memeorandum: Hillary Clinton's Russian Ghost Stories (J. Michael Waller/The Daily Caller)

4:10 PM ET, October 20, 2017

Top Items:

Larry Barszewski / Sun-Sentinel:

Full video of Frederica Wilson's 2015 FBI speech shows John Kelly got it wrong — A South Florida Sun Sentinel video from 2015 shows the full speech of Congresswoman Frederica Wilson at the dedication ceremony of a new FBI building in Miramar, Florida, named for two slain FBI agents.

Masha Gessen / New Yorker:

John Kelly and the Language of the Military Coup — Consider this nightmare scenario: a military coup. You don't have to strain your imagination—all you have to do is watch Thursday's White House press briefing, in which the chief of staff, John Kelly, defended President Trump's phone call to a military widow, Myeshia Johnson.

Discussion: Washington Post, Just Security, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, US News, Washington Free Beacon, twitchy.com, Talking Points Memo and The Ringer

miamiherald:

In attack on Frederica Wilson over Trump's call to widow, John Kelly gets facts wrong — WASHINGTON — When White House Chief of Staff John Kelly condemned a Miami congresswoman on Thursday for sneering at President Donald Trump's condolence call to a soldier's widow …

MSNBC:

Lawrence: ‘Stunned’ by John Kelly's attack on Rep. Wilson — While defending President Donald Trump's “brave” condolence call to a Gold Star family, Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly attacked Rep. Frederica Wilson, calling her an “empty barrel.” Lawrence O'Donnell explains why Kelly was noble and cruel all at once. ...

Discussion: Fox News, bizpacreview.com, The Daily Caller, IJR, Washington Post and Shakesville

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

There is a transcript of Trump's controversial call to Sgt. Johnson's widow, Lara Trump reveals — The president's daughter-in-law has read it, for some reason, while the general public has not. — Is Congresswoman Frederica Wilson lying about the President Trump's call to Sgt. La David T. Johnson's widow, Myeshia Johnson?

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Raw Story, Washington Times, Daily Kos, Associated Press, Washington Post, IJR, USA Today, CBS Miami and The Last Tradition

Dan Merica / CNN:
A timeline of the White House after the Niger raid

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Daily Kos, KTLA, The American Conservative, Daily Wire and The Hill

Daniella Diaz / CNN:
Rep. Frederica Wilson: Kelly lied about FBI ceremony

Discussion: Washington Post, Business Insider, IJR, The Root, NewsBusters, Shareblue Media, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, The Atlantic and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
Kelly erroneously claimed congresswoman took credit for building funding, video shows

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox, Talking Points Memo, Fox News Insider, American Greatness, IJR, The Guardian, Raw Story, RedState, Shareblue Media, The Federalist, Mediaite, Joe.My.God. and JustOneMinute

Joy-Ann Reid / The Daily Beast:
Frederica Wilson vs. Trump and Now John Kelly? Easy—Go With Wilson

Discussion: Raw Story and American Prospect

Dara Lind / Vox: John Kelly has become a field commander in Trump's culture war

Brandon Carter / The Hill:
Trump attacks on generals resurface after White House says it's ‘inappropriate’ to question generals

Discussion: Raw Story and Joe.My.God.

Peter Beinart / The Atlantic:
Why Trump Can't Handle the Cost of War

Discussion: Sputnik International

Jessica Chia / New York Daily News:

Protester hugs Nazi outside Richard Spencer talk, asks ‘Why do you hate me?’ — The man who hugged a Nazi outside Richard Spencer's speech at the University of Florida on Thursday said, “I could have hit him, I could have hurt him ... but something in me said, ‘You know what? He just needs love.’”

