AP:

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - An Air France jet with 228 people on a flight to Paris vanished over the Atlantic Ocean after flying into towering thunderstorms and sending an automated message that the electrical system had failed. A vast search began Monday, but all aboard were feared killed.

Military aircraft scrambled out to the center of the Atlantic, far from the coasts of Brazil and West Africa, and France sought U.S. satellite help to find the wreckage. The first military ship wasn’t expected to reach the area where the plane disappeared until Wednesday.

BLC:

KMBC-TV9, Kansas City’s ABC affiliate, has emerged victorious in the recently completed May TV sweeps period in the Kansas City market again by being the most watched station at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and the most important news segment at 10 p.m.

During the March ratings period not only was KMBC the top-rated station in the KC market, but it was the highest rated ABC affiliate in the nation. It was also the first ratings period without long-time KC sports icon Len Dawson was not a regular fixture on the news.

AP:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A man with “political and religious motives” killed a soldier just out of basic training and wounded another Monday in a targeted attack on a military recruiting center, police said. The shootings were not believed to be part of a broader scheme.

The soldiers completed basic training within the past two weeks and were not regular recruiters, said Lt. Col. Thomas F. Artis of the Oklahoma City Recruiting Battalion, which oversees the Little Rock office.

source:

Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s political arm, was traveling through eastern Tennessee after giving a Sunday morning sermon when he heard that late-term abortion doctor George Tiller had been gunned down.

Wasting no time, Land dialed a press aide on his cell phone as he drove west on I-40 and dictated a statement condemning the act.

“If the perpetrator of this violence proves to be someone who was acting in the name of the pro-life movement, everyone in the pro-life community must swiftly and soundly repudiate him and his actions,” Land said.

Christian conservatives who would not have defended Tiller in life were among the quickest to acknowledge his right to live after he was killed.

Daily Fix:

Nadal’s résumé, as noted in today’s Daily Fix and elsewhere, was far superior to the 25th-ranked Swedish player’s. That was true historically - six Grand Slam titles to none - and head-to-head - Nadal led their series, 3-0, winning all five sets they’d played on clay while dropping just 10 games. But sometimes during a tournament we see an upset coming, or think afterwards that we saw it coming, because a player had been faltering in earlier matches. In this case, Nadal didn’t leave any clues.

CQ Politics:

A lineup of five Republican candidates has formed in Kansas’ 1st Congressional District since November, when Rep. Jerry Moran announced his candidacy for the state’s 2010 open Senate seat.

The partisan history of the district makes it easy to understand why so many GOP candidates are applying for the job.

The mostly rural 1st District - which sprawls across more than 57,000 square miles, or 70 percent of the state’s land area - is one of the nation’s most stalwart Republican strongholds. Even as Democrat Barack Obama won the national election for president in 2008, Republican rival John McCain ran up 69 percent of the vote in Kansas 1. That was down just a hair from the 72 percent taken in 2004 by President George W. Bush .

At the local level, Moran won the 1st District seat the last time it was open in 1996 with 73 percent of the vote, and that turned out to be his lowest score in his seven House contests. He took 82 percent in defeating Democrat James Bordonaro in 2008.

Capital Journal:

The White House is trying to rev up the economy, pass a big health-care overhaul and change the nation’s energy profile. That’s pretty obvious.

Less obvious but highly intriguing is how, in the process, Team Obama also is trying to create a new and durable Democratic coalition with friendly segments of the business community. It’s far from clear how far such a partnership can get, but it has the potential to alter both the political and policy calculus of Washington.

Jim Geraghty reports:

Sarah Palin announces, via Twitter, that she will be appearing on ‘The Colbert Report’ next month, broadcast from Iraq.

KMBC:

By city rules, the recall petition needed the signatures of 16,950 registered Kansas City voters to force a recall of the mayor.

