memeorandum: Florida Gov. Rick Scott Endorses Donald Trump (Paola Chavez/ABC News)

6:55 PM ET, March 16, 2016

Top Items:

Jake Sherman / Politico:

Boehner backs Paul Ryan for president — BOCA RATON, Fla. — Former Speaker John Boehner said Paul Ryan should be the Republican nominee for president if the party fails to choose a candidate on the first ballot. — “If we don't have a nominee who can win on the first ballot …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Washington Times, New York Post, Weasel Zippers, The Stranger …, Slate, NBC News, RedState, CNBC, Talking Points Memo, TheStreet.com, Hot Air, JSOnline, Daily Kos, The Week, The Gateway Pundit and Western Journalism

Ben Winslow / fox13now.com:

GOP presidential debate in SLC canceled — SALT LAKE CITY — Monday's GOP presidential debate scheduled here in Utah has been canceled, FOX 13 News has confirmed. — The decision to cancel the debate followed Donald Trump's announcement on “FOX & Friends” that he would not be appearing.

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, CBS News, Mediaite, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Western Journalism and TVNewser

David Wells / fox13now.com:

Trump: 'I won't be there' for Fox News debate in Salt Lake City — Donald Trump said Wednesday morning he will not be at the GOP presidential primary debate next week in Salt Lake City. — “I will say this. I will say this. I think we've had enough debates. We've had 11 or 12 debates.

Discussion: The Atlantic, CNNMoney, RT, Mediaite, WNEP-TV, New York Times, Infowars, Business Insider, Q13 FOX News and RedState

Tré Goins-Phillips / TheBlaze.com:

‘You Son of a B***h’: Glenn Beck Slams ‘Delusional’ Kasich for Staying in the Race — After winning the Republican primary in his home state of Ohio Tuesday night, Republican presidential candidate John Kasich announced that he plans to stay the course. Glenn Beck had a few choice words for him.

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, The Gateway Pundit, Western Journalism, Right Wing Watch, The Daily Caller and Real Clear Politics

Bloomberg Business:

Trump Says He'll Skip Debate, Warns of Possible Convention Riots — Fresh off three more primary victories, Donald Trump said Wednesday he'll blow off the next Republican presidential debate and warned of “riots” if power-brokers deny him the nomination at the convention even if he's leading in the delegate count.

Discussion: Hot Air, alan.com, Little Green Footballs and Balkinization

David French / National Review:
Keep Fighting — There Is No Other Choice

Discussion: New York Times, Weekly Standard, Sabato's Crystal Ball, US News, Washington Post, USA Today and CNN

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Trump, Cruz vow to barricade Kasich from convention

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, ABC News and New York Magazine

Annie Karni / Politico:
Hillary slams the door on Bernie

Discussion: CNN and New York Times

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
GOP debate canceled after Trump pulls out

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Weasel Zippers

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Donald Trump just threatened more violence. Only this time, it's directed at the GOP.

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Examiner, Religion News Service, CNN, The Hill, 89.3 KPCC, Washington Free Beacon and Mediaite

New York Times:
Rubio's Exit Leaves Trump With an Open Path to 1,237 Delegates

Discussion: Political Wire

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
Trump risks falling short of delegate count for nomination

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Caller and Fusion

Katherine Krueger / Talking Points Memo:
Fox News GOP Debate In Salt Lake City Cancelled

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Little Green Footballs, Trail Blazers Blog, Infowars, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite and Washington Post

Jake Sherman / Politico:
Ryan to POLITICO: ‘I am not going to be the nominee’

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Western Journalism

Nick Gass / Politico:
Nikki Haley backs Ted Cruz

Discussion: The Right Scoop

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:
Bernie's longshot victory strategy

Discussion: Shadowproof, US News, New York Magazine, Washington Post and The People's View

Yahoo Politics: Trump still not doing well enough to guarantee nomination

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgressPage Array:

Who Is Merrick Garland? — Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the longest serving Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, offered his own thoughts on who President Obama should nominate to fill the seat left open by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last week.

New York Times:

Obama Chooses Merrick Garland for Supreme Court — WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday said he would nominate Merrick B. Garland as the nation's 113th Supreme Court justice, choosing a centrist appeals court judge for the lifetime appointment and daring Republican senators …

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

GOP senators split with leadership on SCOTUS — A small group of Senate Republicans is breaking with its party's Supreme Court strategy, with lawmakers saying they're willing to meet with President Obama's pick to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia. — Seven Republicans so far have said they are open …

Discussion: Hot Air

Chuck Grassley:
Grassley Statement on the President's Nomination of Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The People's View, Slate, TIME, Associated Press, US News, Vox, BuzzFeed, addictinginfo.org, The New Civil Rights Movement and LawNewz

Sarah Almukhtar / New York Times:
Why Obama Nominated Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court

Discussion: Vox, The Atlantic, Washington Monthly, The White House, Slate, Investor's Business Daily, The Daily Signal, Grist, The Week and NPR

Lincoln Caplan / New Yorker:
Merrick Garland, President Obama's Sensible Supreme Court Choice

Discussion: Washington Post, Business Insider, SCOTUSblog, RH Reality Check, Fusion and Prairie Weather

