memeorandum: VA won't turn over documents related to outside businessmen's influence on department policy (Leo Shane III/Military Times)

7:50 PM ET, October 9, 2018

Top Items:

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Scoop: Trump has accepted Nikki Haley's resignation — President Trump has accepted Nikki Haley's resignation as UN Ambassador, according to two sources briefed on their conversation. The timing of her departure is still unclear. — What we're hearing: Haley discussed her resignation …

Andy Shain / Post and Courier:

Nikki Haley has up to $1 million in debt as she steps down as U.N. ambassador — Nikki Haley's political capital and foreign policy credentials skyrocketed during her time as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, but one aspect of the former South Carolina governor's life didn't

Discussion: Raw Story and Politico

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

'Something doesn't smell right': The curious timing of Nikki Haley's exit — This post has been updated. — Nikki Haley is resigning as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. And the timing is raising eyebrows. — President Trump and Haley held a quickly arranged media availability Tuesday morning …

Discussion: Post and Courier, HuffPost, Breitbart, Louder With Crowder and LifeZette

Elizabeth Dias / New York Times:

Beto O'Rourke May Benefit From an Unlikely Support Group: White Evangelical Women — In the Texas race, any small shift among evangelical voters could be a significant loss for Senator Ted Cruz — and a signal to Democrats. — October 9, 2018 — Nikki Haley to Resign as Trump's Ambassador to the U.N.

Discussion: Raw Story

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Trump officials have talked to Goldman Sachs' Dina Powell about possibly replacing Nikki Haley as UN ambassador — Senior White House officials have held discussions with the former deputy national security advisor Dina Powell about replacing the outgoing Nikki Haley as the next U.S. ambassador …

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart, American Greatness, The Week and Joe.My.God.

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Nikki Haley Resigned as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

Washington Post:
Read Nikki Haley's resignation letter

Discussion: New York Times, Algemeiner.com, BuzzFeed News, The Guardian, The Week, The New Civil Rights Movement and IJR

Eliana Johnson / Politico:
Nikki Haley flips the script on Trump

Discussion: CNN, Axios and Breitbart

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
How Nikki Haley played the White House game — and won

Discussion: Townhall, Chicks On The Right and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Toluse Olorunnipa / Bloomberg: Trump Says He's Considering Goldman's Dina Powell for UN Ambassador

Grace Sparks / CNN:

CNN poll: Democrats are fired up and maintain a strong 2018 lead — Washington (CNN)Four weeks out from Election Day, Democrats remain well ahead of Republicans in a generic ballot matchup, with 54% of likely voters saying they support the Democrat in their district and 41% backing a Republican …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Axios, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Talking Points Memo, Vox, IJR, Daily Kos and Political Wire

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Poll: Races in Nevada are a dead heat — Both the gubernatorial and Senate races are neck and neck. — Democrats and Republicans are running neck and neck in Nevada's key contests for U.S. Senate and governor, according to a new NBC News/Marist poll of the state released Tuesday, four weeks before Election Day.

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
This is not what a pro-Kavanaugh electoral backlash looks like

Discussion: Roll Call, New York Times and POLITICUSUSA

Martin Chulov / The Guardian:

Khashoggi case: CCTV disappears from Saudi consulate in Turkey — Security footage removed and Turkish staff told to go home on day missing journalist visits — Security camera footage was removed from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and Turkish staff were abruptly told to take a holiday …

more at Mediagazer »

David Gauthier-Villars / Wall Street Journal:
Turkish Investigation of Missing Saudi Journalist Shifts Focus to Mercedes Van

Discussion: Boing Boing

Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:
The end of the Saudi Whisperer

Discussion: Mondoweiss, The New Arab and New York Times

Rachel Ventresca / CNN:

Clinton: ‘You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for’ — Clinton: Civility starts by electing Democrats — Washington (CNN)Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that civility in America can only begin again if Democrats win back the House or Senate this fall.

