Top Items:
New York Times:
Defying Criticism, Arkansas Legislature Passes Bill on Religious Freedom — LITTLE ROCK, Ark., — Despite intensifying criticism from business leaders both within and outside of Arkansas, the state legislature on Tuesday passed its version of a measure billed as a religious freedom law …
Discussion:
Slate, Mediaite, National Review, The Week, Towleroad News #gay, Hit & Run and Bloomberg Business
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Jill Lawrence / US News:
A Glimpse Into the GOP's Backward Bubble — Defending Indiana's anti-gay, ‘religious freedom’ law makes Gov. Mike Pence the face of GOP insularity. — If there's one takeaway from Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's “religious freedom restoration” debacle, it's that Republicans ignore today's cultural environment at their peril.
Discussion:
CNNMoney, National Review, Mashable, The Big Picture, Towleroad News #gay and The Reaction
Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner:
The Left wages total war; and then plays victim — On one side is the CEO of the world's largest company, the president of the United States and a growing chunk of the Fortune 500. On the other side is a solo wedding photographer in New Mexico, a 70-year-old grandma florist in Washington and a few bakers.
David Brooks / New York Times:
Religious Liberty and Equality — Over the past few decades the United States has engaged in a great struggle to balance civil rights and religious liberty. — On the one hand, there is a growing consensus that straight, gay and lesbian people deserve full equality with each other.
Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
“Smoking Doesn't Kill” And Other Great Old Op-Eds From Mike Pence — The Indiana governor who is at the center of the debate surrounding the recently signed Religious Freedom Restoration Act in his state wrote some interesting op-eds 15 years ago. — “Time for a quick reality check.
Mark Berman / Washington Post:
Arkansas lawmakers approve religious liberty bill despite firestorm over Indiana law
Arkansas lawmakers approve religious liberty bill despite firestorm over Indiana law
Discussion:
Cruz for President, Daily Mail, Alliance Defending …, The Daily Caller and Religion Clause
Matthew J. Belvedere / CNBC:
NCAA president: Indiana law against our core values
NCAA president: Indiana law against our core values
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, myfox8.com, Mediaite, WALV-TV, Chicago, Outside the Beltway and ThinkProgress
Brian Beutler / The New Republic:
The Real Consequences of Indiana's “Religious Freedom” Law
The Real Consequences of Indiana's “Religious Freedom” Law
Discussion:
US News, Yahoo! Finance, FiveThirtyEight, Washington Post, Eschaton, PoliticusUSA and Chicago Business
Dana Liebelson / The Huffington Post:
Arkansas Legislature Copies Indiana, Passes Controversial Religious Freedom Bill
Arkansas Legislature Copies Indiana, Passes Controversial Religious Freedom Bill
Discussion:
Washington Post, Reuters, UPI, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Hit & Run, BuzzFeed and Common Dreams
David Weigel / Bloomberg Business:
Trevor Noah, From Progressive Icon to Villain in 24 Hours — Why people turned on Trevor Noah so quickly. — The media hot take, the quick response to unfamiliar news, generally ages like milk left out in the August sun. Sonia Saraiya's reaction to Trevor Noah, the new host of The Daily Show, has not even aged that well.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Salon, Ed Driscoll, Power Line, Mediaite, Vox, The Verge, Washington Free Beacon, WOOD-TV, Hot Air, Hit & Run, The Daily Banter, Patterico's Pontifications and ThinkProgress
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Jessica Winter / Slate:
The Problem Isn't That Trevor Noah Is Offensive. The Problem Is That He's a Giant Dope. — Not since John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate have the vetting capacities of a powerful political force been cast into such doubt. When Trevor Noah was announced Monday as the next host …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, Hollywood Reporter, TIME, The Huffington Post, The Daily Banter, BuzzFeed, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Salon and Unfogged
Eun Kyung Kim / Today:
Elizabeth Warren on 2016: 'I'm not going to run' — and Hillary Clinton deserves ‘a chance to decide’ — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a populist figure among the Democratic faithful after taking on Wall Street and the banking industry, reaffirmed to Savannah Guthrie on TODAY Tuesday that she has no plans to run for president in 2016.
