memeorandum: In Olympics, let's focus on the winner of the race — not the race of the winner (John Moody/Fox News)

3:30 PM ET, February 9, 2018

Top Items:

CNN:

Trump frustrated with Hicks' role in Porter scandal — Porter's ex-wife: I don't think he's changed — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Hope Hicks, his communications director and one of his closest confidantes, amid the fallout from the Rob Porter scandal …

Discussion: Vox, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Mediaite, Political Wire, KTLA, The Daily Caller, Eschaton, JONATHAN TURLEY and The Guardian

Washington Post:

Kelly offers account of Porter exit that some White House aides consider untrue … White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly on Friday morning instructed senior staff to communicate a version of events about the departure of staff secretary Rob Porter that contradicts the administration's previous accounts …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, JONATHAN TURLEY, Splinter, Raw Story, Political Wire, The Week and Shareblue Media

Washington Post:

Dozens at White House lack permanent security clearances … Dozens of White House employees are awaiting permanent security clearances and have been working for months with temporary approvals to handle sensitive information while the FBI continues to probe their backgrounds, according to U.S. officials.

Discussion: emptywheel and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Jane Coaston / Vox:

The White House had to protect Rob Porter to save Donald Trump — Supporting an alleged domestic abuser is about supporting Trump. — White House counsel Don McGahn knew a year ago that Rob Porter's two former wives were preparing to testify to the FBI that he had abused them.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, RedState, The Week, Business Insider, Commentary Magazine, Daily Mail, Mediaite, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress and CNN

New York Times:

Unwelcome Attention for John Kelly, the Man Enlisted to Bring Calm — WASHINGTON — Among the many people agitated this week over John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, was President Trump. And among the people the president called to express dissatisfaction, according to those close to him …

Discussion: Vox, USA Today, Mother Jones, Washington Post, CNBC, Talking Points Memo, Salon, ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo, Taylor Marsh, Joe.My.God., CBS News, Politico, Weekly Standard, The Week, NBC News, Mediaite and Axios

Helena Andrews-Dyer / Washington Post:
Omarosa says she wouldn't vote for Trump again ‘in a million years’

Discussion: Washington Times

Washington Post:
Top White House officials knew of abuse allegations against top aide for months

The Daily Beast:
Trump White House Fingered Corey Lewandowski in Rob Porter ‘Smear Campaign’

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
John Kelly crisis engulfs the West Wing

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, National Review, NBC News, No More Mister Nice Blog, Raw Story and The Week

Eliana Johnson / Politico:
Kelly knew before abuse reports that Porter would be denied security clearance

Discussion: CNN, Vox, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Washington Free Beacon, The Week, New York Times, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo and Associated Press

Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
Trump on Rob Porter: ‘We wish him well ... He did a good job’

Discussion: Mother Jones, AOL, Daily Kos, The Week and thecut

Erin Gloria Ryan / The Daily Beast: Why the Hell Is Hope Hicks Getting Off Easy?

Nicole Lafond / Talking Points Memo:
CNN: Trump Unhappy With Hicks And Handling Of Porter Response

Discussion: CNN, Breitbart, TVNewser, Axios and The Guardian

Washington Post:

Breaking with tradition, Trump skips president's written intelligence report and relies on oral briefings … For much of the past year, President Trump has declined to participate in a practice followed by the past seven of his predecessors: He rarely if ever reads the President's Daily Brief …

Discussion: Business Insider, Axios, ThinkProgress, Splinter, VICE News, Joe.My.God., The Week, New York Magazine, Raw Story, Mediaite, Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

Nicole Lafond / Talking Points Memo:
WaPo: Trump Has Intel Officials Present Daily Briefing Rather Than Reading It

Discussion: Washington Post

Michael Lewis / Bloomberg:

Has Anyone Seen the President? — Michael Lewis goes to Washington in search of Trump and winds up watching the State of the Union with Steve Bannon. — Back when he was president, Barack Obama told me that only two people treated any interaction with him as a zero-sum game.

Discussion: CNBC

Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:

Fox News Removes Exec's “Darker, Gayer” Olympics Column After Uproar — Three gay rights organizations had criticized the piece. — Fox News has removed an online column by executive vp and executive editor John Moody following intense criticism online and from gay rights activists, who roundly attacked the piece.

Discussion: Washington Blade, Mediaite and Joe.My.God., more at Mediagazer »

John Moody / Fox News:

In Olympics, let's focus on the winner of the race — not the race of the winner — Unless it's changed overnight, the motto of the Olympics, since 1894, has been “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” It appears the U.S. Olympic Committee would like to change that to “Darker, Gayer, Different.”

