memeorandum: Face Masks Really Do Matter. The Scientific Evidence Is Growing. (Caitlin McCabe/Wall Street Journal)

1:55 PM ET, July 18, 2020

Top Items:

Barack Obama / Medium:

My Statement on the Passing of Rep. John Lewis — America is a constant work in progress. What gives each new generation purpose is to take up the unfinished work of the last and carry it further — to speak out for what's right, to challenge an unjust status quo, and to imagine a better world.

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:

John Lewis, Towering Figure of Civil Rights Era, Dies at 80 — Images of his beating at Selma shocked the nation and led to swift passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act; he was called the conscience of the Congress. — Representative John Lewis, a son of sharecroppers and an apostle …

Discussion: The Bulwark, CNBC, Vox, The Mahablog, The Hill, Fox News, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos, The Guardian, BuzzFeed News, Balloon Juice, emptywheel and Rolling Stone

Joe Biden:

Statement by Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden on the Passing of Congressman John Lewis — We are made in the image of God, and then there is John Lewis. — How could someone in flesh and blood be so courageous, so full of hope and love in the face of so much hate, violence, and vengeance?

Discussion: Vox and POLITICUSUSA

New York Times:

The Radical Resistance of John Lewis — Willingness to risk his life for civil rights was essential to the quest for justice. — The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.

Discussion: Washington Post and The Guardian

Michael A. Fletcher / The Undefeated: I didn't understand John Lewis at first

David Remnick / New Yorker: John Lewis's Legacy and America's Redemption

CNN:
Civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis dead at 80

Discussion: Florida Politics, FOX 2, KTLA and ImmigrationProf Blog

Ari Berman / Mother Jones: John Lewis' Legacy Is the Right to Vote. And It's Under Attack.

Laurence I. Barrett / Washington Post:
John R. Lewis, front-line civil rights leader and eminence of Capitol Hill, dies at 80

Discussion: Fox News, The Nation and Outside the Beltway

David Cohen / Politico:
John Lewis, civil rights icon and longtime congressman, dies

Discussion: Axios, Business Insider, The Hill, The Daily Beast, IJR, Common Dreams, New York Times, Reuters, Breitbart, One America News Network, Daily Kos and ABC News

Calvin Woodward / Associated Press:
Remembering John Lewis, rights icon and ‘American hero’

Discussion: Slate

Tamar Hallerman / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
John Lewis, civil rights hero, Georgia congressman, dies at 80

Discussion: Common Dreams

Chad Pergram / Fox News:
John Lewis, civil rights icon, congressman for 33 years, dead at 80

Discussion: Politico, NBC News, Townhall, Disrn and Washington Post

USA Today:
Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon who began pushing for racial justice in the Jim Crow south, has died

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Lawyers, Guns & Money

NPR:

DHS Official On Reports Of Federal Officers Detaining Protesters In Portland, Ore. — NPR's Sarah McCammon talks with acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli about reports of federal officers using unmarked vehicles to detain protesters in Portland, Ore. — SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and ACLU

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

DHS Under Boss: We're Taking This National — When asked about calls for an investigation into DHS police tactics in Portland, Oregon, Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli tells NPR not only are they not going to stop but they want to take the tactics nationwide.

Washington Post:
Portland officials decry aggressive tactics of federal agents in their city

Discussion: Fox News

Charlie Warzel / New York Times:
50 Nights of Unrest in Portland

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Gateway Pundit, Eschaton and The Root

Ryan Haas / OPB:
US Attorney For Oregon Calls For Investigation Into Portland Protester Arrests

Discussion: UPI, NPR, Law & Crime, Informed Comment, POLITICUSUSA, Twitchy, Reason, Washington Post and The Guardian

Caitlin McCabe / Wall Street Journal:

Face Masks Really Do Matter. The Scientific Evidence Is Growing. — New research suggests that face coverings help reduce the transmission of droplets, though some masks are more protective than others — Face masks are emerging as one of the most powerful weapons to fight the novel coronavirus …

Discussion: ABC News

Des Moines Register:

Joni Ernst: If Trump has a Supreme Court nominee, Senate should hold hearings — U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst said Friday that the Senate should hold hearings on any Supreme Court nomination President Donald Trump might make this year, even if he loses November's election.

Discussion: Iowa Starting Line

Washington Post:

From ‘Sleepy Joe’ to a destroyer of the ‘American way of life,’ Trump's attacks on Biden make a dystopian shift — President Trump has launched a slash-and-burn campaign against an exaggerated caricature of his Democratic opponent, casting former vice president Joe Biden as a destroyer …

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Fox host Chris Wallace fact-checks Trump claim Biden wants to defund police

Discussion: Reuters, Raw Story, Breitbart, Deadline, Twitchy, POLITICUSUSA and The Guardian

Ursula Perano / Axios: Biden says he receives briefings warning of Russian and Chinese election interference

MSNBC: Trump falsely claims Joe Biden would ‘abolish the suburbs’

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Trump Promotes Caricature of What Conservatives Want — A series of events during his White House tenure has made clear that Mr. Trump views the voters he calls “my people” through the lens of what he imagines they like. — Standing in the White House colonnade this week …

Discussion: Raw Story and Alternet.org

Twitter:

An update on our security incident — As we've been informing via the @TwitterSupport account, on Wednesday, July 15, 2020, we detected a security incident at Twitter and took immediate action. As we head into the weekend, we want to provide an overview of where we are.

Discussion: NPR, WSVN-TV, Breitbart, UncoverDC, Sputnik News, The Verge and Florida Politics, more at Techmeme »

Christo Grozev / bellingcat:

World's Most Wanted Man Jan Marsalek Located in Belarus; Data Points to Russian Intel Links — It can safely be assumed that Jan Marsalek is currently one of the most hunted-for persons on earth. The company he oversaw operationally, Germany's Wirecard, collapsed overnight last month …

Eugene Scott / Washington Post:

Trump may finally be facing the political consequences of his untrustworthiness — Concerns about President Trump's dishonesty began before he entered the White House, but the consequences of his not being trustworthy are now fully evident. — Trump surpassed 20,000 false or misleading claims …

Discussion: Raw Story and Breitbart

Tina Nguyen / Politico:

Trump keeps fighting a Confederate flag battle many supporters have conceded — President Donald Trump is fighting to retain people's right to fly the Confederate battle flag — but many of his own supporters and government have already turned in their swords.

Discussion: Raw Story

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

The Revolution Is Winning — Radicals from the 1960s and 1970s now hold powerful positions in government and academia — T — his is what the revolution looks like. — Weather Underground terrorists, who made no secret of being anti-AmeriKKKan “small-c” communists …

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:

The Trump campaign is the grift that keeps on grifting — There has long been an element of grift to political campaigns. — The guys who make the ads and the media buyers get rich by paying themselves a percentage of the amount that is spent on advertising.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Associated Press:

Trump's trouble in suburbs key to suddenly competitive Ohio — CINCINNATI (AP) — During a background briefing with reporters in December, President Donald Trump's reelection campaign team gave only passing mention of Ohio. Certainly no one suggested a full-scale fall advertising strategy …

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

American Crime and the Baltimore Model — Cities across the country are in danger of making the same mistakes. — In 2014, there were 211 homicides in the city of Baltimore. The following year, there were 342, an astonishing increase of 62 percent. The murder rate has barely budged since.