memeorandum: Former USPS board member to brief House Democrats this week (NBC News)

11:05 AM ET, August 18, 2020

Top Items:

Senate will hold Postal Service hearing with DeJoy on Friday, as mail delay fears grow — Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will testify at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Friday about the U.S. Postal Service's vote-by-mail financial requirements, according to two people familiar with the decision.

Discussion: Fox News, Vox, National Review, Defense One, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Mashable, Politico, Forbes, Talking Points Memo and VTDigger

CNN:

St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters to speak at Republican convention — (CNN)Patricia and Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis homeowners who pointed guns at protesters earlier this summer, are scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention next week, an aide familiar told CNN on Monday.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller and The Week

Washington Post:

On Democratic convention's first night, speakers blame Trump for America's woes — The virtual event showcases dozens of testimonials, culminating in an indictment from Michelle Obama — Democrats kicked off their virtual nominating convention Monday with a focused denunciation of President Trump …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, New York Times, Daily Kos, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Bloomberg, Washington Times, Political Wire, The Daily Beast, The Week, The Guardian, Slate, Breitbart, HillReporter.com, The Hill, Fox News, Axios and New York Post

Matthew Boyle / Breitbart:

Exclusive — GOP Convention Speakers to Include Nick Sandmann, Gov. Kristi Noem — Covington Catholic high school student Nick Sandmann, who was viciously smeared by the establishment media and has won settlements from the Washington Post and CNN, will speak at the Republican National Convention …

Discussion: The Guardian, The Hill, Sean Hannity, No More Mister Nice Blog and Washington Times

Lee Moran / HuffPost:

St. Louis Couple Who Pointed Guns At Black Lives Matter Protesters To Speak At RNC — Lawyers Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who face felony gun charges, will reportedly endorse Donald Trump in their convention address. — A white couple from St. Louis facing felony weapons charges …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:
No Applause, No Crowds: Democrats Begin a Most Unusual Convention

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post and Althouse

Robin Givhan / Washington Post: Michelle Obama's speech was like an empathetic neighbor expressing sorrow for what our country has become

CNN:

Transcript: Michelle Obama's DNC speech — Michelle Obama's DNC speech: Full video — (CNN)Read former first lady Michelle Obama's speech from the 2020 Democratic National Convention, as prepared for delivery: — Good evening, everyone. It's a hard time, and everyone's feeling it in different ways.

Discussion: New York Post, The Daily Beast, Reason, Washington Post, The Week, NPR, Daily Kos and Althouse

Hillel Italie / Associated Press:
Gov. Andrew Cuomo book on COVID-19 response out in October

Discussion: Axios, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Deadline, Political Wire and Spectator USA

Christopher Bedford / The Federalist:
Day 1 Of The Digital DNC: A Night Of GOP, Moderate Outreach Falls Flat

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, Slate and Vanity Fair, more at Mediagazer »

Associated Press:
Five takeaways from first night of the Democratic convention

Discussion: Politico, The Hill and Washington Post

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Trump campaign ad attacks Biden's mental faculties

Discussion: New York Times, The Hill, Washington Post and Washington Times

Quint Forgey / Politico:
Trump to Michelle Obama: I wouldn't be here if it weren't for Barack

Discussion: Reuters and Associated Press

CBS News:
Michelle Obama closes out DNC first night with emotional speech

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Daily Caller, New York Times and Vox

Lauren Egan / NBC News:
Woman whose father died of COVID: ‘His only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump’

Discussion: Axios, Slate, KNSD-TV and Breitbart

New York Post: De Blasio says he didn't know Democratic National Convention was this week

Bill Barrow / Associated Press:
Democratic Party chair wants to end presidential caucuses

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, CNN, Breitbart, FOX 5 San Diego, Just The News, Fox News, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Nation and Bloomberg

Ken Dilanian / NBC News:

Bipartisan Senate report describes 2016 Trump campaign eager to accept help from foreign power — WASHINGTON — In a thousand-page bipartisan report released Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee said the Trump administration obstructed its investigation with “novel claims” of executive privilege.

