memeorandum: Obama Congratulates Michael Sam, White House Says (Betsy Klein/ABC News)

11:35 AM ET, May 11, 2014

Top Items:

Nafeez Ahmed / Guardian:

Behind the rise of Boko Haram - ecological disaster, oil crisis, spy games — Islamist militancy in Nigeria is being strengthened by western and regional fossil fuel interests — The kidnapping of over 200 Nigerian school girls, and the massacre of as many as 300 civilians in the town of Gamboru Ngala …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Gateway Pundit, Right Wing News and Michael J. Totten's blog

Mark Steyn / Steyn Online:

BringBackOurBalls — It is hard not to have total contempt for a political culture that thinks the picture at right is a useful contribution to rescuing 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by jihadist savages in Nigeria. Yet some pajama boy at the White House evidently felt getting the First Lady …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

CNN Poll: Should Obamacare be kept or repealed? — Washington (CNN) - A majority of Americans want to keep the federal health care law as is, or make some changes to improve it, according to a new national poll. — But a CNN/ORC International survey released Sunday also indicates public attitudes …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Prairie Weather

CNN:

Obama congratulates Michael Sam, first openly gay player drafted by NFL — (CNN) — President Barack Obama congratulated Michael Sam on Saturday for being the first openly gay football player taken in the National Football League draft, the White House said in a statement.

Discussion: New York Times, Towleroad and Rumproast

Betsy Klein / ABC News:

Obama Congratulates Michael Sam, White House Says — WASHINGTON — President Obama congratulated Michael Sam today, after he made history as the first openly gay player drafted into the NFL when he was picked by the St. Louis Rams, the White House said. — “The President congratulates Michael Sam …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Associated Press

Dan Merica / CNN:

In memoir excerpts, Clinton honors her mom — Washington (CNN) - Hillary Clinton honored her late mother, Dorothy Howell Rodham, as her life's biggest influence in excerpts from her upcoming memoir, “Hard Choices,” released Sunday by Vogue magazine. — Clinton, whose first grandchild …

Discussion: Politico and Althouse

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

Why Lois Lerner Should Be Granted Immunity — In this week's episode of the Capitol Hill soap opera, Lois Lerner, the apparatchik at the center of the IRS jihad against conservative groups, was at long, long last held in contempt of Congress. Amid the farce, the House's IRS probe is floundering.

Discussion: Hot Air, his vorpal sword and Power Line

Russell Berman / The Hill:
Speaker Boehner stacks special Benghazi committee with lawyers

Discussion: Politico and The PJ Tatler

Bernie Becker / The Hill:
One year later, Republicans put IRS probe on the backburner

Discussion: Hot Air, The Daily Caller and Politico

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Wis. prosecutors abuse the law for partisan ends — U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa, revolted by the police-state arrogance of some elected prosecutors, has stopped a partisan abuse of law enforcement that was masquerading as political hygiene. Last Tuesday, Randa halted the corruption …

Discussion: his vorpal sword, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Instapundit and Althouse

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

With Malice Toward Nuns — WASHINGTON — SO much for all the cozy hugs and soothing cold calls and fun selfies and humble gestures and talk of mercy, love, inclusion, equality and justice. — Pope Francis appears guilty of condoning that most base Vatican sport: bullying nuns.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:

Biden takes shot at Clintons in SC — Vice President Joe Biden gave a closed-door speech Friday to South Carolina Democrats that included a shot at the Clintons. — Biden, a potential 2016 candidate, said the unraveling of middle-class financial security began in “the later years …

Discussion: Liberaland and Hot Air

Peter Hamby / CNN:
Biden delivers ‘Elizabeth Warren-type speech’ at fundraiser

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite, America Rising and The Atlantic Online

ThinkProgress:

Saturday's Illegal Cliven Bundy-Endorsed ATV Rally Runs Through Sacred American Indian Sites — Matt Lee-Ashley is a Senior Fellow with the Public Lands Project at the Center for American Progress. — This Aug. 11, 2009 photo shows a restored cliff dwelling south of Blanding, Utah.

Discussion: The Mahablog, Hullabaloo and Center for American …

Chris Reed / The Daily Caller:

30-year New York Times Science Writer Out After Writing Book About Genetics, Race — Nicholas Wade, a British-born science reporter and editor for more than 30 years with The New York Times, is no longer with the newspaper — just days after the release of his latest book …

Discussion: Vox Popoli

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

Republicans Tighten Grip on Debates in 2016 Race — MEMPHIS — The Republican National Committee moved Friday to seize control of the presidential primary debates in 2016, another step in a coordinated effort by the party establishment to reshape the nominating process.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Washington Monthly