memeorandum: Sydney siege: hostages held inside Martin Place cafe

11:10 AM ET, December 15, 2014

Top Items:

CNN:

Sydney gunman reportedly demands ISIS flag as some hostages escape — Sydney (CNN) — Australia, and the world, looked on with dread Monday as a gunman holding hostages inside a darkened Sydney cafe demanded an ISIS flag and a phone call with Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Discussion: ABC News, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos and New York Magazine

USA Today:

Sydney siege: Gunman issued demands, threats — A hostage crisis at a central Sydney cafe dragged deep into the Australian night with a lone gunman issuing demands and claiming to have bombs scattered around the city, multiple media outlets were reporting Monday.

Discussion: Fox News, Guardian, WTVR-TV, The Federalist, Associated Press, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit and BARE NAKED ISLAM

Michelle Innis / New York Times:

Police Storm Sydney Cafe in Attempt to End Hostage Crisis — Credit: Dean Lewins/European Pressphoto Agency — SYDNEY, Australia — Heavily armed police in Sydney stormed a cafe early Tuesday where an armed man said to be a self-proclaimed sheikh held hostages for more than 16 hours.

Discussion: CNN, Business Insider, Shakesville and Outside the Beltway

Matt Siegel / Reuters:

Hostages held in Sydney cafe, Islamic flag seen in window: local TV — (Reuters) - Hostages were being held inside a central Sydney cafe where a black flag with white Arabic writing could be seen in the window, local television showed on Monday, raising fears of an attack linked to Islamic militants.

Discussion: Zero Hedge, NBC News, Scared Monkeys, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, Vox Popoli and BuzzFeed

Nicholas McCallum / 9news.com.au:
LIVE STREAM: Hostages held up by armed gunman in Sydney cafe

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Jawa Report, New York Times and “The Lid”

Bridie Jabour / Guardian:
Sydney siege: hostages held inside Martin Place cafe - live

Discussion: Gawker and The Huffington Post

Brian Ries / Mashable:
Uber intros surge pricing during Sydney hostage siege, then backtracks after user outcry

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Guardian

BBC:
Sydney siege: Gunman takes hostages in Lindt cafe

Discussion: Washington Post, Gawker, The PJ Tatler, New York Magazine, Associated Press, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and FOX News Radio

Dan Good / ABC News:
5 Hostages Flee Sydney Cafe, Standoff Drags On

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Guardian, CNN, Towleroad News #gay and Hot Air

Daily Mail:
Terror in Sydney as gunman takes at least 13 hostages at Lindt cafe, forces crying women …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

CNN:
Sydney on alert as hostages held at cafe in heart of city

Discussion: American Spectator

Daniel Fallon / Sydney Morning Herald:
Lindt Chocolat Cafe hostage drama in Martin Place, Sydney

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Dana Ford / CNN:
Possible hostage situation unfolds in Sydney

Discussion: National Post and National Review

Steve Inskeep / WBUR:

Sen. Warren Warns That Spending Bill Sets Dangerous Precedent — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. (right), a member of the Senate banking committee, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., ranking member of the House financial services committee, express their outrage to reporters …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Business Insider and Weekly Standard

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Dodd-Frank Damaged in the Budget Bill — On Wall Street, 2010 was the year of “Obama rage,” in which financial tycoons went ballistic over the president's suggestion that some bankers helped cause the financial crisis. They were also, of course, angry about the Dodd-Frank financial reform …

Discussion: Washington Post and Financial Times

The Huffington Post:
The Speech That Could Make Elizabeth Warren the Next President of the United States

Discussion: AMERICAblog News and Philly.com

Peter Schroeder / The Hill: What does Warren want? — She has a spot in Democratic leadership …

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:
Elizabeth Warren was told to stay quiet, but she didn't - and it's paying off

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Campaign for America's Future, PoliticusUSA, naked capitalism, FOX News Radio and Prairie Weather

Aaron Sorkin / New York Times:

Journalists Shouldn't Help the Sony Hackers — “Jolie a ‘Spoiled Brat’ From ‘Crazyland,’ ” says The New York Post. — “Shocking New Reveals From Sony Hack,” says The Daily Beast. — “Sony's Hacked Emails Highlight Hollywood's Problems With Diversity,” says The Huffington Post.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Mashable, Deadline, The Daily Beast, Guardian and Screen Rant, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:
Sony Pictures Demands That News Agencies Delete ‘Stolen’ Data

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Re/code, Mashable, PandoDaily, Poynter and Gigaom, more at Mediagazer »

CBS News:

Most Americans consider waterboarding to be torture: poll — A barbed wire fence surrounds a military area is in the forest near Stare Kiejkuty village, close to Szczytno in Northeastern Poland, in this January 24, 2014 file photo. Poland threatened to halt the transfer of al Qaeda suspects …

Discussion: Washington Times, Politico, NBC News and Bloomberg Politics

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / USA Today:

The great campus rape hoax: Column — The truth - that rape on campus is becoming less common - doesn't fit the left's narrative. — Americans have been living through an enormously sensationalized college rape hoax, but as the evidence accumulates it's becoming clear that the entire thing …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Betsy's Page, The College Fix and Hot Air

David / Latest from Crooks and Liars:

Rove: CIA's Waterboarding Not Torture Like Japanese War Crimes Because We Raised Detainee's Legs — Republican strategist and former senior advisor to President George W. Bush argued on Sunday that the CIA's use of waterboarding on detainees could not be considered torture because it was “designed” to let the victim live.

Discussion: Booman Tribune and FOX News Radio

Rebecca Riffkin / Gallup:

2014 U.S. Approval of Congress Remains Near All-Time Low — Story Highlights — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' job approval rating for Congress averaged 15% in 2014, close to the record-low yearly average of 14% found last year. The highest yearly average was measured in 2001, at 56%.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

Jane Mayer / New Yorker:

Torture and the Truth — It's hard to describe it as a positive development when a branch of the federal government releases a four-hundred-and-ninety-nine- page report that explains, in meticulous detail, how unthinkable cruelty became official U.S. policy.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Dish and Mike the Mad Biologist