memeorandum: School District: Betsy Ross Flag Symbolizes “Hate” (Todd Starnes/Townhall.com)

4:40 AM ET, September 17, 2016

Top Items:

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.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Weekly Standard, MichelleMalkin.com, Mediaite, Washington Post, twitchy.com and The Last Refuge

David A. Fahrenthold / Washington Post:

Trump said he'd give away $5 million — or maybe $50 million — for proof Obama was born in the U.S. Will he pay it? — Back when Donald Trump was a “birther” — an era that lasted from early 2011 until Thursday — he offered to give huge donations to charity in exchange for hard evidence …

Discussion: heave-ho.org, RedState, New Yorker, Vox, Talking Points Memo, AOL, CNBC and Politico

Ben Shapiro / Daily Wire:

Trump Trolling Master Class: ‘Obama Was Born In The United States. Period.’ — On Friday, Donald Trump trolled the media, then crushed them over the birther issue. He told the media that he'd be speaking about his comments on Thursday, when he said he didn't want to talk about whether President Obama was born in the United States.

Discussion: Hot Air

Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart:

Hillary Clinton Campaign Manager Admits 2008 Birther Link — Patti Solis Doyle, who was Hillary Clinton's campaign manager in 2008 until the Iowa caucuses, admitted on Friday that a Clinton campaign staffer had, in fact, circulated the Birther conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was born outside …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Politico, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Infowars and Maggie's Farm

Rachel Stoltzfoos / The Daily Caller:

Former DC Bureau Chief: Clinton Surrogate Pitched Me ‘Birther’ Story In 2008 — ‘Remember?’ — Kasich Won't Vote For Trump: ‘My Actions Have Spoken Very Loudly’ — DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION | PHILLIP STUCKY — 'Well, we'll see what happens if that happens'

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

Donald Trump's birther event is the greatest trick he's ever pulled — Donald Trump is, at heart, a showman. He rose to national fame thanks to star turns on reality TV in which he played the tough-talking boss to a group of aspirants hoping to become as successful as he has been in business.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, ThinkProgress, RedState, heave-ho.org, Politico, Media Matters for America, Washington Free Beacon, NPR, The Week, BizPac Review, Balloon Juice, Hot Air, New York Magazine, Mother Jones and Right Wing Watch

Talking Points Memo:

In Sudden About Face, Trump Admits Obama Was Born In US — WASHINGTON (AP) — After five years as the chief promoter of a lie about Barack Obama's birthplace, DonaldTrump abruptly reversed course Friday and acknowledged the fact that the president was born in America. He then immediately peddled another false conspiracy.

Discussion: Breitbart and Power Line

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:
Trump Introduced By A Birther At Event Where He Walked Back Birtherism

Discussion: Politifact.com Truth …, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, NBC News, The Federalist and Vox

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

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, heave-ho.org, CNBC, NBC News, Guardian and The Times of Israel

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Trump Outsmarts the Press

Discussion: BizPac Review, Infowars, Liberty Unyielding and The American Spectator

Guardian:
Trump: Clinton's detail should disarm, 'Let's see what happens to her' - as it happened

Discussion: Washington Post, Business Insider, ABC News, Politico, The Root, Raw Story, American Greatness, TheStreet.com, Mediaite, USA Today and Joe.My.God., more at Mediagazer »

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:
Media Outraged After Trump Tricks Them To Cover Endorsements From Military Heroes

Discussion: alan.com

Donald J Trump for President:
CLINTON'S 2008 CAMPAIGN MANAGER ON WHETHER THEY PROMOTED RUMORS ABOUT OBAMA'S HERITAGE: “YEAH”

Discussion: Mother Jones, Washington Times, The Last Refuge, New Urban Legends, Liberty Unyielding, Politicus USA and Mediaite

New York Times:
Trump Drops False ‘Birther’ Theory, but Floats a New One: Clinton Started It

Media Matters for America:
As Trump Prepares To Discuss His Birtherism, Top Adviser Roger Stone Says Trump Still Has …

Discussion: Mediaite and Media Matters for America

David Jackson / USA Today:
Trump finally says Obama born in U.S., blames Clinton for controversy

