memeorandum: U.S. Economy: Job Losses Slow, Signaling Recession Is Abating (Shobhana Chandra/Bloomberg)

12:40 PM ET, June 5, 2009

Top Items:

The End of America's Strategic Alliance with Israel? — From an Israeli perspective, Pres. Barack Obama's speech today in Cairo was deeply disturbing. Both rhetorically and programmatically, Obama's speech was a renunciation of America's strategic alliance with Israel.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Wake up America, PoliGazette, Taylor Marsh, Newshoggers.com, The Mahablog, Israel Matzav and The Plum Line

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Barack Obama's Israeli Settlements Canard — President Obama repeatedly insists that American foreign policy be conducted with modesty and humility. Above all, there will be no more “dictating” to other countries. We should “forge partnerships as opposed to simply dictating solutions,” he told the G-20 summit.

New York Times:
Forcing Clarity on Israel

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Room for Debate and The Daily Dish

Jack Healy / New York Times:

Job Losses Slow; Unemployment at 9.4% — The United States economy lost 345,000 jobs in May, the government reported on Friday, a sharp slowing in the pace of job losses that fueled hopes that the economy was on its way toward a recovery. — The recession continued to take a toll …

Discussion: Economix, Matthew Yglesias, Washington Monthly, FP Passport, Gawker, Los Angeles Times, TalkLeft, Newsweek Blogs, The Page, The Agonist, Donklephant and Time

Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Employment Situation Summary — Technical information: — Household data: (202) 691-6378 USDL 09-0588 — Establishment data: (202) 691-6555 Transmission of material in this release — http://www.bls.gov/ces/ is embargoed until 8:30 A.M. (EDT), Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Friday, June 5, 2009.

Discussion: Innocent Bystanders, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Calculated Risk, Hot Air, DailyFinance, TIME.com, Salon, NewsBusters.org, BizzyBlog, Conservatives4Palin.com and Real Clear Politics

Jeannine Aversa / Associated Press:
Jobless rate hits 9.4 percent in May; layoffs slow

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Don Surber, The Strata-Sphere, Gateway Pundit, Moonbattery and Donklephant

Felix Salmon:
Unemployment datapoint of the day — Remember the stress tests?

Discussion: MoJo Blog Posts

Shobhana Chandra / Bloomberg:
U.S. Economy: Job Losses Slow, Signaling Recession Is Abating

Discussion: The Bellows and FT Alphaville

Jared Allen / The Hill:

Intel firestorm: GOP reveals briefing info — Republicans ignited a firestorm of controversy on Thursday by revealing some of what they had been told at a closed-door Intelligence Committee hearing on the interrogation of terrorism suspects. — Democrats immediately blasted the GOP lawmakers …

Discussion: Emptywheel, YID With LID, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Raw Story

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:

Inhofe Rips Obama As ‘Un-American,’ Suggests He's On The Side Of Terrorists — Reacting to President Obama's outreach to the Muslim world yesterday, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) decried the president's speech as “un-American” and even suggested Obama might be on the side of terrorists:

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Washington Monthly, NPR, Christian Science Monitor, Blogs and Stories and TPMDC

Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama takes aim at Osama

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Crooks and Liars and The Reaction

David Rogers / The Politico:
Democrats punt on war bill

Discussion: Latest Open Salon Blog and The Page

Wall Street Journal:

Nominee's Criminal Rulings Tilt to Right of Souter — WASHINGTON — While Judge Sonia Sotomayor stands in the liberal mainstream on many issues, her record suggests that the Supreme Court nominee could sometimes rule with the top court's conservatives on questions of criminal justice.

Discussion: The Note, The Caucus, The Washington Independent and Cato @ Liberty

Stuart Taylor / National Journal Online:

Race: Sotomayor And Obama Versus Voters — IT'S CLEAR THAT AMERICANS WANT RACIALLY PREFERENTIAL AFFIRMATIVE-ACTION PROGRAMS ABOLISHED. — Conservative critics of Judge Sonia Sotomayor may be digging themselves into a hole if they keep hurling the tired old “liberal activist” slogan at her.

