memeorandum: Conservative MPs launch attempt to bring back death penalty, privatise the BBC and ban burka (Robert Watts/Telegraph)

9:20 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: msnbc.com, The Week, BuzzFeed, Hawkings Here, 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: Politico, Reuters, The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, CNN, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, National Review, The Impolitic, The Reaction 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

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: Gawker, TechCrunch, Firedoglake, Government Accountability …, New York Times, The Gateway Pundit, Boing Boing, The Verge, Weasel Zippers, Wonkblog, Politico, Mediaite, Techdirt and GigaOM

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

New documents reveal parameters of NSA's secret surveillance programs — The National Security Agency may keep the e-mails and telephone calls of citizens and legal residents if the communications contain “significant foreign intelligence” or evidence of a crime, according to classified documents …

Discussion: The Hill, Post Politics and Prairie Weather

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: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and UrbanGrounds

Stephen C. Webster / The Raw Story: Revealed: Bush ancestor was heavily invested in kidnapping Africans into slavery

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: Scared Monkeys, Outside the Beltway, Colorlines, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, 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

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

Andy Pasztor / Wall Street Journal:

FAA to Relax Rules for Gadgets in Flight — Airline passengers irritated at having to turn off their devices could soon see some reprieve, with regulators set to allow wider use of gadgets in flight. — The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to relax the ban on using some types …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and The Verge

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 and BuzzFeed

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

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: Taylor Marsh, The Huffington Post, 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

Kenneth Lovett / NY Daily News:

Gov. Cuomo was death ray target of Ku Klux Klansman — Nutty Glen Crawford, an industrial mechanic at General Electric, and Hudson man Eric Feight have been accused of building a deadly radiation-emitting device, which Crawford planned to use it on Gov. Cuomo, sources say.

Discussion: Politicker and Taegan Goddard's …

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

Yahoo! News:

The top 9,486 ways Jay Carney won't answer your questions (interactive) — Jay Carney doesn't have an answer for that. He hasn't discussed that subject with the president. He will refer you to the Department of [insert agency here]. He refuses to speculate on that. He'll have to get back to you.

Washington Post:

In Syrian chemical weapons claim, criticism about lack of transparency — UNITED NATIONS — Despite months of laboratory testing and scrutiny by top U.S. scientists, the Obama administration's case for arming Syria's rebels rests on unverifiable claims that the Syrian government used chemical weapons …

Discussion: The Dish

Politico:

Inside the border deal that almost failed — Sen. Chuck Schumer spent Tuesday privately urging President Barack Obama and the entire Democratic caucus to just be patient — a border security deal they could accept was still within reach. — But after a testy, 45-minute call that night …

Discussion: msnbc.com and The Hill

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:

White House Offers Stealth Campaign to Support Immigration Bill — WASHINGTON — The hide-out has no sign on the door, but inside Dirksen 201 is a spare suite of offices the White House has transformed into its covert immigration war room on Capitol Hill. — Strategically located down the hall …

Reuters:

Icelandic Businessman Has Jet Ready For Snowden — REYKJAVIK, June 20 (Reuters) - An Icelandic businessman linked to WikiLeaks said he has readied a private plane to take Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who exposed secret U.S. surveillance programmes, to Iceland if the government grants him asylum.

Discussion: TechCrunch

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

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: Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller and The Verge

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