memeorandum: King: ‘Very difficult to believe’ Boston bombing suspects acted alone (Justin Sink/The Hill)

1:10 PM ET, May 5, 2013

Top Items:

Obama's Vow on Chemical Weapons Puts Him in Tough Spot — WASHINGTON — Confronted with evidence that chemical weapons have been used in Syria, President Obama now finds himself in a geopolitical box, his credibility at stake with frustratingly few good options.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, msnbc.com, Wake up America, Israel Matzav, Twitchy, The Gateway Pundit, Via Meadia, National Review, FP Passport, TheTower.org and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Reuters:

Israel strikes Syria again, rocking Damascus — (Reuters) - Israel carried out its second air strike in days on Syria early on Sunday, a Western intelligence source said, in an attack that shook Damascus with a series of powerful blasts and drove columns of fire into the night sky.

Discussion: The Hill and americanthinker.com

The Commentator:

Assad “to declare war” on Israel following fresh airstrikes — Reports suggest that Syria's embattled dictator, Bashar al-Assad, is shortly set to declare war on Israel after interventions against the regime — Following evidence of chemical warfare and an increasinly reticent US position …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Other McCain, Israel Matzav and Hot Air

Associated Press:

Israeli warplanes continue to pound Damascus — Israeli warplanes struck areas in and around the Syrian capital Sunday, setting off a series of explosions as they targeted a shipment of highly accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles believed to be bound for Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, officials and activists said.

Discussion: World News and Politico

Daniel Byman / New York Times:
Mr. Obama, Don't Draw That Line

Discussion: JustOneMinute

BBC:
Damascus hit ‘by Israeli strikes’

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Washington Post

New York Times:
Israel Targeted Iranian Missiles in Syria Attack

Alexander Abad-Santos / The Atlantic Wire:

China Is Censoring Jokes About Its Propaganda Machine's Penis-Shaped HQ — The People's Daily is the main state-owned newspaper of China's communist party, and everyone was pretty psyched about the paper's new Beijing headquarters. The building is massive, imposing, and, uh, currently shaped like a colossal penis.

Lindsey Boerma / CBS News:

Official: We knew Benghazi was a terrorist attack “from the get-go” — (CBS News) “Everybody in the mission” in Benghazi, Libya, thought the attack on a U.S. consulate there last Sept. 11 was an act of terror “from the get-go,” according to excerpts of an interview investigators conducted …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Weekly Standard, National Review and Wizbang

Benjamin Bell / ABCNEWS:

Jim DeMint: Immigration Reform Will Cost U.S. Trillions — Former South Carolina Republican senator and current Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint argued that implementing immigration reform as proposed by the so-called “Gang of Eight” would “cost Americans trillions of dollars,” …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and americanthinker.com

Justin Sink / The Hill:

King: ‘Very difficult to believe’ Boston bombing suspects acted alone — Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the former chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said Sunday that he did not believe the suspects in last month's Boston Marathon bombings acted alone.

Discussion: CNN and Scared Monkeys

Jonathan Martin / Politico:

Democratic South Carolina chair defends Nikki Haley barb — COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina Democratic Chairman Dick Harpootlian, imploring party activists Friday night to defeat this state's Indian-American governor, predicted next year's Democratic standard-bearer would “send Nikki Haley back to wherever the hell she came from.”

Discussion: Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog, BizzyBlog, Althouse, Power Line, BuzzFeed and Daily Mail

Washington Post:

Poll: Cuccinelli has early lead over McAuliffe in Virginia governor's race — Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has an early lead over businessman Terry McAuliffe in their race for governor, a new Washington Post poll shows, even as most voters in the commonwealth have yet to engage in the nationally watched contest.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Taegan Goddard's …

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:

House Dem: Benghazi talking points were a ‘victory of hope over reality’ — The Obama administration's talking points linking last year's terror attack in Benghazi to anti-American protests going on in other countries were a “victory of hope over reality,” a key Democrat said Sunday ahead of this week's hearing.

Discussion: Politico

CNN:

Durbin says basics in immigration bill must stand — (CNN) - Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, part of the bipartisan Gang of Eight senators pushing immigration reform, said Sunday on CNN's “State of the Union” that he agrees with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio that their bill may need …

Discussion: Politico

Matthew DeLuca / U.S. News:

NRA's LaPierre: ‘We will never surrender our guns’ — NBC's Kasie Hunt reports from Houston, Texas on what's been said at this year's National Rifle Association convention. — In a fiery speech Saturday before cheering supporters, the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre took …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

James Dao / New York Times:
N.R.A. Officials Issue Rallying Cry for Midterm Elections

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

The Atlantic Wire:

Niall Ferguson's History with John Maynard Keynes' Gayness — Harvard professor and prominent Daily Beast columnist Niall Ferguson is now apologizing for saying economist John Maynard Keynes' theories about surplus and deficit spending were somehow shaped by that fact that he was gay and childless.