Josh Israel / ThinkProgressPage Array:
6 Quotes From Senate Republicans About Merrick Garland That Are Really Awkward Now

Discussion: Vox, Talking Points Memo, Americans United for Life, Bloomberg Business, Washington Post, Mediaite, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, The Daily Signal, New York Magazine, Right Wing Watch, Infowars, Common Dreams, Guardian and MSNBC

Harper Neidig / The Hill:
No hearing for Obama's Supreme Court nominee, McConnell says

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, ABC News, TPNN, Above the Law and Western Journalism

Rick Hasen / electionlawblog.org:
Merrick Garland as Obama Compromise #SCOTUS Nominee, But Not (Only) Because of His Moderate Politics

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Townhall.com, Raw Story, USA Today, Vox, The New Civil Rights Movement and Talking Points Memo

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Liberals flirt with lowering bar on Supreme Court confirmation

Discussion: CNBC, Hot Air, Washington Post and ABC News

Associated Press:
CONGRESSIONAL SOURCES: OBAMA TO NOMINATE MERRICK GARLAND

Discussion: Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, BloombergView.com, CNN, NPR, electionlawblog.org, FiveThirtyEight, Raw Story and American Spectator

Alex Shephard / New Republic:
Orrin Hatch once said there was “no question” Merrick Garland could be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, LawNewz, Talking Points Memo, Salon and ThinkProgressPage Array

Garrett Epps / The Atlantic:
Merrick Garland Is a Great Pick; That May Not Matter

Discussion: The Hill and The White House

TMZ.com:

Jared Fogle — Beaten and Bloodied in Prison Yard Ambush — BEATEN AND BLOODIED — in Prison Yard Ambush … Jared Fogle got a surprise beatdown in federal prison from an inmate who has major issues with child molesters ... TMZ has learned. — According to docs, Fogle got jumped …

Discussion: Fox 59, New York Post and KFOR-TV

Nicole Hensley / New York Daily News:

Ex-Subway pitchman Jared Fogle attacked in bloody Colorado prison brawl — Convicted pedophile and ex-Subway pitchman Jared Fogle was pummeled in a vicious prison yard attack, according to a new report. — The disgraced Indiana sex offender suffered a swollen face, scratched neck …

Discussion: New York Magazine

Matthew J. Belvedere / CNBC:

We choose the nominee, not the voters: Senior GOP official — Headed towards a contested convention: Unbound delegate — Curly Haugland, RNC Rules Committee, and Gary Emineth, former chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party, talk about Republican convention rules and why it could lead to a contested convention.

Discussion: Say Anything, Western Journalism, BizPac Review and The Gateway Pundit

Harper Neidig / The Hill:
GOP official: The party chooses the nominee, not the voters

Discussion: Political Wire

Rick Scott / Facebook:

GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT CALLS ON REPUBLICANS TO COME TOGETHER — I'm asking all Republicans today to come together and begin preparing to win the general election in November. — With his victories yesterday, I believe it is now time for Republicans to accept and respect the will of the voters and coalesce behind Donald Trump.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Western Journalism, AOL, New York Times, Raw Story, Mediaite, Fox News Insider and The Week

Paola Chavez / ABC News:
Florida Gov. Rick Scott Endorses Donald Trump

Discussion: Politico

Jordan Sargent / Gawker:

PBS News Story on First-Time Trump Voters Prominently Displays Longtime White Power Tattoos — Last night, PBS NewsHour ran a story on the Tilly family of Fayetteville, North Carolina. The Tillys do not have a history of being active in politics, but various members of the family …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:

Trump Appears To Have Heavily Plagiarized Op-Ed From Carson — An op-ed penned this month by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and published online appears to be blatantly plagiarized from an article written days earlier under former rival Ben Carson's name, The Daily Caller has determined.

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Mediaite

iea.org:

Decoupling of global emissions and economic growth confirmed — IEA analysis shows energy-related emissions of CO2 stalled for the second year in a row as renewable energy surged — Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) - the largest source of man-made greenhouse gas emissions …

Discussion: Washington Post, ThinkProgressPage Array, Financial Times, Grist, Fusion, Common Dreams and Mashable

EIA:
Natural gas expected to surpass coal in mix of fuel used for U.S. power generation in 2016

Discussion: Power Line and The Daily Caller

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:

For release at 2:00 p.m. EDT — Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January suggests that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace despite the global economic and financial developments of recent months. Household spending has been increasing …

Discussion: Washington Post, CNBC, The Atlantic, Bloomberg Business, New York Times, The Daily Caller, NPR, UPI, Business Insider, Macro and Other Market Musings and The Week

Eliza Collins / Politico:

Sheldon Adelson on supporting Trump: ‘Why not?’ — If Donald Trump is the nominee, Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson says, “Why not” support him? — “Trump is a businessman. I am a businessman. He employs a lot of people. I employed 50,000 people. Why not?”

Discussion: Jewish Insider, Israel Hayom, Talking Points Memo and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

WGN Web Desk / WGN-TV:

Waukegan man calls 911 claiming to have killed 19 children — Share Update: … WAUKEGAN, Ill. — Authorities arrested a man after he called them claiming to have killed 19 children in Lake County, Illinois. — According to a statement by the Lake County Sheriff's Office …