memeorandum: Exclusive: Fake black activist accounts linked to Russian government (CNNMoney)

11:10 AM ET, September 29, 2017

Top Items:

Trump Could Save More Than $1 Billion Under His New Tax Plan — Highlighted areas show what parts of President Trump's 2005 tax return could have been affected by the new tax plan. — President Trump could cut his tax bills by more than $1.1 billion, including saving tens of millions …

Discussion: The Week, Shakesville, Patterico's Pontifications, Common Dreams, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress, Politifact.com Truth …, NewsBusters, Gothamist and ABC News

Jake Tapper / CNN:

Exclusive: Kushner didn't disclose personal email account to Senate intel committee — Washington (CNN)In his closed interview with the staff of the Senate intelligence committee, White House senior adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner did not share the existence of his personal email account …

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:

The Note: Has Trump had his ‘heckuva job’ moment with Puerto Rico? — THE TAKE with ABC News' Rick Klein — The first two storms, it appears, were only wind-ups to the presidential moment that presents itself now. The crisis in Puerto Rico figures to define President Trump's responses to this remarkable string of powerful storms.

Discussion: Politico, Axios, Associated Press, Salt Lake Tribune and The Atlantic

New York Times:

Private Emails, Private Jets and Mr. Trump's Idea of Public Service — Electing him, Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail, would “make every dream you ever dreamed for your country come true.” Among those reveries, he suggested, would be a government free of self-dealing and one devoted to public service.

Discussion: Washington Post

Andrea Peterson / Politico:
White House launches probe of private email accounts

Discussion: ABC News, CNBC, The Week, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, Politicus USA, Axios and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:
Fight Erupts to Shield Tax Breaks Threatened by G.O.P. Overhaul

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Above the Law, CNBC and The Atlantic

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard: Make America Gipper Again

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:
How Republicans Ditched Tax Reform for Tax Cuts

Discussion: Vox

Dan Diamond / Politico:

Price took military jets to Europe, Asia for over $500K — The White House approved the use of military aircraft for multi-national trips by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to Africa and Europe this spring, and to Asia in the summer, at a cost of more than $500,000 to taxpayers.

Adrian Carrasquillo / BuzzFeed:
Tom Price Wanted To Reopen His Department's Executive Dining Room, Sources Say

Discussion: Salon, Hot Air and ThinkProgress

Ben Lefebvre / Politico:
Interior Secretary Zinke traveled on charter, military planes

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Root, ABC News, Mediaite, The Week, Politicus USA and Business Insider

Axios:

USAFA superintendent: “Grab your phones” — Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, superintendent of the Air Force Academy, yesterday “stood all of his 4,000 cadets at attention ... [c]hins in and chests out ... to deliver a message on racial slurs found written on message boards at the academy's preparatory school …

Discussion: United States Air Force …

Susan Svrluga / Washington Post: Racial slurs written on doors of five black cadet candidates at Air Force Academy Preparatory School

Tom Roeder / Gazette:
Air Force Academy investigates racial slurs at prep school; superintendent says racists ‘need to get out’

Discussion: Axios and The Daily Caller

Stephen Losey / Air Force Times:
Racial slurs written on dorm room boards of black Air Force Academy cadet candidates

Discussion: Shareblue, AOL and Raw Story

Ronald J. Hansen / Arizona Republic:

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema enters Senate race, hoping to unseat Jeff Flake — U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema is running for the Senate seat held by Jeff Flake, ending months of speculation about her political future and giving Democrats a top-tier fundraiser with experience on Capitol Hill.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Political Wire, Friendly Atheist, YouTube and Shareblue

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:
Bernie backers give Dem incumbents a pass in 2018

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Jennifer E. Duffy / The Cook Political Report: Arizona Senate: Sinema's Candidacy Puts Race in Toss Up

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Trump's Deadly Narcissism — According to a new Quinnipiac poll, a majority of Americans believe that Donald Trump is unfit to be president. That's pretty remarkable. But you have to wonder how much higher the number would be if people really knew what's going on.

Discussion: The Root, Politicus USA, The Daily Caller, Business Insider and ACA Signups, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

U.S. response in Puerto Rico pales next to actions after Haiti quake … After an earthquake shattered Haiti's capital on Jan. 12, 2010, the U.S. military mobilized as if it were going to war. — Before dawn the next morning, an Army unit was airborne, on its way to seize control of the main airport in Port-au-Prince.

