I.R.S. Focus on Conservatives Gives G.O.P. an Issue to Seize On  —  WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service's special scrutiny of small-government groups applying for tax-exempt status went beyond keyword hunts for organizations with “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in their names …

19 injured in New Orleans parade shooting  —  (CNN) — Abdul Aziz believes he was standing right next to a shooter Sunday when gunmen opened fire at a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans, injuring 19 people.  —  “Everyone around me, except me, was shot,” he said.  “I was pretty fortunate to get away.”

First Thoughts: The White House's terrible, horrible Friday spills over  —  The White House's terrible, horrible Friday spills over... Why the IRS story packs a bigger political punch... The White House's slow response to both the IRS and Benghazi stories... Q&A time for Obama …

Carl Bernstein: IRS targeting not Watergate  —  Journalist Carl Bernstein said President Barack Obama is no Richard Nixon on Monday, and he would know.  —  “It's terrible,” Bernstein said of the IRS's targeting of conservative groups during an appearance on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.”  “Outrageous.

Minnesota poised to become 12th state to adopt same-sex marriage … ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Reuters) - The Minnesota Senate is expected to give final approval on Monday to a bill that would make the state the 12th in the United States to allow same-sex couples to marry and only the second in the Midwest.

Clintons freeze out Weiner  —  Bill and Hillary Clinton will not support Anthony Weiner in his dream of becoming mayor even though they love his wife, Huma Abedin, sources say.  “The Clintons wish Weiner would just disappear.  Every time he pops up, it's a reminder of Bill's scandal with Monica Lewinsky …

Walters to Announce 2014 Retirement on ‘The View’  —  On the program she invented, on the network where she worked for the past 37 years, on the medium where she broke barriers and rules for more than 50 years, Barbara Walters will announce on Monday morning, definitively and with no regrets, that she is calling it a career.

With Benghazi Video, Karl Rove Kicks Off 2016 With Hillary Clinton Hit  —  The permanent campaign has arrived, and it's carried on a wave of dark money, writes John Avlon.  —  Less than five months after Barack Obama began his second term, the 2016 presidential campaign kicked off this weekend …

Holding Ourselves Accountable  —  By Matthew Winkler 2013-05-13T04:11:33Z  —  As I wrote in “The Bloomberg Way,” our guide for reporters and editors, “The appearance of impropriety can be as damaging to a reputation as doing something improper.  Because we hold others accountable for disclosure, we expect the same of ourselves.

How Austerity Kills  —  EARLY last month, a triple suicide was reported in the seaside town of Civitanova Marche, Italy.  A married couple, Anna Maria Sopranzi, 68, and Romeo Dionisi, 62, had been struggling to live on her monthly pension of around 500 euros (about $650), and had fallen behind on rent.

Bill Gates on Steve Jobs: We grew up together  —  We've seen plenty of Bill Gates on television, but we'd never seen him get emotional before.  It was a striking, yet subtle moment in Gates' 60 Minutes interview this week when Charlie Rose asked him about his longtime business rival, the late Steve Jobs.