memeorandum: Stevie Wonder sings to the heavens, and then takes a knee, at F1 concert finale (Peter Blackstock/Austin Music Source)

6:50 PM ET, October 24, 2017

Top Items:

Arizona's Jeff Flake announces he will not seek re-election to U.S. Senate … Condemning the nastiness of Republican politics in the era of President Trump, Sen. Jeff Flake on Tuesday announced he will serve out the remainder of his term but will not seek re-election in 2018.

CNN:

Jeff Flake's full speech announcing he won't run for re-election — Mr. President, I rise today to address a matter that has been much on my mind, at a moment when it seems that our democracy is more defined by our discord and our dysfunction than it is by our values and our principles.

Discussion: Political Wire, Daily Kos, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Balloon Juice

Hot Air:

Trump Takeover Complete: Jeff Flake Not Running For Reelection; Update: “Mr President, I Rise To Say ‘enough’” — In the end he had two choices. One: Brace himself for a war in the Republican primary with the Bannon-backed Kelli Ward that he'd be lucky to survive, only to then have to fight another war …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Breitbart, Weekly Standard, Vox, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Shareblue Media and Mashable

New York Times:

Full Transcript: Jeff Flake's Speech on the Senate Floor — Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, announced on Tuesday that he would not seek re-election in 2018. He delivered a statement from the Senate floor. — The following is a full transcript of those remarks, as prepared by The New York Times.

Erica Pandey / Axios:

Sanders criticizes “petty” Flake, Corker — Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Sen. Jeff Flake's decision not to run for re-election is “probably a good move,” and that Sen. Bob Corker is “to get a headline or two on his way out the door.” She referred to both men as “petty,” and said they were “grandstanding.”

Discussion: Politico and ABC News

Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Flake announces retirement as he denounces Trump

Discussion: Vox, Axios and CBS Philly

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:
Republicans Need a Better Response Besides Quitting

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, Hit & Run, CNBC, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit and Hullabaloo

Max Greenwood / The Hill: Corker: Flake stands up against ‘demagogues’

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Reality check on Flake's retirement

Discussion: Associated Press

Ella Nilsen / Vox:
“None of this is normal”: read the full transcript of Sen. Jeff Flake's blistering retirement speech

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Steven Nelson / Washington Examiner:
Joe Arpaio still considering Arizona Senate run, says he met Steve Bannon twice

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:

Small Montana firm lands Puerto Rico's biggest contract to get the power back on — For the sprawling effort to restore Puerto Rico's crippled electrical grid, the territory's state-owned utility has turned to a two-year-old company from Montana that had just two full-time employees on the day Hurricane Maria made landfall.

Discussion: New York Post, PRI, NPR, New York Magazine, The Verge, Daily Kos, Axios, Eschaton and Vox

Ken Klippenstein / The Daily Beast:

$300m Puerto Rico Recovery Contract Awarded to Tiny Utility Company Linked to Major Trump Donor … Puerto Rico has agreed to pay a reported $300 million for the restoration of its power grid to a tiny utility company that is primarily financed by a private-equity firm founded and run by a man …

Discussion: Washington Post, Slate, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Lawyers, Guns & Money, ThinkProgress and Talking Points Memo

The Daily Beast:

GOP Leaders Refusing To Pay For Dana Rohrabacher's Travel Over Russia Fears … House Republican leaders have taken the extraordinary step of curtailing Rep. Dana Rohrabacher's (R-CA) ability to conduct official business out of fear that he is too compromised by his ties to Russia.

Discussion: Fox News, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Andrew Desiderio / The Daily Beast:
Congress: Trump Won't Implement Russia Sanctions—and He Won't Tell Us Why

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Maegan Vazquez / CNN:

Trump-Corker feud explodes ahead of critical Hill visit — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)The ongoing public feud between Sen. Bob Corker and President Donald Trump exploded Tuesday ahead of the President's high-stakes visit to Capitol Hill for tax negotiations …

Meghan Keneally / ABC News:
Protester throws Russian flags at President Donald Trump ahead of Capitol Hill lunch

Discussion: Politico and Axios

Elana Schor / Politico:
Trump tries to rally Senate Republicans after reigniting civil war

Discussion: Axios, Vox, ABC News, Little Green Footballs and Business Insider

Chris Cillizza / CNN: Donald Trump has now personally attacked 1 in 5 Republican senators

Michael Calderone / Politico:

Leon Wieseltier's new publication ended over ‘past inappropriate workplace conduct’ — Emerson Collective has severed ties with former New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier after learning of “past inappropriate workplace conduct,” the company said in a statement.

more at Mediagazer »

Jennifer Schuessler / New York Times:

Leon Wieseltier Admits ‘Offenses’ Against Female Colleagues as New Magazine Is Killed — Leon Wieseltier, a prominent editor at The New Republic for three decades who was preparing to debut a magazine this fall, apologized on Tuesday for “offenses against some of my colleagues in the past” …

Rachael Bade / Politico:

House GOP opens probe into DOJ's Clinton investigation — Two powerful House Republican chairmen announced Tuesday that they would jointly investigate the Justice Department's handling of its 2016 Hillary Clinton investigation — a potential counter-punch to the FBI probe …

Discussion: Political Wire

Erin Kelly / USA Today: House Republicans launch two new investigations tied to Hillary Clinton

Detroit Free Press:

Kid Rock: Of course I'm not running for Senate … CONNECT — Mocking people who took the idea seriously, Kid Rock said this morning he's not running for U.S. Senate. — “F— no, I'm not running for Senate. Are you kidding me?” Rock said on Howard Stern's SiriusXM show. “Who couldn't figure that out?

