memeorandum: 2 Hostages Killed in Yemen as U.S. Rescue Effort Fails (New York Times)

3:50 PM ET, December 6, 2014

Top Items:

2 Hostages Killed in Yemen as U.S. Rescue Effort Fails — SANA, Yemen — United States commandos stormed a village in southern Yemen early Saturday in an effort to free an American photojournalist held hostage by Al Qaeda, but the raid ended badly with the kidnappers killing the American …

Discussion: BBC, The Daily Banter, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Gawker, Addicting Info, The Daily Caller, New York Magazine, FOX News Radio and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

Mohammed Ghobari / Reuters:

U.S., South African hostages in Yemen killed in rescue attempt — (Reuters) - A U.S. journalist and a South African teacher held by al Qaeda militants in Yemen were killed alongside 10 of their captors during a rescue attempt by U.S. and Yemeni forces, senior officials said on Saturday.

Discussion: Hot Air, Scared Monkeys and NO QUARTER USA NET

ABC News:

American Hostage Luke Somers Killed in US Rescue Attempt … Freedom for Kidnapped Journalist Luke Somers Facebook Page — American journalist Luke Somers was “murdered” on Friday during a desperate attempt by U.S. commandos to free him from al Qaeda in Yemen as a three-day deadline …

Discussion: DoD, abc7chicago.com, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit and Yahoo! News

ABC News:
Obama Says Somers' Life Was in Imminent Danger

Discussion: Politico and Associated Press

Washington Post:
Hagel: U.S. hostage ‘murdered’ in Yemen

Discussion: Mashable and The PJ Tatler

Zerlina Maxwell / Washington Post:

No matter what Jackie said, we should generally believe rape claims. — Incredulity hurts victims more than it hurts wrongly-accused perps. — In last month's deep and damning Rolling Stone report about sexual assault at UVA, a reporter narrated the story of “Jackie,” …

Discussion: PBS NewsHour, National Review, Taylor Marsh, Politico, RedState, protein wisdom, The Daily Caller, The Intercept, Mashable, Globe and Mail, The Marshall Project, fox4kc.com and Little Green Footballs, more at Mediagazer »

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Rolling Stone's disastrous U-Va. story: A case of real media bias — On Slate's DoubleX Gabfest podcast last month, reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely explained why she had settled on the University of Virginia as the focus for her investigative story on a horrific 2012 gang rape of a freshman named Jackie …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Hot Air, Shots in the Dark, Outside the Beltway, National Review, Patterico's Pontifications, The Daily Caller, BuzzFeed, The Dish and Bloomberg Politics, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:
Rolling Stone's flawed story shouldn't keep schools from taking rape claims seriously

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Reality-Based Community, The Verge, National Review, Mashable and Shots in the Dark

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

GOP group seizes on Landrieu's ‘I did not vote for Obama’ remark — Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) slipped and told a conservative radio host on Friday that she did not vote for President Obama. — It was a heated exchange and a source close to the Landrieu campaign said the Louisiana Democrat meant …

Discussion: Political Wire

Harry Enten / FiveThirtyEight:

Senate Forecast: Landrieu Headed Toward Historic Defeat In Louisiana Runoff — William Thompson of Kansas and Wesley Jones of Washington are former U.S. senators — you get a pass for not recognizing them, they've been dead for more than 80 years. But if you'll be watching Saturday's Senate …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Power Line, FOX News Radio and The PJ Tatler

David Weigel / Bloomberg Politics:
The Last Days of Democratic Politics In Louisiana Are Here

Discussion: Hot Air, PJ Media, Washington Post and The Hill

New York Times:

Hillary Clinton's History as First Lady: Powerful, but Not Always Deft — WASHINGTON — As a young lawyer for the Watergate committee in the 1970s, Hillary Rodham caught a ride home one night with her boss, Bernard Nussbaum. Sitting in the car before going inside, she told him she wanted to introduce him to her boyfriend.

Discussion: National Review

Elise Viebeck / The Hill:

HHS asks GOP: Keep us away from Gruber — The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is asking lawmakers not to seat ObamaCare consultant Jonathan Gruber next to Medicare's top official when the two testify on Capitol Hill next week. — HHS Assistant Secretary for Legislation Jim Esquea wrote …

Discussion: RedState and Politico

National Journal:

John Kerry Is Trying to Stall the Release of the CIA Torture Report — The secretary of State is reportedly asking the Senate to wait to release its report on the Bush-era use of “enhanced interrogation” techniques. — Secretary of State John Kerry is pleading with the Senate to delay …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Intercept, Techdirt, The Verge, Politico, Hot Air and New York Times

Dr. Thomas Pfeiffer / CBS News:

Cops: Doctor forced woman to swallow abortion pill — Shares - — ROSENDALE, N.Y. — Police say a New York doctor choked a woman and forced her to swallow a pill that could cause an abortion, after she told him she was pregnant. — The Ulster County Sheriff's Office …

Discussion: Liberaland, Talking Points Memo and New York Magazine

The Indianapolis Star, Indystar:

IMPD tweet underscores perils of social media — Police officer Kendale Adams spent two hours Thursday night in a room crowded with people peppering his boss with questions about how police interact with the public, particularly blacks. — Some of the people doing the peppering were protesters …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Raw Story