Obama: “The Private Sector Is Doing Fine”  —  Question: What about the Republicans saying that you're blaming the Europeans for the failures of your own policies?  —  President Obama: The truth of the matter is that, as I said, we created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone.

Approval Rating for Justices Hits Just 44% in New Poll  —  WASHINGTON — Just 44 percent of Americans approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing and three-quarters say the justices' decisions are sometimes influenced by their personal or political views, according to a poll conducted by The New York Times and CBS News.

Booker's big mouth ruins relationship with Obama, Cabinet hopes  —  It's bye-bye, Beltway for Cory Booker.  —  Newark's mayor, who was gunning for a spot in President Obama's Cabinet, lost the chance after he shot his mouth off during a blunderingly honest TV appearance last month, sources told The Post.

Would be ‘an honor’ to be Romney's VP  —  (CNN) - A day after endorsing Mitt Romney, Sen. Rand Paul said it would be an honor to run alongside the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.  —  “A year, year and a half ago, I was a physician in a small town,” Paul, the junior Republican senator from Kentucky, told CNN's Don Lemon.

Joe Scarborough says New York Times is “thin skinned” for correcting his nonsense  —  MSNBC talker doesn't let facts get in the way of his “general impressions” of liberal media bias  —  Joe Scarborough may have been totally, utterly, completely wrong this morning, when he incorrectly argued …

NPR: Criticism of President Coming from ‘GOP Dope’  —  National Public Radio has a blog post about President Obama's statement this morning on the private sector—and how conservatives reacted to the president's assertion that"the private sector is doing fine."  The title of the post?

'Schindler's List' Producer Claims Graduation Speech Censorship  —  A controversy erupted in a small Montana town after a high school principal prevented Oscar winner Gerald Molen from delivering his planned speech because he's “a right-wing conservative.”  —  Gerald Molen won a best picture Oscar …

Democrats paralyzed on tax cuts  —  Senate Democratic leaders are politically paralyzed on how to proceed on the Bush-era tax rates.  —  With five months to go before the election, President Obama and key congressional Democrats remain at odds on whether the threshold for extending …

Orlando man with Zimmerman's old phone number slammed by threatening calls  —  At age 49, Junior Alexander Guy got his first cell phone last month.  The calls started immediately.  —  Strangers called at all hours.  Some were insulting.  Others angry.  Sometimes, they threatened him.

Reagan Was a Keynesian  —  There's no question that America's recovery from the financial crisis has been disappointing.  In fact, I've been arguing that the era since 2007 is best viewed as a “depression,” an extended period of economic weakness and high unemployment that …

Going dark to urge congressional action: Who will protect the freedom to blog?  —  My syndicated column today covers the crucial battle between truth-telling bloggers versus convicted bomber Brett Kimberlin and his band of malicious online thugs.  In honor of the National Day of Blogger Silence called …

Morning Jay: The Media Doesn't Understand Races in the States  —  This write-up from the Hill on a recent Pennsylvania poll is pretty similar to many others these days: … And polls like these are producing frames like these, from Charles Babington of the AP:

Mormons Widely Favor Romney; Jewish Voters Back Obama  —  Mormons prefer Romney by 84% to 13%  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Mormon registered voters overwhelmingly support the candidacy of the first major-party presidential candidate of the Mormon faith, with 84% saying they would vote for Mitt Romney …

Demographic Shifts in Key States Could Aid Obama in Fall  —  MADISON, Wis. — In this traditionally Democratic state, where Republicans triumphed in Tuesday's failed recall of Gov. Scott Walker, President Obama holds a thin cushion against economic and political woes: the shape-shifting November electorate.

Emails Show White House Helped Create Third-Party Advertising Initiative Behind Health Care Law, Had Close Involvement in Messaging and Advocacy of Outside Interests  —  WASHINGTON, DC - The House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), today released a memo …

American Apparel features its first transgender model, GLAAD staff  —  Clothing giant American Apparel has teamed up with GLAAD on a new line of equality tees, just in time for LGBT Pride Month.  And in a company first, AA is featuring an openly transgender model in its ad campaign!

Set up to be shot in Syria's no man's land?  —  Standing outside the Safir Hotel in Homs as the white UN Nissan landcruisers stood waiting, the Irish officer in charge, Mark Reynolds, came over: “Usual rules Alex OK?  We're not responsible for you guys.  If you get into trouble we'll leave you, yes?

PAC Behind GOP Candidate For Gabby Giffords Seat Shows Gun In Email Appeal  —  A PAC supporting Jesse Kelly, a former Marine running to replace Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a special election on Tuesday, is using an image Kelly's campaign has avoided thus far — the candidate holding a gun.

Pelosi: Catholic Archdioceses Were Not ‘Speaking’ for Catholic Church When They Sued Administration  —  (CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) said on Thursday that the 43 Catholic institutions—including the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., the Archdiocese of St. Louis …

County elections chiefs to state: We won't resume voter purge program  —  Despite the state's decision to fight the feds over Florida's noncitizen voter purge, elections supervisors say they won't resume the progam.  —  MCAPUTO@MIAMIHERALD.COM  —  Florida's noncitizen voter purge looks like it's all but over.

Syria Qubair: Bloody traces of massacre seen in village  —  Unverified video released on Friday is said to show the city of Homs being shelled  —  The smell of burnt flesh and evidence of bloodshed have greeted a BBC correspondent entering the village of Qubair in Syria, scene of a massacre.