memeorandum: Are we distracted by scandals while Democrats walk away with the immigration amnesty prize? (William A. Jacobson/Le·gal …)

10:15 PM ET, May 22, 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: Politico, The Moderate Voice, TalkLeft, The Week, ThinkProgress, FP Passport, Yahoo! News, Hit & Run, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Twitchy, Mediaite, WJLA-TV, Outside the Beltway, USA Today, The Spectacle Blog, Business Insider 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

New York Times:
Holder Letter on Counterterror Strikes Against U.S. Citizens

Discussion: Guardian, Wired, Yahoo! News, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Plum Line

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

Katie Glueck / Reuters:

Rush Limbaugh: Darrell Issa let Lois Lerner get away at IRS hearing — Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday charged that House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa went soft on IRS official Lois Lerner. — “Issa basically let her get away with it,” the conservative talk show host said, according to a transcript.

Discussion: CNN, Politico and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

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

Discussion: Politico

Rachael Bade / Politico:
Darrell Issa slams IRS watchdog

Discussion: Daily Mail, BuzzFeed, CNN, Liberal Values, Hot Air and Roll Call

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, FP Passport, News Desk, Spectator, The Week, Gawker, Blazing Cat Fur, The PJ Tatler, Business Insider, The Hinterland Gazette, No More Mister Nice Blog 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, Belmont Club, The Times of Israel, Weasel Zippers, The Other McCain, Shakesville, Taylor Marsh, Joe. My. God., AMERICAN DIGEST, Spectator, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Dish

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

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

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:
Bloodied London Attacker Speaks To Camera After Beheading: ‘You People Will Never Be Safe’

Discussion: American Spectator

WESH-TV:

Orlando man killed by FBI agent was questioned in Boston Marathon bombings, friend says — Man knew Boston bombing suspect, friend says — An FBI agent was involved in a deadly shooting overnight that could have ties to the Boston Marathon bombings. — Officials said the special agent …

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

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

ABCNEWS:
Florida Man Shot by FBI Was About to Sign Boston Murder Confession: Officials

Discussion: Algemeiner.com and Gawker

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

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Twitchy

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: Yahoo! News, The Monkey Cage, Hot Air, 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: Weasel Zippers, The Maddow Blog, The Impolitic, Washington Monthly 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

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: Washington Monthly, PostPartisan, Hullabaloo and Daily Kos

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
Harry Reid Punts Richard Cordray Nomination Vote To July, Setting Up Filibuster Fight

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, The Week and Plain Dealer

Keith Koffler / White House Dossier:

Michelle Said to be Considering an Extended Vacation — With scandal swirling about the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama may be considering an extended exit from Washington this summer, fleeing for weeks to the Obamas' traditional summer haven, Martha's Vineyard.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

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

Discussion: Politico

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

Discussion: The Hill

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

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
Yes, heads should roll at the IRS

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Firedoglake, Yahoo! News, Crooks and Liars, Weasel Zippers, americanthinker.com, Algemeiner.com, The Plum Line, NetRight Daily and Pirate's Cove

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

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: Politico

Quinnipiac News + Events:
Release Detail

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: The Raw Story, Truthdig, Mediaite and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

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

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

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

Charles Willey, M.D. / Investor's Business Daily:

Under ObamaCare, IRS Is Creating Chaos For Doctors, Patients — IRS Illegally Usurps Congress with New Law in Obamacare — As an internist, I have dedicated my 30-year career to advancing the long-term health of all of my patients, one patient at a time.

Discussion: The Democratic Daily

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Are we distracted by scandals while Democrats walk away with the immigration amnesty prize? — I received an insightful email from reader Karen Sacandy: … My response was: … To which she replied: … Karen makes a very good point. — Key Republicans have buckled under.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Hot Air and The Plum Line

Sarah Palin / BREITBART.COM:

EXCLUSIVE — PALIN: GOING ROGUE IN THE WRONG DIRECTION — As more information about the IRS scandal trickles out daily, the White House's involvement is becoming clearer. Those of us who've been warning about the demise of freedom with Barack Obama's efforts to “fundamentally transform” …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Politico, Conservatives4Palin and The Hill