memeorandum: A Spitzer Petitioner's Tale: $1,600 To Get Signatures For “A Schmuck” (Gothamist)

2:30 AM ET, July 13, 2013

Top Items:

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:

You're Allowed To Carry A Gun Into The Texas Senate Gallery, But Not A Tampon — An example of an item that's not permitted in the Texas Gallery. (Credit: Shutterstock) — On Friday afternoon, the Texas Senate will vote on a package of abortion restrictions that Republican lawmakers …

Discussion: Reuters, The Raw Story, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hullabaloo, Dallas Morning News and National Review

KETK NBC:

Jars of urine, feces confiscated at TX capitol as abortion bill voting takes place — AUSTIN, TEXAS (DPS) — The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) today received information that individuals planned to use a variety of items or props to disrupt legislative proceedings at the Texas Capitol.

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, National Review and Hot Air

The Huffington Post:

Tampons Confiscated, Guns Still Allowed At Texas Capitol Ahead Of Abortion Vote [UPDATE] — UPDATE — 4:43 p.m.: According to a tweet from Stand With Texas Women, the Department of Public Safety has stopped confiscating tampons and maxi pads. According to Burnt Orange Report …

Discussion: Juanita Jean's, Taegan Goddard's …, LifeNews.com, AMERICAblog, RH Reality Check, Crooks and Liars, PoliticusUSA and Yahoo! News

Chris Tomlinson / Associated Press:

Tampons Seized In Security Checks At Texas Abortion Debate — AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democrats in the Texas Senate on Friday questioned whether proposed abortion restrictions are constitutional and whether they would make it more difficult for women in the state to obtain health care.

Discussion: Associated Press, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Mediaite

The Texas Tribune:

Abortion Regulations Bill Nears Final Vote … After several hours of critical questioning from Democratic senators on Friday, debate on House Bill 2 came to a brief standstill when Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, raised the possibility of a procedural violation that would stall the Senate's consideration of the bill.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, The Other McCain, Gawker, The Daily Caller and BOR

Katherine Haenschen / BOR:
HB2 Liveblog: Senate Vote, Stand With Texas Women Rally Today at the Capitol

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Raw Story and Jezebel

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Rep. Stockman: Texas Dems want to ‘shred late-term babies alive’

Discussion: CNN

Wendy Davis / CNN:
Wendy Davis: Real Texans ready to fight

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and Daily Kos

NTSB:

NTSB statement on erroneous confirmation of crew names — The National Transportation Safety Board apologizes for inaccurate and offensive names that were mistakenly confirmed as those of the pilots of Asiana flight 214, which crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, KAKE-TV, Los Angeles Times, Boing Boing, JIMROMENESKO.COM, CBS New York, Mediaite, msnbc.com, Gawker, ThinkProgress, Clayton Cramer's Blog, Joe. My. God., Deadline.com and Reuters

KTVU-TV:

KTVU Apology for Friday Noon report — Sponsored Links — On Friday evening, KTVU Channel 2 issued the following on-air apology. — On Friday, July 12, during the KTVU Channel 2 Noon newscast, we misidentified the pilots in the Asiana Airlines crash. — We made several mistakes when we received this information.

Discussion: The Hill, Michelle Malkin, Poynter, Los Angeles Times, AMERICAblog, PoliticusUSA, The Raw Story, CBS New York, KDVR.com and BuzzFeed, more at Mediagazer »

Matier And Ross:
KTVU apologizes for racist SF plane crash gaffe

Discussion: Boston Globe

Cord Jefferson / Gawker:
KTVU Reports Asiana Air Pilots Were “Sum Ting Wong” and “Ho Lee Fuk”

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Sense of Events

Nick Gass / Politico:
NTSB confirmed fake pilot names of Flight 214

Discussion: KTVU-TV, Los Angeles Times and NewsBusters blogs

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
KTVU Apparently Pranked

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools

Adam Weinstein / Gawker:

This, Courtesy of MSNBC, Is Trayvon Martin's Dead Body. Get Angry. — A reader of mine sent me this photo last night. As the murder trial of George Zimmerman wheezes to its conclusion, the TV networks dutifully pipe in live pool video from the courtroom, as if it is force-fed …

Discussion: The Raw Story, The Week, Mediaite, The PJ Tatler, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Dish and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Daniel J. Flynn / American Spectator:

