memeorandum: TN Congressman — GAFFE OF THE YEAR ... Sexual Assault Begins at Home (TMZ.com)

1:40 AM ET, December 13, 2014

Top Items:

The Week Elizabeth Warren Decided to Run for President — Or may have decided. We won't know for a few months whether the Massachusetts senator will challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, but if she chooses to run, we're going to look back at this week as a pivotal moment in Warren's decision-making.

Discussion: Bloomberg Politics, Business Insider, Washington Monthly, Washington Post and National Review

Bloomberg:

Wall Street's Win on Swaps Rule Shows Washington Resurgence — Wall Street is re-emerging as a force in Washington as it closes in on one of its biggest wins against regulation since the financial crisis. — With must-pass spending legislation making its way through Congress this week …

Discussion: Bloomberg View and WhoWhatWhy

Jamelle Bouie / Slate:
Down and Out — The Democratic Party's losses at the state level …

Discussion: Bloomberg Politics and Washington Post

Ben Jacobs / The Daily Beast:
‘Crominbus’ Passes, But Did Anyone Win?

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, The Dish, Daily Kos, The Atlantic Online and CANNONFIRE

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Congressional Democrats take a stand with spending bill

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, American Prospect, Prairie Weather and Outside the Beltway

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Democrats who voted for the CRomnibus have received twice as much money from the finance industry as the ‘no’ voters

Discussion: Hot Air, Daily Kos, Daily Signal and Washington Monthly

Kevin Cirilli / The Hill:
JPMorgan CEO helped whip votes

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Prairie Weather, Balloon Juice and Shakesville

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

More Videos: Gruber Talks About Writing Obamacare; Said Under Oath He Didn't Write It — When MIT professor and Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber testified in front of Congress earlier this week about the lack of transparency used to deceive the American people about the Affordable Care Act …

Discussion: Hit & Run and Power Line

inSourceCode / Committee on Oversight & …:
Issa Subpoenas ObamaCare Architect Jonathan Gruber

Discussion: New York Times, Daily Signal, Hit & Run, Bloomberg Politics and National Review

Natalie Villacorta / Politico:
Darrell Issa subpoenas Jonathan Gruber

Discussion: Daily Kos

Elise Viebeck / The Hill: Gruber subpoenaed over ObamaCare contracts

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:

Ex-CIA director defends rectal rehydration — Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden on Thursday defended revelations from Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats that the agency used rectal rehydration on detainees. — “These were medical procedures,” Hayden said during a tense interview on CNN's “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”

Discussion: FOX News Radio

CNN:
Ex-CIA director slams torture report, defends rectal rehydration as a ‘medical procedure’

Discussion: Daily Kos

Sean Davis / The Federalist:

Sabrina Erdely Was Once Disciplined By Stephen Glass For Fabrication — And you thought this whole story couldn't get more bizarre. According to “Penn In Ink,” a collection of essays about the University of Pennsylvania by author Samuel Hughes, Sabrina Erdely (Sabrina Rubin at the time) …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Daily Caller and Ed Driscoll

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

The full demise of Rolling Stone's rape story — Even as Rolling Stone's Nov. 19 story “A Rape on Campus” unraveled last week, the magazine claimed that writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely did her due diligence in investigating an alleged gang rape on Sept. 28, 2012, at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Week, The Daily Caller, New York Times, The Week, ABC News and CNN

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Torture Party: Why Republicans Defend the Most Sadistic Government Program in Recent History — The allegation that the Bush administration used torture had gone from outrageous smear to tired news without ever having passed through the stage of acceptable topic of discussion. — Shares

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Prairie Weather

Claudia Lacy / Guardian:

Was my 17-year-old son lynched, in the year 2014? The police still won't tell me — It's hard to think such a thing could still happen in the United States. This is justice? Tell us what happened to Lennon. Tell me what happened to my son — Friday 12 December 2014 10.41 EST

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story and Hinterland Gazette

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:

Inside the Collapse of The New Republic — Last Friday morning, Chris Hughes, the owner of The New Republic, and Guy Vidra, the magazine's C.E.O., presided over a meeting at the publication's Penn Quarter offices in Washington, D.C. It had been a busy twenty-four hours: a day earlier …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Olivia Nuzzi / The Daily Beast:

Joe Biden: 'I'll Kill Your Son' — In a speech Wednesday, the vice president recalled a moment from childhood when he ‘smashed [the] head’ of local bully—and then threatened to kill him. — Vice President Joe Biden said he once chased down a bully on his bicycle, physically assaulted him …

Discussion: CNN, National Review, The PJ Tatler and Hot Air

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

In New Election, Jeb Bush Stakes Out the Middle Ground — WASHINGTON — When former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida quietly visited Senator John McCain in his Capitol Hill office this fall, discussion turned to a subject of increasing interest to Mr. Bush: how to run for president without pandering to the party's conservative base.

Discussion: Hot Air, Moe Lane, Washington Post, Bloomberg Politics and The Daily Caller

Susie Madrak / Latest from Crooks and Liars:

Cop Shows Up At Penn Student's Room To Question Her About Activist Facebook Post — If only they were this diligent about investigating right-wing domestic terrorists. — Activists also report that the day after the town hall was held at Calvary United Methodist Church …

Discussion: The Philly Declaration and Liberaland

KPTV-TV:

School shooting reported in North Portland; at least two victims — At least two people were shot at Rosemary Anderson High School in Portland on Friday. — A Portland Fire and Rescue officials said three people were transported to the hospital. Two of them are confirmed gunshot victims.

Discussion: Fox News Insider and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:

Poll Finds Unease in New York After Garner Case; Challenge for de Blasio — Mayor Bill de Blasio rose to power promising a new era of cultural comity in New York City, generating big expectations that he could heal longstanding urban divisions over ethnicity, money and class.

Discussion: Capital New York, Hot Air and Washington Free Beacon

TMZ.com:

TN Congressman — GAFFE OF THE YEAR ... Sexual Assault Begins at Home — GAFFE OF THE YEAR — Sexual Assault Begins at Home — Prepare to apply palm to forehead. — Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen made one of the all-time blunders yesterday when asked about a sexual assault case involving a Tennessee Titans football player.

Discussion: Tennessean.com and Talking Points Memo

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

“Blow Me” Domain Registered To Republican Congressman — The website could have been registered by Farenthold, or possibly as a prank by someone not associated with the Texas conservative. — Whoisology.com / Via whoisology.com — The website Blow-me.org is registered to Republican Texas …