memeorandum: Outlawing Abortion Won't Help Children with Down Syndrome (Alison Piepmeier/Motherlode)

12:50 PM ET, April 2, 2013

Top Items:

State Sen. Malcolm Smith, city Councilman Halloran arrested in ‘bribery plot’ to rig mayor race — State Senator Malcolm Smith was arrested at his home in Queens today. — State Sen. Malcolm Smith and city Councilman Dan Halloran were arrested this morning on charges they were plotting …

Discussion: nbcnewyork.com, Business Insider, Capital New York, I Hate the Media, The Other McCain and Gothamist

William K. Rashbaum / New York Times:

Lawmakers Charged in Plot to Buy Spot on Mayoral Ballot — State Senator Malcolm A. Smith, a contractor and real estate developer who rose to become the first black president of the State Senate, and City Councilman Daniel J. Halloran III were arrested early Tuesday on charges of trying …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Gawker, KUOW, The Raw Story, Hot Air, NewsBusters blogs, The Hinterland Gazette, Joe. My. God. and Towleroad News #gay

Greg B. Smith / NY Daily News:
FBI busts Queens state Sen. Malcolm Smith and City Councilman Dan Halloran in mayoral election bribery plot

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

FBI:
Statement from FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos on Public Corruption Arrests of New York …

Discussion: BBC and Gawker

Facebook:

Senator Tom Carper · 2,803 like this — As our society has changed and evolved, so too has the public's opinion on gay marriage - and so has mine. I pray every day for God to grant me the wisdom to do what is right. Through my prayers and conversations with my family …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico, The Hill, The New Civil Rights Movement, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, Towleroad News #gay, ABCNEWS, Daily Kos and Hot Air

Mark Kirk:

Statement from Senator Kirk on Same-Sex Marriage — When I climbed the Capitol steps in January, I promised myself that I would return to the Senate with an open mind and greater respect for others. — Same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage. Our time on this Earth is limited, I know that better than most.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The New Civil Rights Movement, First Read and Daily Kos

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Republican Sen. Mark Kirk Endorses Marriage Equality — “Same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage.” — Image by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images — Illinois Republican Senator Mark Kirk came out in support of marriage equality Tuesday shortly after the Supreme Court heard …

Discussion: Hot Air, Joe. My. God. and Good As You

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Delaware Sen. Tom Carper Endorses Marriage Equality

Discussion: ThinkProgress

New York Post:

Outrage 101: Radical jailed in slay now Columbia prof — Former Weather Underground radical Kathy Boudin — who spent 22 years in prison for an armored-car robbery that killed two cops and a Brinks guard — now holds a prestigious adjunct professorship at Columbia University's School of Social Work, The Post has learned.

Discussion: Betsy's Page, Weasel Zippers, Jammie Wearing Fools, Right Wing News, Fox News Insider and Washington Free Beacon

Michelle Malkin:

Academia hearts the Weather Underground: Kathy Boudin at Columbia and NYU — Last week, I reminded you about the bloody history of convicted Weather Underground terrorists Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, whom left-wing bleeding heart director Robert Redford pays homage to in his new fictional movie “The Company You Keep.”

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Washington Post:

Firearms advocates target gun-control measures — Gun-control measures that seemed destined to become law after the school shootings in Newtown, Conn., are in jeopardy amid a fierce lobbying campaign by firearms advocates. — Despite months of negotiations, key senators have been unable …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Yahoo! News, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Caller and msnbc.com

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Democratic Senator Touts Bill To Allow Patients Involuntarily Committed For Mental Illness To Purchase Guns — Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) hinted on Tuesday that he would oppose a Democratic initiative to expand background checks to all gun purchases, but reiterated his support for an NRA-backed measure …

Discussion: The Reaction

Peter Applebome / New York Times:
Legislators in Connecticut Agree on Broad New Gun Laws

Discussion: BBC, Mediaite, msnbc.com, Taylor Marsh, The Week and The Fix

Kate Brumback / Talking Points Memo:

Guns Are Now Required For Citizens Of Nelson, Georgia — NELSON, Ga. (AP) — Backers of a newly adopted ordinance requiring gun ownership in a small north Georgia town acknowledge they were largely seeking to make a point about gun rights. — The ordinance in the city of Nelson …

Discussion: msnbc.com, The Raw Story, Mediaite and driftglass

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:
Georgia Town Passes Mandatory Gun Bill

Discussion: Associated Press and Mock, Paper, Scissors

New York Times:

Obama to Unveil Initiative to Map the Human Brain — President Obama on Tuesday will announce a broad new research initiative, starting with $100 million in 2014, to invent and refine new technologies to understand the human brain, senior administration officials said Monday.

