memeorandum: Obama preparing executive order on police militarization (CNN)

5:05 AM ET, December 2, 2014

Top Items:

Lee Enterprises / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

County police chief says Rams apologized for ‘Hands up’ gesture; team's VP says otherwise — • By Jim Thomas jthomas@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8197 — UPDATED at 9:36 p.m. Monday with comment from Rams vice president. — Rams vice president of football operations Kevin Demoff …

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Magazine, Mediaite and FOX2now.com

Brendan James / Talking Points Memo:

‘Morning Joe’ Panel: Michael Brown Was A ‘Thug,’ Protests Are Based On ‘Lies’ — MSNBC's “Morning Joe” panel started the day off on Monday with a segment slamming protestors in Ferguson, shaming the St. Louis Rams football team, and calling slain unarmed teenager Michael Brown a “thug.”

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite, CANNONFIRE, KSDK-TV and ThinkProgress

Nina Mandell / USA Today:
NFL says it won't discipline Rams players for Ferguson protest

Discussion: TPNN, Mediaite, CBS St. Louis, Hinterland Gazette, BizPac Review, Talking Points Memo, KSDK-TV and Scared Monkeys

Lee Enterprises / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Fatal hammer attack on Bosnian immigrant not racially motivated, St. Louis police say

Discussion: KSDK-TV, The Gateway Pundit, FOX2now.com, Mediaite, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Gawker, KMOV-TV, Twitchy and Associated Press

ESPN:
No fines for Rams players' salute

Discussion: ABC News, Liberal Values, Liberaland and Breaking911

Agoldberg / The Smoking Gun:

GOP Staffer Who Attacked Obama Girls Was Arrested During Her Own “Awful Teen Years” — Buster — The Republican congressional aide who castigated the Obama daughters for their lack of “class” and dressing as if they were angling for a “spot at a bar” was once arrested for larceny during her own …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Addicting Info Addicting Info, Daily Mail, Gawker, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, msnbc.com, The Moderate Voice, CNN and Hinterland Gazette

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:

Indigestion over the Obama girls — On the subject of the Obama girls' supposedly disrespectful behavior at the Thanksgiving turkey pardoning: not even close to unpardonable. As my teenaged daughters would say to the Republican congressional staffer who took to Facebook to take off after Sasha and Malia: Hello?

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement, U-T San Diego stories and Balloon Juice

Julia O'Donoghue / New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Republican early voting increases before Louisiana's Dec. 6 runoff — The number of people who cast their ballots early in Louisiana dropped off from the Nov. 4 primary election to the Dec. 6 runoff election in every statewide category except one: registered Republican voters.

Discussion: Power Line, NOLA River, National Review, Townhall.com and Hot Air

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

In Mary Landrieu Ad, Congressman Says Obama Will Be Impeached If Cassidy Wins — The radio ad features Landrieu saying she approves the message and is “authorized by Friends of Mary Landrieu and authorized by the Democratic State Committee of Louisiana.” — View Video › — The text of the ad:

Discussion: Politico, OnPolitics, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Landrieu Radio Ad: Cassidy Endorsed Documentary That Said Slavery Better Than Welfare — “Cassidy/Jindal — bad for Louisiana, disastrous for black families.” — The ad is the second of its kind from the incumbent Louisiana Democratic Senator. — Here's the text of the ad …

CNN:

Obama preparing executive order on police militarization — Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama, responding to concerns over the use of military-style equipment during protests in Ferguson, Missouri over the summer, is asking aides to prepare an executive order that would better track …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Hot Air and Power Line

Mark Landler / New York Times:
Obama Offers New Standards on Police Gear

Discussion: The Hill, BuzzFeed, ThinkProgress, New York Magazine, Hit & Run, Washington Monthly and Associated Press

The White House:
FACT SHEET: Strengthening Community Policing

Discussion: TIME, White House.gov Blog, Breaking911 and Daily Kos

Daily Mail: Al Sharpton will attend Monday White House civil rights meeting as White House proposes $263 …

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Harry Reid threatens recess, Christmas — Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid is using his final weeks as majority leader to threaten one of lawmakers' most valuable assets: Recess. — Facing down a daunting list of tasks, ranging from funding the government past Dec. 11 to approving …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Daily Kos and The PJ Tatler

John B. Judis / The New Republic:

The Ferguson Decision Was Not a “Miscarriage of Justice.” Liberals Need to Accept That. — Susan Sontag once famously commented that one could have learned much more about the Soviet Union from 1950 to 1970 from reading the Readers' Digest than from reading The Nation.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Dish and Hot Air

Donna Cassata / Associated Press:

Obama Dealt Major Setback in Closing Guantanamo — President Barack Obama's 5-year-old campaign to close the federal prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, suffered a major setback as lawmakers finalizing the annual defense policy bill rejected steps toward shuttering the facility.

Discussion: Hot Air

David Weigel / Bloomberg Politics:

The Torch Is Being Passed to A New Generation of Right-Wing Media — “If you're looking for something, you might not find it,” says Lachlan Markay. “If you're looking for anything, then, who knows?” — It's the middle of November, early morning, and Markay is perched in a chair right outside …

Discussion: Politico and Washington Post

Noam N. Levey / Los Angeles Times:

UNEQUAL TREATMENT IN ARIZONA, SWINGS IN MEDICAID ACCESS SHOW PROGRAM'S IMPACT — Bad timing turned Karen Slone's medical problem into a crisis. — Slone, 53, a former administrative assistant with diabetes, followed doctors' advice for years, getting regular checkups.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Booman Tribune

Maggie Haberman / Politico:

Rob Portman won't run for president in 2016 — Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Mitt Romney ally in 2012 who was exploring his own bid for president in 2016, has opted against a White House bid and will instead seek another Senate term, sources confirmed to POLITICO.

Discussion: ABC News

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

Hispanic approval of President Obama surges following immigration announcement — Emory University political science Prof. Alan Abramowitz noticed something in Gallup's weekly assessment of President Obama's approval numbers: His approval among Hispanics has shot up by 14 points over the past two weeks.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Dish and Hot Air

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Sabrina Rubin Erdely, woman behind Rolling Stone's explosive U-Va. alleged rape story — Magazine writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely knew she wanted to write about sexual assaults at an elite university. What she didn't know was which university. — So, for six weeks starting in June, Erdely interviewed students from across the country.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Bloomberg Politics, Bloomberg View, Talking Points Memo, The Dish, Politico and Shots in the Dark

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Mayor de Blasio Unveiling Bill to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages — The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio is poised to introduce legislation this month that would eliminate the New York City horse-drawn carriage industry, fulfilling a promise by the mayor to animal-rights activists who played …

Discussion: Capital New York, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Power Line, New York Magazine and The PJ Tatler