Discussion: WGN-TV, TheBlaze, Raw Story, Althouse, The Root and IJR

Deborah Strange / Gainesville Sun:

Three charged in shooting after Spencer talk — Three supporters of white nationalist Richard Spencer were arrested Thursday in connection with an incident in which a shot was fired. — Three supporters of white nationalist Richard Spencer were arrested Thursday in connection with an incident …

Discussion: Washington Post, miamiherald and Talking Points Memo

Facebook:
3 ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING AFTER RICHARD SPENCER SPEECH

Discussion: Slate, ThinkProgress, Raw Story, Deadspin and WTVR-TV

Geoff Ziezulewicz / Military Times:

FAKER! Man admits he lied to Fox News about Navy SEAL service … Navy veteran John Garofalo appeared on a Fox News segment this month, showing off a massive presidential seal he carved for President Trump while receiving praise for his service in Vietnam as a SEAL.

Discussion: The Root, Task & Purpose, Mashable, Raw Story, Mediaite and Media Matters for America

Travis M. Andrews / Washington Post:

Retired ‘Navy SEAL’ praising Trump on Fox News was a fake — Fox News ran a story on Oct. 8 about a decorated Vietnam War Navy SEAL and glass artist who created an enormous presidential glass seal he hoped to give to President Trump. On Thursday, 11 days later, the network retracted the story …

Discussion: Shareblue Media and Talking Points Memo

Fox News:
Correction: Veteran, glass artist falsified his military record

Discussion: Business Insider, Deadline, AOL and Joe.My.God.

Sarah Karlin-Smith / Politico:

Blindsided Trump officials scrambling to develop opioid plan — President Donald Trump overrode his own advisers when he promised to deliver an emergency declaration next week to combat the nation's worsening opioid crisis. — “That is a very, very big statement,” he said Monday.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Magazine, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, The Crime Report, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Axios, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Emily Smith / Page Six:

Harvey Weinstein doesn't seem to be taking sex rehab seriously — MORE FROM: … Harvey Weinstein is already being belligerent at sex addiction rehab — barking into his banned mobile phone and remaining in denial about his alleged sex attacks, insisting each and every one was consensual, Page Six has exclusively learned.

Discussion: Althouse, The Daily Caller, IJR and Daily Wire

Lupita Nyong'o / New York Times:
Speaking Out About Harvey Weinstein

Discussion: CityNews Toronto, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, CW39 NewsFix, NBC News, Shakesville, Decider, Althouse, Gothamist, IndieWire, AOL, The Verge, ABC News, Mediaite, Page Six, Mashable and The FADER

Greg Miller / Washington Post:

CIA director distorts intelligence community's findings on Russian interference — (REUTERS/YURI GRIPAS) (Yuri Gripas/Reuters) — CIA Director Mike Pompeo declared Thursday that U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Russia's interference in the 2016 American presidential election …

Discussion: The Hill, Hullabaloo, Last Men and OverMen, RedState, Axios and Balloon Juice

Wall Street Journal:

How the GOP Tax Bill Could Squeeze Your 401(k) — Talk of limiting the amount of retirement money that people can save before taxes is worrying the financial industry — Proposals floating around Washington to cap the amount that Americans can contribute before taxes to 401(k) …

Discussion: RedState, The First Street Journal, Business Insider and National Review

Max Blau / STAT:

Georgia lawmaker, wife of Tom Price, suggests people with HIV could be quarantined — TLANTA — A Georgia state lawmaker — the wife of former Trump health secretary Tom Price — is drawing condemnation for suggesting that people with HIV might be quarantined to curb the spread of the infectious disease.

Discussion: Political Wire

Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:

How People Inside Facebook Are Reacting To The Company's Election Crisis — In the summer of 2015, a Facebook engineer was combing through the company's internal data when he noticed something unusual. He was searching to determine which websites received the most referral traffic from its billion-plus users.

more at Mediagazer »

Kyle Swenson / Washington Post:

Federal judge refuses to erase Joe Arpaio's conviction despite Trump pardon — A federal judge on Thursday shot down former sheriff Joe Arpaio's bid to sweep his criminal record clean. — Arpaio, the controversial former lawman in Arizona's Maricopa County, was granted a pardon by President Trump on Aug. 25.

