memeorandum: Dallas Police sergeant files federal lawsuit accusing Black Lives Matter leaders of inciting anti-cop violence (Marc Ramirez/Dallas Morning News)

3:45 PM ET, September 17, 2016

Top Items:

Sizing Up the Next Commander-in-Chief — Neither candidate has seriously addressed how he or she thinks about the military or the use of force. — You wouldn't know it from the presidential campaigns, but the first serious crisis to face our new president most likely will be international.

Discussion: Fox News Insider and Politico

Natasha Geiling / ThinkProgress:

Former Secretary of Defense: Trump ‘unqualified and unfit to be commander-in-chief’ — Robert Gates had strong words for both candidates in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. — Former Defense Secretary Bob Gates is not a big fan of either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton's ideas about foreign policy.

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Taegan Goddard / Political Wire:

‘Mr. Trump Is Beyond Repair’ — Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates writing in the Wall Street Journal: — Mrs. Clinton has time before the election to address forthrightly her trustworthiness, to reassure people about her judgment, to demonstrate her willingness to stake out one or more positions …

Discussion: Politicus USA

Elliot Smilowitz / The Hill:

Dem senator to Trump: ‘Blood will be on your hands’ if Clinton killed — of suggesting his supporters kill Hillary Clinton — , tweeting furiously that “blood will be on your hands.” — “Hey @realDonaldTrump, if you keep suggesting your supporters kill @HillaryClinton, someone will listen.

Discussion: Joe.My.God., BizPac Review, heave-ho.org, TheStreet.com, CBS Philly and Mediaite

Kristin Salaky / Talking Points Memo:
Dem Senator To Trump: If Someone Kills Clinton The Blood Is ‘On Your Hands’

Discussion: alan.com, Mike Cernovich Presents …, Hillary Clinton Speeches, gopthedailydose.com, BizPac Review and The New Civil Rights Movement

Harper Neidig / The Hill:
Giffords calls on Trump to renounce gun comments

Discussion: Raw Story and The Week

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:
Trump: Clinton's bodyguards should ‘disarm immediately’ and ‘see what happens to her’

Discussion: Guardian, Jihad Watch and New York Magazine

Logan Churchwell / Breitbart:

Black Dallas Cop Sues Black Lives Matter, Soros for Inciting Race War — The head of a Dallas police organization is suing a collection of Black Lives Matter figureheads and other prominent individuals for allegedly inciting racial violence against American police officers.

Marc Ramirez / Dallas Morning News:

Dallas Police sergeant files federal lawsuit accusing Black Lives Matter leaders of inciting anti-cop violence — A Dallas Police sergeant has filed suit against Black Lives Matter leaders and others, blaming the movement for race riots and violence against police officers.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Liberty Unyielding

Robert Moran / Philly.com:
2 cops shot, suspect and bystander killed in West Philly rampage

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Post, The Week and Fox News Insider

David Goldstein / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

2 Clinton supporters in '08 reportedly shared Obama ‘birther’ story — WASHINGTON — Two supporters of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign reportedly shared the claim that then-rival Barack Obama was not born in the United States and thus was not eligible to be president.

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:
Donald Trump Clung to ‘Birther’ Lie for Years, and Still Isn't Apologetic

Discussion: Mother Jones, Associated Press, Politicus USA, LawNewz, BizPac Review, Right Wing Watch, Media Matters for America, Daily Kos, heave-ho.org, BuzzFeed, CNBC, NBC News, Washington Post, The Times of Israel, Guardian and ThinkProgress, more at Mediagazer »

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Donald Trump's birther event is the greatest trick he's ever pulled

Discussion: JustOneMinute, BizPac Review, Infowars, ThinkProgress, Daily Wire, RedState, NPR, heave-ho.org, Media Matters for America, Washington Free Beacon and Balloon Juice

Mike Allen / Politico:

Exclusive: Here's who's playing Tim Kaine in GOP debate prep — In Mike Pence's prep sessions for the vice-presidential debate, the role of Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is being played by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a top GOP source told POLITICO on Saturday. — The first mock debate has already been held.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, alan.com and Joe.My.God.

Annie Karni / Politico:

Exclusive: Robert Barnett to play Mike Pence in Tim Kaine debate prep — He's traded in his role as a wild-haired Jewish Socialist from Vermont for a buttoned-up evangelical Christian from Indiana. — Washington super lawyer Robert Barnett, who played Sen. Bernie Sanders …

Discussion: alan.com

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:

DSCC shifts dollars out of Florida and Ohio — The top group helping Democrats win Senate seats is canceling advertising in Florida and Ohio to invest more heavily in Missouri and North Carolina. — The financial rejiggering by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spells …

Discussion: Hot Air

Philip Rucker / Washington Post: As Trump rises in battleground states, Clinton moves to block his path to 270

Chris Kahn / Yahoo:

Race tightens in projected U.S. Electoral College vote: Reuters/Ipsos — NEW YORK (Reuters) - An election analysis conducted in the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project shows that the race has tightened considerably over the past few weeks, with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump projected …

Discussion: The Week

Nassim Nicholas Taleb:

The Intellectual Yet Idiot — What we have been seeing worldwide, from India to the UK to the US, is the rebellion against the inner circle of no-skin-in-the-game policymaking “clerks” and journalists-insiders, that class of paternalistic semi-intellectual experts with some Ivy league …

Discussion: AMERICAN DIGEST

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

How Roger Ailes used ‘key man clauses’ for his stars to protect himself — Contracts with most of the biggest stars on Fox News contain something unusual: A “key man clause” giving them an escape hatch if the company's “key man,” CEO Roger Ailes, exited. — In July, Ailes resigned under pressure amid sexual harassment allegations.

Discussion: Liberty Unyielding and BizPac Review, more at Mediagazer »

New York Daily News:

Meat cleaver madman, a Palestinian, was in Midtown to appeal deportation order before he sliced cop — The meat cleaver maniac who hacked an off-duty cop is a Palestinian busted two months ago while screaming in Arabic outside a Brooklyn synagogue. — Suspect Akram Joudeh was only in New York …

Discussion: Power Line, Jihad Watch, Gothamist, twitchy.com, Independent Journal Review and The Daily Caller

Daily Mail:

‘LES DEPLORABLES!’ Trump floors cheering Miami crowd as he enters to Broadway anthem and speaks in front of giant ‘Les Mis’ video screen art — It read ‘Les Deplorables’ - and replaced French revolutionary flags with the Stars and Stripes - and a ‘TRUMP’ flag

Discussion: BizPac Review, Vox Popoli, The Gateway Pundit and AOL

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Travel Back to an Early Clinton Scandal — Voters have the impression Hillary isn't trustworthy. She's been reinforcing it since 1993. — The question came up this week at a political panel: Why don't people like Hillary Clinton? — Why do they always believe the worst?

Peter Hasson / The Daily Caller:

Just 5.7 Percent Of Clinton Foundation Budget Actually Went To Charitable Grants — Just 5.7 Percent Of Clinton Foundation Budget Actually Went To Charity — Media Outraged After Trump Tricks Them Into Covering Endorsements From Military Heroes — Clinton Campaign Event Erupts Into ‘FOUR MORE YEARS’ Chant For Obama

Discussion: Infowars and Clayton Cramer

Michael Klare / Mother Jones:

Why a Donald Trump Victory Could Make Climate Catastrophe Inevitable — This story first appeared at TomDispatch.com. — In a year of record-setting heat on a blistered globe, with fast-warming oceans, fast-melting ice caps, and fast-rising sea levels, ratification of the December 2015 …

Discussion: TomDispatch and Informed Comment