Weekly Pulse: Sotomayor an Enigma on Abortion
By Lindsay Beyerstein, TPM MediaWire Blogger

Yesterday, Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina and the third woman
ever nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. She is currently a federal judge
on New York's 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Born to Puerto Rican immigrant
parents and raised by her mother in the housing projects of the South
Bronx, Sotomayor went on to attend college at Princeton and law school at
Yale. George H.W. Bush appointed her to the U.S. District Court in 1991
and Bill Clinton "promoted" her to the 2nd Circuit in 1998.

Political Scientist Scott Lemieux writes for TAPPED that, in light of her
distinguished resume and inspiring biography, Sotomayor's
confirmation is all but assured:

[…] Obama cited three criteria in choosing Sotomayor: 1) her
intellectual capacity (as demonstrated in her sterling academic record,
her success as an assistant district attorney, and her distinguished
service as a federal judge); 2) her approach to judging based on her
opinions, which represent a high level

[...]More

FAIR reports on hate speech, media activism and the First Amendment. 
Hate crimes against Hispanics an astonishing 40 percent between 2003 and 2007.  A UCLA professor looks at whether a media plays a role in hate crimes. 

As Blackwater reinvents itself as Xe and plans training facilities, In These Times reports on civilian groups fighting against private military contractors. 
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RaceWire bloggers examine race and gender in the new Star Trek movie.  One blogger writes, "Let's just say that for women this Star Trek has NOT boldly gone anywhere."

Also in RaceWire…
In response to the recent murder of Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez and the acquittal of the young white men who allegedly killed him, RaceWire's Jorge Rivas points to the 1987 documentary Who Killed Vincent Chin about the murder of a Chinese American man in Detroit and the community organizing and trial that followed. Writes Rivas, "May is the Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month. As part of APA Heritage Month, we owe it to Vincent and our community to remember how Asian Americans came together with other communities of color to demand justice for Vincent Chin. This time, we must do the same for Luis Ramirez."

Bitch blogger Nicole Georges has a new [...]More

"Piggish Capitalism" from Sirota at In These Times: "If you’re not pummeled by television reports about Wall Street oinkers, you’re bombarded by talk-radio rants about congressional pork and newspaper dispatches about swine flu."

We're really digging Bite Back magazine's News from the Front Lines, especially the notes associated with the white rabbit icon!

Daniel Albert at n+1 comments on GM's latest vehicle: "Their latest death throe is called the "Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility," an incredibly awkward name designed to yield the acronym P.U.M.A. The PUMA is a two-seater city car based on the Segway scooter, a vehicle which has done more to advance situation comedy than personal transportation."

More on disastrous felidae appropriation: a while back, a mention of "reality" show, [...]More

From Brian Tamanaha at Balkinization:
Maybe Logic Can Help
1. "Waterboarding is torture" (President Obama statement a week ago, world opinion)
2. "We waterboarded three prisoners" (statements by CIA, Cheney, Yoo, etc.)
3. "We did not torture prisoners." (statements by Bush, Rice, etc.)

No one contests number 2, so number 1 is wrong or number 3 is wrong. You decide.

Mandy Van Deven writes at Bitch: Mattel is using feminism to sell the Bollywood Barbie® saying: “She allows girls to dream beyond and know that a woman has choices, having herself represented more than 100 careers in her lifetime. ”

At Counterpunch, Doug Peacock explains why global warming and hunting necessitates placing the Yellowstone Grizzly back on the Endangered Species List

Some news is good news: [...]More