memeorandum: Social Security stops trying to collect on old debts by seizing tax refunds (Marc Fisher/Washington Post)

10:55 AM ET, April 15, 2014

Top Items:

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Why You Should Be Sympathetic Toward Cliven Bundy — On Saturday, I wrote about the standoff at Bundy Ranch. That post drew a remarkable amount of traffic, even though, as I wrote then, I had not quite decided what to make of the story. Since then, I have continued to study the facts and have drawn some conclusions.

Discussion: MichelleMalkin.com

My News 4:

Sen. Reid on Cattle Battle: “It's not over” — RENO, Nev. (MyNews4.com & KRNV) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hasn't been very vocal about the cattle battle showdown in recent days, but says “it's not over.” — Reid tells News4's Samantha Boatman his take on the so-called cattle battle in southern Las Vegas.

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Washington Free Beacon, The Lonely Conservative, OnPolitics and National Review

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
Bundy Ranch ‘Militia’ Considered Using Women As Human Shield

Discussion: Liberaland

Jason Howerton / TheBlaze.com:
Former Arizona Sheriff Reveals Chilling Strategy to Put Women ‘Up at the Front’ During Bundy Ranch Standoff

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Talking Points Memo, The Raw Story and Liberaland

Annabelle Bamforth / Ben Swann Truth In Media:
Exclusive: Sources Inside The BLM and Las Vegas Metro Say Feds Are Planning A Raid On Bundy Home

Discussion: Infowars

Bret Stephens / Wall Street Journal:

Rand Paul for President — Because what the GOP needs is a humbling landslide defeat. — Republicans, let's get it over with. Fast forward to the finish line. Avoid the long and winding primary road. It can only weaken the nominee. And we know who he—yes, he—has to be.

Discussion: Washington Post, Hinterland Gazette, Mediaite and Yahoo! News

Steven Hayward / Power Line:

Is Paul Appealing-Or Appalling? — We've got a link in our “Picks” section this morning to Bret Stephens's Wall Street Journal column mockingly titled “Rand Paul for President,” whose subhed suggests that perhaps the GOP, like Democrats in the 1980s, needs to suffer a landslide defeat to get its head on straight.

Discussion: National Review and Instapundit

Derek Wallbank / Bloomberg:

U.S. Deficit Cut by Almost One-Third to $492 Billion: CBO — The U.S. government's deficit will fall to $492 billion this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a steeper drop than originally predicted from $680 billion in fiscal year 2013. — The 2014 deficit will be 2.8 percent …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Times and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Interest Rates and the Budget Outlook

Discussion: CBO's Publications

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:

Read My Lips: More New Taxes! — A bigger April 15 bill would mean a better society — Happy Tax Day. Yes, I say that every year. Yes, I still mean it. Yes, I know that not many people feel the same way. — Nobody likes writing checks to the government. At best, it's something people tolerate.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Federalist and Hot Air

Andrew Dugan / Gallup:
As Taxes Rise, Half in U.S. Say Middle-Income Pay Too Much

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

Marc Fisher / Washington Post:

Social Security stops trying to collect on old debts by seizing tax refunds — The Social Security Administration announced Monday that it will immediately cease efforts to collect on taxpayers' debts to the government that are more than 10 years old. — The action comes after The Washington …

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Times, Real Clear Politics, Overlawyered, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Bloomberg View, The Lonely Conservative, The Dish and The Heritage Foundation

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

‘Shoe Truthers’ Wonder If Hillary Staged Shoe Throwing Incident — Call them the shoe truthers. — Some conservative media figures are openly wondering if Hillary Clinton staged an incident during a speech in Las Vegas on Thursday in which a woman in the audience threw a shoe at her.

Discussion: Liberaland, CANNONFIRE, Shakesville, Mediaite, The Reaction, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Dish and Outside the Beltway

ABC News:
Feds Charge Woman in Hillary Clinton Shoe-Throw

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh and The Hill

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / USA Today:

Obama's war on White House women: Column — We'd be closer to pay equity if Democrats would stop cheating their own female staffers. — The “War On Women” theme was a key component of Barack Obama's 2012 campaign. And since politicians tend to repeat what works, the Democrats are pushing …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah

Kristen Soltis Anderson / The Daily Beast: Win Women, Win the Midterms

Doug Glanville / Reuters:

I Was Racially Profiled in My Own Driveway — A retired Major League Baseball player explains how he's trying to turn an upsetting encounter with the police into an opportunity for dialogue. — It was an otherwise ordinary snow day in Hartford, Connecticut, and I was laughing as I headed outside to shovel my driveway.

Discussion: Daily Kos

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

Sebelius steps down, and ObamaCare supporters pretend to rejoice. — Six months ago, in the midst of what the New York Times then termed ObamaCare's “troubled rollout,” Kathleen Sebelius defied calls for her to resign as secretary of health and human services.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Betsy McCaughey / New York Post:
The next ObamaCare disasters

Discussion: VodkaPundit

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

WATCH: Congressman Tells Black Constituent He's Not Sure The Civil Rights Act Is Constitutional — Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) addresses a town hall meeting in Gainesville, Florida. — CREDIT: Scott Keyes — GAINESVILLE, Florida — Last week, former presidents and dignitaries celebrated …

Discussion: Liberaland and PoliticusUSA

The Atlantic Online:

JUMP TO COMMENTS — CONOR FRIEDERSDORF is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he focuses on politics and national affairs. He lives in Venice, California, and is the founding editor of The Best of Journalism, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction.

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:

Ukraine Says It Has Begun Military Operation in East — SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — After days of failing to enforce its own ultimatums, the Ukrainian government on Tuesday began what the president called a military operation to confront pro-Russian militants in the east of the country.

Discussion: The Week

Ashton Davis / GOP.com:

RNC Sues IRS for Illegal Stonewalling — WASHINGTON - Today the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for withholding records sought by the RNC's 2013 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. In the initial request on May 21, 2013 …

Discussion: Liberaland and The Gateway Pundit

Alexandra Jaffe / The Hill:

Boehner challenger pitches solution to ‘electile dysfunction’ — High school teacher J.D. Winteregg, a Tea Party-backed candidate challenging House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), is pitching himself as the solution to “electile dysfunction” in a new Web video.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Politico and Talking Points Memo

Peter Nicholas / Wall Street Journal:

O'Malley on 2016: Democrats Could Use Real Contest — MILWAUKEE — As it looks now, the Democratic presidential nomination is Hillary Clinton's for the taking. So far ahead is Mrs. Clinton in the early polling that it's unclear she would get a serious primary challenge if she decides to run for president in 2016.

Discussion: Washington Post

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:

Ben Carson: White House wanted apology for ‘offending’ Obama — Neurosurgeon Ben Carson says the White House wanted him to apologize for “offending” President Obama after he famously delivered a conservative message at the National Prayer Breakfast last year.

Discussion: Mediaite and Independent Journal Review

Gordon G. Chang / Forbes:

China Property Collapse Has Begun — Nothing is going right for Hangzhou at this moment. Walmart will be closing its Zhaohui store in that city on April 23 as a part of its overall plan to dump marginal locations—about 9% of the total—in China. — Thanks to the world's largest retailer …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice