memeorandum: Obama prayer breakfast critic will not speak at commencement (Justin Sink/The Hill)

9:45 AM ET, April 11, 2013

Top Items:

Amie Parnes / The Hill:

Obama: White House dinner with GOP senators ‘constructive’ — President Obama “enjoyed a constructive and wide-ranging discussion” over dinner with Republican senators on Wednesday night, White House officials said. — During the dinner, which lasted two-and-half-hours …

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Washington Post:
Gun control, immigration and budget talks: Is there a thaw in Washington?

Discussion: The Fix, Post Politics and Wonkblog

Politico:
President Obama's risky ‘goodwill’ gambit

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Brooklynbadboy / Daily Kos:
'We won't have the White House forever, folks!'

Discussion: Eschaton

Washington Times:
GOP says Obama's budget blows chance of ‘grand bargain’

Discussion: Politico, Red Alert Politics, The Daily Caller and USA Today

Jenna Portnoy / New Jersey Online:
Huffington Post bringing Christie to White House Correspondents' dinner

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Talking Points Memo and Washington Monthly

John Kartch / Americans for Tax Reform RSS:
White House confirms: Obama Budget Contains Middle Class Income Tax Hike

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Americans for Tax Reform …, Firedoglake and NewsBusters blogs

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:
Paul Ryan Stumped: Can't Name A Single Area Of Compromise In His Budget

Discussion: Center for American Progress, msnbc.com, The Plum Line and The People's View

Andrew Stiles / National Review:
Ryan Open to Chained CPI

Discussion: Mother Jones and Daily Kos

Justin Sink / The Hill:
White House to begin furloughs in May

Discussion: Politico

Arthur Delaney / The Huffington Post:
Grover Norquist: Chained CPI Violates Taxpayer Protection Pledge

Discussion: The Fix, Addicting Info, Yahoo! Finance, CANNONFIRE, Business Insider, Hullabaloo, nextnewdeal.net, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo and Washington Post

Kristina Peterson / Wall Street Journal:

Senate in Deal on Gun Checks — WASHINGTON—Senate lawmakers reached a bipartisan deal Wednesday to expand background checks for gun sales, bolstering support for one of President Barack Obama's top priorities following December's Newtown, Conn., school shooting.

Discussion: The Other McCain, New York Times and Heritage Action for America

Pat Toomey:

The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act — Bottom Line: The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act would require states and the federal government to send all necessary records on criminals and the violently mentally ill to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

Discussion: Mother Jones, Bloomberg, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, NPR, Clayton Cramer's Blog, BuzzFeed, Guardian, The Hill and Politico

David Rogers / Politico:

Where's Mitch McConnell? — For the fifth time in just two months, Democrats hope to win a showdown procedural vote in the Senate Thursday morning — a burst of momentum which is beginning to raise fragile hopes of a bipartisan revival. — Gun control legislation is the immediate issue …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, CNN, The Spectacle Blog and Taylor Marsh

Jesse Helfrich / The Hill:

Gun bill gets a big boost from Toomey — President Obama hailed the agreement, crafted by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), as a sign of “welcome and significant bipartisan progress.” The National Rifle Association (NRA) quickly denounced the bill.

Discussion: Roll Call, msnbc.com, The Week, Washington Post, The Hill and Daily Kos

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Mitch McConnell aide: ‘Gestapo’ tactics

Discussion: First Read, CNN, Post Politics and Daily Kos

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:

Top Republican Blasts Obama Budget As ‘Shocking Attack On Seniors’ — Remember those warnings about how instead of welcoming President Obama's adoption of Chained CPI, Republicans would continue to deny him a budget deal and attack him for proposing to cut Social Security?

