memeorandum: Senate Panel Chief Decides Against Plan to Criminalize Firms That Don't Decipher Encrypted Messages (Damian Paletta/Wall Street Journal)

2:35 PM ET, February 19, 2016

Top Items:

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Donald Trump's Lead Slashed in South Carolina: Poll — Donald Trump is now leading Saturday's South Carolina Republican primary by 5 points — down from his 16-point lead in the state a month ago, according to results from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll.

Discussion: Washington Post, Weekly Standard, Talking Points Memo, FiveThirtyEight, Hot Air, Trail Blazers Blog, The Right Scoop, Washington Times, Florida Politics, The Week, Political Wire and New York Times

Eli Stokols / Politico:

Bush machine running on fumes — SUMMERVILLE, S.C. — Some of Jeb Bush's most steadfast allies think Saturday might be the end. — Donors, who poured millions into his campaign and super PAC, have stopped giving — one refusing a direct request to raise $1 million this week.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Cook Political Report, RedState, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, NBC News, Yahoo Politics, The State, Instapundit and National Review

Molly Ball / The Atlantic:

The Great Republican Stalemate — SPARTANBURG, S.C.—You could see why Ted Cruz might be getting a little frustrated. So many of the voters that rightfully belonged to him were, lately, stubbornly choosing to back other candidates instead. — Donald Trump. Marco Rubio. Even—would you believe it?

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CBS News, ABC News, The Resurgent and National Review

Niall Stanage / The Hill:

Trump on brink of key win — COLUMBIA, S.C. — The author of “The Art of the Deal” is on the brink of closing his biggest one yet. — Victory for Donald Trump in the GOP primary here on Saturday would copper-fasten his status as the dominant front-runner, catapult him into a significant delegate lead …

Discussion: ABC News, Daily Wire and whorunsGov

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

Rubio Bails Last Minute On Conservative Gathering Packed With Cruz Supporters — GREENVILLE, S.C. — Forty-five minutes after Marco Rubio was scheduled to take the stage at a conservative confab here Thursday night, organizers got word from the candidate's aides that he was canceling his appearance …

Discussion: New York Times, Breitbart, RedState, Daily Wire, Daily Kos, AOL and Hot Air

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

The Roots of Donald Trump's Candidacy Lie in a South Carolina Cemetery — Searching for the soul of South Carolina politics—and the modern Republican Party. — COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA—Bold and fiercely territorial, the geese in the small pond shatter the peace of the Greenlawn Memorial Park on a bright winter's afternoon.

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:
In S.C., the GOP contest looks more and more like a three-man race

Discussion: Politico, Post and Courier, The Week, Independent Journal Review and Yahoo Politics

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:

GOP Sen. Murkowski Backtracks On Giving Obama's SCOTUS Nom A Hearing — Moderate GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK), one of the few Republicans initially willing to break ranks on whether President Obama's nominee to succeed Antonin Scalia should be considered, reversed course Thursday evening.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Booman Tribune

Michael Grunwald / Politico:

Biden hints at centrist Supreme Court pick — Echoing some recent Republican arguments about judicial nominations, Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday suggested that President Barack Obama will not nominate a staunch liberal to replace Justice Antonin Scalia at a time when the ideological balance of the Supreme Court is up in the air.

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, ABC News, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, Associated Press and abc11.com

Paul Campos / Salon:

Scalia was an intellectual phony: Can we please stop calling him a brilliant jurist? — No one wants to disrespect the dead. But we disrespect the truth to hail his legal mind and phony, grand principles — George Orwell once noted that when an English politician dies …

Discussion: bradford-delong.com, Lawyers, Guns & Money, ProfessorBainbridge.com and Above the Law

New York Daily News:
Republicans, let's win this one for Nino

Discussion: Washington Post

CNN:
Scalia lies in repose at Supreme Court

Discussion: ABC News, LifeNews.com, Hot Air and The Week

Connor Sheets / al.com:

Harper Lee dead at age of 89: ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ author passes away — Nelle Harper Lee, who won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961 for her book, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” has died at the age of 89, multiple sources in her hometown of Monroeville, including the mayor's office, confirmed Friday morning.

Discussion: NBC News, ABC News, WHNT-TV, Above the Law, LGBTQ Nation, CBS Miami, The Atlantic, Mashable, Independent Journal Review, The Verge, Mediaite, Jezebel, The Week, NPR, WTVR-TV, WGN-TV, fox13now.com, FOX5 San Diego and New York's PIX11

William Grimes / New York Times:

Harper Lee, Author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ Dies at 89 — Harper Lee, whose first novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” about racial injustice in a small Alabama town, sold more than 10 million copies and became one of the most beloved and most taught works of fiction ever written by an American, has died.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, Gothamist, Outside the Beltway, KTLA and Mother Jones

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

In 2002, Donald Trump Said He Supported Invading Iraq — “Are you for invading Iraq?” Howard Stern asked him, and Trump answered, “Yeah, I guess so.” — w.soundcloud.com — For months, Donald Trump has claimed that he opposed the Iraq War before the invasion began — as an example of his great judgment on foreign policy issues.

