memeorandum: Barack and Michelle Obama Buying Mega-Mansion in Martha's Vineyard (TMZ.com)

5:15 PM ET, August 22, 2019

Top Items:

Hamed Aleaziz / BuzzFeed News:

The Justice Department Sent Immigration Judges A White Nationalist Blog Post With Anti-Semitic Attacks — An email sent from the Justice Department to all immigration court employees this week included a link to an article posted on a white nationalist website that “directly attacks sitting immigration judges …

Discussion: Political Wire

Associated Press:

AP-NORC poll: Trump approval still weak despite economy — NEW YORK (AP) — About 6 in 10 Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump's overall job performance, according to a new poll released Thursday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research …

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Eschaton and National Review

Polls:

Potential Impeachment Impact On 2020 — Democrats want inquiry despite little likelihood of ousting Trump — West Long Branch, NJ - President Donald Trump's approval rating may remain underwater, but a majority of the public continues to oppose removal by impeachment even as the House Judiciary Committee has started proceedings.

Discussion: Fox News

Rebecca Klar / The Hill:
Trump has 62 percent disapproval rating in new AP poll

Discussion: Bloomberg

Arkansas Online:

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton backs buying Greenland, says he floated idea to Trump, Danish ambassador — The U.S. should obviously buy Greenland, and anyone who doesn't see that is blinded by disdain for the president, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton said Wednesday. — Cotton, R-Arkansas …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Contemptor, The Local and NPR

Talk Business & Politics:

Sen. Cotton says he asked Danish ambassador about selling Greenland — Months before President Donald Trump expressed an interest in buying Greenland, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said he suggested the idea to the President and met with the Danish ambassador to propose the sale of the large land mass to the U.S.

Discussion: Washington Post, ArkansasTimes, Breitbart, Splinter, Politico, Althouse, Daily Wire, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress and BBC

Morten Buttler / Bloomberg:
Trump's ‘Nasty’ Label Draws Response From Danish Prime Minister

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo and Fortune

Mitch McConnell / New York Times:

The Filibuster Plays a Crucial Role in Our Constitutional Order — Democrats who want to change Senate rules for temporary political gain will rue the day, as they have before. — Mr. McConnell is the Senate majority leader. — “You'll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think.”

Discussion: Shareblue Media, National Review, Vox, ThinkProgress, CNN, Daily Wire, twitchy.com, Daily Kos, Washington Times, Washington Post, Politico, IJR and Axios

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:
Abolishing the Filibuster Is Unavoidable for Democrats

Discussion: National Review

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Trump, frustrated by unpopularity with Jews, thrusts Israel into his culture war — The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights — President Trump decided long ago that it would be smart politics for him to yoke his administration to Israel and to try to brand the Democratic Party as anti-Semitic.

Discussion: The Bulwark, Jewish Insider, Daily Kos, Los Angeles Times, Splinter, Breitbart, The American Conservative, New York Times, RedState, New York Post, RELEVANT Magazine, Jewish Journal, Washington Press, Little Green Footballs, RealClearPolitics and BizPac Review

Miriam Elder / BuzzFeed News:
Donald Trump's Not Talking To Jews When He Talks About Jews

Discussion: NPR, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review, New York Times and Elder Of Ziyon

Julie Zauzmer / Washington Post:
How anti-Semitic beliefs have quietly taken hold among some evangelical Christians

Discussion: The Intellectualist

Noga Tarnopolsky / Los Angeles Times:
Many Israelis are worried about the state of the U.S. alliance

Discussion: Washington Post and The Week

HuffPost:

Democratic National Committee Votes To Reject Climate Debate — The vote came a day after the 2020 climate candidate Jay Inslee, who had been pushing for the debate, dropped out of the race. — The Democratic National Committee has rejected a proposal to host a single-issue debate on the climate crisis.

