memeorandum: Russia Appointed Steven Seagal to Improve Relations with America (Emily Zogbi/Newsweek)

11:00 AM ET, August 5, 2018

Top Items:

White Nationalists Love Corey Stewart. He Keeps Them Close. — The Republican nominee for Senate in Virginia likes to engage the racial fringes of his party, creating a dilemma for mainstream G.O.P. leaders wary of his views. — WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Corey Stewart stands at the end …

Washington Post:

Metro no longer considering separate trains for white nationalists attending ‘Unite the Right’ rally — Metro is no longer considering running separate trains for protesters participating in the Aug. 12 “Unite the Right” white nationalists rally in the District, the transit agency's board chairman said Saturday.

Discussion: NBC4 Washington, Outside the Beltway and WTOP

Erin Corbett / Fortune:
Transit Union Refuses to Bring White Nationalists to ‘Unite the Right’ Rally

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway and The Root

Washington Post:

Trump at a precarious moment in his presidency: Privately brooding and publicly roaring — In private, President Trump spent much of the past week brooding, like he often does. He has been anxious about the Russia investigation's widening fallout, with his former campaign chairman now standing trial.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Townhall, emptywheel, Axios, HuffPost, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Mediaite, Washington Times, Hill Reporter, Washington Monthly, Eschaton, TheBlaze and Daily Kos

CNN:

Trump voicing concerns about son being entangled in Mueller probe — (CNN)President Donald Trump is concerned about whether his son Donald Trump Jr. might have exposure in the special counsel's Russia investigation, leading to his increasingly frenzied public agitation over Robert Mueller, sources close to the White House tell CNN.

Discussion: New Republic, HuffPost, Politico, Political Wire, Bloomberg, Axios, The Guardian, BloombergQuint, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon, Shareblue Media and The Week

Emily Zogbi / Newsweek:

Russia Appointed Steven Seagal to Improve Relations with America — Russia's Foreign Ministry has made U.S. actor Steven Seagal its special representative for Russian-U.S. humanitarian ties. The role is meant to deepen cultural, art, and youth ties between the two countries.

Discussion: CNN, Daily Wire, KTLA and Russian Foreign Ministry

Maria Kiselyova / Reuters:

Russia tasks Hollywood actor Seagal with improving U.S. ties — MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday it had made U.S. actor Steven Seagal its special representative for Russian-U.S. humanitarian ties, a role it said was meant to deepen cultural, art and youth ties between the two countries.

Alex Green / Daily Mail:

Venezuelan president survives a drone assassination attempt then claims ex-pats exiled in Florida colluded with Colombia to plot his murder — Seven national guards have been injured in Venezuela after what is believed to have been an assassination attempt on socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

Discussion: Associated Press, ABC, The Gateway Pundit and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

BBC:
Venezuela President Maduro ‘survives drone attack’

Discussion: Conservative News Today, Engadget and The Daily Caller, more at Techmeme »

The Hill:

Melania backs LeBron after Trump insult: He's ‘working to do good things’ — voiced support for LeBron James on Saturday after President Trump — went after the NBA star on Twitter, questioning his intelligence. — A spokeswoman for Melania Trump said in a statement that James is …

Discussion: The Week, DownWithTyranny!, Breitbart, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Caller, No More Mister Nice Blog and Associated Press

Washington Post:
Melania Trump issues statement in support of LeBron James after president insults him

Discussion: Roll Call, Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Political Wire

Washington Post:
Trump criticizes Democrats, ‘Russian witch hunt,’ and coastal elites at Ohio rally

Discussion: Politico, The Week and CNN

New York Times:

The Age That Women Have Babies: How a Gap Divides America — Becoming a mother used to be seen as a unifying milestone for women in the United States. But a new analysis of four decades of births shows that the age that women become mothers varies significantly by geography and education.

Elaine Godfrey / The Atlantic:

The Progressives' Plan to Win in 2018 — NEW ORLEANS - The first Netroots Nation conference in a Trump-era election year opened with not one, not two, but five keynote speakers of color, all of whom underlined the potential of a “multiracial coalition” of voters made up of African Americans …

Martin Chulov / The Guardian:

Hamza bin Laden has married daughter of lead 9/11 hijacker, say family — Exclusive: union confirmed by Osama bin Laden's family during interview with the Guardian — Hamza bin Laden, the son of the late al-Qaida leader, has married the daughter of Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker in the 9/11 terror attacks, according to his family.

Brent D. Griffiths / Politico:

Judge's ruling invalidates FEC regulation allowing anonymous donations to ‘dark money’ groups — A U.S. District Court judge on Friday issued a ruling invalidating a Federal Election Commission regulation that has allowed donors to so-called dark-money groups to remain anonymous …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Axios

Jordan Libowitz / CREW: CREW Scores Major Court Victory Against Dark Money

Joe Scarborough / Washington Post:

The lessons we can still learn from my friend Ron Dellums — The morning after I was first elected to Congress, I flew to Washington hoping to get right to work. The incoming chairman of the Armed Services Committee was one of the few House members on Capitol Hill that morning.

Roey Hadar / ABC News:

4 primaries, Ohio special election promise key midterm clues — Voters in five states head to the polls Tuesday, and both parties are looking for signs of strength and unity in their ranks less than three months until the first major U.S. election since the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

Discussion: Political Wire

Jennifer Senior / New York Times:

The High School We Can't Log Off From — Twitter rewards us for our mistakes. It isn't designed to let us grow up. — Ms. Senior will be joining Opinion as an audio columnist in September. — It appears we're in the midst of yet another Twitter backlash.

Allison Quinn / The Daily Beast:

Parkland Shooter Asked for Help, but Was Denied Before Shooting … A new report found Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz asked school officials for help months before he allegedly gunned down 14 fellow classmates and three adults—but the school district “did not follow through.”

Discussion: twitchy.com, Daily Wire and The Daily Caller