Midday open thread

• Today's comic by Jen Sorensen is Coffee shop no-no's:
  
• How sad. NRO had to fire another racist.
• The porno industry says huzzah to Rick Santorum's exit from the Republican race:
  

  To put it blunty, Rick Santorum and the adult film industry have never gotten along ...

  So it should come as no surprise that Santorum?s Tuesday decision to suspend his presidential bid was received warmly by those in the skin business.

  Santorum was ?bad for the country,? Steven Hirsch, the founder and co-chairman of Vivid, told POLITICO.

• Vendors who worked for Newt Gingrich are worried that they won't get paid (and now toss in concern about bounced checks):
  

  In interviews with HuffPost, many vendors listed in Gingrich's Federal Election Commission debt disclosures said they're still waiting to be paid, weeks or months after finishing work. Several said they've been given the runaround by campaign officials as they've tried to collect. Gingrich has vowed to slog on with his debt-ridden campaign, despite having won a mere 136 delegates, leaving some vendors to wonder when they can expect their checks.

• Check out the winners from the Tales of the Freewayblogger contest.
• Earlier today, Fox News claimed that they had uncovered the "Fox Mole." Doesn't look like it:
  

  So Fox's PR team has been telling people that they have "found" me and are presently "exploring legal options." If Fox has smoked me out, it's news to me. I'm still here. Back to work.

• George Bush, gone but not forgotten:
  

  Lawsuit Claiming Viewpoint Discrimination Against Anti-President-Bush Protesters May Go Forward
  

  So holds Moss v. United States Secret Service (9th Cir. Apr. 9, 2012). The protesters claim that the Secret Service required them to move further (on public streets) from where the President was staying, ostensibly for security reasons, but did not require this of a similar group of pro-President-Bush demonstrators. The Ninth Circuit holds that the lawsuit can go forward, because if the facts are as claimed, the Secret Service?s action would be unconstitutional.

• Good news! John Edwards' campaign has paid back the more than $2 million owed for public matching funds from his 2008 presidential bid. Now he can focus his money on the next stage in his life:
  

  He now faces a criminal trial set to begin Thursday in Greensboro over federal charges over campaign finance violations related to nearly $1 million paid by two wealthy donors to help hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the White House.

• After reading this, I ordered two:
  

  Paladone, makers of the controversial bath plug Tubtanic, have issued a rather glib non-apology to relatives of Titanic victims who found the toy "distateful."

  "We're sorry if anyone is offended," said spokeswoman Fiona Parkinson. "It's meant as a harmless novelty item."

  The plug, according to Paladone, allows users to "re-enact the famous sinking-ship scene in the comfort of your own bathtub!"

• Earlier today, Charles Manson lost his 12th bid for parole for his role in the infamous 1969 Tate/LaBianca murders ... he'll be 92-years old when he's eligible for another hearing

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