memeorandum: Black Caucus members call for hearings on Ferguson shooting (Mike Lillis/The Hill)

3:25 AM ET, August 16, 2014

Top Items:

Manny Fernandez / New York Times:

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas Is Indicted on Charge of Abuse of Power — AUSTIN, Tex. — A grand jury indicted Gov. Rick Perry on two felony counts on Friday, charging that he abused his power last year when he attempted to pressure the district attorney here, a Democrat, to step down by threatening to cut off state financing to her office.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Online Library …, RedState and CANNONFIRE

Patrick Tolbert / KXAN-TV:

Texas Governor Rick Perry indicted by grand jury — AUSTIN (KXAN) - A grand jury has handed up an indictment against Gov. Rick Perry in connection with the investigation into an effort to force Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign. — Read the Indictment

Discussion: Hinterland Gazette, Gawker, Daily Kos, PoliticusUSA and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Rick Perry Indicted: Another Democratic Party Dirty Trick — A grand jury in Travis County, Texas, indicted Governor Rick Perry today. Why? For exercising his constitutional prerogative by threatening to veto, and then vetoing, an appropriation to support the public corruption unit in Travis County's district attorney's office.

Discussion: Instapundit

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

What You Need To Know About The Indictment Naming Texas Governor Rick Perry — Rick Perry, Texas' longstanding Republican governor and a 2012 presidential candidate, is now under indictment. The indictment lays out two counts against the Texas governor, one for “Abuse of Official Capacity” …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Ed Driscoll

Associated Press:

TEXAS' PERRY CHARGED WITH COERCION FOR VETO THREAT — AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A grand jury indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday for allegedly abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a threat to veto funding for state prosecutors investigating public corruption …

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay, Balloon Juice, Washington Post, Mediaite, Brains and Eggs and Talking Points Memo

Tony Plohetski / Austin American-Statesman:

Rick Perry indicted for Lehmberg veto threat — A Travis County grand jury Friday indicted Gov. Rick Perry on two charges related to his effort last year to force District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign after her drunken driving arrest. — Grand jurors charged Perry, 64 …

Discussion: BuzzFeed and The Daily Caller

Nahal Toosi / Politico:
Rick Perry indicted, backers cry witch-hunt

Discussion: The Raw Story

Danaradio / The Dana Show:

Alleged Friend Of Officer Darren Wilson Offers His Side — A woman claiming to be a friend of the officer involved in the shooting of Ferguson's Mike Brown called into my program offering Darren Wilson's side of the story. Video via my show's flagship station, KFTK in St. Louis:

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Last Refuge and The Jawa Report

Brian Beutler / The New Republic:

The Ferguson Police Chief's Statement Is Only Making Things Worse — Five days after a police officer fired multiple rounds at and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, we now know that the officer's name is Darren Wilson. Thanks to Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson …

Discussion: Mashable, Colorlines, Hot Air, Vox, The Dish, emptywheel, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NBC News, Washington Monthly, Shakesville and Democracy in America

Michael Daly / The Daily Beast:

The Day Ferguson Cops Were Caught in a Bloody Lie — The officers got the wrong man, but charged him anyway—with getting his blood on their uniforms. How the Ferguson PD ran the town where Michael Brown was gunned down. — Police in Ferguson, Missouri, once charged a man with destruction …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Jezebel, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Liberaland, Talking Points Memo and Lawyers, Guns & Money

New York Times:
Emotions Flare in Missouri Amid Police Statements

Discussion: Colorlines, Medium, Sunlight Foundation Blog, USA Today, Blazing Cat Fur, CANNONFIRE, BillMoyers.com and Prairie Weather

TwitLonger:
Statement from the Family of Michael Brown & Their Attorneys

Discussion: The Huffington Post, FOX2now.com, Shakesville, Business Insider, The Daily Banter, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

CNN:
Michael Brown was a robbery suspect before he was shot to death, police say

Discussion: Hot Air, protein wisdom, BREITBART.COM and Washington Post

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
Police: Teen Was ‘Primary Suspect’ In Robbery At Time Of Shooting

Discussion: Washington Post, Hinterland Gazette, Scared Monkeys and No More Mister Nice Blog

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

Twitter User Appears To Provide Eyewitness Account Of Teen Shooting — A Twitter user appears to have provided a contemporaneous account from the scene of the Ferguson, Mo., police shooting of Michael Brown, 18, on Saturday, Aug. 9. — The account of the incident was found and curated …

Discussion: UPROXX and National Review

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Black Caucus members call for hearings on Ferguson shooting — Several prominent members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) are calling on Congress to probe the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo. — Until now, the congressional scrutiny surrounding the death …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Julia Ioffe / The New Republic:
White St. Louis Has Some Awful Things to Say About Ferguson

Discussion: BuzzFeed, RedState, Colorlines, The Federalist, Washington Post, Eschaton, The Week, Slate, USA Today, msnbc.com and Business Insider

Andy Abrahams / Parade:

Paul Ryan on His Father's Private Battle, Family, and ‘House of Cards’ — More by Andy — When Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan to be his running mate in 2012, the most dramatic detail in the potential veep's biography was the tragic loss of his father when Ryan was just 16.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, OnPolitics, PoliticusUSA and Wall Street Journal

Jay Newton-Small / TIME:

Ernst Says She Was Sexually Harassed in the Military — Breaks with party, Pentagon on stance — Republican State Sen. Joni Ernst, who is running for Senate and served more than 20 years in the military, said Friday that she was sexually harassed in the military and, given her experience …

Discussion: Des Moines Register, Roll Call, Politico, CNN, OnPolitics and Talking Points Memo

Damon Linker / The Week:

What if your daughter was a porn star? — Americans have come to pride themselves on their moral libertarianism. But there are limits. — Think about it. — W — e're living through a libertarian moment. — No, libertarianism hasn't consistently changed how Americans think about taxation …

Discussion: Hit & Run and The Dish

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Al Gore sues Al Jazeera for fraud — Former Vice President Al Gore and business partner Joel Hyatt have filed a lawsuit against Al Jazeera on charges of fraud and material breaches in their acquisition of Current Media, POLITICO has learned. — Gore and Hyatt, the co-founders of Current Media …

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, Mediaite, Blazing Cat Fur and Talking Points Memo

Bloomberg:
Al Gore Sues Al Jazeera Over $500 Million Current TV Deal

Discussion: Washington Monthly, TVNewser, Bloomberg and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

PRESIDENT.GOV.UA:

President of Ukraine and Prime Minister of Great Britain discussed international efforts on the settlement of the conflict in the Donbas — President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko had a phone conversation with Prime Minister of Great Britain David Cameron. — The parties coordinated …