Discussion: The Atlantic, Washington Monthly, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Booman Tribune, The Gateway Pundit, Joe.My.God., Radio.com, RedState, Washington Free Beacon, The Republic, Politico, Washington Post, New York Magazine, IJR, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Hollywood Reporter:

Bill O'Reilly Dropped by Talent Agency After $32M Settlement Reveal (Exclusive) — The former Fox News anchor's relationship with UTA has been severed following a report last weekend about a massive settlement he paid out. — Bill O'Reilly is no longer a client of the talent agency UTA, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Discussion: CNNMoney, Raw Story, Washington Free Beacon, IJR and Mediaite

Ben Riley-Smith / Telegraph:

Exclusive: Terry Richardson banned from working with Vogue and other leading mags, leaked email shows — Terry Richardson, the fashion photographer, has been barred from working with some of the world's bestselling magazines, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Discussion: The Guardian, New York Post, Highsnobiety, Washington Post, IJR, Refinery29 and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Alex Thompson / VICE News:

Exclusive: Zuckerberg group to spend $45 million on political causes — Mark Zuckerberg's listening tour of the United States, he insists, is not a political campaign. But while “Zuck 2020” may not be happening, the 33-year-old Facebook co-founder is planning to influence American politics for generations to come.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Verge, Mashable and AOL

Washington Post:

A black man is charged in racist graffiti incidents that shook Mich. campus, drew national attention — Last fall and in the spring, the otherwise quiet campus of Eastern Michigan University was hit by three ugly incidents of vandalism targeting blacks. — The first came in September …

Discussion: today.emich.edu, The Root, Power Line, The Ticker and The Daily Caller

Karl Mathiesen / Climate Home:

Jerry Brown: ‘California will sue Trump over climate’ — Governor says state will use the courts to block the erosion of US climate actions, 'just like the Republicans tried to block Obama's efforts' — California governor Jerry Brown said on Tuesday that his state would fight Donald Trump's erosion …

Discussion: Reuters, Salon, Mother Jones, The Daily Signal, The Daily Caller and Politicus USA

Cameron Joseph / Talking Points Memo:

Roy Moore: Supreme Court Gay Marriage Ruling Was ‘Worse’ Than Upholding Slavery In Dred Scott — Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore said late last year that the Supreme Court's decision legalizing gay marriage was “even worse” than the notorious 1857 Dred Scott ruling that upheld slavery.

Discussion: Washington Post, Ted Cruz for Senate, BuzzFeed, Towleroad and rubber hose

Pew Research Center:

Political Typology Reveals Deep Fissures on the Right and Left — Conservative Republican groups divided on immigration, ‘openness’ — Nearly a year after Donald Trump was elected president, the Republican coalition is deeply divided on such major issues as immigration …

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico and NPR

Victor Davis Hanson / National Review:

The ‘Never Trump’ Construct — The president's fiercest critics still do not grasp that Trump is a symptom, not the cause of the GOP's internal strife. — For all the talk of a Civil War in the Republican party over Donald Trump, 90 percent of Republicans ended up voting for him.

Discussion: Power Line and The Rush Limbaugh Show

Joe Schoffstall / Washington Free Beacon:

Hillary Clinton's Top Aides Still Being Paid by Campaign Nearly One Year After Defeat — Most have remained by Clinton's side post-election — A number of longtime aides to failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton are still being paid from her campaign committee nearly …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, IJR and Washington Times

Cosmopolitan:

Maybe Don't Dress Your Kid Up As Moana This Halloween? — It's on you to teach your kid not to be racially insensitive. — It's mid-October, which means Halloween is just two weeks away, which means it's way past time to decide on a — Halloween costume — for your kid.

Discussion: RedState, Hit & Run, TheBlaze, National Review and Raw Story

Viviana Andazola Marquez / New York Times:

I Accidentally Turned My Dad In to Immigration Services — This month my father and I drove to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Centennial, Colo., for a routine visit. I offered to drive because my dad was too nervous and excited to take the wheel.

Discussion: Daily Kos, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Daily Caller

Bruce Falck / Twitter:

New Transparency For Ads on Twitter — Today, we're announcing steps to dramatically increase transparency for all ads on Twitter, including political ads and issue-based ads. We will also be improving controls for our customers and adopting stricter advertising policies.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, VICE News and Washington Free Beacon, more at Mediagazer »

Patricia Murphy / Roll Call:

Opinion: Avoiding Another ‘Brownbackistan’ — Tax cuts in Kansas led to an economic train wreck — Opinion: The Women in Washington Staying for the Fight Opinion: Bob Corker and the Chairmen Who Hold Trump's Fate in Their Hands Opinion: More Shootings, No Difference

Don Lemon / CNN:

Don Lemon's open letter to Trump: ‘Please stop!’ — (CNN)Dear Mr. President, — I've interviewed you multiple times. — You've introduced me to your family. — You've also criticized me publicly ... both in front of cameras and on Twitter. — Calling me “hateful,” “dumb,” a “lightweight.”