memeorandum: Georgia Tech Takes MOOCs to the Next Level (Walter Russell Mead/Via Meadia)

12:20 PM ET, May 16, 2013

Top Items:

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.

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Plum Line, American Prospect, Yahoo! News, Washington Post, The Week, Politico, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Ross Douthat, First Read, The Fix, msnbc.com and National Review

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:

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

Washington Post:
Acting director of IRS resigns amid furor over targeting of conservative groups

Discussion: The Week, National Review, msnbc.com, Federal Eye, americanthinker.com, The Hill, CNN, Slate, The Volokh Conspiracy, Wall Street Journal and USA Today

Talking Points Memo:
Obama Administration Sacks IRS Chief After Targeting Scandal

Discussion: American Prospect, Firedoglake, Crooks and Liars, CNN, Shakesville, Daily Mail, The Mahablog, Daily Kos and The Gateway Pundit

CBS News:

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, Taylor Marsh, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, CBS Boston, CNN, msnbc.com, Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers, NPR, Riehl World News, Mediaite, The Jawa Report, WNAC-TV, Jihad Watch and Gawker

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:

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.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Sweetness & Light, Washington Free Beacon and Twitchy

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

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

John Hudson / Foreign Policy:
Will Benghazi furor keep Susan Rice out of the White House?

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:
State fretted over Benghazi talking points

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, National Review, Reuters and CNN

Jake Tapper / The Lead with Jake Tapper:
First on CNN: White House releases 100 pages of Benghazi e-mails

Discussion: Right Turn, Slate, americanthinker.com, The Week, Washington Wire, Post Politics, Hot Air, ThinkProgress, Scared Monkeys, CNN, Taylor Marsh, The Hill, The PJ Tatler, The Hinterland Gazette, Politico, The Reaction and News Desk, more at Mediagazer »

Ben Swann / WXIX-TV:

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 …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Politico, The Hill, National Review, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, Shot in the Dark, Balloon Juice, CNN, Jammie Wearing Fools and Patterico's Pontifications

Reason:

Data Doesn't Support IRS Explanation for Scandal — Applications for tax exemption from advocacy nonprofits had not yet spiked when the Internal Revenue Service began using what it admits was inappropriate scrutiny of conservative groups in 2010. — In fact, applications were declining, data show.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Hot Air, Yahoo! News, Yourish.com, americanthinker.com and US News

Reuters:
The IRS wants YOU — to share everything

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Townhall.com and Politico

Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner:
Tim Carney: The IRS is deeply political — and very Democratic

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, americanthinker.com, Betsy's Page, CNN and New York Post

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Liberal talk radio host Bill Press calls for Holder to be fired — Talk radio host and former chairman of the California Democratic Party Bill Press said Thursday that Attorney General Eric Holder should be fired over the subpoena of reporter phone records.

Discussion: Hot Air

Dana Milbank / Washington 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

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
In IRS and AP scandals, a frighteningly impotent government

Discussion: Washington Wire, Hot Air, The Dish, Balkinization and The Huffington Post

New York Post:
Justice, tea & the AP

Discussion: Poynter, Politico and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Emma Innes / Daily Mail:

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

The Hugh Hewitt Show:

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, Weekly Standard, BREITBART.COM and The Atlantic Wire

Duane Patterson / The Greenroom:
Would You Believe The Administration Got Phone Records of The House Of Representatives?

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, National Review, Scared Monkeys, Power Line, Ed Driscoll, Reason and americanthinker.com

Quinnipiac News + Events:

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

J. Bradford DeLong / Brad DeLong:

Seven Howlers from Michael Kinsley's Very Misguided War Against Paul Krugman — Why oh why can't we have a better press corps? — Michael Kinsley is really confused: … Ummm... If you Google “first use of austerian” Google tells you about first uses of “Australian”.

Michael Kinsley / New Republic:
Paul Krugman's Misguided Moral Crusade Against Austerity

Discussion: Daniel W. Drezner, Balloon Juice and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Sam Laird / Mashable:

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

Kevin Williamson / National Review:

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

Max Fisher / WorldViews:

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

The Lead with Jake Tapper:

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

Sam Baker / The Hill:

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

Christian Toto / BREITBART.COM:

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

Meredith Bennett-Smith / The Huffington Post:

Televangelist Claims It's The Wife's Job To Keep Men Faithful — Pat Robertson has many opinions on subjects including homosexuality, politics and the coming of the Mark of the Beast, but it was the famous televangelist's opinion on marriage that took center stage during Wednesday's episode …

Discussion: Right Wing Watch, Addicting Info, The Hinterland Gazette, Mediaite, Gawker and The Raw Story