memeorandum: JUMP TO COMMENTS — CONOR FRIEDERSDORF is a staff writer … (The Atlantic Online)

10:45 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

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

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

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

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

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

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

Congressman Tells Black Constituent That The Civil Rights Act May Be Unconstitutional — 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 the 50th anniversary …

Discussion: Liberaland and PoliticusUSA

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

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

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

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

Julian Hattem / The Hill:

Snowden reporters win Pulitzer — The Pulitzer Prize for public service was awarded Monday to The Washington Post and The Guardian, which broke the story of National Security Agency surveillance programs leaked by Edward Snowden. — In giving U.S. journalism's top prize to the Guardian and the Post …

Discussion: Politico and Hot Air, more at Mediagazer »

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

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

New York Times:

Marathon Bombing Suspect Waits in Isolation — He cannot mingle, speak or pray with other prisoners. His only visitors are his legal team, a mental health consultant and his immediate family, who apparently have seen him only rarely. — He may write only one letter — three pages …

Discussion: The Week and Poynter

Susan Page / USA Today:

IRS chief: New rule on the way for tax-exempt groups — WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service is prepared to rewrite a proposed rule regulating the political activities of non-profit groups to address complaints from the right and left that it goes too far, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said Monday.

Discussion: Fox News, Washington Post and Hot Air

Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:

Looking at Some Corporate Tax Loopholes Ordinary Citizens May Envy — It's Tax Day. — That means accountants across the country are working furiously to meet the midnight deadline for submitting individual returns. — In corporate America, however, many accountants are already done.

Discussion: Liberaland