memeorandum: Senate Ratings Changes: The Political Environment Turns on Democrats (Stuart Rothenberg/Rothenblog)

12:00 AM ET, May 23, 2013

Top Items:

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

U.S. Acknowledges Killing 4 Americans in Drone Strikes — WASHINGTON — One day before President Obama is due to deliver a major speech on national security, his administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged that the United States had killed four American citizens in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.

Discussion: WXIX-TV, Philly.com, Mediaite, Politico, ThinkProgress, Hot Air, Yahoo! News, Hit & Run, The Week, Twitchy, FP Passport, TalkLeft, Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider, The Spectacle Blog and Truthdig

Wall Street Journal:

Obama Restarts Bid to Close Guantanamo — Plan Calls for Speeding Up Detainee Transfers, Kick-Starting Drive to Shut Prison; Hunger Strike Has Increased Pressure — The Obama administration is set to restart transfers of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, U.S. officials said, kick-starting a long-stalled drive to close the prison.

Discussion: msnbc.com

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Darrell Issa: Lois Lerner lost her rights — House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa said embattled IRS official Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights and will be hauled back to appear before his panel again. — The California Republican …

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Spectacle Blog, Michelle Malkin, BuzzFeed, The Fix, Belmont Club, Weasel Zippers, Questions and Observations, Hot Air, Yahoo! News, Conservatives4Palin, American Spectator, National Review and Washington Free Beacon

Katie Glueck / Reuters:
Rush Limbaugh: Darrell Issa let Lois Lerner get away at IRS hearing

Discussion: CNN, Politico and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Orin Kerr / The Volokh Conspiracy:
Can A Congressional Witness Deny Guilt and Then Plead the Fifth?

Discussion: NewsMax.com, The Fix and Politico

Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Issa may haul IRS's Lerner back

Discussion: Politico

BBC:

Man dead in suspected Woolwich terror attack — A man has died and two are injured after police responded to a reported machete attack in south-east London. — The government is reported to be treating the attack as a suspected terrorist incident and the prime minister said it was “truly shocking”.

Discussion: National Updates, Telegraph, Guardian, The Sun, WXIX-TV, News Desk, The Week, Gawker, FP Passport, The PJ Tatler, Spectator, Business Insider, Blazing Cat Fur, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Hinterland Gazette and The Daily Caller

Daily / Telegraph:

‘Soldier beheaded’ in ‘Islamist terror attack’ oustide barracks in Woolwich — Two suspected terrorists were shot by armed police after attacking a pedestrian, believed to be a soldier, with a machete-style knife close to military barracks in an ‘Islamist attack’.

Discussion: The Raw Story, LiveLeak.com, Weasel Zippers, The Other McCain, Shakesville, Joe. My. God., Belmont Club, Taylor Marsh, The Times of Israel, AMERICAN DIGEST, Spectator, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Dish

Daily Mail:

Blood on his hands, hatred in his eyes: 2.30pm on a suburban high street, Islamic fanatics wielding meat cleavers butcher a British soldier, taking their war on the West to a new level of horror — Clutching a bloodied meat cleaver after executing a soldier on a crowded street, he delivers a chilling message of hate.

Discussion: Power Line, Real Science and Israpundit

ABCNEWS:

Florida Man Shot by FBI Was About to Sign Boston Murder Confession: Officials — The man shot dead by an FBI agent in Orlando, Florida early today was “about to sign a statement” admitting to a role, along with Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in an unsolved triple murder …

Discussion: Algemeiner.com and Gawker

Susan Candiotti / CNN:
Sources: Man killed by FBI agent confessed to triple murder

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Weasel Zippers, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Business Insider, U.S. News, TalkLeft, Blazing Cat Fur, Outside the Beltway and WXIX-TV

CBS News:
Ibragim Todashev implicated Tsarnaev, himself in triple homicide before FBI shooting

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Twitchy

WESH-TV:
Orlando man killed by FBI agent was questioned in Boston Marathon bombings, friend says

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:

Tensions Brew Inside White House Over Counsel's Role — Has an overly-aggressive White House Counsel's office gotten Obama into trouble more than once? — Via: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters — WASHINGTON — As they watched President Obama lumber into controversy over mandating contraception coverage …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post and Hot Air

Alexander Mooney / CNN:
You catch more flies with honey...

Discussion: Politico

Keith Koffler / White House Dossier:
Michelle Said to be Considering an Extended Vacation

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:
Jay Carney: Some press criticism of White House ‘legitimate’

Discussion: The Hill

Ginger Gibson / Politico:

Ted Cruz: 'I don't trust the Republicans' — Sen. Ted Cruz proclaimed on the Senate floor Wednesday that he doesn't trust other Republicans to fix the country's fiscal situation, explaining why he objects to sending the Senate budget to conference with the House.

Discussion: The Monkey Cage, Hot Air, Yahoo! News, CNN, National Review and The Hill

Talking Points Memo:

Ted Cruz: 'I Don't Trust The Republicans' — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Wednesday defended his objection to initiating House-Senate budget negotiations unless Democrats take a debt limit increase off the table, saying he doesn't trust his party to hold the line.

