memeorandum: Trump's TikTok ban is a gross abuse of power (Russell Brandom/The Verge)

8:20 PM ET, August 11, 2020

Top Items:

Joe Biden picks Kamala Harris as running mate — Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he has chosen Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate — the first Black woman to be named to a major-party U.S. presidential ticket, and potentially the first woman vice president if Biden defeats President Trump.

New York Times:

2020 Election Live Updates: Joe Biden Picks Kamala Harris to Be His Running Mate — In a new national poll, Mr. Biden leads President Trump by 10 points. In Minnesota, Ilhan Omar faces a stiff primary challenge, while a QAnon supporter has a shot at a Georgia House seat.

Discussion: Axios, The Moderate Voice, Townhall, Politico, Reuters, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, USA Today, Talking Points Memo, The US Sun, NBC Connecticut, SFist, Essence, The Gateway Pundit, Vox, Sputnik News, Fox News, New York Post and CANNONFIRE

CNN:

Why Kamala Harris won the VP contest — David Axelrod, a senior CNN political commentator and host of “The Axe Files,” was senior adviser to President Barack Obama and chief strategist for the 2008 and 2012 Obama presidential campaigns. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

Discussion: Townhall, ImmigrationProf Blog and The US Sun

Maureen Lee Lenker / EW.com:

Maya Rudolph reacts to Kamala Harris VP pick: ‘Oh s—’ — Rudolph said she is ready to return as Harris on Saturday Night Live. — It's official: Joe Biden has selected Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate in the 2020 election. And Maya Rudolph, who played Harris during …

Discussion: Deadline, Vanity Fair, New York Post, Variety and The Wrap

Kevin D. Williamson / National Review:

On Kamala Harris — Joe Biden has named his 2020 running mate: authoritarianism. — American prosecutors wield awesome and terrible powers that lend themselves easily to abuse, and Senator Kamala Harris, formerly the attorney general of California, is an enthusiastic abuser of them.

Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:

Why Joe Biden Picked Kamala Harris — If Joe Biden is elected in November, his presidency will likely be defined by history-shaping decisions made after long, deliberative, some might say operatic processes. Biden's selection of Senator Kamala Harris of California as his running mate …

Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:

Team Biden wishes it had known something was slightly wrong with every woman before promising a female VP — What a mess! With the deadline to select a vice president approaching, the members of Team Biden wish someone had told them before this all started that every high-profile woman …

Discussion: CNN, Reuters, Breitbart, NBC News and The Hill

The Daily Beast:

Trump Campaign Playbook: Paint Kamala as ‘Ruthless’ and ‘Power-Hungry’ — Trump campaign officials said they expect to be called sexist, so are embracing attacks painting Harris as “power hungry” and overly “ambitious.” — Sen. Kamala Harris may be on the bottom of the Democratic presidential ticket …

Discussion: National Review, NPR and Reuters

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
Wall Street executives are glad Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris to be his VP running mate

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The 19th

Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Harris VP pick creates dilemma for Trump campaign, which lobs conflicting attacks

Discussion: The Week, Sputnik News and Common Dreams

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:
Biden taps Kamala Harris as running mate, setting aside tensions from primary

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Post, Reuters, Axios and The US Sun

Amanda Erickson / Washington Post:
Sen. Kamala D. Harris named as Joe Biden's running mate

Discussion: NBC News, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Politics K-12, FiveThirtyEight, Florida Politics and Outside the Beltway

Nardine Saad / Los Angeles Times:
‘Yes, We Kam!’ Hollywood is fired up over Kamala Harris as Biden's VP pick

Discussion: Twitchy

Deepa Shivaram / NBC News:
Joe Biden selects Kamala Harris as his running mate

Discussion: Fox News, Axios, Mother Jones, Reason, The American Spectator, Politico, Patterico's Pontifications, Essence and The Root

Politico:
Biden picks Kamala Harris as VP nominee

Discussion: New York Times, The American Independent, The Moderate Voice, Townhall, The Truth About Guns, FactCheck.org and The Gateway Pundit

Alexandra DeSanctis / National Review: Kamala Harris's Anti-Catholic Bigotry

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
First look: New Trump ad doubles down on radical left frame for Biden

Discussion: Reuters, Associated Press, Breitbart, IJR, The Hill, One America News Network, Florida Politics, NBC News and Politico

New York Times:

Retail Chains Abandon Manhattan: 'It's Unsustainable' — Some national chains, both retail and restaurants, are closing outlets in New York City, which are struggling more than their branches elsewhere. — For years, Bryant Park Grill & Cafe in Midtown Manhattan has been one of the country's …

New York Times:

A Bible Burning, a Russian News Agency and a Story Too Good to Check Out — WASHINGTON — For some of President Trump's loudest cheerleaders, it was a story too good to check out: Black Lives Matters protesters in Portland, Ore., had burned a stack of Bibles, and then topped off the fire with American flags.

Discussion: The Hill, more at Mediagazer »

Big Ten Conference:

Big Ten Statement on 2020-21 Fall Season — ROSEMONT, Ill. - The Big Ten Conference announced the postponement of the 2020-21 fall sports season, including all regular-season contests and Big Ten Championships and Tournaments, due to ongoing health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sports Illustrated:
First Power 5 Dominoes Fall as Big Ten, Pac-12 Pull Plug on Fall Season

Discussion: ESPN

Benjamin Siegel / ABC News:
Trump pushes for college football season, claiming young, healthy college athletes are ‘not going to have a problem’

Discussion: The Hill, The Wrap, CBS Los Angeles and One America News Network

CNBC:

Government lawyer suggests Attorney General Barr had secret reasons for dropping Michael Flynn criminal case — Attorney General William Barr may have had secret information that led the Justice Department to seek to drop its criminal case against Michael Flynn, a government lawyer said Tuesday.