Two Males, No Men — They don't make men like they used to. One can consult a Danish study that shows plummeting testosterone levels for scientific confirmation of this. Or, one could more easily turn on any cable news network's wall-to-wall coverage of the Zimmerman-Martin case …

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh and Balloon Juice

Jessica Chasmar / Washington Times:

‘Justice for Trayvon’: Audio released of DOJ member urging action against George Zimmerman — The legal watchdog Judicial Watch released an audio recording Thursday of a Department of Justice staffer urging Sanford, Fla., city officials and the minority advocacy group Dream Defenders …

Discussion: Rule of Law, The PJ Tatler, Scared Monkeys, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers

Erik Wemple:
Geraldo: Jurors would have ‘shot and killed Trayvon Martin a lot sooner than George Zimmerman did’

Discussion: The Huffington Post, ThinkProgress and The Dish

WikiLeaks:

Statement by Edward Snowden to human rights groups at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport — Edward Joseph Snowden delivered a statement to human rights organizations and individuals at Sheremetyevo airport at 5pm Moscow time today, Friday 12th July. The meeting lasted 45 minutes.

Discussion: Politico, The Lede, Guardian, CNN, Gawker, FP Passport, Telegraph, Firedoglake, The Daily Caller, Boing Boing, Business Insider, Weasel Zippers, New York Times, BBC, Hot Air, ACLU, ThinkProgress and Agence France Presse

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:
Administration pressures human rights groups not to help Snowden

Discussion: Guardian, CNN and Business Insider

Justin Sink / The Hill:
White House: Obama to personally lobby Putin on Edward Snowden

Discussion: Boing Boing, Politico and The Daily Caller

USA Today:
Snowden has ‘no regrets,’ seeks asylum in Russia

Discussion: Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Gawker, Business Insider, Firedoglake, Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Agonist, more at Mediagazer »

Larry Gordon / Los Angeles Times:

Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security chief, to head UC — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is being named the next president of the 10-campus UC system. (Alex Wong / Getty Images / July 18, 2012) — Janet Napolitano, the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security and former governor of Arizona …

Christian Beckner / Foreign Policy:
15 Top Slots At DHS Now Vacant With Napolitano's Resignation

Discussion: Reuters, Politico, The Raw Story, A plain blog about politics and The Hill

Janegalt / Megan McArdle:

Why I Think the GOP Will Have Control in 2017 — My assertion that there's a 70% chance that the GOP controls White House, Senate, and House in 2017 has attracted a lot of pushback. And it's certainly possible that I'm wrong! Here's my thinking, for what it's worth:

Discussion: The Hill, A plain blog about politics, New Republic and The Monkey Cage

Janegalt / Megan McArdle:
Should the Senate end the filibuster?

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Maura Dolan / Los Angeles Times:

Gay marriage opponents ask California court to deny wedding licenses — SAN FRANCISCO — Opponents of same-sex marriage asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to order county clerks to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples, arguing that Gov. Jerry Brown lacked the authority to end enforcement of Proposition 8.

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay, Advocate and Good As You

ThinkProgress:
Iowa Supreme Court: It's OK To Fire A Woman For Being Too Attractive

Discussion: Jezebel and Shakesville

Jeff Eckhoff / Des Moines Register:
Iowa Supreme Court re-do: Still think ‘Irresistible employee’ fired for personal reasons, not discrimination

Discussion: Associated Press, The Raw Story and Taegan Goddard's …

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Holder Tightens Rules on Getting Reporters' Data — WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who has been criticized for the Justice Department's aggressive tactics in secretly obtaining phone logs and e-mails of reporters as part of leak investigations, announced new guidelines …

Discussion: Reuters, Yahoo! News, Mediaite, The Verge, Daily Kos and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Obama meets Holder, accepts report on Justice's targeting of media for leaks

Discussion: Politico

Gothamist:

A Spitzer Petitioner's Tale: $1,600 To Get Signatures For “A Schmuck” — The text message forwarded from a friend of a friend had all the classic signs of a scam; ALL CAPS, asterisks, and a fantastical promise: $800 a day to gather signatures for Eliot Spitzer's nascent campaign for Comptroller.

Discussion: New York Times, Taegan Goddard's … and FT Alphaville

Matthew Continetti / Washington Free Beacon:

Phonyism — On Thursday the New York Times published a front-page, 1,400-word story on the political ambitions of a 26-year-old man who grew up in Ohio, graduated from Brown, married rich, and moved to New York City. And then moved to Garrison, New York, in the Hudson River Valley.