memeorandum: In apparent shift, Rubio says he would end Obama immigration order on day one (CNN)

2:50 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, FiveThirtyEight, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Trail Blazers Blog, The Right Scoop, Washington Times, Florida Politics, The Week and Political Wire

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

Ted Cruz / Yahoo Politics:

At Cruz rally in S.C., ‘Duck Dynasty’ star condemns ‘perversion’ — MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, held a presidential campaign event here on Friday that was equal parts church sermon and political rally. The event included calls to prayer, fiery declarations about the country's morals …

Discussion: CNN and Right Wing Watch

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

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire: The Roots of Donald Trump's Candidacy Lie in a South Carolina Cemetery

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 New York Times

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.

Streiff / RedState:

Donald Trump Says He Supports the ObamaCare Mandate — Anderson Cooper interviews Donald Trump on a CNN candidate town hall. — Last night Donald Trump was on CNN with Anderson Cooper. The subject of health care came up. Naturally it resulted in a dumpster fire of nitwit-ish blather …

Discussion: Power Line and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Sundance / The Last Refuge: CNN Busted Attempting “Pre-Scripted Ambush” of Donald Trump During Live Town Hall Event...

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: ABC News, Yahoo Politics, 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

CNN:
Scalia lies in repose at Supreme Court

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

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

Discussion: Washington Post

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: Los Angeles Times, NBC News, Common Dreams, ABC News, WHNT-TV, The Atlantic, LGBTQ Nation, Above the Law, CBS Miami, Mashable, Independent Journal Review, The Verge, Mediaite, Jezebel, The Week, NPR, WTVR-TV, WGN-TV, FOX5 San Diego, fox13now.com 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

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

Dara Lind / Vox:
Why aren't young Latinos ready for Hillary? Because they're still wounded by Obama.

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

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

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 Daily Caller, The Atlantic, Hot Air, Defense One, NPR, New Atlanticist, The Week and RT

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

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

Billy Penn:

Caitlyn Jenner draws laughs, tears up during Penn speech: 'I'm not a role model' … - BILLY PENN ORIGINALS — How Jim Kenney wants to make Philly roads safer: Vision Zero and ‘Complete Streets’ — Did the state Supreme Court mortally wound Philly's controversial School Reform Commission?

Discussion: The Hill, Hit & Run, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, Washington Blade, New York Daily News, AOL, Just Jared and Independent Journal Review

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

Daily Mail:

Flying cars are just TWO years away: Terrafugia claims its TF-X will be ready to take to the skies by 2018 — Traffic can be a real grind. For those travelling between work and home by car every day, the seemingly endless cycle of gas-brake-repeat at a snail's pace can wear thin.

Jeffrey H. Anderson / Weekly Standard:

Trump: I ‘Like’ Obamacare's Individual Mandate — The most unpopular part of Obamacare now has a champion in the Republican presidential field. Via the Right Scoop, Donald Trump was asked on Thursday night by CNN's Anderson Cooper, “If...there's no mandate for everybody to have insurance …

Discussion: The Right Scoop