memeorandum: The Incarceration Epidemic (Richard Gunderman/The Atlantic Online)

3:10 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: Hawkings Here, BuzzFeed, The Fix, Yahoo! News, The Week, PoliticusUSA 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: The Huffington Post, Reuters, Politico, The Moderate Voice, CNN, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, National Review, Booman Tribune and The Impolitic

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

Jonathan Strong / National Review:
The Tuesday Group Still Lives

Discussion: A plain blog about politics and Daily Kos

Russell Berman / The Hill:
Boehner urges Obama to ‘compel’ Senate Dems to act on student loans

Discussion: Politico

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

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, Guardian, FishbowlDC and Crooks and Liars, more at Mediagazer »

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

Discussion: Business Insider, NewsBusters and Balloon Juice

CNN:
Longtime CNN Reliable Sources host moves on

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Politico and The Daily Caller

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: Colorlines, Outside the Beltway, 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

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

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

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

Discussion: Political Capital, Mediaite 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

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

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

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 …

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

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 …

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

Wired:

Introducing Aaron's Law, a Desperately Needed Reform of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act — The Internet is up for grabs. — Foreign countries want to control it. Military regimes use it to spy, to oppress, and to attack public and private institutions. ‘Big Content’ sought to censor it and dismantle its architecture.

Discussion: Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Raw Story and Techdirt

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

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

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:

Senate votes 54-43 to reject Cornyn plan for border security ‘trigger’ — The Senate on Thursday rejected Sen. John Cornyn's (R-Texas) immigration reform bill amendment that would have put mandatory border security triggers in place before immigrants were given legal status.

Discussion: Politico, Hot Air, The Hill, Washington Monthly and National Review

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Breakthrough in Senate immigration talks; announcement set for Thursday

Discussion: Hot Air, National Review, Power Line, PERRspectives, Politico, Wall Street Journal, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Moderate Voice, The Plum Line, neo-neocon, Daily Kos, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, The Lonely Conservative, New York Times and The Hill

Instagram Blog:

Introducing Video on Instagram … 2,927 notes — nighttim3ismytim3 likes this — erin228 reblogged this from instagram and added: … - lluvia90 likes this — cosmiccowpie reblogged this from instagram — erin228 likes this — spectaclesinscript likes this