The US Capital Of Police Killings, Planned Parenthood Shooter’s Anti-Abortion Past, and Criminal Justice Reform’s Last Chance

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December 2, 2015

Top Stories


Criminal Justice Reform Is Quickly Running Out Of Time

The Gist: A crowded legislative calendar and the looming election year are endangering the last best hope for criminal justice reform while President Obama is still in office.

Iowa GOPer: Execute Those Who Commit Felony And Repeatedly Enter US Illegally

The Gist: State Sen. Marc Chelgren said the federal government should execute some undocumented immigrants who try to re-enter the United States after being deported for committing a felony.

Trump Remains On Top In National Poll While Carson Drops To Third

The Gist: Donald Trump maintained the top spot in a new national Quinnipiac University poll, followed by a rising Sen. Marco Rubio in second and Dr. Ben Carson in third.

From The Reporter’s Notebook


Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump threatened to ask CNN to pay him $5 million, a sum he said he would donate to charity, to show up at the network’s next debate. TPM’s Sara Jerde recalls that in September, Trump formally asked CNN to donate the debate’s proceeds to charity. He wrote in a letter to the network’s president, “While I refuse to brag, and as you know very well, this tremendous increase in viewer interest and advertising is due 100% to ‘Donald J. Trump,'” he wrote, according to CNN.

Agree or Disagree?


Josh Marshall writes that a new Princeton University study that found a rise in mortality among middle aged whites is crucial to understanding “the contemporary crisis of politics.”

Say What?!


“When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives. Don’t kid yourself. But they say they don’t care about their lives. You have to take out their families.”

-Donald Trump suggested killing the families of terrorists was key to eradicating the threat of ISIS

BUZZING: Today in the Hive


From a TPM Prime member: Ted Cruz blaming the right-wing nut-job who killed in a Planned Parenthood Clinic on a left-wing transgender person is just an example of how dangerous this rhetoric can become. I just read the statistics that said the attacks on Planned Parenthood locations so far this year are much, much higher than previous years. And that is because this rhetoric is driving violence…This rhetoric is extremely dangerous but it didn’t just pop out of a magician’s hat. Right-wing radio and cable TV channels have been increasing the “us versus them” for decades. This is where it is driving to. And these people are either cynically using fears that exist or are true believers themselves. It is time for a decisive knock-back of this in the 2016 election–and at all levels.

Related: Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Lewis Dear allegedly said “no more baby body parts” after killing three people at a Colorado Springs clinic.

Have something to add? Become a Prime member and join the discussion here.

What We’re Reading


The CEO paying everyone $70,000 salaries has something to hide (Bloomberg).

What went wrong in Kern County, California, where police killed more people per capita than in any other American county in 2015? (The Guardian).

Does America deserve Malala Yousafzai? (VICE)


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