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

11:30 AM 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: ThinkProgress, CNN, Politico, Associated Press, Power Line, The Guardian, Washington Post, IJR, Shareblue Media, DC Tribune, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, KTLA, Washington Times, POLITICUSUSA, Balloon Juice, Raw Story, Mediaite, Althouse, The Week, Axios, CNBC 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: Hot Air, Just Security, MSNBC, The Week and Mediaite

Peter Nicholas / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Revokes Ex-CIA Director John Brennan's Security Clearance — Brennan has been a vocal critic of President Trump — WASHINGTON—President Trump revoked the security clearance of former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, a prominent critic of the president, the White House said Wednesday.

Peter Nicholas / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Says His Tariffs Will Rescue U.S. Steel Industry

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, MSNBC, Outside the Beltway, CNBC, Political Wire, The Week, CBS Baltimore, Hot Air and Mediaite

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

Discussion: Townhall, Fox News Insider, ABC News, Liberty Unyielding, IJR and New York Times

ACLU:
ACLU Comment on Revocation of John Brennan's Security Clearance

Discussion: Common Dreams and Washington Post

Elizabeth Zwirz / Fox News:
John Brennan's nasty history with Trump preceded national security clearance revocation

Discussion: CNN, Sara A. Carter and The Daily Banter

J. Freedom du Lac / Washington Post:

Aretha Franklin, music's ‘Queen of Soul,’ dies at 76 — Aretha Franklin, whose exceptionally expressive singing about joy and pain and faith and liberation earned the Detroit diva a permanent and undisputed title — the “Queen of Soul” — died Aug. 16 at her home in Detroit. She was 76.

Discussion: New York Times

Jon Pareles / New York Times:

Aretha Franklin, the ‘Queen of Soul,’ Dies at 76 — Aretha Franklin, universally acclaimed as the “Queen of Soul” and one of America's greatest singers in any style, died on Thursday at her home in Detroit. She was 76. — The cause was advanced pancreatic cancer, her publicist, Gwendolyn Quinn, said.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Power Line, Shakesville, France 24, BloombergQuint and Mashable

Stereo Williams / The Daily Beast:

Aretha Franklin Dead at 76: A Queen Who Embodied Black Music's Spirit and Vision … She was an icon. A legend. And so much more than that. — Aretha Franklin was one of our greatest treasures; a prodigious talent and studious craftswoman who reached the pinnacle of her profession …

Discussion: Politico and One America News Network

Devin Scillian / WDIV-TV:

Aretha Franklin, ‘The Queen of Soul,’ dies at age 76 — Aretha Franklin, known famously as “The Queen of Soul,” has died at age 76. — Simply put, Franklin was arguably the greatest woman singer of the modern music era. With a voice that moved easily between thunderous power and wondrous finesse …

Amanda Petrusich / New Yorker:
Aretha Franklin Is As Immortal As Can Be

Discussion: The Atlantic, New York Times and Vox

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: The Week and Raw Story

New York Times:

Pelosi Talks of ‘Bridge’ to New Leader as Democrats Test Her Strength — 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: Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller and CNN

New York Times:
Bannon's New Group Issues a Midterm Plea: Save Trump

Discussion: Axios and New Republic

Ben Terris / Washington Post:

She works for Trump. He can't stand him. This is life with Kellyanne and George Conway. — Kellyanne Conway is in her living room, showing me an enormous painting of Audrey Hepburn wearing a peacock on her head, but her husband, George, really wants us to come into his office and look …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Patterico's Pontifications, New York Times, Conservative News Today, HuffPost, Hot Air, The Week, Law & Crime, TheBlaze, AOL and Mediaite

Erin Durkin / The Guardian:

Almost 350 news outlets to publish editorials denouncing Trump's ‘dirty war’ on press — Participation comes after a push organized by the Boston Globe to run coordinated editorials against Trump's attacks on the media — Nearly 350 news organizations are set to publish editorials …

Discussion: Tablet Magazine, Talking Points Memo, Shakesville, New York Times, Daily Kos and The Moderate Voice, more at Mediagazer »

Rebecca Morin / Politico:
Trump labels media ‘the opposition party’ as newspapers push back en masse

Discussion: ABC News and CNBC

David Bauder / Associated Press:
US newsrooms to Trump: We're not enemies of the people

Discussion: Vox, Common Dreams, KTLA, WCCO | CBS Minnesota and CNNMoney

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: Associated Press, Defense One, VICE News, Front Page Magazine and middleeastmonitor.com, more at Techmeme »

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: Splinter

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

Discussion: The Guardian

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: Conservative News Today, Daily Wire and Clarion Project

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

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 …

Sharon LaFraniere / New York Times: Evidence Against Manafort Is ‘Overwhelming,’ Prosecutors Say

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: CNN, The Week and Roll Call, more at Mediagazer »

Julie Kelly / American Greatness:

The Weekly Standard's Ties to Fusion GPS — In his online appeal for money after being fired this week, disgraced former FBI agent Peter Strzok credited an unlikely source to vouch for his victim status: The Weekly Standard. — At one time a leading conservative magazine …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Liberty Unyielding, Washington Times, Breitbart, 100PercentFedUp.com and National Review

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

Discussion: TheBlaze, Power Line and Vox

U.S. Department of Justice:

Iraqi National Wanted for Murder in Iraq Arrested In California — Had Previously Attempted To Gain Lawful Permanent Resident Status — Omar Ameen, 45, an Iraqi national, wanted on a murder charge in Iraq, appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Sacramento, California today in connection …

Discussion: Front Page Magazine and Breitbart

New York Times:
ISIS Member Arrested in Sacramento, U.S. Says

Discussion: RedState

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.

Washington Post:

Jack Dorsey says he's rethinking the core of how Twitter works — Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey said he is rethinking core parts of the social media platform so that it doesn't enable the spread of hate speech, harassment and false news, including conspiracy theories shared by prominent users like Alex Jones and Infowars.

Discussion: The Verge, NBC News, Gizmodo, Poynter, Engadget, Mediaite and BuzzFeed News, more at Mediagazer »

Harper Neidig / The Hill:
The Hill Interview: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explains what got Alex Jones suspended

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

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 …

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

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 »

Emily Zauzmer / People.com:

Omarosa Claims Ivanka Trump ‘Would Not Stop’ Complaining About SNL's ‘Complicit’ Perfume Ad — Omarosa Manigault Newman's tell-all Unhinged claims that Ivanka Trump hated the Saturday Night Live sketch that labeled her “complicit” in March 2017. — “At the senior staff meeting …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, AOL, RightWire and twitchy.com

Therese Shaheen / National Review:

The Belt and Road Illusion — China's international-development project reflects its global ambitions but masks problems at home. — The president is a man who often makes aspirational statements and presents them as fact. He has a grandiose sense of what he is accomplishing …

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:

Papadopoulos's Wife Says He Should Scrap His Plea Deal With Mueller — The wife of Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos is making the bombshell suggestion that her husband drop a plea deal he has with special counsel Robert Mueller. — Papadopoulos is scheduled to be sentenced …

Discussion: Observer and Law & Crime