memeorandum: After Taylor Swift's Criticism, Apple Will Pay Royalties in Trial Period (Ben Sisario/New York Times)

7:05 AM ET, June 22, 2015

Top Items:

Jon Swaine / Guardian:

Leader of group cited in ‘Dylann Roof manifesto’ donated to top Republicans — The leader of a rightwing group that Dylann Roof allegedly credits with helping to radicalise him against black people before the Charleston church massacre has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republicans …

Discussion: CofCC, Telegraph, Political Wire, American Renaissance, Daily Mail, New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mashable, The Week, Slantpoint and Mediaite

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:

Campaign Donations Linked to White Supremacist — The leader of a white supremacist group that has been linked to Dylann Roof, the suspect in the murder of nine African-Americans in a Charleston, S.C., church last week, has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican campaigns …

Discussion: Fox News and Guardian

New York Times:

Defiant Show of Unity in Charleston Church That Lost 9 to Racist Violence — CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Emanuel A.M.E. Church has survived antebellum laws barring black worship, an angry white mob that burned down its original edifice, and the execution of its founder and dozens of others planning a slave revolt.

Samantha Page / ThinkProgress:

‘Meet The Press’ Shows Anti-Gun Montage Of All Black Shooters Following South Carolina Rampage — While the country — and South Carolina, in particular — is once again debating racism in America, NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday offered a video of men in prison expressing regret for their own gun violence.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Hullabaloo and Balloon Juice

Chuck Todd / NBC News:

Chuck Todd on the Gun Violence Video — We've gotten a lot of feedback about the gun video we showed on Meet the Press today. Some were upset it only featured African-American men talking about their regrets of pulling a trigger. All of the men in the piece volunteered to be a part …

Discussion: Raw Story and Firedoglake

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:
Republicans Tread Carefully in Criticism of Confederate Flag

Discussion: @politifact, The Post and Courier, Philly.com, BREITBART.COM, Hot Air, New York's PIX11, Raw Story, The Stranger …, The Atlantic and Slantpoint

Bill Scher / Politico:

‘Liberal’ isn't a bad word anymore — Democrats are moving left. And America may be too. — Lead image by AP Photo. — Democrats have been running away from the “liberal” label for a long time, but recent polling shows that rank-and-file Democrats are increasingly happy to pin the scarlet “L” on themselves.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Kyle Smith / New York Post: Democrats veer left then blast everyone else for being ‘right wing’

Frank Bruni / New York Times:
Gay Marriage's Moment

Discussion: Washington Post, LGBTQ Nation and Towleroad

Stephanie Armour / Wall Street Journal:

MIT Economist Jonathan Gruber Had Bigger Role in Health Law, Emails Show — Adviser whose comments on Affordable Care Act touched off a furor worked more closely than previously known with White House — Jonathan Gruber, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist whose comments …

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Caller and Josh Blackman's Blog

Reed Abelson / New York Times:

Health Insurers Brace for Supreme Court Ruling — Their industry already upended with the passage of the federal health care law, insurance companies are facing another upheaval if the Supreme Court rules that millions of Americans are not eligible for subsidies to help defray the cost of their coverage.

Discussion: Josh Blackman's Blog

Greg Jaffe / Washington Post:
Why does President Obama criticize the Supreme Court so much?

Discussion: Josh Blackman's Blog

Taylor Swift:

To Apple, Love Taylor — I write this to explain why I'll be holding back my album, 1989, from the new streaming service, Apple Music. I feel this deserves an explanation because Apple has been and will continue to be one of my best partners in selling music and creating ways for me to connect with my fans.

Discussion: fox8.com, Guardian, Fusion, Re/code, Taylor Marsh, 9to5Mac, The Verge, Moe Lane, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, FOX31 Denver, Mashable, American Power, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, The Week and VentureBeat, more at Mediagazer »

Ben Sisario / New York Times:
After Taylor Swift's Criticism, Apple Will Pay Royalties in Trial Period

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, ABC, Re/code, The Verge, 9to5Mac and Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

Barbara Ross / New York Daily News:

EXCLUSIVE: Presidential candidate Donald Trump has ignored five jury summonses in past nine years — Presidential candidate Donald Trump's road to the White House skipped several scheduled stops — for jury duty. — The Donald, who entered the sprawling GOP primary field last week …

Discussion: Liberaland, Daily Mail and Hot Air

Philip Pullella / Reuters:

World News — Italy's prime minister and France's president put on a show of unity on Sunday, dismissing suggestions of tensions between their countries over handling the waves ... By Karolina Tagaris ATHENS (Reuters) - Thousands of people rallied in front of parliament in Athens on Sunday …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Power Line

Sarah Pulliam Bailey / Washington Post:

Billy Graham's grandson steps down from Florida megachurch after admitting an affair — Billy Graham's grandson Tullian Tchividjian has resigned from his pulpit at Coral Ridge Presbyterian, a high-profile church in south Florida, after admitting he had an affair.

Discussion: Associated Press and NBC News

Matt Fuller / Roll Call:

Rule Vote Retribution Continues; Chaffetz Takes Away Subcommittee Gavel — And the payback keeps on coming. — After three conservative House Republicans were kicked off the whip team as a result of voting against a rule for trade legislation on June 11, a new round of punishment is being meted out …

Discussion: Instapundit