memeorandum: After Trump Casts Blame for a Special Olympics Cut, Betsy DeVos Flashes Pique (New York Times)

8:40 AM ET, March 30, 2019

Top Items:

Lucy Flores / The Cut:

An Awkward Kiss Changed How I Saw Joe Biden — In 2014, I was the 35-year-old Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in Nevada. The landscape wasn't looking good for my party that year. There were no high-profile national races to help boost turnout, and after the top candidate bowed …

Laura McGann / Vox:

Lucy Flores isn't alone. Joe Biden's got a long history of touching women inappropriately. — The media gave Biden a pass for years. It won't in 2020. — Democrat Lucy Flores was preparing to give one of her final stump speeches in a race for lieutenant governor in Nevada when she felt two hands on her shoulders.

Discussion: twitchy.com, Louder With Crowder, Balloon Juice, New York Times, Big League Politics, LifeNews.com, Mediaite and New York Post

Rebecca Traister / The Cut:

Joe Biden Isn't the Answer — It's still three months before the first Democratic debate, nearly a year before Super Tuesday, and he hasn't even declared yet, but poll after presidential poll continues to show 76-year-old former vice-president Joe Biden leading an enormous, diverse, and talented Democratic field.

Discussion: Axios

Sebastian Murdock / HuffPost:

We Got Alex Jones' Deposition Video. It Was A Predictable Disaster For Him. — For all his dangerous talk about the Sandy Hook school shooting, Alex Jones couldn't even recall the date it happened. — Infowars host Alex Jones was questioned earlier this month for three hours by the lawyer …

Discussion: Law & Crime, YouTube, Raw Story, HillReporter.com, Talking Points Memo and Boing Boing, more at Mediagazer »

Elizabeth Williamson / New York Times:

How Alex Jones and Infowars Helped a Florida Man Stalk Sandy Hook Families — In the world of conspiracy theorists, Alex Jones and Wolfgang Halbig fueled each other's darkest tendencies. — Soon after the Dec. 14, 2012, mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. …

Discussion: The Trace and Daily Kos

Jonathan Tilove / Austin American-Statesman:

In Sandy Hook deposition, Alex Jones blames ‘a form of psychosis’ for thinking everything is staged — Alex Jones, the Austin-based provocateur embroiled in several lawsuits filed by parents of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, said in a deposition released Friday …

Discussion: KTLA, New York Post and Mediaite

New York Times:

After Trump Casts Blame for a Special Olympics Cut, Betsy DeVos Flashes Pique — WASHINGTON — After a two-day thrashing over her department's proposal to eliminate funding for the Special Olympics, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos sat before senators on Thursday ready to defend it again.

Michael Warren / CNN:

WH budget office, not DeVos, pushed for proposed Special Olympics cuts, official says — DeVos ignores CNN's questions after budget testimony — Washington (CNN)The Education Department failed to include funding for the Special Olympics in its budget proposal this year after it was rebuffed …

Discussion: IJR and Raw Story

Washington Post:
With social program fights, some Republicans fear being seen as the party of the 1 percent

Discussion: Raw Story, Politico, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Examiner and Vanity Fair

Sally Yates / Washington Post:

William Barr should release the full Mueller report as soon as possible — The writer served as deputy attorney general from January 2015 to January 2017. — America's justice system is built upon one thing — truth. When witnesses give testimony, they are sworn to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

Discussion: The Hill

emptywheel:
Pressure Works: After Four Days, William Barr Capitulates and Gives an Estimated Page Count!!

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Common Dreams

CNN:
Justice Dept. expects to release Mueller report to Congress by ‘mid-April, if not sooner’

Discussion: Raw Story, Test Feed Using Fields, RedState, twitchy.com and Fortune

Devlin Barrett / Washington Post:
Mueller report will be delivered by ‘mid-April, if not sooner,’ attorney general tells Congress

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The New Civil Rights Movement, Slate and Political Wire

Rashaan Ayesh / Axios:
New Barr letter: Mueller report will be sent to Congress by mid-April

Discussion: Breitbart, One America News Network, Politico and Washington Post

Tim Reid / Reuters:

O'Rourke holds rallies on the Mexican border that Trump threatens to shut — EL PASO (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke will hold a major rally in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday, a city thrust to the center of America's immigration debate by President Donald Trump and the U.S government this week.

