memeorandum: Why is the government out to destroy vaping? (Kyle Smith/New York Post)

1:50 AM ET, May 2, 2016

Top Items:

Dylan Matthews / Vox:

Obama's “Trudge up the Hill” joke wasn't really about Hillary. It was a Bernie Sanders dig — Out of President Obama's roughly thirty-minute set at the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night, one joke stands out as unusually revealing of how the president thinks about politics.

Discussion: Scripting News

Emily Heil / Washington Post:

Nerdy fight breaks out at WHCD afterparty between Fox News and Huffington Post reporters — For an event held at the soaring U.S. Institute of Peace building in Foggy Bottom, the swanky afterparty hosted by MSNBC following the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner sure saw some conflict.

Discussion: TheBlaze.com, Complex, Heat Street, Hullabaloo, Politico, Mediaite and TVNewser

Ezra Klein / Vox:

The joke was that Obama wasn't joking — The White House Correspondents' Dinner has become a strange event. It is, ostensibly, an evening when the president and the press can come together to share a few lighthearted laughs. But it's evolved into a recital of brutal truths — albeit one neither side ever really admits happened.

Discussion: bradford-delong.com

Tim Graham / NewsBusters:
At WH Correspondents Dinner, Larry Wilmore Smears Fox News as Racist, Hails Obama as ‘My N*gga’

Discussion: New York Times, CNNMoney, The Gateway Pundit and Deadline, more at Mediagazer »

Brian Flood / The Wrap:
Fox News' Jesse Watters, HuffPost Reporter Get Into Fight After White House Correspondents' Dinner (Photo)

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Kristen East / Politico:
Obama's top 10 jokes at the correspondents' dinner

Discussion: The Hill, ABC News, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, New York Times, Guardian and People.com

Ian Hanchett / Breitbart: Obama To Press: You Have ‘Responsibility’ ‘To Question,’ Thanks For Working ‘Side-By-Side’ With Me

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:

Sanders: ‘The convention will be a contested contest’ — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders — on Sunday said there will be a “contested contest.” — In a news conference from Washington, D.C., on Sunday, the Vermont senator urged superdelegates from states where he has won …

Discussion: New York Magazine and Talking Points Memo

Ros Krasny / Bloomberg:

Bernie Sanders Vows Contested Convention, Makes Case for Superdelegate Flips — The Vermont senator continued to argue that he could still win the Democratic nomination. — aritbenie — Bernie Sanders on Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of his bid for the White House by vowing …

Discussion: liberalamerica.org

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Donald Trump Leads Cruz by 15 Points in Crucial Indiana Race — ‘Stop Trump’ movement's hopes hinge on Indiana primary 3:44 — Donald Trump holds a 15-point lead over Ted Cruz in the potentially decisive May 3 presidential primary race in Indiana, according to results from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll.

Discussion: Washington Post, Guardian, Independent Journal …, whorunsGov, The Last Refuge, ABC News, Slantpoint, New York Times, New York Magazine and Hot Air

John Wagner / Washington Post: Sanders makes a public plea for Democratic superdelegates to switch allegiances

John Wagner / Washington Post: Bernie Sanders's fundraising drops off sharply in April

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

CRUZ POACHES NEARLY ALL AZ DELEGATES=> Former Gov. Jan Brewer Screams “I Got CheaTED!” — Donald Trump won the Arizona Republican primary with 47% of the vote to second place Ted Cruz with 25%. — Trump won all 58 delegates in Arizona. — But that didn't stop the Cruz campaign …

Discussion: RedState, TheBlaze.com and BizPac Review

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Ted Cruz's Support Softens Among the Delegates He Courted

Discussion: Washington Post and Real Clear Politics

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Watch Ted Cruz Argue With Disabled Man's Family About Health Care

Discussion: Raw Story

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Heidi Cruz says ‘Ted is an immigrant’

Discussion: Washington Post, Breitbart, Independent Journal …, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Gateway Pundit, Fox News Insider and BizPac Review

Sara Jerde / Talking Points Memo:
Cruz On Bathroom Bill: Transgender Individuals Aren't ‘The Real Danger’

Discussion: Mediaite

Stephanie Wang / Indianapolis Star:
Poll: Ted Cruz leads Donald Trump in Indiana

Discussion: Washington Monthly, AOL, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Caller, Western Journalism, RedState, WISH-TV and Vox

Andrew Sullivan / New York Magazine:

America Has Never Been So Ripe for Tyranny … Illustration by — As this dystopian election campaign has unfolded, my mind keeps being tugged by a passage in Plato's Republic. It has unsettled — even surprised — me from the moment I first read it in graduate school.

Christopher Ingraham / Washington Post:

Toddlers have shot at least 23 people this year — This past week, a Milwaukee toddler fatally shot his mother after finding a handgun in the back seat of the car they were riding in. The case drew a lot of national attention given the unusual circumstances: Little kids rarely kill people, intentionally or not.

Discussion: WRDW-TV

Story Hinckley / Christian Science Monitor:

As deadlines come and go, Puerto Rico's debt crisis grows — Puerto Rico's May 1 deadline on a $422-million debt payment has arrived, and US lawmakers are no closer to finding a solution for the island's financial woes. — Most of Sunday's payment is principal and interest due …

Discussion: Forbes and Washington Post

Bloomberg:
Puerto Rico Will Default on Government Development Bank Debt

Discussion: Business Insider

Molly Worthen / New York Times:

Stop Saying ‘I Feel Like’ — IN American politics, few forces are more powerful than a voter's vague intuition. “I support Donald Trump because I feel like he is a doer,” a senior at the University of South Carolina told Cosmopolitan. “Personally, I feel like Bernie Sanders is too idealistic …

Kyle Smith / New York Post:

Why is the government out to destroy vaping? — MORE FROM: — If a new delivery-room procedure reduced deaths of mothers during labor by 95%, CNN and “60 Minutes” would do special hour-long tributes and the new technique would quickly become mandatory. — If a new safety gadget inside automobiles …

Discussion: The San Diego Union …

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

The Reagan Coalition Is Dead. What's Next For Conservatism? — Ronald Reagan swept to two landslide victories on the strength of his famous three-legged stool—economic conservatism, social conservatism and an internationalist, hawkish foreign policy. But the elements of the Reagan coalition …

Gov. Doug Ducey / Arizona Republic:

Trump campaign irate over defeat in Arizona delegate vote — Last Video — Trump supporters threaten legal action over convention results — DeWit says Trump will challenge GOP results Gov. Doug Ducey urges party unification Treasurer Jeff DeWit: Send Trump to Washington Gov. Doug Ducey on presidential politics

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Independent Journal … and Fox News

John McCormick / Bloomberg:
As Cruz Dominates Delegate Contests, Trump Says Race is ‘Over’

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and ABC News

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Pennsylvania GOP senator on collision course with Trump — Republican Sen. Pat Toomey's reelection bid is on a collision course with the most dominant force in GOP politics. — The biggest challenge to Toomey's reelection might not be Democrats, but Donald Trump

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Booman Tribune

CNN:

U.S. cruise sets sail for Cuba; first voyage in decades draws protests — Miami (CNN)The first U.S. cruise ship bound for Cuba in decades set sail Sunday as salsa music played and protesters picketed nearby. — Standing beside a Cuban flag and an American flag, the cruise manager touted the journey as “the beginning of a new era.”

Discussion: The Hill and The Week