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Superior ruthlessness isn't why Republicans control the Supreme Court

Discussion: The Atlantic, Washington Monthly, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Breitbart and Erick on the Radio

Paul Begala / CNN:
Mitch McConnell has done grave damage to all three branches of government

Discussion: Shakesville and The Hill

Talking Points Memo:

‘They Told Me I Would Never See Her Again’: Deported Parents Lose Kids To Adoption — As the deportees were led off the plane onto the steamy San Salvador tarmac, an anguished Araceli Ramos Bonilla burst into tears, her face contorted with pain: “They want to steal my daughter!”

Discussion: Daily Kos, Shakesville and Jezebel

The Moscow Times:

Infamous St. Petersburg ‘Troll Factory’ Set on Fire — The office of Russia's infamous troll factory believed to be at the vanguard of Russia's information war has been set on fire in St. Petersburg overnight. — An investigation revealed last year that the secretive troll factory …

Discussion: Raw Story

Bloomberg:

New Evidence of Hacked Supermicro Hardware Found in U.S. Telecom — A major U.S. telecommunications company discovered manipulated hardware from Super Micro Computer Inc. in its network and removed it in August, fresh evidence of tampering in China of critical technology components bound for the U.S. …

Discussion: The Verge, The Constitution, Breitbart and Risky Business, more at Techmeme »

Motherboard:
The Cybersecurity World Is Debating WTF Is Going on With Bloomberg's Chinese Microchip Stories

Discussion: Engadget, VICE News, VentureBeat and Mashable, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post:

Gov. Larry Hogan leads Democrat Ben Jealous by 20 points, Post-U. Md. poll finds — With less than a month until Election Day, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has built a formidable lead over Democratic challenger Ben Jealous, with few voters undecided and most preferring the incumbent Republican …

Discussion: New Republic and Political Wire

Alexander C. Kaufman / HuffPost:

EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler Engaged With Racist, Conspiratorial Posts On Social Media — Exclusive: The agency head brushed off his interactions with a Pizzagater and said he doesn't remember liking a racist picture of the Obamas. — Andrew Wheeler, the acting administrator …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Raw Story and Boing Boing

Brittany Miller / WGCL-TV:

White woman calls police on black man babysitting children — It's a case of babysitting while black. — A white woman called the police on a black man as he babysat two white children. — Corey Lewis documented the entire ordeal on Facebook Live. — In an exclusive interview …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Root and Boing Boing

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:

Barnes & Noble says political book sales have skyrocketed and it released a map that shows how polarized the sales are — Data published Tuesday by book store chain Barnes & Noble show a 57 percent boost in political book sales compared to the prior year.

Discussion: IJR

Taegan Goddard / Political Wire:
Political Book Sales Mirror a Divided Country

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Jared Holt / Right Wing Watch:

Underage Girls Allege That Michael Moates Sent Them Inappropriate Messages — Michael Moates, a conservative writer with more than 200,000 followers online and an occasional presence in the White House press room, allegedly sent multiple inappropriate messages to teenage women in conservative circles, knowing they were underage.

Robby Soave / Hit & Run:

Two Students Hooked Up. It Was Clearly Consensual. He Still Spent $12,000 Defending Himself. — James, a freshman at the University of California-Davis, was on his way to math class when he received an email that would derail his life for the next few months: The university's Title IX office …

Discussion: The American Conservative and The Daily Caller

Pema Levy / Mother Jones:

Supreme Court Makes It Harder for Tribal North Dakotans to Vote — The order could hurt the reelection chances of Heidi Heitkamp, the most vulnerable Democratic senator. … The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower-court order requiring voters in North Dakota to present certain forms …

Discussion: Splinter

Kansas City Star:

GOP official on Davids: radical socialist, lesbian will be sent back to reservation — A local Kansas GOP official lashed out at Democratic congressional candidate Sharice Davids on social media earlier this week, saying “your radical socialist kick boxing lesbian will be sent back packing to the reservation.”

Discussion: Splinter

Allie Yang / ABC News:

‘The View’ breaks down impact of Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to Supreme Court — “The View” hosts discussed on Tuesday how Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court will play out in the midterm elections, and if the president's comments at the swearing-in ceremony turned the event into a political rally.

