memeorandum: Spicer: Publicity-Hungry Reporters Want to ‘Become YouTube Stars’ (Kathryn Blackhurst/LifeZette)

10:25 PM ET, June 21, 2017

Top Items:

Democrats Seethe After Georgia Loss: ‘Our Brand Is Worse Than Trump’ — Democrats seethed, second-guessed and sought to regroup on Wednesday after a disappointing special election defeat in Georgia, with the party's campaign chief in the House of Representatives outlining alternative paths to taking power …

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Pelosi faces growing doubts among Dems after Georgia loss — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats put a brave face on Wednesday morning after a disappointing loss in the Georgia special election, yet there is no disguising the unhappiness in the party ranks.

Molly Ball / The Atlantic:

Why Ossoff Lost — ATLANTA—Around midnight, hours after their candidate conceded he had lost the Most Important Special Election in History, the last remaining supporters of Jon Ossoff took over the stage where he had recently stood. One of them waved a bottle of vodka in the air.

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, The Hill, Shadowproof and CNN

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

This Might Be the Worst Democratic Freak-out Ever — Karen Handel's close-but-not-that-close win in Georgia's sixth district, the fourth Republican victory in four special elections, has officially made the party's failure to capture a House seat in 2017 a capital-T Thing.

Discussion: CNN, National Review, Talking Points Memo, Politicus USA, The Nation, The Week, rubber hose, No More Mister Nice Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, twitchy.com and Mediaite

Charlie Spiering / Breitbart:
‘Sad CNN’ Meme Storms the Internet as Karen Handel Wins Georgia Special Election

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Caller, No More Mister Nice Blog and IJR

Curtis Houck / NewsBusters:
She Went There: Maddow Laments ‘Partisan Implications’ of ‘Bad Weather’ for Georgia Election

Discussion: MichelleMalkin.com, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Washington Free Beacon and New York Magazine

David Wasserman / The Cook Political Report:
GA-06: Why Handel's Win Isn't a Disaster for Democrats

Discussion: Vox, Politicus USA, Washington Monthly, NBC News and New York Times

Patricia Murphy / The Daily Beast:
Jon Ossoff's $23 Million Loss Shows Dems Have No Idea How to Win in the Age of Trump

Discussion: Politico, Infowars, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Breitbart, Washington Post and IJR

Monica Showalter / American Thinker:
How'd that referendum on Trump work out?

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, RedState, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and New York Times

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
The Democrats' persistent Pelosi problem

Discussion: Business Insider and East Bay Times

Jason Sattler / USA Today:
Georgia warning to Democrats: Trump isn't the answer. Yet.

Discussion: Breitbart, Shareblue, Washington Free Beacon and Daily Wire

Alvin Chang / Vox:
4 charts showing Democrats are gaining a lot of ground

Discussion: Politico, The Root, Hot Air, New York Times and Washington Post

Paige Winfield Cunningham / Washington Post:

Senate health-care draft repeals Obamacare taxes, provides bigger subsidies for low-income Americans than House bill — Senate leaders on Wednesday were putting the final touches on legislation that would reshape a big piece of the U.S. health-care system by dramatically rolling back Medicaid …

Discussion: Axios, Raw Story, ACASignups.net, New York Magazine, The Week, Politicus USA and The Last Tradition

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Rand Paul calls to slow down ‘rushed’ ObamaCare repeal process — wants to slow down how quickly legislation can get a vote as Republicans prepare to bring their bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare to the Senate floor next week. — The Kentucky Republican has reintroduced his “Read the Bills” …

Discussion: Politico and Politicus USA

Hot Air:
Ted Cruz, Key Conservative Negotiator: I Have No Idea What's In The Senate Health-Care Bill

Discussion: CNBC, TheBlaze, Business Insider and Morning Consult

Laura Litvan / Bloomberg:
GOP Health Bill Kept Secret From Senators Assigned to Write It

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Fox News Insider

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:
What's in the Senate's secret Obamacare repeal bill

Discussion: Axios, Gizmodo, Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, The Week, Shareblue, Raw Story and CNN

Caleb Ecarma / Mediaite:

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Tom Cotton Intern Calls British ‘Faggots’ and Paul Ryan a ‘Cuck’ in Audio Recording — GOP Senator Tom Cotton's intern is not shy about spouting off incendiary comments, as the young Republican calls Speaker Paul Ryan “a cuck” and the British “faggots.”

Discussion: Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Raw Story and twitchy.com

BuzzFeed:

A Bunch Of CIA Staff Got Fired For Stealing Snacks From Vending Machines — The group of employees shared a vending machine hack to steal more than $3,000 in snacks. — Several CIA contractors were kicked out of the agency for stealing more than $3,000 in snacks from vending machines …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Week, Instapundit and Gizmodo

Kaili Joy Gray / Shareblue:

Former Homeland Security chief: The FBI had evidence of collusion with Russia — Contrary to Donald Trump's Twitter-rages and baseless accusations that he and his campaign team are the victims of a “witch hunt,” the evidence of potential collusion with Russia is real. Real enough to warrant an investigation.

