memeorandum: Mark Cuban and Thomas Melsheimer: How the Feds Rig Their Prosecutions (Wall Street Journal)

5:05 PM ET, April 4, 2014

Top Items:

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:

Mozilla's Gay-Marriage Litmus Test Violates Liberal Values — A half-dozen years ago, Brendan Eich donated $1,000 to the campaign for Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that set out to ban same-sex marriage. It passed with 52 percent of the vote, but was later overturned by the courts.

Discussion: Slate, Hit & Run, The Dish, Valleywag, ABC News, LGBTQ Nation, neo-neocon and The Verge

Andrew Sullivan / The Dish:

The Hounding Of A Heretic … The guy who had the gall to express his First Amendment rights and favor Prop 8 in California by donating $1,000 has just been scalped by some gay activists. After an OKCupid decision to boycott Mozilla, the recently appointed Brendan Eich just resigned under pressure:

Michelangelo Signorile / The Huffington Post:

Dear Andrew Sullivan, ‘Left-Liberal Intolerance’ Did Not Bring Down Mozilla's CEO — Andrew Sullivan has come to the defense of the Mozilla CEO, Brendan Eich, writing that Eich is being treated as a “heretic,” a victim of “left-liberal intolerance” and the “ugly intolerance of parts of the gay movement …

Discussion: The Dish, Joe. My. God., AMERICAblog News and Hot Air

National Review:
Corrosive Conformity — In 2008, Barack Obama and Brendan Eich …

Discussion: Firedoglake

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters:
ABC Uses Footage of Hateful Westboro Baptist to Slime CEO Who Opposed Gay Marriage

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Alistair Barr / Wall Street Journal:
Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich Steps Down

Discussion: Fox News, Power Line, The Heritage Foundation, RedState, Right Wing Watch, New York Times, Towleroad News #gay, Hot Air and The Daily Caller

Scott Stump / Today:

Bush: Putin ‘dissed’ our pet, said his dog was ‘bigger, stronger, faster’ — When former president George W. Bush unveiled his paintings of world leaders during an interview with daughter Jenna Bush Hager on TODAY Friday, it brought back memories of an encounter with Vladimir Putin that revealed …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Wall Street Journal, CNN, News Desk, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Mashable

Peter Baker / New York Times:
George Bush's Portrait Exhibition Opens in Dallas

Discussion: The Fix, Hot Air, TODAY, Gawker and The Week

Aaron Blake / Post Politics:

Paul Ryan: Popular parts of Obamacare too costly to reinstate after repeal — House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) says in a new interview that it would be too costly for Republicans to reinstate some of the more popular provisions of Obamacare if and when the law is repealed …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Paul Ryan Accidentally Reveals The Truth About The GOP's Obamacare Replacement

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Ben Goad / The Hill:

Is it Clarence Thomas's court? — Justice Clarence Thomas's influence was on full display in the Supreme Court's landmark decision to strike down a crucial campaign finance restriction. — And it's just one in a string of cases in which Thomas could be dragging the court toward his way of thinking.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Betsy's Page

James Taranto / Washington Post:

Justice Breyer turns the First Amendment on its head. — In his plurality opinion in yesterday's free-speech case, McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, Chief Justice John Roberts notes an anomaly in contemporary “liberal” First Amendment jurisprudence: “If the First Amendment protects flag burning …

Discussion: RedState

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Federal Judge Plans To Strike Down Ohio Marriage Recognition Ban — A prior decision by the judge was limited to recognizing same-sex couples' marriages on death certificates. — WASHINGTON — Following a hearing Friday, a federal judge in Ohio announced he plans to rule that Ohio …

Discussion: Hit & Run, The Week and Joe. My. God.