Discussion: Hullabaloo

CNNMoney:

Exclusive: Fake black activist accounts linked to Russian government — Fake black activist accounts linked to Russia — A social media campaign calling itself “Blacktivist” and linked to the Russian government used both Facebook and Twitter in an apparent attempt to amplify racial tensions during …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, RedState, Talking Points Memo, Althouse, Business Insider, TheBlaze and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Jessica Schneider / CNN:
DOJ demands Facebook information from ‘anti-administration activists’

Discussion: Splinter, Shakesville, Engadget and Joe.My.God., more at Mediagazer »

CBS News:

U.S. plans major withdrawal of staff from embassy in Cuba — Two sources tell CBS News the U.S. is preparing to announce a major withdrawal of staff and family from the U.S. embassy in Cuba in response to attacks targeting diplomats. Only essential personnel will be left.

Discussion: CBS Miami

New York Times:
U.S. to Pull More Diplomats Out of Cuba After Attacks

Discussion: Political Wire

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:

Roy Moore Failed to Disclose Massive Amount of Income on His Senate Ethics Form … Roy Moore, the controversial Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Alabama, neglected to disclose as much as $150,000 in income to federal ethics officials, according to a Daily Beast review of public records.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Talking Points Memo and CNN

Michelle Cottle / The Atlantic:
The Lawlessness of Roy Moore

Discussion: Townhall.com, CNBC and Talking Points Memo

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN: Roy Moore opposed the appointment of an ‘admitted homosexual’ to an ambassadorship in 2006

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Berniecrats Have an Obama Problem — The ideological vanguard of the Bernie Sanders movement emerged from the 2016 election overflowing with dialectical certainty. Hillary Clinton's narrow win in the primary was the last gasp of a dying neoliberal order, the overthrow of which is now preordained.

Chris D'Angelo / HuffPost:

Here's All The Expensive Nonsense Trump's EPA Chief Is Wasting Your Taxes On — That swamp is looking mighty cushy. — Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt — a climate change denier who is pushing for sweeping budget cuts at the agency — apparently has no qualms …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Post, CBS News, The Hill, The Daily Caller and New York Times

Washington Post:

Zinke took $12,000 charter flight home in oil executive's plane, documents show — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke chartered a flight from Las Vegas to near his home in Montana this summer aboard a plane owned by oil-and-gas executives, internal documents show.

Discussion: IJR

Christopher Hooks / The Texas Observer:

Texas GOP's Favorite Meme-Maker is Now Helping the Far-Right in Germany — On Monday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote about the role played by the Austin-based political consultant Vincent Harris in the recent success of the Alternative für Deutschland party, or AfD, in the German federal election last weekend.

Leif Reigstad / Texas Monthly:
How an Austin Ad Agency Helped the Alt-Right Rise Again in Germany

Discussion: CNNMoney and Raw Story

Scott Allen / Washington Post:

A kid walked into a GameStop wearing a Kaepernick jersey. Two NFL players bought him an Xbox. — Saundra Watts was getting her makeup done in the Dulles 28 Centre in Sterling on Tuesday, killing time while her dog was groomed at Petco, when her 10-year-old grandson, Jaden, came running into the store.

Discussion: The Root, Unfogged, WREG-TV and USA Today

Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:

Some Worry About Judicial Nominee's Ties to a Religious Group — One of President Trump's judicial nominees became something of a hero to religious conservatives after she was grilled at a Senate hearing this month over whether her Roman Catholic faith would influence her decisions on the bench.

Discussion: NewsBusters, LifeNews.com and RedState

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:
New York Times Joins Campaign Against Catholic Judicial Nominee

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Jim Treacher / The Daily Caller:

This Is My Last Blog Post At The Daily Caller Dot Com — Not a Rickroll, honest. — Looks like this is it. I've been blogging here at the Daily Caller since the site launched, all the way back on January 11, 2010. But now it's time for me to go. — Daily blogging can be a fun job, but it can also be a grind.

Ben Strauss / Politico:

‘This Is Bad for America, But Great for Us’ — “Is ‘tank’ too strong a word?” Clay Travis asked gleefully, tapping out a tweet to his nearly 500,000 followers. It wasn't, he decided, and he hit send: “NFL ratings tank as Trump feuds with NFL protesters, ESPN subscribers plummet.”

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Awful Announcing and FOX Sports Radio