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

4:15 PM ET, August 16, 2018

Top Items:

William H. McRaven / Washington Post:

Revoke my security clearance, too, Mr. President — William H. McRaven, a retired Navy admiral, was commander of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014. He oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL raid in Pakistan that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. — Dear Mr. President:

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Daily Kos, Mediaite and Axios

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.

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: CNN, Hit & Run, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, Politico, Breitbart, Wall Street Journal, Shakesville, Hot Air and New York Times

Fox News Insider:

Gen. Tata: ‘Communist John Brennan’ Never Should Have Had a Security Clearance — A ‘clear and present danger’ to the nation. — U.S. Army Brigadier Gen. Anthony Tata (Ret.) said President Trump was justified in revoking the security clearance of John Brennan, who Tata described as a “clear and present danger” to the nation.

Discussion: Telegraph, CNN, Sara A. Carter, Yahoo, Breitbart, Townhall, The Daily Caller, Front Page Magazine and IJR

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

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

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: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Daily Caller, KTLA, BloombergQuint, Washington Post, theGrio and CNN, 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: New Republic, Axios, Common Dreams, Taylor Marsh and MSNBC

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Omarosa Manigault Newman releases secret recording of $15,000-a-month job offer from Lara Trump

Discussion: Politico and MSNBC

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: Politico, ABC News, AOL, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Task & Purpose, Daily Kos, VICE 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

Pew Research Center: As Midterms Near, Democrats Are More Politically Active Than Republicans

New York Times:
Pelosi, Under Threat in Her Own Party, Says She Is Building Bridge to New Leaders

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

David Remnick / New Yorker:

Aretha Franklin: A Legacy in Music — Aretha Franklin's voice was a pure, painful, and unforgettable expression of American history and American feeling, the collective experience of black Americans and her own life. The Queen of Soul, who died Thursday morning, was the daughter …

Discussion: The Atlantic, IJR, Vox, Consequence of Sound and The Ringer

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

Discussion: The Atlantic, New York Times and Vox

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

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

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

Discussion: Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Shakesville, Gothamist, France 24, AOL, LifeZette, Power Line and BloombergQuint

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Trump: ‘Queen of Soul’ Aretha Franklin ‘will be missed’

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Politico, New York Daily News, Vox, CNN, POLITICUSUSA and Talking Points Memo

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, CNBC, Political Wire and DC Tribune

Violet Ikonomova / Detroit Metro Times:

Detroit Rep. Bettie Cook Scott on Asian opponent: 'Don't vote for the ching-chong!' — More than a dozen community groups have called on Rep. Bettie Cook Scott (D-Detroit) to apologize for a series of racial slurs sources say she used to describe her primary election opponent, Rep. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit).

Discussion: twitchy.com

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, 100PercentFedUp.com, TheBlaze, Conservative News Today, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Wire and Clarion Project

Nathan McDermott / CNN:

Corey Stewart used racist stereotypes to disparage NFL players in 2017 campaign event — (CNN)Corey Stewart, the Republican nominee for US Senate in Virginia, used racist stereotypes to disparage NFL players who protest during the National Anthem in an online exchange with his supporters last year.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mediaite and Vox

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 …

Discussion: ABC News

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

Discussion: TalkLeft

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

Reuters:

Children poisoned by lead on U.S. Army bases as hazards go ignored — Privatizing U.S. military housing was supposed to protect service members' families. Instead, some of their children are being poisoned by lead. A Reuters investigation unearths dangers in base homes, lapses in military oversight …

Discussion: Axios

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

GOP leader criticizes Republican senators for not showing up to work — (R-Ky.) scolded Senate Republican colleagues on Thursday for skipping a Wednesday night vote, warning them that attendance needs to improve if anything is to get done in August, according to sources.

Discussion: Political Wire

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 …

Tad Walch / Deseret News:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issues new name guidelines, dropping term Mormon in most uses — SALT LAKE CITY — President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement Thursday afternoon regarding the name of the church:

Discussion: fox13now.com

Amanda Dixon / Bankrate:

This is the No. 1 reason Americans are losing sleep — If stress keeps you up at night, you're not alone. — Sixty-nine percent of Americans say they occasionally lose sleep due to something they're worried about, a new Bankrate survey reveals. — Research firm GfK Custom Research …

Discussion: Roll Call and WCCO | CBS Minnesota

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: Fox News Insider, CNBC, New York Times and The Moderate Voice, more at Mediagazer »

Arizona Republic:

Back in Arizona, Meghan McCain rips Rep. Martha McSally's snub of dad Sen. John McCain — President Trump signed a $716 billion defense policy bill named for Sen. John McCain after delivering remarks that failed to mention the senator. The measure boosts military pay by the largest amount in nine years and replaces aging equipment.

Discussion: Roll Call

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 …

YouTube:

GOP Rep. Dave Joyce's campaign ad pushing back on Republicans and Donald Trump … U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, a Republican from Bainbridge Township, is currently running this ad on cable television. The ad is notable for highlighting his vote against Obamacare and pushing back on Republican President Donald Trump …

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

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

Brad Parscale / Washington Examiner:

Big Tech is becoming Big Brother — Big Tech has a big bias problem. — Social media platforms that once facilitated the free exchange of ideas and information are now actively seeking to silence and censor conservative opinions. — This new Orwellian impulse that is taking over Big Tech …

Discussion: Breitbart and Daily Caller News Foundation

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?

Amber Athey / The Daily Caller:

CNN Commentator Agrees With Gov. Cuomo That America Was Never Great — CNN commentator Angela Rye said on Wednesday night that she agrees with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's assertion that America was never that great. — WATCH: — In a debate with Trump campaign adviser Gina Loudon …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and twitchy.com

W. Gardner Selby / @politifact:

Will Hurd way off on foe getting more money from Massachusetts residents than from Texans — A Republican Texas congressman whose campaign has raised less money than his Democratic challenger says his opponent gathered a disturbing share of her receipts from that chilly faraway state where they park the car in Harvard Yard.