memeorandum: This is Not Sustainable. Something Has to Give. The Nation Cannot Tolerate 3.5 More Years of This. (Erick Erickson/The Resurgent)

4:50 PM ET, August 17, 2017

Top Items:

Barcelona terror attack: Van crashes into pedestrians in city center — BARCELONA, Spain — Police in the northern Spanish city of Barcelona say a white van has jumped the sidewalk in the city's historic Las Ramblas district, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 50.

Discussion: Shareblue, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, ABC News, Mother Jones, Washington Journal, FOX News Radio, The Guardian, CBS Philly, CBS Pittsburgh and CBS Dallas

Washington Post:

Van swerves into crowds in Barcelona's popular Las Ramblas district; 13 reported dead and more than 50 injured … LONDON — A driver swerved a van onto a pedestrian area Thursday in Barcelona's historic Las Ramblas district, ramming into crowds and leaving at least 13 people dead …

Discussion: New York Times, The Atlantic, Politico, Outside the Beltway, TheBlaze and Daily Kos

Iain Burns / Daily Mail:

BREAKING NEWS: At least 13 dead and dozens injured in Barcelona terror attack after van crashes into pedestrians in Las Ramblas tourist district before ‘two gunmen take hostages at restaurant’ — 13 dead and dozens hurt as van drives into crowds of people in Barcelona amid reports of gunshots nearby

Discussion: CNN, Occidental Dissent, The Other McCain, The Gateway Pundit, Infowars, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and RedState

Reuters:
Van mows down crowd in Barcelona, 13 reported killed

Discussion: Associated Press, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, Fox News, vice, Mediaite and The Week

Meghan Keneally / ABC News:
Hostage situation unfolding in Barcelona after van hits pedestrians in busy tourist area

Discussion: CNN, NBC News, FOX2now.com, twitchy.com, IJR and Mediaite

BBC:
Melania Trump sends ‘thoughts and prayers’

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Business Insider, Telegraph, KFOR-TV, emptywheel, NPR, EL PAÍS, Hit & Run, FOX News Radio, National Review, New York's PIX11 and CBS New York

David Rutz / Washington Free Beacon:
CNN: There Will Be Questions About Whether Barcelona Attack Was ‘Copycat’ of Charlottesville

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, IJR and twitchy.com

The Guardian:
Las Ramblas attack: van hits crowd in tourist area of Barcelona

Discussion: The Week, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Balloon Juice

Julius Krein / New York Times:

I Voted for Trump. And I Sorely Regret It. — When Donald Trump first announced his presidential campaign, I, like most people, thought it would be a short-lived publicity stunt. A month later, though, I happened to catch one of his political rallies on C-Span. I was riveted.

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Gail Collins / New York Times:
How to Handle Donald Trump

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Jenna McLaughlin / Foreign Policy:

WikiLeaks Turned Down Leaks on Russian Government During U.S. Presidential Campaign — The leak organization ignored damaging information on the Kremlin to focus on Hillary Clinton and election-related hacks. — In the summer of 2016, as WikiLeaks was publishing documents …

Slate:

An open letter from the great-great-grandsons of Stonewall Jackson. — Dear Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and members of the Monument Avenue Commission, — We are native Richmonders and also the great-great-grandsons of Stonewall Jackson. As two of the closest living relatives to Stonewall …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post and New York Times

CBS News:

Partisan divide over Trump's response to Charlottesville: CBS News poll — Nearly two-thirds of Americans consider the attack that led to loss of life in Charlottesville an act of “domestic terrorism,” a view that spans partisan lines. But President Trump's response to Charlottesville finds more division.

Discussion: Vox, Breitbart, WTVR-TV, Washington Post, Mediaite, IJR, The Rush Limbaugh Show, KFOR-TV, Axios, Politico and NPR

New York Times:

Trump Lawyer Forwards Email Echoing Secessionist Rhetoric — WASHINGTON — President Trump's personal lawyer on Wednesday forwarded an email to conservative journalists, government officials and friends that echoed secessionist Civil War propaganda and declared that the group Black Lives Matter …

Discussion: Washington Journal, vice, Shakesville, Mashable, WTVR-TV, AOL, BillMoyers.com, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Talking Points Memo, ABC News, Political Wire, New York Magazine, Raw Story, Mother Jones and Business Insider

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
The huge problem with Trump comparing Robert E. Lee to George Washington

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CBS New York, Business Insider, Washington Post and Washington Journal

Duke Today:
Statue at Duke Chapel Defaced

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Times, WNCN, The Daily Caller and Campus Reform

Geoff Ziezulewicz / Navy Times:
Navy official: Ship name honoring Confederate victory unlikely to change

Discussion: IJR, The Daily Caller, Althouse and Army Times

Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Steve Bannon says controversial interview with liberal magazine was GOOD for the White House because it ‘drew fire away’ from Trump — White House's chief strategist called a liberal magazine writer on Wednesday and spoke casually about North Korea, China and race politics

