memeorandum: Senior U.S. Intelligence Official Died by Suicide in June (The Intercept)

10:35 AM ET, August 27, 2020

Top Items:

The Kenosha Shooting Suspect Was In The Front Row Of A Trump Rally In January — The law-enforcement obsessed 17-year-old who was charged with shooting and killing two people and injuring another in Kenosha during protests for Jacob Blake appeared in the front row at a Donald Trump rally in January.

New York Times:

Tracking the Suspect in the Fatal Kenosha Shootings — Footage appears to show a teenager shooting three people during protests in Wisconsin. We tracked his movements that night. — A teenager who walked among protesters in Kenosha, Wis., carrying a military-style semi-automatic rifle …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, BBC, The Daily Beast, MinnPost, ABC7, NBC Chicago, The Daily Caller, Twitchy, New York Post, TMZ.com, Mediaite and Chicago Sun-Times, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: More than 100 Bush-McCain-Romney alums go for Biden — DRIVING THE DAY — IT'S THURSDAY, and President DONALD TRUMP will close the Republican convention this evening from the White House. And, as the GOP seeks to rally around TRUMP 68 DAYS before Election Day, here's what the world looks like:

Discussion: Washington Post, CBS News, Althouse and The Daily Caller

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

Over 100 Ex-Staff Members for John McCain Endorse Joe Biden — The group endorsement of Mr. Biden is the latest effort from anti-Trump Republicans to lure conservatives and moderates away from the president, who often clashed with the former Arizona senator.

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Washington Times, Fox News and Raw Story

Wall Street Journal:

Immigrants in Trump-Led Ceremony Didn't Know They Would Appear at RNC — Two women say they didn't mind being featured as they became citizens; critics accuse president of using them, politicizing government functions — Sudha Narayanan and Neimat Awadelseid looked forward to Tuesday …

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story, Slate, Washington Post, ABC News, Mediaite, The Hill, The Week, Vox and USA Today

New York Times:

How Chaos in Kenosha Is Already Swaying Some Voters in Wisconsin — As residents see fires and looting, some worry that local Democratic leaders are failing to keep control of the situation. — John Geraghty, a 41-year-old worker in a tractor factory, has barely paid attention to the presidential race or the conventions.

Discussion: Power Line, JustOneMinute, The Federalist, WKOW, Althouse, Al Jazeera, Chicago Sun-Times, Breitbart, The US Sun, Just The News and IJR

Natasha Korecki / Politico:

'It's playing into Trump's hands': Dems fear swing-state damage from Kenosha unrest — Some Wisconsin Democrats worry that the images of violence and destruction will turn suburban voters against the party. — Burned-out trucks that were used to block traffic into the government complex are seen in downtown Kenosha.

Discussion: National Review and Fox News

Politico:

Bush, McCain and Romney presidential staffers unite behind effort to elect Joe Biden — Support for Joe Biden's White House bid is growing among staffers of past presidential campaigns — Republican ones, that is. — Several dozen former staffers from Sen. Mitt Romney's (R-Utah) …

Discussion: Mediaite, American Greatness, POLITICUSUSA and Real Clear Politics

Dan Mihalopoulos / NPR:
Alleged Kenosha Shooter Fervently Supported ‘Blue Lives,’ Joined ‘Local Militia’

Discussion: Mashable and Raw Story

Jane Lytvynenko / BuzzFeed News:
RNC Video Showing Rioters In “Biden's America” Is Actually Spain

Discussion: Reason and Talking Points Memo

Rebecca Shabad / NBC News: More than 100 former aides to John McCain endorse Biden for president

McCain Alums / McCain Alums for Joe Biden:
McCain Alums endorse Joe Biden for President

Discussion: Fox News, POLITICUSUSA, IJR, The Hill and 43 Alumni for Biden

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
An inescapable echo between Trump's campaign rhetoric and the deaths of protesters in Kenosha

Discussion: Associated Press, The Nation, Raw Story and Bloomberg

Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:
Power Up: Trump and GOP go all in on law-and-order message as Kenosha protests continue

Discussion: Townhall, American Greatness, The American Independent, The Hill and NPR

Andrew O'Reilly / Fox News:
Kristi Noem says ‘Democrat-run cities’ are being ‘overrun by violent mobs’

Discussion: The Hill and The Daily Caller

Jose Del Real / Washington Post:
Woman who became a citizen on TV did not know she would be part of Republican National Convention

Discussion: Reuters and The Hill

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

3 takeaways from the third night of the Republican National Convention — The Republican National Convention held its third of four prime-time sessions on Wednesday night, with Vice President Pence headlining and a younger generation of lesser-known Republicans featured on the undercard.

