The U.S. government sends a fourth bill to BP, Transocean, Anadarko and Mitsui subsidiary MOEX, this time for $99.7 million for Gulf blowout costs. BP has paid the three previous government bills, totaling $122.3 million.

The bombing in Kampala, Uganda, Sunday during the World Cup final — which killed one American, injured 5 others and killed 75 other people — marks the first attack by al Shabaab outside of Somalia, a senior Administration official said today.

“There are indications that al Shababb was indeed responsible for it,” a senior administration official told reporters in a background briefing via conference call that I was just on. The group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and the Administration finds that claim credible.

The administration official would not rule out a change in U.S. policy to provide military assistance to the transitional government in Somalia, which is battling an al Shabaab insurgency. “We’re taking stock of recent events to determine if this is now a trend that al Shabaab will be on and will take all appropriate measures,” the official said.

Not parsing words, the official described al Shabaab as a “group of murderous thugs.” Read More

GOP says no to unemployment benefits, but yes to tax cuts for the rich.

Missouri GOP congressional candidate Ed Martin not backing down: Obama’s big government ways put freedom of religion in jeopardy.

Republican congressional candidate Rick Barber — whose TV ad of him personally urging the founding fathers to war was perhaps the most laughable campaign ad of 2010 — lost in the GOP primary runoff tonight in Alabama.

State Rep. Robert Bentley wins the Republican nomination for governor in Alabama.

The co-founder of the North Iowa Tea Party concedes that the photos of Hitler, Obama, and Lenin on a billboard his group put up may be distracting from the sign’s intended message.

The billboard’s message: “RADICAL LEADERS PREY ON THE FEARFUL & NAIVE.”

TPM’s round-up of Republicans hating on the unemployed (or as one GOPer called them, “hobos”).

Some one or some group in Utah has sent media and law enforcement a list of what they claim are 1,300 illegal immigrants in the state, demanding that they be deported. This list includes names, names of children, and other identifying information like Social Security numbers.

At the core of tea partiers’ “outrage” over the NAACP resolution condemning racist elements of their movement is the idea that the new Black Panther Party is overtly racist and the NAACP doesn’t see fit to condemn it. It’s part of the very old and very worn trick of using “hypocrisy” to shrug off any responsibility for racism.

But, for the record, NAACP president Benjamin Jealous tells TPM that racism by the new Black Panthers has to go, too: “Our message to them is the same thing. They should not tolerate racism and bigotry in their ranks. Move those people out of your organization.”

Jealous also puts the new Black Panther wannabes in what I think is proper perspective: “The Black Panther party is a flea compared to the tea party dog.”

Evan McMorris-Santoro has our report on the right’s high dudgeon over the NAACP’s tea party resolution.