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New Controversies May Undermine Obama — WASHINGTON — Thwarted on Capitol Hill, stymied in the Middle East and now beset by scandal, President Obama has reached a point just six months after a heady re-election where the second term he had hoped for has collided with the second term he actually has.
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Obama tries to stop the bleeding — In recent days, Democratic strategists have all but begged President Barack Obama to take control of a deepening public relations disaster that threatens to derail his second-term agenda. — On Wednesday evening, Obama did just that.
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Reaction


In IRS and AP scandals, a frighteningly impotent government — At a time when Congress can't pass a budget and the president can't win approval of any important legislation, the public is indignant about the threat of an overreaching, all-powerful federal government that uses the IRS and the Justice Department to harass its enemies.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Hot Air, The Dish, Balkinization and The Huffington Post


Boston bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left note in boat he hid in, sources say — (CBS News) Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left claiming responsibility for the April 13 attack on the Boston Marathon, reports CBS News senior correspondent John Miller.
Discussion:
Politico, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taylor Marsh, CNN, CBS Boston, msnbc.com, Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers, NPR, Riehl World News, Mediaite, The Jawa Report, WNAC-TV, Jihad Watch and Gawker

Benghazi Emails Directly Contradict White House Claims — The White House on Wednesday released 94 pages of emails between top administration and intelligence officials who helped shape the talking points about the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that the CIA would provide to policymakers in both the legislative and executive branches.
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The Benghazi Emails: What Do They Show? — This afternoon the White House released 100 pages of emails that trace the development of the talking points about Benghazi that Susan Rice eventually used on her notorious tour of the Sunday morning news shows, and that formed the basis …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Week, New York Times and The Hugh Hewitt Show


Will Benghazi furor keep Susan Rice out of the White House?
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

State fretted over Benghazi talking points
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon, National Review, Reuters and CNN


FOX19 EXCLUSIVE: Four local IRS workers allegedly connected to scandal — Posted by FOX19 Digital Media Staff - email — FOX19 has exclusively learned that as many as four people may be the first Cincinnati Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees to face disciplinary action …
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Data Doesn't Support IRS Explanation for Scandal
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Hot Air, Yahoo! News, Yourish.com and US News

Tim Carney: The IRS is deeply political — and very Democratic
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, americanthinker.com, Betsy's Page, CNN and New York Post

Eric Holder's abdication — As the nation's top law enforcement official, Eric Holder is privy to all kinds of sensitive information. But he seems to be proud of how little he knows. — Why didn't his Justice Department inform the Associated Press, as the law requires, before pawing through reporters' phone records?
Discussion:
Power Line, Conservatives4Palin, The FAS Blog, Hot Air, The Huffington Post and Politico
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Liberal talk radio host Bill Press calls for Holder to be fired
Discussion:
Hot Air


White House pushes media shield law as Holder faces questions on Capitol Hill
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Prairie Weather, The Fix, The Week, PERRspectives, Post Politics and The Huffington Post

Justice, tea & the AP
Discussion:
Poynter, Politico and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »


Men who are physically strong are more likely to have right wing political views — Men who are physically strong are more likely to take a right wing political stance, while weaker men are inclined to support the welfare state, according to a new study. — Researchers discovered political …
Discussion:
protein wisdom, The Jawa Report, Sense of Events, Right Wing News and American Spectator

Would You Believe The Administration Got Phone Records of The House Of Representatives? — That's the revelation made by California Congressman Devin Nunes, who sits on the House Ways And Means Committee on Hugh Hewitt's Show Wednesday night. Here's the key part of that transcript:
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Scared Monkeys, Power Line, National Review, Ed Driscoll, Reason and americanthinker.com
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Congressman Devin Nunes Previews Ways And Means Hearing Friday, Plus A Bombshell On The AP Scandal — HH: Joined now by Congressman Devin Nunes of California's 22nd Congressional district. He is a member of the powerful Ways And Means Committee, and he will be holding hearings …
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, Goppers, BREITBART.COM, Weekly Standard and The Atlantic Wire

Release Detail — May 16, 2013 - Dem Inches Ahead In Virginian Governor's Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Hillary Clinton, Sen. Warner Run Well In 2016 Pres Race — Democrat Terry McAuliffe has opened up a slight 43 - 38 percent lead over Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the race …
Discussion:
CNN, Politico, First Read, Taylor Marsh, Weekly Standard and The Hill


Paul Krugman's Misguided Moral Crusade Against Austerity — Feeling perhaps that columnist Paul Krugman hasn't made the point emphatically enough, The New York Times Monday published an op-ed shocker by two academics with the title, “How Austerity Kills.” Kills? Yes, kills.
Discussion:
Daniel W. Drezner, Balloon Juice and Lawyers, Guns & Money
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NFL Player Instagrams Himself Peeing on IRS Building — Tax-season gripes regarding the Internal Revenue Service are about as American as baseball and apple pie. But we bet you've never expressed your frustration quite like NFL player Evan Mathis did on Wednesday
Discussion:
The Hinterland Gazette and The Greenroom

Theater Night: Vigilantes 1, Vulgarians 0 — I had a genuinely new experience at the theater tonight: I was thrown out. — The show was Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, which was quite good and which I recommend. The audience, on the other hand, was horrible — talking …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, alicublog, Gothamist, Gawker and Alan Colmes' Liberaland


A fascinating map of the world's most and least racially tolerant countries — When two Swedish economists set out to examine whether economic freedom made people any more or less racist, they knew how they would gauge economic freedom, but they needed to find a way to measure a country's level of racial tolerance.
Discussion:
Foreign Policy, Telegraph and normblog

First on CNN: Pickering, Mullen challenge Issa to let them testify in public — In a letter to Rep. Darrell Issa exclusively obtained by CNN, the co-chairmen behind an independent review of September's deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, expressed irritation over the House Oversight Committee …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, First Read and Daily Kos

House set to vote on ObamaCare repeal — The House will vote Thursday to repeal President Obama's healthcare law — a move Republicans hope will open the door to narrower votes to target specific parts of the law. — GOP leaders scheduled the vote in a concession to conservative freshmen …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taylor Marsh and msnbc.com


Groups that sought tax-exempt status say IRS dealings were a nightmare — The Common Sense Campaign, a self-described constitutionalist group based in Montgomery, Ala., aspired to be a smaller version of the National Rifle Association — powerful and influential, without having to pay federal income taxes.
Discussion:
Overlawyered, Booman Tribune, Althouse, The Fix, The Monkey Cage, The Maddow Blog, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Hit & Run


FLASHBACK: PRESIDENT OBAMA TARGETED GIBSON GUITARS, BOEING ON IDEOLOGICAL GROUNDS — Even mainstream media outlets are running story upon story about President Barack Obama's possible ties to the government grabbing a wire service's phone records and the IRS bullying conservative groups.
Discussion:
Althouse