Discussion: White House.gov Blog, Business Insider and CBS DC

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Obama launches effort to map the human brain

Discussion: Politico

Peter Hamby / CNN:

Cruz to test 2016 waters with South Carolina trip — Cambridge, Massachusetts (CNN) - He's been in Washington only three months, but U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is already planning a pilgrimage to a critical presidential primary state. — The outspoken Cruz, a conservative attorney …

Discussion: Politico, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller and Post Politics

Adam Beam / The State:
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz to keynote S.C. GOP's Silver Elephant Celebration in May

Discussion: Roll Call, Ballot Box and First Read

Charlie Cook / NationalJournal.com:

Tennessee's Colossally Bad Plan to Change Its Primary System — You can hear bad ideas almost every day. But only occasionally do you hear a colossally bad, ill-conceived idea, one that leaves you wondering who dreamed it up. — Tennessee state Sen. Frank Nicely, a Republican from Strawberry Plains …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Yahoo! News

David Voreacos / Bloomberg:

Donor Says He Sought Menendez on Medicare Without Breaking Law — Salomon Melgen, the Florida political donor at the center of a criminal probe, said he and Senator Robert Menendez are “like brothers” who spoke weekly, yet his companies never benefited and he broke no laws.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN, The Hill, Politico and Taegan Goddard's …

The Week:

Marco Rubio is right: Don't rush immigration reform — Congress needs to open up the debate to the public — N — o one doubts that momentum has quickly developed for a deal on comprehensive immigration reform and border security. But by rushing to get a deal done and working behind closed doors …

Discussion: Hot Air, GOPpers, Firedoglake and NBC Latino

Politico:
What Marco Rubio is thinking

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Salon, The National Memo and Power Line

Nina Karnikowski / Sydney Morning Herald:

Airline to charge overweight passengers more — Samoa Air has become the world's first airline to implement “pay as you weigh” flights, meaning overweight passengers pay more for their seats. — “This is the fairest way of travelling,” chief executive of Samoa Air, Chris Langton, told ABC Radio.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Week

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Sequestration Effects: Cuts Sting Communities Nationwide — WASHINGTON — It's now an article of faith that dire sequestration warnings were overblown. — New studies downsize potential job losses because of the federal budget cuts. Agencies have figured ways to ensure that the more alarming effects …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly, The Plum Line and A plain blog about politics

Kevin Diaz / StarTribune.com:

‘Man of mystery’ is behind Michele Bachmann campaign cases — From a Ugandan jail cell to the Iowa presidential campaign, secretive evangelist Peter Waldron is no stranger to conflict. — Peter Waldron's journey from a jail cell in Uganda to the inner circle of Michele Bachmann's presidential campaign …

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

Fannie Mae posts record profit, repays taxpayers $11.6 billion — Housing giant Fannie Mae posted a record profit in 2012, a little over four years after the federal government stepped in to save it from collapse. — The government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) reported Tuesday that it turned …

Discussion: Associated Press

Zoe Schlanger / Talking Points Memo:

Pat Robertson Blames Ivy League Schools For Lack Of Miracles In America — It may have been April 1st yesterday, but televangelist Pat Robertson wasn't kidding when he told a viewer that Americans aren't experiencing God's miracles because they are too “sophisticated.”

Discussion: The Raw Story, Mediaite and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Jean Eaglesham / Wall Street Journal:

SEC Ex-Chief Lands at Consultant — Schapiro Is Latest Former U.S. Regulator to Join Promontory Financial; ‘No Revolving Door’ — Less than four months after stepping down as the top U.S. securities regulator, Mary Schapiro is joining a consulting firm that has built a reputation …

Discussion: naked capitalism, LewRockwell.com Blog and Business Insider

David Rogers / Politico:

Big Agriculture flexes its muscle — Yet for all the anger — and belated legal reviews — no one can truly be surprised by the packers' success nor Monsanto's. Indeed the collapse of the traditional appropriations process in Congress may magnify the power of single-interest lobbies …

Discussion: Yahoo! News

Brian Tashman / Right Wing Watch:

Keyes: Marriage Equality is the ‘Archetype of all Crimes Against Humanity’ — Alan Keyes once again appeared on Stan Solomon's talk show, this time to discuss their stringent opposition to marriage equality. — After host, Steve Davis, claimed that just because they “oppose homosexual marriage …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Joe. My. God.

Martin Fackler / New York Times:

Japan Shifting Further Away From Pacifism — SAN CLEMENTE ISLAND, Calif. — The Japanese soldiers in camouflage face paint and full combat gear were dropped by American helicopters onto this treeless, hilly island, and moved quickly to recapture it from an imaginary invader.

Discussion: Sense of Events and IHT Rendezvous