memeorandum: A more strategic Russian retreat signals long fight ahead in Kherson (Washington Post)

10:20 AM ET, October 6, 2022

Top Items:

Roger Sollenberger / The Daily Beast:

She Had an Abortion With Herschel Walker. She Also Had a Child With Him. — Herschel Walker has claimed he has no idea who this woman could be. Here's why that's surprising. … After a woman revealed that Republican senatorial candidate Herschel Walker had urged her to have an abortion …

Natalie Allison / Politico:

Walker's Christian fans unfazed by abortion revelations — ATLANTA — Pastor Anthony George didn't set out to be a defender of Herschel Walker. — But as the prominent Baptist minister welcomed Walker into his church this week for a scheduled prayer event with faith leaders …

Discussion: HuffPost, PoliticusUSA, Alternet.org, New York Times, The Daily Beast, Insider, Axios, Talking Points Memo, Wayne Besen and Washington Post

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Herschel Walker faces another abortion report that threatens his Senate campaign — Another Herschel Walker headline rocked the Republican's embattled campaign when The Daily Beast reported late Wednesday that the woman who said the Senate hopeful paid for her 2009 abortion is also the mother of one of his four children.

Discussion: The Dispatch, Daily Kos, The Daily Beast, The Hill, New York Times, Newsweek, Mediaite, RedState, Forbes, NewsOne, CBS News, Raw Story, WXIA-TV, Patterico's Pontifications and NBC News

Hugh Hewitt / The Hugh Hewitt Show:

Herschel Walker Returns — Georgia GOP nominee for Senate Herschel Walker returned to the program this AM: — Audio: — 10-06hhs-walker — Transcript: — HH: Joined now by Herschel Walker, candidate for Senate in Georgia. Good morning, Herschel. Welcome back to the Hugh Hewitt Show.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Walker responds to abortion story with words, but legal action has yet to follow — When the story broke Monday night alleging that Herschel Walker had paid a former girlfriend to have an abortion, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate wasted no time responding.Within minutes he posted …

Washington Post: Governor races in at least five states could determine abortion legality

Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:

VP was in car accident; Secret Service first called it ‘mechanical failure’ — A motorcade taking Vice President Harris to work was in a one-car accident on a closed roadway in D.C. Monday morning, an incident that concerned both the Secret Service director and the vice president and revived worries …

Discussion: HuffPost, Politico, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Wire, NBC News, IJR, Alternet.org, USA Today and The Hill

Lee Brown / New York Post:

Kamala Harris was in accident falsely dismissed as ‘mechanical failure’ — Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in a minor car accident Monday, one that was initially — and falsely — dismissed as “mechanical failure.” — Harris was heading to the White House just before 10:30 …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Plans to Ease Venezuela Sanctions, Enabling Chevron to Pump Oil — The proposed deal would require Caracas to open talks with political opponents, with the aim of free elections in 2024 — The Biden administration is preparing to scale down sanctions on Venezuela's authoritarian regime …

Discussion: Washington Post, Reuters, Twitchy, The Daily Caller, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg and News Items

Axios:

Biden's new Saudi strategy — President Biden has tried to convince the Saudis to pump more oil with honey. Now he's trying vinegar. … - For some Democrats, he needs to go further: “President Biden ... should call the King himself,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told Axios.

The White House:
Statement from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and NEC Director Brian Deese

Discussion: Grid News, Bloomberg, The Federalist, CNSNews, Common Dreams, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, Just The News, Letters from an American, The Daily Caller, NPR, TheBlaze and IJR

Amy Gardner / Washington Post:

A majority of GOP nominees — 299 in all — deny the 2020 election results — Experts say their dominance in the party poses a threat to the country's democratic principles and jeopardizes the integrity of future votes — A majority of Republican nominees on the ballot this November for the House …

Discussion: CNN

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:

