memeorandum: NC governor: Washington lacks ‘executive leadership’ (Justin Sink/The Hill)

9:30 AM ET, May 4, 2013

Top Items:

Barbara Starr / CNN:

Sources: U.S. believes Israel has conducted an airstrike into Syria — (CNN) — The United States believes Israel has conducted an airstrike into Syria, two U.S. officials tell CNN. — U.S. and Western intelligence agencies are reviewing classified data showing Israel most likely conducted …

Discussion: BizPac Review, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, AL.com and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Lindsey Graham: ‘Israel bombed Syria tonight’ — COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham told a crowd here Friday night that Israel has bombed Syria. — Graham, a Republican who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was addressing the South Carolina Republican Party's annual Silver Elephant fundraising dinner.

Discussion: CNN

Reuters:

Obama tells Mexicans a ‘new Mexico’ is emerging — (Reuters) - President Barack Obama told the Mexican people on Friday that he sees a “new Mexico” emerging, with a deepening democracy and growing economy, and that Mexico and the United States should be viewed as equal partners.

Discussion: Doug Ross, The Gateway Pundit, Right Wing Watch, The Right Scoop, Twitchy and Conservatives4Palin

World News:

Israeli launch airstrikes into Syria, possibly targeting delivery systems for chemical weapons, US officials say — Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes against targets inside Syria on Friday, U.S. officials told NBC News. — It's believed the primary target was a shipment of weapons headed for Hezbollah in Lebanon, they said.

Discussion: The Agonist

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Michelle Obama: Gun violence has children fearing death every day

Discussion: Politico, Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit

Miketoole / CBS Boston:

CBS News: Boston Marathon Bomb DNA Does Not Match Tamerlan Tsarnaev's Wife — BOSTON (CBS) - Female DNA and fingerprints found on a bomb fragment recovered from the Boston Marathon attacks do not match the widow of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, CBS News reported Friday.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and The Right Scoop

Sari Horwitz / Washington Post:
Investigators sharpen focus on Boston bombing suspect's widow

Discussion: Hot Air and The Jawa Report

CNN:
Family claims shunned bombing suspect's body

Discussion: The Daily Caller

James Hohmann / Politico:

Sarah Palin gets standing O from NRA crowd — HOUSTON — Sarah Palin said Friday that the elite media would never let a Republican president get away with what Barack Obama has done in his push for new gun laws. — The former Alaska governor recalled that the national press “tore apart” …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Ashley Killough / CNN:
Palin fires up NRA crowd, hits Obama for using Newtown families

Discussion: Politico, Riehl World News and Wake up America

Tom Kostigen / fa-mag.com:

Harvard Professor Trashes Keynes For Homosexuality — Harvard Professor and author Niall Ferguson says John Maynard Keynes' economic philosophy was flawed and he didn't care about future generations because he was gay and didn't have children. — Speaking at the Tenth Annual Altegris Conference …

Discussion: Business Insider and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Hunter Walker / Talking Points Memo:

NRA's Big Meeting Will Warn Of Terrifying Gun-Free Future — Part of this year's annual meeting of the National Rifle Association, which officially kicked off Friday in Houston, will encourage attendees to imagine a terrifying firearm-free alternate reality where the U.S. government has thrown gun owners into prison.

Discussion: nraam.org, msnbc.com and Gawker

Andy Greenberg / Forbes:

This Is The World's First Entirely 3D-Printed Gun (Photos) — The 3D-printed gun that Cody Wilson calls the “Liberator.” Click to enlarge. (Credit: Michael Thad Carter for Forbes) — Eight months ago, Cody Wilson set out to create the world's first entirely 3D-printable handgun. — Now he has.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Wake up America, Hit & Run, Business Insider, TechCrunch and American Spectator

Justin Sink / The Hill:

NC governor: Washington lacks ‘executive leadership’ — North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) said on Saturday in the weekly Republican address that a lack of “executive leadership” in Washington meant that federal lawmakers should grant states “independence and flexibility” to spur economic growth.

Discussion: CNN

David Alexander / Reuters:

Guantanamo camp burns through $900,000 a year per inmate — (Reuters) - It's been dubbed the most expensive prison on Earth and President Barack Obama cited the cost this week as one of many reasons to shut down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, which burns through some $900,000 per prisoner annually.

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:

How to State the Keynesian Argument Correctly — Helena Pinto reads End This Depression Now by Paul Krugman in a bookstore in Coruna, northwestern Spain. — This Alex Tabarrok post on growth in the face of fiscal austerity annoyed me as did his co-blogger Tyler Cowen chiming in to say Tabarrok had “nailed it”.

Discussion: Marginal Revolution, Paul Krugman, Brad DeLong and AEIdeas

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Wealthy exec poised to take on Al Franken — A wealthy Minneapolis finance executive appears poised to enter the race against first-term Democratic Sen. Al Franken. — In an email earlier this week, a private real estate company solicited assistance in finding a campaign headquarters …

Discussion: Red Racing Horses

Rory Carroll / Guardian:

Hollywood conservative unmasked as notorious Holocaust revisionist — Republican Party Animals operator David Stein says he is really David Cole, and that he still holds controversial views — To those who knew him, or thought they knew him, he was a cerebral, fun-loving gadfly …

David Davis / Telegraph:

Tories must start listening to ordinary voters, not their old school chums — When Ukip gave the Conservative leadership a fright at the Eastleigh by-election, the knee-jerk response from the hierarchy was: “There will be no lurch to the Right!” — On the subsequent Sunday …

Discussion: BBC and Guardian

Hunter Schwarz / BuzzFeed:

CNN Panelist Calls Mitt Romney A “Religious Fanatic” For Encouraging Mormon Graduates To Have Families — Romney was criticized on CNN after talking to graduates at a predominantly Mormon university about the importance of marriage and family. — Mitt Romney spoke at Southern Virginia University commencement last week.

Discussion: National Review and TheBlaze.com

BBC:

Google edition adopts ‘Palestine’ — Internet giant Google has changed the tagline on the front page of its Palestinian edition from “Palestinian Territories” to “Palestine”. — It means the page www.google.ps now displays “Palestine” in Arabic under the main Google logo.

Discussion: Guardian, FP Passport and Joe. My. God.

The Atlantic Wire:

The Drudge Report Fell Hard for This Fake Bloomberg Pizza Revenge Story — Plenty of people fell for a harmless, Onion-esque satire about pizza on Thursday night, but the biggest fish reeled in by the the humor site that likes to reel in big fish appears to be Matt Drudge.

Discussion: Business Insider, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Politico

Jerusalem Center For Public Affairs:

Iran's Plans to Take Over Syria — In mid-April, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah paid a secret visit to Tehran where he met with the top Iranian officials headed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Gen. Qasem Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, TheTower.org and Washington Free Beacon