Discussion: Business Insider, Axios, Associated Press, Shakesville, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, New York Times, Washington Free Beacon, Politico and Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:
Steve Bannon's Fantasy, Donald Trump's Reality

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Talking Points Memo, TheBlaze, The Rush Limbaugh Show and NPR

Jason Brad Berry / Shareblue:
Steve Bannon's porn and meth house: “You have no idea what kind of evil stuff went on”

Discussion: Raw Story

Elana Schor / Politico:

Pelosi, Booker push for removal of Capitol's Confederate statues — The nationwide debate over the removal of monuments to the Confederacy is coming to the U.S. Capitol. — While President Donald Trump on Thursday urged the preservation of “our beautiful statues and monuments” …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, ABC News, New York's PIX11, The Federalist, CNN, Washington Post, IJR, The Daily Signal, New York Times and The Week

Robert F. Bukaty / Associated Press:
Maine Gov. LePage: Removing Confederate statues like losing 9/11 memorial

Discussion: The Root and The Daily Caller

Newsradio WGAN:
8/17/17 Guest: Governor Paul LePage 7:38/7:50

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Resurgent and FOX6Now.com

Scott Thistlestaff / Press Herald:
LePage echoes Trump on Charlottesville violence, calls counterprotesters ‘equally as bad’

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Week

David Edwards / Raw Story:

Longtime Trump business partner ‘told family he knows he and POTUS are going to prison’: report — Felix Sater, one of Donald Trump's shadiest former business partners, is reportedly preparing for prison time — and he says the president will be joining him behind bars.

Paul Wood / Spectator:
Forget Charlottesville - Russia is still the true Trump scandal

Discussion: Washington Journal

Kevin McDermott / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

McCaskill, others call for state senator to resign after post hoping for Trump's assassination — U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and the chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party both called Thursday for the resignation of Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, for posting a Facebook comment stating: “I hope Trump is assassinated!”

Discussion: IJR, News Blog, Riverfront Times, Washington Times, FOX2now.com and twitchy.com

Kevin McDermott / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Secret Service investigating Mo. state senator over Facebook post hoping for Trump's assassination

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Washington Free Beacon

K-Sue Park / New York Times:

The A.C.L.U. Needs to Rethink Free Speech — The American Civil Liberties Union has a long history of defending the First Amendment rights of groups on both the far left and the far right. This commitment led the organization to successfully sue the city of Charlottesville, Va. …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, ACLU and Althouse

Heidi M. Przybyla / USA Today:

Mitch McConnell's secret fury over Charlottesville response highlights GOP's Trump dilemma — WASHINGTON - There was a reason why it took Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell an entire night to respond to President Trump's chaotic news conference equating counter protesters with the Nazis they came to resist.

Discussion: New York Times, CBS News, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, CNN, Washington Post, Real Clear Politics, Fox News, Raw Story, NPR, IJR, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice and Chicagoist

Alex Brandon / Associated Press:

Cleveland Clinic pulls gala from Trump's Mar-a-Lago — The Cleveland Clinic has held an annual fundraising event at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago for the last eight years. It has canceled plans to do so in 2018. — Close More share options: — WASHINGTON — The Cleveland Clinic …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Axios, NPR, WHNT-TV, TheBlaze, Mediaite, Hit & Run, Washington Post and IJR

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Cleveland Clinic cancels plans for gala at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Politico

New York Times:

How Do Trump's Black Friends Feel? It's Complicated — WASHINGTON — Kara Young, a biracial model who dated Donald J. Trump for two years before he married another model named Melania Knauss, remembers clearly bringing up her race with the real estate tycoon early in their relationship.

Joanne Kaufman / New York Times:

Bubble Tea Purveyors Continue to Grow Along With Drink's Popularity — Editors' note: An earlier version of this article prompted criticism by readers and we have since revised the article in response. — The Starbucks on Waverly Place in Greenwich Village was all but empty at 8:30 …

Rosanne Cash:

A message from the children of Johnny Cash: — We were alerted to a video of a young man in Charlottesville, a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi, spewing hatred and bile. He was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the name of Johnny Cash, our father. We were sickened by the association.

Discussion: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, IJR and CBS San Francisco

Jay Rey / The Buffalo News:

Carl Paladino removed from Buffalo School Board … Carl P. Paladino is out as a member of the Buffalo Board of Education. — That's the ruling today from State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, according to the board's attorney. — “He is out effective immediately,” said Frank W. Miller, the board's attorney.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Neil Gorsuch Speech at Trump Hotel Raises Ethical Questions — WASHINGTON — Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump's Supreme Court appointee, is scheduled to address a conservative group at the Trump International Hotel in Washington next month, less than two weeks before the court is set to hear arguments on Mr. Trump's travel ban.

James Kirchick / The Daily Beast:

The ‘Flight 93 Election’ Moment Is Now … The most important intellectual case for Donald Trump's candidacy, to the extent that such a thing could even exist, was an essay published last September by the Claremont Review of Books titled The Flight 93 Election.

Discussion: Damian J. Penny