memeorandum: And Now, The Selling of Obamacare — Will Americans buy a plan they don't love? (TIME)

7:55 AM ET, June 21, 2013

Top Items:

Emma Dumain / Goppers:

Farm Bill's Failure Poisons Well in House — Updated 6:23 p.m. | The House's stunning defeat of the farm bill Thursday dealt another blow to Speaker John A. Boehner's leadership and set off a poisonous round of partisan finger-pointing that raised questions about the ability of the chamber …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Hawkings Here, The Week, The Fix, PoliticusUSA, Yahoo! News and The Daily Caller

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

House rejects farm bill, 195-234 — In a blow to House GOP leaders, the House on Thursday rejected a five-year farm bill. — Members voted down the $940 billion bill in a 195-234 vote that only won 24 Democratic votes. Most Democrats voted against the bill because it cut food stamp programs by more than $20 billion.

Discussion: Reuters, The Huffington Post, Politico, The Moderate Voice, CNN, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, National Review, The Impolitic and Booman Tribune

Ron Nixon / New York Times:

House Rejects Farm Bill as Food Stamp Cuts Prove Divisive — WASHINGTON — Opposition by Democrats to huge cuts in the food stamp program helped lead to the defeat of the House farm bill on Thursday, raising questions about financing for the nation's farm and nutrition programs this year.

Discussion: Plunderbund, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, National Review, Philly.com and Balloon Juice

Jonathan Strong / National Review:
The Tuesday Group Still Lives

Discussion: A plain blog about politics and Daily Kos

Guardian:

Revealed: the top secret rules that allow NSA to use US data without a warrant — Fisa court submissions show broad scope of procedures governing NSA's surveillance of Americans' communication — • Document one: procedures used by NSA to target non-US persons

Discussion: Firedoglake, New York Times, Boing Boing, The Verge, Weasel Zippers, Wonkblog, Politico, Mediaite, Techdirt and GigaOM

Orlando Sentinel:

George Zimmerman trial: Jury selected, opening statements begin Monday — SANFORD - A jury has been seated and sworn for the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, after more than a week of intensive jury selection in the high-profile case.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Colorlines, The Moderate Voice, Mediaite, The Hinterland Gazette and AL.com

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion: Zimmerman jury seated after Judge rejects State serial striking of white women

Telegraph:

WikiLeaks says Michael Hastings contacted it just before his death. Are they implying he was murdered? — WikiLeaks just threw some gasoline onto the conspiracy fire. On Wednesday night, they Tweeted: “Michael Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died …

Discussion: Gawker, Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Informer, The Hinterland Gazette, The Huffington Post, ViralRead and CBS Los Angeles, more at Mediagazer »

Andrew Blankstein / Los Angeles Times:
No foul play suspected in Michael Hastings' death, LAPD says

Discussion: American Spectator, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, RT, The Huffington Post, The Informer, BuzzFeed, New York Times and The Lead with Jake Tapper

Un Bylined / Bangor Daily News:

LePage slips ‘Vaseline’ jab toward Democratic senator — AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage on Thursday said a Democratic lawmaker, Sen. Troy Jackson of Aroostook County, “claims to be for the people but he's the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline.”

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Yahoo! News and Post Politics

WMTW-TV:
“Vaseline” comment sparks controversy at State House

Discussion: Mediaite, Political Capital and ThinkProgress

Peter Hamby / CNN:

On the left, Howard Dean open to presidential bid — San Jose, California (CNN) - Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who electrified anti-war liberals during the 2004 presidential race, said Thursday he would consider another run for the White House - a statement that will surely be met …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, LifeNews.com and The Hill

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:

Howard Kurtz Joining Fox News To Anchor New Version Of Fox News Watch — Mediaite has learned that Fox News is expected to announce today that Howard Kurtz will join the network. — Kurtz is currently the anchor of CNN's Sunday morning media criticism show Reliable Sources.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Taylor Marsh, Crooks and Liars, Guardian and FishbowlDC, more at Mediagazer »

Brian Stelter / New York Times:
CNN Media Critic Going to Fox

Discussion: Business Insider, NewsBusters and Balloon Juice

David Welna / NPR:

How Ted Cruz's Father Shaped His Views On Immigration … As the Senate debates a massive overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, one of its newest members has emerged as a leading opponent of the bill's most controversial feature: a path to citizenship for millions living in the country unlawfully.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Raw Story, National Review and Post Politics

Talking Points Memo:
Ted Cruz's Father Bribed An Official To Come To U.S.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Simon Akam / Slate:

George W. Bush's Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Was a Slave Trader — A surprising new discovery about the notorious Thomas “Beau” Walker. — BUNCE ISLAND, Sierra Leone—Twelve American presidents owned slaves, eight while serving in office, and at least 25 presidents count slave owners among their ancestors.

Discussion: The Raw Story and UrbanGrounds

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Obama hits a wall in Berlin — The question of whether Barack Obama's second term will be a failure was answered in the affirmative before his Berlin debacle, which has recast the question, which now is: Will this term be silly, even scary in its detachment from reality?

Discussion: Power Line

WMUR:

Controversial GOP NH Rep. Tremblay resigns — Tremblay alleges Marathon bombing may have been faked — Controversial state Rep. Stella Tremblay, R-Auburn, resigned from the New Hampshire House of Representatives Thursday, moments before lawmakers were poised to pass a two-year …

Steven Rattner / Opinionator:

The New Economic Risk: Complacency — With each month of steady employment growth — in May, 175,000 jobs were created — the feeling of lassitude around the issues facing the American economy takes hold a little bit more. — Amid the gathering drumbeat of pronouncements of economic optimism …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

United States Department of Health and Human Services:

Consumers saved $3.9 billion on premiums in 2012 — Health care law will provide families an average of $100 back in premium rebates — Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces that nationwide, 77.8 million consumers saved $3.4 billion up front on their premiums …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Weasel Zippers and Weekly Standard

Catalina Camia / USA Today:

GOP leader steps down after rant on ex-Miss America — WASHINGTON — The local Illinois Republican Party official who called a biracial congressional candidate a “street walker” resigned Thursday, after his comments were widely denounced as offensive. — Jim Allen referred to Erika Harold …

Discussion: Liberal Values, msnbc.com, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hinterland Gazette and St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Richard Gunderman / The Atlantic Online:

The Incarceration Epidemic — About one-fourth of all incarcerated people on Earth is in the U.S. That constitutes a public health problem. — The U.S. incarceration rate has more than quadrupled since 1980. It's now the highest in the world, just ahead of Russia and Rwanda.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Katie McDonough / Salon:

Louie Gohmert advises LGBT people to hide who they are at work — Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, said on Wednesday that he wasn't “aware of exactly which one you're talking about” when a reporter asked him about his position on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, but his attempt to dodge …

Adam Bryant / New York Times:

In Head-Hunting, Big Data May Not Be Such a Big Deal — This interview with Laszlo Bock, senior vice president of people operations at Google, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant. — Q. How is Big Data being used more in the leadership and management field?

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Verge

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

Bloomberg Group Named Christopher Dorner, Other Murder Suspects On List Of Gun Violence “Victims” — Demonstrators trying to bolster support for gun control read aloud from a list of more than 6,000 gun violence “victims” — including at least 10 murder suspects who were killed by police.

Discussion: Hot Air, Jihad Watch, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller and Slate

TIME:

And Now, The Selling of Obamacare — Will Americans buy a plan they don't love? — By Zeke J Miller @zekejmillerJune 20, 2013 — President Barack Obama speaks about Affordable Care Act at The Fairmont Hotel on June 6, 2013 in San Jose, California. — In a windowless office in the basement …