memeorandum: Obama Interviews Kagan for High Court Vacancy (Laura Meckler/Wall Street Journal)

9:50 AM ET, May 3, 2010

Top Items:

Sticky Politics: Unexpected Events Scramble Agenda, Again — Where do you find room to drive an agenda again? — Another week, another lesson in the unexpected for President Obama — with events outside (or, perhaps more dangerously, barely inside) his control driving the news.

Discussion: Townhall.com and Washington Post

msnbc.com:

May 2: Napolitano, Salazar, Allen, Clinton, Crist, roundtable — MR. DAVID GREGORY: This Sunday, a bomb in New York's Times Square forces the evacuation of thousands. What more is known this morning? — And the latest on what damage the administration expects along the Gulf Coast from that massive oil spill.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Meet the Facts

Ben Raines / al.com:
Officials consider high-risk options to cap well in Gulf of Mexico …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Breaking News … and Associated Press

Pat G. / Think Progress:
Hume Acknowledges Oil Spill Disaster ‘Verifies’ The Concern Of Environmentalists

Discussion: Firedoglake, neo-neocon, The Political Carnival, The Moderate Voice and Eschaton

New York Times:
Oil Spill Options Are Weighed as Obama Travels to Gulf

Discussion: Think Progress, Agence France Presse, Newsweek Blogs, The White House, Jack & Jill Politics, Washington Post, Washington Times, Climate Progress, Gawker, Firedoglake, The Huffington Post and Washington Monthly

Brian Maloney / The Radio Equalizer:
Libtalkers Blame Gulf Oil Spill On Bush, While Praising Obama

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Gun Toting Liberal

CNN:
Obama: ‘Relentless response’ to spill

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Political Carnival, Washington Post and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Government closes fishing in oil spill areas for 10 days

Discussion: The Politico, Plain Dealer and CNN

Bridget Johnson / The Hill:

Ahmadinejad likely to stir sanctions debate with address at U.N. nuke summit — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will stir the already stormy debate over sanctions on Iran's nuclear program when he pops in at the United Nations on Monday to address its nuclear nonproliferation conference.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch

John Bolton / Wall Street Journal:

Get Ready for a Nuclear Iran — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and others will surely follow suit. — Negotiations grind on toward a fourth U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution against Iran's nuclear weapons program, even as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives in New York to address …

Discussion: Commentary, Washington Post and Israel Matzav

New York Times:
U.S. Is Pushing to Deter a Mideast Nuclear Race

Discussion: Washington Times, The Page and Israel Matzav

Reuters:

Investigators hunt New York car bomb culprits — (Reuters) - Investigators combed through security video and other evidence on Monday in the hunt for suspects in a failed car bombing in New York's Times Square and officials expressed optimism that the culprits will be found.

Discussion: Global Guerrillas, Unqualified Offerings and Left Coast Rebel

Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Obama vows ‘to see that justice is done’ in Times Square bomb

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Steve Coll / Think Tank:
Terrorism — A few years ago, I was at an event with New York …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Telegraph, Associated Press, Mediaite, ATTACKERMAN and Newshoggers.com

George Talbot / Breaking News from the Press-Register:

BP told to stop circulating settlement agreements with coastal Alabamians — Alabama Attorney General Troy King said tonight that he has told representatives of BP Plc. that they should stop circulating settlement agreements among coastal Alabamians. — The agreements, King said …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Confluence, NPR Topics, Alas, a blog and Brilliant at Breakfast

Roman Polanski / La Règle du Jeu:

I can remain silent no longer! — Throughout my seven months since September 26, 2009, the date of my arrest at Zurich Airport, where I had landed with a view to receiving a lifetime award for my work from the representative of the Swiss Minister of Culture, I have refrained from making …

Discussion: The Reaction and L.A. NOW

Michael Cieply / New York Times:
Polanski Breaks Silence on His Extradition From Switzerland

Discussion: Jezebel, Deadline.com, YID With LID and TalkLeft

BBC: Polanski: US wants me on platter

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

For Obama, a changed tone in presidential humor — Barack Obama, the Insult Comic President, was up to his old shtick Saturday night. — Breaking with presidential punch line tradition for the second consecutive year, Obama dropped zinger after zinger on his opponents and allies alike …

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin.com

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:
Obama Trounces Leno

Discussion: Mediaite, Gawker, Weasel Zippers, Top of the Ticket, Politics Daily, NewsBusters.org, NY Daily News, The Policy Page and The Moderate Voice

Alia Wilson / Mercury News:

Riot breaks out in downtown Santa Cruz; windows broken on dozens of businesses, porch of cafe set on fire — SANTA CRUZ - A large group of protesters demonstrating at a May Day rally for worker's and immigrant rights downtown broke off into a riot vandalizing about a dozen businesses around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, police said.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org, The Political Carnival, iOwnTheWorld.com, Riehl World View, JammieWearingFool, Moe Lane, Don Surber, Wake up America and A Tangled Web

Karin Brulliard / Washington Post:

Web video shows Pakistani militant leader thought to be dead — ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — A Pakistani militant leader who was thought to have been killed by a U.S. drone strike in January has appeared in a new Internet video, vowing attacks on American cities.

Discussion: Newsweek Blogs and New York Times

Bill Roggio / The Long War Journal:
Exclusive: Tapes show Hakeemullah Mehsud is alive and threatens attacks in the US

Discussion: Guardian and The Jawa Report

Michael Smith / Times of London:

Hotshot sniper in one-and-a-half mile double kill — A BRITISH Army sniper has set a new sharpshooting distance record by killing two Taliban machinegunners in Afghanistan from more than 1 miles away. — Craig Harrison, a member of the Household Cavalry, killed the insurgents with consecutive shots …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Don Surber

Dennis Prager / Real Clear Politics:

Why Left Talks About ‘White’ Tea Parties — Opponents of the popular expression of conservative opposition to big government, the tea parties, regularly note that tea partiers are overwhelmingly white. This is intended to disqualify the tea parties from serious moral consideration.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, Moonbattery and Sadly, No!

Chris Frates / The Politico:

Revolving door: Hill to hedge funds — Wall Street has taken its lumps in Washington recently and Goldman Sachs has become everyone's whipping boy, but hedge funds and private equity firms have escaped relatively unscathed. — “There's no question they've gotten a free ride,” …

Discussion: Washington Wire and Clusterstock

Derrick DePledge / Honolulu Advertiser:

Hawaii Poll: Djou leads Democratic rivals in congressional race — Poll shows concerns over Hanabusa, Case splitting vote are real — Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou has the advantage in the special election for Congress, a new Hawai'i Poll has found, giving Republicans the best opportunity …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Fix, Right Now, PoliBlog, The Other McCain, Hotline On Call, RedState, AmSpecBlog, Ballot Box, The Atlantic Online, Swing State Project, The Hill and MyDD

Mireya Navarro / New York Times:

Empathetic Judge in 9/11 Suits Seen by Some as Interfering — Over nearly three decades as a litigator at a downtown law firm, Alvin K. Hellerstein shared a view of the World Trade Center towers with dozens of other colleagues in an office building on Maiden Lane.

Discussion: Law Blog