Discussion: Breitbart, The Wrap, Reuters, The Week, Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

CNN:
Pence reinvents Trump's presidency on a disorienting night of crises

Discussion: Fox News, The North State Journal, Politico, The Guardian, The Week, Bloomberg, МИА, Raw Story, TheBlaze and IJR

Axios:
Trump's former spy chief: Being called a “nationalist” is not an insult

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Breitbart and ABC News

David Harsanyi / National Review:
‘Factcheckers’ Keep Lying about Biden's Abortion Position

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Rashaan Ayesh / Axios:
Pence addresses Kenosha in RNC speech: “The violence must stop”

Discussion: AFP, Associated Press, New York Times, Mediaite, New York Post, ABC30, Breitbart, Washington Times, Vox, Fox News, ABC News, IJR, Politico, Townhall, Variety, New York Times, Bloomberg, Financial Times and Reuters

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:
Pence accepts VP nomination, warns voters 'you won't be safe in Joe Biden's America'

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Chicago Sun-Times, ABC30, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, New York Post, NPR, Al Jazeera and Washington Times

Paul Wiseman / Associated Press:

More than 1 million Americans file for unemployment, again — FILE - In this April 30 ,2020 file photo, a barber shop shows closed and hiring sign during the COVID-19 in Chicago. On Thursday, Aug. 27, just over 1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week …

Discussion: ABC30

Fred Imbert / CNBC:
Another million applied for jobless benefits as coronavirus pandemic's economic toll rises

Discussion: The Week

Sarah Chaney / Wall Street Journal:
Unemployment Claims Remain Historically High

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Trump calls for drug tests before Biden debate — President Trump says he will call for drug tests for both former Vice President Joe Biden and himself before the first candidates' debate on Sept. 29. In an Oval Office interview Wednesday, the president expressed suspicion at what he said was a sudden …

Discussion: Sabato's Crystal Ball, Political Flare, ABC News, VICE, New York Times, IJR, The Gateway Pundit, Forbes, Mediaite, Fox News, Raw Story, The Hill, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze, The Week and New York Post

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Turmoil consumes Chamber of Commerce as it backs Democrats — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is poised to endorse nearly two dozen freshmen House Democrats for reelection, triggering a revolt within the right-leaning organization and drawing fierce pushback from the group's powerful GOP donors.

Discussion: Raw Story

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Facebook chose not to act on militia complaints before Kenosha shooting — Multiple users reported the account for inciting violence, but were told it did not violate platform policy — In the wake of an apparent double murder Tuesday night in Kenosha, Facebook has faced a wave of scrutiny …

Discussion: The US Sun, Vox, Al Jazeera, Reuters, Gizmodo, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Reason, Daily Kos and The Mahablog, more at Techmeme »

jsonline:
Kyle Rittenhouse, charged in Kenosha protest homicides, considered himself militia

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Vanity Fair, Axios, The Week, INSIDER, The Wrap, Local News I Racine County Eye and Raw Story

HuffPost:

Trump's White House Convention May Be Coercing Staffers Into Violating The Hatch Act — While Trump is exempt from the law banning political activity by government workers in government facilities, hundreds of White House employees are not. — WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump's insistence …

Discussion: National Review

Doreen St. Félix / New Yorker:
The Special Hypocrisy of Melania Trump's Speech at the Republican National Convention

Discussion: New Republic

Giovanni Russonello / New York Times:
The Harsh Reality Behind Trump's Reality Show

Discussion: The Dispatch, osc.gov and Politico

Des Moines Register:

Iowa counties can't set up drop box systems for absentee ballots, secretary of state says — The Iowa Secretary of State's Office says county auditors cannot set up drop boxes to accept absentee ballots this fall — something several auditors say they did during this year's primary election.

Rebecca Shabad / NBC News:

Trump says election workers, not USPS, could lead to 2020 miscount — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is shifting his focus from the U.S. Postal Service in his concerns about potential fraud in mail-in voting, claiming problems with mailed ballots lie with local elections officials who are “going to count them wrong.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Examiner and Political Wire

Anita Kumar / Politico:
Don Jr. robocall urges supporters to vote by mail

Discussion: Stop robocalls …, Breitbart, The Hill and Political Wire

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff / New York Magazine:

Melania Trump's Ex-BFF Tells (Almost) All An insider's account of falling out with the First Lady. — Excerpted from Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship With the First Lady, by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff — I'd heard Melania Trump speak before. But I'd never heard her sound like this.

Financial Times:

TikTok chief Kevin Mayer quits after Trump threatens to ban app — Former Disney executive resigns just months after appointment by Chinese video platform — Kevin Mayer has quit TikTok just months after becoming chief executive of the Chinese video app accused by the Trump administration …

Discussion: Variety, Associated Press, The Verge, Deadline, CNBC, The Week and New York Post, more at Mediagazer »

Mike Isaac / New York Times:
TikTok Chief Executive Kevin Mayer Resigns

Discussion: Mashable, NPR and TechCrunch

Megha Rajagopalan / BuzzFeed News:

China Secretly Built A Vast New Infrastructure To Imprison Muslims — China rounded up so many Muslims in Xinjiang that there wasn't enough space to hold them. Then the government started building. — Copy … China has secretly built scores of massive new prison and internment camps …

Alex Nitzberg / Just The News:

Wisconsin authorities say there was knife in Jacob Blake's vehicle — Blake admitted he had a knife in his possession, which was found in the driver's side floorboard, police say. — Jacob Blake, the man wounded by a police officer In Kenosha, Wis., on Sunday, had a knife in his car …

Discussion: Local News I Racine County Eye, NPR, INSIDER, Axios and The Hill

Osita Nwanevu / New Republic:

Democrats Have Failed Urban Black Americans — On the first night of the Republican National Convention on Monday, viewers were treated to a taped speech by Kimberly Klacik, a young, Black candidate for Maryland's 7th House district, which includes a large share of Baltimore.

Discussion: People's Policy Project