memeorandum: Exclusive: U.S. congressional hurdles lifted on arming Syrian rebels (Reuters)

8:20 PM ET, July 22, 2013

Top Items:

Matt Gutman / ABC News:

George Zimmerman Emerged From Hiding for Truck Crash Rescue — George Zimmerman, who has been in hiding since he was acquitted of murder in the death of Trayvon Martin, emerged to help rescue someone who was trapped in an overturned truck, police said today.

Discussion: The Raw Story, Hot Air, Independent Journal Review, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, Jezebel, Atlas Shrugs, The Gateway Pundit, his vorpal sword, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Althouse, The Spectacle Blog, National Review, TheBlaze.com and Shakesville

ABC News:

George Zimmerman Emerged From Hiding for Truck Crash Rescue … George Zimmerman, defendant in the killing of Trayvon Martin, is sworn in as a witness in Seminole circuit court for a pre-trial hearing April 30, 2013 in Sanford, Fla. — Joe Burbank/Getty Images

Discussion: Hit & Run, Right Wing News, Twitchy, The Daily Caller, Illinois Review and Conservatives4Palin

Kerry Picket / BREITBART.COM:

Zimmerman Saves Family of Four in Florida Car Crash, Extinguishes Car Fire — On Wednesday, July 17 at about 5:45 PM Sanford Police responded to a single car accident in the area of I- 4 and State Road 46 in Sanford. A blue Ford Explorer SUV traveled off the road and rolled over.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, protein wisdom and Rush Limbaugh

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

Nate Silver Went Against the Grain for Some at The Times — Why did Nate Silver decide to leave The New York Times and accept an offer from ESPN? — That's the cause of great speculation in media circles at the moment. As has been noted elsewhere, there's no question that The Times …

Discussion: Politico, Guardian, PopWatch, Business Insider, BobCesca.com, The Week, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, The Reaction, Mashable, The Huffington Post, The Raw Story and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

Mike Allen / Politico:

How ESPN and ABC landed Nate Silver — If you were away from your screens this weekend, you may have missed Mike Allen's fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how ESPN and ABC News fought to lure data-whiz Nate Silver away from The New York Times. Because this all went down in Playbook, it'll be lost to the archives soon.

Discussion: Deadline.com, Washington Monthly and New Republic

Amy Phillips / ESPN:

Nate Silver - Renowned Statistician, Author and Founder of FiveThirtyEight - Joins ESPN in Multi-Faceted Role — Nate Silver - Renowned Statistician, Author and Founder of FiveThirtyEight - Joins ESPN in Multi-Faceted Role — Will Also Contribute Regularly to ABC News Platforms

Discussion: New Republic, ThinkProgress, The Verge and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

In Climbing Income Ladder, Location Matters — The odds of rising to another income level are notably low in certain cities, like Atlanta and Charlotte, and much higher in New York and Boston.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Crooks and Liars, ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, Gawker, National Review, AEIdeas, American Prospect, Via Meadia, Paul Krugman, The Dish, Hullabaloo, Economix and Marginal Revolution

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:
In America, Where You're Born Has a Huge Impact on How Far You'll Go in Life

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Brad DeLong

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Report: Jay Z, Kanye West, Rolling Stones join Stevie Wonder's Florida boycott — Some of the music industry's biggest acts are joining Stevie Wonder in boycotting Florida over the state's controversial “Stand Your Ground” law. — Artists joining Wonder include Rod Stewart, Madonna …

Discussion: Firedoglake

John Fund / National Review:
Obama Voted to Strengthen Illinois's Stand Your Ground Law in 2004

Discussion: NewsBusters blogs, The PJ Tatler and Power Line

April D. Ryan / AprilDRyan.com:
Celebrities Take Action Against Stand Your Ground Law in Florida

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Weasel Zippers

BBC:

Royal baby: Kate gives birth to boy — The Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a baby boy, Kensington Palace has announced. — The baby was delivered at 16:24 BST at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London, weighing 8lb 6oz. — The palace said in a statement that the duchess and the baby were …

Discussion: Telegraph, The Moderate Voice and The Daily Caller

USA Today:
The royal baby has arrived

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Hinterland Gazette and American Spectator

Associated Press:

Why I left the NAACP: Column … The NAACP has stopped advancing colored people and started advancing colored progressives. — CONNECT — After a Florida juryacquitted George Zimmermanin the killing of Trayvon Martin, theNAACP pledgedthat it “will not rest until racial profiling in all its forms is outlawed.”

