memeorandum: 130 Religious, Secular Groups Demand Obama Stop Using ‘Religious Liberty’ To Justify Discrimination (Jack Jenkins/ThinkProgress)

3:30 PM ET, August 20, 2015

Top Items:

Megan R. Wilson / The Hill:

K Street betting on Hillary — K Street is banking on Hillary Clinton, with more than twice as many Washington lobbyists donating to the former secretary of State's presidential campaign than any other candidate. — While many lobbyists are holding their pocketbooks in the early stages …

Discussion: Common Dreams, The Week and Weekly Standard

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Trump grows lead in NC; GOP leads most match ups — Last month when we polled North Carolina and found Donald Trump leading the Republican field, it was the first poll by anyone anywhere to find Trump out ahead. He was at 16%. Our newest survey of the state finds that Trump's momentum has just continued to grow.

Discussion: Foreign Policy, Rush Limbaugh, National Review, WCMH-TV, theGrio, WIAT-TV, WCTX-TV and Washington Monthly

Michael Falcone / ABC News:

The Note: Swing State Sneak Peek — NOTABLES — BY THE NUMBERS: A fresh Quinnipiac poll out this morning focuses on three swing states in the general election and has several interesting takeaways. No candidate has won the presidential race without taking at least two of these three states.

Discussion: Politico and New York Times

Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:

Meet ‘Deez Nuts,’ the Teen Presidential Candidate Punking America — Mr. Nuts appears to be a high school sophomore who will take his joke candidacy ‘as far as America wants to take it’ — News broke this week that an independent presidential candidate going by the name of “Deez Nuts” …

Discussion: Christian Science Monitor, Hit & Run, Guardian, Slantpoint, BizPac Review, The San Diego Union … and The Week

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
John Kasich camp revels in dirt-digging from Jeb

Discussion: The Daily Caller

And Globe / BostonGlobe.com:

Two South Boston brothers allegedly beat homeless man — The homeless man was lying on the ground, shaking, when police arrived early Wednesday. His face was soaked, apparently with urine, his nose broken, his chest and arms battered. — Police said two brothers from South Boston ambushed …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Boston Globe, Liberaland, Addicting Info, Salon, Talking Points Memo, PoliticusUSA, Vox, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, New York Times, Raw Story, ThinkProgress, Balloon Juice and Associated Press

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Suspect Cites Trump As Inspiration In Boston Anti-Hispanic Hate Crime

Discussion: Boston Herald and The Moderate Voice

Amanda Marcotte / Talking Points Memo:

Why Can't All Ashley Madison Hacking Victims Be Josh Duggar? — The long-awaited data dump of private information for 32 million users of Ashley Madison, a dating website specifically aimed at married people looking to cheat, has arrived, and the internet is gleeful.

Discussion: Gizmodo, Red Alert Politics, Vox and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Josh Duggar / The Duggar Family:

Statements From Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and Josh Duggar — Statement from Jim Boband Michelle Duggar: Please see the statement below from our son Josh regarding recent media stories about him. When we learned of this late last night our hearts were broken.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, UPROXX and The Week

Ashley Feinberg / Gawker:
Family Values Activist Josh Duggar Had a Paid Ashley Madison Account

Doug Criss / CNN:

Black or white? Is Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King lying about his race? — Questions about Black Lives Matter activist — (CNN)He's either the male version of Rachel Dolezal, or the victim of a conservative conspiracy. — Those are the two views the world has of Shaun King …

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Caller, Daily Mail, Vox, Mediaite, theGrio, Hinterland Gazette, New York Times, SOOPERMEXICAN, Fox News Insider, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and TMZ.com

Alex Griswold / Mediaite:

Family Member Confirms to CNN That #BlackLivesMatter Activist Shaun King Is White — During a segment on #BlackLivesMatters activist Shaun King and the allegation he isn't black at all, CNN host Don Lemon revealed that he had spoken to a family member of King's who confirmed he was white.

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, The PJ Tatler, Raw Story, Vox Popoli, The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit

Karoun Demirjian / Washington Post:

Congress unlikely to override an Obama veto in Iran nuclear fight — for now — Congress is unlikely to override a promised veto by President Obama if both chambers reject a deal to curtail Iran's nuclear capabilities, according to a Washington Post analysis of where the votes currently stand.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Washington Monthly

Politico:
Red-state Democrats back Obama on Iran

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and Associated Press

Sara Jerde / Talking Points Memo:

Bobby Jindal: I'm ‘Happy To Use’ The Term ‘Anchor Babies’ — Republican presidential candidate and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) told Fox News on Thursday that he's “happy to use” the term “anchor babies” to describe children who were born to noncitizen mothers and granted citizenship by birthright.

