memeorandum: Malian who saved lives in Jewish deli attack gets French nationality (Reuters)

6:15 AM ET, January 16, 2015

Top Items:

Linda Holmes / NPR:

At The Oscar Nominations, It's A Good Year To Be An Idiosyncratic Man — The Oscar nominations are in (you can see the full list here), and Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel lead with nine nominations each, followed closely by The Imitation Game with eight.

Discussion: TPNN, The Dish, The Huffington Post and Althouse

Tatiana Siegel / Hollywood Reporter:

Oscars: Acting Nominees All White — For only the second time in nearly two decades, the 20 Academy Awards acting nominations went to a group made up entirely of white actors and actresses. — Among the notable snubs was David Oyelowo, who received praise for his turn as the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma.

Discussion: NY Daily News, BREITBART.COM, Business Insider, Roger L. Simon, Washington Post, Hot Air, Mediaite, Vox Popoli, New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, U-T San Diego stories and The Glittering Eye

David Sims / The Atlantic Online:
The Oscars Haven't Been This White in 19 Years

Discussion: Mediaite and The Huffington Post

Todd VanDerWerff / Vox:
Selma was snubbed because the average Oscar voter is a 63-year-old white man

Discussion: The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress and Jezebel

Scott Mendelson / Forbes:
Why Ava DuVernay's ‘Selma’ Oscar Snub Matters

Discussion: WHNT-TV, Taylor Marsh, GeekTyrant, The Huffington Post and Colorlines

Manu Raju / Politico:

Obama to Senate Dems: 'I'm going to play offense' — The president said he's prepared to veto hostile legislation, including an Iran sanctions package. — President Barack Obama made clear Thursday in a closed-door session with Senate Democrats that he's prepared to veto hostile legislation …

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:

Obama and Senator Robert Menendez Spar on How to Handle Iran — President Obama and Senator Robert Menendez traded sharp words on Thursday over whether Congress should impose new sanctions on Iran while the administration is negotiating with Tehran about its nuclear program, according to two people who witnessed the exchange.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and Booman Tribune

Burgess Everett / Politico:
GOP stuck on immigration

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos and The Hill

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Joni Ernst to Deliver Republican Response to the State of the Union

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Ron Charles / Washington Post:

‘Boy Who Came Back From Heaven’ going back to publisher — Tyndale House, a major Christian publisher, has announced that it will stop selling “The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven,” by Alex Malarkey and his father, Kevin Malarkey. — The best-selling book, first published in 2010 …

Discussion: pulpitandpen.org, Raw Story, Jezebel and Friendly Atheist

Paperthinhymn / pulpitandpen.org:

“The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven” Recants Story, Rebukes Christian Retailers [UPDATED!!!!!] — UPDATE 1 ! According to sources, Lifeway intends to pull this book from it's bookstore! Warren Throckmorton has the story, but the gist is that in response to Throckmorton's questions …

Discussion: Addicting Info, NPR, Warren Throckmorton and The Huffington Post

James Kanter / New York Times:

2 Suspects Killed in Gun Battle in Belgian Antiterror Raid — BRUSSELS — As the Belgian authorities unleashed a new campaign against suspected terrorists on Thursday that unfolded across the country with raids and arrests, in one of the raids, near the German border, officers came under …

Discussion: Reuters, Power Line, Mediaite, CNN and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Mariano Castillo / CNN:
Report: Two killed in Belgian anti-terror operation

Discussion: USA Today, Reuters, The Atlantic Online, Yahoo! News, Associated Press, NPR, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, The Long War Journal, BBC, Sky News and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Sky News:
Suspected Jihadists Killed In Belgium Raid

Discussion: ABC News, Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs and BizPac Review

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:

Obamacare Has Reversed A Negative Trend. Researchers Call It ‘Remarkable.’ — For the first time in a decade, the number of people struggling to pay their medical bills has started to decline, according to a new survey released on Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund.

