Comment On Video: Army Marks 237th Birthday With Tank Of 6,500 Cupcakes

The U.S. Department of Transportation has money available that can be quickly deployed in repairing the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told members of Washington’s congressional delegation on Friday morning. U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen and Suzan DelBene, and Sen. Maria Cantwell conferred by phone with LaHood and Deputy []

After a Senate committee passed the Gang of Eight immigration bill this week, audience members at the hearing chanted, "Sí se puede." That might not be the case once it's the House's turn to take up immigration reform.    

From the May 24 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:Related: Wash. Post: Code Pink Founder Medea Benjamin Heckles Obama Repeatedly Previously: Limbaugh Conspiracy Theory: Violence Goes Unprosecuted In Chicago To Prove The Need For New Gun Laws Limbaugh Conspiracy: Health Care Officials Will Register Voters As Democrats And "Smear Republicans" Limbaugh's Conspiracy Theory: Al Qaeda "Gave Up Osama Bin Laden" To Make "Obama Look Good"

In case you haven't been following, the hot new right-wing narrative is that President Obama, despite not having any provable connection to the IRS's inappropriate targeting of conservative non-profit groups, is nonetheless culpable because he exerts subtle influence over low-level bureaucrats which leads them to act out against conservatives and the Tea Party. The chief proponent of this theory has been the Wall Street Journal editorial page -- specifically, Journal editorial board member Kimberley Strassel, who has devoted her last two weekly columns to Bureaucrat Whispering. Her May 24 column can be viewed as Bureaucrat Whispering's apotheosis, as she argues that if the country really wants to "get to the bottom of the IRS scandal," it must look to the White House, which was not involved in the actual scandal: None of this proves that Mr. Obama was involved in the IRS targeting of conservative nonprofits. But it does help explain how we got an environment in which the IRS thought this was acceptable. The rise of conservative organizations (to match liberal groups that had long played in politics), and their effectiveness in the 2004 election (derided broadly by liberals as "swift boating"), led to a new and organized campaign in 2008 to chill conservative donors and groups via the threat of government investigation and prosecution. The tone in any organization--a charity, a corporation, the U.S. government--is set at the top. This history also casts light on White House claims that it was clueless about the IRS's targeting. As Huffington Post's Howard Fineman wrote this week: "With two winning presidential campaigns built on successful grassroots fundraising, with a former White House counsel (in 2010-11) who is one of the Democrats' leading experts on campaign law (Bob Bauer), with former top campaign officials having been ensconced as staffers in the White House . . . it's hard to imagine that the Obama inner circle was oblivious to the issue of what the IRS was doing in Cincinnati." More like inconceivable. And this history exposes the left's hollow claim that the IRS mess rests on Citizens United. The left was targeting conservative groups and donors well before the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling on independent political expenditures by corporations. If the country wants to get to the bottom of the IRS scandal, it must first remember the context for this abuse. That context leads to this White House. I've been going hard at this over the past week and believe me I'd like to stop, but they keep going back to the well. 

