memeorandum: Alexander likens Sebelius to Iran-Contra figure Oliver North (Meghashyam Mali/The Hill)

9:45 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.

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: Washington Wire, Taegan Goddard's …, msnbc.com, ThinkProgress and The PJ Tatler

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 …

John Hudson / Foreign Policy:
Issa gets what he wants: Pickering agrees to Benghazi interview

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Hot Air and First Read

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

Discussion: The Fix, Power Line and Politico

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

Discussion: Politico

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

Discussion: CNN, Conservatives4Palin, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Politico

Wall Street Journal:

The Unaccountable Executive — If the President doesn't run the government, then who does? — Every day brings new revelations about who knew what about the IRS targeting conservative groups during President Obama's re-election campaign, but the overall impression is of a vast federal bureaucracy run amok.

Discussion: Washington Times, Betsy's Page, americanthinker.com and PostPartisan

Washington Post:

On IRS issue, senior White House aides were focused on shielding Obama — As soon as White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler heard about an upcoming inspector general's report on the Internal Revenue Service, she knew she had a problem. — The notice Ruemmler saw on April 24 gave …

Discussion: Post Politics, First Read, msnbc.com, Law Blog, BuzzFeed and NationalJournal.com

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

‘Inconceivable’ Obama didn't know about IRS sooner, says Boehner — Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday said he believed it was “inconceivable” that President Obama did not learn sooner about the Internal Revenue Service's political targeting of Tea Party groups.

Discussion: Politico

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:
Tensions Brew Inside White House Over Counsel's Role

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show, Politico, Hot Air and Yahoo! News

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

Discussion: The Hill and Politico

Lamar Alexander / Wall Street Journal:

Kathleen Sebelius, Meet Oliver North — Is the Department of Health and Human Services engaged in a domestic Iran-Contra? — Major news outlets in recent days have reported that U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is raising money from the private sector …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Moderate Voice

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Alexander likens Sebelius to Iran-Contra figure Oliver North — Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on Thursday blasted Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius over her efforts to solicit donations for a group promoting President Obama's landmark healthcare reform law …

Discussion: Politico and The Hinterland Gazette

Sam Baker / The Hill:
Insurers feel pressure from health group with ties to White House

Discussion: Hot Air

National Updates:

Exclusive video: Man with bloodied hands speaks at Woolwich scene — ITV News has obtained footage of a man with bloodied hands addressing a camera on a south London street. — He makes a series of political statements before walking towards a man, believed to be a soldier, lying prone on the street.

Discussion: BBC, News Desk, Shakesville, The Raw Story and The Huffington Post

BBC:
Man dead in suspected Woolwich terror attack

Sky News:
Woolwich Assailants ‘Filmed’ Hacking Attack

Discussion: LiveLeak.com, The Gateway Pundit and Mediaite

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: BBC, Spectator, The Sun, Gawker, National Updates and Althouse

Reuters:
London attackers British, of Nigerian origin: source

Discussion: Riehl World News

TIME:

TIME Exclusive: President Obama's 1979 Prom Photos — Tucked away in someone else's shoe box of adolescent artifacts, there might be a picture of you in garish clothes and with an outdated 'do, your arm around a high school squeeze. The President of the United States is no different.

Discussion: The Hill, Yahoo! News and Mediaite

Jimio / Twitter Blog:

Getting started with login verification — Every day, a growing number of people log in to Twitter. Usually these login attempts come from the genuine account owners, but we occasionally hear from people whose accounts have been compromised by email phishing schemes or a breach of password data elsewhere on the web.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, BBC, NYT Bits, Wired.co.uk, Wired, The Verge, TechCrunch, AllThingsD, Riehl World News and Plain Dealer, more at Mediagazer »

The Boston Globe:

Elizabeth Warren gets publisher for book proposal — WASHINGTON — Senator Elizabeth Warren has found a publisher two months after she began shopping her book proposal. — Henry Holt and Co., one of the nation's oldest publishers, said it had obtained the rights to publish the book …

Discussion: The Hill and Taegan Goddard's …

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Appeals court limits labor board's lawlessness — Early in an opinion issued recently by a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge A. Raymond Randolphsaid: “Although the parties have not raised it, one issue needs to be resolved before we turn to the merits of the case.”

Sam Baker / The Hill:
Appeals court strikes down Arizona abortion law

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Mitch McConnell / Washington Post:

The IRS scandal and Obama's culture of intimidation — Mitch McConnell, a Republican, represents Kentucky in the Senate, where he is the minority leader. — Revelations about the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups have raised important questions about the Obama administration's commitment to the First Amendment.

Discussion: msnbc.com

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: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Gawker, msnbc.com, Politico, U.S. News, The Raw Story, Shakesville and Outside the Beltway

Kurtis Lee / The Spot:

Tom Tancredo to formally announce run for governor Thursday on conservative radio — Former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, known for his strong stances on immigration, said late Wednesday night he plans to formally announce a run for governor on a conservative talk radio show Thursday.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Denver Post

Alexander Burns / Politico:

New gay-rights battleground: Virginia — Welcome to the gay rights battleground of Virginia. — Yes, you read that right. In the 2013 off-year elections, a state that once leaned solidly to the center-right has become the newest focal point in the national debate over same-sex relationships.

ThinkProgress:

House Attempts To Force Approval Of Keystone Pipeline That Would Create Just 35 Permanent Jobs — In what will likely prove as meaningless a vote as the 37th repeal vote of Obamacare, on Wednesday night 241 members of the House of Representatives voted to approve the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Reuters, Bloomberg and E2-Wire

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, Scared Monkeys and Israpundit