memeorandum: Obama to forgive the student debt of permanently disabled people (Danielle Douglas-Gabriel/Washington Post)

1:10 PM ET, April 13, 2016

Top Items:

Jeff Merkley / New York Times:

Why I'm Supporting Bernie Sanders — NO decision we make as Americans more dramatically affects the direction of our country than our choice for president. He or she is more than the manager of the executive branch, commander in chief or appointer of judges.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Washington Post, Slate, Vox, New York Magazine, ABC News, NPR, Washington Free Beacon, Common Dreams, Booman Tribune, Talking Points Memo, CNN, The Daily Caller, Politico and The Week

Editorials / New York Daily News:

Daily News Editorial Board says Vote Hillary Clinton: Her plans to give working- and middle-class Americans a fighting chance at rising incomes are far superior to Bernie Sanders' — A ritual that plays out at 8:30 a.m. on the first Friday of every month highlights the urgency …

Discussion: Vox, CNN, AOL, Towleroad, Shakesville, CBS New York, New York Post, Daily News Bin, Balloon Juice, Washington Times, The Week and Politico

Stuart Rothenberg / Roll Call:
Democrats Are Headed off Their Own Cliff

Discussion: Washington Post

Michael Falcone / ABC News:
The Note: What Millennials Want

Discussion: SiriusXM Blog and The Gateway Pundit

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:

Cruz likely to block Trump on a second ballot at the GOP convention — What's the deal with the Colorado GOP convention? — What is a super PAC? … State of the 2016 race … Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is close to ensuring that Donald Trump cannot win the GOP nomination …

Discussion: RedState, Washington Examiner, Politico, Hot Air, NBC News, New York Magazine, LifeNews.com, Political Wire, The Atlantic and CNN

New York Times:

Donald Trump, Losing Ground, Tries to Blame the System — WASHINGTON — Donald J. Trump and his allies are engaged in an aggressive effort to undermine the Republican nominating process by framing it as rigged and corrupt, hoping to compensate for organizational deficiencies that have left …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, YouGov US Opinion Center News, Associated Press, Outside the Beltway and Little Green Footballs

Matthew J. Dowd / Wall Street Journal:
How Donald Trump Is Right About Our ‘Rigged’ Politics

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, The Hill and The Daily Caller

WND:
Cruz email asks for $35 to be ‘top deputy delegate’

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Independent Journal …

Bob Cusack / The Hill:
Trump slams RNC chairman, calls 2016 process ‘a disgrace’

Discussion: Bloomberg, Business Insider, CNN, NBC News, Politico, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, Scared Monkeys, The Daily Caller, Denver Post and Guardian

Roger Stone / Breitbart:
Exclusive-Roger Stone: Trump Delegates Should Sign a Loyalty Pledge

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Mediaite and BizPac Review

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

White House demands Maryland super PAC pull Senate ad — The White House is wading into one of the hardest-fought Democratic primaries in the country — to tell one side to stop invoking the president on its behalf. — In an unprecedented and forceful move, President Barack Obama's administration …

Discussion: Independent Journal … and Washington Post

Bob Cusack / The Hill:

Trump won't attend White House dinner — says he will not be attending this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, despite receiving a flurry of invitations from the media. — Trump attended the annual dinner in 2011, only to have President Obama poke fun at him repeatedly in his comedy routine.

Discussion: Oliver Willis and Shakesville

Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:
White House intervenes in Maryland Senate Democratic primary

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, NBC4 Washington and Baltimore Sun

David Corn / Mother Jones:

The Time Ted Cruz Defended a Ban on Dildos — His legal team argued there was no right “to stimulate one's genitals.” — In one chapter of his campaign book, A Time for Truth, Sen. Ted Cruz proudly chronicles his days as a Texas solicitor general, a post he held from 2003 to 2008.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Guardian, The Slot and Gawker

Ben White / Politico:

Cruz's message to Wall Street: Help me — NEW YORK — This Monday, assorted bankers, traders and Wall Street lawyers will gather inside the neo-Georgian walls of the Harvard Club in midtown Manhattan to write big checks to an unlikely recipient: Ted Cruz. — Cruz, who attended Harvard Law School …

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos and The Week

Brian McBride / ABC News:
Marco Rubio (Sort of) Endorses Ted Cruz, Shuts Down VP Speculation

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Conservative Review, AOL and abc7news.com