Discussion: Addicting Info and JustOneMinute

The Commonwealth Fund:
The Rise in Health Care Coverage and Affordability Since Health Reform Took Effect

Discussion: Daily Kos, Liberal Values and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Dominic Tierney / The Atlantic Online:

America Will Miss Obama When He's Gone — It's 2018, and Barack Obama leans toward the computer in his Chicago townhouse and punches in the title of his memoir. He enjoys the silence and the solitude. It's been over a decade since he had time to write. This is Obama's third memoir and probably not the last.

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
How Barack Obama is avoiding becoming George W. Bush

Discussion: The Dish

Kate Tummarello / Politico:

GOP makes U-turn on net neutrality — Republicans in Congress are doing a 180 on net neutrality as the Federal Communications Commission prepares to issue new rules within weeks. — For years, GOP lawmakers have adamantly opposed any rules requiring Internet service providers to treat …

Discussion: Reuters, CANNONFIRE and The PJ Tatler

Yvonne Dean-Bailey / Campus Reform:

All-women's college cancels ‘Vagina Monologues’ because it's not feminist enough — Mount Holyoke College, an all-women's school, announced in a campus-wide email that the Theatre Board has cancelled its annual production of the “Vagina Monologues.” — The board has decided to retire …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Jezebel, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, The PJ Tatler and Patterico's Pontifications

Brian Tashman / Right Wing Watch:

Nebraska Board Of Education Member Runs Racist, Anti-LGBT Blog — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts started off his first term as governor this week by having to condemn a Republican member the state board of education, Pat McPherson, for running a conservative political blog that repeatedly referred to President Obama as a “half-breed.”

Discussion: FreakOutNation and AKSARBENT

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Neb. Guv Condemns School Board Member's Blog Calling Obama A ‘Half-Breed’

Discussion: Daily Nebraskan, Raw Story, AKSARBENT and Omaha World-Herald

Matt Welch / Hit & Run:

Ron Paul Institute Publishes a Charlie Hebdo ‘False Flag’ Piece — Yesterday, the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity made the affirmative decision to republish a piece by Paul Craig Roberts that RPI affixed with the headline: “Charlie Hebdo Shootings: False Flag?” Here's how it begins:

Discussion: Raw Story, Roger Ailes, Clayton Cramer and LewRockwell

Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity:
Charlie Hebdo Shootings: False Flag?

Discussion: American Spectator, LewRockwell, Talking Points Memo and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

The Supreme Court Is Likely To Set Up The Same-Sex Marriage Showdown On Friday — A guide. — Getty Images/Alex Wong — This will be the second time the justices have considered whether to take any of the cases out of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and/or Tennessee.

Discussion: Joe. My. God., Crime and Consequences Blog, Michigan Journal of Law Reform, SCOTUSblog, Shakesville, Advocate and NPR

Tresa Baldas / Detroit Free Press:
Judge tells state to recognize 300 same-sex marriages

Discussion: Advocate and Joe. My. God.

Bloomberg.com:

Obama Said to Seek 7% Budget Boost, Setting Up Fight With Congress — (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama will ask Congress for as much as $68 billion more than current budget limits in fiscal 2016, according to two people familiar with the administration's proposal.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Reuters:

Malian who saved lives in Jewish deli attack gets French nationality — Reuters 19 hrs ago — PARIS (Reuters) - A Malian Muslim who hid shoppers from an Islamist gunman during an attack on a Jewish supermarket in Paris will be given French nationality, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Reuters

Donna St. George / Washington Post:

Parents investigated for neglect after letting kids walk home alone — It was a one-mile walk home from a Silver Spring park on Georgia Avenue on a Saturday afternoon. But what the parents saw as a moment of independence for their 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, they say authorities viewed much differently.

Discussion: The Mommy Files, Daily Kos, New York Times, Washington Times and Eschaton

Ali Watkins / The Huffington Post:

White House Knew Of CIA Snooping on Senate, Report Says — WASHINGTON — Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan consulted the White House before directing agency personnel to sift through a walled-off computer drive being used by the Senate Intelligence Committee to construct …

Discussion: The Intercept, The Dish, Hot Air and Hullabaloo