memeorandum: Court-ordered religious classes raise concerns (Kim Holland/KRQE-TV)

11:50 AM ET, September 15, 2015

Top Items:

New poll: Donald Trump still leads, but Ben Carson makes strong gains — Shares - — At 27 percent nationally, Donald Trump maintains his frontrunner status among Republican primary voters, but Ben Carson is now close behind him, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds.

Discussion: NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Hot Air, Political Wire, Towleroad, OnPolitics, Business Insider and Washington Times

Mark Halperin / Bloomberg Business:

Can Donald Trump Be Stopped? — Like almost everyone I know who is working on, covering, or closely following the presidential election, I spend about 60 percent of my waking hours talking about Donald Trump. People want to know if he can win, if he will win, and what might possibly derail his candidacy.

Discussion: Business Insider, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit and Wall Street Journal

Ben White / Politico:

Wall Street's latest panic: Trump could win — With Bush and Clinton taking their lumps, financial executives face populist critics in both parties. — NEW YORK — Wall Street is growing increasingly terrified that Donald Trump — once viewed as an amusing summertime distraction …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Orlando Sentinel, New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Free Beacon, Hot Air, ABC News and Business Insider

Jonathan Allen / Vox:

This Carly Fiorina ad is the perfect comeback to Donald Trump's sexist insults — Hand it to Carly Fiorina's superPAC. It figured out how to do something none of the other Republicans vying for the party's nomination could: Make Donald Trump fall flat on his face.

Discussion: Morning Consult, Washington Free Beacon, Power Line, Fox News Insider, Wall Street Journal, CNN and Talking Points Memo

First Draft / New York Times:

Today in Politics: In New Poll, Ben Carson Pulls Up Alongside an Idling Donald Trump — Good Tuesday morning. The day before the second Republican debate, campaigns are honing their strategies, Twitter is looking at donations, and polls are rearranging the numbers and the leader board.

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News, CNN, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, Los Angeles Times, Guardian and ABC News

Summer Fields / ABC News:

The Note: A Clash Over Trump — Shares- — Play

Discussion: abc7ny.com and American Spectator

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Republicans think Donald Trump is trustworthy, empathetic, and well suited to presidency

Discussion: Addicting Info, Prairie Weather, Business Insider, ABC News and Hot Air

Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:

Price Tag of Bernie Sanders's Proposals: $18 Trillion — Democratic presidential candidate's agenda would greatly expand government — WASHINGTON—Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose liberal call to action has propelled his long-shot presidential campaign, is proposing an array of new programs …

Discussion: Politico, MichelleMalkin.com, The Daily Caller, Washington Free Beacon, No More Mister Nice Blog, Fox News Insider and Washington Post

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Bulls**t From Bernie — Bernie Sanders, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, spoke at Liberty University today. You can read his speech here. It is useful, in that it exposes the extent of Sanders's ignorance and radicalism. Any deconstruction of a speech this bad must be selective.

Discussion: Washington Post, Liberal Values, Daily Mail, Balloon Juice and The Daily Banter

Nick Corasaniti / New York Times: Bernie Sanders Makes Rare Appeal to Evangelicals at Liberty University

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

If Trump Gets GOP Nod, Kristol Says He'll Back A Third-Party Candidate — Conservative pundit Bill Kristol seems uneasy about Donald Trump's potential to win the Republican presidential primary. — The Weekly Standard Editor told CNN on Monday that he would be unable to back the real estate mogul.

Discussion: Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Washington Post, RedState and CNNMoney

Tom Kludt / CNNMoney:

Conservative pundit Bill Kristol: If Trump wins, I'd support a third-party choice — Donald Trump has signed a pledge to support the Republican Party's presidential nominee — even if it isn't him. But one of the best-known pundits in conservative media isn't making the same promise.

Discussion: Mock Paper Scissors

Libby Nelson / Vox:

POLICY & POLITICS — DES MOINES, Iowa — People concerned about liberal political correctness on college campuses have a powerful ally: President Obama. — At a town hall here on college affordability on Monday afternoon, one student asked Obama to respond to Republican presidential …

Discussion: Shakesville, Joanne Jacobs, Washington Free Beacon, Hit & Run, BuzzFeed, The Daily Caller, New York Times, The Righteous Mind and Slate

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Obama: College Students Shouldn't ‘Silence’ Conservative Speakers

Discussion: Jezebel

Kim Holland / KRQE-TV:

Court-ordered religious classes raise concerns — ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) — Holly Salzman was hoping to get some help co-parenting her 11-year-old twin boys with her ex-husband. Instead she says she got 10 court-ordered religious sessions that she did not want. — “It's very inappropriate,” Salzman said.