Mike Long:

This picture is the dog that caught the car: finally we are carried into the future where the post-nuclear dystopian world is filled with killer robots on a constant hunt. This is what we have been (well, I have been) curious to see since the very first of these pictures. Turns out, though, that a bunch of anonymous killer robots aren’t much more interesting than a bunch of trees in the wind or a bunch of cars in traffic. You gotta have a personal story to make the movie take off-you gotta have a conflict so clear it bats you in the head, for instance, the marketing campaign for a big summer movie about killer robots from the future. (more…)

Bench Memos:

Bogus allegations of temperament were used by Democrats in the Bush administration to sink the Miguel Estrada nomination and delay the John Bolton appointment. There would be no question that two of the leading conservative judges, Antonin Scalia and Frank Easterbrook, have sharp tongues from the bench, but no one sensible would suggest that this is somehow disqualifying. Let’s establish a precedent that there’s nothing wrong with the sharp tongue: Oral argument is overrated, and that an advocate is interrupted is hardly grounds to disapprove of the judge who interrupts.

WSJ:

A Quinnipiac University national poll released last month — one of the most comprehensive on the subject of gay rights ever done and with a sample size double the usual national survey — found that 55% opposed legalizing gay marriage in their own states, while 38% approved of it. (more…)

RCP:

In 2006, Ted Strickland (D) cruised to the governor’s office in Ohio after scandals had crippled the state Republican Party, which controlled the office for 16 years. So it was interesting to hear John Kasich criticize both parties as he launched his campaign today.

“We have to face facts: we’ve drifted in Ohio, and it hasn’t just been one political party,” the former Congressman and Fox News Channel host said at a rally in his home town of Westerville, which was streamed live on the Internet.

CQ Politics:

North Korea’s latest round of saber-rattling will be front and center in the coming national debate over missile defense, perhaps prompting some lawmakers to think twice about the Obama administration’s plan to reshape the military.

After the hermitic Stalinist country set off a nuclear device and test-fired several short-range missiles this week, conservative lawmakers and former officials linked the event to their decades-long drive to increase funding and support for a worldwide missile “shield” designed to detect and destroy ballistic missiles fired at the United States or its allies.

These advocates need all the help they can get to fight Obama’s plan to cut several components and reduce funding for the Pentagon’s largest program, which received over $12 billion last year. Proponents believe that by portraying Obama’s plan as weakening America’s defenses in the face of North Korea’s aggressiveness, they can convince the public and some Democrats to oppose the changes.

“North Korea’s brazen act of aggression should strengthen our resolve for a multi-layered missile-defense system capable of protecting our nation and our allies,” said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner , R-Ohio.

Jim Geraghty:

Obama’s job approval is in the mid-50s to the mid-60s; wouldn’t one expect that if you’re an Obama fan, you’re pretty much on board with the pick? Are there any pockets of Obama supporters who are wary or disappointed with this selection?

Jim Geraghty at NRO.

WSJ:

Yet Mr. Netanyahu doesn’t want to get pushed too fast toward a peace process that could disrupt his fragile governing coalition. So he has refused to do two things Mr. Obama would have liked. He won’t say he favors a “two-state solution” to the Palestinian problem, which would imply accepting a Palestinian state with full powers, including power to raise an army. And he won’t agree to an outright settlement freeze; he said Sunday that he would allow existing settlements to expand. A standoff there. (more…)

Source:

SEATTLE — The City of Seattle has been cracking down on bad behavior at its libraries, and there doesn’t appear to be any shortage of it.KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne discovered security has already ejected 432 patrons in the first four months this year for offenses like assault, drug dealing, intoxication and lewd conduct.If that pace continues, it would far exceed any other year.On Wednesday evening, the library board amended some of its “code of conduct” rules to better identify the most dangerous offenses.They range from simple alterations — like redefining the violation for “sleeping” to “appear to be sleeping”– to more serious matters, like kicking out repeat offenders for two years.Seattle’s library employees just want to help people find books they love, but along the way, put up with being assaulted, threatened and spit upon.

Source:

Those 11 were Reps. Adam Smith of Washington, Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, Ed Perlmutter of Colorado, Joe Courtney of Connecticut, Gregory W. Meeks of New York, Shelley Berkley of Nevada, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, Hank Johnson of Georgia, Melissa Bean of Illinois, Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island and Diana DeGette of Colorado.

