memeorandum: Facebook page linked to Taliban and Al Qaeda was registered to same address as British Muslim … (Daily Mail)

11:30 PM ET, December 23, 2015

Top Items:

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Rand Paul Says He Won't Participate In Undercard Debate — “I'm not gonna let any network or anybody tell me we're not a first-tier campaign.” — w.soundcloud.com — Rand Paul said on Wednesday that he will refuse to participate in a “second-tier” debate if he is relegated to the undercard stage by the Fox Business Network.

Discussion: Fox Business, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Daily Kos, Daily Mail, Outside the Beltway, Politico and Bloomberg.com news

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:

Rand Paul: I won't do an undercard debate — Rand Paul will not accept being relegated to an undercard debate and is willing to protest, the Republican presidential candidate said Wednesday. — “I won't participate in any kind of second-tier debate,” Paul declared in a radio interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade.

Discussion: FOX News Radio, Yahoo Politics, Daily Kos, whorunsGov and Talking Points Memo

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Business:
Marco Rubio Dips in the Polls Heading into Christmas

Discussion: Politico

Brent Budowsky / The Hill:
In blockbuster poll, Sanders destroys Trump by 13 points

Discussion: Politico, CANNONFIRE, whorunsGov, Liberal Values, Washington Monthly and Common Dreams

CNN:
Trump dominates GOP field heading into 2016

Associated Press:
Carson Telegraphs Major Campaign Shake-Up: ‘Everything Is On The Table’

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Politico

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Sanders on Trump: ‘He has discovered that women go to the bathroom’

Discussion: Vox, addictinginfo.org, Little Green Footballs, The Week and Jezebel

Daily Mail:

Facebook page linked to Taliban and Al Qaeda was registered to same address as British Muslim father whose Disneyland trip was blocked by Homeland Security — A British Muslim father whose planned Disneyland trip was ruined when he and his family were barred from boarding a flight to the U.S …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, ITV, The Last Refuge, Pamela Geller and Althouse

Guardian:
US stops British Muslim family from boarding flight to visit Disneyland

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Post, CNN, addictinginfo.org, Talking Points Memo, Common Dreams and Mediaite

Esther Addley / Guardian:
Calls for Cameron to step in after US bans British Muslim family from Disneyland trip

Discussion: ITV, Raw Story, ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo and The Week

Amanda Andrade-Rhoades / Opposing Views:

Kentucky's New Governor Strips Voting Rights For Felons And Lowers Minimum Wage In Sweeping Reforms — Kentucky's newly sworn-in Gov. Matt Bevin has issued a series of executive orders undoing much of his Democratic predecessor's work in one fell swoop. — Not only did Bevin strip …

John Cheves / Lexington Herald-Leader:

Bevin orders marriage license changes; reverses Beshear on felon voting rights, minimum wage — Order removes the names of counties and county clerks from marriage licenses — Critics question whether Bevin has authority to change law requiring clerks' signature

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Common Dreams, Washington Post, Morning Consult and Mother Jones

Courier-Journal:
Bevin takes ax to Beshear's executive orders

Discussion: Occupy Democrats, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Vox and Joe.My.God.

Mike Allen / Politico:

What Ted Cruz said behind closed doors — In June, Ted Cruz promised on NPR that opposition to gay marriage would be “front and center” in his 2016 campaign. — In July, he said the Supreme Court's decision allowing same-sex marriage was the “very definition of tyranny” and urged states to ignore the ruling.

Discussion: whorunsGov, Hot Air, BuzzFeed, The Daily Caller, Towleroad, Vox, Right Wing Watch, Western Journalism, The Right Scoop, Talking Points Memo, addictinginfo.org, RedState, PoliticusUSA, Bloomberg.com news, New York Times and Political Wire

Nick Gillespie / Hit & Run:

UPDATED! That Deleted Ted Cruz Cartoon Wasn't The Worst Thing Wash Post Published This Week — Updated at 10:43 A.M.: Scroll down for cartoonist Ann Telnaes' comments on controversy. — By now, you've probably heard about the early Christmas gift that The Washington Post gave to Ted Cruz …

Discussion: The Fiscal Times, Hot Air, The Federalist, Washington Post, Erick on the Radio, FishbowlDC, Talking Points Memo, Scared Monkeys, Mashable, New York Times and Mediaite