Discussion: IJR

Kyle Feldscher / Washington Examiner:
Jeh Johnson: Trump's ‘rigged’ election claims affected what DHS could say about Russia interference

Discussion: RedState and Mediaite

Kathryn Blackhurst / LifeZette:

Spicer: Publicity-Hungry Reporters Want to ‘Become YouTube Stars’ — White House press secretary defends use of off-camera briefings to prioritize ‘substantive discussions’ — White House press secretary Sean Spicer pushed back on reporters' complaints that on-camera news briefings have been limited …

Discussion: Deadline, Mediaite, IJR and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

Paul Sperry / New York Post:

Next up: a special counsel to probe Team Obama's obstruction of justice — MORE FROM: … By using fired FBI Director James Comey to attack the new Republican administration, Democrats have opened up a legal can of worms for the Obama administration. — Under sworn questioning …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Abby Livingston / The Texas Tribune:
Texas congressman says remarks on Clintons, Vince Foster were “a step too far”

Discussion: The Root

New York Times:

ISIS Destroys Al Nuri Mosque, Another Loss for Mosul — BAGHDAD — As the bloody battle to retake Mosul from the Islamic State ground on for months, with losses in lives and infrastructure piling up, soldiers and civilians kept in their minds an image of what victory would look like …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Reuters:
Islamic State blows up historic Mosul mosque where it declared ‘caliphate’

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Atlantic and The Week

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:

Trump, Russia and a Shadowy Business Partnership — An insider describes the Bayrock Group, its links to the Trump family and its mysterious access to funds. It isn't pretty. — The special counsel's investigation of the White House has come more sharply into focus.

Discussion: Salon, Bipartisan Report, Raw Story, IJR and TheStreet

Federal Bureau of Investigation:

Law Enforcement Shares Findings of the Investigation into the June 14 Alexandria, Virginia Shooting — Today, law enforcement officials shared findings to date of the investigation into the shooting that occurred at the Eugene Simpson Stadium Park on Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Discussion: Politico, IJR, NPR, Business Insider and Washington Free Beacon

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:

Trumps suggests creating law that has been enacted since 1996 — President Trump in a rally on Wednesday evening said immigrants who enter the United States should not be eligible for welfare benefits for five years, though such a law has already existed for 20 years.

Theodoric Meyer / Politico:

Congressional Black Caucus expected to decline Trump meeting — The Congressional Black Caucus is expected to reject an invitation to meet with President Donald Trump, according to four sources close to the group. — The Trump administration, sources said, has done nothing to advance …

Discussion: Business Insider, New York Magazine, Washington Post, TheBlaze, Mediaite, Bipartisan Report, Fusion, Conservative News Today, Daily Wire, Shareblue, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, The Week, Politicus USA, RedState and Washington Free Beacon

Democratic Party of Montana Blog:

Montana Dems Get Gianforte New Suit for First Day in Congress — Helena - Today, convicted criminal Greg Gianforte - who, after infamously picking up another person, slamming him to the ground, and then punching him, blamed it on the victim - will be sworn into Congress.

Discussion: The Hill, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and Washington Times

LeftOfCenter / Latest from Crooks and Liars:

Mormons Shame Twelve-Year-Old Girl For Coming Out In Temple — Savannah, a twelve-year-old member of a Salt Lake City Mormon congregation, made a courageous decision to ‘come out’ in temple this past Sunday. She originally mentioned that she wanted to do this in January of this year …

Discussion: Raw Story

Laura Beth Nielsen / Los Angeles Times:

Op-Ed The case for restricting hate speech — Members of the Westboro Baptist Church picket in front of the Supreme Court in Washington on Oct. 6, 2010. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press) — As a sociologist and legal scholar, I struggle to explain the boundaries of free speech to undergraduates.

Discussion: twitchy.com

Darren Sands / BuzzFeed:

What Happened To Black Lives Matter? — Donald Trump's election and presidency has inspired the biggest outpouring of liberal activism in more than a decade. But Black Lives Matter seems less visible than a year ago. After a meteoric rise to prominence, the movement is struggling mightily …

Discussion: The Atlantic

Max Greenwood / The Hill:

DeVos picks CEO of for-profit lender to run federal student loan system — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's pick to lead the department's $1.3 trillion student loan system is the CEO of a private student loan company. — A. Wayne Johnson, who was tapped as chief operating officer of Federal Student Aid …

Discussion: ED News, The Daily Caller, The Root and The FADER

Jordan Smith / The Intercept:

Texas Couple Exonerated 25 Years After Being Convicted of Lurid Crimes That Never Happened — Twenty-five years after they were convicted of a crime that never happened, Fran and Dan Keller were formally exonerated on June 20 in Austin, Texas. — The couple's prosecution in 1992 was part …

Discussion: Raw Story

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Uber wants Sheryl Sandberg to be its next CEO — Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg … Uber's board plans to approach Facebook operating chief Sheryl Sandberg about filling its newly vacant CEO spot, The Post has learned. — The Sandberg idea is being pushed …

Discussion: NBC News, AOL and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Associated Press:

The Latest: Trump promises tech upgrades for farmers — The Latest on President Donald Trumps' trip to Iowa (all times EDT): — President Donald Trump is touting his administration's commitment to agriculture and says he will urge technology upgrades for rural communities.

Discussion: Politico