memeorandum: Grandiosity As Addictive As Smack (Josh Marshall/Talking Points Memo)

2:55 AM ET, May 18, 2016

Top Items:

Sanders Statement on Nevada — FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday issued the following statement: — “It is imperative that the Democratic leadership, both nationally and in the states, understand that the political world is changing and that millions of Americans …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo, Shakesville, Shadowproof, CBS New York, New York Times, LasVegasSun.com, Washington Post, Common Dreams, Washington Free Beacon, The Atlantic, Towleroad, Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, The New Civil Rights Movement and Drudge Retort

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:

More Sanders staffers exit campaign — A handful of high-level staffers have left Bernie Sanders' campaign in recent days, including his director of technology and three of the four members of his original senior leadership team in California — a state his team has said is critical to his bid for the Democratic nomination.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Manu Raju / CNN:

Dems' new fear: Sanders revolt could upend Democratic convention — (CNN)Sen. Barbara Boxer, a veteran of Democratic politics, says she never saw anything quite like this before. — Loud cursing, shouting, obscene gestures and vile insults, including crude comments about the female anatomy.

Discussion: The Hill, The Atlantic, Vox, The Daily Beast, The American Spectator, The Daily Caller, Booman Tribune and RedState

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Grandiosity As Addictive As Smack — With this new blow-up over whatever happened over the weekend in Nevada we see the pretty real and even dire consequences of lying to your supporters. The Sanders campaign, especially campaign manager Jeff Weaver, has been saying for weeks that Sanders …

Abby Phillip / Washington Post:

Clinton declares victory in Kentucky primary; Sanders wins in Oregon — Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton declared victory in the Kentucky primary on Tuesday, potentially disrupting a string of expected primary losses this month that had threatened to weaken her even as she turned …

Discussion: ABC News, Mediaite, Politico, Guardian and Shakesville

Daniel Strauss / Politico:

Sanders sticks it to the Democratic Party — In the wake of a chaotic state convention that resulted in death threats for party officials and vandalism to party headquarters, the Democratic establishment asked Bernie Sanders for his help Tuesday in getting some of his overzealous supporters to stand down.

Daniel Strauss / Politico:

Wasserman Schultz on Sanders' response to Nevada chaos: ‘Anything but acceptable’ — Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz panned Bernie Sanders' response to reports of violence at the Nevada Democratic state convention over the weekend, calling it “anything but acceptable.”

Discussion: ABC News and Raw Story

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard: Sanders: ‘Shots Were Fired Into My Campaign Office in Nevada’

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
Trump: Clinton should drop out if she loses Kentucky

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Politico

Steven Yaccino / Bloomberg:
A Small Group of Superdelegates Could Close the Deal for Hillary—But Won't

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, Raw Story, Mediaite, Infowars, Washington Free Beacon and National Review

Jon Ralston / Ralston Reports:
NV Democrats file complaint against Sanders campaign to DNC

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Post, The New Civil Rights Movement and NV Dems

Jon Ralston / Ralston Reports:
Sample of voicemails left for state Democratic Chairwoman Roberta Lange

Discussion: Roll Call, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, The Hill, The Week, Business Insider, Hot Air, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Let's Talk Nevada, The Atlantic, AOL, Guardian, Politico and New York Times

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Nevada Dem chairwoman gets obscene death threats after convention chaos

Discussion: Vox and Talking Points Memo

Harper Neidig / The Hill:
Defiant Sanders says campaign was denied fairness in Nevada

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Politico

Mickey Rapkin / DuJour:

Lady and the Trump — Donald and Melania Trump live in a 30,000-square-foot triplex at the top of his namesake tower on Fifth Avenue, and as the race toward the presidency gets shorter and more frenzied, the ratings-hungry cable news networks have started coming to them.

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Melania Trump: ‘Unbelievable’ Chris Matthews commented on me — Melania Trump says she is shocked by Chris Matthews's recent remarks about her physical appearance. — “Unbelievable,” she said in an interview with Du Jour published on Tuesday. “That's what I'm saying — I'm not only a beauty, I'm smart.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Hullabaloo

Al Weaver / Washington Examiner: Melania Trump: My husband is ‘not Hitler’

Fox News:

Megyn Kelly Special: Trump defends tone, says bid will be ‘complete waste’ if he doesn't win — Donald Trump, in an extensive interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly, responded to critics of his barbed campaign style by saying he never would have been successful in the primary race if he had acted …

Discussion: NBC News, Media Matters for America, Guardian and Media Matters for America

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Jeb Bush Has Some Thoughts On Trump's Cinco De Mayo Tweet

