memeorandum: Durbin says basics in immigration bill must stand (CNN)

12:40 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, Twitchy, Via Meadia, Israel Matzav, FP Passport, National Review, The Gateway Pundit and TheTower.org

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 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

New York Times:
Israel Targeted Iranian Missiles in Syria Attack

Washington Post:
Israel launches second airstrike in Syria, targeting weapons shipment

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, TheTower.org, Israel Matzav, LewRockwell.com Blog, Weasel Zippers, Wake up America, Hot Air, BBC and National Review

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.

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

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, Power Line, Althouse, BuzzFeed and Daily Mail

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

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

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

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.

Discussion: Via Meadia, Crooked Timber, Business Insider, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Brad DeLong, The Reaction, Gawker, The Raw Story and American Power

Niall Ferguson:
An Unqualified Apology — During a recent question …

Jonah Goldberg / National Review:
Keynes Was Gay — Not That There's Anything Wrong with That

Discussion: Althouse, Brad DeLong, Business Insider, The Dish and Guardian

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 …

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

Eric Berger / SciGuy:

Tornado spike in 2011 attributed to climate change. So what to make of this year's tornado drought? — As informed citizens, we need to be careful about conflating weather, climate change and natural disasters. — Weather (i.e. the extreme cold we're having in Texas this spring) is weather.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and UrbanGrounds