memeorandum: Millennial Couple Bikes Through ISIS Territory to Prove ‘Humans Are Kind’ and Gets Killed (Michael Sinkewicz/pluralist)

2:50 PM ET, August 16, 2018

Top Items:

John O. Brennan / New York Times:

John Brennan: President Trump's Claims of No Collusion Are Hogwash — That's why the president revoked my security clearance: to try to silence anyone who would dare challenge him. — Mr. Brennan was director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2013 to 2017.

Discussion: Townhall, Vox, NPR, Breitbart, Washington Free Beacon, CNN, CNBC, ThinkProgress, VICE News, The Guardian, KTLA, IJR, DC Tribune, Shareblue Media, Balloon Juice, Mediaite, Althouse, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Post, The New Neo, HuffPost, Raw Story, Politico, Washington Times, The Week, Power Line, Axios, Talking Points Memo, The National Memo and WTKR-TV

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Trump blurts out another Lester Holt moment — It really was the Russia investigation all along. — In an interview with the Wall Street Journal posted late Wednesday, President Trump once again gave away the ballgame when it comes to his efforts to impact the probe and tear down its leaders (both current and former).

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Shakesville, MSNBC, Hot Air, New York Times, Daily Kos and POLITICUSUSA

U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: — WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today …

Discussion: Spectator USA, Conservative News Today, Just Security, Towleroad Gay News, Shareblue Media, Politico, The Guardian, The Hill, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller and New York Times

Fox News Insider:
Gen. Tata: ‘Communist John Brennan’ Never Should Have Had a Security Clearance

Discussion: Townhall, CNN, Daily Wire, Front Page Magazine, The Gateway Pundit and Sara A. Carter

Katie Benner / New York Times:
Little-Known Justice Dept. Official Makes Trump's Security Clearance List

Discussion: American Greatness, Common Dreams, Outside the Beltway, TheBlaze, Power Line and Vox

Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:
Trump connects revoking Brennan's security clearance to Russia investigation

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and IJR

Sara Carter / Sara A. Carter:
Intel Official: “Brennan's Actions are Unconscionable...Trump Did The Right Thing”

Discussion: CNN, Fox News, ABC News, Liberty Unyielding, The Daily Banter, Outside the Beltway and IJR

Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:

“Death Spiral”: Why Omarosa Totally Triggered Trump — The perceived betrayal of a longtime female ally, and her perfectly executed Trumpian tactics, made the feud too personal to ignore. — In the days before Omarosa Manigault Newman rolled out her White House tell-all, Unhinged …

Nicholas Goldberg / Los Angeles Times:

The Los Angeles Times is not participating in today's nationwide editorial page protest against Trump's attacks on the press. Here's why — More than 300 newspapers around the country will participate today in a group protest of President Trump's frequent attacks on the news media.

Discussion: BloombergQuint, Washington Post, IJR, theGrio, CNN, LifeZette and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

Adam Edelman / NBC News:

Omarosa releases secret tape of Lara Trump offering her $15K/month campaign job — The tape, which was broadcast on MSNBC, was made just days after the former “Apprentice” contestant left her White House job. — Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former reality TV star who became a top White House aide …

Discussion: Common Dreams, Taylor Marsh and MSNBC

Emily Zauzmer / People.com:
Omarosa Claims Ivanka Trump ‘Would Not Stop’ Complaining About SNL's ‘Complicit’ Perfume Ad

Discussion: RightWire, Hullabaloo, AOL and twitchy.com

Amanda Macias / CNBC:

Trump's military parade is now estimated to cost $92 million - $80 million more than earlier estimate — President Donald Trump's military parade is estimated to cost $92 million, according to a U.S. defense official with firsthand knowledge of the assessment.

Discussion: ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, AOL, Task & Purpose, Daily Kos and Splinter

Jason Schwartz / Politico: Pentagon punishes reporters over tough coverage

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:

‘If they take the House, he wins big’: Trump loyalists see upside in impeachment — Why some Trump allies think his path to reelection runs through an effort to kick him out of the Oval Office. — There's a new way of demonstrating loyalty to Donald Trump and his Republican Party …

Discussion: New Republic, Raw Story and The Week

New York Times:

Pelosi, Under Threat in Her Own Party, Says She Is Building Bridge to New Leaders — Nancy Pelosi is confronting rising threats from different corners of the Democratic Party, and is girding for a mortal challenge to her leadership after the November midterm elections or even sooner.

Discussion: Townhall, Axios, The Week, The Editorial Board, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, CNN and Sacramento Bee

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Forecasting the race for the House — Our forecast for every district — The chance of each candidate winning, with all 435 House districts shown at the same size — CartogramMap — Dem. — Solid — Likely — Lean — Rep. — ≥95% — ≥75% — ≥60% — Toss-up

Discussion: ABC News, Political Wire and DC Tribune

Amanda Petrusich / New Yorker:

Aretha Franklin Is As Immortal As Can Be — The eternal challenge is to answer grief with something that resembles love. To choose not to just sit around decrying hardship and injustice but to instead uncurl your fists and approach sorrow with grace, power, and, most incredibly, gratitude …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Vox and New York Times

Melissa Stephenson / WTKR-TV:
Argument over Aretha Franklin leads to Suffolk shooting, witnesses say

Discussion: FOX31 Denver, Raw Story, KFOR-TV and WPIX 11 New York

J. Freedom du Lac / Washington Post:
Aretha Franklin, music's ‘Queen of Soul,’ dies at 76

Discussion: The Atlantic, New York Times, Religion News Service and Balloon Juice

Jon Pareles / New York Times:
Aretha Franklin, the ‘Queen of Soul,’ Dies at 76

Discussion: New Yorker, The Moderate Voice, Power Line, LifeZette, Gothamist, Shakesville, France 24 and Vox

Michael Sinkewicz / pluralist:

Millennial Couple Bikes Through ISIS Territory to Prove ‘Humans Are Kind’ and Gets Killed — “Evil is a make-believe concept we've invented to deal with the complexities of fellow humans.” — An idealistic young American couple was killed in an Islamic State-claimed terrorist attack …

Discussion: Washington Post, Breitbart, TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, Conservative News Today, Daily Wire and Clarion Project

Economic Policy Institute:

CEO compensation surged in 2017 — What this report finds: This report looks at trends in chief executive officer (CEO) compensation, using two different measures. The first measure includes stock options realized (in addition to salary, bonuses, restricted stock grants, and long-term incentive payouts).

