memeorandum: The Gaping Hole in the Iran Debate (Peter Beinart/The Atlantic)

4:20 PM ET, July 23, 2015

Top Items:

Exclusive: Trump threatens third-party run — NEW YORK — Donald Trump says the chances that he will launch a third-party White House run will “absolutely” increase if the Republican National Committee is unfair to him during the 2016 primary season. — “The RNC has not been supportive.

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Trump Card — When I opened my favorite news aggregator this morning, nine of the top ten items were about Donald Trump. That's right: 90% of the top stories involved the bloviating real estate tycoon and reality TV star. — No, I'm not going to write 90% of my 12 posts today on The Donald …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Balloon Juice and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:

Poll shows Trump with slim lead, Walker in second — Businessman Donald Trump holds a slim two-point lead over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in a 2016 Republican presidential primary poll released Wednesday by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP). — Trump takes 19 percent support in the poll, with Walker at 17 percent.

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, ABC News, Washington Post and Eschaton

Nick Gass / Politico:
Donald Trump threatens GOP with third-party run

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, New York Times, Mediaite and The Right Scoop

Kevin Cirilli / The Hill:
Trump: Stewart is ‘begging’ me to appear on his final show

Discussion: Mediaite

Neil Vigdor / Connecticut Post:

Democrats drop Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson names from annual fundraising dinner — Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson are history in Connecticut. — Under pressure from the NAACP, the state Democratic Party will scrub the names of the two presidents from its annual fundraising dinner because of their ties to slavery.

Discussion: Hartford Courant, BizPac Review, The Daily Caller, Associated Press, The PJ Tatler and Clash Daily

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Bye Bye J-J! — Executive Office of the President/Wikimedia Commons (left), Executive Office of the President/Wikimedia Commons (right) — You had to figure this was coming (per the Connecticut Post's Neil Vigdor): … As briefly discussed here in response to an essay from Jonathan Chait suggesting …

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Numbers / Pew Research Center:

GOP's Favorability Rating Takes a Negative Turn — Republicans Less Positive About Their Party — The Republican Party's image has grown more negative over the first half of this year. Currently, 32% have a favorable impression of the Republican Party, while 60% have an unfavorable view.

Discussion: The American Conservative and Political Wire

Steve Benen / msnbc.com:

Jeb Bush pushes to ‘phase out’ Medicare — Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush appeared at a New Hampshire event last night sponsored by the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity, and the former governor raised a few eyebrows with his comments on the future of Medicare.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, cbpp.org, Hit & Run, Show Me Progress, Daily Kos, AMERICAblog News and The Week

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:
Jeb Bush Quietly Suggests ‘Phasing Out’ Medicare

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Joe Concha / Mediaite:

Exclusive: More MSNBC Changes Coming with Three Shows Out, Hard News and Chuck Todd Back — A well-placed source tells me MSNBC will announce today major changes to its afternoon lineup...arguably the most significant revamp the network has made at one time in its 19-year history.

Discussion: Washington Post, PoliticusUSA, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, The PJ Tatler, The Daily Caller, Balloon Juice, Washington Free Beacon and Capital New York

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

White House acknowledges ‘side’ deals between Iran, IAEA — National Security Adviser Susan Rice on Wednesday acknowledged the existence of so-called “side” agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency. — Rice said the deals involve Iran accounting for past military uses …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Hot Air, Clash Daily and Washington Free Beacon

Nick Gass / Politico:
Tom Cotton compares John Kerry to Pontius Pilate

Discussion: Daily Kos

New York Times:
John Kerry Defends Iran Nuclear Deal Before Skeptical Senate

Discussion: The Week

Jethro Mullen / CNN:

Bison attacks woman who was trying to take selfie with it in Yellowstone Park — Yellowstone: Our first national park 9 photos — Yellowstone: Our first national park - Old Faithful Geyser may be the most-famous “resident” of Yellowstone National Park, but park ranger Dan Hottle …

Discussion: Mediaite

Michael E. Miller / Washington Post: Bison selfies are a bad idea: tourist gored in Yellowstone as another photo goes awry

Chelsea Rarrick / WTVR-TV:

‘Just stay behind me’ Construction worker helps teen escape I-95 abduction — HENRICO COUNTY, Va — Kevin Huntington knows things can get hectic along Interstate 95, especially in Northern Virginia. The construction worker said what he saw last week, was like nothing he's ever experienced.

