memeorandum: Jean-Marie Le Pen suggests Ebola as solution to global population explosion (Kim Willsher/Guardian)

4:45 AM ET, May 22, 2014

Top Items:

Clinton allies pressured Dems on Benghazi — Hillary Clinton's world was so worried about a Republican investigation of the Benghazi attacks, they sent a message to House Democrats: We need backup. — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) publicly considered boycotting the panel …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Gateway Pundit and The Lonely Conservative

New York Times:

Pelosi Picks 5 Democrats for Panel on Benghazi — WASHINGTON — Representative Nancy Pelosi of California on Wednesday appointed a full slate of senior House Democrats to a special committee investigating the 2012 attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, surprising some in her party …

Discussion: ABC News, Taylor Marsh and No More Mister Nice Blog

Sancho Panza / SOOPERMEXICAN:

War On Women!! Guess Which Democrat Candidate Deleted a Tweet Saying He Wanted to Punch the Face of a Conservative Woman!! — MEXCLUSIVE!! It's so funny how liberals look the other way when a Democrat is caught advocating violence on women that I thought I'd give them another chance …

Discussion: Independent Journal Review, The Daily Caller and The Lonely Conservative

Sancho Panza / SOOPERMEXICAN:

More ‘War On Women’ Deleted Tweets - Democrat Congressional Candidate Asks Followers to Assail Conservative Woman With ‘C-Word’! — I already showed how Clay Aiken deleted a tweet advocating violence against Ann Coulter, and how Buzzfeed accidentally neglected to mention it in their post about his deleted tweets.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and NewsBusters

Dennis Wagner / Arizona Republic:

FBI reverses no-recording policy for interrogations — Since the FBI began under President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, agents have not only shunned the use of tape recorders, they've been prohibited by policy from making audio and video records of statements by criminal suspects without special approval.

Discussion: Hit & Run, NPR, Politico, The Verge, emptywheel and Hullabaloo

The Atlantic Online:

The Case for Reparations — Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole. — Ta-Nehisi Coates … — Deuteronomy 15: 12-15

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Isaac Chotiner / The New Republic: Get Ready for a National Debate About Slavery Reparations

Kendall Breitman / Politico:

Pat Sajak: Climate change tweet ‘parody’ — “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak returned to Twitter to let his follower know his recent comment on global warming was just “hyperbole.” — “As most of you know, original Tweet was intended to parody the name-calling directed at climate skeptics.

Adam Beam / Associated Press:

KY. DEMOCRAT MUM ON QUESTION OF ‘OBAMACARE’ VOTE — You are here — Home » United States Senate » Ky. Democrat mum on question of ‘Obamacare’ vote — BEATTYVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes on Wednesday twice refused to say whether …

Discussion: Hot Air and Washington Free Beacon

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, A Republican, Will Not Appeal Same-Sex Marriage Ruling — A sign of the times. — Republican Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett speaks in Harrisburg, Pa. — The Associated Press — WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett will not be appealing Tuesday's …

Discussion: Yahoo! Finance, ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, The BRAD BLOG and Washington Post

Marc Levy / Associated Press:
Pennsylvania Won't Appeal Same-Sex Marriage Case

Discussion: Washington Post, susiemadrak.com, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos and CNN

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Thunder Down Ballot — In one more observation about the Georgia primary, some interesting things happened in GOP U.S. House races. One of the most common Twitter-memes early last night was that no matter who won the ultimate Senate prize, Congress would be rid of Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey …

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Booman Tribune

Ed Kilgore / Talking Points Memo:
Georgia Isn't Out Of The Teapot Just Yet

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Democratic Strategist, The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly, Politico, The Dish and Washington Post

Nate Cohn / New York Times: Narrow Path to Senate for Michelle Nunn in Georgia

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

James O'Keefe Punks Hollywood Greens — There are advantages to being a video guy rather than an ink-stained wretch. James O'Keefe is currently in Cannes, where he is premiering his latest video prank. O'Keefe's targets are Josh and Rebecca Tickell, producers of environmental documentaries including “Fuel.”

Discussion: Watts Up With That?

NationalJournal.com:

Who Really Broke Veterans Affairs? — It stains the legacies of presidents as far back as John F. Kennedy. — Veterans have waited months—and even years—to receive disability payments from the VA.(Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) … Failure is an orphan—and there are few failures …

Discussion: American Prospect and PoliticusUSA

CNN:
Obama to discuss VA controversy with Shinseki

Discussion: Fox News and Washington Free Beacon

ThinkProgress:

Pope Francis Makes Biblical Case For Addressing Climate Change: ‘If We Destroy Creation, Creation Will Destroy Us’ — Pope Francis made the religious case for tackling climate change on Wednesday, calling on his fellow Christians to become “Custodians of Creation” and issuing a dire warning …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Liberal Values and The Week

Kim Willsher / Guardian:

Jean-Marie Le Pen suggests Ebola as solution to global population explosion — Virus ‘could sort out demographic explosion’ and by extension Europe's ‘immigration problem’, says founder of Front National — Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France's far-right Front National …

Discussion: Firedoglake and Mediaite

CNN:

6 Iranians held over ‘Happy’ video — (CNN) — Apparently, dancing to a song about happiness in Iran can get you arrested. — Six Iranians are behind bars after they appeared in a fan video set to Pharrell Williams' “Happy,” the American hit song that has sold millions of downloads worldwide.

Discussion: Fox News, CBS San Francisco, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Guardian

Robert Mackey / New York Times:
Young Iranians Arrested for Being Too ‘Happy in Tehran’

Discussion: Happy Nice Time People, The PJ Tatler, Guardian, Mediaite, Daily Dot, Independent Journal Review, ABC News, Mashable, Gawker and Washington Free Beacon

Patrick Healy / New York Times:

Larry Kramer Lives to See His ‘Normal Heart’ Filmed for TV — Most revolutionaries don't live to see as much dizzying change as Larry Kramer has. — In the 1980s, he was the most strident, scolding voice in New York City (in the world, really) on behalf of gay men infected with H.I.V. …

Discussion: Mediaite and Gawker

Peter Wehner / Commentary Magazine:

The New Obama Narrative: Epic Incompetence — The last eight months have battered the Obama administration. From the botched rollout of the health-care website to the VA scandal, events are now cementing certain impressions about Mr. Obama. Among the most damaging is this: He is unusually, even epically, incompetent.

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, Viking Pundit, Ed Driscoll, Power Line and The Lonely Conservative

Kevin Poulsen / Wired:

Snowden's First Move Against the NSA Was a Party in Hawaii — It was December 11, 2012, and in a small art space behind a furniture store in Honolulu, NSA contractor Edward Snowden was working to subvert the machinery of global surveillance. — Snowden was not yet famous.

Discussion: The Verge, Techdirt and Poynter

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

Team Romney Thinks It's Winning The GOP Civil War — Mitt's biggest fans celebrate the triumph of Romney Republicanism in Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Idaho. “The Romney brand has had a real resurgence,” says O'Brien. — Steve Marcus / Reuters / Reuters — For the small orbit of friends …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The Week and Bloomberg