Discussion: Mother Jones, Vox, Washington Post, The Guardian and Splinter

Washington Post: CEO pay jumps to $19 million annually, as fears mount over the wealthy pocketing gains

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Manafort trial Day 13: Jury deliberations begin, verdict timing unknown — Jurors began deliberating Thursday in Paul Manafort's trial on bank- and tax-fraud charges, but the possible timing of a verdict remains unknown. — U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III sent the 12-person jury off …

Reuters:
Jury begins deliberations in trial of ex-Trump aide Manafort

Discussion: TalkLeft

Rebecca Morin / Politico:

Trump labels media ‘the opposition party’ as newspapers push back en masse — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump lashed out at the media Thursday morning, identifying the “fake news” as “the opposition party” on the same day that hundreds of newspapers nationwide printed editorials critical …

Discussion: CNBC, ABC News, Vox and The Moderate Voice, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Times:
Solidarity in the trench

Discussion: Daily Reflector, Des Moines Register, Raw Story and Mediaite

Zach Dorfman / Foreign Policy:

Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Chinese Agents — The number of informants executed in the debacle is higher than initially thought. — It was considered one of the CIA's worst failures in decades: Over a two-year period starting in late 2010, Chinese authorities …

more at Techmeme »

Jon Levine / The Wrap:

‘Queer Eye’ Star Jonathan Van Ness Under Fire After Saying ‘Not All Republicans Are Racist’ — “Ah, yes... ‘mutual understanding’ with racists,” says one commenter after Bravo reality star advocates for “center left candidates” — “Queer Eye” star Jonathan Van Ness had to defend himself …

Discussion: The Federalist, Front Page Magazine, twitchy.com, Daily Wire and Gay Star News

CNN:

CNN Poll: Brett Kavanaugh nomination has lowest public support since Robert Bork — Trump's SCOTUS pick could change America — Washington (CNN)Donald Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, receives a cooler public reception than nearly every nominee for the last four administrations …

Hannah Sparks / New York Post:

My trust fund made me miserable — Over the past six years, Lane Fury has collected more than $185,000 in family money. Eventually, Fury stands to inherit roughly $6 million, but the 27-year-old doesn't see this good fortune as a positive thing. — “I don't actually want it,” says Fury.

Discussion: smokeroom.com

Toluse Olorunnipa / Bloomberg:

Trump's Speeches Feature Mystery Men the White House Won't Name — The president leans on unidentified allies to back policies — White House won't identify people Trump describes in remarks — One of the biggest supporters of President Donald Trump's trade policies …

Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept:

Google Staff Tell Bosses China Censorship is “Moral and Ethical” Crisis — Google employees are demanding answers from the company's leadership amid growing internal protests over plans to launch a censored search engine in China. — Staff inside the internet giant's offices have agreed …

Discussion: New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Roll Call:

Espy Poll of Mississippi Senate Race Shows Path to Victory for Democrats — A Democratic poll of the Mississippi Senate special election shows former Rep. Mike Espy having a path to finishing first in a runoff this fall. — Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who was appointed earlier …

Discussion: Political Wire

Betsy Woodruff / amp.thedailybeast.com:

Trump Staffer Says He Recruited Lobbyists for Russian Mogul — In the time since the election, a little-known Trump campaign staffer named Daniel Gelbinovich reached out to a number of Washington lobbyists with an eyebrow-raising ask: to shield a Putin ally from U.S. sanctions.

Timothy Gardner / Reuters:

In setback for TransCanada, judge orders Keystone XL pipeline review — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge in Montana on Wednesday ordered the U.S. State Department to do a full environmental review of a revised route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, possibly delaying the project's construction …

Discussion: Daily Caller News Foundation

TYT Investigates / TYT Network:

ICE Orders Dozens of Straitjacket-Like Restraints — New ICE restraining device as it appeared on “Orange is the New Black,” as featured on the website of the device's manufacturer, Safe Restraints, Inc. (Image: Safe Restraints video screengrab.) — Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) …

Kevin D. Williamson / National Review:

Elizabeth Warren's Batty Plan to Nationalize . . . Everything — Wholesale seizure and control of private property? With 2020 in her sights, Warren woos the hard Left. — Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has one-upped socialists Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and No More Mister Nice Blog

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:

Trump, Seeking to Relax Rules on U.S. Cyberattacks, Reverses Obama Directive — It isn't clear what rules the president is adopting to replace the existing ones — President Trump has reversed an Obama-era memorandum governing how and when the U.S. government can deploy cyberweapons …

Discussion: Lawfare, Common Dreams, Defense One, Associated Press, VICE News, Engadget, Front Page Magazine and middleeastmonitor.com, more at Techmeme »

Erin B. Logan / Washington Post:

Ryan Zinke blames ‘environmental terrorist groups’ for severity of California wildfires — Wildfires strike California every year. But they're getting worse, causing deaths and uprooting communities. But who is to blame for these increasingly destructive wildfires?