memeorandum: Margaret Atwood on Our Robotic Future (Margaret Atwood/New York Times)

7:15 AM ET, December 5, 2014

Top Items:

White America's moral disaster: From Eric Garner to Mike Brown, a destructive view of “justice” — Here's how white victimization is tearing the nation apart — Yesterday a New York police officer named Daniel Pantaleo who was videotaped killing a man named Eric Garner using …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Peter Beinart / The Atlantic Online:

If Eric Garner Were White — Imagine that Eric Garner had been white. Imagine that he'd been living in Idaho. Imagine that the law-enforcement officers who killed him had been federal agents. — His death would be a Tea Party crusade. — Think about it.

Discussion: NBC News, Fox News, New York Times, Bloomberg View, The PJ Tatler, Prairie Weather, The Marshall Project, Hit & Run, National Review and CNN

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
On the Staten Island Decision

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, Hit & Run, Prairie Weather, New York Magazine, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hullabaloo, JustOneMinute, Talking Points Memo, The Dish, CNN and RedState

Brian Beutler / The New Republic:
The NYC Cop Who Strangled Eric Garner to Death Is Free Thanks to a Legal Flaw. Here's How Voters Can Fix It.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Guardian, rubber hose, The Concourse, The Moderate Voice, Gothamist, The Dish and New York Times

Jesse Walker / Hit & Run:
The Last Words of Eric Garner

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Post, The Daily Banter and Gawker

Robert Tracinski / The Federalist:
Eric Garner and Omnipresent Police Power

Discussion: Salon, Washington Post, Prairie Weather, Power Line, Hot Air, Rush Limbaugh, Hit & Run, Betsy's Page, The Verge, The PJ Tatler, Fox News and The Dish

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Morning Plum: GOP leaders betting that conservative rage will sputter out

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The New Republic, BillMoyers.com, Wall Street Journal, Daily Kos, Hit & Run, Washington Monthly, PoliticusUSA and New York Times

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

A Eulogy for The New Republic — A century-old liberal institution gazes at the end. — Shares — Not long after he purchased The New Republic, Chris Hughes had lunch with me, as he was doing with quite a few journalists around Washington. At one point, he asked me who the best editor had been during my 16 years.

Discussion: The Dish, Balloon Juice, Poynter, Booman Tribune and Power Line, more at Mediagazer »

Ezra Klein / Vox:

Even the liberal New Republic needs to change — When I entered journalism there were three places I badly wanted to work: The American Prospect, The Washington Monthly, and The New Republic. The decision turned out to be easy: TNR never called me back. The Washington Monthly didn't have entry-level positions.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Gawker, Washington Center …, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Eschaton and New York Magazine

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Frank Foer, Leon Wieseltier out at TNR

Discussion: New York Magazine, FishbowlDC, Talking Points Memo and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

John Nolte / BREITBART.COM:

INVESTIGATION: LENA DUNHAM ‘RAPED BY A REPUBLICAN’ STORY IN BESTSELLER COLLAPSES UNDER SCRUTINY — In her just-released memoir, Not That Kind of Girl, Lena Dunham describes her alma mater, Oberlin College, as “a liberal arts haven in the cornfields of Ohio.”

Discussion: RedState, Ed Driscoll, The Daily Caller, Viking Pundit and Vox Popoli

Eugene Volokh / Washington Post:

Could ‘Barry’ sue Lena Dunham over her memoirs? — Actress Lena Dunham holds her memoir, “Not That Kind of Girl,” ahead of a book signing in Piccadilly in central London in October. (Joel Ryan/Invision via Associated Press) — A reader writes: … A very interesting question …

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:

The Last Southern Democrat — HAMMOND, La.—Mary Landrieu is dead, and everyone knows it but Mary Landrieu. — The senior senator from Louisiana, a diminutive blond woman with a round, youthful face, is standing under a green canopy in the middle of an airfield. The canopy reads, “City of Hammond, Too Lovely to Litter.”

Alexander Bolton / The Hill: Dems on ObamaCare: Was it worth it?

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
4 New Studies Show Obamacare Is Working Incredibly Well

Discussion: Liberal Values, Campaign for America's Future, ThinkProgress, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, DownWithTyranny! and National Review

Lisa Lerer / Bloomberg Politics:

Warren Buffett, Reluctant PAC Man, Is Ready for Hillary — Warren Buffett has said he's willing to “put money” on Hillary Clinton winning the 2016 presidential race. Turns out, he really meant it. — The Oracle of Omaha gave the maximum donation allowed to Ready for Hillary last quarter …

Discussion: CNN, Taylor Marsh and Business Insider

Politico:
Hillary Clinton has met with potential campaign managers

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Talking Points Memo and Fox News

Allie Jones / Gawker:

Jenna Bush Admits to “Hanky Panky” on the White House Roof — America's favorite tipsy Bush twin Jenna Bush Hager went on Andy Cohen's Watch What Happens Live last night and was predictably great (sorry Barb). When asked if she ever fooled around in the White House, Jen admitted she engaged in some …

Discussion: UPROXX and Mediaite

Politico:

Nancy Pelosi flexes muscle in closed budget meeting — With the government set to shut down in a week, Nancy Pelosi is flexing her muscles. — In a closed Democratic whip meeting Thursday morning, the House minority leader warned Democrats not to rush to support the Republican efforts …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Daily Kos

hrms.urban.org:

Taking Stock: Health Insurance Coverage under the ACA as of September 2014 — Sharon K. Long, Michael Karpman, Adele Shartzer, Douglas Wissoker, Genevieve M. Kenney, Stephen Zuckerman, Nathaniel Anderson, and Katherine Hempstead — The Urban Institute's Health Reform Monitoring Survey …

Discussion: New York Times, Addicting Info, PoliticusUSA and Daily Kos

BuzzFeed:

It Gets Worse: The Newest Sony Data Breach Exposes Thousands Of Passwords — Excel and Word documents plainly expose thousands of computer log-in, financial, and web services passwords, including the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace passwords for hundreds of major motion picture accounts.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Outside the Beltway, Engadget, The Verge and Inside Movies

Margaret Atwood / New York Times:

Margaret Atwood on Our Robotic Future — Welcome to The Future, one of our favorite playgrounds. We love dabbling about in it, as our numerous utopias and dystopias testify; like the Afterlife, it's up for grabs, since no one has actually been there. — What fate is in store for us in The Future?

Business Insider:

Romney's Inner Circle Is Convinced He's Running — Mitt Romney held meetings with donors in New York this week that left one attendee convinced he is running for president again in 2016. — A member of Romney's inner circle who spoke to Business Insider said the former governor …

Discussion: Liberaland

The Huffington Post:

Feds Find Shocking, Systemic Brutality, Incompetence In Cleveland Police Department — WASHINGTON — In recent years, Cleveland police officers have punched a 13-year-old boy who was in handcuffs for shoplifting and shot at an unarmed kidnapping victim who was wearing only his underwear …