memeorandum: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Scalia? Set His Dissents to Music (Jess Bravin/Wall Street Journal)

5:30 PM ET, December 3, 2014

Top Items:

No Charges in Eric Garner Chokehold Case for N.Y.P.D. Officer — A Staten Island grand jury voted on Wednesday not to bring criminal charges in the death of Eric Garner, a black man who died after being placed in a chokehold by a white police officer. — The decision was reached after months …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Philly.com, Bloomberg View, Shakesville, Balloon Juice, Outside the Beltway, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Unfogged

New York Times:

Grand Jury Said to Bring No Charges in Staten Island Chokehold Death of Eric Garner — A Staten Island grand jury has voted not to bring criminal charges against the white New York City police officer at the center of the Eric Garner case, a person briefed on the matter said Wednesday.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Little Green Footballs, ThinkProgress, The Dish, Hot Air and Booman Tribune

New York Post:

Cop cleared in chokehold death of Eric Garner — Eric Garner seen during his arrest last August. — A Staten Island grand jury cleared an NYPD cop Wednesday in the chokehold death of Eric Garner during his caught-on-video arrest for peddling loose cigarettes, The Post has learned.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Gawker, Hit & Run, PoliticusUSA, Poynter, Liberaland, Raw Story and FOX News Radio

CNN:

N.Y. cop not indicted in chokehold death — A grand jury decided against an indictment Wednesday in the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, who died after white police officer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a chokehold, according to two law enforcement officials.

Discussion: The Federalist, Christian Science Monitor, No More Mister Nice Blog, Addicting Info and Washington Times

Nicole Flatow / ThinkProgress:

BREAKING: Grand Jury Won't Charge Cop Who Killed Eric Garner With Illegal Chokehold — Eric Garner in the final moments of his life. — CREDIT: Screenshot/ New York Daily News — A grand jury voted not to file any charges against David Pantaleo, the New York Police Department cop …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Addicting Info, New York Times and Eschaton

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

ObamaCare author: Health law is ‘really complicated’ — Sen. Tom Harkin, one of the coauthors of the Affordable Care Act, now thinks Democrats may have been better off not passing it at all and holding out for a better bill. — The Iowa Democrat who chairs the Senate Health, Education …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Rush Limbaugh, Truthout Stories, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Hit & Run, Taylor Marsh, The Daily Caller, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The PJ Tatler, Ed Driscoll, Weekly Standard, Balloon Juice and Bankrate.com

Thomas B. Edsall / New York Times:

Is Obamacare Destroying the Democratic Party? — Charles Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, has forced a debate over fundamental party priorities out into the open. Should Democrats focus primarily on the problems of the poor or should they first address the economic struggles of the working and middle classes?

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Democratic Strategist, No More Mister Nice Blog and EconoSpeak

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Return of Focus Hocus Pocus

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Eschaton

Susan Page / USA Today:
Kathleen Sebelius: Jonathan Gruber? Who?

Discussion: Betsy's Page, The Daily Caller, Fox News, Washington Post, National Review and Hot Air

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Mike Huckabee: Brown Could Have Avoided Death “If He Behaved Like Something Other Than A Thug” — “I'm gonna tell you something âÂ” what gets you shot is when you grab a police officer's gun, and you lunge at him, and you try to hit him in the face. View Video ›

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Political Wire and Mediaite

Steve Almasy / CNN:
Charles Barkley: We never talk about race until something bad happens

Discussion: SBNation.com, CBS St. Louis and theGrio

Jason Hanna / CNN:
Michael Brown's stepfather sorry for outburst

Discussion: BizPac Review, New York Times and The Gateway Pundit

Lauren Fox / National Journal:

Ted Cruz Pushes the House to Have All-Out Spending Fight on Obama Immigration Action — Conservatives in the House look to Cruz once again for solutions to stop Obama. — Sen. Ted Cruz is playing de facto House conservatives leader once again. — Taking the podium Wednesday …

