memeorandum: Neil deGrasse Tyson Defends Scientology—and the Bush Administration's Science Record (Marlow Stern/The Daily Beast)

6:50 PM ET, April 1, 2015

Top Items:

Alyssa Marino / ABC57 News:

RFRA: First Michiana business to publicly deny same-sex service — A small-town pizza shop is saying they agree with Governor Pence and the signing of the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act. — The O'Connor family, who owns Memories Pizza, says they have a right to believe in their religion and protect those ideals.

Indianapolis Star:

Exclusive: ‘Religious freedom’ proposal with limited LGBT protections taken to Pence — Indiana Republican leaders are vetting the language with business leaders. — Indiana Republican leaders are vetting a deal with key business leaders that grants protection for gay and lesbian residents …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico, Hit & Run, Fox 59, Weekly Standard and Towleroad News #gay

Rich Juzwiak / Gawker:

Indiana Pizzeria Takes Brave Stand of Denying Gays Pizza for Weddings — Crystal O'Connor of Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana, has her finger on the pulse of what gays want at their weddings: pizza. But thanks to her home state's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act …

Discussion: Right Wing Watch, Hit & Run, The Daily Banter and The Daily Caller

Adam Wren / Politico:
The week Mike Pence's 2016 dreams crumbled

Discussion: ABC News, The Hill, Daily Kos and Bloomberg Business

Tracy Walsh / Talking Points Memo:
David Letterman: ‘This Is Not The Indiana I Remember As A Kid’ (VIDEO)

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Mediaite

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Want Some Cheese With That Whine, Conservatives?

Discussion: The Federalist, Washington Post, Washington Examiner and Booman Tribune

Michael Falcone / ABC News:
The Note: Obama's Latest Numbers

Discussion: San Diego Gay and Lesbian, Booman Tribune and Associated Press

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
Indiana governor backs down, calls for fix to religious law

Discussion: Firedoglake

Michael Warren / Weekly Standard:
February Poll: Majority Support Religious Right to Refuse Gay-Wedding Services

Discussion: Washington Post, Bloomberg Business and National Review

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Indiana Pizzeria Vows To Never Deliver A Pizza To A Gay Wedding

Discussion: TMZ.com, Business Insider, Mediaite, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, The Mahablog, Liberaland, ABC News, National Review and New York Times

Matt Apuzzo / New York Times:

Senator Robert Menendez Indicted on Corruption Charges — WASHINGTON — Senator Robert Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press, setting the stage for a bitter court fight and putting his political future in doubt.

Discussion: National Journal, BuzzFeed, Outside the Beltway, Political Wire and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Wall Street Journal:

Justice Department Indicts Sen. Robert Menendez on Corruption Charges — New Jersey Democrat charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services fraud — WASHINGTON—The Justice Department indicted Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey on corruption charges Wednesday …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, New York Magazine, Mediaite, NPR and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Washington Post:

Sen. Robert Menendez indicted — Federal prosecutors unveiled a 13-count indictment Wednesday of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), one of his party's leading voices on foreign affairs, charging him for official work that tried to benefit an eye doctor who gave the senators many gifts over their decades of friendship.

Discussion: Liberaland, Hot Air and Daily Kos

CNN:
Sen. Robert Menendez indicted on corruption charges

Discussion: Mondoweiss

Associated Press:
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez indicted on corruption charges

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Week

Politico:

DOJ: No contempt charges for former IRS official Lois Lerner — The Justice Department will not seek criminal contempt charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner, the central figure in a scandal that erupted over whether the tax agency improperly targeted conservative political groups.

Discussion: NPR, Outside the Beltway, neo-neocon, Mediaite, Washington Post, The Right Scoop and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Darius Dixon / Politico:
House panel inquiring into former energy official's $1.7 million job

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

New York Times:

Arkansas Governor Asks Lawmakers to Recall Religious Freedom Bill — LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Facing a backlash from businesses and gay rights advocates, Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas on Wednesday called on state lawmakers to either recall or amend legislation billed as a religious freedom measure …

Discussion: Washington Post, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, The American Conservative, Political Wire, Althouse and San Diego Gay and Lesbian

Eric Bradner / CNN:

Arkansas governor sends religious freedom bill back to legislators — Washington (CNN)Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he does not plan to sign the religious freedom bill that sits on his desk right now, instead asking state lawmakers to make changes so the bill mirrors federal law.