Discussion: Liberaland, CNN, BREITBART.COM, New York Magazine, Rush Limbaugh, Washington Post, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Eliza Collins / Politico:
Jeb Bush calls for greater enforcement against ‘anchor babies’

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, NBC News, The Week, Slantpoint, Iowa Starting Line, Washington Examiner, Bill Bennett's Morning …, CNN, The Federalist, National Journal, Hot Air and National Review

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Progressive Groups Ask Obama To End Bush-Era Religious Protection — Obama asked to reverse legal memo providing exemption to nondiscrimination laws for religious groups seeking federal grants. The letter, provided exclusively to BuzzFeed News, is signed by 130 civil rights and other groups.

Jack Jenkins / ThinkProgress:
130 Religious, Secular Groups Demand Obama Stop Using ‘Religious Liberty’ To Justify Discrimination

Discussion: AMERICAblog News

Jason Howerton / TheBlaze.com:

‘Enough’: Ted Cruz's Blistering Message After Learning of Bombshell Report on Iran's Secret ‘Backroom’ Deal — Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) responded harshly to President Barack Obama's “catastrophic nuclear deal” with Iran on Wednesday, hours after the publication …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, BizPac Review and Patterico's Pontifications

Max Fisher / Vox:
The AP's controversial and badly flawed Iran inspections story, explained

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, arms control since 1971., The Hill, Common Dreams, US News, CNN, Power Line, Informed Comment, The Week, RedState and Hit & Run

Jon Henley / Guardian:

Greek bailout: Alexis Tsipras steps down to trigger new elections — Prime minister announces his resignation and paves way for general election, with 20 September predicted as most likely date for a poll — Seven months after he was elected on a promise to overturn austerity …

Discussion: The Atlantic and Hit & Run

Reuters:
Greek PM Tsipras to resign on Thursday: government official

Discussion: ThinkProgress, US News, The Week and Common Dreams

Hollie McKay / Fox News:

LA ‘black ball’ reservoir rollout potential ‘disaster’ in the making, say experts — LA's scheme to cover a reservoir under 96 million “shade balls” may not be all it is touted to be, experts told FoxNews.com, with some critics going so far as to refer to the plan as a “potential disaster.”

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Andrew Blankstein / NBC News:

Ex-NFL QB Erik Kramer Wounded in Apparent Suicide Attempt: Sources — Ex-NFL quarterback Erik Kramer shot himself Tuesday in an apparent suicide attempt at a Los Angeles area motel, but survived, law enforcement sources said. — Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were called to a motel …

Discussion: WOOD-TV, UPROXX and TMZ.com

Los Angeles Times:

Detectives to present manslaughter charge evidence against Caitlyn Jenner in deadly PCH crash — Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives will present evidence next week to prosecutors that could lead to a misdemeanor manslaughter charge against Caitlyn Jenner in a deadly chain-reaction crash earlier this year on Pacific Coast Highway.

Discussion: TMZ.com, The Huffington Post, LAist and Twitchy

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Business:

Republican Plans to Replace Obamacare Have a Problem: House Republicans — A dilemma facing Republican presidential candidates who want to repeal Obamacare is how to care for people with preexisting conditions. While polls show that the law isn't popular, Americans also don't want to return …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Bloomberg View

TIME:

Donald Trump Explains All — In an interview with TIME, the leading Republican candidate talks about what's wrong with the Clintons, his opponents' weaknesses and what it takes to be great — Donald Trump was interviewed by TIME Editor Nancy Gibbs, Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer …

Discussion: Politico, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite and NBC News

Jesse Bogan / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Fires set off, police confront crowds hours after St. Louis police fatally shoot teen — PROTESTERS BURN AMERICAN FLAG: 10:50 p.m. — A group of about 80 demonstrators burned an American flag in the middle of Page Avenue and chanted a vulgar anti-police slogan.

Discussion: CBS St. Louis, Washington Post, National Review, The Atlantic, NPR and Raw Story