memeorandum: Tom DeLay: I have a ‘right’ to not serve gay sinners because they ‘undermine’ my religious liberty (David Edwards/Raw Story)

8:10 PM ET, April 7, 2015

Top Items:

YouTube's copyright system has taken Rand Paul's presidential announcement offline — If you're looking for Rand Paul's presidential announcement on YouTube, bad news. As of writing, the video has been blocked by the video streaming site, thanks to a copyright claim from Warner Music Group, as Vox's Andrew Prokop spotted.

Discussion: Business Insider, The Verge, Joe. My. God., The PJ Tatler and Hit & Run

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

Black Pastor Who Spoke At Rand Paul's Rally: Obama Will “Evolve” From Christianity — “In five years we'll find out what [Obama's] real religion is.” — MICHAEL B. THOMAS / Getty — LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — One of the high points from Sen. Rand Paul's presidential campaign kickoff Tuesday came …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Ashley Killough / CNN:
Rand Paul: ‘I am running for president’

Emily Atkin / ThinkProgress:
Don't Let Rand Paul Fool You On Climate Change

Discussion: Salon, Yahoo Politics, Hit & Run and The Daily Caller

ABC News:
Transcript for Rand Paul Says He Will Do Anything to Defend America From ‘Haters of Mankind’

Discussion: The Hill

Glenn Thrush / Politico:
Rand Paul has a daddy issue

Discussion: The Hill, Bloomberg Business, ABC News, CNN, Mediaite, Washington Post, Little Green Footballs, New York Magazine, Washington Monthly, USA Today, The Daily Caller, Wall Street Journal, Hit & Run, National Journal and New York Times

New York Times:
Rand Paul Announces Presidential Run

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Charleston City Paper, Slate, Outside the Beltway, Politico and Phantom Public

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Paul to argue electability with 2016 launch

Discussion: Hit & Run, Politico, Washington Post, Bloomberg Business, Daily Kos, VodkaPundit, RedState and Hot Air

Chip Somodevilla / National Review:
Rand Paul Is Running for the Republican Nomination, So Now the Party Is Ready to Attack Him

Discussion: Hit & Run, WAVE-TV, Bloomberg View, Fox News, Advocate, Bloomberg Business, Politico, Taylor Marsh and Washington Monthly

Kate Andersen Brower / Politico:

The Secret Lives of Hillary and Bill in the White House — Broken lamps, shouting matches, sneaking away to the pool—and other scenes from the Clinton residence during the Lewinsky scandal. — Lead image by AP Photo. — White House Florist Ronn Payne remembers one day in 1998 …

Discussion: ABC News, Associated Press, Hot Air, Weekly Standard and Ed Driscoll

CNN:

How the U.S. thinks Russians hacked the White House — Washington (CNN)Russian hackers behind the damaging cyber intrusion of the State Department in recent months used that perch to penetrate sensitive parts of the White House computer system, according to U.S. officials briefed on the investigation.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Business Insider, The Verge and New York Magazine

Jim Acosta / CNN:
Official: Cuba expected to be removed from State Sponsors of Terrorism list

Discussion: Hot Air, TheBlaze.com, CBS Miami and Washington Free Beacon

Andrew Knapp / Post and Courier:

North Charleston officer faces murder charge after video shows him shooting man in back — A North Charleston police officer was arrested on a murder charge Tuesday after video surfaced of the lawman shooting eight times at 50-year-old Walter Scott as he ran away.

Discussion: Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Hit & Run, Mashable, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and NPR

New York Times:

South Carolina Officer Is Charged With Murder in Black Man's Death — WASHINGTON — A white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder on Tuesday after a video surfaced showing him shooting and killing an apparently unarmed black man in the back while he ran away.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Business Insider, BuzzFeed and Outside the Beltway

Domenico Montanaro / NPR:

Obama To Scott Walker: ‘Bone Up On Foreign Policy’ — Anyone who thinks President Obama will shy away from presidential politics in 2016, think again. — Obama scoffed at Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's suggestion that he would, on Day 1, revoke any nuclear agreement with Iran if he is elected president.

