memeorandum: Thinking Harder about Political Correctness (The Huffington Post)

8:00 PM ET, January 4, 2016

Top Items:

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

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: Politico, The Hill, Bloomberg Business and RedState

NBC News:

Trump Ad Fact Checked for Border Footage, Campaign Says ‘No Sh—’ — LOWELL, Mass. - Donald Trump may have some explaining to do about footage used in his new campaign advertisement. — Released Monday, the much-anticipated TV ad shows migrants on what the narrator claims is the southern border, scattering.

Discussion: New York Times, Mediaite and Business Insider

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 …

James Hohmann / Washington Post:
THE BIG IDEA: —Mitt Romney says concern about Jeb Bush's …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, BizPac Review, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Shakesville and Politico

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:
Clinton: Aliens may have visited us already

Discussion: Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, all, Poynter., Slantpoint, The Federalist and The Daily Caller

Alex Griswold / Mediaite:
Hillary Clinton Promises She'll Investigate Area 51, UFOs

Discussion: alan.com and Washington Free Beacon

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Donald Trump's new TV ad: Make America great by keeping the darkies out

Discussion: New Republic, ABC News, New York Times, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, DownWithTyranny!, Political Insider blog, The Moderate Voice, Mother Jones, The Huffington Post, abc13.com and The Daily Caller

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

Discussion: CBS News and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

White House calls Oregon standoff a ‘local law enforcement matter’ — The White House on Monday referred to an armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon as a “local law enforcement matter.” — Spokesman Josh Earnest's comments come even though the Federal Bureau of Investigation …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Hit & Run, New York Times, Moe Lane and Politico

Washington Post:

Armed men, led by Bundy brothers, take over federal building in rural Oregon — BURNS, Ore. — A group of armed anti-government activists remained encamped at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon on Sunday evening, vowing to occupy the outpost for years to protest the federal government's treatment …

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, Mediaite, Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post and Vox

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

Discussion: Vox, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Hot Air, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, American Power, addictinginfo.org and Patterico's Pontifications

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Marco Rubio On Oregon Standoff: “You Can't Be Lawless”

Discussion: Business Insider, Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Washington Post

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

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

Los Angeles Times:
Armed activists in Oregon challenge government over federal control of public land

Discussion: Guardian, addictinginfo.org, KQED News, KTLA, theGrio, Raw Story, Oregonian, OPB and NPR

Les Zaitz / Oregonian:
Watch: Oregon militants post new video from refuge, plead for help to ‘prevent bloodshed’

Discussion: CNN and Talking Points Memo

Timothy Cama / The Hill:
Cruz urges armed protesters in Oregon to ‘stand down’

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

Josh Lederman / Associated Press:

Obama moves to require background checks for more gun sales — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama moved Monday to require all gun sellers to register as dealers — even those who sell at gun shows and online — and to run background checks on all prospective purchasers …

Discussion: ABC News, The Hill, abc13.com, KRQE-TV and CNN

Nick Gass / Politico:

Obama rolls out gun control strategy — The White House unveiled President Barack Obama's executive actions on gun violence on Monday as part of a multi-day rollout meant to contain the political fallout and to cast Obama as the voice of common sense in a raging culture war.

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Washington Post, Daily Kos and The Huffington Post

Speaker.gov:

Statement on Potential Executive Action to Restrict 2nd Amendment Rights — Speaker Ryan Press Office — WASHINGTON—House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) released the following statement in response to reports that the president intends to take executive action to restrict gun ownership in America:

Discussion: RealClearPolitics and The Daily Signal

New York Times:
Obama to Expand Gun Background Checks and Tighten Enforcement

Discussion: CNN and Business Insider

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

Discussion: Hot Air

Arlette Saenz / ABC News:
President Obama Claims Executive Action on Gun Control Within His Authority

Discussion: The Agonist

Elianayjohnson / National Review:

Exclusive: Rubio PAC to Hit Christie in New Hampshire — Marco Rubio has his eyes on Chris Christie, who is increasingly viewed as the dark horse who could, with an impressive showing — even a victory — in New Hampshire, become the GOP's surprise establishment favorite.

Discussion: RedState and Hot Air

Daniel Strauss / Politico:
Pro-Rubio super PAC aims attack ads at Christie

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, ABC News, Bloomberg.com news and Washington Post

Mark Hensch / The Hill:
Rubio: Obama has ‘deliberately weakened America’

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post and Daily Kos

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

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.

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, Mediaite, FishbowlDC, addictinginfo.org, Daily Mail, BizPac Review, Deadline, The Daily Caller, Politico and Washington Post

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: WTKR-TV, The Daily Caller and KFOR-TV

BBC:

Saudi Arabia's allies Bahrain, Sudan and UAE act against Iran — A number of Saudi Arabia's allies have joined diplomatic action against Iran after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was attacked amid a row over the execution of a Shia Muslim cleric. — Bahrain and Sudan have both severed relations with Iran …

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Caller, NPR, Washington Free Beacon and The Gateway Pundit

David P. Goldman / Asia Times:
Saudi Arabia stews in policy hell: Spengler

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Power Line

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Jeb Bush Has “Mistaken And Conflated” Story About Receiving NRA Award, Campaign Admits — Bush has repeatedly claimed that he received the NRA's “statesman of the year” award. — A spokesman for Jeb Bush's campaign told BuzzFeed News on Monday that Bush had “mistaken and conflated” …

Discussion: Washington Post and alan.com

The Huffington Post:

Thinking Harder about Political Correctness — Donald Trump and the rest of the Republican presidential pack have had a field day disparaging political correctness as an affliction of liberals that is resented by regular Americans. Some liberal commentators have suggested that political correctness …

Discussion: Power Line

Tom Nichols / The Daily Beast:
How the P.C. Police Propelled Donald Trump

Discussion: Mother Jones

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.