Discussion: Daily Mail, USA Today, RedState, The Ring of Fire Network, Politico, AOL, BizPac Review, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, The Week and Hot Air

Scott Wong / The Hill:
Speaker Ryan: Voters are right to trust Trump more than me

Discussion: Independent Journal …, Raw Story, Fox News Insider, RedState, Hullabaloo, First Draft, USA Today, CNNMoney, Talking Points Memo, LawNewz and Page Six

Julia Jacobo / ABC News:
Donald Trump Wins Oregon GOP Primary, AP Reports

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press and Media Matters for America

Associated Press:
Adelson Implores Republican Jewish Leaders to Support Trump

Discussion: ABC News and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Richmond Times-Dispatch:

NOLAND, MARY ANNE — NOLAND, Mary Anne Alfriend. Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday, May 15, 2016, at the age of 68. Born in Danville, Va. …

Discussion: Raw Story, WWBT-TV, Talking Points Memo, Heat Street, The Daily Caller, Mashable, AOL, Daily Mail, Washingtonian, The Week, Mediaite and Washington Times

Matthew Boyle / Breitbart: Exclusive — Rand Paul Supports Donald Trump as Nominee: ‘I Stand by That Pledge’

Reuters:

Exclusive: Trump would talk to North Korea's Kim, wants to renegotiate climate accord — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program, proposing a major shift in U.S. policy toward the isolated nation.

Discussion: New York Times, The Week, Talking Points Memo, Washington Times, Washington Post, Mediaite, Politico, HYPELINE and Hullabaloo

NBC News:

Hillary Clinton Holds Slim National Lead Over Donald Trump: Poll — Race between Clinton, Trump narrows 5:50 — Over the past couple of weeks, Donald Trump has become the presumptive Republican nominee and Hillary Clinton has continued to inch closer to the magic number of delegates she needs to lock up the Democratic contest.

Discussion: Liberal Values, FiveThirtyEight, Washington Post, TPNN, FOX News Radio, Daily Mail, The Daily Caller, Infowars, National Review and AOL

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
McCain In Deep Trouble in GOP Primary; Trump, Clinton Close in AZ

Discussion: Politicus USA

Dan Nowicki / Arizona Republic:
Sen. John McCain attacks Ann Kirkpatrick over ‘Obamacare’ vote

Discussion: Daily Kos

Matt Coughlin / Morning Call:

Substitute teacher at Easton High arrested for sex with teen in cemetery, police say — Of The Morning Call … EASTON — A married 49-year-old substitute teacher was interrupted by Easton police while she was having sex with a 17-year-old boy in the Easton Cemetery earlier this month, police said.

Discussion: WNEP-TV and fox13now.com

We would like to apologize to our:

We would like to apologize to our community. Three days ago we were lucky enough to visit Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and made the unfortunate error of leaving the pathway. We did not respect the protected environment we were exploring, and we want to acknowledge our wrongdoing.

Discussion: fox13now.com and Raw Story

Meeri Kim / Washington Post:

‘Forest bathing’ is latest fitness trend to hit U.S. - ‘Where yoga was 30 years ago’ — Over thousands of years of human history, we have effectively become an indoor species. Particularly for those of us trapped in the cubicle life, often the only times we regularly step foot outside is for our daily work commute or to run errands.

Paul Gowder:

SSRN has been captured by the enemy of open knowledge. — Elsevier just bought SSRN. Here's why you should be upset, and what we can do about it. — For those of you who aren't familiar with the academic publishing racket, SSRN is (was?) a huge repository of open-access preprint papers …

Discussion: ProfessorBainbridge.com, more at Mediagazer »

Gideon Resnick / The Daily Beast:

George Zimmerman Taunts Trayvon Martin's Parents: 'They Didn't Raise Their Son Right' — The man who killed the teenager and ignited the Black Lives Matter movement explains why he's selling the gun, what he thinks of Hillary and Trump, and why he's the real victim.

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

Scott Adams Blog:

Scott Adams' Blog — Here's a good summary on Business Insider of the top 14 likely VP picks for Trump. See if you can predict who Trump will choose. — Few things are harder to predict than a VP choice because the situation stays fluid until the actual selection.

Discussion: Althouse

Marianne LeVine / Politico:

White House details sweeping measure to raise wages — The White House revealed details Tuesday of its most sweeping action to fight income inequality since President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. And unlike Obamacare, it will require no input from Congress.

Discussion: ABC News

Nick Gass / Politico:

Trump boasts about ‘tremendous cash flow’ in new financial report — Donald Trump on Tuesday boasted that he has filed a new personal financial disclosure report, one that shows - according to Trump's campaign - “tremendous cash flow” and income in excess of a half a billion dollars.