memeorandum: Back on the trail, Biden's message rankles the left (David Weigel/Washington Post)

9:15 PM ET, October 6, 2017

Top Items:

Kaili Joy Gray / Shareblue:

Watch: Sarah Huckabee Sanders callously laughs at women who will lose their birth control — Donald Trump has utterly failed to deliver on his threat to repeal Obamacare and harm the millions of men and women who have health care because of it. So he's going to punish women directly instead.

Discussion: his vorpal sword

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Trump: 'You'll find out' what ‘calm before the storm’ means … President Trump on Friday kept the public wondering about his cryptic warning regarding a “calm before the storm.” — “You'll find out,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked what he meant by his comment.

Discussion: RedState and Politico

Chris Cillizza / CNN:
Donald Trump is treating a potential war like a reality show cliffhanger

Discussion: Vox, The Daily Caller, The Root and WTVR-TV

Dexter Filkins / New Yorker:

Rex Tillerson at the Breaking Point — Will Donald Trump let the Secretary of State do his job? — One afternoon in late September, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called a meeting of the six countries that came together in 2015 to limit Iran's nuclear-weapons program.

Discussion: Business Insider and Raw Story

Bari Weiss / New York Times:

Will Liberals Give Weinstein the O'Reilly Treatment? — I'll never forget the one time I laid eyes on Harvey Weinstein outside the pages of Vanity Fair. It was at a movie premiere in Manhattan in 2014. My sister and I got up before the film started for a pre-emptive bathroom run.

Discussion: Variety, Business Insider, Washington Post, SARAH PALIN, Washington Free Beacon, The Guardian, Splinter, NewsBusters, IJR, The Daily Caller and Axios, more at Mediagazer »

Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Hillary supporter Harvey Weinstein thinks a ‘right wing conspiracy out to get me’ is reason he has been revealed as serial sexual harasser — Harvey Weinstein believes the revelations of inappropriate sexual behaviour against him are part of a right-wing ‘conspiracy’ to take him down

Discussion: The Wrap, The Daily Beast, neo-neocon, The Last Refuge, RedState, twitchy.com, IJR, Daily Wire and thecut, more at Mediagazer »

Marlow Stern / The Daily Beast:
Late-Night Comedy Shows Avoid Harvey Weinstein Allegations... for Now

Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:
Harvey Weinstein and that ‘different time’ when hostile workplaces were totally okay

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Daily Caller, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Vox, Conservative News Today, TheBlaze, The Week, Mediaite and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Stephen Young / Dallas Observer:

Meet the Dallas Bartender Who Kicked Milo Yiannopoulos and Some Neo-Nazis Out of Her Bar … One night last spring, infamous right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and Dallas' homegrown white nationalist, Richard Spencer, walked into a karaoke bar on Abrams Road in Lake Highlands.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Splinter, The Stranger …, IndieWire, Business Insider, New York Magazine, IJR, Mashable, ThinkProgress, The FADER, Media Matters for America, AOL, Balloon Juice and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Martin Longman / Washington Monthly:
Bannon and Breitbart's Nazi Ties

Discussion: The Guardian, Washington Post, Dispatches From the …, New York Magazine, Reveal and Right Wing Watch

Ezra Klein / Vox:
Harvey Weinstein, Milo Yiannopoulos, and the era of unleashing

Discussion: New York Times, Slate and thecut

NBC News:

Investigators Probing Whether Others Were in Las Vegas Gunman's Suite — Investigators are trying to determine whether someone else was in the Las Vegas gunman's hotel room when he was registered there, senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation told NBC News.

Discussion: Raw Story, Los Angeles Times, Patterico's Pontifications, Doug Ross, NBC News, Blue Lives Matter, Business Insider, AOL, TheBlaze, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Instapundit, The Week, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, IJR and Daily Wire

CNN:
Las Vegas shooter took 20 cruises, some to foreign ports

Discussion: Geller Report, The Daily Caller and Daily Wire

Euan McKirdy / CNN:
Official: Las Vegas shooter tried to buy tracer rounds before massacre

Discussion: fox13now.com, WTVR-TV, Q13 FOX News, Conservative News Today, New York Times, FOX6Now.com and Townhall.com

BuzzFeed:

Jeff Sessions Just Issued New Guidance On Protecting “Religious Liberty” — The attorney general issued the guidance Friday. Critics have feared the policy may provide a loophole for discrimination. — Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructed federal agencies and attorneys on Friday …

Discussion: ABC News, Human Rights Campaign, Hit & Run, Media Matters for America, GLAAD, Towleroad, The Daily Signal, Common Dreams, Mashable and Daily Kos

Washington Post:
Civil liberties groups decry Sessions's guidance on religious freedom

Discussion: Hit & Run, The Atlantic, Right Wing Watch, Washington Free Beacon, FiveThirtyEight, New York Times and LifeNews.com

David Weigel / Washington Post:

Back on the trail, Biden's message rankles the left — Former vice president Joe Biden returned to national politics Tuesday during an afternoon rally in Alabama for Democratic Senate nominee Doug Jones, and his speech was a striking departure from his party's current tone.

