memeorandum: Harry Reid: No Senate Benghazi panel (Burgess Everett/Politico)

8:40 PM ET, May 6, 2014

Top Items:

Exclusive: Monica Lewinsky Writes About Her Affair with President Clinton — Monica Lewinsky writes in Vanity Fair for the first time about her affair with President Clinton: “It's time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress.” She also says: “I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton.

Lucy McCalmont / Politico:
Monica Lewinsky in Vanity Fair: Time to burn beret

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, OnPolitics, Outside the Beltway, Yahoo! News and Business Insider

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

Just 7 percent of journalists are Republicans. That's far fewer than even a decade ago. — A majority of American journalists identify themselves as political independents although among those who choose a side Democrats outnumber Republicans four to one, according to a new study …

Discussion: Doug Ross, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Instapundit and National Review

Jim Romenesko:

Survey: Most say journalism is headed in the wrong direction — Profs at the Indiana University School of Journalism surveyed 1,080 journalists and found: — * Six in ten say their newsrooms have shrunk during the past year, while only 13.2% report newsroom growth.

Discussion: The Dish, Firedoglake and The Huffington Post

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

John Kerry: I'll comply with House GOP's Benghazi request — Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday indicated he would comply with a House GOP subpoena to testify about Benghazi and other questions from the new select committee appointed by House Speaker John Boehner.

Discussion: Hot Air and Mediaite

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Harry Reid: No Senate Benghazi panel — 'There won't be one. There's no conspiracy here, it was a tragedy,' Reid said. Getty — Close — The Senate will not form a select committee to investigate the White House's handling of an attack on a Libyan consulate in 2012, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday.

Discussion: CNN

Juan Williams / The Hill:
House GOP walking into a trap

Discussion: CNN

Emily Schultheis / Politico:

House candidate: I'd ‘rather see’ terror attack than TSA screening — A candidate for Congress in Georgia said earlier this year that he'd rather see another terrorist attack on the United States than have Transportation Security Agency screenings at airports.

Discussion: Daily Mail, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Business Insider, Daily Kos, Political Insider blog and The Week

Aaron C. Davis / Washington Post:

D.C. Council to vote on broad new tax on insurance to cover city's health care exchange — The District's health exchange has a problem — a big money problem. — Like the 14 states that started online marketplaces, the District faces a year-end deadline to prove its Web site …

Discussion: Firedoglake, NewsBusters and Conservative Intelligence …

Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:
Mortality Drop Seen to Follow '06 Health Law

Discussion: The Hill, healthinsurance.org, The Dish, The New Republic, Hit & Run, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, WJLA-TV, The Reality-Based Community, Talking Points Memo, The Incidental Economist, Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire, The Mahablog and Prairie Weather

ACP Journal Club:
Changes in Mortality After Massachusetts Health Care Reform: A Quasi-experimental Study

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg View, Forbes, The New Republic, The Incidental Economist, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, National Review, ThinkProgress and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Republican senators turning against their own in 2016 — Fearful of a third successive Democratic triumph, concerned Senate Republicans are turning against 2016 presidential bids by upstart hopefuls within their own ranks. — In forceful comments to The Hill, GOP senators made it plain …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice and Prairie Weather

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
Jeb Bush edges up, Hillary Clinton slightly slides, in CNN 2016 poll

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Bloomberg View and Shakesville

Jason Leopold / Al Jazeera America:

EXCLUSIVE: EMAILS REVEAL CLOSE GOOGLE RELATIONSHIP WITH NSA — National Security Agency head and Internet giant's executives have coordinated through high-level policy discussions — Email exchanges between National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander and Google executives Sergey Brin …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, FishbowlDC, Business Insider and The Daily Banter

Cornelius Swart / KGW-TV:

Gov. Kitzhaber helps save woman's life — PORTLAND — Oregon's governor performed CPR on an unconscious woman in downtown Portland Monday, providing her medical assistance and helping to keep her alive until paramedics could arrive. — Gov. John Kitzhaber was traveling by car through downtown Portland …

Discussion: OnPolitics, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo and Fox News Insider

Gov. John Kitzhaber / Oregonian:
Gov. John Kitzhaber performs CPR on woman lying unconscious on Portland street

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and CNN

Jake Sherman / Politico:

Nancy Pelosi calls for split Benghazi panel — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the select committee probing the attack in Benghazi should be split equally between Democrats and Republicans. — “If this review is to be fair, it must be truly bipartisan,” Pelosi said in a Tuesday morning statement.