Ann Thompson / WVXU:
Federal Judge says he will declare Ohio's gay marriage ban unconstitutional

Discussion: Associated Press, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress, GovBeat and Towleroad News #gay

Joe Schoffstall / Capitol City Project:

Hillary struggles to list accomplishments during tenure as Secretary of State — On April 3, 2014, Hillary Clinton spoke at the Women of the World Summit in New York City and was asked what she was most proud of during her tenure as Secretary of State. Clinton could not provide …

Discussion: Power Line and Mediaite

Maeve Reston / Los Angeles Times:
Hillary Clinton: For women, ‘Double standard is alive and well’

Discussion: ABC News, OnPolitics and Althouse

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Hillary Clinton: Media ‘double standard’ on women

Discussion: CNN and The Huffington Post

George Bennett / Palm Beach Post:

Allen West's new book dotted with familiar, but fake, quotes from great Americans — Former Rep. Allen West outlines his political philosophy, warrior code and experiences as a black conservative in a new book that's peppered with quotations attributed to Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other famous figures.

Discussion: rubber hose and Althouse

Tom Boggioni / The Raw Story:
Founding Father enthusiast Allen West's book filled with fake Founding Father quotes

Discussion: Hinterland Gazette and Liberaland

Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:

Spokesman Bails On Christie To Become Scott Brown's Campaign Manager — One of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) spokesmen left his job earlier this week to begin serving as campaign manager for former Sen. Scott Brown's (R-MA) Senate run in New Hampshire, according to WMUR.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

James Pindell / WMUR:
Former aide to serve as Scott Brown campaign manager

Discussion: ABC News

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Illinois Residents Least Trusting of Their State Government — North Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah rank at the top — PRINCETON, NJ — Illinois residents trust their state government to handle their state's problems far less than residents in any other state.

Discussion: Business Insider and GovBeat

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:

Ruling Sets Off a Bipartisan Rush for Campaign Cash — Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader in the House, wasted little time on Thursday blasting the Supreme Court's latest decision freeing donors to spend more money on campaigns.

Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:

‘Be Quiet!’ Medal Of Honor Vet Shuts Down Advocate For More Guns On Military Bases (VIDEO) — An MSNBC military analyst repeatedly told an advocate for arming military personnel on bases to be quiet at the end of an on-air debate Friday. — Retired Col. Jack Jacobs, a Medal of Honor recipient …

Discussion: Americans Against the … and Mediaite

David Dayen / American Prospect:

Wall Street's Subsidy Safety Net — Financial reformers in both parties have insisted for years that the largest banks remain too big to fail, and that Dodd-Frank did not cleanse the system of this reality. You can mark down this week as the moment that this morphed into conventional wisdom.

Discussion: susiemadrak.com

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Washington Post: No Correction, But You Can Have a Reprint of the Article! — After I demolished a Washington Post article that tried to link Koch Industries to the Keystone Pipeline, the Post promised Koch a correction. That correction has yet to appear, but in the meantime, the Post's …

Josh Dickey / Mashable:

Stephen Colbert Is CBS' Top Choice to Succeed Letterman, and He's Into It — Stephen Colbert is CBS' top choice to replace the retiring David Letterman, and has indicated that he's willing to take over the Late Show when the time comes, people familiar with both sides of the discussions tell Mashable.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Javier Manjarres / The Shark Tank:

HHS “Started” Individual Obamacare Applications Prior To Deadline,Obtained Personal Info From States — In the closing days of the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) , the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was mailing out letters notifying certain Americans …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler and The Lonely Conservative

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

McKeon: No immigration in NDAA — House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon said Friday that a proposal offering legal status to young undocumented immigrants who serve in the military will not be included in this year's National Defense Authorization Act.

Discussion: CNN

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Ronan Farrow Demonstrates That MSNBC Can't Stop Talking About The Koch Bros (VIDEO) — Viewers of MSNBC's Ronan Farrow have spoken, and they want more Koch. — Farrow asked his audience to choose the most underreported story of the week and the results will probably vindicate Democrats …

Discussion: Mediaite