Discussion: whorunsGov

Commission on Presidential Debates:

CPD Invites Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump to Debate — Washington, D.C. (September 16, 2016) - The nonpartisan, non-profit Commission on Presidential Debates ("CPD") announced today that it has applied its Nonpartisan Candidate Selection Criteria for 2016 General Election Debate participation …

Discussion: Guardian, Hit & Run, New Urban Legends, Hot Air, The Atlantic, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, 89.3 KPCC, The Week, Politico, Business Insider, Outside the Beltway and Courthouse News Service

Harper Neidig / The Hill:

Third-party candidates miss cut for first debate — The Commission on Presidential Debates announced on Friday that Hillary Clinton — and their running mates are the only candidates who will participate in the first debates. — This means Trump and Clinton will take part in the Sept. 26 debate …

Discussion: Washington Post, heave-ho.org, RT, Liberal Values, Washington Monthly, The Week and Politico

Byron Tau / Wall Street Journal:
Gary Johnson, Jill Stein Fail to Qualify for First Presidential Debate

Discussion: National Review and The Atlantic

David Sims / The Atlantic:

The Embarrassment of Jimmy Fallon — The Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, went on NBC's Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon yesterday. Here, in chronological order, is every question Fallon asked his guest. —This is getting real. You still have time, do you still want to do this?

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hollywood Reporter and The Daily Caller

Maxwell Strachan / The Huffington Post:
People Are Justifiably Infuriated With How Jimmy Fallon Handled Trump

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, BizPac Review, The New York Observer, Shareblue, Business Insider, Independent Journal Review, Infowars, Raw Story, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

KSNT-TV:

Black mask photo and caption leaves K-State students in an uproar — Related Coverage — MANHATTAN, Kan. (KSNT) — Students at Kansas State University are in an uproar with a photo one K-State student posted on Snapchat on Tuesday. One student said seeing actions like this sets the time back 150 years.

Discussion: KTLA and WCMH-TV

Jesse Singal / New York Magazine:

How Internet Trolls Won the 2016 Presidential Election — Last weekend, the Hillary Clinton campaign did something extremely controversial: It published an explainer devoted entirely to Pepe the frog. Pepe, a popular cartoon frog who first showed up in a web comic by Matt Furie back in 2005 …

Discussion: Infowars, Hullabaloo and The Daily Beast

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:

Nation's largest police union endorses Trump — The nation's largest police union on Friday endorsed Donald Trump — for president, lauding his commitment to police officers. — The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) gave the GOP presidential nominee its endorsement after he received support …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Gateway Pundit, The Root, Hot Air and Fox News Insider

Todd Starnes / Townhall.com:

School District: Betsy Ross Flag Symbolizes “Hate” — A Michigan school district called the historic “Betsy Ross” flag a symbol of hate and profusely apologized after students displayed the flag at a recent high school football game. — “To wave a historical version of our flag …

Discussion: Forbes

Sam Wang / Princeton Election Consortium:

Sometimes life comes at you fast — It looks like the Presidential state-poll snapshot is heading for a near-tie. This should become evident in the PEC analysis by the time of the first debate. — National polls currently show Clinton ahead by only 1.0 ± 0.6 % (median ± estimated SEM …

Discussion: Vox and Mother Jones

Christopher Balding / Bloomberg:

China's Housing Gets Scarily Expensive — For many years, China's authorities took a Goldilocks approach to housing prices: They wanted a market that was neither too hot nor too cold, and took measures as needed to control prices. Although an explicit asset-price target was never announced …

Discussion: Balding's World

Dave Dormer / CBC News:

Student's Donald Trump hat stirs controversy at Calgary's Mount Royal University — Woman challenged man to remove ‘Make America Great Again’ hat, calling it racially charged — The issues of free speech and safe spaces erupted at Mount Royal University Thursday after video surfaced …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Fox News Insider, Calgary Herald, The Gateway Pundit and BizPac Review

Raf Sanchez / Telegraph:

American commandos ‘forced to run away’ from US-backed Syrian rebels — Video footage appears to show US commandos fleeing a Syrian town under a barrage of abuse and insults hurled at them by fighters from the American-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel group.