Discussion: Israel Matzav, OnPolitics, Talking Points Memo, Weekly Standard and Washington Post

Politico:
Obama holds private meeting with journalists on Iran

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway and “The Lid”

NPR:
Transcript: President Obama's Full NPR Interview On Iran Nuclear Deal

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Signal, Washington Times, The Daily Caller, Horizons, The Daily Banter, NPR, The American Conservative, JSOnline, BizPac Review, The Hill, Hot Air and NPR.org

Vanity Fair:

The Inside Story of the Civil War For the Soul of NBC News — Brian Williams's fabrication was just the latest, and worst, of the debacles that have plagued NBC News since NBCUniversal was bought by Comcast in 2011. Who is to blame? — On the afternoon of Wednesday, February 4 …

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, Mediaite, CNNMoney, Page Six, Washington Free Beacon, Liberal Values, Politico, BizPac Review, CBS DC, Business Insider, Ed Driscoll, Balloon Juice, Liberaland, FOX News Radio, The Daily Banter, “The Lid” and TVNewser, more at Mediagazer »

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:

Fighting Against ‘Rape Culture’ Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry — Rolling Stone's journalistic malpractice is not merely a cautionary tale about “confirmation bias.” — The extensive post mortem that Rolling Stone commissioned in the wake of Sabrina Rubin Erdely's now infamous …

Discussion: CNN, Glenn Beck, Talking Points Memo, Shots in the Dark, PJ Media, Townhall.com and Hot Air, more at Mediagazer »

Jack Shafer / Politico:
Rolling Stone and the media's glass house

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Poynter and FishbowlDC

David Armstrong / Bloomberg Business:

How an Insurer Is Taking Money From the Fan Beaten at Dodger Stadium — First he was assaulted for wearing the wrong team's clothes. Then he was sucker-punched by the insurance system. … Dave Stow, 71, strains to push the wheelchair carrying his 250-pound son, Bryan …

Discussion: HardballTalk

Scott Jaschik / Inside Higher Ed:

Check Before You Hit Send — Drexel University is investigating a law professor who thought she was sending her class a link to an article on writing legal briefs, but who actually sent a link to a pornography site's video of a woman using anal beads. — “Drexel has been made aware …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and New York Magazine

Sarah Ferris / The Hill:

Last-minute lobbying threatens $200B Medicare package — Lawmakers and lobbyists representing children's insurance advocates, seniors' healthcare providers and other specialty groups are pressing to amend a $200 billion Medicare package the Senate hopes to send to President Obama's desk next week.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Senate Conservatives Fund:

Replace John McCain — Senator John McCain (R-AZ) officially announced today that he will seek a sixth term in the U.S. Senate. Thirty years of cutting deals with the Democrats is not enough for Senator McCain; he wants six more. — There are few Republicans who have betrayed our conservative principles more than John McCain.

Discussion: The Hill, Talking Points Memo and No More Mister Nice Blog

Kelly O'Donnell / NBC News:
John McCain Will Run for Re-Election to the Senate in 2016

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Hot Air, Arizona Republic, Politico, OnPolitics and Outside the Beltway

Associated Press:

NEW BOOK BY DICK CHENEY TAKES ON BARACK OBAMA — NEW YORK (AP) — The next book by former Vice President Dick Cheney is aimed directly at President Barack Obama. — Cheney's “Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America” will be published on Sept. 1 by Threshold Editions, the publisher announced Tuesday.

Discussion: FOX News Radio and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

David Edwards / Raw Story:

Tom DeLay: I have a ‘right’ to not serve gay sinners because they ‘undermine’ my religious liberty — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — Former House Speaker Tom DeLay (R-TX) blasted the governors of Indiana and Arkansas this week for changing religious liberty laws to prevent discrimination against LGBT people.

Discussion: Liberaland, FOX News Radio and Right Wing Watch

Brad Heath / USA Today:

U.S. secretly tracked billions of calls for decades — WASHINGTON — The U.S. government started keeping secret records of Americans' international telephone calls nearly a decade before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, harvesting billions of calls in a program that provided a blueprint …

Discussion: The Hill and Hit & Run

Numbers / Pew Research Center:

A Deep Dive Into Party Affiliation — Sharp Differences by Race, Gender, Generation, Education — Democrats hold advantages in party identification among blacks, Asians, Hispanics, well-educated adults and Millennials. Republicans have leads among whites - particularly white men …

Discussion: Washington Post

Dana Loesch Radio:

New Poll Shows Plurality Of Americans Support Religious Freedom — A new poll released by WPA Opinion Research on behalf of the Family Research Councill shows that the vast majority of Americans support religious liberty in the workplace. Last week saw Governor Mike Pence (R-IN) …

Discussion: Moe Lane, The Gateway Pundit and Louder With Crowder