memeorandum: Orlando Sheriff, Who Is Running for Re-Election, Shot a Teen to Death in 1999 (Jerry Iannelli/The Appeal)

7:15 PM ET, August 12, 2020

Top Items:

2020 Election Live Updates: After Harris Pick, Sexist and Racist Attacks From Trump and Fox News Hosts — Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are expected to make their first appearance as running mates today. In Tuesday's primaries, Ilhan Omar beat back a challenge and a QAnon supporter prevailed in Georgia.

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Tucker Carlson's mangling of Kamala Harris's name was all about disrespect — When I was a young reporter I had an editor who was a stickler for getting people's middle initials correct in news stories. — “If you get the name wrong, there's no reason for anyone to trust anything else you write,” he'd say.

Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:

“She'll Scare the S—t Out of Suburban Women”: Inside Trumpworld's Anti-Kamala Harris Attack Plan — It's getting ugly—"nasty" and “phony” is how Trump greeted the historic pick—and the campaign is revving up to tag Harris as a left-wing opportunist. But some GOP insiders are skeptical.

Discussion: Washington Post, POLITICUSUSA, Spectator USA, Raw Story, The Hill, Breitbart, IJR and Balloon Juice

The Daily Beast:

Fox News Insists That Joe Biden Didn't Really Pick Kamala Harris — After Harris was selected as veep, Fox News stars began wildly speculating that shadowy figures chose her for Biden. Elsewhere, the network has pushed smears about her ethnicity. — It took Fox News no more than an hour …

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, Redstate, CNN and The Hill

Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:

Trump's Q Endorsement — She says Trump can help defeat a “global cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles.” Trump calls her a “future Republican star.” — Let's be honest. Many Republicans in politics, the media, and corporate America were really hoping that Bernie Sanders would be the Democratic presidential nominee.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Post and The Hill

David A. Hopkins / New York Times:
What the Kamala Harris Pick Tells Us About Joe Biden

Discussion: Honest Graft, The Bulwark, NBC News, Washington Post and LGBTQ Nation

David Byler / Washington Post:
Harris is a small-c conservative, party-friendly pick — which makes her just right for Biden

Discussion: Forbes, BuzzFeed News, New York Times, Associated Press and Twitchy

Mike Allen / Axios:
What Joe Biden's historic selection of Kamala Harris tells us about how he would govern

Discussion: Politico, The Moderate Voice, Reuters, NBC News, The Hill, Bloomberg, SFWeekly, The Week, Fox News, Wall Street Journal and Breitbart

Katie Rogers / New York Times:
Kamala Harris Crystallizes Trump's View of Women: They're ‘Nasty’ or Housewives

Discussion: The Federalist, POLITICUSUSA, The Slot, The Daily Caller, Roll Call, Fox News and Reuters

Wall Street Journal: As Kamala Harris Joins Biden Ticket, Wall Street Sighs in Relief

Scott Bixby / The Daily Beast:
Kamala Harris Built a ‘Digital Army’—Now She Gets to Use It

Discussion: NBC News, New Yorker, Axios, New York Magazine and Washington Post

Natalie Shure / In These Times:
Now Comes the Difficult Work of Pushing the Biden-Harris Ticket Left

Discussion: The Nation, Fox News and New York Post

USA Today:
Kamala Harris is a living, breathing rebuke to the Trump presidency: Mastio & Lawrence

Discussion: Daily Kos

Morgan Phillips / Fox News: Biden, Harris appear together for first time since VP announcement

Joan Walsh / The Nation:
Kamala Harris Makes History, Many Times Over

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Atlantic and The Colorado Sun

Trevor Hunnicutt / Reuters:
Democrat Biden and new running mate Harris make first campaign appearance

Discussion: Axios

Kaitlan Collins / CNN:

Trump adds coronavirus adviser who echoes his unscientific claims — (CNN)Moments before President Donald Trump entered the room for his recently reinstated daily coronavirus briefing Monday, three aides preceded him: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, budget chief Russell Vought and a new face.

Discussion: Raw Story

Politico:

Kanye flops among Black voters — Rapper and former Donald Trump supporter Kanye West is running for president with the backing of a handful of GOP operatives who are betting he can pull Black voters from former Vice President Joe Biden. — But Democrats aren't sweating West at this point …

Discussion: Reuters, The Hill, Reason, Washington Times, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Fox News, Political Wire and The Federalist

Lisa Mascaro / Associated Press:
‘Overture’ for more virus talks rejected as standoff deepens

Discussion: Reuters and Breitbart

Reuters: Kanye West met with Kushner as rapper eyes 2020 election spot

FiveThirtyEight:

2020 Election Forecast — The presidential race is in many ways just getting started. On Tuesday, we got Joe Biden's VP pick (Sen. Kamala Harris), the Democratic National Convention is next week, and the Republican National Convention soon after. So while it's clear that Biden …

Discussion: Mediaite, Blue Virginia, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Raw Story and Althouse

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

It's Way Too Soon To Count Trump Out — Joe Biden currently has a robust lead in polls. If the election were held today, he might even win in a landslide, carrying not only traditional swing states such as Florida and Pennsylvania but potentially adding new states such as Georgia and Texas to the Democratic coalition.