Discussion:
The Hill, Gawker, Taylor Marsh, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine, The Reaction, Wall Street Journal and NPR
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Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
Hillary Clinton Makes It Hard to Follow the Money
Hillary Clinton Makes It Hard to Follow the Money
Discussion:
BREITBART.COM and Weekly Standard
Charles Pierce / Esquire:
David Brooks Would Like You To Lower Your Voice — In which David Brooks would like gay people to lower their voices. — GETTY BRYAN BEDDER FOR THE NEW YORKER — Before we deal with the well-mannered moral monster that is David Brooks, we should dispense with some of the WeaselSpeak …
Neil Eggleston / White House.gov Blog:
Upholding the Principle of Fairness in Our Criminal Justice System Through Clemency — Building on his commitment to address instances of unfairness in sentencing, President Obama granted 22 commutations today to individuals serving time in federal prison. Had they been sentenced under current laws …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Wall Street Journal, Common Dreams, Politico, Washington Post and Horizons
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Terry Andre Barnes / The Huffington Post:
Obama Commutes 22 Drug Sentences, Instantly Doubling The Number Of Commutations He's Issued
Obama Commutes 22 Drug Sentences, Instantly Doubling The Number Of Commutations He's Issued
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Horizons, New York Magazine and ThinkProgress
Adam Nossiter / New York Times:
In Nigeria's Election, Muhammadu Buhari Defeats Goodluck Jonathan — KANO, Nigeria — With anger swelling over corruption, inequality and a devastating Islamist insurgency in the nation's north, Nigerians chose a former general who once ruled with an iron hand to be their next president, according to election results on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Reuters, The Atlantic Online, BBC, American Spectator, The Week and NPR
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UNFCCC:
United States Submits its Climate Action Plan ahead of 2015 Paris Agreement — The United States has submitted its new climate action plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). — This Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) comes well in advance …
Discussion:
The New Republic, NewClimate Institute, Watts Up With That?, Common Dreams, Associated Press, NPR and RTCC
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The White House:
FACT SHEET: U.S. Reports its 2025 Emissions Target to the UNFCCC
FACT SHEET: U.S. Reports its 2025 Emissions Target to the UNFCCC
Discussion:
Washington Post, Hit & Run and The Daily Caller
Brian Deese / Medium:
We're taking action on climate change—and the world is joining us
We're taking action on climate change—and the world is joining us
Discussion:
Guardian, USA Today, New York Times, ABC, The Verge, EcoWatch, Firedoglake, Politico and Mashable
Dylan Byers / Politico:
The MSNBC ratings keep getting worse — Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for MSNBC, along came the quarterly ratings reports. — In both daytime and prime time, MSNBC endured its lowest quarterly demo numbers in a decade, and its total viewership since the final quarter of 2007.
Discussion:
The PJ Tatler
Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Harry Reid's appalling defense of his attack on Mitt Romney's tax record — One of the more outlandish moments of the 2012 campaign came when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went to the floor of the world's greatest deliberative body and accused GOP nominee Mitt Romney of not paying any taxes at all for the past 10 years.
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, Outside the Beltway, American Spectator, Power Line, protein wisdom and Ed Driscoll
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Carol Morello / Washington Post:
Iran nuclear talks continue past self-imposed midnight deadline — LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND — Negotiations over Iran's nuclear program blew past a Tuesday deadline, U.S. officials said, with diplomats struggling to reach consensus on the difficult issues of sanctions, enrichment research and future limits.
Discussion:
New York Times, Power Line, The Daily Caller, Strange Bedfellows, Hot Air and John Hawkins' Right Wing News
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Page Six:
Weinstein accused of molesting model — Harvey Weinstein leaves his home in New York City on Tuesday. The Hollywood exec faces accusations he groped Italian model Ambra Battilana (right). — A stunning 22-year-old model with ties to former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told police …
Discussion:
Daily Mail and The Daily Caller
Lazar Berman / The Times of Israel:
Iran militia chief: Destroying Israel is ‘nonnegotiable’ — Basij commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi also threatens Saudis, saying their fate will be like that of Saddam Hussein — The commander of the Basij militia of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that “erasing Israel off the map” is …
Discussion:
Agence France-Presse, The Gateway Pundit, Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs and The Right Scoop
Ben Domenech / The Federalist:
The End of Tolerance And Enforced Morality — Are you having a fun Culture War 4.0? It's certainly been a crazy ride for Indiana state representatives, who appear to be caving to pressure to “clarify” RFRA language after being assaulted for being anti-gay.