Discussion: National Review and The Gateway Pundit

Pete Williams / NBC News:
Appeals court likely to let judge decide whether to drop Michael Flynn charges

Discussion: Reuters

Amanda Terkel / HuffPost:

Trump: If Biden Wins, You'll ‘Have To Learn To Speak Chinese’ — “If I don't win the election, China will own the United States,” the president claimed in an interview. — President Donald Trump continued his xenophobic warnings about China on Tuesday, claiming that if he loses the election …

Discussion: Raw Story

Hugh Hewitt / The Hugh Hewitt Show:
President Trump On A SCOTUS Vacancy, China, College Football, Joe Biden's VP And More

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, IJR, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Law & Crime and Task & Purpose

Quint Forgey / Politico:
Trump unloads in morning interviews as U.S. struggles to tame virus

Discussion: The Hill, OutKick, Washington Post and Breitbart

Pew Research Center:

About One-in-Four U.S. Hispanics Have Heard of Latinx, but Just 3% Use It — Young Hispanic women among the most likely to use the term — For this analysis we surveyed 3,030 U.S. Hispanic adults in December 2019 as part of the 2019 National Survey of Latinos.

Discussion: Townhall, Los Angeles Times, NPR, The Federalist, Washington Free Beacon and Twitchy

Vladimir Isachenkov / Associated Press:

Russia clears virus vaccine despite scientific skepticism — MOSCOW (AP) — Russia on Tuesday became the first country to clear a coronavirus vaccine and declare it ready for use, despite international skepticism. President Vladimir Putin said that one of his daughters has already been inoculated.

Discussion: Washington Post, Slate, CNN, Big Think, TASS, Associated Press, Reuters, New York Times, The Daily Caller, The Verge, WGN-TV, Politico, The Week, Bloomberg, No More Mister Nice Blog and TheBlaze

Zachary B. Wolf / CNN:
Russia claims a win in the vaccine race. But would you take a vaccine from Vladimir Putin?

Discussion: Sputnik News, Mediaite and Veterans Today

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

The Revolt of the Republican Strategists — What the Trump era has revealed about the people who used to run Republican campaigns. — Last week I found myself reading “It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump,” the new book by Stuart Stevens, the longtime Republican operative …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Exclusive: Facebook cracks down on political content disguised as local news — Facebook is rolling out a new policy that will prevent U.S. news publishers with “direct, meaningful ties” to political groups from claiming the news exemption within its political ads authorization process, executives tell Axios.

Discussion: Reuters, more at Mediagazer »

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:
Conservative ‘News’ Site's Secret: It's Run by Trump's Super PAC

Discussion: Raw Story

CBS News:

Seattle's police chief stepping down after City Council votes to trim department — Seattle's police chief says she is stepping down, a move made public the same day the City Council approved reducing the department by as many as 100 officers through layoffs and attrition.

Discussion: The Root, Fox News, KING-TV and The Daily Caller

Sister Toldjah / Redstate:
BREAKING: Seattle's First Black Female Police Chief Resigns After Council Caves to BLM, Reporters Note Irony

Discussion: KOMO, Power Line and MyNorthwest.com

Danny M. Lavery / Slate:

Help! I Can't Believe My Son's Friend Fed Him Indian Food Without Calling Me First. — Slate is now asking those who read the most to support our journalism more directly by subscribing to Slate Plus. Learn more. — Danny is online weekly to chat live with readers.

Wall Street Journal:

TikTok Tracked User Data Using Tactic Banned by Google — The tactic, which experts in mobile-phone security said was concealed through an unusual added layer of encryption, appears to have violated Google policies — TikTok skirted a privacy safeguard in Google's Android operating system …

Discussion: Variety, The Verge and Vox, more at Techmeme »

Bangor Daily News:

A hard path for Susan Collins and 5 other takeaways from the BDN's Maine poll — Democrats are leading in Maine's major races, according to a Bangor Daily News-Digital Research poll conducted in late July and early August. — House Speaker Sara Gideon held a 5-point lead …

Discussion: The Hill

Vicky Prodeline / Polls:

Election Meddling Concerns — Democrats suspect Russia, Republicans point finger at the Democrats — West Long Branch, NJ - American voters are simultaneously confident and concerned about the integrity of the upcoming election. While many Democrats are worried about Russian meddling …

Discussion: Washington Post, POLITICUSUSA, The Hill, The US Sun and Politico

Tony Romm / Washington Post:

An economic crisis in Kentucky has workers, businesses furious with McConnell — Joblessness is high, benefits are running out and local leaders say they need the kind of aid that the Senate's most powerful figure has yet to endorse — The parade of cars honked incessantly as they crawled past …

Discussion: Daily Kos and Raw Story

Sahil Kapur / NBC News:

‘Art of the deal’? Trump's negotiators are often hard-liners who struggle to close — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump fashioned himself to Americans as a master negotiator who would surround himself with the best people and bring his “art of the deal” to Washington.

Discussion: Reuters, Associated Press, The Week, Raw Story and Washington Post

The Hill:

Lincoln Project expands GOP target list, winning Trump ire — The former GOP operatives behind The Lincoln Project are expanding their list of Republican targets, infuriating allies of President Trump's and national Republicans scrambling to preserve the GOP majority in the Senate.

Discussion: Raw Story

Andrew Chung / Reuters:

Supreme Court blocks path to Oregon redistricting ballot measure — (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that had opened the door to a ballot measure in Oregon to create an independent commission to redraw electoral district lines in the state.

Discussion: Associated Press and Washington Post