memeorandum: In Queens, Chickens Clash With the Rules (Corey Kilgannon/New York Times)

8:50 PM ET, April 19, 2014

Top Items:

Michelle Obama's Planned High School Commencement Speech Draws Complaints — TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — If expanding the guest list to include Michelle Obama at graduation for high school students in the Kansas capital city means fewer seats for friends and family, some students and their parents would prefer the first lady not attend.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, No More Mister Nice Blog, Balloon Juice and Hinterland Gazette

Jamie Johnson / New York Times:

White House Hosts ‘Next Generation’ Young and Rich — On a crisp morning in late March, an elite group of 100 young philanthropists and heirs to billionaire family fortunes filed into a cozy auditorium at the White House. — Their name tags read like a catalog of the country's wealthiest …

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community, Gawker, Washington Monthly and Hullabaloo

Bill Pennington / New York Times:

In a Hole, Golf Considers Digging a Wider One — GREENSBORO, Ga. — Golf holes the size of pizzas. Soccer balls on the back nine. A mulligan on every hole. — These are some of the measures — some would say gimmicks — that golf courses across the country have experimented with to stop people from quitting the game.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Outside the Beltway

Joel Gehrke / Washington Examiner:

Obama signs Ted Cruz bill into law, but says he won't enforce it — BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENT IRAN TED CRUZ — President Obama on Friday signed into law a bill authored by Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz that would bar an Iranian diplomat from entering the United States …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Independent Journal Review and Weasel Zippers

Sen. Ted Cruz / Politico:

A bipartisan message to Iran — Thanks to President Obama for joining a unanimous Congress and signing S 2195 into law. This bill gives the president the authority to deny visas to United Nations ambassadors who are known terrorists, such as Iran's recent nominee Hamid Aboutalebi, who was a participant in the 1979 hostage crisis.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and New York Times

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Obama signs bill blocking Iranian envoy

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Politico

Kristen Moulton / Salt Lake Tribune:

Western lawmakers gather in Utah to talk federal land takeover — 'It's time' » Lawmakers from 9 states gather in Utah, discuss ways to take control of federal lands. — | The Salt Lake Tribune — It's time for Western states to take control of federal lands within their borders …

Discussion: Fox News, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Hit & Run and New York Times

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Cherokee women want to meet Elizabeth Warren on book tour — In Elizabeth Warren's new book, A Fighting Chance, Warren claims to be “hurt and angry” that people criticized her claim to be Native American, specifically Cherokee. Warren blamed the Scott Brown campaign, the local Republican Party, and “some blogger.”

Discussion: BREITBART.COM and The Gateway Pundit

Hadas Gold / Politico:

The Clintons' ‘conspiracy commerce’ memo — The famous Clinton White House document known as “the conspiracy commerce memo” has finally surfaced. — The memo, which details how right-wing conspiracy theories made their way into the mainstream press, was written in 1995 and first acknowledged by the White House in 1997.

Discussion: Althouse, Power Line, Mashable, ABC News and Balloon Juice

Eric Leonard / Local News:

Early-Release Felon Charged with Kidnapping, Rape, Torture — Photo Credit: California Department of Corrections — A man on probation as a “non-violent offender” under California's prison realignment program has been charged with kidnapping, raping, and torturing a 16-year-old girl in South Los Angeles …

Discussion: The Other McCain

Jason Leopold / Guardian:

James Mitchell: 'I'm just a guy who got asked to do something for his country' — Psychologist who designed CIA's post-9/11 torture program insists he has nothing to apologise for - and attacks 'people with a Jack Bauer mentality who don't understand how intel works'

Discussion: RT, The Daily Beast and Balloon Juice

Jason Leopold / Guardian:
CIA torture architect breaks silence to defend ‘enhanced interrogation’

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Corey Kilgannon / New York Times:

In Queens, Chickens Clash With the Rules — Sylvia Saye held a basket of multicolored eggs. — “We won't need to color them this year,” she said, looking at the eggs, which were already a pretty mix of blonde, tan, brown and light blue — and fresh from the henhouse on the side of her home in Queens.

Discussion: Gothamist and Althouse

Jelani Cobb / News Desk:

The Failure of Desegregation — In 1952, an African-American woman named Sarah Bulah filed a lawsuit challenging the segregated education system in her home state of Delaware. Bulah lived near a spacious, modern, whites-only high school, but her daughter, Shirley, was forced to attend a decrepit, single-room school.

Discussion: Crooked Timber and This Is Brad DeLong's …