memeorandum: FCC Staff Recommends Hearing on Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger (Wall Street Journal)

4:45 PM ET, April 23, 2015

Top Items:

Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation as Russians Pressed for Control of Uranium Company — The headline in Pravda trumpeted President Vladimir V. Putin's latest coup, its nationalistic fervor recalling an era when the newspaper served as the official mouthpiece of the Kremlin: “Russian Nuclear Energy Conquers the World.”

Jonathan Allen / Reuters:

Exclusive: Clinton charities will refile tax returns, audit for other errors — (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton's family's charities are refiling at least five annual tax returns after a Reuters review found errors in how they reported donations from governments, and said they may audit …

Joshua Green / Bloomberg Business:

Clinton Cash Author Is Targeting Jeb Bush Next — The past week can't have been very pleasant for Peter Schweizer. On Sunday, the New York Times revealed that his forthcoming book, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN, New York Times, Political Wire, Politico, SaintPetersBlog, FOX News Radio, Hot Air, Fox News, The Week, peterschweizer.com, “The Lid”, No More Mister Nice Blog and National Journal

Lauren French / Politico:

Trey Gowdy asks Hillary Clinton to appear twice on emails, Benghazi — The House Committee investigating Benghazi is asking Hillary Clinton to appear for two public hearings on the 2012 terrorist attacks and her email use, according to a letter sent to her lawyer on Thursday.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Liberaland

Nick Gass / Politico:
Hillary Clinton struggles to contain media barrage on foreign cash

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News and Yahoo Politics

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Hillary Clinton has a baggage problem

Discussion: New York Magazine, Power Line, New York Times and Outside the Beltway

The Huffington Post:
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton's attorney told House Benghazi Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy …

Discussion: susiemadrak.com, FOX News Radio, Bloomberg Business and The PJ Tatler

ABC News:
Bill Clinton Cashed In When Hillary Became Secretary of State

Discussion: TVNewser

Adam Entous / Wall Street Journal:

American, Italian Hostages Killed in CIA Drone Strike in January — Drone strike kills pair in Pakistan, U.S. officials say; White House orders review of incident — A U.S. drone strike in January targeting a suspected al Qaeda compound in Pakistan inadvertently killed an American and Italian …

Discussion: Guardian, USA Today, Raw Story, NO QUARTER USA NET, Mediaite, DCist, Mashable, Lawfare, NPR, Infowars, American Spectator and The Week

Erin Dooley / ABC News:

Obama: ‘I Take Full Responsibility’ For US Operation That Killed Innocent Hostages Held By Al Qaeda … President Obama said today that he takes “full responsibility” for a U.S. government counterterrorism operation that killed two innocent hostages held by al Qaeda.

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Politico, Mediaite, Refinery29 and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Bring Warren Home:
Weinstein Family Statement on Disclosure of the Death in Captivity of Warren Weinstein

Discussion: Mashable, Daily Kos and FOX News Radio

Peter Baker / New York Times:
2 Qaeda Hostages Were Accidentally Killed in U.S. Strike, White House Says

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, New York Post, “The Lid”, White House.gov Blog, Outside the Beltway, Hit & Run, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Lawfare and The Gateway Pundit

The White House:
Statement by the Press Secretary

Discussion: Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Long War Journal, NPR, Common Dreams and Lawfare

Bobby Jindal / New York Times:

I'm Holding Firm Against Gay Marriage — BATON ROUGE, La. — THE debate over religious liberty in America presents conservatives and business leaders with a crucial choice. — In Indiana and Arkansas, large corporations recently joined left-wing activists to bully elected officials …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, ABC News, Balloon Juice, Washington Post, Washington Monthly and Joe. My. God.

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

At New York Reception, Ted Cruz Is Said to Strike Different Tone Toward Gays — Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican presidential candidate, has positioned himself as a strong opponent to same-sex marriage, urging pastors nationwide to preach in support of marriage as an institution between a man and a woman …

Discussion: Out Magazine, Talking Points Memo and Joe. My. God.