Discussion: The Impolitic, Weasel Zippers, Washington Monthly, The Maddow Blog and The PJ Tatler

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
GOP moderates feud with conservatives over stall tactics on budget

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin, A plain blog about politics, Booman Tribune and Post Politics

Claire Duffin / Telegraph:

Mum talked down Woolwich terrorists who told her: ‘We want to start a war in London tonight’ — Exclusive: A cub scout leader confronted terrorists just seconds after they had beheaded a soldier asking them to hand over their weapons and warning them: “It is only you versus many people, you are going to lose.”

Discussion: Gawker, Spectator, National Updates and Althouse

Thom Shanker / New York Times:

Sergeant Accused of Secretly Filming Female Cadets — WASHINGTON — A sergeant first class on the staff of the United States Military Academy at West Point faces charges for allegedly videotaping female cadets without their consent, sometimes when they were in the shower, according to Army officials.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Gawker, Politico, The Raw Story, U.S. News, Shakesville and Outside the Beltway

Bob Christie / Associated Press:

Arizona House non-prayer sparks Christian re-do — PHOENIX (AP) — An atheist lawmaker's decision to give the daily prayer at the Arizona House of Representatives triggered a do-over from a Christian lawmaker who said the previous day's prayer didn't pass muster.

Discussion: Valley Fever

Matthew Hendley / Valley Fever:
Atheist State Lawmaker Quotes Carl Sagan Instead of Doing Prayer Before House Session

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, WXIX-TV, Truthdig, The Raw Story, Mediaite and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Jill Colvin / Politicker:

Not Everyone Is Returning Anthony Weiner's Calls — Anthony Weiner at a basketball game. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) — After jumping late into a race they've been running in for months, ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner decided to break the ice with his now-Democratic rivals with a telephoned “hello” before they meet on the campaign trail.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Politico

F. Brinley Bruton / NBC Politics:
‘I hope I get a second chance’: Anthony Weiner launches bid to become NYC mayor

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Above the Law, Taylor Marsh, Guardian, The Fix, The Daily Caller, Yahoo! News, CNN and Firedoglake, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Climate-Change Wars Begin This Summer — The biggest piece of President Obama's second-term agenda is his widely expected plan for the Environmental Protection Agency to issue new carbon regulations for power plants, a move that could bring the United States in line with the greenhouse-gas-reduction goals …

Discussion: ACS Blog

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Harry Reid escalates ‘nuclear’ threat

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, PostPartisan, Plain Dealer, Hullabaloo and Washington Monthly

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

GOP Nominee In Virginia Called Three-Fifths Clause An ‘Anti-Slavery Amendment’ — The Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in Virginia has called the Constitution's original clause to count blacks as three-fifths of a person an “anti-slavery amendment.”

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Hinterland Gazette, ThinkProgress, Booman Tribune and Daily Kos

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:

Bloodied London Attacker Speaks To Camera After Beheading: ‘You People Will Never Be Safe’ — “I apologize that women had to witness this today but, in our land, our women have to see the same,” the attacker said on camera after beheading a man on the streets of London. “You people will never be safe.”

Discussion: American Spectator

Laura Smith-Spark / CNN:
Brutal cleaver assault on man in London street is suspected terror attack

Discussion: Sky News, Global Public Square, Scared Monkeys, The Spectacle Blog, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, The Jawa Report and protein wisdom

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

She Has To Go — Yesterday we noted that Lois Lerner, the IRS official in charge of the unit overseeing tax exempt groups, would apparently plead the fifth at today's hearings (here's video of her testimony today). Rick Hasen said he thinks the issue is that she's the person who is most likely …

Discussion: Wonkblog, Right Turn, Outside the Beltway, americanthinker.com, Doug Ross, Taylor Marsh, Weekly Standard, The PJ Tatler and Patterico's Pontifications

Shane Goldmacher / NationalJournal.com:

Meet the Man Who Set Off the IRS Firestorm — J. Russell George once stalked the halls of the Capitol for senators' autographs. Now he's there to testify in a scandal gripping Washington. — J. Russell George paused for just a moment before he took his seat at the witness table.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Yahoo! News, FishbowlDC and Weekly Standard

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Governor Can't Find A Single Latino In Pennsylvania To Work For Him — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R-PA) brushed away a question about Latinos working in his administration during a roundtable discussion at The Union League in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday, telling the moderator, “If you can find us one let me know”:

Discussion: Philly.com and Juanita Jean's

Tesla Motors:

TESLA REPAYS DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY LOAN NINE YEARS EARLY — ONLY AMERICAN CAR COMPANY TO HAVE PAID BACK GOVERNMENT — PALO ALTO, Calif.— Tesla Motors announced that it has paid off the entire loan awarded to the company by the Department of Energy in 2010.

Discussion: Politico, The Verge, ThinkProgress and Bloomberg

Alana Goodman / Washington Free Beacon:

Vultures — A “secret” Facebook group of foreign correspondents and human rights activists quickly devolved into an anti-Israel hate-fest on Tuesday following the release of a new Israeli government report that cleared the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of wrongdoing in the 2000 death of a Palestinian boy.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Israel Matzav and The Volokh Conspiracy