration law, there was renewed hope for the law’s backers that at least some aspects of it might survive, although no clear majority emerged one way or another. Justice Antonin Scalia led the charge among justices inclined to agree with Arizona. He passionately argued that the Constitution provides states the authority to craft immigration policy to protect their borders – an argument at …
Dem Wants To Change CISPA To Secure White House Support
As the controversial national cybersecurity bill known as CISPA nears a vote on the House floor on Friday, the White House has sharpened its opposition, with Alec Ross, the senior advisor of innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telling the Guardian candidly on Tuesday that: “The Obama Administration opposes CISPA.” That’s a big problem for the bill’s backers, as the President’s signature is needed to make the bill into law – after and if it passes the House and Senate…
Secret Service Scandal: Some Agents Were Too Drunk To Sleep With Prostitutes
With eight Secret Service agents out of the agency in the wake of the Colombian prostitution scandal, some additional details are emerging about the night in Cartagena that cost several agents their jobs as well as previous behavior by Secret Service employees during foreign trips. Some of the agents caught up in the Colombian prostitution scandal “have said there was no sexual activity because the men were so drunk that they fell asleep immediately after bringing the women to their. …
For Obama, A Kinder, Gentler Netroots Nation In 2012
The Professional Left is ready to play nice. This June, progressive activists will gather once again for their annual convention, Netroots Nation. Born from the DailyKos community, the conference is a premier event on the liberal calendar, and a good way to take the temperature of the progressive community. And this year, it’s feeling pretty darn good, Netroots organizers said Monday. President Obama is no longer persona non grata, and the left is ready to build on what it sees as a…
What Really Shocked Jon Stewart In Secret Service Prostitution Scandal
The Secret Service’s prostitution scandal seems to be ever-widening, but what shocked Jon Stewart the most happened on U.S. soil. Secret Service agent David Chaney, who was tasked with protecting vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, posted a picture on his Facebook page with this caption: “I was really checking her out, if you know what i mean?” “Okay, first of all, we’re not really confused about what you mean, in terms of checking her out,” Stewart said on Tuesday. “Second, how…
Newt Of The Living Dead: Is His Zombie Campaign Finally Over?
Newt Gingrich stood athwart Mitt Romney’s inevitable nomination and yelled, “Stop!” in Delaware on Tuesday, where the former speaker had planned to rebound with a surprise showing. Undeterred, the Romney train ran right over him without a second thought, besting him by more than a 2-to-1 margin in the First State and with similarly blowout numbers in the four other states that held contests Tuesday. The performance was indicative of most of the last few weeks for Gingrich. While…
Another Space Mining Company Still Struggling To Get Off The Ground
Updated 1:22 pm ET, Wednesday, April 25 Planetary Resources, an ambitious new private spacefaring company backed by a number of high-tech billionaires on Tuesday detailed its plans to mine asteroids near earth for resources such as platinum and water, using a fleet of robotic, drill-equipped spacecraft. But it’s not the only company that has its eyes on wringing space rocks for resources and riches. Another company, Shackleton Energy Company, was launched in 2007 specifically to…
Today On The Trail: April 25, 2012
Here are ten things you need to know today. Romney sweeps five GOP primaries: Mitt Romney swept all five of Tuesday’s primaries in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware, where Newt Gingrich had hoped to stage a comeback. ‘Blue dog’ incumbents lose primaries in Pennsylvania: Two ‘blue dog’ Democrats lost their Democratic primaries for House seats in Pennsylvania last night. Rep. Jason Altmire, a conservative democrat who voted against health care reform, lost…
Arizona Immigration Law Supreme Court Hearing Will Have Impact Other States
When the Supreme Court hears oral arguments over the constitutionality of Arizona’s strict immigration law on Wednesday morning, it wouldn’t just be Arizonans who are paying close attention. The high court’s decision on whether the Arizona’s measure, considered the harshest immigration law in the land when in was passed back in 2010, steps on the federal government’s toes will likely have an impact on several other states which have passed similar measures. The Justice Department has …