memeorandum: ‘Duck Dynasty’ Star Imagines Vivid Rape And Murder Scenario For Atheist Family (Tracy Walsh/Talking Points Memo)

10:15 PM ET, March 24, 2015

Top Items:

Ted Cruz to sign up for government health care — Ted Cruz, one of the loudest critics of Obamacare, will soon be using it for health insurance coverage. — “We will presumably go on the exchange and sign up for health care and we're in the process of transitioning over to do that,” Cruz …

CNN:

Ted Cruz going on Obamacare — Ted Cruz says he will enroll in Obamacare 01:47 — (CNN)Ted Cruz is going on Obamacare. — The newly announced Republican presidential candidate told CNN's Dana Bash on Tuesday that he will sign up for health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act — a law he has been on a crusade to kill.

Discussion: Liberaland, ABC News, Caffeinated Thoughts, Bloomberg Business, PoliticusUSA, EgbertoWillies.com, The Daily Caller, Chicago and New York Magazine

Ben Brody / Bloomberg Business:

On Global Warming, Ted Cruz Says He's Galileo, Not a Flat-Earther — The Texas senator is not a believer in man-made climate change. — The similarities between Texas Senator Ted Cruz and 16th-century astronomer Galileo Galilei are remarkable, according to Cruz.

Discussion: Politico, Guardian and Raw Story

Caleb Bonham / Campus Reform:

Prof: Ted Cruz and Republicans are resurrecting ‘discrimination’ — “Politics of the 1960s to Now” is a class taught by Prof. Chris Hamilton, a two-time Fulbright Scholar at Washburn University. — According to a student, Prof. Hamilton's course claims that Ted Cruz …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:

Ted Cruz Should Try Speaking to People Instead of at Them

Discussion: Hot Air, Rush Limbaugh, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog and New York Times

Wall Street Journal:

The Cruz Candidacy — Ideology aside, the Republican is similar in many ways to Obama. — Can a smart, articulate, 40-something first term Senator trained in constitutional law, who disdains his colleagues and lacks executive experience, make the leap to the White House?

Discussion: Salon, Mediaite, Weekly Standard, Washington Post, National Review, Vox and Bloomberg View

Brendan James / Talking Points Memo:
Ted Cruz: I Started Listening To Country Music Because Of 9/11 (VIDEO)

Discussion: Hit & Run, Slate and Mediaite

Matt Wilstein / Mediaite:
Rep. Peter King Threatens to Jump Off a Bridge if Cruz Gets GOP Nomination

Discussion: The Huffington Post, US News, American Spectator, Des Moines Register, Progress Pond, Washington Monthly, The Week, Bloomberg Business and New York Times

John Cassidy / New Yorker:
Can You “Imagine” Ted Cruz as President?

Discussion: Guardian, BREITBART.COM, The Texas Observer, USA TODAY College and First Reading

Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:
Ted Cruz's phenomenally bad idea

Discussion: The New Republic, New York Times, Slate, The Daily Banter, Talking Points Memo, Christian Science Monitor, The Federalist, BarbWire.com and Bloomberg View

Fox News Insider:
Megyn to Rand Paul: Why Weren't You First to Announce a 2016 Run?

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and OnPolitics

George Sells / FOX2now.com:

Man kicked off Southwest flight over language on t-shirt … ST. LOUIS, MO. (KTVI) - A New York college student found himself stranded in St. Louis, Monday after being kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight that wasn't even supposed to land here. The conflict raises a classic first amendment debate …

Discussion: WGN-TV, CBS Dallas, Consumerist, FOX31 Denver, Gothamist and Mediaite

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

James Baker blasts Benjamin Netanyahu — “His actions have not matched his rhetoric,” says the former secretary of state. — It's not just Democrats and White House officials who've got problems with Benjamin Netanyahu. — Blasting “diplomatic missteps and political gamesmanship,” …

Discussion: Commentary Magazine, Washington Post, Mediaite, Hot Air, RedState and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Scott Wong / The Hill:
Boehner ‘baffled’ by Israeli spying report

Discussion: New York Times, Algemeiner.com, Addicting Info, Business Insider, Guardian, Washington Post, Mediaite, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, The Daily Caller and Politico

Adam Entous / Wall Street Journal:
Israel Spied on Iran Talks

Washington Post:
Report: Israel spied on Iran-U.S. talks and shared information with lawmakers