Sundance / The Last Refuge:

CNN Busted Attempting “Pre-Scripted Ambush” of Donald Trump During Live Town Hall Event... CNN had advertised their two night candidate Town Hall event series as an informal opportunity for ordinary South Carolinians to ask the republican presidential candidates' questions.

Jeffrey H. Anderson / Weekly Standard:
Trump: I ‘Like’ Obamacare's Individual Mandate

Discussion: The Right Scoop

Streiff / RedState:
Donald Trump Says He Supports the ObamaCare Mandate

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Dara Lind / Vox:

Why aren't young Latinos ready for Hillary? Because they're still wounded by Obama. — If you want to know why Saturday's Nevada caucus has suddenly, in its final weeks, turned from a presumed landslide for Hillary Clinton into a total toss-up, ask Emily Sandoval and Maggie Salas-Crespo.

Discussion: Mother Jones

Amy Chozick / New York Times:
Race in Nevada, Once a Hillary Clinton Firewall, Is Now Hotly Contested

Discussion: State & Capitol and Prairie Weather

Caitlin Cruz / Talking Points Memo:

Sanders: Clinton's Embrace Of Obama Is A Ploy For Black Votes — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Thursday accused rival Hillary Clinton of embracing President Obama to curry favor with black voters. — “You know Hillary Clinton now is trying to embrace the President as closely — as she possibly can.

Discussion: The Week

Tambay A. Obenson / Shadow and Act: BET Presents ‘Talking Black’ - A Special with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders

Arlette Saenz / ABC News:
Joe Biden ‘Could Live With’ Supporting Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders

Discussion: Associated Press, The Week and abc11.com

Silvio Canto, Jr / American Thinker:

‘El Papa’ embraces Raul Castro but calls Donald Trump anti-Christian! — Last Sunday, Pope Francis was in Mexico visiting sick children in hospitals. It was amazing to watch him holding the little kids and praying with their mothers. As a Catholic, I was so proud of “El Papa.”

Discussion: Washington Post, Scared Monkeys, The Gateway Pundit, Associated Press, VDARE, Power Line, National Review, Talking Points Memo, CBS San Francisco and Daily Wire

Katherine Krueger / Talking Points Memo:
Pope's Spox: ‘Not Christian’ Remark Was Not ‘Personal Attack’ On Trump

Discussion: Mediaite and Mashable

Crispian Balmer / Reuters:
Pope's comments on Trump not a personal attack - papal spokesman

Discussion: Washington Post and Politico

CBS News:

Hillary Clinton: “I've always tried” to tell the truth — LAS VEGAS — For Hillary Clinton, these are high roller stakes in Nevada after losing New Hampshire in a landslide and essentially tying in Iowa. — She has decided to stay in Nevada through the caucus on Saturday.

Discussion: Washington Post, Telegraph, Talking Points Memo, Washington Times and The Week

Melanie Eversley / USA Today:

Reports: Chicago court to hear case to knock Cruz off White House ballot — A judge in Cook County Circuit Court will hear testimony Friday in a lawsuit filed by an Illinois voter that alleges Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz should not be allowed to run for president, CNN and ABC are reporting.

Discussion: Trail Blazers Blog, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire and ballot-access.org

Theodore Schleifer / CNN:
Case against Ted Cruz's eligibility to be heard in Illinois on Friday

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Vox, New York Post, Washington Times, AOL, The Gateway Pundit and Daily Kos

Nico Hines / The Daily Beast:

Bernie Sanders's Brother: He Backs ‘Class Warfare,’ Bill Clinton Was Worse Than Bush — Larry Sanders says Bernie is a ‘genuine socialist’ trying to save the Democratic Party from ‘dreadful’ Bill Clinton, who is either a ‘terrible rapist or a nice rapist’ to the media.

Discussion: Politico

New York Times:

U.S. Airstrikes on ISIS Camp in Libya Kill More Than 40 — WASHINGTON — American warplanes struck an Islamic State camp in Libya early Friday, targeting a senior Tunisian operative linked to two major terrorist attacks in Tunisia last year. The operative, Noureddine Chouchane …

Discussion: CBS News, Washington Post, Guardian, Foreign Policy, Mashable, Infowars, The Atlantic, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Defense One, NPR, New Atlanticist, The Week and RT

Stephen Kinzer / BostonGlobe.com:

The media is misleading the public on Syria — COVERAGE OF the Syrian war will be remembered as one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the American press. Reporting about carnage in the ancient city of Aleppo is the latest reason why. — For three years, violent militants have run Aleppo.

Discussion: MilitaryTimes, Washington Post and CANNONFIRE

Michael Riley / Bloomberg Business:

Secret Memo Details U.S.'s Broader Strategy to Crack Phones — ‘Decision memo’ directs agencies to find ways to access data — Officials met around Thanksgiving to discuss encryption plans — Silicon Valley celebrated last fall when the White House revealed it would not seek legislation …

Discussion: Washington Post, Common Dreams and emptywheel

Rafael Romo / CNN:

At least 100 bodies found in sewer system under Colombian prison — (CNN)Colombian authorities are investigating the disappearance and dismemberment of at least 100 people whose bodies were allegedly thrown into a sewer system underneath a notorious prison in Bogota.

Discussion: AOL