memeorandum: Gasping for life: Syria's merciless war on its own children (CNN)

7:05 PM ET, May 9, 2017

Top Items:

Hunter Walker / Yahoo:

Trump team marks 6-month election anniversary by vowing to air video of Clinton campaign's concession call — WASHINGTON — President Trump's upset November victory never seems to be far from the White House's mind. — On Tuesday, Dan Scavino, the White House director of social media …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Vox, Daily Kos, Shakesville, Mediaite, BizPac Review, Political Wire, Washington Free Beacon, IJR and The Week

New York Times:

F.B.I. Director James Comey Is Fired by Trump — WASHINGTON — President Trump has dismissed the director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, said Tuesday. — “While I greatly appreciate you informing me …

Discussion: Washington Post, Politicus USA, Taylor Marsh, Boing Boing, Take Care Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Patterico's Pontifications

Devlin Barrett / Washington Post:

Comey misstated key Clinton email evidence at hearing, say people close to investigation — FBI Director James B. Comey overstated key findings involving the Hillary Clinton email investigation during testimony to Congress last week, according to people close to the inquiry.

Tom LoBianco / CNN:

First on CNN: Senate Russia investigators ask Treasury for Trump team financial information — Clapper: Putin sought to advantage Trump — (CNN)Senate Russia investigators have sent a request to the Treasury Department's criminal investigation division for any information related …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Joe.My.God.

ProPublica:

Comey's Testimony on Huma Abedin Forwarding Emails Was Inaccurate — FBI director James Comey generated national headlines last week with his dramatic testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, explaining his “incredibly painful” decision to go public about the Hillary Clinton emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop.

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

The Daily Spicer: Let's not ‘smear a good man.’ Let's smear a good woman! — An interesting standard emerged Tuesday from the lectern at the White House briefing room. — White House press secretary Sean Spicer fielded a question as to why President Trump continues defending former national …

Discussion: CNN, Business Insider and The Week

Brian Beutler / New Republic:
Chris Murphy: We'll hit Republican “liars” with Medicare-for-all if Trumpcare passes.

Discussion: Foreign Policy, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Politico, Betsy's Page, NBC News, Hullabaloo, The Atlantic and Vox

David Leonhardt / New York Times:
A French Lesson for the American Media

Discussion: Hullabaloo and AOL, more at Mediagazer »

Meghan Keneally / ABC News:
Sean Spicer defends lag in Michael Flynn's dismissal, takes aim at Sally Yates

Discussion: Politico and Associated Press

ABC News:
Comey overstated number of emails forwarded by Huma Abedin

Discussion: Politico

CNN:
Trump fires FBI director James Comey

Discussion: The FADER and Mediaite

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
Spicer questions whether Yates had partisan motives in Flynn warning

Discussion: ABC News

Esme Cribb / Talking Points Memo:
Spicer: WH Slow To Act On Yates' Warning Because She Was ‘Political Opponent’

Discussion: Salon, Hullabaloo and The Week

CNN:
Graham: 'I want to know more about Trump's business dealings'

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, Morning Consult, New York Magazine, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Joe.My.God.

Ted Barrett / CNN:

Sen. Hatch: ‘The public wants every dime they can be given’ — Washington (CNN)Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch warned Tuesday that efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act in the Senate might be complicated because once the public “is on the dole, they'll take every dime they can.”

Discussion: Vox, Axios, Political Wire, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Shakesville and The Week

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Left adopts shock tactics in Obamacare repeal fight

Discussion: twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hit & Run, Fox News Insider, Hot Air, Need To Know Network, Snopes.com, Balloon Juice and CNN

Talking Points Memo:
GOP Senators Signal They're On Board With Big Medicaid Cuts

Discussion: Daily Kos

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Senate GOP on defensive over all-male health care group

Discussion: Vox

Lauren Fox / CNN:
The five fights Republican senators will have on health care

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Emma Green / The Atlantic:

It Was Cultural Anxiety That Drove White, Working-Class Voters to Trump — White Americans carried Donald Trump to the White House. He won college-educated white voters by a four-point margin over Hillary Clinton, according to exit polls. But his real victory was among members of the white working class …

Discussion: IJR, Washington Post and Axios

PRRI:

Beyond Economics: Fears of Cultural Displacement Pushed the White Working Class to Trump | PRRI/The Atlantic Report — Perhaps the most contested question from the 2016 presidential election is what factors motivated white working-class voters to support Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton by a margin of roughly two to one.

Discussion: Vox, Hit & Run and Booman Tribune

Tegna / KING-TV:

Tunnel at plutonium finishing plant collapses in Hanford … Hundreds of workers were in “take cover” position after a tunnel in a plutonium finishing plant collapsed at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation early Tuesday morning. — The AP reports no workers were in the tunnel at the time of collapse.

Discussion: NBC News, Talking Points Memo and twitchy.com

Hanford Site:
HANFORD EMERGENCY INFORMATION

Discussion: KING-TV, Washington Post, Mashable, Gizmodo, fox13now.com, Balloon Juice and Snopes.com

Annette Cary / tri-cityherald:
Hanford tunnel breach confirmed in emergency at nuclear reservation

Discussion: Associated Press, Common Dreams, LewRockwell and Daily Kos

Ari Berman / The Nation:

Wisconsin's Voter-ID Law Suppressed 200,000 Votes in 2016 (Trump Won by 22,748) — A new study shows how voter-ID laws decreased turnout among African-American and Democratic voters. — Donald Trump holds a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, November 1, 2016. (Reuters / Carlo Allegri)

Discussion: electionlawblog.org, RedState and Common Dreams

New Republic:

Sarah Jones — The New York Times allowed an anti-choice group to write a press release on the op-ed page. — Mad about Bret Stephens? The Times sees that and respects your rage, choosing to double down on its decision to publish right-wing propaganda.