“It was a mistake,” said DeGette’s deputy chief of staff, Kristofer Eisenla.

Meeks said he sided with the NRA “by accident.” (more…)

NRO:

On Fox News Sunday, debating Sen. Jon Kyl (R, AZ), Sen. Ben Nelson (D, NE) was incoherent on Guantanamo Bay.  He wants us to try war criminals and then, once they’re convicted, he’d have us … send them to other countries (where they’d likely be released).  But, he said, those terrorists who violate American law can be incarcerated in the U.S.

WSJ:

Certainly the number of Washington decision-makers with military experience continues to decline. In its profile of the Congress that convened at the beginning of the year, the Congressional Research Service notes that it continues a long-term slide in the number of lawmakers in Washington who have served in the military:

“In the 111th Congress there are 121 Members who have served in the military, five less than in the 110th Congress. The House has 96 veterans (including two Delegates); the Senate 25. These Members served in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War,
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kosovo, as well as during times of peace. Some have served in the Reserves and the National Guard. Several Members are still serving as Reservists. As noted above, one Senator is a former Secretary of the Navy.

“The number of veterans in the 111th Congress reflects the trend of a steady decline in the number of Members who have served in the military. For example, there were 298 veterans (240 Representatives, 58 Senators) in the 96th Congress (1979-1981); and 398 veterans (329 Representatives, 69 Senators) in the 91st Congress (1969-1971).”

Breitbart:

The proximate cause of the bankruptcy was supposed to be the inability of GM and the government’s auto task force to reach an accommodation with GM’s bondholders. But late last week, the bondholder problem was moving toward rapid resolution, and was clearly resolvable. Why then are GM and its multibillion government financier proceeding with bankruptcy? (more…)

Cato:

In picking Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama has confirmed that identity politics matter to him more than merit. While Judge Sotomayor exemplifies the American Dream, she would not have even been on the short list if she were not Hispanic.

She is not one of the leading lights of the federal judiciary, and far less qualified for a seat on the Supreme Court than Judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland or Solicitor General Elena Kagan.

To be sure, Sotomayor has a compelling story: a daughter of working-class Puerto Ricans raised in Bronx public housing projects, diagnosed with diabetes at 8, losing her father at 9, accolades at Princeton and Yale Law, ending up on the federal bench.

NRO:

Judges who decide cases in this manner abuse their office and undermine the rule of law. They also generate policies that are harmful to our economy, dangerous to our national security, and destructive to our social fabric. Liberal activism on the bench has these effects even when the offending judges are geniuses. The nominee’s approach to judging is more important than her IQ, and it is on that subject that senators ought to be trying to shed light. And they should take their time doing it. Thanks to years of activism, Supreme Court justices have more power than most senators. We should spend at least as much time learning how they would exercise it as we do for Senate candidates.

Barring some shocking revelation, we know the outcome of these hearings. Some Republicans say that we could have done worse: Given what we know of her judicial craftsmanship and temperament, she is unlikely to have influence on the Court beyond her vote. But such musings are neither here nor there. The choice for Republican senators is not between Sotomayor and some hypothetical more dangerous Obama nominee; it is between her being confirmed with their consent and her being confirmed without it.

That consent should probably not be given, and should certainly be withheld for now.

CNET:

It’s tough to compete with free.

The use of online classifieds sites, such as Craigslist, has more than doubled in the past four years, according to a study published Friday by the Pew Research Center. At the same time that Web classifies are on the rise, the classifieds business that newspapers once depended on has collapsed, the Pew Internet & America Life Project found.

“Nearly half (49 percent) of Internet users say they have ever used online classified sites,” the Pew Center said in the report. In 2005, the percentage was 22 percent.

One out of 10 Internet users visits an online classifieds service each day, up from four percent in 2005.

Not that this is big news but the Pew Center helps to illustrate just how devastating online classifieds has been on newspapers. A graph of newspaper classified ad revenue since 1980 to last year (at bottom) shows that the industry saw a high in 2000 with about $19.6 billion. Last year, newspapers recorded $9.9 billion.

That’s a plunge in revenue of about 49 percent.