memeorandum: The Absurdly Harsh Penalties That Sparked the Oregon Rancher Protest (Jacob Sullum/Hit & Run)

5:10 PM ET, January 4, 2016

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Will Kraus / Politifact.com Truth-O-Meter rulings …:

Donald Trump: A Trump television ad shows Mexicans swarming over “our southern border.” — The Truth-o-Meter says: Pants on Fire! Donald Trump's first TV ad shows migrants ‘at the southern border,’ but they're actually in Morocco — In a new television ad — his campaign's first …

Discussion: NBC News, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Politico, Hit & Run, Washington Post, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Business Insider and Naked Politics, more at Mediagazer »

Robert Costa / Washington Post:

Donald Trump's provocative first TV ad raises the temperature of GOP race — NEW YORK — Donald Trump's ad begins with a shot of President Obama and Hillary Clinton. Then comes a U.S. battleship launching a cruise-missile strike. From there it moves swiftly through an explosive montage …

ABC News:

Bill Clinton Brushes Off Trump Attacks — We're exactly four weeks away from the Iowa caucuses — and the 2016 presidential race is switching into high gear. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is holding a rally in Massachusetts tonight after releasing his first television ad of his 2016 campaign …

Discussion: Political Wire

James Hohmann / Washington Post:

THE BIG IDEA: — —Mitt Romney says concern about Jeb Bush's electability was a major reason he seriously considered running for president a year ago. — “A Bush-versus-Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats,” he told my colleagues Dan Balz and Philip Rucker during …

Discussion: Politico and BizPac Review

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Donald Trump's new TV ad: Make America great by keeping the darkies out — As the final, frenzied push towards the first presidential voting begins, Donald Trump has unveiled a riveting new television ad that perfectly sums up Trumpism in all its xenophobic glory — and also perfectly captures …

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Terrence Dopp / Bloomberg.com news:
Christie in New Hampshire Lays Out His Theory of His Case

Discussion: Politico

Dara Lind / Vox:
Donald Trump's first TV ad is a greatest hits of his campaign's most controversial ideas

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Dan Balz / Washington Post:
One year, two races: Inside the Republican Party's bizarre, tumultuous 2015

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Bradford Richardson / The Hill:
Trump: Cruz copying my immigration plan

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Jonathan Martin / New York Times: G.O.P. Presidential Hopefuls Gird for a Month of Mud-Flinging

Jacob Sullum / Hit & Run:

The Absurdly Harsh Penalties That Sparked the Oregon Rancher Protest — As Ed Krayewski noted yesterday, the armed men who are occupying an office building at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon broke off from a demonstration protesting the sentences received by two ranchers …

Discussion: Vox, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, American Power, Patterico's Pontifications, addictinginfo.org, Oregonian and Slantpoint

NBC News:

Ted Cruz Calls for Oregon Armed Protesters to ‘Stand Down’ — Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Monday called for armed protesters who occupied a federal building in Oregon to “stand down peaceably.” — “Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds,” Cruz told reporters in Iowa.

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo, Vox, Washington Post and Hullabaloo

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Marco Rubio On Oregon Standoff: “You Can't Be Lawless” — The Republican presidential candidate added that he thinks there is too much federal control over land in the western United States. — Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images — w.soundcloud.com — Marco Rubio on Monday addressed …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Washington Post

Timothy Cama / The Hill:

Cruz urges armed protesters in Oregon to ‘stand down’ … Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Monday slammed the protesters who have taken over a federal building in rural Oregon, urging them to lay down their arms. — “Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest …

Discussion: ABC News, New Republic, Right Wing Watch, Hot Air and ThinkProgress

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
White House calls Oregon standoff a ‘local law enforcement matter’

Discussion: Politico, Hit & Run, Washington Post and New York Times

Carissa Wolf / Washington Post:
Armed men, led by Bundy brothers, take over federal building in rural Oregon

Discussion: mormonnewsroom.org, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Flunking Sainthood, Right Wing Watch, OPB, Dallas Morning News, The Huffington Post, Raw Story, addictinginfo.org, CNN, Nashville Scene, KOIN-TV, Power Line and Slantpoint

Mary Ann Georgantopoulos / BuzzFeed:
Bizarre Lawsuit Claims Without Evidence That Cliven Bundy Accused Obama Of Threatening Donald Trump

Discussion: Fox News, Washington Post, The Federalist, NBC News, USA Today, The Daily Caller and Vox

Nick Gass / Politico:
GOP candidates call for end to armed standoff at Oregon refuge

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Jessica Diehl / Vanity Fair:

Blowhards Beware: Megyn Kelly Will Slay You Now — The brightest star at Fox News, Megyn Kelly is a newly minted role model for women who sees her gender as irrelevant, and a conservative champion who transcends politics with her skillful skewering of windbags of both parties, most notably Donald Trump.

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Matt Adams / Fox 59:

Indianapolis bar's response to customer's complaint about ‘ruined’ New Year's Eve goes viral — Missing Attachment Missing Attachment — INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Jan. 4, 2015) - A woman suffered a heart attack during a New Year's Eve celebration at a downtown Indianapolis bar …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, myfox8.com and KFOR-TV

Alex Griswold / Mediaite:

Hillary Clinton Promises She'll Investigate Area 51, UFOs — In an interview with New Hampshire's The Conway Daily Sun, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said that she would investigate Area 51 and UFOs if she were elected. — Reporter Daymond Steer asked Clinton about the topic in 2007 …

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Federalist, Poynter., alan.com and Slantpoint

Dan Merica / CNN:
NH GOP lawmaker heckles Hillary Clinton over Bill Clinton's sex scandals

Discussion: ThinkProgress, No More Mister Nice Blog, RedState, American Prospect, Talking Points Memo, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite and addictinginfo.org

Michael Falcone / ABC News:
The Note: Trump Takes To the Airwaves

Discussion: abc13.com, Politico, The Daily Caller, Shakesville and addictinginfo.org

Nick Gass / Politico:

Obama rolls out gun control strategy — President Barack Obama launches an aggressive rollout strategy this week meant to contain the political fallout from upcoming executive actions on gun control and to cast himself as the voice of common sense in a raging culture war.

Discussion: Washington Post and CNN

Eric Raymond / Armed and Dangerous:
Why I joined the NRA — After 20 years of evading joining the NRA …

Discussion: Hot Air

David P. Goldman / Asia Times:

Saudi Arabia stews in policy hell: Spengler — Last week's mass executions in Saudi Arabia suggest panic at the highest level of the monarchy. The action is without precedent, even by the grim standards of Saudi repression. In 1980 Riyadh killed 63 jihadists who had attacked the Grand Mosque of Mecca …

Discussion: Power Line

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
U.S. fears Saudi tensions with Iran could affect fight against ISIS

Discussion: USA Today, Hot Air, The Daily Caller and CNN

Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook:

Every year, I take on a personal challenge to learn new things and grow outside my work at Facebook. My challenges in recent years have been to read two books every month, learn Mandarin and meet a new person every day. — My personal challenge for 2016 is to build a simple AI to run my home and help me with my work.

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Antoinette Ramseur / WTKR-TV:

Woman shot to death in apartment while mother and children were inside — Newport News, Virginia - A 25 year-old woman was shot to death in her Heritage Trace apartment just after 1:30am, on Heritage Way off Warwick Boulevard. — The victim's name has not been released by police …

Discussion: WTVR-TV and New York's PIX11