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More signs pointing to a 3rd party run by Donald Trump:

Donald Trump’s top political adviser told ABC News he’s speaking to “high-level political operatives” to explore a third-party presidential bid on behalf of the real estate mogul, in a sign that Trump may not quite be done with the 2012 presidential race just yet.

“I can confirm that over the past two weeks I have spoken with many high-level political operatives, campaign managers, finance directors — some of whom I have spoken to in the past. Most are new people from all over the country,” said Michael Cohen, executive vice president at the Trump Organization and special counsel to the reality-TV star.

“Until the time Mr. Trump decides to either endorse a candidate or run himself, I am exploring on his behalf the possibilities of ensuring Mr. Trump appears on the ballot in all states, and to develop a team of professionals who could ensure a potential victory,” Cohen added.

A Trump run will devastate the GOP's chances at regaining the White House. They will experience what the Democrats have felt with Nader. Here's hoping he does it!

The reactors causing all the problems in Japan were made by G.E. In 1975 three engineers with G.E., who were reviewing the Mark 1 reactors, ended up resigning. Their reason? The Mark 1’s containment design in the even of a loss of cooling was so flawed that it would lead to disaster. Sound familiar? It should because that’s exactly what is happening in Japan right now.

But G.E. apparently believes in their “we bring good things to life” motto to much and refuse to see acknowledge that there could be a problem:

GE told ABC News the reactors have "a proven track record of performing reliably and safely for more than 40 years" and "performed as designed," even after the shock of a 9.0 earthquake.

“Performed as designed”? Is this a design performance of their reactors?

If there was ever a strong case for better government oversight, this is it. While the article doesn’t go into specifics, my guess is that higher-ups at G.E. didn’t like the research teams conclusion that the safety features were flawed. They figured it would cost to much money to fix, and in the end game, it’s all about money. Sure some will say “well if this is the case, G.E. will pay now”, but at what cost? How quick would these people change their tune if one of these reactors were in their backyard and this happened? Pretty damn quick I tell you!

Good:

Dear Mr. Breitbart,

We have spent the past several days trying to make clear to you your limited role as a participant in our digital town hall to be streamed on ABCNews.com and Facebook. The post on your blog last Friday created a widespread impression that you would be analyzing the election on ABC News. We made it as clear as possible as quickly as possible that you had been invited along with numerous others to participate in our digital town hall. Instead of clarifying your role, you posted a blog on Sunday evening in which you continued to claim a bigger role in our coverage. As we are still unable to agree on your role, we feel it best for you not to participate.

Sincerely,

Andrew Morse

This was a bad decision from the get go, but Breitbart has no one to blame but himself:

But now, in an utterly predictable twist, the brawling has become internal, as it were, with Breitbart battling ABC reps over what exactly his role will be and what he claims it was supposed to be. (He's published private emails to state his case.)

Today is D-Day for General Stanley McChrystal. Catching up on the overnight and early morning news, I noticed two very interesting takes from one source – ABC.

First off, here’s what George Stephanopoulos has to say:

All of my reporting indicates President Obama truly hasn’t made up his mind, but my bet is Obama will follow Lincoln’s lead and keep McChrystal for now.

Officials tell me the decision really will be made in the room. If McChrystal can convince the President that the article hasn’t crippled his ability to fight the war, he’ll stay.

And now for Jake Tapper:

During his round of phone calls to top officials of the Obama administration whom he and his team disparaged to a Rolling Stone reporter, Gen. Stanley McChrystal said, "I've compromised the mission," a senior administration source tells ABC News.

Whether he did so irrevocably is at the top of the agenda in his Oval Office meeting with President Obama this morning. The president will press him as to what he was thinking and whether he still has the ability to serve as commander of 100,000 US troops in Afghanistan after making remarks about the president and his national security team that the general could use to justifiably fire any of his underlings if they were made about him.

So the question will be if crippling the mission is the equivalent of compromising it.

I’m torn on if Obama should fire McChyrstal or not. I can see the “Obama is above that” argument, and frankly I think it would be a big jab against the former Commander in Chief, George Bush, who fired people for disagreeing with him (see Eric Shinseki).

From ABC:

Federal air marshals subdued a man who authorities say attempted to "light his shoes on fire" on a United flight from Washington Reagan to Denver Wednesday night, federal law enforcement officials told ABC News.

Authorities say an explosive team is on the way to the airport, and that while the presence of explosives has not yet been confirmed, they believe it was an attempted "shoe bomb."

The suspect was identified by authorities as a diplomat in the Qatar embassy in Washington, Mohammed al Modadi. The FBI said the man had full diplomat immunity as the 3rd secretary and vice-consul.

Authorities said two jet fighters were scrambled from Buckley Air Force Base to accompany United flight 663, a Boeing 757, as it flew the final 40 miles to Denver where it landed safely.

Authorities said the man, identified as from Qatar, was restrained by the air marshals who were on the flight.

Coming up tomorrow – nonstop interviews with Dick Cheney.

UPDATE (10:40):

Per Pete Williams on MSNBC there is no shoe bomb. Apparently the suspect spent an extra long time in the bathroom. When he finally came out an air marshal said he smelled smoke and asked the suspect what he was doing. The suspect responded “trying to light my shoes on fire”. They now believe he was smoking a cigarette in the bathroom.

Senate Democrats would do well to listen to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell:

“My message to those Democrats is don’t be afraid,” Rendell told ABC News. “Listen, you got elected because you wanted to do something to change the quality of people’s lives -- here we have a chance to do something historic and if it means some of us are going to lose because of that so be it. At least you will have lost your office fighting for something and accomplishing something.”

He tells his fellow Democrats in Washington, DC, to “get that best bill as strong and as tight as you can then send it back to the Senate and let’s see if they (Republicans) are going to filibuster.”

“Make them filibuster,” he told ABC News in an interview for Good Morning America this morning. “Make them go before America people.  Make the American people look at a modern day spectacle of what a filibuster would entail. I think it’s time to call their bluff. I think it is too easy to throw up your hands and say, ‘We don’t have 60 votes.’ Remember its 51 votes for passage, they have to filibuster. Make them filibuster.”

Yes – make them filibuster! The media loves a good filibuster. The camera shots of the bunks being rolled out and moved and views of twilight floor speeches. We haven’t had that. Instead the media has started using the new meme that all legislation takes 60 votes to pass. They very seldom use the F word.

The Democrats need to learn how to play the media like the Republicans do. Consider it part of the communication problem they are suffering from.

The Republicans have been going ape shit over a post of Judicial Watch showing that Nancy Pelosi uses military aircraft to fly around the country. Coming to the defense of Pelosi, out of all places, is ABC:

The treasure trove of documents obtained by Judicial Watch from the Department of Defense regarding Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's use of military aircraft doesn't seem to prove the organization's allegation that Pelosi has made "unprecedented demands" for the flights.

In fact, it appears that Pelosi uses military aircraft less often than her predecessor, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

The documents cover the period from January 2007 to November 2008 and show that Pelosi made the equivalent of 20 round-trips between Washington (Andrews Air Force Base) and San Francisco. That's an average of less than one round-trip per month. In contrast, former Speaker Hastert traveled home to his Illinois district virtually every weekend and, his former aides tell ABC News, he would almost always travel on military aircraft. Like Hastert, Pelosi also occasionally leads Congressional delegations on foreign trips (the documents show six foreign trips: one to Asia, three to the Middle East and two to Europe).