Discussion: Axios, Political Wire, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, Common Dreams, Splinter and NBC News

Allan Smith / NBC News:

Giuliani says State Dept. aided his effort to press Ukraine on Trump opponents — Giuliani pressed for investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and the release of damaging information on Paul Manafort. — President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani confirmed Thursday …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Contemptor, Talking Points Memo, The New Civil Rights Movement, CNN, New York Times and Axios

Elizabeth Williamson / New York Times:

Stephanie Grisham's Turbulent Ascent to a Top White House Role — WASHINGTON — Stephanie Grisham doled out fast food and tracked lost gear as a press wrangler on President Trump's 2016 campaign, far from the in-crowd flying on the gold-plated Trump jet. An early and hard-working convert …

Discussion: Political Wire, Daily Kos, Politico and The Intellectualist, more at Mediagazer »

TMZ.com:

Barack and Michelle Obama Buying Mega-Mansion in Martha's Vineyard — BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA LOCKING DOWN INCREDIBLE MARTHA'S VINEYARD ESTATE!!! — THE PRESIDENTIAL PAD — LAUNCH GALLERY — Barack and Michelle Obama may soon become Kennedy adjacent because we've learned they're …

Discussion: New York Post, Breitbart, Fox News, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, The Source, Washington Free Beacon, theGrio and 77 WABC Radio

Bridie Pearson-jones / Daily Mail: Barack and Michelle Obama are reportedly trying to buy a sprawling estate in Martha's Vineyard …

Matthew Boyle / Breitbart:

Exclusive — ‘Crappy Jew Year’: New York Times Editor's Antisemitism, Racism Exposed — A New York Times political editor has a years-long history of antisemitic and racist comments on his Twitter page, a Breitbart News investigation has found. — Tom Wright-Piersanti …

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo, Washington Times, twitchy.com, TheBlaze, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Daily Wire, The Gateway Pundit, LifeZette and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Joshua Caplan / Breitbart:
Lee Zeldin Calls for NYT's Tom Wright-Piersanti to Be Fired for Antisemitism

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Yun Li / CNBC:

Manufacturing sector contracts for the first time in nearly a decade — KEY POINTS — The U.S. manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers index) was 49.9 in August, below the neutral 50.0 threshold for the first time since September 2009, according to IHS Markit.

Discussion: Breitbart, Nightly Business Report and POLITICUSUSA

Lisa Friedman / New York Times:

Bernie Sanders's ‘Green New Deal’: A $16 Trillion Climate Plan — WASHINGTON — Senator Bernie Sanders on Thursday released a $16.3 trillion blueprint to fight climate change, the latest and most expensive proposal from the field of Democratic presidential candidates aimed at reining in planet-warming greenhouse gases.

Discussion: Earther, Associated Press, Portland Mercury, Breitbart, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, BuzzFeed News, PJ Media Home, The Week, Mediaite, Politico, Axios, Bern Notice, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post and New York Times

New York Times:
What if we all ate a bit less meat?

Discussion: Watts Up With That?

New York Times:

Patrick Byrne, Overstock C.E.O., Resigns After Disclosing Romance With Russian Agent — Patrick Byrne resigned as chief executive of the online retailer Overstock.com on Thursday, saying in a letter to shareholders that he had no choice but to quit as a result of the attention stirred …

Discussion: CNBC, Talking Points Memo, Axios, TechCrunch, The Week, CoinDesk and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

Axios:

Scoop: Top Homeland Security aide resigns amid tensions with White House — Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan's top aide and spokesman is resigning amid frustration in the White House over the Department of Homeland Security's handling of major policy rollouts and White House distrust …

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement and The Intellectualist

James Fallows / The Atlantic:

If Trump Were an Airline Pilot — Through the 2016 campaign, I posted a series called “Trump Time Capsule” in this space. The idea was to record, in real time, what was known about Donald Trump's fitness for office—and to do so not when people were looking back on our era …

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Trump's unhinged display should frighten everyone — It's no joke, as former vice president Joe Biden would say. In the last week or so, we've witnessed President Trump deny there is a threat of recession; blame the Federal Reserve chairman for raising interest rates too high (!); deny …