Discussion: Daily Mail, Shakesville and FOX2now.com

Brandon Darby / BREITBART.COM:

AFL-CIO Controlled Union Intervenes, Cancels Trump's Border Tour Planned by Local Agents — Donald Trump's planned tour of the Laredo Sector of the Texas -Mexico border has been canceled by the national AFL-CIO-controlled union that represents U.S. Border Patrol agents, the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC).

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Twitchy and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Hector Garza / PO Box 2363 Laredo, TX 78044:
National Border Patrol Council Local 2455 statement

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, OnPolitics and Washington Post

Carl Campanile / New York Post:

Anthony Weiner got a job fixing PR messes — seriously — If you find yourself in a p.r. nightmare, there's a swashbuckling new hero you can turn to — Carlos Danger. — A top “crisis” public-relations firm with ties to Hillary Rodham Clinton has hired the last person in the world …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Fox News Insider and Daily Mail

Politico:

IPAB's on the horizon — House Republicans vow to subpoena Planned Parenthood official — Casey takes on foster children's health insurance — With help from Paul Demko, Rachana Pradhan and Brett Norman — GET READY: IPAB COULD BE TRIGGERED BY 2017 — Implementation of the Independent …

Discussion: The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Federalist and Wall Street Journal

The Hill:
Fears on the left growing for Planned Parenthood

Discussion: RedState, The Federalist and LifeNews.com

Peter Beinart / The Atlantic:

The Gaping Hole in the Iran Debate — Iraqis peer through the window of an armored vehicle as the last American soldiers leave Iraq. (Lucas Jackson / Reuters) — I have a fantasy. It's that every politician and pundit who goes on TV to discuss the Iran deal is asked this question first …

Discussion: The American Conservative

Matt Hamilton / Los Angeles Times:

Reality TV star found dead in Redondo Beach home; boyfriend arrested — A former Los Angeles police officer who starred in a reality TV show about her subsequent career as a lawyer was found slain Wednesday morning in her Redondo Beach home, authorities said.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Daily Mail and KTLA

Daily Breeze:
Reality show star Loredana Nesci found slain in Redondo Beach home, boyfriend arrested

Discussion: Hollywood Life and KTLA

Aarik Woods / WQAD-TV:

Mayflies force shutdown of Savanna - Sabula Bridge — Emergency crews were on scene over the weekend to clear a bridge after bugs took over. — On Saturday night, Teena Franzen recorded the incident while riding with her son in a Sabula police car.

Discussion: Mashable, WNEP-TV and Fusion

Rich Lowry / Politico:

The Toxic Worldview of Ta-Nehisi Coates — Moses gave us the Ten Commandments. Paul gave us the epistles. And Ta-Nehisi gave us, Between the World and Me. — Get POLITICO Magazine in your feeds — The new book by Atlantic writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, in the form of a letter to his son …

Discussion: American Power

New York Times:

Socialism, American-Style — THE great 20th-century conservative economist Joseph Schumpeter thought the left had overlooked a major selling point in pressing the case for public — i.e., government — control over productive capital. “One of the most significant titles to superiority,” …

Discussion: Prairie Weather and Democratic Strategist

Ana Marie Cox / New York Times:

Ted Cruz Is More of a Spider-Man Guy — Your new book is called “A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Promise of America.” A few months ago you were in the news for warning a little girl that “the world is on fire.” Do you believe setting things on fire is good or bad? Both.

Discussion: Trail Blazers Blog, OnPolitics, The Verge, Mashable and The Week

Sean Davis / The Federalist:

New York Times Editor: Isn't It Awesome How Hillary's Stonewalling The Press? — In a podcast posted on the New York Times website earlier this week, the paper's editorial page editor openly praised Hillary Clinton's strategy of stonewalling the media and refusing to answer questions about her campaign.

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, Religion News Service, The Daily Caller, Common Dreams, LifeNews.com and Erick on the Radio

J. Christian Adams / Rule of Law:

Illegal Alien Crime Wave in Texas: 611,234 Crimes, 2,993 Murders — The murder of Kathryn Steinle on the Embarcadero in San Francisco by an illegal alien is the most familiar example of a crime committed by an alien. But an unreleased internal report by the Texas Department of Public Safety reveals …

Discussion: Power Line and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Los Angeles Times:

A homeless woman picked up an LAPD nightstick during the skid row shooting — and could get life in prison — Millions of people viewed video of the fatal police shooting March 1 of an unarmed black man known as “Africa” outside his skid row tent. — Police said the man …

Discussion: The Week