memeorandum: Constitution's horrible, no good, very bad year: Column (William A. Jacobson/USA Today)

7:45 AM ET, December 30, 2014

Top Items:

House majority whip Scalise acknowledges speaking at white nationalist event in 2002 — Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House majority whip, acknowledged Monday that he spoke at a gathering hosted by white nationalist leaders while serving as a state representative in 2002 …

Discussion: Mediaite and Little Green Footballs

Washington Post:

House Majority Whip Scalise confirms he spoke to white nationalists in 2002 — Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the newly elected House majority whip, acknowledged Monday that he spoke at a gathering hosted by white nationalist leaders while serving as a state representative in 2002 …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, NOLA River, RedState, The Moderate Voice, Liberaland, theind.com, National Review and Bloomberg Politics

Bill Clark / Roll Call:

What Scalise and Vitter Told Roll Call About David Duke in 1999 — Back in 1999, Roll Call interviewed white supremacist leader David Duke about the possibility he would seek the House seat vacated by the resignation of Republican Rep. Bob Livingston. As part of that report …

Discussion: RedState, Slantpoint and Little Green Footballs

Matt Sledge / The Huffington Post:
Majority Whip Steve Scalise Struggles To Distance Himself From David Duke

Discussion: Mediaite

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
Report: GOP Whip Spoke At White Nationalist Meeting In 2002

Discussion: Booman Tribune

New York Times: Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana Acknowledges Addressing Racist Group in 2002

Politico: Steve Scalise's office: Likely he spoke to white supremacist group

Lamar White, Jr / cenlamar.com:
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Was Reportedly an Honored Guest at 2002 International White Supremacist Convention

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
No. 3 House Republican leader spoke to white supremacist group

Discussion: Washington Post

The Huffington Post:
New Republican Whip Allegedly Addressed Supremacist Group in 2002

Discussion: Roll Call and Washington Monthly

Dan Friedman / NY Daily News:

Michael Grimm has decided to resign from Congress days after pleading guilty: sources — EXCLUSIVE: The Staten Island Republican, who won reelection in the fall, has decided to vacate his seat after speaking with Rep. John Boehner. — WASHINGTON — Rep. Michael Grimm has decided to resign …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, The New York Observer, Gawker, Slantpoint, Hinterland Gazette, Daily Mail, CNN, Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post and Mediaite

Politico:

Michael Grimm resignation expected soon — New York GOP Rep. Michael Grimm — who pleaded guilty to a felony tax charge last week — is expected to resign from Congress this week, possibly as early as Tuesday, Republican sources said. — Grimm talked to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Monday, the sources said.

Discussion: Daily Kos and ABC News

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:

Why Hillary Clinton doesn't need to win the white working class — Few questions in American political debate recur with the regularity of this one: Can Democrats win the white working class? — As soon as it's time to start contemplating the next election, commentators begin to ask this question …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Washington Monthly

Brian Beutler / The New Republic:
Obama Went on the War Path in 2014 Not Just for His Legacy, But Hillary's Too

Discussion: US News and NPR

Beth Reinhard / Wall Street Journal:
Hillary Clinton Faces Uphill Fight for White, Rural Vote

Discussion: Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, The Daily Caller and Gallup

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Jeb Bush exits another corporate board — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will step down from the board of directors at timber company Rayonier Inc., in yet another sign that he intends to run for president in 2016. — In a Securities and Exchange Commission report filed on Monday and first spotted …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Thomson IR, Prairie Weather and Politico

Jacquelyn Martin / New York Times:
Playing the Numbers Game With the Obamas' Christmas Vacation

Discussion: The Huffington Post, OnPolitics and Hot Air

Dave Barry / Washington Post:

THERE'S JUST NO EXPLAINING 2014 — It was a year of mysteries. To list some of the more baffling ones: — A huge airliner simply vanished, and to this day nobody has any idea what happened to it, despite literally thousands of hours of intensive speculation on CNN.