New Jersey Online:
Ted Cruz is an American and can appear on N.J. primary ballot, judge says

Discussion: NorthJersey.com, Slantpoint, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, AOL and The Gateway Pundit

Carrie Dann / NBC News:

NBC Poll: Trump, Clinton Lead in Maryland — Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hold big leads in Maryland two weeks before the state's presidential primary election, according to a new NBC 4/Marist poll released Tuesday night. — Among likely Republican voters, Trump holds a 12-point lead …

Bill McKibben / New York Daily News:
Bernie Sanders' climate consistency: Why he, not Hillary Clinton, should be the choice of people …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:
If Elected, Clinton Would Create Special Office on Immigration

Discussion: The Daily Caller and LawNewz

Jason Meisner / Chicago Tribune:

In blow to defense, judge to consider lies by Hastert at his sentencing — Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert through the years. — The federal judge overseeing Dennis Hastert's hush money case said he intends to factor in at Hastert's upcoming sentencing that the former speaker lied …

Radio New Zealand Regional Headlines:

Escaped octopus 'didn't even leave us a message' — A crafty octopus has squeezed through a gap in its enclosure, down a narrow drain and escaped from a Napier aquarium. — Inky the common octopus took advantage of his tank's lid being left slightly ajar and fled to the Pacific Ocean.

Discussion: Guardian, New York Times, Telegraph, ValueWalk, AOL, The Daily Caller, Slantpoint and Mashable

Karin Brulliard / Washington Post:
Octopus slips out of aquarium tank, crawls across floor, escapes down pipe to ocean

Discussion: Stuff.co.nz, The Week, New Zealand Herald and Newshub

Ryan Tracy / Wall Street Journal:

Regulators Set to Reject Some Big Banks' ‘Living Wills’ — J.P. Morgan, other firms to receive not credible verdict from Fed, FDIC — WASHINGTON—Regulators are set to reject the so-called living wills of at least half of the U.S.'s systemically important banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. …

Discussion: ValueWalk, The Week and New York Times

Jesse Hamilton / Bloomberg:
Five Big Banks' Living Wills Rejected by U.S. Banking Agencies

Discussion: Shadowproof, Common Dreams and Investor's Business Daily

Lowell McAdam / LinkedIn Pulse:

Feeling The Bern of Reality — The Facts About Verizon and The ‘Moral Economy’ — I read with interest Jeff Immelt's spirited response to Sen. Bernie Sanders putting GE on his hit-list of big corporations that are “destroying the moral fabric” of America. — In fact, I share his frustration.

Discussion: Politico, Investor's Business Daily and Washington Post

Noam Scheiber / New York Times:
Verizon Workers Strike on East Coast After Deadline Passes

Discussion: Business Insider, The Atlantic and The Week

Tom Hayden / The Nation:

I Used to Support Bernie, but Then I Changed My Mind — I have a variety of concerns about both candidates' campaigns. But I intend to vote for Hillary Clinton in the California primary for one fundamental reason. — By , — A maze of political signs for Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in Charleston, South Carolina.

Discussion: Raw Story, susiemadrak.com, Boing Boing, Blue Nation Review and Guardian

Lucas Tomlinson / Fox News:

Russian jets pass US Navy destroyer at ‘unsafe’ speed in Baltic Sea, official says — Two Russian warplanes buzzed a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Poland multiple times this week, a defense official tells Fox News. — In one incident, the USS Donald Cook …

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

FBI paid professional hackers one-time fee to crack San Bernardino iPhone — The FBI cracked a San Bernardino terrorist's phone with the help of professional hackers who discovered and brought to the bureau at least one previously unknown software flaw, according to people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Guardian, The Next Web, Mashable, AOL, Engadget and The Week

John Tozzi / Bloomberg:

Fast-Food Eaters Have More Industrial Chemicals in Their Bodies — Would you like phthalates with that? — People who reported eating fast food in the last 24 hours had elevated levels of some industrial chemicals in their bodies, according to a new analysis of data from federal nutrition surveys.

Discussion: nrdc.org

Reuters:

Peabody, world's top private coal miner, files for bankruptcy — Peabody Energy Corp (BTU.N) filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection on Wednesday after a sharp drop in coal prices left it unable to service debt of $10.1 billion, much of it incurred for an expansion into Australia.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mother Jones and Common Dreams