Discussion: The Times of Israel, American Spectator, CNN, Wall Street Journal, US News, JP Updates and The Gateway Pundit

Helena Andrews / Washington Post:

The White House head florist is gone and rumors are flying about why — When White House chief pastry chef Bill Yosses left the executive mansion last summer, the president publicly mourned the loss of “the crust master's” mysteriously addictive pies. And when the first family's personal chef and pal …

Discussion: New York Post, Guardian, American Spectator, Hullabaloo, Mediaite, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, CBS DC, Business Insider and Politico

Jason Zengerle / GQ:

What If Sarah Palin Were a Brain Surgeon? — Until two years ago, Ben Carson was a mild-mannered neurosurgeon—a hero to black America, the subject of a tender made-for-TV movie. Then he started raving about Nazis and America's demise. Now he's the Tea Party's great White House hope—and the GOP's worst nightmare.

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog, Business Insider, Fox News, OnPolitics and Chicago

Tracy Walsh / Talking Points Memo:

‘Duck Dynasty’ Star Imagines Vivid Rape And Murder Scenario For Atheist Family — “Duck Dynasty” star and conservative icon Phil Robertson told a gruesome, vivid story on Friday about the hypothetical rape and murder of a family to illustrate the perils of atheism, according to audio surfaced by Right Wing Watch.

Discussion: Right Wing Watch

Brian Tashman / Right Wing Watch:

Phil Robertson Hypothesizes About Atheist Family Getting Raped And Killed — On Friday, “Trunews” host Rick Wiles aired a speech that Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty delivered at the Vero Beach Prayer Breakfast earlier that day, in which Robertson offered gruesome details about how an atheist father …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Friendly Atheist and Raw Story

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Washington Post Columnist Declares Ferguson Is The ‘Liberal Benghazi’ — Liberals have found an ideological bugaboo on par with Benghazi in the Michael Brown shooting, according to Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen. — “Ferguson has become the liberal Benghazi,” Cohen wrote in a column published Monday night.

Discussion: Progress Pond and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
Ferguson and Benghazi's troubling parallels

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Mediaite and Booman Tribune

BREITBART.COM:

Reports: MSM Reporters Give Hillary Clinton Standing Ovation after She Takes No Questions, Jokes about Email Scandal — On Monday evening, mainstream media reporters reportedly gave Hillary Clinton a standing ovation after she joked about her private email scandal and took no questions …

Discussion: TIME, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Politico, FishbowlDC and The Gateway Pundit

Emily Schultheis / National Journal:
Hillary Clinton Offers the Media an Olive Branch—and a Lecture

Discussion: Liberal Values, Power Line, Fox News and Washington Post

Indianapolis Star:

Gen Con threatens to move convention if Gov. Mike Pence signs religious freedom bill — The organizers of Gen Con, the city's largest convention in attendance and economic impact, are threatening to move the event elsewhere if Gov. Mike Pence signs controversial religious freedom legislation …

Discussion: Polygon, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Towleroad News #gay

Rachelle Peterson / The Federalist:

Reporters Explain Why Balance Isn't Needed On Global Warming — Is it morally permissible to allow “climate deniers” to appear in print and televised media? — Columbia University journalism students wrestled with this question recently at a screening of the new documentary, “Merchants of Doubt.”

Discussion: BarbWire.com and Ed Driscoll

Mary Bruce / ABC News:

President Obama Announces Slowdown of Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan … President Obama has agreed, at Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's request, to slow the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, leaving 9,800 in place through 2015. — “This flexibility reflects …

Discussion: abc7chicago.com

New York Times:
U.S. to Delay Pullout of Troops From Afghanistan to Aid Strikes

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Common Dreams, Outside the Beltway and Reuters

Beka Economopoulos / The Natural History Museum:

An Open Letter to Museums from Members of the Scientific Community — To Museums of Science and Natural History: — As members of the scientific community we devote our lives to understanding the world, and sharing this understanding with the public. We are deeply concerned …

Discussion: Washington Post, Hot Air, New York Times, Bloomberg Business, InsideClimate News and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

James Hohmann / Politico:

Jeb's South Carolina firewall fails to take shape — His reservoir of support is neither as wide nor as deep as he might have hoped. — GREENVILLE, S.C.— Twice before, South Carolina has delivered for the Bush family. In 1988, it famously served as George H.W. Bush's firewall after he finished third in Iowa.

Discussion: US News