Discussion: Ordinary Times and Gawker

Associated Press:
Search area expanded in hunt for AirAsia plane

Discussion: Gawker, Mediaite, ABC News and Associated Press

New York Post:

Scared NYPD cops letting minor crimes slide — Officers at slain cop Rafael Ramos' funeral. — With cops on edge following the assassination of two patrol officers on a Brooklyn street, many officers have started turning a blind eye to some minor crimes, sources told The Post …

Discussion: Betsy's Page, Washington Times, PoliticusUSA, Daily Mail, National Review and Telegraph

New York Post:
‘Traitor’ de Blasio booed at Police Academy graduation

Discussion: New York Times, Salon, ABC News, BuzzFeed, Gothamist, The Mahablog, National Review and John Cardillo

NY Daily News:
De Blasio faces booing, NYPD disdain again as he addresses recruits at police graduation ceremony

Discussion: Politico

Los Angeles Times:

Ezell Ford autopsy prompts new protests, calls for caution — The autopsy of Ezell Ford, a mentally ill black man killed by police in South Los Angeles in August, shows he was shot three times — once in the right side, once in the right back and once in the right arm.

Discussion: Gawker, Slantpoint and KTLA

CNN:
Officers shot at in Florida and Los Angeles

Discussion: Washington Times, The Daily Caller, Power Line, Yahoo! News, KTLA and The Gateway Pundit

Politico:

2015, the year the GOP strikes back at Obama food policies — The Obama administration is becoming increasingly involved in what Americans put on their dinner plates and in their cereal bowls, from requiring school children to be served fruit to eliminating trans fats in doughnuts.

Allie Grasgreen / Politico:

Colleges: Game plan set for student, faculty travel to Ebola-affected regions — It's the most wonderful time of the year on college campuses, as finals conclude and students and faculty flock home for the holidays. But when their destination involves Ebola-stricken nations, things get a little more complicated.

Caitlin Emma / Politico:

Testing under fire — Republicans may consider slashing the number of federally required tests. — Republicans on the Hill are finding unusual common ground with teachers unions about an overthrow of the annual testing mandate embedded in No Child Left Behind.

Natasha Vargas-Cooper / The Intercept:

Exclusive: Jay, Key Witness from ‘Serial’ Tells His Story for First Time, Part 1 — On Jan. 13, 1999, Hae Min Lee, an 18-year-old high school student from Baltimore, went missing. About a month later, police uncovered her body in a nearby park; an autopsy would later find that she was choked to death.

Discussion: Gawker, Raw Story, Business Insider, Daily Mail, PopWatch and Mashable

New York Times:

U.S. Said to Investigate Sheldon Silver, New York Assembly Speaker, Over Payments — Federal authorities are investigating substantial payments made to the State Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, by a small law firm that seeks real estate tax reductions for commercial and residential properties …

Discussion: Gawker, The PJ Tatler and Slantpoint

Ashley Killough / CNN:

Obama sorry golf schedule changed wedding location — (CNN) — President Barack Obama apologized to a couple after his golf game in Hawaii forced the bride and groom to relocate their wedding Sunday. — According to a report out from Bloomberg, the couple — both captains in the Army …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Daily Mail and Mediaite

Michael C Bender / Bloomberg Politics:
Soldiers Relocate Wedding to Accommodate Obama's Golf Game

Tal Kopan / Politico:

FBI briefed on alternate Sony hack theory — FBI agents investigating the Sony Pictures hack were briefed Monday by a security firm that says its research points to laid-off Sony staff, not North Korea, as the perpetrator — another example of the continuing whodunit blame game around the devastating attack.

Discussion: Firedoglake

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Obama nominees in doubt — Democrats pushed through dozens in December, but Republicans have all the leverage now. — Democrats are still dancing in the end zone after running up the score on dozens of President Barack Obama's nominees during the lame duck.

Maggie Haberman / Politico:

Ted Cruz is billed as a Passover vacation attraction — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a likely Republican presidential candidate and a vocal pro-Israel hawk, is being advertised as a featured attraction at a string of ritzy resort vacation getaways catering to religious Jews.