memeorandum: Debt Is Good — Rand Paul said something funny the other day. (Paul Krugman/New York Times)

1:25 PM ET, August 21, 2015

Top Items:

Jonathan Allen / Reuters:

Exclusive: Dozens of Clinton emails were classified from the start, U.S. rules suggest — For months, the U.S. State Department has stood behind its former boss Hillary Clinton as she has repeatedly said she did not send or receive classified information on her unsecured, private email account, a practice the government forbids.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Power Line, Townhall.com, Bloomberg Business, Fox News, Business Insider, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, National Review, Kyle Wingfield, Hot Air, New York Times, Daily Mail, Washington Free Beacon and Wall Street Journal

Jeff Greenfield / Politico:

Democratic blues — Barack Obama will leave his party in its worst shape since the Great Depression—even if Hillary wins. — SHARES — As historians begin to assess Barack Obama's record as president, there's at least one legacy he'll leave that will indeed be historic—but not in the way he would have hoped.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Week and Jay Bookman

Bryan Bender / Politico:
Former officials question Clinton's email defense

Discussion: Guardian and Hot Air

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Judge says Hillary Clinton's private emails violated policy

Discussion: Progressives Today, Slate, Scared Monkeys, The Daily Caller, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and WHAS-TV

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

Trump Goes Off At ABC Reporter Over Questions On Term ‘Anchor Babies’ — Donald Trump lashed out at ABC reporter Tom Llamas on Thursday after the network aired segments critical of the presidential candidate's use of the term “anchor babies” to describe the children of undocumented immigrants.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New Republic, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, The Hill and ABC News

Washington Post:

Inside the GOP field's new strategies to ride out the Trump tornado … The 2016 Republican primary has turned into a puzzle about how to deal with Donald Trump. — The new dynamic has come into focus this week as Trump's opponents debut strategies for engaging the white-hot front-runner whom they believe …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Daily Kos, Politico and Los Angeles Times

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:
Jeb Bush: ‘Anchor babies’ isn't offensive

Discussion: CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, Talking Points Memo, BREITBART.COM, Mediaite, CBS News, The Week and Fox News Insider

Candace Smith / ABC News:
Jeb Bush, Donald Trump Unapologetic for ‘Anchor Baby’ Language

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico, UPROXX and Business Insider

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Debt Is Good — Rand Paul said something funny the other day. No, really — although of course it wasn't intentional. On his Twitter account he decried the irresponsibility of American fiscal policy, declaring, “The last time the United States was debt free was 1835.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly

David Roberts / Vox:

Carly Fiorina did a 4-minute riff on climate change. Everything she said was wrong. — Katie Couric recently interviewed Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, and the subject of climate change came up. They discussed it for over four minutes, likely marking the longest …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Congressman Jerrold Nadler / Medium:

P5+1 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — This September, we will face one of the most serious global security decisions in our history. It is a decision that I have taken my time to consider, knowing the stakes are too high to allow for anything but clear-headed and thoughtful analysis …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Daily Kos, CBS New York and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
In Letter, Obama Tells Congress U.S. Will Still Press Iran

Discussion: Reuters, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Defense One, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and The Week

Shaun King / Daily Kos:

Race, love, hate, and me: A distinctly American story — Me. 14 years old. Sophomore in high school — Over the past 72 hours I have been attacked with lies by the conservative media, lies that have been picked up by the traditional media and spread further.

Discussion: Washington Post, BREITBART.COM, The Daily Caller, Los Angeles Times, Daily Mail, BPI Campus, Althouse, UPROXX, The Week, Raw Story, msnbc.com and Politico

Christine Byers / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Man killed by St. Louis police died from gunshot in the back — ST. LOUIS • An autopsy on Mansur Ball-Bey, whose death from police gunfire this week stirred protests, showed that he died from a single wound in the back, police officials said. — Chief Sam Dotson said the wound's …

Discussion: Slantpoint, Guardian, Daily Mail, FOX2now.com and Associated Press

Brent Budowsky / The Hill:

Hillary vs. media malpractice — The political coverage of the 2016 campaign has reached epic levels of sloppiness and shallowness, at a moment when public opinion toward major media has reached catastrophically low levels of trust, according to surveys from Gallup.

Faith Karimi / CNN:

Search warrant served at home of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons — (CNN)A search warrant was served at the Los Angeles home of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, but the rocker and his family are not considered suspects, authorities said. — The division that handles online crimes against children executed …

Discussion: LAist, NBC News, Mediaite, BizPac Review and UPROXX

TMZ.com:
Gene Simmons — Home Raided for Child Porn ... Gene NOT a Suspect

Discussion: Daily Mail

Alison Flood / Guardian:

Jonathan Franzen ‘considered adopting Iraqi orphan to figure out young people’ — Novelist said the idea came to him as he felt he could not identify with ‘cynical and angry’ younger generation, but he was persuaded against it by his editor — In a setup that would not look out of place in fiction …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Mediaite, Business Insider, Mashable and The Week

Ben Domenech / The Federalist:

Are Republicans For Freedom Or White Identity Politics? — Now that we have had time to observe the Donald Trump phenomenon, there is enough evidence to make a clear assessment of what it represents. The rise of Trump is an epic expression of frustration with the American political system …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Fox News and Boston Magazine

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Trump: “A Lot” Of “Gang Members” In Ferguson, Baltimore, Chicago Are “Illegal Immigrants” — “We're gonna get them out so fast, out of this country. So fast.” — Matthew Busch / Getty Images — Donald Trump says many of the “gang members” in Chicago, Ferguson, and Baltimore are undocumented immigrants.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Monthly and Raw Story

Mark Hensch / The Hill:
Trump moves rally to 50,000-capacity stadium

Discussion: WKRG-TV

J.B. Biunno / WKRG-TV:
Trump Rally Tonight at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Tens of Thousands Expected

Discussion: al.com and The Gateway Pundit

Jason Horowitz / New York Times:

Bernie Sanders Draws Big Crowds to His ‘Political Revolution’ — DUBUQUE, Iowa — As 1,800 mad-as-hell supporters jumped out of their seats and pumped their fists last Sunday, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont delivered the message they had come to hear. — We will “give these guys an offer …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and The Week

Nick Gass / Politico:

Trump calls O'Malley a ‘disgusting, little, weak, pathetic baby’ — Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley apologized “like a disgusting, little, weak, pathetic baby” for his remark that “all lives matter,” Donald Trump said in an excerpt of a new interview aired Friday on Fox News.

Discussion: Business Insider and Daily Kos

Billy Hallowell / TheBlaze.com:

Bakers Who Were Fined $135,000 for Gay Wedding Cake Refusal Deliver a Major Surprise — and a Powerful Message — to 10 Gay Rights Groups — Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweetcakes by Melissa, were ordered by Oregon state officials last month to pay $135,000 in damages after they declined …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Red Alert Politics