Fox News personalities have seized on the brutal killing of a soldier in London to rail against immigration, claiming that immigration policies are partly to blame for the attacks. Conservative media figures similarly used the Boston bombing to condemn immigration and undermine immigration reform.British Soldier Killed In Brutal Attack In London WSJ: Two Men Arrested For Killing Soldier In London. The Wall Street Journal reported: The second man arrested on suspicion of murdering a British soldier near an army barracks here on Wednesday has been identified as 22-year-old Michael Adebowale, a British official confirmed, as antiterror police continued their investigation into the macabre attack. As previously reported, Mr. Adebowale's alleged accomplice is 28-year-old Michael Adebolajo. Both are British citizens of Nigerian descent, according to people familiar with the matter. Both men were arrested at the scene of Wednesday afternoon's daylight attack in Woolwich in southeast London on suspicion of murder. Witnesses at the scene described watching two men attack and kill a man--now identified as 25-year-old British soldier Lee Rigby --with knives and a meat cleaver. The two suspects, who were both shot by police at the scene, remain in the hospital where they are being treated for injuries and are in police custody. [The Wall Street Journal, 5/24/13] Conservative Media Blame London Murder On Immigration Policies Michelle Malkin Blamed "Lax Deportation Policies And An Unwillingness To Screen Out And Profile Islamic Militants" For Attack. On Hannity, Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin blamed the attack on what she claimed were "lax deportation policies" and the country's "unwillingness to screen out and profile Islamic militants": MALKIN: [I]n large part, unfortunately, in British culture, among the progressives there, they brought it on themselves in some ways because of lax deportation policies, and an unwillingness to screen out and profile Islamic militants who are now doing this in a homegrown manner on British soil. It's tragic. [] And the problem is that those kind[s] of PC policies, lax immigration policies, refusal to do Islamic militant profiling has yes, led to dead bodies in America and around the world. [Fox News, Hannity, 5/22/13] Brian Kilmeade Suggested Loose Immigration Policies Were To Blame For Attack. On Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade linked immigration to the attack, questioning why the suspected attackers were in London. He then stated: "I'd like to get a little bit tougher when it comes to our -- inquisitive when it comes to immigration." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 5/23/13] Andrea Tantaros Claimed Europe's Open Immigration Policies Toward North African Countries Are A Factor In The Murder. Discussing the London attack on The Five, co-host Andrea Tantaros claimed that Europe's immigration policies toward North African countries have created "big problems" for the continent because younger North African immigrants "are more radical than their parents": TANTAROS: When I lived in France, they -- and they have a similar problem with England, and so does Germany. [] They came -- they emigrated -- these countries asked them to come to the country to work. They had an employment problem. A lot of these Muslims countries, Northern African countries, they emigrated to these countries, and now you have the younger generation that are more radical than their parents. And they have big problems on their hands because of immigration. [Fox News, The Five, 5/22/13] Bob Beckel Linked London Terrorist Attack To Immigration. On The Five co-host Bob Beckel claimed the London attack was a direct result of Britain's immigration policies, saying it "is a product of the British allowing Muslims to come into their country." He added: "We better take a hard look at our immigration policy and the people we are allowing in here if they're going to come in here and preach hatred to us." Tantaros agreed, saying, "This is exactly how it started in Europe: Immigration": BECKEL: I mean we better take a hard look at our immigration policy and the people we are allowing in here, if they're going to come in here and preach hatred to us or they're going to send their students here to get their best education and then they turn out to be radicals, then we have to ask ourselves a hard question, should we do it? [] TANTAROS: I actually commend you Bob. I agree with you on the immigration point. This is exactly how it started in Europe. Immigration. Allowing them to come in carte blanche to European countries in the '60s, to allow them to work. They stayed, their kids are becoming radicalized. We are at risk of the same thing. [Fox News, The Five, 5/23/13] Laura Ingraham: Terrorist Attack "Ties Into A Lot Of Issues" Such As "The Broadening Of Asylum, Here, For People From Islamic Countries." On her radio show, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham tied the London terrorist attack to "the broadening of asylum, here, for people from Islamic countries," "the debate about political correctness," and "the debate about immigration." From Laura Ingraham's radio show: INGRAHAM: So British problem with Islamism. Could we see that kind of problem develop here in the United States? Well if we're not careful - and I told my staff this yesterday. I wanted them, the guys to think about this, this issue ties into a lot of issues. It ties into the broadening of asylum, here, for people from Islamic countries, it ties into the debate about political correctness, it ties into the debate about immigration. It doesn't mean that everyone who is Muslim shouldn't - that no person who is Muslim shouldn't be able to come to the country. I'm not saying that. But it does inform our conversation about how we have to absolutely ensure that people who come to this country buy into the American value system. [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 5/23/13] Conservative Media Similarly Used Boston Bombing To Condemn Immigration Mark Levin: "We Have To Put The Brakes On" Immigration Reform. On his radio show, frequent Fox guest Mark Levin concluded a discussion of the Boston attacks with a call to halt immigration reform, saying, "We need to put the brakes on this stuff right now." [Cumulus Media Networks, The Mark Levin Show, 4/19/13] Fox News Contributor Laura Ingraham Claimed That Immigration Bill "Needs To Be Stopped." Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham said that there are "national security implications that we don't talk about with enough frankness" on the April 16 edition of her radio show, using the Boston attacks to stoke fears about immigration reform. Ingraham then claimed on April 22 that immigration legislation "[d]oesn't need to be delayed. It needs to be stopped." [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 4/16/13, 4/22/13] Ann Coulter: Boston Bombers Were "Unemployed Losers - The Kind Of Immigrant U.S. Welcomes." On the Friday following the attacks on Boston, Ann Coulter wrote on Twitter, "It's too bad Suspect # 1 won't be able to be legalized by Marco Rubio, now." She later tweeted: "Suspects' uncle of  says they were unemployed losers - the kind of immigrant U.S. welcomes! Danish surgeons: Sorry, no room," and "Our immigration policies are insane. Mass amnesty is not the solution." [Twitter, 4/19/13, 4/19/13, 4/19/13]