memeorandum: Striking the Blow at Fort Wagner (Glenn David Brasher/Opinionator)

6:15 PM ET, July 18, 2013

Top Items:

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

House Republicans Cave On Marriage Fight — “[T]he House now seeks leave to withdraw as a party defendant.” House Republicans stop defending statutes similar to the Defense of Marriage Act that ban recognition of same-sex couples' marriages. — Via: J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Yahoo! News, Advocate, Taylor Marsh, Poliglot, Joe. My. God., Truth Wins Out, SCOTUSblog and Daily Kos

Matthew Dolan / Wall Street Journal:

Detroit Files Biggest U.S. Municipal Bankruptcy — Emergency Manager Orr Seeks to Liquidate Assets to Satisfy Creditors — The city of Detroit filed for federal bankruptcy protection on Thursday afternoon, making the automobile capital and onetime music powerhouse the country's largest-ever municipal bankruptcy case.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

New York Times:

Detroit Files for Bankruptcy — By MONICA DAVEY and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH — DETROIT — Detroit, the cradle of America's automobile industry and once the nation's fourth-most-populous city, has filed for bankruptcy, an official said Thursday afternoon, the largest American city ever to take such a course.

Nancy Kaffer / USA Today:

Detroit files for bankruptcy protection — DETROIT — The city of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in federal court Thursday, laying the groundwork for a historic effort to bail out a city that is sinking under billions of dollars in debt and decades of mismanagement, population flight and loss of tax revenue.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Rich Yeselson / Politico:

Ted Cruz is a legitimate 2016 threat — Ted Cruz is heading to Iowa this week for the state GOP's summer picnic. He's going to New Hampshire to speak before the Republican State Committee on Aug. 23 He visited South Carolina, another early primary state, in May.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo and Shakesville

Colin Campbell / Politicker:
Pete King Says He's ‘Certainly’ Looking at Running for President

Discussion: Yahoo! News and Post Politics

John Gizzi / NewsMax.com:
Rep. Peter King Mulls 2016 Presidential Bid

Discussion: Ballot Box

John Parkinson / ABC News:
President Peter King? New York Republican Considering Run for White House

Discussion: Politico

Laura Bassett / The Huffington Post:

Planned Parenthood To Close Three Texas Clinics — Planned Parenthood on Wednesday informed staff at three of its facilities in Texas that they would be closing, according to people familiar with the decision. — The three clinics are located in Bryan, Huntsville and Lufkin, Texas.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, LifeNews.com, Daily Kos, msnbc.com, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, The Raw Story and Shakesville

Patrick Howley / The Daily Caller:

IRS lawyer says scandal was overseen by D.C., names names — Top IRS officials in Washington, D.C. planned and oversaw the agency's improper targeting of conservative groups, according to the 72-year old retiring IRS lawyer who will testify Thursday before the House Oversight Committee.

Discussion: Fox News, Scared Monkeys, Pat Dollard, Questions and Observations and Ed Driscoll

Darrell Issa / USA Today:
Rep. Darrell Issa: IRS Tea Party trail leads to DC

Discussion: msnbc.com, The Raw Story and theGrio

Committee on Oversight & Government Reform:
IRS Chief Counsel's Office Demanded Information on 2010 Election Activity of Tea Party Applicants

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Federal Eye

Wall Street Journal:
The IRS Goes to Washington

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Jeanne Marie Laskas / GQ Magazine Online:

Have You Heard the One About President Joe Biden? — That's No Joke. Consider: He is the most quietly effective politician in D.C. (Don't laugh.) The “Most Influential Vice President in History.” (Seriously, stop laughing.) One of our nation's most senior statesmen. (Look it up!)

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Politico, msnbc.com, The Fix, BuzzFeed, The Reliable Source, ABC News and CNN

Jon Lovett / Salon:

Liz Cheney for Senate — Vicious, cynical and talented Liz Cheney is perfect — Liz Cheney, the infamous political operative and daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, announced last night that she is running for Senate. After careful consideration, I believe this is welcome news …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Magazine, Daily Kos and The Week

Michael Simkovic / Concurring Opinions:

Brian Tamanaha Says We Should Look at the Below Average Outcomes (And We Did) — Brian Tamanaha's response to The Economic Value of a Law Degree, as reported by Inside Higher Education doesn't capture the contents of the study. According to IHE, Tamanaha said:

Discussion: Wonkblog, Inside Higher Ed, Discourse.net, Balkinization, TaxProf Blog and Law Librarian Blog

Steven M. Davidoff / DealBook:
Debating, Yet Again, the Worth of Law School

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Above the Law, Brian Leiter's Law … and Discourse.net

