memeorandum: Trump admin gives green light for major arms sale to Taiwan (CNN)

1:00 PM ET, August 16, 2019

Top Items:

Rep. Tlaib says she will not go to Israel after the country initially rejected her request for a visit, then reversed course — BREAKING:Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said in a statement she will not visit Israel “under these oppressive conditions,” even though her humanitarian request to visit …

Discussion: National Review, Talking Points Memo, The Times of Israel, The Atlantic, The Root, Political Wire, Pirate's Cove and New York Times

Bari Weiss / New York Times:

King Bibi Bows Before a Tweet — After Trump cowed the Israeli leader into reversing course on Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the biggest loser was Israel itself. — Ms. Weiss is an Op-Ed staff editor and writer. Her first book, “How to Fight Anti-Semitism,” will be published in September.

Discussion: USA Today, Fox News, VICE, Jewish Insider, Los Angeles Times and Tablet Magazine

David M. Halbfinger / New York Times:

Rashida Tlaib Says She Won't Visit West Bank Under Israel's Conditions — JERUSALEM — A day after barring Representative Rashida Tlaib under pressure from President Trump, Israel said on Friday that she could visit her 90-year-old grandmother, who lives in the occupied West Bank …

Discussion: Power Line, Jacobin, ThinkProgress, The Independent, HuffPost, Mediaite, WDEF-TV, VICE, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Washington Free Beacon

Yossi Klein Halevi:

The day Israel humiliated its US friends in Congress — The 40+ freshman Democrats who are committed to the Israeli-American relationship showed the fringe anti-Israel element to be just that — but how do they feel now? — Last week, over 40 freshmen Democratic members of Congress visited Israel.

Emily Tamkin / New Republic:
Ilhan Omar Is Already Changing Washington

Discussion: VICE, Front Page Magazine, Big League Politics, Splinter and Conservative Review

Tasmiha Khan / The Independent:
No politician in living memory has been treated as badly as Ilhan Omar

Discussion: RedState

Quint Forgey / Politico:
Tlaib turns down family visit to West Bank after Israel grants request

Discussion: Telegraph, RedState, Townhall, Breitbart and One America News Network

Noa Landau / Haaretz:
Rashida Tlaib Cancels West Bank Visit, Citing Israel's ‘Oppressive Conditions’

Discussion: NBC News, Bloomberg, Townhall and middleeastmonitor.com

Washington Post:
Meet Rashida Tlaib's grandma: 'Who wouldn't be proud of a granddaughter like that?'

Discussion: Politico, The New Arab and Human Events

CNN:
Rep. Rashida Tlaib says she won't visit Israel after being allowed to enter on humanitarian grounds

Discussion: BizPac Review, Washington Free Beacon, The Gateway Pundit and Reason

Noa Landau / Haaretz:
Israel Approves Rashida Tlaib Petition to Enter ‘On Humanitarian Grounds’ to Visit Grandmother

Discussion: TheBlaze, Talking Points Memo, Conservative Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Balloon Juice

Peter Beinart / The Forward:
Netanyahu Banned Omar And Tlaib Because The Occupation Must Be Hidden To Survive

Discussion: Politico, UPI, NPR and Townhall

Wall Street Journal:

Trump Eyes a New Real-Estate Purchase: Greenland — In conversations with aides, the president has—with varying degrees of seriousness—floated the idea of buying the autonomous Danish territory — WASHINGTON—President Trump made his name on the world's most famous island.

Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen / Reuters:

Greenland tells Trump it is open for business but not for sale — COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Greenland on Friday dismissed the notion that it might be up for sale after reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had privately discussed with his advisers the idea of buying the world's biggest island.

Discussion: Vox, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Telegraph, CNBC, New York Times, CNN and Vanity Fair

James Hohmann / Washington Post:

The Daily 202: The newest purity test for Democrats is whether to mandate assault weapons buybacks — THE BIG IDEA: The debate among Democratic presidential candidates is no longer over whether to ban assault weapons. That's become the consensus position in the 2020 field after the recent string of mass shootings.

Discussion: National Review

The Irish Times: Donald Trump's interest in buying Greenland stuns Denmark

Paul Musgrave / Foreign Policy:
American Imperialists Have Always Dreamed of Greenland

Discussion: Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Fox News

New York Times:

Citing Economy, Trump Says That ‘You Have No Choice but to Vote for Me’ — MANCHESTER, N.H. — President Trump doubled down on his economic argument for re-election on Thursday night amid increasing concerns about a recession, declaring that even Americans who hate him “have no choice” …

Discussion: VICE, Politico, Daily Kos, Vanity Fair and The Week

Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:

Trump has a dream team for mismanaging a recession — President Trump inherited a good economy, and for roughly 2½ years managed (mostly) not to mess it up. As with his business empire, he also somehow convinced much of the public that this windfall was due to his personal talents rather than luck.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, MarketWatch, Fox News, Spectator USA, Wall Street Journal and POLITICUSUSA

Washington Post:
Trump, banking on strong economy to win reelection, frets over a possible downturn