Discussion: Associated Press and Reuters

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times: G.O.P.-Led Senate Panel Releases Final Report on Russian Interference and Ties to Trump

Zachary Basu / Axios:
Senate report finds Manafort passed sensitive campaign data to Russian intelligence officer

Discussion: Politico and The Guardian

CNN:
Trump retweets Russian propaganda about Biden that US intel agencies say is intended to influence 2020 election

Discussion: Raw Story and Associated Press

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

On Centennial of 19th Amendment, Trump Pardons Susan B. Anthony — President Trump's pardon of the famed suffragist Susan B. Anthony comes as women celebrate the 100th anniversary of their right to vote, and Joseph R. Biden Jr. benefits from a yawning gender gap.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Sean Hannity, The Daily Caller and Law & Crime

Donald Trump / Fox News:

Susan B. Anthony to get posthumous pardon — President Trump announced Tuesday morning he will give a posthumous pardon to Susan B. Anthony, one of history's biggest figures in the women's suffrage movement. — The announcement came 100 years to the day after the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment …

Discussion: The Hill and Politico

Associated Press:
Trump to pardon women's suffrage leader Susan Anthony

Discussion: Vox and Axios

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Roger Stone drops appeals of felony convictions — Longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone has unexpectedly dropped the appeal of his seven federal felony convictions for seeking to thwart a House investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. — Stone's lawyers submitted …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Reuters and Political Wire

Roger Stone / Stone Cold Truth:

WHY I DECIDED TO WITHDRAW THE APPEAL OF MY UNJUST CONVICTION IN THE MUELLER WITCH HUNT — On the strong advice of my attorneys and after giving the decision considerable thought, I have reluctantly decided to dismiss the appeal of what I believe to be a wrongful conviction in a trial tainted …

Discussion: Fox News, CNN, The Hill and Just The News

David Rothkopf / NBC News:

Trump's USPS defunding efforts prove 2020 fix is already in. Democrats need to act like it. … These are times unlike any other we have faced in our lives. A pandemic is ravaging our population, 1 in 5 households in the U.S. are food -insecure, and tens of millions of our neighbors worry that they will not be able to pay the rent.

Discussion: Mother Jones and The Root

Jeff Hampton / Virginian-Pilot:

‘The mystery is over’: Researchers say they know what happened to ‘Lost Colony’ — BUXTON, N.C. — The English colonists who settled the so-called Lost Colony before disappearing from history simply went to live with their native friends — the Croatoans of Hatteras, according to a new book.

Discussion: Raw Story and The Moderate Voice

Roger Sollenberger / Salon:

DeJoy donated big to GOP senators up for re-election; they're still silent on USPS — Current postmaster general is a fountain of money for Republican candidates, who don't seem eager to criticize him — Recently appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a top donor to Donald Trump …

Tim Elfrink / Washington Post:

Trump warns of a ‘big surge’ of coronavirus in New Zealand, which had just recorded nine new cases — While the novel coronavirus continues to surge through the United States, President Trump noted on Monday that other countries have also seen recent rises. Case in point, he told supporters at a Minnesota airport: New Zealand.

Discussion: Political Wire and Bloomberg

Matt Vespa / Townhall:

Is This Real? Why Some Are Calling the DNC Outro Monday Night ‘The Moment Trump Won Re-Election’ — This cannot be real. Did two hours of watching the Democratic National Convention cause me to lose my mind. President Trump was blamed by one woman for causing her father's death from COVID.

Yoav Gonen / THE CITY:

Chirlane McCray Nearly Doubled Her Official Staff Payroll With Undisclosed Taxpayer-Funded Hires — The city's First Lady officially has eight employees who support ThriveNYC and other projects. But at least 14 people on the government payroll work on her team, ahead of a potential Brooklyn borough president run.

Discussion: National Review

Marshall Allen / ProPublica:

Cellphone Data Shows How Las Vegas Is “Gambling With Lives” Across the Country — Las Vegas casinos, open for months now, are a likely hotbed for the spread of COVID-19. For many reasons, contact tracing has proved next to impossible as tourists return to homes across the U.S.

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

Trump Might Cheat. Activists Are Getting Ready. — Election sabotage needs to be met with the largest protests yet. — This summer, a bipartisan group of former government officials, political professionals, lawyers and journalists held a series of war game exercises about how the 2020 election might go wrong.

Kevin Rector / Los Angeles Times:

Police reform advocates scrutinize police unions, calling them obstacles to reform — Activists in the growing movement for police reform in the U.S. have for months targeted large police budgets as a central impediment to change, flooding streets and municipal Zoom meetings with demands to “defund the police.”

Rebecca Traister / The Cut:

Sixty Seconds to Self-Sabotage The DNC's choice of who to feature speaks volumes about the party's inability to see its own future. — When the Democratic National Committee released its schedule for its big socially distanced convention this week, we learned that New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez …

Discussion: Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, Townhall, The Gateway Pundit, Vanity Fair and Fox News

Ashish Prashar / Fast Company:

If businesses want to promote justice, they can help end the prison-industrial complex — Thousands of businesses are invested in the U.S. prison system. As Americans call for justice from police departments and governments, there's also pressure for companies to play a role.