Discussion: Breitbart, CNNMoney, Boing Boing, Shareblue Media, NPR, Mediaite, LGBTQ Nation, ThinkProgress, theGrio, The Week, Sarah Palin, Media Matters for America, Hullabaloo, AOL and Washington Monthly

Nicole Lafond / Talking Points Memo: ‘Zero Editorial Oversight’: Fox Yanks Editor's Offensive Olympics Column

Jonathan M. Winer / Washington Post:

Devin Nunes is investigating me. Here's the truth. — Jonathan M. Winer, a Washington lawyer and consultant, is a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement and former special envoy for Libya. — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Bloomberg, Raw Story, bizpacreview.com and The Daily Caller

Ed Henry / Fox News:
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner texted with Russian oligarch lobbyist in effort to contact dossier author Christopher Steele

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
Who Is Christopher Steele?

Discussion: The Rush Limbaugh Show

Maya Rao / Star Tribune:

U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan won't run for re-election in 8th District — The Democratic congressman from northern Minnesota said it's time ‘to pass the baton.’ — U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan said Friday that he will not run for re-election when his term ends in 2018. — “Now is the time for me to pass …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Washington Free Beacon

Steven Shepard / Politico:
Minnesota Rep. Nolan won't run for reelection

Discussion: The Week and Roll Call

Brian Bakst / mprnews.org:
MN Rep. Nolan says he won't seek re-election to Congress

Discussion: Axios

Sam Levin / The Guardian:

California police worked with neo-Nazis to pursue ‘anti-racist’ activists, documents show — Officers expressed sympathy with white supremacists and sought their help to target counter protesters after a violent 2016 rally, according to court documents

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Common Dreams, Shakesville, Splinter, Raw Story, The Week and theGrio

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

The dumbest shutdown ever — Rand Paul and Nancy Pelosi have virtually nothing in common. But on Thursday night, the conservative Kentucky firebrand and San Francisco Democratic leader teamed up to push Washington into what Capitol Hill dwellers are calling the dumbest shutdown fight ever.

Discussion: New York Magazine, ABC News, Sarah Palin, Hit & Run, Business Insider, Splinter, The Daily Caller and Roll Call

CNN:
Federal government shuts down as Rand Paul holds up key vote

Jennifer Wadsworth / San Jose Inside:

Bay Area News Group Hammered by More Layoffs, Resignations — Bay Area News Group—the Digital First Media chain that includes the Mercury News and several South Bay community newspapers—went through yet another downsizing this week. More than two-dozen journalists and support staff lost …

CBS San Francisco:
San Francisco Bay Area Experiences Mass Exodus Of Residents

Discussion: The Rush Limbaugh Show

Heidi Przybyla / NBC News:

Sen. Tim Kaine demands release of secret Trump war powers memo — WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine is demanding the release of a secret memo outlining President Trump's interpretation of his legal authority to wage war. — Kaine, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees …

Discussion: Roll Call, Common Dreams, Shakesville, Raw Story and RedState

David Mack / BuzzFeed:

This Student Failed Her Assignment Because Her Professor Said “Australia Isn't A Country” — This is Ashley Arnold, a 27-year-old resident of Idaho Falls, Idaho. She's a stay-at-home mom completing an online sociology degree with Southern New Hampshire University.

Discussion: Hit & Run, The Daily Caller, Boing Boing and VICE

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

Arizona G.O.P. Tiptoes Between a Trump-Loving Base and a Leery Wider Electorate — PHOENIX — Representative Martha McSally of Arizona worked hard to carve out a moderate profile since her election in 2014 to a border district seat that had been held for decades by paragons of centrism from both political parties.

Laura Stevens / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon to Launch Delivery Service That Would Vie With FedEx, UPS — The company is preparing to begin the offering in Los Angeles with its ‘third-party merchants’ and then roll it out more broadly — Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -4.68% is preparing to launch a delivery service for businesses …

Discussion: The Verge, Bloomberg, GeekWire, The Daily Caller, Investor's Business Daily, BloombergQuint, Mashable, AOL, The Week and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Rose Hackman / The Guardian:

The Michigan town where only Christians are allowed to buy houses — Bay View is for many an idyllic community - but a lawsuit will test its rule that only practicing Christians can own property … Tucked away in Michigan's Lower Peninsula, somewhere along the winding roads that hug Great Lakes shores …

Olivia Messer / The Daily Beast:

High-School Coach ‘Ignored’ Boy's Screams as Teammates Raped Him, Lawsuit Claims … La Vernia, Texas—population 1,200—has struggled to emerge from a cloud that covered the sports-obsessed town after rape allegations involving its most gifted athletes went public almost one year ago.

Discussion: San Antonio Express-News and Raw Story

Andrew Sullivan / New York Magazine:

We All Live on Campus Now — Over the last year, the most common rebuttal to my intermittent coverage of campus culture has been: Why does it matter? These are students, after all. They'll grow up once they leave their cloistered, neo-Marxist safe spaces. The real world isn't like that.

Fareed Zakaria / Washington Post:

Give South Korea a gold medal — As the world's attention turns briefly away from President Trump and toward the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, it's worth focusing not just on the sports but also on this year's host country. South Korea is, in some senses, the most successful nation in the world …

Discussion: Vox