memeorandum: Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer (Board of Governors …)

7:15 AM ET, August 12, 2014

Top Items:

Actor, comic Robin Williams dies at 63 in apparent suicide — Robin Williams, a comic and sitcom star in the 1970s who became an Oscar-winning dramatic actor, died Monday at 63 in Marin County. The Marin County Sheriff's Office said he appears to have committed suicide.

Discussion: New York Times, Slate, PoliticusUSA, The Democratic Daily, CBS New York, American Spectator, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos and Outside the Beltway

TMZ.com:

Robin Williams Dead — Commits Suicide — COMMITS SUICIDE — BREAKING NEWS — UPDATE: Oakland TV station KTVU reported Williams hung himself — Robin Williams has committed suicide. — The Oscar-winning actor/comedian killed himself in Tiburon, in Northern California.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, The Urban Daily and Western Journalism

Hollywood Reporter:

Robin Williams Dies of Suspected Suicide — The Oscar-winning actor and comedian was 63 — Oscar-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams has died at age 63, according to police in Marin County, Calif. — The full statement is below. … Williams' publicist Mara Buxbaum told The Hollywood Reporter …

Discussion: Daily Mail, Capital New York, New York Times, Gawker, TVNewser, Althouse, WTVC-TV, Ed Driscoll, The Raw Story and The Daily Caller

Steve Martin / Fox News:

Robin Williams dead at 63 in suspected suicide — Oscar-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams, who dazzled in such wide-ranging dramatic and comedic roles as alien, nanny, therapist and cartoon genie during a four-decades long career, was found dead in his northern California home in a suspected suicide Monday.

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications and protein wisdom

Alan Duke / CNN:
Comedian Robin Williams dead, sheriff says

Discussion: FOX2now.com, Booman Tribune and Mediaite

Nicole Sperling / Inside Movies:
Robin Williams dead at 63

Discussion: The Raw Story and PoliticusUSA

Josh Rogin / The Daily Beast:

Exclusive: Obama Told Lawmakers Criticism of His Syria Policy is ‘Horsesh*t’ — Hillary Clinton and Congressmen alike have called on Obama to arm Syria's rebels. But the President fumed at lawmakers in a private meeting for suggesting he should've done more.

Discussion: Salon, Politico, Power Line, Mediaite, Washington Post, Fox News and Hot Air

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Obama seeks Iraq regime change — The White House on Monday took new diplomatic steps to force Iraq's prime minister from power as it looked for ways to stop fighters with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from gaining a deeper foothold in the country.

Discussion: Politico, Outside the Beltway, his vorpal sword and ABC News

David Rutz / Washington Free Beacon:
Bombs Over Erbil — It was an applause line during almost …

Discussion: Western Journalism and TPNN

Politico:

Barack Obama's mixed messages — President Barack Obama isn't just grappling with what feels like an endless foreign policy nightmare around the world. Now he's got one hell of a messaging problem at home. — The United States will not intervene in foreign crises directly …

Washington Post:
U.S. sending weapons directly to Kurdish forces, officials say

Discussion: Hot Air, Hullabaloo and The Week

Tim Mak / The Daily Beast:

Democrats Pay Black Staffers 30% Less — Campaign staffers who are people of color routinely get paid less than their white counterparts, and are often given less glamorous jobs. How an antiquated understanding of race relations results in minority staffers getting the short shrift.

Discussion: TPNN, RedState, NewsBusters, Hot Air and Independent Journal Review

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Obama's Immigration Plan Should Scare Liberals, Too — Crossing a Rubicon of presidential authority. — Shares — The Obama years have taught us the sometimes frightening lesson that our Constitution and legal structure alone don't secure the Republic.

Discussion: Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog and Washington Post

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Colleen Hanabusa cites ‘irregularities’ in Hawaii vote — Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who's trailing in the too-close-to-call Hawaii Democratic Senate primary against incumbent Brian Schatz, warned Monday of voting “irregularities” in precincts crippled by a massive tropical storm last week …

Discussion: Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:

Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer — At the “The Great Recession—Moving Ahead,” a Conference Sponsored by the Swedish Ministry of Finance, Stockholm, Sweden — The Great Recession: Moving Ahead — The recession that began in the United States in December 2007 ended in June 2009.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Business Insider, Capitol Report and Calculated Risk

Jezebel:

We Have a Rape Gif Problem and Gawker Media Won't Do Anything About It — Working at Gawker Media is a dream job for many of the women on staff here at Jezebel. This is a place that takes chances on developing writers, that has always stood behind us no matter what.

Discussion: PandoDaily, Capital New York, Mashable, Talking Points Memo and Feministing, more at Mediagazer »

LZ Granderson / CNN:

How many unarmed people have to die? — Editor's note: LZ Granderson is a CNN contributor, a senior writer for ESPN and a lecturer at Northwestern University. He is a former Hechinger Institute fellow and his commentary has been recognized by the Online News Association …

Julia Lurie / The Atlantic Online:

Why Bottled Water Comes From California, Which Can't Spare Much — Bottled-water drinkers, we have a problem: There's a good chance that your water comes from California, a state experiencing the third-driest year on record. — The details of where and how bottling companies get their water …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Daily Kos

Pete Yost / Associated Press:

DEA IMPROPERLY PAID $854,460 FOR PASSENGER LISTS — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Drug Enforcement Administration paid an Amtrak secretary $854,460 over nearly 20 years to obtain confidential information about train passengers, which the DEA could have lawfully obtained for free through a law enforcement network …

Discussion: Hit & Run, The Raw Story and Hot Air

Adam Weinstein / Gawker:

James O'Keefe Is Getting Desperate as Hell, Part MCMXVII — “I just returned from the border with shocking new video—video that will outrage you,” James O'Keefe III writes. “I dressed up like Osama bin Laden and crossed the Rio Grande river from Mexico to the United States.”

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, PoliticusUSA and Balloon Juice

Juliana Valencia / WCTI-TV:

Customer finds Nazi symbol on her chicken sandwich — MOREHEAD CITY, CARTERET COUNTY - — A Carteret County mother makes a shocking discovery when she goes to eat her chicken sandwich from a McDonald's drive-thru in Morehead City. That customer, Charleigh Matice, said when she went …

Discussion: Gawker, Jezebel, TPNN, Independent Journal Review, Talking Points Memo and The Raw Story

Trevor Timm / Freedom of the Press Foundation:

More Than a Dozen Pulitzer Winners Call on the Justice Dept to End its Pursuit of James Risen — Today, fourteen Pulitzer Prize winners have issued statements in support of journalist James Risen and in protest of the Justice Department's attempt to force Risen to testify against his sources.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hit & Run and Hullabaloo

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:

Intel Chief Blasts Obama — As the world watches the strengthening of global jihadist movements - from ISIS to al Qaeda to dozens of affiliated and like-minded groups - one of those inside the U.S. government who was most vocal about the growing threats is leaving his position.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and Hot Air

Tom Dougherty / Practical Politicking:

Is the Tea Party Express Just a Fundraising Scam? — $9.5 million raised, at a cost of $8 million, with less than $400,000 going to candidates. — What would you consider a charity that raised almost $10 million, but actually used less than 5% of that total on its mission and programs?

Discussion: The Moderate Voice