Onset of Woes Casts Pall Over Obama's Policy Aspirations  —  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.

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.

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 …

Obama eyes Gov. Deval Patrick to replace Eric Holder at Justice  —  Tipsville . . .  Sneed is told that Attorney General Eric “Fast and Furious” Holder's days are numbered.  —  Sneed hears President Barack Obama, who is this/close to Holder, has set his sights on Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick …

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.

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 …

Scandal Is Not an Agenda  —  It says something about the kind of fortnight the president has been having that the controversies facing his administration can be divided into tiers.  —  The Benghazi debacle and the IRS's targeting of conservative groups are, as it were, “tier one” scandals …

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”.

First on CNN: Witness protection program lost two former “known or suspected terrorists”  —  This has been updated.  —  By Jake Tapper, CNN Chief Washington Correspondent  —  The U.S. Marshal Service has been “unable to locate” two former participants in the federal Witness Security Program …

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:

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 …

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.

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 …

New Poll Shows Good News For Democrats In Massachusetts Senate Race  —  Democrats have put the tough Senate primary behind them, a new PPP poll finds.  Ed Markey's up seven over Gabriel Gomez, according to the poll sponsored by the League of Conservation Voters.  —  Via: Elise Amendola / AP

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 …

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

Pentagon Recognizes Transgender Veteran, Advocates See A “Shift”  —  “By showing you can actually change your gender marker with the Department of Defense, it shows that the Department of Defense actually will do that, and if they do that then it's another stop toward figuring …

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 …

Kansas Elected Official Stands By Using Racial Slur ‘100 Percent’  —  Kansas Board of Education member Steve Roberts (R)  —  Kansas Board of Education member Steve Roberts (R), an elected official representing one-tenth of the state, defended on Tuesday his use of a racial epithet …