memeorandum: Russian Trolls Shift Strategy to Disrupt U.S. Election in 2020 (Alyza Sebenius/Bloomberg)

3:45 PM ET, March 9, 2019

Top Items:

David Corn / Mother Jones:

A Florida Massage Parlor Owner Has Been Selling Chinese Execs Access to Trump at Mar-a-Lago — The latest Trump political donor to draw controversy is Li Yang, a 45-year-old Florida entrepreneur from China who founded a chain of spas and massage parlors that included the one where New England …

Discussion: Raw Story, Vanity Fair, Hullabaloo, Splinter, Political Wire, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Beast, Fox News, Balloon Juice, Mediaite, The Mahablog, miamiherald, KTLA, The Guardian, The Stranger, WTVR-TV, Daily Kos, Polipace Insider …, Roll Call and VICE News

Ken White / The Atlantic:

6 Reasons Paul Manafort Got Off So Lightly — Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, entered Virginia federal court on Thursday facing a recommended sentence of 19 to 24 years, and left with a sentence of less than four years.

Discussion: Hit & Run, USA Today, New York Times and Forbes

Washington Post:

Is Paul Manafort's sentence too light? He fared worse than many fraudsters, data shows. — Paul Manafort's prison sentence of less than four years on bank- and tax-fraud charges Thursday sparked outrage from commentators who said it was too light a punishment for his crimes.

Discussion: RedState, Outside the Beltway, New York Times and Fox News

Adam Rawnsley / The Daily Beast: Manafort's Judge Gave This Jamaican Woman More Time for Similar Crimes

Sydney Ember / New York Times:

A ‘Beat Trump’ Fervor Is Producing Big Turnouts for 2020 Democrats — COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — They dragged their friends to see Bernie Sanders in Iowa. In South Carolina, their unrelenting selfie requests made Cory Booker late. And in New Hampshire, so many showed up at a church for an event …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Axios and Raw Story

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Yes, the Republican Party has changed since 2016. You think the Democratic Party hasn't? — The transformation of the Republican Party under President Trump is a well-told story. Less noted, but no less significant, is the change in the Democratic Party during the same period.

Discussion: The Daily Beast

New York Times:

Bernie Sanders-Style Politics Are Defining 2020 Race, Unnerving Moderates — IOWA CITY — The sharp left turn in the Democratic Party and the rise of progressive presidential candidates are unnerving moderate Democrats who increasingly fear that the party could fritter away its chances …

Bret Stephens / New York Times:
Capitalism and the Democratic Party

Discussion: MSNBC

Washington Post:

Howard Schultz's ‘nightmare’: How his first big gamble outside Starbucks ended in defeat — When Howard Schultz bought the Seattle SuperSonics in 2001, his friends told the Starbucks chief he was overestimating what he could do to save the struggling basketball franchise.

Discussion: Splinter

Anne Applebaum / Washington Post:

The more we learn about Brexit, the more crooked it looks — Elements of the 2016 British referendum campaign have long seemed familiar to Americans. There was a close, controversial election, full of rancor and anger. There were a lot of wealthy men talking about “the people” and their “will.”

Discussion: Byline Times

WTOP:

Richmond's new FBI chief was lead agent in Mueller's office — RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The new special agent in charge of the FBI's Richmond, Virginia, field office was the lead FBI agent in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office. — FBI Director Christopher Wray named David Archey …

Maria Sacchetti / Washington Post:

In another blow to Trump, judge rules in favor of ACLU in family separations case — In a legal blow to the Trump administration, a federal judge ruled Friday that all migrant families separated during the government's border crackdown should be included in a class-action lawsuit.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

NBC News:
Trump administration responsible for even more separated children, judge rules

Discussion: Mother Jones

Alan Gomez / USA Today: Judge: Trump administration may have to reunite thousands of additional migrant families

Jennifer Senior / New York Times:

Teen Fiction and the Perils of Cancel Culture — Readers, not a Twitter mob, should decide the fate of a book. — Late last month, a young man named Kosoko Jackson became the second young adult author in five weeks to pull a debut work just before it hit the shelves.

Discussion: Jihad Watch

Sara Carter / Sara A. Carter:

Bruce Ohr's Testimony Contradicts Testimony Provided By Rosenstein And Simpson — Department of Justice senior official Bruce Ohr's testimony contradicts testimony given by other senior government officials and key witnesses who testified before Congress regarding the FBI's investigation …

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:
In Surprise Move, House Republican Releases Bruce Ohr Transcript

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and twitchy.com

Alyza Sebenius / Bloomberg:

Russian Trolls Shift Strategy to Disrupt U.S. Election in 2020 — Hackers infiltrate computers to create fake social media users — Fake accounts are used to amplify divisive messages by others — Russian internet trolls appear to be shifting strategy in their efforts to disrupt …

Discussion: Raw Story

Laura Meckler / Washington Post:

Betsy DeVos effort to delay special-ed regulations rejected by court — A federal court ruled this week that an Obama-era regulation designed to ensure children of color are not disproportionately punished or sent to special-education classrooms must take effect immediately.

Discussion: Axios

Heather Long / Washington Post:

Workers suddenly have more power to demand higher pay and better jobs — Workers are receiving the fattest wage increases since the Great Recession as employers struggle to find enough people to fill their ranks and employees have more leverage to demand higher pay and jump to better jobs.

Discussion: Breitbart, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal and New York Times

Matthew Haag / New York Times:

Amazon's Tax Breaks and Incentives Were Big. Hudson Yards' Are Bigger. — At Hudson Yards, the expansive real estate development that is about to open in Manhattan, seven floors of retail are occupied by Fendi, Dior, Neiman Marcus and other high-end shops.

New York Times:

Only One Roadblock on the Road to Reform: Mitch McConnell — Why no vote on the House-passed ethics and election reform bill, Mr. Senate Leader? “Because I get to decide what we vote on.” — The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher.

Discussion: Fox News, TheBlaze, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo and Washington Post

Mary Papenfuss / HuffPost:

Ex-Mercenary CEO Erik Prince Admits To Trump Tower Meet With Donald Jr. And Saudi Emissary — He said the campaign huddle focused on “Iran policy,” and suggested his congressional hearing transcript when he failed to mention it was inaccurate. — Erik Prince, former head of mercenary business Blackwater …

Discussion: The Hill, Mother Jones and Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:

She exposed Russian trolling. Her award for her work was rescinded after she criticized Trump. — LONG BEFORE fears erupted in the United States about Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign, Jessikka Aro, an investigative journalist in Finland, was poking around an unusual company …

Discussion: NB Blog