Discussion: The Ninth Justice, pandagon.net and Power Line

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:
Stuart Taylor: Conservative Roberts Court Is Judicially Activist

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns and Money, The Washington Independent and Lean Left

Seth Stern / Legal Beat:

Sotomayor Repeatedly Referenced ‘Wise Woman’ in Speeches — Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is greeted by Sen. Arlen Specter before a meeting on Capitol Hill Thursday. (Getty) — Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor delivered multiple speeches between 1994 and 2003 in which she suggested …

Discussion: CBS News, Roll Call, Omaha World-Herald, Hot Air, Flopping Aces, Commentary, Fox News, Washington Post, Outside The Beltway and 24Ahead

Michael Doyle / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Sotomayor's finances look a lot like the average person's

Discussion: CBS News

Washington Post:
Ethnicity and Gender Play Prominent Roles in Sotomayor's Speeches

Discussion: New York Times, The Caucus, Washington Times, USA Today, The BLT, Law Blog and Slate

Deborah Solomon / Wall Street Journal:

White House Set to Appoint a Pay Czar — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to appoint a “Special Master for Compensation” to ensure that companies receiving federal bailout funds are abiding by executive-pay guidelines, according to people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Dealbreaker, Fox News, Blog entry, Scared Monkeys, QandO, ProfessorBainbridge.com, PoliBlog, ScrappleFace, The Page and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Keeping Them Honest — “I appreciate your efforts, and look forward to working with you so that the Congress can complete health care reform by October.” So declared President Obama in a letter this week to Senators Max Baucus and Edward Kennedy. The big health care push is officially on.

Discussion: Blog entry, AMERICAblog News, Washington Post, Prairie Weather, TPMDC, The Washington Independent, The Caucus and Ezra Klein

Greg Mankiw / Greg Mankiw's Blog:

What's the point of a public option? — In the national debate over health insurance reform, a key issue is whether the government should offer a “public plan” to compete with private insurers. For example, in today's NY Times, Paul Krugman writes,

Discussion: Obsidian Wings and Marginal Revolution

Nicholas Kulish / New York Times:

Rift With Germany Is Next on Diplomatic Agenda — DRESDEN, Germany — After mending fences with the Muslim world in Cairo on Thursday, President Obama might want to keep his diplomatic tools handy for his stopover here, to repair his increasingly strained relationship with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Discussion: Don Surber and RedState

Washington Wire:
Remarks From Obama, Merkel News Conference

Discussion: Weekly Standard

New York Times:
At Nazi Camp, Obama Calls Holocaust Denial ‘Hateful’

Discussion: The Page and MSNBC

Wall Street Journal:

FDIC Pushes Purge at Citi — Bair Wants to Shake Up Management, Sought to Cut Rating of Bank's Health — WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is pushing for a shake-up of Citigroup Inc.'s top management, imperiling Chief Executive Vikram Pandit, people familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Foundry, Felix Salmon, DailyFinance, naked capitalism, Wonk Room and Dealbreaker

Yalman Onaran / Bloomberg:
Bank Profits From Accounting Rules Masking Looming Loan Losses

Discussion: Balloon Juice and ProPublica

Stephen Gutowski / NewsBusters.org:

Liberal Writer Fired By AOL News For Reporting Vile Playboy List — Editor's Note/Update below. — AOL News has been bending over backwards lately to make sure that they do not cover the controversy surrounding Playboy.com writer Guy Cimbalo's vile attack on conservative women.

Discussion: Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, Don Surber, Flopping Aces, YID With LID, Riehl World View and five feet of fury.

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Cheney and Pelosi Have Poor Ratings in Common — Pelosi's ratings down, while Cheney's improved from record low — PRINCETON, NJ — Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Dick Cheney have little in common politically, but they receive almost identical image ratings from the American public.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Fox News, Glenn Thrush's Blog, Brendan Nyhan, The New Argument, Townhall.com, The Plum Line, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, NewsBusters.org and Don Surber

Megan McArdle:

Elizabeth Warren and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Utterly Misleading Bankruptcy Study — Elizabeth Warren has another study out showing that medical expenses contribute to more than half of all bankruptcies—indeed, this time, it's 70%, up from the 50% she found in 2001.

Discussion: MoJo Blog Posts, Cold Fury, protein wisdom, JustOneMinute and Patterico's Pontifications

Sean Cockerham / Anchorage Daily News:

Lawmakers muster votes to override governor — STIMULUS: Palin makes Alaska the sole state to reject energy cost relief. — scockerham@adn.com — Legislative leaders say they appear to have enough votes to override Gov. Sarah Palin's veto of $28.6 million in federal stimulus money for energy cost relief.

Discussion: Glenn Thrush's Blog

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

THEY CAN'T HOLD THE BILL HOSTAGE.... President Obama released a letter this week, offering some new details on what the White House wants to see in the health care reform package being debated on the Hill. Yesterday, Senate Republicans said Obama, who voiced his “strong” support for a public option, shouldn't have done that.

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! and The Politico