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, Hot Air and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Anti-Anal Sex Lawmaker Steve Hickey Makes His Crudest Analogy Yet (VIDEO) — To say that Steve Hickey is repulsed by anal sex is to say that South Dakota winters are a bit cold. — But the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based pastor and member of the state's House of Representatives managed to outdo himself on Monday …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Mediaite and The Raw Story

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:

The Supreme Court gives its blessing for prayer at town meetings. Get ready for a lot more Jesus in your life. — The most important turn in Monday's Supreme Court ruling in Town of Greece v. Galloway—a case that probes the constitutionality of explicitly religious prayer in legislative sessions …

Discussion: msnbc.com, law.cornell.edu, American Prospect, SCOTUSblog, Washington Monthly, The Dish, Bloomberg View and Talking Points Memo

Garrett Epps / The Atlantic Online:
With the Supreme Court's Help, Religion Creeps Toward the State

Discussion: Religion Dispatches, ACS Blog, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Hot Air and New York Times

Kathryn A. Wolfe / Politico:

Jay Rockefeller: Some Obama foes think he's the ‘wrong color’ — Sen. Jay Rockefeller unloaded on lawmakers Tuesday, accusing some of blocking efforts to solve urgent problems during Barack Obama's presidency “because he's the wrong color.” — Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who will retire at the end of the year …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

ThinkProgress:

Senate Candidate Belittles His Opponent As Just A Young Woman Who Has No Life Experience — Matt Bevin campaigning in Lexington. — CREDIT: Scott Keyes — MADISONVILLE, Kentucky — Senate candidate Matt Bevin doesn't think much of his potential Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Raw Story

Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:

So Many Jihadists Are Flocking to Libya, It's Becoming ‘Scumbag Woodstock’ — Leaders from at least three of al Qaeda's most virulent affiliates are now in Libya. What are they planning there? — In the nearly 20 months since the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks …

Discussion: Washington Post, The PJ Tatler, Hit & Run and Yahoo! News

David Freedlander / The Daily Beast:

Happy Huckabee Gets Mad — In 2007, Mike Huckabee stood impassively on a Republican presidential debate stage while Mitt Romney tried to embarrass him. A program that Huckabee had instituted in Arkansas gave undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children the right …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Yahoo! News

Laura Smith-Spark / CNN:

Swearing off bad language: Russia bans cussing in films, books, music — (CNN) — Thinking about making a film? Better leave out the foul language if you want it to be seen in Russia. The same goes for plays. Even rock stars will need to leave their potty mouths at home.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Mediaite

Justin Gillis / New York Times:

Wide Impact of Climate Change Already Seen in U.S., Study Says — The effects of human-induced climate change are being felt in every corner of the United States, scientists reported Tuesday, with water growing scarcer in dry regions, torrential rains increasing in wet regions …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire, BillMoyers.com, Re/code, Mediaite, Poynter, Althouse and Politico

Jonathan Shorman / Springfield News-Leader:

Shouting protestors shut down Senate, some arrested — Protestors disrupt Senate News-Leader — JEFFERSON CITY - For about an hour this morning, Medicaid expansion demonstrators shut down the Senate, shouting and praying as police led them away. — Organizers said at least 15 people …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Washington Post

Globe and Mail:

Ford turns back from United States — After announcing he was taking time off to go to rehab, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford boarded a plane to Chicago last Thursday, landed, but then turned around before officially entering the United States. — “He voluntarily withdrew his application to enter the USA …

Discussion: Business Insider, Daily Mail, Guardian, Talking Points Memo and The Week

Erin Dooley / ABC News:

Suspicious Car Led to White House Lockdown — The White House went on lockdown this afternoon around 4:40 p.m. after a car somehow made it past the barricades on Pennsylvania Avenue, authorities said. — Security officials closed the gates, cleared the North Lawn, and asked occupants …

Discussion: WGGB-TV

ThinkProgress:

Koch Group Tries To Sink Ohio Zoo's Tax Proposal: 'There Is No Issue We Won't Get Involved In' — The Columbus, Ohio Zoo never expected such a formidable opponent. — Yet a proposal for a modest tax increase to fund the zoo's programs has attracted the attention of Americans for Prosperity …

Discussion: WBNS-TV, Daily Kos and Facing South

Mary Bruce / ABC News:

Obama Calls Kidnapping Of Nigerian Girls ‘Heartbreaking’ And ‘Outrageous’ — ABC News' Ginger Zee and Mary Bruce report: — Speaking out for the first time on the horrific kidnapping, President Obama on Tuesday called the abduction of the Nigerian school girls “heartbreaking” and “outrageous.”

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press, Mashable and ABC News