Discussion: Raw Story, Home Page Rotator and Los Angeles Times

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

Trump's ‘chopper talk’ puts media on the defensive — It was another bravura performance of “Chopper Talk.” — The latest iteration of President Donald Trump's signature news conferences in front of a thwapping Marine One on Wednesday was a whirligig of boastfulness …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Althouse, twitchy.com and Daily Kos

Marianne LeVine / Politico:

Trump kills plan to cut billions in foreign aid — President Donald Trump has scrapped a plan to freeze more than $4 billion in foreign aid in a move that would have been another end run around Congress' power of the purse, according to multiple sources familiar with the decision.

Discussion: National Review, CNN, TheBlaze and The Daily Caller

The Daily Beast:

U.S.-Denmark Relations Are Now in the Hands of a Conspiracy-Loving, Climate-Denying Ex-Actress — Carla Sands, who heads U.S. mission to the Kingdom of Denmark, has no diplomatic experience and now is in charge of patching things up with the Danes. — The United States ambassador tasked …

Discussion: Politico and Daily Kos

Washington Post:

'It's going to be tough': House Democrats appear less likely to get Trump's tax returns before 2020 election — House Democrats appear increasingly unlikely to secure President Trump's tax returns before the 2020 presidential election, according to interviews with legal experts and several lawmakers …

Discussion: Political Wire

Jill Filipovic / The Guardian:

A new poll shows what really interests ‘pro-lifers’: controlling women — According to their own survey responses, anti-abortion voters are hostile to gender equality in practically every aspect — According to self-identified “pro-life” advocates, the fundamental divide between …

Discussion: LifeNews.com and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Washington Post:

Climate change has increased humidity in D.C., making it feel even hotter — The humidity has increased 5 to 10 percent just since 1970, turning hot summer days even more unbearable — It's no secret the world is warming, but thanks in part to climate change, humidity is also beginning to surge.

Jeffry Bartash / MarketWatch:

U.S. created 500,000 fewer jobs since 2018 than previously reported, new figures show — Turns out hiring wasn't nearly as strong in 2018 and early 2019 as the government initially reported — by about a half-million jobs. — The economy had about 501,000 fewer jobs as of March 2019 …

Discussion: Washington Post, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Daily Wire, CNBC and UPI

Wall Street Journal:

News Corp Readies News App to Address Publishers' Concerns About Google and Facebook — Knewz.com will surface articles from hundreds of news sources, using software and human curation — News Corp is developing a news-aggregation service meant to address concerns that Alphabet Inc.'s Google News …

Discussion: Variety, The Verge and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Trump's racism is about to get more scrutiny — A series of mass shootings carried out by deranged men animated by white nationalist ideology — along with the arrests of others allegedly hellbent on carrying out their own carnage — has raised two critical questions.

Bryan Walsh / New York Times:

A Giant Volcano Could End Human Life on Earth as We Know It — Why isn't anyone taking this problem more seriously? Unlikely isn't the same thing as impossible, even though it's human nature to conflate the two. — Mr. Walsh is the author of a forthcoming book on existential risks.

Discussion: New York Post

Sam Roe / Chicago Tribune:

We tested popular cellphones for radiofrequency radiation. Now the FCC is investigating. — The Apple iPhone 7 was set to operate at full power and secured below a tub of clear liquid, specially formulated to simulate human tissue. — With the push of a button, a robotic arm swung into action …

Rick Wilson / The Daily Beast:

This Isn't the Madman Theory. This Is a Madman President. — In business, Trump could paper over his bankruptcies, flops, asinine remarks, and failed cons. The presidency is different. — At this moment, on another Earth, a man is locked in a padded cell, nodding to the gibbering chorus …

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:

Donald Trump Is Not the Messiah, He's a Very Naughty Boy — The president isn't the type to think he can walk on water, but he is the type to hope that millions of evangelicals keep falling for his shtick. — While talking to reporters on the White House lawn Wednesday about his plans …

Discussion: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Daily Caller, Rolling Stone and the way of improvement …