memeorandum: Marines looking at deploying aboard foreign ships (Jim Michaels/USA Today)

10:35 PM ET, June 22, 2015

Top Items:

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.

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: Mediaite, Guardian, WREG-TV and PoliticusUSA

Ahiza Garcia / Talking Points Memo:

Fox Host: Why Are GOPers Being Asked About Democrats' Confederate Flag? (VIDEO) — Fox News host Andrea Tantaros said Monday she didn't understand why Republican presidential candidates were being “peppered” over the flying of the Confederate flag on the South Carolina state capitol grounds.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

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: Vox, Raw Story, Mediaite, Political Wire, American Power and Business Insider

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

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, FITSNews, Talking Points Memo, Hit & Run, New York Times, Hot Air, Mediaite, RedState and Towleroad

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

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

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

Discussion: Bloomberg Business

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

Discussion: FITSNews, KTLA, Guardian, Raw Story and Warren Throckmorton

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

Discussion: Guardian, Instapundit, Little Green Footballs and Althouse

wtfpod.com:

WTF Podcast — Episode 613 - President Barack Obama — Marc welcomes the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, to the garage for conversation about college, fitting in, race relations, gun violence, changing the status quo, disappointing your fans, comedians, fatherhood and overcoming fear.

Deena Zaru / CNN:
Obama uses N-word, says we are ‘not cured’ of racism

Discussion: Raw Story, WREG-TV, UPROXX, Liberaland, Right Wing Watch, SBNation.com, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, FOX News Radio and FOX6Now.com

Ahiza Garcia / Talking Points Memo:
Fox Guest Calls Obama ‘The Rapper-In-Chief’ For Using N-Word (VIDEO)

Discussion: Raw Story

Nick Gass / Politico:
Obama uses the N-word in podcast interview

Discussion: ABC News, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Bloomberg Business, UPROXX, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Washington Post

TMZ.com:

Diddy Arrested — FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT with UCLA Football Coach — 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. — Our Diddy sources tell us ... Diddy insists the drama began during a workout session yesterday …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, ProFootballTalk, Daily Mail, Mashable, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, UPROXX, USA Today, fox8.com, theGrio, SBNation.com and The Source

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

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

Discussion: SCOTUSblog and Outside the Beltway

Lydia Wheeler / The Hill:
SCOTUS sides with raisin farmers in just compensation case

Discussion: Hit & Run, Moe Lane, RedState and Politico

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: Power Line, Liberal Values, The Stranger … and Washington Times

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

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Political Wire, NBC News, TalkLeft, The Daily Caller and Politico

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: Talking Points Memo, Salon, Hullabaloo, Daily Mail, USA Today and UPROXX

Hanna Trudo / Politico:

AP photo shows a gun pointed at Ted Cruz's head — In an Associated Press image that drew comment and criticism on Twitter on Sunday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is seen speaking with what appeared to be a gun aimed straight at him. — The photograph — taken by the AP's Charlie Neibergall …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Fox News Insider, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Mock Paper Scissors, Business Insider and Slantpoint, more at Mediagazer »

Charlie Neibergall / BREITBART.COM:
Of course, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is a Republican.

Discussion: NewsBusters, American Spectator, BizPac Review, The Daily Caller, Instapundit, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Mediaite, Patterico's Pontifications, AP Images, Twitchy, Yahoo Politics, Power Line and New York Times

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Cruz's Dad: Northeastern Catholics, Jews Put Being Dems Above Religion

Discussion: Washington Monthly

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, The Week, Washington Free Beacon and Patterico's Pontifications

Yahoo Politics:

Obama to give eulogy for slain Charleston pastor — President Barack Obama on Friday will deliver the eulogy for pastor and South Carolina state senator Clementa Pinckney, one of the nine victims of the mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston last week. Vice President Joe Biden will also attend the service.

Discussion: ABC News

Larry Klayman / WND:
Obama's race war has real consequences

Discussion: Raw Story, Right Wing Watch, CANNONFIRE and Liberaland

Howard Kurtz / Fox News:
After Charleston church tragedy, reckless rhetoric from pundits and politicians

Discussion: Hullabaloo and The Huffington Post

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: RedState, Israel Matzav and Business Insider

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

ESPN:

Entries in long-hidden notebook show Pete Rose bet on baseball as player

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Post, HardballTalk, NPR, The Week, Bloomberg View, UPROXX and Guardian

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: The Daily Caller, Poynter. 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 and TVNewser

Justin McCarthy / Gallup:

In U.S., Socialist Presidential Candidates Least Appealing — Story Highlights — WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the 2016 presidential election field takes shape, more than nine in 10 Americans say they would vote for a qualified presidential candidate who is Catholic, a woman, black, Hispanic or Jewish.