Discussion: New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider, The Plum Line, The National Memo, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Balloon Juice

The Week:
5 things Republicans should like about Obama's new budget

Discussion: Economix, Hullabaloo, Businessweek and Taegan Goddard's …

Erik Wasson / Ballot Box:
House GOP campaign chief: Obama budget is ‘shocking attack’ on seniors

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, First Read and The Fix

Andrea K. Walker / Baltimore Sun:

Ben Carson steps down as Hopkins commencement speaker … Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson stepped down Wednesday as commencement speaker at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine after complaints from students about controversial comments concerning same-sex marriage.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Reuters, CNN and The Reaction

Justin Sink / The Hill: Obama prayer breakfast critic will not speak at commencement

Adam Serwer / Mother Jones:

At Howard University, Rand Paul Falsely Claims He Never Opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act — Following an awkward, earnest speech to an audience at Howard University, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) insisted several times that he did not oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Discussion: Reason, THEROOT.COM, Mediaite and Washington Monthly

Benjy Sarlin / Talking Points Memo:
Rand Paul Ducks Record On Race In Awkward Howard Speech

Discussion: The Week, The Lead with Jake Tapper, Hit & Run, Mediaite, Esquire, Little Green Footballs and National Review

Ashley Killough / CNN:
Rand Paul: GOP must reconnect with African Americans

Discussion: Ballot Box and Politico

Washington Wire:
Rand Paul Delivers Speech at Howard University

Discussion: Hot Air and BuzzFeed

Jennifer Martinez / The Hill:

Facebook's Zuckerberg launches lobby group with push for immigration reform — A new lobby organization co-founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other tech executives launched on Thursday, focusing its efforts on rallying support for immigration reform.

Discussion: TechCrunch, CNN, Taylor Marsh and Mashable

Aron Heller / Associated Press:

Israel Detains Five Women For Wearing Prayer Shawls At Western Wall — JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police on Thursday detained five women at a Jerusalem holy site for performing religious rituals there that ultra-Orthodox Jews say are reserved for men. — The detentions come …

New York Times:

Senators' Group Reaches Deal on Immigration — WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators has largely agreed on a broad immigration bill that would require tough border measures to be in place before illegal immigrants could take the first steps to become American citizens …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, National Review, The Daily Caller, JustOneMinute and ThinkProgress

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:

Immigration, gun deals make Tea Party lawmakers restless — House conservatives are growing restless. — With bipartisan deals emerging on guns and immigration, Tea Party lawmakers in the lower chamber are warning their leaders to slow down. — Longtime immigration reform critic Rep. Steve King …

Joseph Ryan / Chicago Tribune:

Daughter of former Obama pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright indicted … The daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright — the controversial former pastor to President Barack Obama — was indicted today in an expanding federal probe of a state grant tied to a former suburban police chief.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Hinterland Gazette and americanthinker.com

George Eaton / New Statesman:

Exclusive: Blair warns Miliband: offer answers, not outrage — The former prime minister says Labour must be more than “fellow travellers in sympathy” and warns it not to “tack left on tax and spending”. — In his statement on Margaret Thatcher's death earlier this week …

Discussion: Spectator, Daily Mail, BBC and Guardian

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:

Michelle Obama: ‘Hadiya Pendleton was me, and I was her’ — First lady Michelle Obama held back tears Wednesday as she took a rare step into political debate, urging action to combat violence among young people in her hometown of Chicago and going so far as to suggest that she could have lost her life in urban violence.

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette and Weasel Zippers

Emily Goodin / The Hill:
First lady chokes up during speech on gun violence in Chicago

Discussion: CNN

Luke Johnson / The Huffington Post:

Ken Cuccinelli Loses Petition To Uphold Anti-Sodomy Law — WASHINGTON — A court has denied Virginia Attorney General and 2013 gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli a full hearing to challenge a ruling that struck down the state's anti-sodomy statute as unconstitutional.

Discussion: Mother Jones and AMERICAblog

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Grassley Proposes Eliminating 3 Seats On Powerful Court To Keep Obama From Filling Them — As ThinkProgress has previously explained, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is the second most powerful court in the country. It's also a bastion …

Discussion: Senator Chuck Grassley and The Plum Line

BuzzFeed:

Republican Congressman Cites Biblical Great Flood To Say Climate Change Isn't Man-Made — “If you believe in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change. That certainly wasn't because man had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy.” — View Video ›