memeorandum: A Million People Are Jailed at China's Gulags. I Managed to Escape. Here's What Really Goes on Inside (David Stavrou/Haaretz)

9:55 AM ET, October 18, 2019

Top Items:

Alexander Nazaryan / Yahoo News:

Pentagon expert could reveal key details in Ukraine probe — WASHINGTON — In the summer of 2018, Congress allotted $250 million in military aid to Ukraine, part of a continuing effort to help the Eastern European nation defend itself against Russia. Several months later,

Washington Post:

Diplomat tells investigators he raised alarms in 2015 about Hunter Biden's Ukraine work but was rebuffed — A career State Department official overseeing Ukraine policy told congressional investigators this week that he had raised concerns in early 2015 about then-Vice President Joe Biden's son serving …

Discussion: National Review, Axios, One America News Network, Political Wire and The Guardian

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

Forget Trump's “Meltdown”—Follow the Testimony — On a week of revelations in the House's impeachment inquiry. — In a series of tweets in late July, Donald Trump called Elijah Cummings, a Democratic representative from Baltimore and one of his chief congressional critics, a “brutal bully” …

CNN:

Trump unhappy with Mulvaney's press briefing in which he acknowledged quid pro quo, source says — (CNN)President Donald Trump is not pleased with acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney's press briefing and his acknowledgment on Thursday of a quid pro quo, according to a source close to the President.

Discussion: Boing Boing and The Resurgent

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:

Impeachment inquiry shows Trump at the center of Ukraine efforts against rivals — Two Cabinet secretaries. The acting White House chief of staff. A bevy of career diplomats. President Trump's personal attorney. And at the center of the impeachment inquiry, the president himself.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, CNN, Sputnik International and Daily Kos

New York Times:
Mulvaney Says, Then Denies, That Trump Held Back Ukraine Aid as Quid Pro Quo

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Reason, CNN, American Greatness, Foreign Policy, Herman Cain, New York Times, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Shareblue Media, The Daily Beast, MSNBC, VICE, Vox and Defense One

Axios:
Trump's shout-it-out-loud strategy

Discussion: Miami Herald, CNN, YouTube and Political Wire

Igor Bobic / HuffPost:
GOP Senator Breaks With White House Over Ukraine Quid Pro Quo

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, FiveThirtyEight, DemCast and Sputnik International

The Daily Beast:
Mick Mulvaney Has Conservatives Asking: WTF Are You Doing?

Discussion: New York Times, CAFE, Los Angeles Times and The Dispatch

Washington Post:
Mulvaney confirms Ukraine aid withheld in part to force probe of Democrats

Discussion: HuffPost, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Power Line, Vanity Fair, CNBC, New York Times, The Mahablog, What The Fuck … and Politico

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
How Did Gordon Sondland Think This Was Going to End?

Discussion: HuffPost, Mother Jones and Shareblue Media

New York Post: Move the summit, Mr. President

Washington Post:
Mick Mulvaney's comments on Trump and Ukraine couldn't have been clearer

Discussion: The Guardian, Breitbart and HuffPost

CNN:
What House investigators have learned after two weeks of Ukraine interviews

Discussion: The American Conservative, KTLA and Washington Post

Elena Becatoros / Associated Press:

Fighting in Kurdish-held Syrian town despite cease-fire — CEYLANPINAR, Turkey (AP) — Fighting continued Friday morning in a northeast Syrian border town at the center of the fight between Turkey and Kurdish forces, despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire that went into effect overnight.

Discussion: National Review, Conservative Christian News, Daily Kos, CNBC, Al Arabiya, Daily Herald, France 24 and Political Wire

New York Times:

In ‘Cave-In,’ Trump Cease-Fire Cements Turkey's Gains in Syria — The agreement, announced by Vice President Mike Pence, may stop the killing in the Kurdish enclave in northern Syria. But the cost to American influence is expected to be high. — WASHINGTON — The cease-fire agreement reached …

Discussion: Just Security, Outside the Beltway, Althouse and Common Dreams

Washington Post:

ISIS eyes breakout opportunity as Turkish forces batter Kurds — The Islamic State is racing to capitalize on the deteriorating security situation in northern Syria, stepping up attacks on prisons as well as on the now-weakened Kurdish militia that served as the vanguard in the U.S.-led war …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, HuffPost and The Week

Lara Seligman / Foreign Policy:
Turkish Proxies Appear to Be Using White Phosphorus in Syria

Discussion: The Guardian, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Week and Breitbart

Amnesty International:
Syria: Damning evidence of war crimes and other violations by Turkish forces and their allies

Discussion: Common Dreams

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
Trump's Capitulation to Erdogan Is Complete

Discussion: New York Times, Salon, Washington Post and Hullabaloo

Christopher Donato / ABC News:

Former Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis roasts Donald Trump: ‘I earned my spurs on the battlefield’ — Former Defense Secretary James Mattis roasted his former boss at the Alfred E. Smith dinner in New York City on Thursday night. — Mattis took the stage at the annual dinner …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Bloomberg, Politico, Political Wire and Contemptor

Marina Pitofsky / The Hill:
Mattis responds to Trump criticism: 'I guess I'm the Meryl Streep of generals'

Discussion: RedState, Politico, twitchy.com and The Week

Katie Shepherd / Washington Post:
‘I earned my spurs on the battlefield’: Mattis jabbed Trump. Critics say he hasn't gone far enough.