Eliza Collins / Politico:
Washington Post removes cartoon depicting Ted Cruz's daughters as monkeys

Discussion: National Review, Washington Post, Reuters, Mediaite, The Federalist, Fox News, Breitbart, USA Today, The Week, LiberalAmerica.org, ABC News, Towleroad, Raw Story, Trail Blazers Blog, Althouse, Accuracy in Media, MichelleMalkin.com and whorunsGov

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Sorry, Conservatives, Obamacare Is Still Working — We will stop correcting you when you stop being wrong. — 1.7k — 1.3k — Two years ago this time, conservatives were giddily predicting that Obamacare would collapse, “a failure of the administrative state on a level unimagined …

Discussion: Mother Jones, bradford-delong.com and The Huffington Post

New Republic:

Brian Beutler — Hillary Clinton has an amazing plan to close every public school in America. — But she might want to sit in on a better-than-average math class before stating goals like this: “I wouldn't keep any school open that wasn't doing better than average.”

Discussion: Mother Jones, RedState, Washington Post, protein wisdom, Weekly Standard and The Federalist

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:

Bush: Problem With Confederate Flag Is ‘What It Began To Represent Later’ — GOP 2016er Jeb Bush defended his decision as Florida governor to take down the Confederate battle flag from the state capitol by arguing the controversy around Confederate monuments “isn't the 19th century issue, it's the 20th century issue.”

Discussion: Raw Story, Little Green Footballs and addictinginfo.org

Tony Leys / Des Moines Register:

Clinton says Trump's vulgarity doesn't shock her — FAIRFIELD, Ia. — Hillary Clinton said she wasn't surprised to hear that Donald Trump had used a vulgarity to refer to her this week, but she doesn't plan to rise to his bait by responding directly to his insults.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, CNN, Hot Air, New York Times, Mediaite, Slantpoint, Western Journalism, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, NOLA River, Business Insider, Politico and Reuters

New York Times:

The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles From Mom — Families traveling from far-flung places and returning home for the holidays. That image of an American Christmas, retold in song and movies, fits the perception of Americans as rootless, constantly on the move to seek opportunity even if it means leaving family behind.

Discussion: Jezebel, Mother Jones and The Week

Susanna Kim / ABC News:

Texas Restaurant Chain Touts ‘Politically Incorrect’ Holiday Policy

Discussion: Hot Air, Eater, Western Journalism and Fox News Insider

Rich Lowry / Politico:

The Right's Post-Constitutional Moment — No one will ever mistake Donald Trump for a student of James Madison. — The real-estate mogul has demonstrated about as much familiarity with the U.S. Constitution as with the Bible, which is to say, none. Trump has captivated a share …

Discussion: Power Line, National Review and Mother Jones

Andrew Prokop / Vox:

NH reporter: Marco Rubio is like “a computer algorithm designed to cover talking points” — Marco Rubio's relative lack of campaigning in early states like New Hampshire has been getting increasing attention in the national press — a Washington Post article this week asked whether he'd “work hard enough to become president.”

Ali Weinberg / ABC News:

President Obama's Christmas Wish for Christians Persecuted by ISIS — President Obama expressed his wishes during the Christmas season for persecuted Christians around the world, especially those in the Middle East who have experienced “brutal atrocities” at the hands of ISIS.

Discussion: Politico

Edmundo Carrillo / Albuquerque Journal:

Police sgt. says governor was ‘inebriated’ — SANTA FE - A Santa Fe police officer's recording shows the officer and a Santa Fe hotel security guard discussing whether Gov. Susana Martinez was intoxicated in the moments after she talked to them about a report of loud noise and bottles …

Discussion: Washington Post and The Daily Caller

Matthew Reichbach / The NM Political Report:
In new audio, officer, security guard say Gov. Martinez appears ‘inebriated’

Discussion: Mother Jones, Political Wire, Jezebel and Las Cruces Sun-News

Matthew Belloni / Hollywood Reporter:

‘Hateful Eight’ Pirated Screener Traced Back to Top Hollywood Executive (Exclusive) — A copy mailed to Alcon Entertainment co-CEO Andrew Kosove was uploaded to file-sharing sites as the FBI probes a damaging leak of the Quentin Tarantino film. “I've never seen this DVD,” Kosove tells THR.

Discussion: Guardian, Engadget and Techdirt