memeorandum: Justice Department Says Poor Can't Be Held When They Can't Afford Bail (Pete Williams/NBC News)

3:25 PM ET, August 20, 2016

Top Items:

Susanne Craig / New York Times:

Trump's Empire: a Maze of Debts and Opaque Ties — On the campaign trail, Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has sold himself as a businessman who has made billions of dollars and is beholden to no one. — But an investigation by The New York Times into the financial maze …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, RedState, Occupy Democrats, Business Insider, Politicus USA and The Right Scoop

Bill Palmer / Daily News Bin:

Donald Trump goes to Louisiana flooding site, spends a minute handing out Play-Doh, leaves — The Governor of Louisiana warned Donald Trump not to visit the flooded disaster area of the state if he was only coming for a photo op, which would have created a traffic jam and diverted law enforcement away …

Discussion: 24Ahead, No More Mister Nice Blog, Guardian, Mock Paper Scissors, CANNONFIRE and ABC News

Joe Concha / The Hill:

A tale of two Louisiana disasters and media bias — If ever there was a contrast to make around “then-and-now” media coverage of a Republican and Democratic president put in similar situations and their respective reactions to it, this one definitely makes the Top 5.

Discussion: NewsBusters and The Daily Caller

Washington Times:
Obama irks La. flood victims with memo warning them not to discriminate

Discussion: BizPac Review, USA Today, Independent Journal Review, The Gateway Pundit, The American Conservative, The Hayride, RedState, ABC News, Liberty Unyielding, Washington Post and Media Matters for America

Fox News:
Trump tours La. flood damage, draws cheers as he says region will rebuild

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Post, Reuters, Fox News Insider and Patterico's Pontifications

Elizabeth Crisp / The Advocate:
Gov. John Bel Edwards: 'I'm not complaining in any way about our federal partnership'

Discussion: Mock Paper Scissors, Media Matters for America, RedState, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly and Politico

Nick Gass / Politico:
Louisiana governor warns against Trump ‘photo-op’

Discussion: Daily News Bin, The New Civil Rights Movement, Occupy Democrats, Mediaite, The Mahablog, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, Washington Post and The Advocate

Charlie Spiering / Breitbart:
Trump Visits Louisiana, Hillary Goes to Martha's Vineyard for Bill's Birthday Party

Discussion: Daily News Bin, The San Diego Union …, Independent Journal Review and NPR

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Republicans prep ‘break glass’ emergency plan as Trump tumbles — Republicans, worried about preserving their House and Senate majorities in the face of fierce headwinds, are accelerating their plans to distance themselves from Donald Trump - and may soon concede, if only implicitly, his defeat.

Discussion: Sputnik International, Politicus USA and The New Civil Rights Movement

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:

Trump's Sickening attacks on Clinton's health — Donald Trump — he who likes to fly home at night in the comfort of his own plane to sleep in the comfort of his own bed — is at it again on the question of Hillary Clinton's stamina, or alleged lack thereof.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Hullabaloo, STAT and Raw Story

Yahoo: Bill Clinton at 70: possibly America's ‘first gentleman’

Charlie Spiering / Breitbart: Obama Announces Plans to Visit Louisiana After Donald Trump Leads the Way

Jerome Hudson / Breitbart:
Clinton Foundation Already Set to Break Promise to Ban Foreign Donations

Discussion: BostonGlobe.com, Reuters and The San Diego Union …

Megan Cassidy / Arizona Republic:

Federal judge refers Sheriff Joe Arpaio for criminal contempt — A federal judge said Friday that he will refer Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to the U.S. Attorney's Office to be charged with criminal contempt of court. — The decision comes after U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow found …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times and ImmigrationProf Blog

Kimberly Hutcherson / CNN:
Judge seeks criminal contempt charges against Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Discussion: Slate, The Right Scoop and AOL

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:

Win or lose, Trumpism may be here to stay in the GOP — The latest shake-up in Donald Trump's presidential campaign has jolted the Republican establishment out of denial to a new realization: Whatever happens to their nominee in November, Trumpism may well endure as a source of foment in their party.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Outside the Beltway, Electoral-vote.com and whorunsGov

The Christian / Christian Science Monitor:
Trump hands his campaign to the ‘alt-right’ movement

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Vanderbilt News

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Trump Campaign Manager On Manafort: “He Was Asked” To Resign

Discussion: Towleroad and Politico

Pete Williams / NBC News:

Justice Department Says Poor Can't Be Held When They Can't Afford Bail — Holding defendants in jail because they can't afford to make bail is unconstitutional, the Justice Department said in a court filing late Thursday — the first time the government has taken such a position before a federal appeals court.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Courthouse News Service, The Last Tradition, The Huffington Post and The Week

Fox News:

Judge orders Clinton to provide written answers to questions on private email use — A federal judge Friday ordered Hillary Clinton to answer questions from a conservative watchdog group about her use of a private email server when she served as secretary of state.

Discussion: Judicial Watch, BizPac Review, MichelleMalkin.com, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Daily Caller

Steven Lee Myers / New York Times:
Judge Orders Written Testimony From Hillary Clinton on Emails

Discussion: Liberal Values

Richard Yeselson / Vox:

The all-American Donald Trump: why Trump's rise could only happen here — Many smart analysts across the political spectrum have rightly situated Donald Trump's run for president in the international context of the ethno-nationalist parties found throughout Western Europe.

Discussion: New York Magazine

Jerry Falwell Jr / Washington Post:

Trump is the Churchillian leader we need — Jerry Falwell Jr. is president of Liberty University. — In the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, American voters were forced to choose between a liberal Democrat and weak establishment Republicans. Democrats won both times.

Discussion: the way of improvement …

Seth Barrett Tillman / THE NEW REFORM CLUB:

Trump, Academia, and Hyperbole — I have written about 30 academic publications, and I guess there are 100s, if not 1000s, of citations to the Constitution in them. It is possible that somewhere amongst them, I miscited the Constitution. Mistakes happen.

Discussion: Chicago Boyz

Marlow Stern / The Daily Beast:

‘Idiocracy’ Director Mike Judge: Fox Killed Our Anti-Trump Camacho Ads — Back in February, screenwriter Etan Cohen (not to be confused with Ethan Cohen), who's written the celebrated comedy offerings King of the Hill, Idiocracy, and Tropic Thunder, fired off a tweet in reference …

Discussion: Mediaite, Althouse, Joe.My.God. and Business Insider

New York Times:

Pregnant Women Advised to Avoid Travel to Active Zika Zone in Miami Beach — MIAMI — Federal health authorities suggested Friday that pregnant women and their partners consider postponing travel to all of Miami-Dade County after Florida identified a second zone of local Zika transmission …

Discussion: NBC News and Common Dreams