memeorandum: Trade Pact: How The Trans-Pacific Partnership Gives Corporations Special Legal Rights (David Sirota/International Business Times)

7:25 AM ET, June 23, 2015

Top Items:

MJ Lee / CNN:

First on CNN: Walmart to stop selling Confederate flag merchandise — (CNN)Walmart, the country's largest retailer, will remove all Confederate flag merchandise from its stores, the company told CNN Monday. — The announcement is the latest indication that the flag, a symbol of the slave-holding South …

Discussion: Politico, The Federalist, Business Insider, Associated Press, Gizmodo, Booman Tribune, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Mediaite, Guardian, Mashable, PoliticusUSA, Washington Post and Outside the Beltway

Clay Chandler / The Clarion Ledger:

Gunn: Confederate part of state flag ‘needs to be removed’ — Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn said Monday night that the Confederate emblem in the state's official flag has to go. — “We must always remember our past, but that does not mean we must let it define us,” Gunn, a Clinton Republican, said in a statement.

Discussion: USA Today, Vox, WMAZ-TV, Guardian, Raw Story, LiberalAmerica.org, Mediaite, American Power and Business Insider

Grace Beahm / Post and Courier:

Haley will call for the Confederate flag's removal today — Staff reports — Gov. Nikki Haley will hold a news conference in Columbia at 4 p.m. today at which, sources said, she will call for the Confederate flag to come down from the Statehouse grounds.

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic:

What This Cruel War Was Over — The Confederate Monument at Arlington National Cemetery (Wikimedia) — This afternoon, in announcing her support for removing the Confederate flag from the capitol grounds, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley asserted that killer Dylann Roof had a …

Discussion: Religion News Service, NPR, Jackson Free Press, ABC News, Washington Post, Slantpoint and US News

Ahiza Garcia / Talking Points Memo:
Fox Host: Why Are GOPers Being Asked About Democrats' Confederate Flag? (VIDEO)

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

CNN:
Nikki Haley calls for removal of Confederate flag from capitol grounds

Discussion: Washington Post, KTLA, New York Times, FITSNews, The Huffington Post, Hot Air, Guardian, Politico and Warren Throckmorton

Cathleen Decker / Los Angeles Times:
‘White racism,’ NRA are to blame for lax gun rules, Martin O'Malley says

Discussion: Bloomberg Business

Reuters:
South Carolina governor calls for Confederate flag's removal

Discussion: Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Shakesville

Wall Street Journal:
After Charleston, Republicans Wade Into Confederate Flag Debate

Discussion: Political Wire

Dana Bash / CNN:
Lindsey Graham to call for Confederate flag to come down - CNNPolitics.com

Discussion: NBC News, Slate, FITSNews, Hit & Run, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway and Towleroad

Elisha Fieldstadt / NBC News:
Nikki Haley, Lindsey Graham Will Call for Removal of Confederate Flag, Sources Say

Discussion: Gizmodo, American Renaissance, Little Green Footballs, Guardian, Instapundit and Althouse

Bill Curry / Salon:

Hillary Clinton is going to lose: She doesn't even see the frustrated progressive wave that will nominate Bernie Sanders — Clinton's positioning on TPP is way too cute. When it passes with Dems' implicit support, grass roots will explode — Hillary Clinton went to New York's Roosevelt Island earlier …

Discussion: Roll Call, Power Line, Liberal Values, Fox News, The Stranger … and Washington Times

Mark Murray / NBC News:
Hillary Clinton Dominates 2016 Democratic Field, Leads GOP Rivals

Discussion: New York Times, The Moderate Voice, Political Wire, The Daily Caller and NBC News

David Sirota / International Business Times:
Trade Pact: How The Trans-Pacific Partnership Gives Corporations Special Legal Rights

Discussion: Firedoglake

TMZ.com:

Diddy Arrested — FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT with UCLA Football Coach — 6:50 PM PT — Diddy was cuffed in the back of a campus patrol car as officers transferred him to L.A. County jail. — 4:35 PM PT — Sources connected with Diddy tells us the rap mogul is adamant he acted in SELF DEFENSE and was not the aggressor.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Page Six, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, UPROXX, fox8.com and The Source

