memeorandum: Kansas: The First Abortion-Free State? (Kate Sheppard/Mother Jones)

10:00 PM ET, June 23, 2011

Top Items:

Senator Kyl Drops Out of the Debt Talks, Leaving Zero Republicans at the Table — ABC News' Sunlen Miller (@sunlenmiller) reports: — Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., will also drop out of the debt talks, a source within his office confirms today. The Arizona Republican's office will issue a formal statement shortly.

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Post, TPMDC, The TrogloPundit, Taylor Marsh, The Other McCain, The Daily Dish, Political Punch, The Moderate Voice, YID With LID and HotAirPundit

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

Why Eric Cantor won't make the budget deal — (Brendan Hoffman - Getty Images) Eric Cantor is pulling out of the debt-ceiling talks. But he's not saying they should end. In fact, he's saying they've been very successful thus far. “We have a blueprint to move forward to trillions …

Discussion: TPMDC, Sky Dancing, The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice and Blue Virginia

Wall Street Journal:

Cantor Pulls Out of Biden-Led Budget Talks — WASHINGTON—House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Thursday said he was pulling out of the bipartisan budget talks headed by Vice President Joe Biden for now because the group has reached an impasse over taxes that only President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) could resolve.

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:

How To (Temporarily) Survive a Debtpocalypse — Intra-caucus dynamics on the GOP side seem to be dooming the debt limit talks. Eric Cantor's preference is for John Boehner to sign a deal he can grumble about, so that when the GOP loses seats in 2012 he can challenge Boehner for the leadership.

Discussion: National Review

John R. Parkinson / ABCNEWS:
Top Republicans Walk Out of VP Biden's Debt Talks

Discussion: The Politico and The Note

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Budget Talks Near Collapse as G.O.P. Leader Quits

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Jared Bernstein

Tanya Somanader / ThinkProgress:
McConnell: GOP Would Not Voice Opposition To Libya Campaign If Obama Was A Republican

Discussion: TPMDC and Los Angeles Times

David Rogers / The Politico:
Deficit talks in danger as Eric Cantor bails

Discussion: The Hill, Don Surber, The Reid Report, CNN and Outside the Beltway

Jennifer Steinhauer / The Caucus:
Cantor Quits Biden's Debt Ceiling Talks

Discussion: Weigel, Washington Monthly and TalkLeft

Michele Chabin / USA Today:

U.S. Jews not able to fly on Delta flights to Saudi Arabia — JERUSALEM — Jews and Israelis, or passengers carrying any non-Islamic article of faith, will not be able to fly Delta Air Lines flights from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia under Delta's new partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Discussion: YID With LID, The Sundries Shack, Pajamas Media, Fox Nation, Doug Ross, Weasel Zippers, Runnin' Scared and American Glob

Bob Unruh / WorldNetDaily:

Delta adopts Saudi ‘no-Jew’ fly policy — Challenge to discrimination building as Congress, lawyers warned of plan — Delta Air Lines' plan to add Saudi Arabian Airlines to its SkyTeam Alliance of partnering companies would require the American carrier to ban Jews and holders of Israeli passports …

Discussion: USA Today, The Huffington Post and Atlas Shrugs

The Note:

Mystery Candidate Leads to Walk Out at Ames Straw Poll Land Auction — ABC News' Russell Goldman (@GoldmanRussell) and Arlette Saenz (@ArletteSaenz) report: — A little bit of intrigue at the Ames straw poll land auction... Representatives of Republican candidates are meeting today in Ames …

Discussion: USA Today and Ben Smith's Blog

Craig Robinson / The Iowa Republican:

Thaddeus McCotter Creates Chaos At Straw Poll Auction — At today's Iowa Straw Poll land auction, participating campaigns were surprised by a mystery participant who would not state which campaign she was representing. — Kellie Paschke, a lobbyist whose clients include Iowans for Tax Relief …

Discussion: The Politico and Nice Deb

CNN: Six GOP campaigns land spots for Ames Straw Poll

James Freeman / Wall Street Journal:

Is Rick Running? — A Republican campaign veteran tells us that Texas Governor Rick Perry has decided to run for President, though the official word from Team Perry is still a definite maybe. — A Republican campaign veteran tells us that Texas Governor Rick Perry has decided to run for President …

Discussion: The TrogloPundit, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, USA Today, The Atlantic Online, The Note, Ballot Box, Flap's Blog, The Daily Caller and The Page

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Obama Addresses New York Marriage Equality Bill At LGBT Fundraiser: Issue Best Left To States — President Obama spoke at an LGBT fundraiser this evening in New York City, just as the New York Senate prepares to take up marriage equality legislation. Obama addressed the measure directly …

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement, AMERICAblog Gay and Back2Stonewall.com

Andrew Harmon / Advocate:

Senators to Obama: Time to Evolve — From top right: Senators Jeff Merkley, Kirsten Gillibrand, Al Franken, and Bernie Sanders are among those calling on the president to support marriage equality. — Although White House press secretary Jay Carney said earlier this week that he does …

Discussion: Prop 8 Trial Tracker and Lynn Sweet

Robert Kagan / Washington Post:

Military leaders know Obama's decision is a disaster — The press is reporting that the top military leaders have “endorsed” President Obama's Afghan troop withdrawal decision. With all due respect to the fine reporters, that is not the news. Under our Constitution …