Discussion: Washington Post, Eschaton and New York Times

Lori Szala / New York Times:
The Problem With Linking Abortion and Economics

Discussion: RedState, Hot Air and twitchy.com

WTTG-TV:

Woman seen in Trader Joe's video incident with Muslim shopper: It was taken out of context — RESTON, Va. - A video showing an unidentified white woman telling a Muslim shopper, “I wish they didn't let you in the country,” has gone viral, but the woman seen in the video tells FOX 5 there's more to the story.

Discussion: TheBlaze, IJR, The Root, Mediaite, theGrio and Boing Boing

Gizmodo:

Here's How Easy It Is to Get Trump Officials to Click on a Fake Link in Email — Even technology experts can be insecure on the internet, as last week's “Google Docs” phishing attack demonstrated. An array of Gmail users, including BuzzFeed tech reporter Joe Bernstein, readily handed over access to their email to a bogus app.

Discussion: The Week

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:

Iowa congressman walks out of a TV interview and into an angry town hall meeting — DUBUQUE, Iowa — An Iowa congressman walked out of a television interview on Monday, declining to explain why his staff is pre-screening constituents who plan to attend his town hall meetings this week.

Discussion: KCRG-TV, Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier, Politico, AOL, NPR, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, Joe.My.God., Common Dreams, The Week and New York Magazine

Sari Horwitz / Washington Post:

Sessions weighs return to harsher punishments for low-level drug crimes — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reviewing policy changes set in place by the Obama administration that eliminated harsh punishments for low-level drug crimes and could direct federal prosecutors to again charge drug offenders …

Discussion: Common Dreams

CNN:

Spirit Airlines cancels flight, passenger brawl breaks out — (CNN)Screams and commotion took over Fort Lauderdale's airport Monday as travelers clashed with Spirit Airlines employees and police. — About 300 Spirit flights have been canceled over the past seven days, leaving thousands of passengers angry.

Discussion: Daily Mail, CBS News, USA Today, Sun-Sentinel, WSVN-TV, RedState, Fox News, TMZ.com, NPR, BizPac Review, Hot Air, Gothamist, Consumerist, AOL, IJR, Mediaite, CBS Dallas and CBS Los Angeles

Harry Walker / Daily Express:

Bit rich? Barack Obama ‘to pocket £2.5million for sold-out speech in Milan today’ — BARACK Obama will reportedly pocket a staggering £2.5million (€3million) today for delivering a speech to a sold-out audience in Milan as part of his lucrative post-presidential speaking tour.

Discussion: twitchy.com, ABC News, The Rush Limbaugh Show, MichelleMalkin.com and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

HuffPost:

Trump Administration Cites Segregation-Era Ruling To Defend Its Travel Ban — In 1971, the Supreme Court decided that courts shouldn't investigate the motivations of officials who closed public pools rather than integrate them. — WASHINGTON In a brief defending its ban on citizens …

Discussion: Vox, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Take Care Blog and ThinkProgress

Reuters:

Commerce Secretary Ross says 3 percent GDP growth not achievable this year — The U.S. economy won't achieve the Trump administration's 3 percent growth goal this year and not until all of its tax, regulatory, trade and energy policies are fully in place, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Tuesday.

Discussion: Political Wire and Live: U.S. Politics

Sean Cockerham / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

President Kamala Harris? She's making the first moves. — LOS ANGELES — Now's the time prospective presidential candidates start taking the subtle but crucial behind-the-scenes steps that get them noticed by the political intelligentsia, and Sen. Kamala Harris is quietly following the script.

Discussion: Breitbart, Politicaldog101.Com and Washington Post

Elizabeth Roberts / CNN:

Mexico was second deadliest country in 2016 — (CNN)It was the second deadliest conflict in the world last year, but it hardly registered in the international headlines. — As Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan dominated the news agenda, Mexico's drug wars claimed 23,000 lives during 2016 …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Axios and The Daily Caller

David Byler / Real Clear Politics:

How Bad Is the Democratic Senate Map for 2018? — Right now, the stars seem aligned for Democratic gains in 2018. President Trump's approval rating is low, Democrats lead in the House generic ballot and special elections show Republicans losing ground with some voters.

Discussion: Need To Know Network

Eliza Shapiro / Politico:

Protesters greet Paul Ryan outside Success Academy — House Speaker Paul Ryan was greeted by protests as he arrived at Success Academy 1 charter school in Harlem on Tuesday afternoon. — Several hundred protesters began crowding the streets at about 11 a.m., mostly chanting …

Discussion: ABC News and Mediaite

John Bowden / The Hill:

Graham wants panel to look into Trump's business dealings: report — Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) wants to look into President Trump's potential business ties to Russia as part of a Senate investigation, according to a CNN report. — The GOP senator told CNN's Manu Raju that his interest …

Discussion: Politico and RedState