memeorandum: The FBI Is Making House Calls to Keystone XL Opponents (Katie Valentine/ThinkProgress)

5:25 PM ET, February 9, 2015

Top Items:

Same-Sex Marriages Proceed in Alabama as State Judge's Order Is Defied — BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Amid conflicting signals from federal courts and the chief justice of Alabama's Supreme Court, some Alabama counties began granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Monday in a legal showdown …

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, Outside the Beltway, Office of the Governor …, Advocate, Raw Story, PoliticusUSA, BillMoyers.com, Nashville Scene, The Daily Caller, The American Conservative, New York Magazine, rubber hose and Washington Post

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Marriage Equality Is Coming To America This June — If there was any doubt left, Justice Clarence Thomas ended it on Monday morning. — U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas — AP Photo/Dr. Scott M. Lieberman / Via s3.amazonaws.com — WASHINGTON — The United States Supreme Court …

Discussion: Christian Science Monitor, Associated Press, Washington Monthly, Hit & Run, Towleroad News #gay and Washington Post

Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Justice Thomas Objects: Court Shows Support for Gay Marriage

Discussion: Bloomberg Business and abc7.com

Brian Lyman / The Montgomery Advertiser:
Roy Moore orders ban on same-sex marriage licenses

Discussion: Politico, Gawker, The Daily Banter, Advocate, Washington Monthly and Washington Blade

Rick Hasen / Election Law Blog:
Justice Thomas: The Right to Same Sex Marriage is Coming But Show States Some Respect

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
The Future Of Voter Suppression Is Before The Supreme Court

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Alan Blinder / New York Times:
Alabama Judge Defies Gay Marriage Law

Discussion: CNN, The Atlantic Online, al.com, NBC News, Hatewatch, Associated Press, Daily Kos, Bwog and National Review

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Same-Sex Couples Begin Marrying In Alabama After U.S. Supreme Court Action

Discussion: Salon, WAFF-TV, Daily Kos and Bloomberg View

Greg Stohr / Bloomberg Business:
Gay Marriage Cleared by U.S. High Court to Start in Alabama

Discussion: Right Wing Watch, al.com, Mediaite and The Right Scoop

Travis J. Tritten / Stars & Stripes:

In his words: Brian Williams' interview with Stars and Stripes — WASHINGTON — NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams on Sunday scuttled what would have been his first public appearance to explain his situation when he canceled a planned appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports, Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed, Hot Air, TVNewser and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Mike Allen / Politico:

BROKAW IS NBC FORCE amid Williams woes — OBAMA courts GOP on Air Force One - POLITICO's new gossip columnist — MARC CAPUTO debuts - BRENDAN DALY's new job — B'DAY: Manu Raju, Terry McAuliffe — By Mike Allen (mallen@politico.com; @mikeallen), with Daniel Lippman (dlippman@politico.com; @dlippman)

Discussion: National Review, Taylor Marsh, Talking Points Memo and Associated Press

Brian Williams / New Orleans Times-Picayune:

NBC anchor Brian Williams' Katrina account challenged by ex-French Quarter hotel manager — The former general manager of the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, where embattled “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams reportedly roomed during Hurricane Katrina, said Sunday (Feb. 8) …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Page Six, Poynter and The Huffington Post

Ken Auletta / New Yorker:
Brian Williams and the God Complex

Discussion: New York Times, Gothamist and Ed Driscoll, more at Mediagazer »

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
NBC's Brian Williams told varying versions of rocket fire in Israel-Hezbollah war

Discussion: Fox News, The Huffington Post, BREITBART.COM, New York Magazine, Hit & Run, Mediaite, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Poynter, FTVLive, Patterico's Pontifications, Pressthink and CNN, more at Mediagazer »

Vox:

Obama on American politics and economy: the Vox conversation — In his 2007 book The Audacity of Hope, then-Sen. Barack Obama laid out his theory of America's political and policy problems as it stood on the eve of his first presidential campaign. He worried, he said, about …

Discussion: Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, Politico, CNN, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Caller, CBS DC, The Gateway Pundit, Political Wire, The Right Scoop and The Huffington Post

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Obama: News outlets hype terror threat

Discussion: Vox, Politico, The Daily Caller and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Zeke J Miller / TIME:

