New York Times Top Online Stories: Thu 11/18/10

The New York Times lead headline online early Thursday morning says "U.S. Taxpayers Recover Billions in Sale of G.M. Stock." The paper says taxpayer ownership of General Motors was halved after the nation’s largest initial stock offering ever.

It says Charlie Crist, Florida’s departing governor, seems ready to pardon Jim Morrison of the Doors for a 1970 conviction, and old animosities are resurfacing.

The paper says the first former Guantánamo detainee tried in a civilian court was acquitted of all but one charge in the bombings of American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The Times says the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has been criticized for the quality of its judicial craftsmanship.

It says the Chinese government’s heavy-handed efforts to control the story of a fatal accident involving a police official’s son have been scorned by many Chinese.

And the most popular story is an op-ed by Thomas L Friedman which says on Nov. 4, Anderson Cooper did the country a favor. He says he expertly deconstructed on his CNN show the bogus rumor that President Obama’s trip to Asia would cost $200 million a day.