Washington Post:
Poll: Gay-marriage support at record high

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, The Stranger …, US News, Joe. My. God., The Reaction, Slate and Right Wing Watch

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Senate votes 56-43 to confirm Lynch as attorney general — The Senate confirmed Loretta Lynch's long-delayed nomination Thursday, giving the country its first female African American attorney general. — Senators voted 56-43 to confirm Lynch, more than 160 days after she was nominated by President Obama.

Discussion: ABC News

Tom McCarthy / Guardian:
Loretta Lynch confirmed as US attorney general after delay ‘to spite Obama’

Discussion: Progress Pond, Mediaite and The Week

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Senate Confirms Loretta Lynch as Attorney General After Long Delay

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Senate Confirms Loretta Lynch To Be The First Black Female Attorney General

Discussion: RH Reality Check

Alex Sherman / Bloomberg Business:

Comcast Plans to Drop Time Warner Cable Deal — Comcast Corp. is planning to walk away from its proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc., people with knowledge of the matter said, after regulators decided that the deal wouldn't help consumers, making approval unlikely.

Discussion: Politico, The Huffington Post, Mashable, The Verge, BGR, TVNewser, The Week and Deadline, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:
Comcast Is Said to End $45 Billion Bid for Time Warner Cable

Discussion: Mashable and Mediaite

Wall Street Journal:
FCC Staff Recommends Hearing on Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger

Discussion: Re/code, Bloomberg Business, Politico, New York Times, The Hill, Bloomberg View, Washington Post, PandoDaily, CNNMoney, Deadline and The Verge

USA Today:

Apologetic Petraeus gets probation for leaking secrets to his mistress — Petraeus punishment expected Thursday WCNC — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — David Petraeus, the retired four-star general leader who once commanded military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, pleaded guilty Thursday …

Discussion: Common Dreams and The Week

New York Times:
David Petraeus Is Sentenced to Probation in Leak Investigation

Discussion: Liberaland and The Verge

Travis Gettys / Raw Story:

‘F*ck this court — I AM Justice’: Woman uncorks berserk legal rant after civil rights suit tossed — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — A self-described “Floridian-American” sovereign citizen submitted a nine-page, profanity-laced tirade against a judge who dismissed a lawsuit she filed on behalf of her husband and son.

Discussion: Americans Against the …, Mashable, Mediaite and VICE

Dave Philipps / New York Times:

Few People Lost Jobs With V.A. in Scandal — The nationwide scandal last spring over manipulated wait times at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals led to the ouster of the secretary of veterans affairs and vows from the new leadership that people would be held accountable.

Discussion: Washington Times, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, BarbWire.com and Washington Free Beacon

Charles Lane / Washington Post:
Why don't we just abolish the VA? — The men and women who serve …

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Julia Belluz / Vox:

The new surgeon general's 4 rules for health … President Obama nominated him for the post of US surgeon general, the nation's top spokesperson for public health, back in November 2013. The Senate then promptly blocked his nomination for more than a year, particularly after the National …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Julia O'Donoghue / New Orleans Times-Picayune:

LSU drafting ‘academic bankruptcy’ plan in response to state budget crisis — LSU President F. King Alexander says LSU is putting together paperwork to declared financial exigency, essentially academic bankruptcy, this week because of lack of progress on the state budget.

Discussion: Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times and Raw Story

Vincent Schilling / Indian Country Today Media …:

Native Actors Walk off Set of Adam Sandler Movie After Insults to Women, Elders — Approximately a dozen Native actors and actresses, as well as the Native cultural advisor, left the set of Adam Sandler's newest film production, The Ridiculous Six, on Wednesday.

Discussion: Raw Story, Deadline, The Week and The Daily Caller

Lydia Wheeler / The Hill:

GOP bill would block courts on gay marriage — A Republican lawmaker is trying to keep federal courts from hearing same-sex marriage cases. — Less than a week before the Supreme Court plans to hear arguments in potentially one of the nation's most influential cases on gay marriage …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Daily Kos and Joe. My. God.