Discussion: Mediaite

Tina Sfondeles / Business Insider:

AOC will have just 60 seconds to deliver her remarks next week at the Democratic National Convention — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has one minute to give her speech on Tuesday during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. She's pre-recording her remarks from New York.

Discussion: TMZ.com, The Hill and Breitbart

Tim Elfrink / Washington Post:

‘This is no longer a debate’: Florida sheriff bans deputies, visitors from wearing masks — On Tuesday, as Florida set a daily record for covid-19 deaths, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods prohibited his deputies from wearing masks at work. His order, which also applies to visitors to the sheriff's office …

Discussion: Tampa Bay Times, Daily Kos, The Hill, New York Post, Marion County Sheriff' … and Ocala.com

Austin L. Miller / Ocala.com:

Marion County deputies ordered not to wear masks — Austin L. Miller @almillerosb — Sheriff Billy Woods forbids his employees and those visiting his offices to wear masks in most circumstances as Ocala wrestles with mask mandate. — As the city of Ocala wrestles with an ordinance …

Discussion: Townhall, IJR, The Daily Caller, Fox News, Talking Points Memo, NPR, ABC News, TheBlaze, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Law & Crime and Raw Story

Washington Post:
Live updates: Florida and Georgia set new single-day records for coronavirus deaths

Discussion: Political Wire

Seth Borenstein / Associated Press:

Let it flow: Trump Administration eases showerhead rules — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump Administration wants to change the definition of a showerhead to let more water flow, addressing a pet peeve of the president who complains he isn't getting wet enough.

Discussion: Law & Crime

Ari Natter / Bloomberg: Trump to Relax Rules for Showers After Complaints About Flow

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Greene wants to be ‘worst nightmare’ of Democrats. She could also haunt Georgia GOP — ROME - Many top Georgia Republicans have watched with dread - but took little action - as Marjorie Taylor Greene rose from longshot candidate to the cusp of Congress. Shortly after her victory …

Discussion: The American Independent, Wall Street Journal and CNN

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook PM: What Kamala Harris and Marjorie Taylor Greene tell us about 2020

Discussion: National Review, Mediaite, Vanity Fair and Mashable

CNN:
Trump and top House Republican embrace candidate who promoted QAnon conspiracy theory

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, BBC and Politico

Luke O'Brien / HuffPost:

If Donald Trump Controls The Mail, He Controls Democracy — The president is working overtime to turn the federal bureaucracy into a subsidiary of his campaign. — Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night can slow the mail. But President Donald Trump can.

Discussion: Bangor Daily News and American Prospect

Igor Derysh / Salon:
Mail sorting equipment being “removed” from post offices, leaving mail to “pile up”: union leader

Discussion: The Atlantic, NPR and New York Times

Reuters:
U.S. postal service reorganization sparks delays, election questions

Discussion: Raw Story and Spokesman.com

Dr. Sanjay Gupta / CNN:

Why I am not sending my kids back to school — (CNN)One of the questions I am getting more than any other: Am I going to send my children back to school? As a father of three teen and preteen girls, this has been a constant discussion in our household, and it hasn't been easy.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post and Balloon Juice

HuffPost:

Trump Has Nearly Eliminated Intelligence Briefings From His Schedule Entirely — A HuffPost analysis finds the president has averaged less than one a week since July 1, after the public learned of Russian bounties on murdered U.S. soldiers. — WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump's interest …

Discussion: The Week

Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg:

Trump Weighs Replacing Mark Esper at Pentagon After Election — Departure may come as part of other changes in cabinet — Trump frustrated by pushback on deploying troops to protests — President Donald Trump has privately said that he intends to replace Secretary of Defense Mark Esper …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Sputnik News, Raw Story, New York Post and The Week

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Ron Johnson says committee Republicans blocking Comey, Brennan subpoenas — Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Ron Johnson suggested Wednesday that fellow Republicans on his committee were blocking him from subpoenaing former FBI Director James Comey …

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show and The Gateway Pundit

Ruth Ben-Ghiat / The New York Review of Books:

Co-opt & Corrupt: How Trump Bent and Broke the GOP — “As time went on, it became clear that the sickness was a feature, that anyone who entered the building became a little sick themselves,” wrote the journalist Olivia Nuzzi in March 2018 of the Donald J. Trump White House and those who serve it.

Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:

‘A Smoking Gun’: Infectious Coronavirus Retrieved From Hospital Air — Airborne virus plays a significant role in community transmission, many experts believe. A new study fills in the missing piece: Floating virus can infect cells. — Skeptics of the notion that the coronavirus spreads through …

Discussion: Raw Story and Fox News

Quint Forgey / Politico:

State Department watchdog finds Trump's U.K. ambassador ‘made inappropriate or insensitive comments’ — The State Department's Office of Inspector General concluded that President Donald Trump's ambassador to the United Kingdom made offensive remarks to staff at the U.S. Embassy in London, according to a report released Wednesday.

Discussion: ABC News, New York Times, Associated Press, Axios, Reuters and Law & Crime

John Binder / Breitbart:

Investigation: Maryland County Frees Illegal Aliens Despite Claiming to Have Ended Sanctuary Policy — Montgomery County, Maryland officials are continuing to free illegal aliens accused of crimes into the United States despite claims to have ended their sanctuary county policy last year.