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IRS's Shulman had more public White House visits than any cabinet member — Publicly released records show that embattled former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman visited the White House at least 157 times during the Obama administration, more recorded visits than even the most trusted members of the president's Cabinet.
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War on leaks threatens your right to know: Our view … Intimidation tactic serves to hide all manner of government secrets. — When President Obama talked about reporters and reporting last week, he struck a conciliatory chord. Obama said he was troubled “that leak investigations may chill …
Discussion:
Guardian and PoliticusUSA

Holder runs into roadblocks on off-the-record meetings on leaks — Washington (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder's plans to sit down with media representatives to discuss guidelines for handling investigations into leaks to the news media have run into trouble.
Discussion:
Politico, Fox News, Weasel Zippers, Taegan Goddard's …, The Right Scoop and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »


Obama to Pick Former Bush Official to Lead F.B.I. — WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to nominate James B. Comey, a former hedge fund executive and a former senior Justice Department official under President George W. Bush, to replace Robert S. Mueller III as the director of the Federal Bureau …


Holder Faces New Round of Criticism After Leak Inquiries — WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., a lightning rod of Republican attacks during President Obama's first term, is now contending with a new round of criticism over the Justice Department's campaign against leaks to the news media.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Fix, National Review, The Huffington Post, Open Channel and Firedoglake

Attorney General Holder on the ropes — Attorney General Eric Holder is in the midst of perhaps the most serious challenge of his career over his department's investigation of government leaks to journalists. — The battle-scarred head of the Justice Department (DOJ) …
Discussion:
americanthinker.com


Eric Holder To Meet With Washington Bureau Chiefs Amid Leak Investigation Criticism (UPDATE)

ACLU Defends News Organizations For Rejecting Off-The-Record Meeting With Attorney General
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, Right Turn and Politico

NYT Will Not Attend Holder Meeting With Media
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Poynter, Mediaite and Washington Wire, more at Mediagazer »

N.Y. Times will not attend DOJ session, citing opposition to off-the-record provision
Discussion:
Restoring Liberty and Weasel Zippers

Too dumb to check: Holder's huddle with media on press freedoms will be ... off the record …
Discussion:
americanthinker.com, The PJ Tatler and Weekly Standard

HOLDER TO MEET WITH BUREAU CHIEFS …
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Plum Line, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Yahoo! News, USA Today, Variety and ABCNEWS

Release Detail — May 30, 2013 - American Voters 4-1 Want Special Prosecutor For IRS, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; But Fixing Economy Is More Important, Voters Say 3-1 — American voters say 76 - 17 percent, including 63 - 30 percent among Democrats, that a special prosecutor …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Hill, The Plum Line, Taegan Goddard's …, Weasel Zippers, Post Politics, CNN, Right Turn, Politico, ABCNEWS and Wall Street Journal
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Obama's poll numbers hold up despite the storm of scandal — Obama's 7 percentage-point positive margin in Gallup is better than where he stood before the IRS scandal broke. — President Obama's approval ratings have increased since a trio of controversies involving his administration began dominating the news cycle.
Discussion:
Prairie Weather

Poll: President Obama job approval rating down
Discussion:
americanthinker.com and The Gateway Pundit


Bobby Rush rips Mark Kirk's mass gang arrests proposal as ‘elitist white boy solution’ — Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) is highly critical of a proposal by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) for mass arrests of 18,000 Gangster Disciples, telling the Sun-Times on Wednesday that Kirk's approach is …
Discussion:
Politico, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Weasel Zippers, The Raw Story, Post Politics and The Hinterland Gazette

Salvadoran Court Denies Abortion to Ailing Woman — MEXICO CITY — El Salvador's highest court on Wednesday denied an appeal from a woman with a high-risk pregnancy to be allowed to undergo an abortion, upholding the country's strict law banning abortion under any circumstances.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Althouse, RH Reality Check and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES
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El Salvador Supreme Court denies critically ill woman lifesaving abortion
Discussion:
Hullabaloo and susiemadrak.com


The Lois Lerner state — It is appropriate that the worst scandal of the Obama administration— the IRS targeting of conservatives — is a scandal of administrators and bureaucrats, of otherwise faceless people endowed with immense power over their fellow citizens and running free of serious oversight from elected officials.
Discussion:
Pirate's Cove


Annals of the Security State: ‘Is Puerto Rico in America?’ — Here are two more, from people willing to go on the record under their real names. Previous entries here, here, here. … Now, from David Rivera, who runs a small business in San Diego: … No more “analysis” at the moment.

Officials: Man who knew Boston bombing suspect was unarmed when shot — A Chechen man who was fatally shot by an FBI agent last week during an interview about one of the Boston bombing suspects was unarmed, law enforcement officials said Wednesday. — An air of mystery has surrounded …
Discussion:
Sky Dancing, LewRockwell.com Blog and emptywheel


TV Ratings: MSNBC Falls Below HLN in May, Rachel Maddow Hits Lows — Fox News Channel maintains a handsome lead in primetime and total day, while primetime runner-up CNN continues a healthy climb from the lows of 2012. — “The Rachel Maddow Show” — HLN's wall-to-wall coverage …

With campaign in rearview, Ann Romney says there were mistakes — (CNN) - No presidential campaign is perfect, Ann Romney admitted Thursday - even her husband's bid for the White House in 2012. — Speaking solo for the first time since November's election loss, Romney said on CBS …
Discussion:
Politico


Arrested Development's Crazy, Existential Message: We're All In This Together — Netflix's absurd fourth season of the show has a surprising lot to say about the real world. — This is the first (not-spoilery!) post in a series from Atlantic writers on Arrested Development's fourth season.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress


Rob Ford video scandal: Mayor Ford said he knew where video was, sources say — The mayor cited “our contacts” as the source of his information, according to insiders familiar with an unusual May 17 session in his office. … Toronto Mayor Rob Ford speaks during a press conference at City Hall …
Discussion:
Gawker, The Raw Story, Balloon Juice and Blazing Cat Fur

Sequester not biting District yet — In the months since the automatic federal spending cuts known as the sequester took effect, the Washington area has added 40,000 jobs. Income-tax receipts have surged in Virginia, beating expectations. Few government contractors have laid off workers.
Discussion:
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Weekly Standard, Outside the Beltway and Wonkblog


Mounting legal woes spurred Democratic leader's resignation — The head of Georgia's Democratic Party said Wednesday that he would resign amid mounting legal problems and growing pushback from fellow Democrats who feared his leadership could complicate the party's comeback bid.


The Distribution of Major Tax Expenditures in the Individual Income Tax System — A number of exclusions, deductions, preferential rates, and credits in the federal tax system cause revenues to be much lower than they would be otherwise for any given structure of tax rates.
Discussion:
Yahoo! News and Los Angeles Times


Ted Cruz opens up on immigration … What, exactly, is Ted Cruz's position on comprehensive immigration reform? There's no doubt the outspoken and still very new Texas senator opposes the Gang of Eight proposal. From that, some Democrats and commentators on the left have concluded that Cruz …


I was a liberal mole at Fox News: From Bill O'Reilly to Roger Ailes, here's all the inside dope — Inside the beast: O'Reilly hates Hannity. Producers know what's acceptable. Everyone fears a call from Roger Ailes — Excerpted from “An Atheist in the FOXhole: A Liberal's Eight-Year Odyssey Inside …
Discussion:
The Impolitic