Discussion: The Guardian and Sputnik International

Leo Shane III / Military Times:
Trump blasts Mattis as 'the world's most overrated general'

Discussion: USA Today, Task & Purpose, ABC News and Talking Points Memo

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Trump holds Dallas rally as impeachment fight messes with his lead in Texas — DALLAS — Texas on Thursday night offered President Donald Trump a much-needed break from the backlash over his Syria decision and the relentlessness of the Democrats' impeachment inquiry.

Discussion: The Federalist, Political Wire and Fox News

Ally Mutnick / Politico: Why Republicans should be worried about their chances of retaking the House

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Mitt Romney marches alone: 'I don't believe I'm leading a wing of the party'

Discussion: Political Wire

Sean Trende / Real Clear Politics:

Would Warren's Ideology Weaken Her as Democrats' Nominee? — With Elizabeth Warren surging toward front-runner status in the Democratic nomination race, the specter of her supposed lack of electability has been raised by increasingly nervous Democrats (and hopeful Republicans).

David Brooks / New York Times:
If It's Trump vs. Warren, Then What?

Discussion: The American Conservative

Blair Miller / TheDenverChannel.com:

New poll shows majority of Coloradans support impeachment inquiry, Hickenlooper leads Gardner — Keating Research-OnSight Public Affairs-Martin Campaigns poll conducted Oct. 10-14 — <p>WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 28: Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) listens during a Commission On Security …

Borzou Daragahi / The Independent:

Erdogan says Turkey will take necessary steps against Trump's ‘disrespectful’ letter — Letter ‘was not in line with diplomatic and political courtesy. We will not forget this lack of respect’ — {{^moreThanTen}} — {{/moreThanTen}} — Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan …

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Sen. Mitt Romney raises a troubling theory about Trump and Turkey

Discussion: RedState, Political Wire and Foreign Policy

The Daily Beast:

Nunes Tries to Use Steele Dossier to Defend Trump During Closed-Door Hearing — Ambassador Gordon Sondland appeared perplexed by Nunes' comments, according to one source, and the exchange was “awkward.” — During a closed-door impeachment meeting on Capitol Hill, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) …

Discussion: Raw Story

Jonathan Browning / Bloomberg:

Oleg Deripaska-Linked Firm Was Raided for Undisclosed U.S. Inquiry — Filings in U.K. reveal ‘live and ongoing’ U.S. criminal probe — Laundering investigation grew out of Robert Mueller's work — U.S. prosecutors are seeking records from a company associated …

William H. McRaven / New York Times:

Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President — If President Trump doesn't demonstrate the leadership that America needs, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office. — Admiral McRaven is a former commander of the United States Special Operations Command.

Discussion: CNN, HuffPost, Breitbart, Daily Kos, The Guardian, Raw Story and Mediaite

Paul Brandus / USA Today:

Trump's unmatched sleaze: Grifters, women, trampling Constitution and now G-7 at Doral — We've never had a president like Donald Trump. He falls into every single sleaze category, from women to profiteering to attacking the Bill of Rights. — CONNECT — We've had presidents who were used …

Discussion: Salon and CREW

Otillia Steadman / BuzzFeed News:

Porn Stars Are Fed Up With Instagram Wrongly Taking Down Their Accounts — Sex workers and Instagram tried to make peace over takedowns in a meeting this summer. Then porn star Jessica Jaymes' account was incorrectly removed — after she died. — Porn stars and other sex workers are furious …

Christine Stapleton / Palm Beach Post:

NEW: Another anti-Muslim group to host event at Mar-a-Lago — Another anti-Muslim group has scheduled a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, prompting the nation's largest Muslim advocacy group to again ask the Trump Organization to cancel an event sponsored by such a group.

Roy Blunt / USA Today:

Forget Donald Trump, Republicans. Save the GOP for the sake of your party's future. — The longer Republicans remain silent on how President Trump is abusing the Republican Party, the more it will sound like the silence of the lambs: Our view — It has long been said that Republicans ought …

Dave Philipps / New York Times:

The Navy Wants to Push Out Problem SEALs. But Trump May Get in the Way. — A push to strengthen discipline in the SEAL teams has been stymied by one sailor's support in the White House. — Spiking drinks with cocaine, shooting Iraqi civilians, strangling a Green Beret …

Jim Swift / The Bulwark:

Meet Trump's Illuminati Scholar — They've done it. Finally, the Trump administration has reached its logical conclusion. The presidency that began with Alex Jones and birtherism has finally brought a brave truth teller into the deep state fold. — If you haven't heard …

Discussion: George Mentz, Shareblue Media and HuffPost

David Stavrou / Haaretz:

A Million People Are Jailed at China's Gulags. I Managed to Escape. Here's What Really Goes on Inside — Rape, torture and human experiments. Sayragul Sauytbay offers firsthand testimony from a Xinjiang ‘reeducation’ camp — Send me email alerts — Zen Subscribe now

Vladimir Soldatkin / Reuters:

Russia says it is starting to resume U.S. cyber cooperation: TASS — MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and the United States are gradually starting to resume cooperation on cyber security, TASS news agency cited the head of Russia's FSB Federal Security Service as saying on Thursday.