Los Angeles Times:
Rhetoric, race and reality in America

Discussion: The Mahablog, The PJ Tatler and Connecting.the.Dots

Shelby Steele / Wall Street Journal: The Decline of the Civil-Rights Establishment

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Big Racial Divide over Zimmerman Verdict — Whites Say Too Much Focus on Race, Blacks Disagree — OVERVIEW — The public is divided over the not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial and over the conversation about race that has surrounded it. The latest national survey …

Discussion: ABC News, Yahoo! News, Bangor Daily News, Hot Air and Taegan Goddard's …

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Ohio Officials Ordered To Recognize Gay Couple's Marriage — Married on July 11 in Maryland, John Arthur is in hospice care and “certain to die soon.” He and his husband have sued to ensure their marriage is recognized by Ohio officials at Arthur's death. — Via: Photo courtesy of Jim Obergefell

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Volokh Conspiracy and Good As You

Patrick Howley / The Daily Caller:

The Obama appointee implicated in congressional testimony in the IRS targeting scandal met with President Obama in the White House two days before offering his colleagues a new set of advice on how to scrutinize tea party and conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and “The Lid”

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
Obama Lines Up Celebrities To Promote Obamacare

Discussion: Reuters, Associated Press and Weasel Zippers

Brian Tashman / Right Wing Watch:

Priebus: GOP Not Embracing ‘Tolerance,’ Just Becoming More Loving — Following their 2012 election debacle, the Republican National Committee and the College Republicans issued reports which urged the party to go through an image makeover without adjusting its political stances.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Brody File, ThinkProgress, The Raw Story and Daily Kos

Evan McMurry / Mediaite:

Scarborough Rips Hannity For Trayvon Weed Comments: Are ‘White Kids On College Campuses Fair Game’ Too? — On his show Monday morning, Joe Scarborough tore into Sean Hannity for the latter's attempt to link Trayvon Martin and Barack Obama through their allegedly similar drug history.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Hinterland Gazette, The Other McCain and The Huffington Post

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Obama Plans to Unveil His Agenda for Economy — WASHINGTON — With major battles looming in the fall over the federal budget and the debt ceiling, President Obama is trying to regain the initiative, embarking on a campaign-style tour of the Midwest this week to lay out his agenda for reinvigorating …

Discussion: USA Today, Via Meadia, Yahoo! News, The Plum Line, Right Wing News, Washington Monthly, Booman Tribune and UrbanGrounds

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Obama Seeking to Take Credit and Set Course for Economy

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Pew Research Center:

Are unauthorized immigrants overwhelmingly Democrats? — As Congress debates immigration reform, some political leaders and analysts have speculated that there will be “an electoral bonanza for Democrats” if the nation's estimated 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants - three quarters of whom are Hispanics …

Discussion: Politico, Post Politics and Twitchy

Reuters:

Al Qaeda militants flee Iraq jail in violent mass break-out — (Reuters) - Hundreds of convicts, including senior members of al Qaeda, broke out of Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail as comrades launched a military-style assault to free them, authorities said on Monday.

Discussion: Yahoo! News, ThinkProgress, The Jawa Report, RT, Telegraph, Gawker and The PJ Tatler

Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:

Some Mormons Search the Web and Find Doubt — A Mormon Doubts: Hans Mattsson was once a high-ranking leader for the Mormon church in Europe. He joins others who are experiencing a crisis of faith and finding few answers from their church. — In the small but cohesive Mormon community where he grew up …

Discussion: New Republic and Outside the Beltway

Reuters:

Exclusive: U.S. congressional hurdles lifted on arming Syrian rebels — (Reuters) - President Barack Obama can go ahead with a plan for the United States to arm the struggling Syrian rebels after some congressional concerns were eased, a key Republican lawmaker said on Monday.

Discussion: Politico and Hot Air