Discussion: Raw Story and Friendly Atheist

Ashley Lee / Hollywood Reporter:

Donald Trump for President? Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Sandra Bullock Sound Off at TIFF — Bryan Cranston, Naomi Watts, Ellen Page, Geoffrey Rush and Davis Guggenheim assess the starry political scene, while suggesting who from Hollywood should jump to the Hill.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Addicting Info

TMZ.com:

Devo Co-Founder — 9/11 Themed Wedding ... Box Cutters Anyone? — 9/11 THEMED WEDDING — ... Box Cutters Anyone? — 9/14/2015 8:16 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF — EXCLUSIVE — The co-founder of Devo and his bride hung their faces off a Twin Towers cake to celebrate their marriage with the most bizarre …

Discussion: BizPac Review, Guardian, Raw Story, Page Six, Gothamist, UPROXX and Jezebel

Ashley Collman For / Daily Mail:
Devo band-member Jerry Casale sparks outrage for his Twin Towers-themed wedding cake

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Annie Karni / Politico:

How Hillary Clinton is using old photographs to make herself more ‘relatable’ — In a bid to burnish her image with voters, the Clinton campaign is flooding the Internet with nostalgic pictures of the Democratic front-runner. — Splashed across social media and the airwaves, the photos are hard to miss.

Discussion: Political Wire, New York Times, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and RedState

Daily Mail:

Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke 'can't stand' sex scenes — As the star of the ‘sex and dragons’ drama Game Of Thrones, Emilia Clarke has disrobed in the name of her art numerous times, but she has now called for fewer explicit scenes on TV. — ‘Sex scenes should be more subtle,’ the 28-year-old tells me at a party in Mayfair.

Discussion: Mashable, The Daily Caller and UPROXX

Feeds:

America's Voting Machines at Risk … Technology has changed dramatically in the last decade, but America's voting machines are rapidly aging out. In 2016, for example, 43 states will use electronic voting machines that are at least 10 years old, perilously close to the end of most systems' expected lifespan.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Raw Story, Slantpoint, Guardian and NPR

Keith Laing / The Hill:

Advocates pressure House GOP to get moving on roads bill — Transportation advocates are pushing the House to get moving on passing a new long-term highway funding bill as a deadline for the expiration of the spending looms next month. — Federal infrastructure funding is currently scheduled …

Discussion: Washington Post

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Labour's Dead Center — Jeremy Corbyn, a long-time leftist dissident, has won a stunning victory in the contest for leadership of Britain's Labour Party. Political pundits say that this means doom for Labour's electoral prospects; they could be right, although I'm not the only person wondering …

Discussion: Eschaton

Sean McElwee / The Atlantic:

Why Non-Voters Matter — In 2014, just 41.9 percent of the voting-age citizen population of the United States voted. But the people who voted are not only in the minority, they form an unrepresentative minority. Millions of Americans are too young to vote.

New York Times:

5 From Baruch College Face Murder Charges in 2013 Fraternity Hazing — Five fraternity members from Baruch College in Manhattan will face murder charges in Pennsylvania for their involvement in the death of a freshman who was hazed during a rural retreat in 2013, officials said on Monday.

Discussion: CNN, Gothamist, USA TODAY College and Daily Mail

David Daleiden / The Center for Medical Progress:

Top Planned Parenthood Exec Agrees Baby Parts Sales “A Valid Exchange,” Some Clinics “Generate A Fair Amount of Income Doing This” — #PPSellsBabyParts TOP PLANNED PARENTHOOD EXEC AGREES BABY PARTS SALES “A VALID EXCHANGE,” SOME CLINICS “GENERATE A FAIR AMOUNT OF INCOME DOING THIS”

Discussion: LifeNews.com, The PJ Tatler and mrctv.org/videos

Bastien Inzaurralde / Guardian:

West 'ignored Russian offer in 2012 to have Syria's Assad step aside' — Exclusive: Senior negotiator describes rejection of alleged proposal, since when tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced — Russia proposed more than three years ago that President Bashar al-Assad …

Discussion: Hot Air and War in Context