Discussion: New Republic and twitchy.com

Sarah Kliff / Vox:

Trump just officially made it easier for employers to stop covering birth control — The new rules let big companies end contraceptive coverage — and take effect immediately. — The Trump administration is relaxing an Obama-era requirement that nearly all employers offer health insurance …

Discussion: ABC News, NPR, ThinkProgress, BuzzFeed, Politico, Federal Register, The Root, The Daily Signal, CNBC, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Axios, Common Dreams and The Atlantic

Washington Post:
Trump administration narrows Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate

Discussion: IJR, Hit & Run, Business Insider, AOL, Romper, LifeNews.com, Mashable, Conservative News Today, Refinery29, Common Dreams and Townhall.com

ACLU:
ACLU Filing Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration Contraceptive Coverage Rule

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Mother Jones, NWLC, BostonGlobe.com and Politicus USA

CNN:
Trump administration deals major blow to Obamacare birth control mandate

Discussion: adflegal.org, WTVR-TV, Q13 FOX News, IJR, The Guardian, Friendly Atheist, Daily Wire and The Stranger …

Foreign Policy:

The FBI's New U.S. Terrorist Threat: ‘Black Identity Extremists’ — Law enforcement calls it a violent movement. Critics call it racist. — As white supremacists prepared to descend on Charlottesville, Virginia, in August, the FBI warned about a new movement that was violent, growing, and racially motivated.

Discussion: Virginia Department …, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Splinter, The Root and The Daily Caller

Elana Schor / Politico:

Grassley concerned about FBI use of Trump ‘dossier’ in Russia investigation — Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley on Friday asked the FBI to explain how foreign intelligence sharing has affected its use of an unverified dossier containing salacious allegations about President Donald Trump for its Russia investigation.

Discussion: Raw Story

Ken Dilanian / NBC News: Trump Dossier Author Is in Talks With Senate Intel Committee

BuzzFeed:

US Intelligence Unit Accused Of Illegally Spying On Americans' Financial Records — The Treasury Department's Office of Intelligence and Analysis has been illegally rifling through and filing away the private financial records of US citizens, Treasury employees alleged.

Discussion: Gizmodo, Hit & Run and The Week

Mike Allen / Axios:

Scoop: CIA director Pompeo considered to replace Tillerson — Trump advisers and allies are floating the idea of replacing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, age 53 — someone who's already around the table in the Situation Room, and could make the switch without chaos.

Jenny Beth Martin / The Hill:

Trump should show no mercy in terminating IRS's John Koskinen — BY JENNY BETH MARTIN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 10/05/17 04:40 PM EDT THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL — The swamp grows. — It's so far beyond time for President Trump …

Justice News:

Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces The Court's Unsealing Of Charges Against Three Men Arrested For Participating In International Plot To Carry Out Terrorist Attacks In New York City For Isis In The Summer Of 2016 — The Planned Attacks, Thwarted by Law Enforcement …

Discussion: New York Post, IJR, Geller Report and The Daily Caller

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

Nearly six dozen charter and military flights by Cabinet members, mapped — About a half-dozen members of President Trump's Cabinet, past and present, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on charter jets, military planes and other government aircraft for travel that often could have been undertaken …

Discussion: Raw Story and Mother Jones

Brady Dennis / Washington Post:
EPA inspector general now investigating Pruitt's use of military, private flights

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

AIM will shut down after 20 years — It's a sad moment: AIM, AOL's long-running instant messenger service that was core to many people's first social experiences on the internet, will shut down once and for all on December 15th. AOL announced the shutdown today, acknowledging that people …

Discussion: TechCrunch, AOL INSTANT MESSENGER, The Daily Caller, Q13 FOX News, Boing Boing, thecut, The Week, WPRI-TV, Engadget, The FADER and Romper, more at Techmeme »

Associated Press:

AP-NORC Poll: Just 24 percent say US heading right direction — https://apnews.com/f7d770542f334a218398 b2f9b2ae1102 — Link copied! — WASHINGTON (AP) — Just 24 percent of Americans believe the country is heading in the right direction after a tumultuous stretch for President Donald Trump …

Discussion: The Guardian

Tyisha Fernandes / WSB-TV:

Students given homework assignment to create mascot for Nazi party — GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - Parents are concerned after they say middle school students were asked to create a mascot for the Nazi party as part of a homework assignment. — The assignment was given to sixth grade students at Shiloh Middle School in Snellville.

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Boing Boing, Raw Story and The Root

Hadas Gold / CNNMoney:

Bannon ally wants to turn government media agency into ‘legacy’ for former Trump adviser — Stephen Bannon has left the Trump administration. But he's still having an influence at a government agency many outside of Washington haven't heard of but wields influence around the world: the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Raw Story

Donald J. Trump / The White House:

President Donald J. Trump Proclaims October 9, 2017, as Columbus Day — BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA — Five hundred and twenty-five years ago, Christopher Columbus completed an ambitious and daring voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.

Discussion: Raw Story

ICE:

Statement from ICE Acting Director Tom Homan on California Sanctuary Law — Governor Jerry Brown's decision to sign SB54 and make California a sanctuary state for illegal aliens - including those who have committed crimes - will undermine public safety and hinder ICE from performing its federally mandated mission.

Discussion: Mother Jones, East Bay Times, TheBlaze, IJR, Splinter, CBS Los Angeles and NPR

Sam J. / twitchy.com:

BAKE THE CAKE?! Gay coffee shop owner refuses service to Christians, kicks them out (video) — What happened to bake the cake? Civil rights for these folks? — Or does that not count in this situation? … From theliberator.news: … So much tolerance for Christians, eh? … Bingo.

Discussion: RedState and The Daily Caller

Paul Lewis / The Guardian:

‘Our minds can be hijacked’: the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia — Paul Lewis reports on the Silicon Valley refuseniks who worry the race for human attention has created a world of perpetual distraction that could ultimately end in disaster

Discussion: Shakesville