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Congressman: Benghazi Survivors Forced to Sign Non-Disclosure Agreements — Congressman Frank Wolf, a Republican from Virginia, said today on the House floor that survivors of the Benghazi terror attack have been forced to sign non-disclosure agreements: — “On Tuesday I raised the question …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Politico, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review and The PJ Tatler

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:

Prominent Democrats Are Now Comfortable With Racial and Ethnic Profiling — How else can one interpret President Obama and Senator Chuck Schumer saying that the NYPD's Ray Kelly would make a good secretary of Homeland Security? — On Wednesday, President Obama assured a Univision reporter that Ray Kelly …

Discussion: Colorlines, National Review and NY1

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:
For Coalition Politics; Against Hypocrisy Trolling

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Chris Frates / NationalJournal.com:

Republicans, White House in Talks Toward Big Fiscal Deal — GOP senators and Obama's chief of staff have been meeting for weeks to set a course that might avoid a crisis when America hits its debt limit in the fall. — At least a dozen Republican senators are regularly meeting …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Wire, The Hill, ABC News, Hullabaloo, Yahoo! News, Crooks and Liars, Booman Tribune, susiemadrak.com and The Reaction

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

Back in Black - New York Versus Texas — Rick Perry tries luring New York businesses to Texas, but Lewis Black is none too impressed with the Lone Star State. (06:36)

Discussion: Mediaite, Above the Law, The Raw Story and Trail Blazers Blog

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Moscow Trip for Obama May Be Off as Snowden Tensions Build — WASHINGTON — President Obama may cancel a scheduled trip to Moscow to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin in September as the standoff over the fate of Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor seeking asylum there …

Discussion: Right Turn, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, Guardian, Mediaite and Taegan Goddard's …

Meredith Shiner / The World's Greatest …:

Testy Meeting Among Senate GOP on ‘Nuclear Option’ Deal — A meeting of Senate Republicans on Wednesday grew tense as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told his members he could have gotten a better deal on nominations than the one negotiated by rank-and-file Republicans.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, WHAS, The Huffington Post, Taegan Goddard's …, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Booman Tribune

Sarah Kliff / Washington Post:

The Obamacare provision that terrifies insurers — President Obama is set to speak this morning about how the health-care law is cutting premiums for millions of Americans. His remarks will focus on a small Affordable Care Act provision known to health wonks as the “medical loss ratio.”

Discussion: The Fix, Daily Kos, Post Politics and Wonkblog

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:

Obama to Chicago teens: ‘I was you guys’ — First lady Michelle Obama recalled her own struggles getting acclimated to college as she offered advice Thursday to Chicago teens whose experiences have mirrored her own. — “I was you guys,” she told students participating in Urban Alliance Chicago …

Discussion: CNN

Chicago Tribune:
Michelle Obama, daughters catch Beyonce while in town

Discussion: Reuters, Gawker and Weasel Zippers

Berkeley Brean / Rochester, NY News:

Valet parked cars searched under TSA regulations — Rochester, N.Y. — She says she had no warning that someone was going to search her car after she left to catch her flight. So the woman contacted News10NBC. — We found out it happened to her because she valet parked her car.

Discussion: National Review, Hit & Run and VodkaPundit

Nasser Al-Awlaki / New York Times:

The Drone That Killed My Grandson — SANA, Yemen — I LEARNED that my 16-year-old grandson, Abdulrahman — a United States citizen — had been killed by an American drone strike from news reports the morning after he died. — The missile killed him, his teenage cousin and at least five …

Discussion: Discourse.net, emptywheel, Mediaite and Shakesville

Hadas Gold / Politico:

DNA test: Rep. Steve Cohen not the father — The woman whom Rep. Steve Cohen has been claiming is his out-of-wedlock daughter is not, according to a paternity test revealed on Thursday. — CNN had a paternity test done on Victoria Brink with Cohen's participation, although the Tennessee Democrat did not appear on camera.

Discussion: CNN and FishbowlDC

Glenn David Brasher / Opinionator:

Striking the Blow at Fort Wagner — “Today we recognize the right of every man ... to be a MAN and a citizen,” Gov. John Andrew of Massachusetts proclaimed on May 18, 1863, to a crowd gathered around the 54th Massachusetts, the first African-American regiment raised in the North.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

John Cook / Gawker:

Here's Where Your Crackstarter Money Is Going — As you may recall, roughly six weeks ago we succeeded in raising $200,000 from readers in an effort to purchase and publish a video of Toronto mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine. I'm disappointed to announce definitively that the money …

Discussion: Guardian and canada.com