Discussion: Arizona Republic, Hot Air, Guardian, ThinkProgress, New York Times, Pajamas Media, National Review, American Glob and Swampland

New York Times:
Mullen Backs Afghan Pullout Plan but Calls It Riskier

Discussion: CNN and Yahoo! News

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

White House threatens to veto Defense bill — The White House on Thursday threatened to veto the 2012 defense appropriations bill. — “The administration strongly opposes a number of provisions in this bill. If a bill is presented to the President that undermines his ability as commander …

Discussion: The Politico

Robin Bravender / The Politico:
Senate Democrats: Long live the ‘czars’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and American Glob

Dan Berman / The Politico:
Enviros, celebs plan W.H. protest

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, NewsBusters.org blogs and Pirate's Cove

Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:

Confirmed: Obama to Address Same-Sex Marriage Debate Tonight — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney expects President Obama to break his recent silence on same-sex marriage at an LGBT fundraiser tonight. But he doesn't anticipate any surprises, “I'm sure he will mention it,” said Carney to the White House press pool.

Discussion: Gawker, PolitickerNY, Towleroad News #gay and Capitol Confidential

Chris Johnson / Washington Blade:
Carney: Obama to ‘mention’ N.Y. marriage bill, but won't endorse it

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay

TAPPED:

The Rules of the Game — The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza joins a chorus of voices asking political observers not to underestimate Jon Huntsman's chances for winning the Republican nomination. With his decision to skip the Iowa caucuses, Lizza argues, Mitt Romney has made it easy for Huntsman …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Reaction and News Desk

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Romney leads the way in Florida

Discussion: GOP 12, Flap's Blog and Orlando Sentinel

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

EXCLUSIVE — Herman Cain: Jon Stewart Attacked Me 'Because I'm Black' — ThinkProgress filed this report from Iowa Falls, Iowa. — Earlier this month, ThinkProgress reported that GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain told an audience in Pella, Iowa that he would not sign a bill longer than three pages.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, Salon, Fox Nation, The Wire, Wonkette, The Washington Independent and Gawker

Wall Street Journal:

World Oil Reserves Tapped — U.S., 27 Countries Intervene and Release 60 Million Barrels to Drive Down Prices — The U.S. and 27 other countries agreed Thursday to release 60 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves, temporarily driving down oil prices to a four-month low …

Discussion: Calculated Risk and Ricochet Conversation Feed

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

Answering Andrew Sullivan on Allison Benedikt — Andrew weighs in on the Benedikt controversy with a thoughtful post, which you should read in full. He writes, at the end: … The outrage comes form the fact that many of us — I would dare say most American Jews — believe that you just don't get to walk away.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Water Over Rocks, The Reality-Based Community and National Review

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

‘Mission accomplished,’ Obama style — There was no banner, no naval cheering section, no aircraft-carrier landing and — thank heavens — no flight suit. But make no mistake: President Obama gave his own version of a “mission accomplished” speech Wednesday.

Discussion: New York Times and Weekly Standard

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
President Obama's Afghanistan speech confirms America's decline

Discussion: Jack & Jill Politics and The Moderate Voice

Kate Sheppard / Mother Jones:

Kansas: The First Abortion-Free State? — If new guidelines from the Kansas health department are enforced, the last three abortion clinics in the state could be forced to shut their doors this summer. — Back in April, the state legislature passed a law directing the Kansas Department …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Jezebel, The Atlantic Online and Associated Press

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012 — Even a small drop in the share of black voters would wipe out his winning margin in North Carolina. — President Barack Obama is likely to be defeated in 2012. The reason is that he faces four serious threats. The economy is very weak and unlikely …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, americanthinker.com, Indecision Forever, The New Republic, Taylor Marsh, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Wake up America and GOP 12

Sabato's Crystal Ball:

Democrats Blue as Senate Acquires a Reddish Tinge — Larry J. Sabato and Kyle Kondik, U.Va. Center for Politics — As we take a fresh look at next year's Senate races, one thing is clear: Barring an unexpected reelection landslide by President Obama, Republicans are at least slightly favored to take the Senate.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Chris Tomlinson / MiamiHerald.com:

Perry gets tepid response at Latino convention — Gov. Rick Perry received a tepid response when he addressed the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials on Thursday, joking about the pronunciation of a Hispanic appointee's last name and frequently staring blankly …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Jennifer Abbasi / Popular Science:

Why Sex With Creatures from the Future Is a Bad Idea — Researchers test sexual adaptations in time-traveling brine shrimp — When time travel finally becomes possible, we might want to think twice about getting it on. According to a new study on tiny shrimp (Artemia franciscana) …

Discussion: Proof Positive

The United States Department of Justice:

Two Men Charged in Plot to Attack Seattle Military Processing Center … SEATTLE - Two men were arrested late last night and are charged by criminal complaint with terrorism and firearms related charges. The complaint alleges that Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, aka Joseph Anthony Davis, 33 …

Discussion: Reuters and The Investigative Project …

Ashton Elijah / LGBTQ Nation:

Legislator warns of HIV epidemic in New York if marriage equality becomes law — While the debate over marriage equality continues to rage in Albany, one legislator from Clinton County, New York, fears that an HIV epidemic will break out in the Empire State if gay couples are allowed to marry.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Back2Stonewall.com and Daily Kos