Andres Jauregui / The Huffington Post:

KFC ‘Fried Rat’ Is In Fact Chicken, Lab Test Confirms — It doesn't look appetizing, but it's definitely chicken. — Last week, KFC was forced to confront a customer's accusations that he'd been served a fried rat in a three-piece meal at a Los Angeles store.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, New York's PIX11 and KFOR-TV

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:

Fox & Friends Co-Host Pete Hegseth Hits Man with Axe — No idea how we missed this, but here it goes: During last Sunday's broadcast of Fox & Friends, co-host Pete Hegseth tossed an axe to tease an upcoming segment on timbersports, missed the target, and hit a marching band percussionist standing in the distance.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Slantpoint, Daily Mail, Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo, USA Today and UPROXX

Ovetta Wiggins / Washington Post:

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announces that he has ‘advanced’ cancer — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Monday that he has been diagnosed with “a very advanced and very aggressive” form of cancer. — His wife Yumi, his daughters and sons-in-law and his young granddaughter were in the room …

Discussion: Mediaite, Twitchy, Washington Free Beacon and Patterico's Pontifications

Ilya Somin / Washington Post:

Property owners prevail in raisin takings case — The Supreme Court has just issued its decision in Horne v. Department of Agriculture, the raisin takings case. As most observers predicted after the oral argument, the ruling is a victory for the property owners - a very important one.

Discussion: Bloomberg View, Cato Institute, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Althouse

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Supreme Court Sides With Raisin Farmers in Property Rights Case

Discussion: SCOTUSblog and Outside the Beltway

Politifact.com Truth-O-Meter rulings from National:

Is Barack Obama correct that mass killings don't happen in other countries? — Stewart Watson, right, comforts Maranda Mincey at the sidewalk memorial at the “Mother” Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, S.C., on June 19, 2015. A gunman killed nine worshippers there the previous day.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Right Wing Watch

Sylvia Patrycja / Hollywood Reporter:

Composer James Horner Dies in Plane Crash: Hollywood Reacts — For his work on the 1997 best picture winner Titanic, directed by James Cameron, Horner captured the Oscar for original dramatic score, and he nabbed another Academy Award for original song (shared with lyricist Will Jennings) …

Discussion: Washington Post and Guardian

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Obama scrambles for votes on fast-track authority — President Obama scrambled for votes Monday as Democratic support trickled in for his trade agenda, despite strong pressure from unions. — Labor groups led by the AFL-CIO are furiously lobbying Democrats to oppose fast-track authority …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

The Huffington Post:

Terms and Conditions — Welcome to The Huffington Post. Please read these Terms and Conditions before using, or submitting content in any form or medium for publication on, The Huffington Post. By continuing to use us, or by submitting content for publication on The Huffington Post …

Discussion: Slantpoint

Josh Rogin / Bloomberg View:

Iran's Forces and U.S. Share a Base in Iraq — The U.S. military and Iranian-backed Shiite militias are getting closer and closer in Iraq, even sharing a base, while Iran uses those militias to expand its influence in Iraq and fight alongside the Bashar al-Assad regime in neighboring Syria.

Discussion: Israel Matzav, Business Insider and RedState

Dylan Byers / Politico:

CNN's GoPro antics rile Supreme Court — The Supreme Court of the United States briefly removed media interns from its press room on Monday after a CNN intern was caught recording video footage with a GoPro camera that he had strapped to his chest, the On Media blog has learned.

Discussion: Poynter., The Daily Caller and TVNewser

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

How Megyn Kelly Became the New Star of Fox News — Megyn Kelly is bucking the conventional wisdom of what it means to be a Fox News anchor. The take-no-prisoners newswoman isn't afraid to throw hardballs at Republicans. She recently lectured Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul over his penchant for arguing with female reporters.

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico and TVNewser

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

F.B.I. Struggles to Pinpoint the Fingers Behind a Hacking — WASHINGTON — As F.B.I. agents try to build a case against personnel in the St. Louis Cardinals' front office who are accused of breaking into the network that housed the Houston Astros' closely guarded baseball intelligence …

Discussion: FOX2now.com