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Week

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
From Trump Boom to Trump Gloom

Discussion: NBC News, The Daily Beast, Hullabaloo, Raw Story, GovExec.com, Daily Kos, CNN and Washington Post

Elizabeth Warren / Team Warren:

Honoring and Empowering Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples — In 2003, the United States Commission on Civil Rights released a report on the state of federal support for Indian Country. The report detailed the chronic failure of the federal government to provide the resources necessary …

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Free Beacon and Bloomberg

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost: Elizabeth Warren Unveils Detailed Plan For Empowering Tribal Nations

Alex Thompson / Politico:
Warren pushes tribal plan amid new Trump attacks on Native American claims

Discussion: Washington Post

Ann E. Marimow / Washington Post:

A federal judge in D.C. hit ‘reply all,’ and now there's a formal question about his decorum — A clash between judges on two important federal courts in Washington has created an early, unusual test of new rules intended to make sure courthouses across the country are civil, harassment-free workplaces.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Washington Post:

Trump met his commitments to LGBTQ Americans. He has our endorsement. — Robert Kabel is chairman of Log Cabin Republicans. Jill Homan is the vice chairwoman of Log Cabin Republicans. — While the chasm between left and right in this nation continues to grow, and even the definition …

Discussion: Towleroad Gay News, The Hill, Washington Times, LGBTQ Nation, PinkNews, Raw Story, Breitbart, Patterico's Pontifications and Washington Blade

Brett Samuels / The Hill:

Trump mocks appearance of rally protester: 'That guy's got a serious weight problem' — President Trump on Thursday mocked the weight of a protester who briefly interrupted his rally in Manchester, N.H. — “That guy's got a serious weight problem. Go home, start exercising,” …

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Post and PJ Media Home

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
The man Trump mocked as heavyset at his New Hampshire rally was a Trump supporter

Discussion: Raw Story and The Daily Beast

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

NRA Spent Tens of Thousands on Hair and Makeup for CEO's Wife — The gun group used donor funds to fly Susan LaPierre's favorite stylists around the country and put them up in style. — The NRA spent tens of thousands of dollars bringing hair and makeup artists around the country for the wife of its CEO …

Discussion: Raw Story

Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:

CNN Appears to Have Benched Two Pro-Trump Contributors — Steve Cortes hasn't been seen on the network in more than a month and Ben Ferguson hasn't been on since April, but both are still paid contributors. — CNN president Jeff Zucker is famously committed to ideological diversity.

Discussion: Contemptor

James Pasley / Business Insider:

35 vintage photos taken by the EPA reveal what American cities looked like before pollution was regulated — Before President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, water and air pollution weren't federally regulated. — Between 1971 and 1977 …

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

A Tabloid Legend on Jeffrey Epstein's Death — This is the story with everything. Wealth, power, darkness. Princes and presidents with secrets. — This week we turn the column over to the late Mike McAlary (1957-98), tabloid star and journalistic tough guy. Here's Mike:

New York Post:
Jeffrey Epstein's gal pal Ghislaine Maxwell spotted at In-N-Out Burger in first photos since his death

Discussion: Breitbart, The Guardian, Fox News, Boston Globe, CANNONFIRE, The Week, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, The Independent, VICE, Law & Crime and Mediaite

William D. Cohan / Vanity Fair:

Anthony Scaramucci Calls Trump “Crazy” and “Narcissistic,” — A few days into his jihad against his former boss, Anthony Scaramucci discusses his view of Trump's increasing mental problems, his racist tactics, and why he hopes an Arya Stark will rise up to kick him out of office.

Discussion: The Week

Glenn Thrush / New York Times:

Obama and Biden's Relationship Looks Rosy. It Wasn't Always That Simple. — WASHINGTON — Barack Obama was riding his call for generational change to the Democratic presidential nomination in the spring of 2008 when he began musing about potential running mates with aides traveling with him on the trail.

Discussion: Fox News, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon, The Hill and Politico

Bill Scher / Politico:

The Real Reason Obama Didn't Pass Gun Control — After every mass shooting, there's a new ritual: sharing an old Twitter post from a British columnist that says: “In retrospect Sandy Hook marked the end of the US gun control debate. Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over.”

CNN:

Fact check: No evidence for Trump's claim he was once named Michigan's ‘Man of the Year’ — (CNN)At a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Thursday, President Donald Trump made a handful of false claims, including returning to a claim he's made since the final days of the 2016 campaign.

Discussion: Political Wire

Charlie Warzel / New York Times:

How an Online Mob Created a Playbook for a Culture War — On August 15, 2014, an angry 20-something ex-boyfriend published a 9,425-word screed and set in motion a series of vile events that changed the way we fight online. The post, which exhaustively documented the last weeks of his breakup …

Discussion: Portland Mercury and We Hunted The Mammoth, more at Mediagazer »

David Byler / Washington Post:

What early polls can — and can't — tell you about who will be the Democratic nominee — Presidential primaries are notoriously hard to forecast. Candidates often announce their runs months (or even years — looking at you, John Delaney) before primary voters make up their minds.