Discussion: Breitbart

Lawrence Hurley / Reuters:
U.S. top court rebuffs appeal of Kavanaugh ruling nixing climate rule

Discussion: Daily Caller News Foundation

BuzzFeed News:

Taylor Swift's Instagram Post Has Caused A Massive Spike In Voter Registration — Since Taylor Swift flexed her star power Sunday with an Instagram post that encouraged her 112 million followers to register to vote, Vote.org has experienced an unprecedented flood of new voter registrations nationwide.

Discussion: RedState, The Week, Bloomberg, CNN, HuffPost, Washington Post, The Root, IJR, Vox, The Guardian, Washington Free Beacon, VICE News, KTLA, Chicks On The Right, Mashable, Daily Kos, Comic Sands, Boing Boing, Jezebel, ThinkProgress, Joe.My.God., news.avclub.com, The Daily Beast and Rolling Stone

Kevin Daley / The Daily Caller:

Anger Recedes As Normalcy, Good Humor Characterize Kavanaugh's First Day On The Supreme Court — Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared at oral arguments for the first time Tuesday, where the bitterness attending his confirmation appeared to break, if only a little.

Discussion: SCOTUSblog and Daily Caller News Foundation

WXIX-TV:

Owner of popular burger restaurant fires woman; his comments spark outrage — CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - The owner of Terry's Turf Club in the East End is under fire after a video surfaced of him on social media where he allegedly made sexual remarks after he fired a worker.

Discussion: Law & Crime and Raw Story

Leo Shane III / Military Times:

VA won't turn over documents related to outside businessmen's influence on department policy — WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs officials are declining to give members of Congress documents related to accusations that outside businessmen are unduly influencing department policy, citing legal ongoing disputes over the issue.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Isabel Debre / Associated Press:

US student detained in Israel for alleged boycott support — JERUSALEM (AP) — In a first-of-its-kind case, Israel has held an American graduate student at its international airport for a whole week, accusing her of supporting a Palestinian-led boycott movement against the Jewish state.

Discussion: Haaretz, ThinkProgress and Daily Caller News Foundation

Lawrence Summers / Financial Times:

I discovered the rest of America on my summer holiday — Economists like me see the world through the prism of models, fitted to statistical data and tested against market realities. Economic models provide uniquely powerful perspectives: I have used them to argue that had the economy been left to itself …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Shakesville and Splinter

Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:

The one conspiracy theory that Republicans won't believe — The Party of Trump has proved itself keen to propagate any conspiracy theory, no matter how ridiculous or racist. — Well, almost any conspiracy theory. — There were the microwave ovens that surveil your every move.

Discussion: Townhall, The Week, Washington Monthly and Media Matters for America

Steven Shepard / Politico:

POLITICO race ratings: The GOP House is crumbling — There are now 209 seats either firmly or leaning in the Democratic column — only 9 shy of the 218 needed to win control. — The Republican House majority continues to show signs of collapsing, with Democrats steadily gaining ground toward erasing …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Spectator USA, RedState, Daily Kos, Joe.My.God. and Political Wire

Peter Sullivan / The Hill:

Trump officials plan maintenance downtime for healthcare.gov during ObamaCare sign-ups — The Trump administration is planning hours-long downtimes for maintenance on healthcare.gov during the coming ObamaCare sign-up period. — The administration drew criticism for a similar move last year …

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Shareblue Media

Ashe Schow / Daily Wire:

Five Teenage ‘Mean Girls’ Falsely Accused A Boy Of Sexual Assault. They Weren't Punished. — Several high school girls - dubbed “mean girls” - claimed a male student sexually assaulted them because they “just don't like him.” Now the school district and district attorney are facing heat …

Discussion: Greensburg Tribune-Review and twitchy.com

Michael Rubinkam / Associated Press:

Treasure hunters challenge FBI over dig for Civil War gold — DENTS RUN, Pa. (AP) — Surrounded by dozens of stone-faced FBI agents on a frigid winter's day, Dennis and Kem Parada stared down at the empty hole and knew something wasn't right. — The father-son duo spent years combing …