Erick Erickson / RedState:

Two Years Later, You'll Still Be Made to Care — In the last twenty-four hours, much of the mainstream media has shown itself perfectly willing to serve as agents of Satan (or should I use Moloch to make you feel better?). Most of the news anchors, reporters, and opinion writers of the press …

Discussion: Political Insider blog, BizPac Review, The Right Scoop, Booman Tribune and The American Conservative

Stephen Peters / Human Rights Campaign Blog:

More Tech Industry Leaders Make Unprecedented & Historic Joint Statement to Legislators — Today, in response to a host of anti-LGBT bills pending or signed in to law in states around the country, tech industry leaders signed an unprecedented joint statement supporting the addition …

Discussion: Washington Blade, The Hill, Freedom Indiana and Mashable

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Tech Leaders Call For States To Pass LGBT Protections, Ban Denial Of Services

Discussion: The Verge and New York Times

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Cruz enters top tier of GOP hopefuls — PPP's newest Republican national poll finds that Ted Cruz has the big momentum following the official announcement of his candidacy last week. His support has increased from 5% to 16% in just over a month, enough to make him one of three candidates …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog and Real Clear Politics

Andy Sullivan / Reuters:
Exclusive: Republican White House hopefuls attack Obamacare but take money

Discussion: Daily Kos

Michele Bachmann / Facebook:

With his Iran deal, Barack Obama is for the 300 million souls of the United States what Andreas Lubitz was for the 150 souls on the German Wings flight - a deranged pilot flying his entire nation into the rocks. After the fact, among the smoldering remains of American cities, the shocked survivors will ask, why did he do it?

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, PoliticusUSA, Mashable, Mediaite, Business Insider and The Daily Caller

The White House:

Executive Order — “Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities” — BLOCKING THE PROPERTY OF CERTAIN PERSONS ENGAGING IN — SIGNIFICANT MALICIOUS CYBER-ENABLED ACTIVITIES — By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution …

Discussion: Politico, New York Times and NPR

Barack Obama / Medium:
A New Tool Against Cyber Threats

Discussion: The Hill, The Verge, White House.gov Blog, The Daily Caller, VentureBeat and Mashable

InsiderAdvantageGeorgia:

Breaking - McKoon says religious freedom fight over for this year — Religious freedom legislation appears dead for this session of the Georgia Legislature, the proposal's author told InsiderAdvantage Georgia Wednesday afternoon. — “I do not expect further developments,” Sen. Joshua McKoon …

Discussion: PQA and LGBT Georgia

Jason Horowitz / New York Times:

Scott Walker, Allergic to Dogs, May Run Against Political History — Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and his wife, Tonette, had planned to spend a recent Friday night at the Nashua home of Jennifer Horn, the New Hampshire Republican chairwoman. — Then he heard about Al, the Horns' beloved Dalmatian-Catahoula Leopard mix.

Discussion: Greenville News, BarbWire.com, Hot Air, OnPolitics, Fox News Insider, Althouse and New York Magazine

Bloomberg.com:

Tim Gunn Does ‘180-Degree About-Face’ on Hillary Clinton — The king of fashion takes back what he said about the woman who he hopes is the next president of the United States. “I have been very critical of her style. I have done a 180 degree about-face,” he says. And about the men in Washington?

Discussion: Washington Post

Los Angeles Times:

Brown orders California's first mandatory water restrictions: 'It's a different world' — Gov. Jerry Brown, standing on a patch of brown grass in the Sierra Nevada that is usually covered with several feet of snow at this time of year, on Wednesday announced the first mandatory water restrictions in California history.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Boing Boing, The Week and Mediaite

Pew Internet:

U.S. Smartphone Use in 2015 — Key Themes of This Report — 10% of Americans own a smartphone but do not have broadband at home, and 15% own a smartphone but say that they have a limited number of options for going online other than their cell phone. Those with relatively low income …