memeorandum: Supreme Court upholds prayer at government meetings (Richard Wolf/USA Today)

5:05 PM ET, May 5, 2014

Top Items:

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Midterm Election Indicators Daunting for Democrats — No Improvement in Perceptions of Job Market — With the midterm elections six months away, Democrats are burdened by an uneven economic recovery and a stubbornly unpopular health care law. Perhaps equally important …

Jenna Levy / Gallup:

U.S. Uninsured Rate Drops to 13.4% — Uninsured rate down nearly four percentage points since late 2013 — WASHINGTON, D.C. — The uninsured rate for U.S. adults in April was 13.4%, down from 15.0% in March. This is the lowest monthly uninsured rate recorded since Gallup and Healthways began tracking it in January 2008.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, ACASignups.net, Daily Mail, The New Republic, Washington Post, The Hill, The Dish, Shakesville, Business Insider, Taylor Marsh, The Week, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Real Clear Politics and Mediaite

USA Today:

Poll: For the midterms, a tilt to the GOP … LEANING REPUBLICAN OBAMA'S IMPACT — IMPORTANT ISSUES — VIEWPOINTS — Source: USA TODAY/Pew Research Center poll taken April 23-27 of 1,501 adults. Margin of error: +/-3 percentage points. — WASHINGTON — Democrats hoping improvements …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Daily Mail, NewsBusters, National Review, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite and Democratic Strategist

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:
Views of the Affordable Care Act and Its Future

Discussion: Daily Kos

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Inventing a Failure — Last week, House Republicans released …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Washington Post

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

In Justices' Votes, Free Speech Often Means ‘Speech I Agree With’ — WASHINGTON — Justice Antonin Scalia is known as a consistent and principled defender of free speech rights. — It pained him, he has said, when he voted to strike down a law making flag burning a crime.

Discussion: CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Week, Concurring Opinions and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Allows Prayers at Town Meetings — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a town in upstate New York may begin its public meetings with a prayer from a “chaplain of the month.” — Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority in the 5-to-4 decision …

Discussion: Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, susiemadrak.com, Gothamist and How Appealing

Richard Wolf / USA Today:
Supreme Court upholds prayer at government meetings

Discussion: Liberaland, Taylor Marsh and How Appealing

CNN:
Justices allow public prayers at New York town's council meetings

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Politico, Unqualified Offerings and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Joe Hagan / New York Magazine:

Benghazi and the Bombshell — Is Lara Logan too toxic to return to 60 Minutes? — Eleven years ago, the 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan was sitting in the InterContinental hotel in Amman, Jordan, watching her career flash before her eyes. — She was 31 years old, a rookie at CBS News …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Daily Mail, Washington Post, The Daily Banter, The Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

Ben Armbruster / ThinkProgress:

CBS News Asked Nexis To Delete Transcript Of Discredited Benghazi Report — Lexis Nexis deleted the transcript from a 60 Minutes piece on the terror attack in Benghazi, Libya at the request of CBS News. — On October 27, 2013, CBS News correspondent Lara Logan ran a story …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

‘I will sell them,’ Boko Haram leader says of kidnapped Nigerian girls — (CNN) — Fears for the fate of more than 200 Nigerian girls turned even more nightmarish Monday when the leader of the Islamist militant group that kidnapped them announced plans to sell them. — “I abducted your girls.

Discussion: NPR and National Review

BBC:
Boko Haram ‘to sell’ Nigeria girls abducted from Chibok

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Ottawa Citizen, Mediaite and News24

Tim Cocks / Reuters:
Nigeria's Boko Haram threatens to sell schoolgirls on market

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Guardian and National Review

Politico:

Trey Gowdy picked to lead Benghazi panel — Speaker John Boehner is tapping South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy to chair a House select committee which will investigate the attack in Benghazi. — Gowdy, a second-term Republican, is a former federal prosecutor and has been a key figure …

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Daily Mail, Hot Air and Daily Kos

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Boehner Taps Trey Gowdy To Lead Special Benghazi Committee

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Fox News:
Rep. Gowdy named to lead Benghazi select committee

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and The Hugh Hewitt Show

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters:

What If Fox News Instead of MSNBC Had Pulled This Cinco de Mayo Stunt? — ¡Ay caramba! Imagine the cries of offensive ethnic stereotyping or worse if Fox News had observed Cinco de Mayo by having one of its yanqui persons of pallor staggering across the set in a sombrero while chugging from a pint bottle of tequila?

Discussion: The Daily Caller

ThinkProgress:
UC Davis Students Dressed As Border Agents To Promote Cinco De Mayo Event

Discussion: Recently posted, The College Fix and The Gateway Pundit

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Tillis at 40%, but momentum with Brannon — PPP's final poll of the North Carolina Republican Senate primary finds that Greg Brannon and Mark Harris are finally picking up some steam, but that it may be too little too late. Thom Tillis leads right at the 40% mark needed to avoid a runoff …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Peter Hamby / CNN:
GOP establishment looks nervously at North Carolina Senate primary

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Agonist

Manu Raju / Politico:
May primaries to test GOP establishment clout

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Hill

Pete Thamel / Sports Illustrated:

Source: Coach Craig Robinson fired by Oregon State — Craig Rohinson's teams failed to reach the NCAA tournament during his six seasons at Oregon State. — Oregon State fired head coach Craig Robinson on Sunday night, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Talking Points Memo, National Review, Daily Mail, Hinterland Gazette, Business Insider, Washington Free Beacon, WJLA-TV and SBNation.com

Darrell Issa / Salon:

GOP's demented “Benghazi!” disease: Why conservatives so desperately need a scandal — Has anyone ever seen a full-blown marketing campaign replete with full-color graphics used to announce a House committee investigation? You have now: … I'm going to guess that was in development for a while.

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Tennessee State Senator Compares Obamacare To The Holocaust — On Monday, a Tennessee state senator apparently likened Obamacare's individual mandate to Nazi Germany's slaughter of Jews. — A brief post published at the blog of state Sen. Stacey Campfield (R) read: “Democrats bragging …

Stephen Guillermo / San Francisco Chronicle:

Man shot to death after he gets out on the wrong floor — A 26-year-old San Francisco man was shot to death early Saturday when he went to a unit on the wrong floor of his apartment building after returning home from a night out. — Stephen Guillermo had been out drinking with friends …

Discussion: Shakesville, Los Angeles Times, Hinterland Gazette, Daily Mail and The Raw Story

Nick Gillespie / The Daily Beast:

It's Not Racist to Hate Government — Despite Obamacare's ‘success,’ the president's approval ratings are at record lows, and the midterms look shaky. So who can blame Democrats for painting their rivals as Cliven Bundys? — As Marge Schott-impersonator Donald Sterling and honorary professor …

Discussion: Yahoo! News and Hit & Run