Discussion: NPR, RedState, Just Security, New York Magazine and Political Wire

Thomas Johnson / Washington Post:

Listen: Soldier's widow shares her call with Trump — Natasha De Alencar had just returned home on April 12 after making T-shirts and pillowcases in her husband's memory when the Army casualty assistance officer told her there was someone on the phone for her. It was President Trump.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, bizpacreview.com, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon, Business Insider and The Resurgent

Maya Salam / New York Times:

Playboy to Feature Its First Transgender Playmate — For the first time in its 64-year history, Playboy magazine will feature a transgender Playmate, a decision that Cooper Hefner, a top executive at the magazine, said on Thursday was in keeping with its founding mission of embracing changing attitudes about sex.

Discussion: bizpacreview.com, LAist, Full Feed, CBS Baltimore, ABC News, FOX6Now.com, Washington Blade, The Daily Caller, Althouse, NewsBusters and Playboy

Nick Green / Daily Breeze:

Congressional candidate Omar Navarro on probation for illegal use of tracking device — Omar Navarro, a fringe GOP activist in the South Bay making his second bid to unseat entrenched Rep. Maxine Waters, is on probation until March for a criminal conviction stemming from his use …

John Bowden / The Hill:

Putin calls on Americans to respect Trump — Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Americans to show more respect for their president in response to a question posed to him at the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia, on Thursday. — In his remarks, Putin called …

Discussion: IJR and Joe.My.God.

TheLancet.com:

The Lancet Commission on pollution and health — Executive Summary — For decades, pollution and its harmful effects on people's health, the environment, and the planet have been neglected both by Governments and the international development agenda. Yet, pollution is the largest environmental cause …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Guardian, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, IJR, France 24, WTVR-TV, KTLA and NPR

Leigh Ann Caldwell / NBC News:

Speaker Paul Ryan Roasts President Trump at Al Smith Dinner — House Speaker Paul Ryan opened his speech at the Al Smith Dinner in New York City with a joke about President Donald Trump. — “Please, enough. You sound like the Cabinet when Donald Trump walks into the room,” …

Discussion: Business Insider, Shakesville, IJR and Mashable

David Bauder / Associated Press:

Fox's Wallace doesn't like colleagues echoing press attacks — https://apnews.com/a62a3f1c34a74169b460 01b717fbe683 — Link copied! — NEW YORK (AP) — Sunday host Chris Wallace generally lives in peaceful co-existence with Fox News Channel's opinion folks, except when he hears …

Discussion: RedState, Daily Kos, Mediaite, TVNewser and Media Matters for America

Amanda Becker / Reuters:

Trump tax cut plan gains momentum after budget vote — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's tax reform plans won partial support on Friday when Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul said he was “all in” for massive tax cuts, but the party was still far from united over how to achieve the main item on its domestic agenda.

Zac Auter / Gallup:

U.S. Uninsured Rate Rises to 12.3% in Third Quarter — WASHINGTON, D.C. — The percentage of U.S. adults lacking health insurance rose in the third quarter of 2017 to 12.3%, up 0.6 percentage points from the previous quarter and 1.4 points since the end of 2016.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNBC, Business Insider, Axios and Daily Kos

Mark Hemingway / Weekly Standard:

There's an Awakening Against Sexual Assault, So Why Is No One Talking About Bill Clinton? — Axios has put together this nifty series of charts detailing the timeline of sexual assault charges against Harvey Weinstein, Bill O'Reilly, Roger Ailes, Donald Trump, and Bill Cosby.

Discussion: Axios

Wall Street Journal:

Death of U.S. Soldiers in Niger Sparks FBI Probe, Criticism — Agency's role comes as lawmakers criticize White House and Pentagon over incident early this month — The Federal Bureau of Investigation has joined the investigation into how a group of militants thought to be Islamists killed …

Discussion: Axios, Politico, The Daily Caller, CBS Miami, Defense One, Just Security, Business Insider and CNN

Rebecca Black / NBC News:

Rebecca BlackWhat I Learned from Being a Target of Internet Hate at Age 13 — I was skipping my way through the minefield of early adolescence, experiencing the same low-grade bullying that most kids do, when I recorded a music video during a school break, just to help me gain some experience and have some fun.