memeorandum: America's Most Wasted: A wake-up call for Congress about out -of-control spending (Sen. John McCain/Fox News)

2:30 PM ET, May 8, 2015

Top Items:

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Nate Silver: Polls are failing us — Nate Silver fared terribly in Thursday's UK election: In his pre-election forecast, he gave 278 seats to Conservatives and 267 to Labour. Shortly after midnight, he was forecasting 272 seats for Conservatives and 271 for Labour.

Discussion: New York Times, Hot Air, Guardian, Althouse and neo-neocon

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

The World May Have A Polling Problem — It's becoming increasingly clear that pre-election polls underestimated how well Conservatives would do and overestimated Labour's result. The BBC's exit poll was one early sign. But we're now seeing Conservatives outperform their poll-based projections …

Discussion: New York Times, Guardian, neo-neocon, Washington Post, Hit & Run, Betsy's Page, The Reaction, Reuters, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, BBC, RedState, Power Line and Seanet

New York Times:

David Cameron and Conservatives Get Majority in British Election — LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservatives won a resounding victory in the British general election, with nearly complete results on Friday showing that the party had secured an overall majority in Parliament.

Discussion: US News, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite and Reuters

Noelle Knox / POLITICO:

10 take-aways from the UK elections — What a breathless, barmy time this is. The exit polls made monkeys of us all, which was a fitting way for these Neanderthal elections to conclude. There is no silence more delicious than that of a political class gobsmacked into speechlessness.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Towleroad News #gay

Nick Gass / Politico:

Messina trounces Axelrod in British elections — The British Conservative Party's electoral victory “stunned the world,” Jim Messina said Friday, commenting on results that defied the dead heat that most polls had predicted. — With the Tories securing a surprisingly decisive victory …

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, Washington Monthly, The Independent and The PJ Tatler

Washington Post:
Conservatives claim decisive win in British election, defying predictions

Discussion: The Nation, Telegraph, CNN, The Week and Hot Air

Guardian:
Ed Miliband resigns as Labour leader

Discussion: Associated Press, The Week and Shakesville

Fox News:
Landslide: British PM Cameron, Tories trounce Labour party

Discussion: Washington Post, Bloomberg Business, Daily Mail, Scared Monkeys, Western Journalism, The Atlantic and Reuters

Richard Sandomir / New York Times:

Bill Simmons and ESPN Are Parting Ways — Bill Simmons, who built a personal empire at ESPN and is one of America's most influential sports personalities, will leave the media giant when his contract expires in the fall. He and the company were unable to reach an extension after months of talks.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, SportsGrid, Wall Street Journal, Deadspin, The Week, CBS Seattle, TVNewser, Mediaite, Poynter. and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

KUSA-TV:

Restaurant to host ‘White Appreciation Day’ — The Hispanic owners of the restaurant in Milliken say “all Americans should be celebrated.” 9NEWS at 9 p.m. 05/07/15. — The Hispanic owners of the restaurant in Milliken say “all Americans should be celebrated.” — CONNECT

Discussion: Q13 FOX News and Western Journalism

USA Today:

BBQ joint to host ‘White Appreciation Day’ — MILLIKEN, Colo. — The Hispanic owners of a barbecue restaurant in Milliken say they plan to host a “White Appreciation Day” next month. — What started as a joke is now on the calendar. Edgar Antillon and Miguel Jimenez recently purchased Rubbin Buttz BBQ on Broad Street.

Discussion: Raw Story

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, Senators Both, Lead Republican Attacks on Congress — WASHINGTON — His voice exuding disgust, Jeb Bush could have been describing a blistering rash. — “I'm not a United States senator — thank God,” he told a ballroom full of people here the other day.

Discussion: Shakesville, Politico and Washington Post

Brendan Bordelon / National Review:
How Five Republicans Let Congress Keep Its Fraudulent Obamacare Subsidies

Discussion: RedState, Chicago Boyz, Instapundit, Hot Air and Power Line

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Walker hits bump in '16 race

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hot Air, Liberaland, Washington Post and Politico

Manu Raju / Politico:
GOP consultant on hot seat over Rand Paul attack

Discussion: Hullabaloo and RedState

John Harwood / CNBC:

Maverick candidate Ben Carson's ‘no-brainer’ offer — Can Dr. Ben Carson succeed in politics? — CNBC's John Harwood talks with Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson about his political aspirations, belief in self-reliance and the current economic and racial tensions facing the country.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Yahoo! Finance, New York Times and Hit & Run

James Hohmann / Politico:

Insiders say Bush shouldn't ignore Iowa — His poor poll numbers there, they say, are mostly caused by a lack of attention to the Hawkeye State thus far. — Jeb Bush's failure to invest time in Iowa is the main explanation for his seventh-place finish in the latest poll of likely Republican caucusgoers.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Bloomberg View and Booman Tribune

Alex Roarty / National Journal:
Why Jeb Bush Can't Spend His Way to the Win

Discussion: Washington Post

Nelson D. Schwartz / New York Times:

U.S. Economy Added 223,000 Jobs in April; Unemployment Rate at 5.4% — The American job market rebounded in April, the government said Friday, as employers added 223,000 positions and the unemployment rate decreased to 5.4 percent. — The April figures from the Labor Department came …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Guardian, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Outside the Beltway, ThinkProgress, NPR, The Week, Reuters, The Atlantic and Bloomberg Business

Lucia Mutikani / Reuters:
Job growth regains steam, keeping Fed rate hike on track

Discussion: Hot Air and Balloon Juice

Sen. John McCain / Fox News:

America's Most Wasted: A wake-up call for Congress about out -of-control spending — Unnecessary, wasteful government spending is today putting America on a dangerous path, as we burden future generations with a mounting national debt - now totaling more than $18 trillion.

Discussion: BarbWire.com and No More Mister Nice Blog

Tami Luhby / CNNMoney:

America's poor are ‘envy of the world,’ says richest Congressman — Darrell Issa, the richest man in Congress, said America has made “our poor somewhat the envy of the world.” — Asked by CNNMoney whether he feels personally responsible to address income inequality in the United States …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Shakesville, Raw Story and CNN

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

Record number of Americans abroad giving up citizenship — A record 1,335 Americans living overseas renounced their citizenship in the first three months of 2015, according to the Internal Revenue Service. — That number is 18 percent higher than the previous record, according to Bloomberg.

Discussion: Political Wire

Eugene Volokh / Washington Post:

No, there's no “hate speech” exception to the First Amendment — I keep hearing about a supposed “hate speech” exception to the First Amendment, or statements such as, “This isn't free speech, it's hate speech,” or “When does free speech stop and hate speech begin?”

Discussion: The Fiscal Times and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Economist:

The dawn of artificial intelligence — Powerful computers will reshape humanity's future. How to ensure the promise outweighs the perils — From the print edition — “THE development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” Stephen Hawking warns.

Discussion: Shot in the Dark

Michael E. Miller / Washington Post:

‘Shawshank’ prison escape ends 56 years later with cinematic stakeout — A man convicted of manslaughter who escaped from an Ohio prison farm in 1959 was arrested in Florida Monday. But a friend says she hopes 79-year-old Frank Freshwater won't be sentenced. (AP)

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Business:

How A Ragtag Group Of Lefties Mainlined Debt-Free College Into The Democratic Primary — A group of two dozen young activists working out of homes and coffee shops around the country has achieved something rather unusual: mainlining an idea into the upper echelons of the Democratic Party …