Discussion: Political Wire

Washington Post:
Guatemalan girl in U.S. custody died of bacterial infection, autopsy shows

Discussion: The Guardian, The Gateway Pundit and twitchy.com

Kayla Melson / KTSM-TV: Autopsy report: Detained Guatemalan girl died of ‘rapidly progressive’ infection

Christopher Rivas / New York Times:

I Broke Up With Her Because She's White — When it comes to dating, I'd rather not think about race. But that's been hard to avoid. — O.K., let me just get to it. I think I broke up with my last girlfriend because she's white. Actually, no, I definitely broke up with her because she's white.

Discussion: Townhall and Hot Air

Kim Foxx / Chicago Tribune:

Commentary: Kim Foxx: I welcome an outside review of how we handled the Jussie Smollett case — Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx prepares to speak to the media on Jan. 8, 2019. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) — Let's talk about the Jussie Smollett case.

Rob Price / Business Insider:

Years of Mark Zuckerberg's old Facebook posts have vanished. The company says it ‘mistakenly deleted’ them. — Some old Facebook posts by CEO Mark Zuckerberg have disappeared, and the company says it “mistakenly deleted” them. — “A few years ago some of Mark's posts were mistakenly deleted due to technical errors.

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

AP says the percentage sign now OK when used with a numeral (that's shift+5) — Brace yourselves. — The AP Stylebook says the percentage sign is now acceptable when paired with a numeral in most cases. — On Friday, Stylebook Editor Paula Froke announced the latest round of changes …

Doris Truong / Poynter:
AP Stylebook update: It's OK to call something racist when it's racist

more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:

OxyContin-Maker Owner Maligned Opioid Addicts, Suit Says — New portions of lawsuit against opioid makers allege more details of how the Sackler family operated the company — In early 2001, Purdue Pharma LP executives discussed how to respond to abuse of the company's five-year-old prescription painkiller OxyContin.

Discussion: Slate

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

GOP shifts focus to investigating Obama officials — Republicans are setting their sights on top Obama-era officials as they plan their own probe into the 2016 election. — Eager to move on from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference and the Trump campaign …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Political Wire

Politico:

Abrams builds massive political network ahead of 2020 decision — The Georgia Democrat has expanded her political reach as she mulls a run for president or Senate. — Stacey Abrams is set to reveal soon whether she'll run for president or senator or something else.

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:

Spare us the lectures from Democratic candidates about how Democratic voters are the problem — If you thought we were past the tiresome “How can Democrats appeal to Trump-loving Trump voters in Trump Country?” conversation, I'm going to disappoint you. And I'd like to use some recent comments …

Daily Mail:

TIMELINE OF BUSH'S DECADE-LONG AFFAIR WITH JENNIFER FITZGERALD — Early 1970s — Bush is introduced to Jennifer by a mutual friend. They have flirtatious calls that lead to a romance that carries on for at least 12 years. — 1974 — President Gerald Ford appoints Bush to Chief of the Liaison Office in China.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Miriam Jordan / New York Times:

Former Trump Family Driver Has Been in ICE Custody for 8 Months — When Donald Trump's children and campaign staff arrived in South Florida during the 2016 presidential campaign, they were often greeted at the airport by Zoltan Tamas in a black Cadillac Escalade.

Discussion: HillReporter.com, NY State of Politics and Splinter

Ian Buruma / Financial Times:

Editing in an age of outrage — Until recently Jian Ghomeshi, a former CBC broadcaster and rock musician, was not much known outside Canada. I now rather wish it had stayed that way. But last September I decided, as editor of the New York Review of Books, to publish Ghomeshi's story …

Discussion: Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality

New York Times:

Trump's 2020 Campaign: A Traditional Operation With a Wild-Card Candidate — WASHINGTON — On a former trading floor in an office tower in Rosslyn, Va., with sweeping views of the Potomac River, the Trump 2020 campaign is settling in. It has about 40 staff members and counting …

Washington Post:

Golan policy may invite Israel's right to annex West Bank territory. That would spell disaster. — Dennis Ross, a former special assistant to President Barack Obama, is the counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute. David Makovsky is the Ziegler …

Associated Press:

Trump issues new permit for stalled Keystone XL pipeline — WASHINGTON — In an apparent bid to kick-start the long-stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline, President Donald Trump on Friday issued a new presidential permit for the project — two years after he first approved it and more than a decade after it was first proposed.

Discussion: Public Pool, One America News Network and Axios

NRA-ILA:

Breaking! Federal Court Finds California Magazine Ban Violates the Second Amendment — In one of the strongest judicial statements in favor of the Second Amendment to date, Judge Roger T. Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California determined on Friday …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and TheBlaze