Discussion: New York Times, Hot Air and PoliticusUSA

Politico:
Conservatives scoff at Boehner deal

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, The PJ Tatler, The Daily Caller, Associated Press, Daily Signal and New York Times

The Hill:
Reid backs Boehner on deal to avoid government shutdown

Discussion: Politico, Hot Air, RedState and Washington Post

Joe Romm / ThinkProgress:

2014 Headed Toward Hottest Year On Record — Here's Why That's Remarkable — 2014 is currently on track to be hottest year on record, according to new reports from both the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the U.K.'s Met Office Wednesday. Similarly, NOAA reported two weeks ago …

Discussion: Met Office

World Meteorological Organization News:
2014 on course to be one of hottest, possibly hottest, on record

Discussion: ThinkProgress, bom.gov.au, Grist and Mashable

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:

Dear Media: This Elizabeth Lauten Nonsense Is Why Everybody Hates You — Last week, President Barack Obama pardoned a turkey prior to Thanksgiving Day, as is tradition. And as in previous years, his teenage daughters Malia and Sasha stood by his side. The daughters are cute as can be …

Discussion: Hot Air

Alana Goodman / Washington Free Beacon:
Media in Frenzy Over Hill Staffer's Comments on Obama's Daughters

Discussion: Washington Post, FOX News Radio, Hot Air, Fox News and Patterico's Pontifications

Steve Benen / msnbc.com:

The right's ‘State of the Union plan’ continues to percolate — Last week, shortly before Thanksgiving, the idea that congressional Republicans might block President Obama from delivering a State of the Union address first crossed the political world's radar.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Daily Kos and Washington Post

Plain Dealer:

Cleveland officer who shot Tamir Rice had ‘dismal’ handgun performance for Independence police — Adam Ferrise, Northeast Ohio Media Group By Adam Ferrise, Northeast Ohio Media Group — CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice had issues …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller and Gawker

Dan Cahill / Chicago Sun Times:

4 Downs with Mike Ditka: Ferguson, Forte and is Briggs a HOFer? — Before Sunday's game, five St. Louis Rams players took the field in a “hands up, don't shoot” solidarity protest for Ferguson and Michael Brown. — Neither the NFL nor the Rams penalized the players for their actions.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TPNN, Mediaite and USA Today

Barbara Starr / CNN:

Hagel refused to hold off resignation announcement in spite of White House wishes — Washington (CNN) — CNN has learned the White House wanted Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to wait until this week to resign, so it would have a new nominee in place by then.

Discussion: American Spectator, Politico, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Bloomberg View and Reuters

Associated Press:
Watchdog reveals thousands of docs relating to disclosure of taxpayer data to White House

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Hot Air and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Alexandra Jaffe / CNN:

Ben Carson stands by comparison of U.S. to Nazi Germany — Washington (CNN) — Neurosurgeon Ben Carson stood by his controversial comparison of the United States to Nazi Germany in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday. — Asked by Blitzer whether he would amend or take back his comments, Carson said “Absolutely not.”

Discussion: Daily Kos, National Review, Bloomberg Politics and Wall Street Journal

Kevin Montgomery / Gawker:

Zillow Accused of Subjecting Female Employees to “Sexual Torture” — Zillow has built up a $4.5 billion valuation by amassing an immense real estate database. But a lawsuit filed in a California court accuses the company of cultivating an “adult frat house” culture in which female employees …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Addicting Info, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Jess Bravin / Wall Street Journal:

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Scalia? Set His Dissents to Music — Justice Inspires a Different Type of Courtroom Drama; Duet With Ginsburg — WASHINGTON—Justice Antonin Scalia , whose barbed wit entertains audiences at Supreme Court arguments, has some competition from Antonin Scalia, the fictional character.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Verge and National Review

Alan S. Blinder / New York Review of Books:

What's the Matter with Economics? — Seven Bad Ideas: How Mainstream Economists Have Damaged America and the World — The Queen of England famously asked British economists why nobody saw the financial crisis coming. Lots of nonroyal people also have a feeling that there's something wrong with economics.