Jeb Bush Hires Co-Founder of Hipster.com … Right to Rise PAC

Discussion: Business Insider, Washington Post and OnPolitics

BuzzFeed:

New Jeb Bush Chief Technology Officer Deleting Old Tweets About “Sluts” — Ethan Czahor's tweets began disappearing today after news broke that he had been hired by Jeb Bush. A spokesman for Bush told BuzzFeed News: “Governor Bush believes the comments were inappropriate. They have been deleted at our request.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, OnPolitics, Daily Kos and Washington Post

Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed:
Jeb Bush In Iowa: Still A Long Way To Go

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Bloomberg Business and VodkaPundit

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:

David Brock resigns from Hillary Clinton PAC — David Brock on Monday abruptly resigned from the board of the super PAC Priorities USA Action, revealing rifts that threaten the big-money juggernaut being built to support Hillary Clinton's expected presidential campaign.

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Moe Lane, Washington Free Beacon and Jammie Wearing Fools

Laura Barron-Lopez / The Hill:

Obama prepares for divisive veto — President Obama is just days away from issuing the biggest veto of his tenure, with Republicans poised to send him legislation that would authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. — Obama's veto — just the third of his presidency and the first since 2010 …

Discussion: American Spectator, neo-neocon, PoliticusUSA and Hullabaloo

Luke Baker / Reuters:

Netanyahu considering changes to Congress speech after criticism — (Reuters) - Israeli officials are considering amending the format of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned address to the U.S. Congress next month to try to calm some of the partisan furore the Iran-focused speech has already provoked.

Discussion: The Times of Israel, PoliticusUSA, Outside the Beltway and The PJ Tatler

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
WHIP LIST: Dems skipping Netanyahu speech

Discussion: Yahoo! News, TPNN, JP Updates, PoliticusUSA, TheBlaze.com and ABC News

Sapna Maheshwari / BuzzFeed:

Staples Threatens To Fire Staff For Working More Than 25 Hours A Week — In 2015, an Affordable Care Act provision requiring large employers to offer health insurance to staff working more than 30 hours a week kicked into effect. Now, some part-time staff at Staples say management has become extra vigilant about limiting their hours.

Discussion: Business Insider

Elisabeth Rosenthal / New York Times:
Insured, but Not Covered — WHEN Karen Pineman of Manhattan …

Discussion: VodkaPundit

Politico:

Congressman's spending brings Schock and awe — His “Downton Abbey” decor fits a pattern of spending on resort hotels, charter flights and a personal photographer. — He charters private planes and employs a personal photographer. In Aspen, Colorado, he stays at the Little Nell, a five-star resort near the ski slopes.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Detroit Free Press, US News and New York Magazine

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

Rubio, Eye on 2016, Hires a Coveted Former Aide to Romney — Senator Marco Rubio has hired a coveted former aide to Mitt Romney to oversee his political activities in the Northeast and probably in a New Hampshire campaign, signaling that he is serious about a presidential bid.

Discussion: OnPolitics, Political Wire and Washington Post

Rebecca Riffkin / Gallup:

Fewest Americans Satisfied With Abortion Policies Since 2001 — Story Highlights — WASHINGTON, D.C. — In 2015, 34% of Americans say they are satisfied with current U.S. abortion policies. This is the lowest percentage since Gallup first asked the question in 2001.

Discussion: Hot Air, Hit & Run, ThinkProgress, RedState and LifeNews.com

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Fox Host: Christians Have Killed ‘Zero’ People In The Name Of Religion — Nearly every conservative television personality has slammed President Barack Obama's National Prayer Breakfast speech at this point. — But Fox News host Eric Bolling denied Saturday that Christians …

Discussion: FreakOutNation

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:

TV host asks Holder to quack like a duck — Attorney General Eric Holder on Sunday refused an unusual request during an interview, declining to quack like a duck. — At the end of an interview that touched on the Voting Rights Act and use of force by police, MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry asked …

Discussion: Mediaite, Fox News Insider, Washington Free Beacon and Washington Times

Katie Valentine / ThinkProgress:

The FBI Is Making House Calls to Keystone XL Opponents — Tar sands activists in several states have been getting visits from the FBI, and no one knows yet exactly why. — Federal agents have been contacting activists who have participated in anti-Keystone XL and anti-tar sands protests, according to the Canadian Press.

Discussion: Globe and Mail