memeorandum: Ernst Says She Was Sexually Harassed in the Military (Jay Newton-Small/TIME)

7:15 PM ET, August 15, 2014

Top Items:

The Day Ferguson Cops Were Caught in a Bloody Lie — The officers got the wrong man, but charged him anyway—with getting his blood on their uniforms. How the Ferguson PD ran the town where Michael Brown was gunned down. — Police in Ferguson, Missouri, once charged a man with destruction …

Discussion: Liberaland, Jezebel, Talking Points Memo, Hit & Run and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Brian Beutler / The New Republic:

The Ferguson Police Chief's Statement Is Only Making Things Worse — Five days after a police officer fired multiple rounds at and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, we now know that the officer's name is Darren Wilson. Thanks to Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson …

Discussion: Mashable, NBC News, Vox, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, Colorlines, USA Today, Democracy in America, The Dish and Guardian

Julia Ioffe / The New Republic:

White St. Louis Has Some Awful Things to Say About Ferguson — About a 15-minute drive from the Ferguson protest that, by now, feels more like a block party, in the more upscale St. Louis suburb of Olivette, there's a new strip mall with a barbecue joint and a Starbucks and an e-cigarette store.

Discussion: Colorlines, USA Today, Eschaton, Business Insider and msnbc.com

TwitLonger:

Statement from the Family of Michael Brown & Their Attorneys — “Michael Brown's family is beyond outraged at the devious way the police chief has chosen to disseminate piece mil information in a manner intended to assassinate the character of their son, following such a brutal assassination of his person in broad daylight.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, FOX2now.com, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Shakesville and Mediaite

New York Times:

Ferguson Police Identify Darren Wilson as Officer in Fatal Shooting and Link Teenager to Robbery — FERGUSON, Mo. — The police in Ferguson broke their weeklong silence on Friday and identified the officer involved in the fatal shooting of an unarmed African-American teenager …

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation Blog, Medium, BillMoyers.com, Colorlines, CNN, CANNONFIRE, Blazing Cat Fur, Prairie Weather, Featured stories and The Huffington Post

USA Today:
Ferguson police identify officer in Michael Brown shooting

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Colorlines and CBS St. Louis, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
Police: Teen Was ‘Primary Suspect’ In Robbery At Time Of Shooting

Discussion: USA Today, Hinterland Gazette, Scared Monkeys and Washington Post

The Hill:
Lawmaker drafting bill to demilitarize local police

Discussion: Politico, The Week, BillMoyers.com, Slate, Shakesville, American Prospect, National Review, New York Times and TIME

Wesley Lowery / Washington Post:
With Highway Patrol, hugs and kisses replace tear gas in Ferguson

Discussion: Associated Press, Gawker, The Nation, Guardian, emptywheel, Business Insider and The New Republic

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Libertarians make their voices heard on police in Ferguson, Mo.

Discussion: National Review, The Huffington Post, The Hill, Liberal Values, RH Reality Check, Gawker, Global Voices, RedState and Jezebel

Tim Devaney / The Hill:
Congress under pressure from left and right to ‘demilitarize’ police

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Politico, Instapundit and Senator Ted Cruz

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:
Opportunism knocks in Missouri

Discussion: ABC News, American Spectator, The Daily Banter, Mediaite, Washington Post, The Dish, The Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, Balloon Juice, Booman Tribune and The Mahablog

Andy Abrahams / Parade:

Paul Ryan on His Father's Private Battle, Family, and ‘House of Cards’ — More by Andy — When Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan to be his running mate in 2012, the most dramatic detail in the potential veep's biography was the tragic loss of his father when Ryan was just 16.

Discussion: Politico, Wall Street Journal, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, OnPolitics, Mediaite and PoliticusUSA

Jay Newton-Small / TIME:

Ernst Says She Was Sexually Harassed in the Military — Breaks with party, Pentagon on stance — Republican State Sen. Joni Ernst, who is running for Senate and served more than 20 years in the military, said Friday that she was sexually harassed in the military and, given her experience …

Discussion: CNN, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Des Moines Register, OnPolitics and Roll Call

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
Claire McCaskill's sexual assault bill passes

Discussion: BuzzFeed

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Al Gore sues Al Jazeera for fraud — Former Vice President Al Gore and business partner Joel Hyatt have filed a lawsuit against Al Jazeera on charges of fraud and material breaches in their acquisition of Current Media, POLITICO has learned. — Gore and Hyatt, the co-founders of Current Media …

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Blazing Cat Fur

Bloomberg:
Al Gore Sues Al Jazeera Over $500 Million Current TV Deal

Discussion: Washington Monthly, TVNewser, Bloomberg and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:

Candidate Can't Explain His Position On Women's Health, Forgets What Birth Control Is — Rep. Mike Coffman,, left, and Democratic challenger Andrew Romanoff smile at the start of a their first debate — At a political debate on Thursday night, a GOP candidate for the U.S. House …

Discussion: The Spot, Jezebel, Shakesville, Towleroad News #gay and Denver Post

Lizzie Dearden / The Independent:

Huge asteroid that ‘could end human life’ defying gravity as it moves towards Earth, scientists say — Scientists have moved closer to being able to stop a huge asteroid colliding with the Earth and potentially wiping out human life. — Researchers at the University of Tennessee have discovered …

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

There Is A Man In Texas Who Has Been Imprisoned 34 Years Without A Conviction — In 1977, a Texas man named Jerry Hartfield was convicted of murder. His conviction was tossed out three years later because the process used to select his jury was unconstitutional.

Discussion: Shakesville

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Hillary Clinton Stars In “House Of Cards” Spoof For Her Husband's Birthday — Brought to you by the Clinton Foundation. — Hillary Clinton stars a House of Cards-style video for her husband's upcoming 68th birthday. — The bill features a couple jokes about Clinton running for president …

Discussion: Politico and Jezebel

Bloomberg:

Ukraine Strikes APCs From Russia as Spat Over Aid Convoy Deepens — The crisis in Ukraine escalated as the government said its army destroyed part of a column of military vehicles that crossed the border from Russia, even as Vladimir Putin denies any military presence in the country.

Discussion: Agence France-Presse, Hot Air, Gawker and Vox Popoli

Roland Oliphant / Telegraph:
Russian armoured vehicles and military trucks cross border into Ukraine

Discussion: Guardian

Ben Jacobs / The Daily Beast:

Meet Montana's Nose-Ringed Candidate for the U.S. Senate — A week ago, Amanda Curtis was a just math teacher from Butte with a TED talk. Now she's the last-minute frontrunner to hold on to the Democrats' Big Sky Senate seat. — In recent years, Montana has been electing a certain breed of burly, alpha male Democrats.

Discussion: Washington Post

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:

Why Is Dem Nunn Touting Endorsement From Zell Miller? — Georgia Democratic nominee Michelle Nunn's campaign has been strongly touting a new, major endorsement: former Georgia governor and Sen. Zell Miller (D). — Miller supported segregationist candidates early in his career and then became …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Jim Galloway / Political Insider blog:
Zell Miller endorses Michelle Nunn for Senate, but Nathan Deal for governor

Discussion: Washington Monthly and OnPolitics

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Buying Main Street: Billionaires swamp local races — It was a gut-punch moment for the local lawman: Already sweating a tough reelection race, he'd just received word that one of the country's most powerful billionaires was trying to oust him from the Milwaukee County sheriff's seat.

Discussion: Washington Monthly