memeorandum: Let's make the Confederate flag a hate crime: It is the American swastika and we should recoil it from it in horror (Nick Bromell/Salon)

9:40 PM ET, July 11, 2015

Top Items:

Will Dunham / Reuters:

White House contenders Trump, Bush in virtual dead heat: Reuters/Ipsos poll — Donald Trump, who became the center of attention in the race for the 2016 Republican U.S. presidential nomination with his denunciation of illegal immigrants from Mexico, has vaulted into a virtual dead heat …

Discussion: Political Wire, RealClearPolitics Videos, Hot Air, Raw Story and Townhall.com

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Poll: Jeb, Trump in virtual tie — GOP presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Donald Trump are locked in a virtual tie for the 2016 Republican nomination, according to a Reuters-Ipsos poll released Saturday. — It found that 16.1 percent of self-identified Republicans back Bush, the former governor of Florida.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and Washington Monthly

Nick Gillespie / The Daily Beast:

Hillary's Strategy Is Actually Brilliant — Why, from a strategic standpoint, Clinton is right to stay as low profile as possible. — Has any future president been more misunderstood than Hillary Clinton? — As someone who cannot imagine any possible scenario in which I would cast …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Cafe Hayek and Hit & Run

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Trump rides momentum to Arizona — After weeks of criticism — and rising poll numbers — in the wake of controversial remarks on immigration, Donald Trump brings his spotlight to Arizona, a longtime hotbed of border security debate. — The Republican presidential candidate be joining forces …

Discussion: Arizona Republic, Washington Post and ABC News

John Fund / National Review:
History Shows That Trump Is Perfectly Willing to Play the Spoiler

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNSNews and Hot Air

Anthony Weiner / Business Insider:

I have one big question for Bernie Sanders — Apart from the Donald Trump sideshow, one of the biggest stories in the presidential election this past week has been the apparent momentum Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is enjoying in his underdog campaign. — Sanders has been drawing crowds …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Mediaite, Slantpoint and Fox News

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Class or Ideology? My Conversation With Bernie Sanders — “Everything I'm telling you may end up being wrong,” Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator seeking the Democratic nomination for president, said early in our conversation on Thursday. — I had written concluding he had slim chances …

Discussion: Business Insider and Washington Post

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Obamacare Resistance Regroups — Three Congressional votes, two Supreme Court lawsuits, and an election have slowed them down but not stopped them. — Shares … The 16th Amendment to the Constitution, authorizing the federal income tax, was ratified in 1913.

Michael F. Cannon / Washington Examiner:

The ACA is dead — long live Obamacare — Obamacare supporters are mistaken if they think the Supreme Court's King v. Burwell ruling settles the issue. Even in defeat, King threatens Obamacare's survival, because it exposes Obamacare as an illegitimate law. — Say what you will about the Affordable Care Act.

Discussion: Salon and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Martin Matishak / The Hill:

Miffed Benghazi chairman: State gave me ‘articles about Richard Gere’ — The chairman of the House panel investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, on Friday ridiculed the State Department's responses to requests for documents. — “It is still like pulling teeth to get the information …

Discussion: Hot Air

Thomas Kaplan / New York Times:

Plan to Require Background Checks for Ammunition Sales Is Suspended in New York — The administration of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo agreed on Friday to suspend a plan to require background checks on ammunition sales, putting in doubt part of the gun control law that he considers one of his proudest legacies.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Gothamist

Nick Bromell / Salon:

Let's make the Confederate flag a hate crime: It is the American swastika and we should recoil it from it in horror — The Confederate flag is a symbol of nothing but pure hatred. It is high time that we treat it that way — Early Thursday morning, the State House of South Carolina voted …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and National Review

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Blame John Boehner for the House GOP's Confederate flag fiasco — The Confederates launched a surprise attack, under cover of darkness. — It was 8:30 Wednesday night, and the House was plodding toward its 20th hour of debate on a little-watched appropriations bill, when Rep. Ken Calvert …

Discussion: Salon, The Huffington Post, Slantpoint, Humphrey on the Hill, Booman Tribune and New York Times

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Web Chief Joshua Topolsky to Leave Bloomberg as Staff Tensions Surface — Earlier this year, after Michael Bloomberg reasserted control over the company he founded and began to scrutinize its online operations, he suggested in a meeting that perhaps Bloomberg — which makes the overwhelming majority …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Huffington Post and Wall Street Journal, more at Mediagazer »