Maggie Haberman on How She Covers Trump Without Losing Her Mind — I first met Maggie Haberman in 2014. She was a correspondent for Politico with roots in city tabloids, and while I didn't know much about politics or the media, I knew that when she reported something, it seemed to carry a certain weight …

more at Mediagazer »

Max Chafkin / Bloomberg:

Even After $100 Billion, Self-Driving Cars Are Going Nowhere — The first car woke Jennifer King at 2 a.m. with a loud, high‑pitched hum. “It sounded like a hovercraft,” she says, and that wasn't the weird part. King lives on a dead-end street at the edge of the Presidio …

Discussion: Engadget

Rebecca Jennings / Vox:

The Instagram capital of the world is a terrible place to be — Just because you can (sort of) afford to go somewhere doesn't mean you'll enjoy it. — This time last week I was wandering the stony streets of Positano, a small village on Italy's Amalfi Coast.

Washington Post:

A more strategic Russian retreat signals long fight ahead in Kherson — MYKOLAIV REGION, Ukraine — The drone operator ignored the occasional thunder of outgoing artillery in the distance and kept his eyes focused on the computer monitor in front of him, waiting for the burst of smoke to appear.

Discussion: HotAir, Institute for the Study of War, Axios, Balloon Juice, Wall Street Journal, Politico and South China Morning Post

Paul Farrell / Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: CNN's Jim Sciutto is absent from the air after it was revealed he suffered a ‘serious fall’ in Amsterdam and was ordered by network bosses to ‘address personal issues’ — Long time CNN news anchor Jim Sciutto has been absent from the air after it was revealed network told him to address ‘personal situation’

Discussion: New York Post, The Daily Wire and The Wrap

Max Seddon / Financial Times:

Vladimir Putin's botched mobilisation triggers blame game in Russia — Failures by officials have become apparent as war in Ukraine drags on — In Dagestan, a poor Russian region in the north Caucasus that has seen some of the biggest protests against Vladimir Putin's mobilisation drive …

Discussion: The Moscow Times, Japan Times, The Moderate Voice, Al Jazeera and Institute for the Study of War

Kelli / Live Action News:

FBI charges multiple individuals for peaceful protests at abortion facility — In early March of 2021, a group of individuals committed to saving the lives of preborn children visited the Carafem abortion facility in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, as part of a “rescue” — an event meant …

Discussion: U.S. Department of Justice, The Daily Signal, The Daily Wire, National Review and RedState

Steven Ertelt / LifeNews.com:
FBI Raids Home of Pro-Life Advocate Who Prayed and Sang Outside Abortion Biz

Discussion: The Daily Wire and The Daily Signal

NBC News:

In key battlegrounds, GOP onslaught of crime ads tightens Senate races — MILWAUKEE — Republicans have unleashed a barrage of negative ads in the final weeks of the midterms that hammer Democrats on crime. — In at least two states, the strategy appears to be taking hold.

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, RedState, Newsweek, FiveThirtyEight, Common Dreams, The Daily Caller, UpNorthNews and Mandela Barnes for U.S. Senate

Washington Post:

Ian is probably Florida's deadliest hurricane since 1935. Most victims drowned. — FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — The water was rising quickly, so the women ran to the top floor of the vacation house they had rented for Nishelle Harris-Miles's 40th birthday and huddled together on a bed.

Discussion: WFLA-TV and National Review

Allan Smith / NBC News:

Cheney warns Arizona voters that the GOP nominees for governor and secretary of state are threats to democracy — TEMPE, Ariz. — Rep. Liz Cheney urged voters to reject Arizona's Republican nominees for governor and secretary of state in next month's midterm election, casting them as existential threats to U.S. democracy.

Discussion: CBS News, The Hill, Associated Press and Bloomberg

Dillon Rosenblatt / Fourth Estate 48:
Mark Finchem's voter file shows he votes by mail

Discussion: USA Today and CBS News

Colleen Slevin / Associated Press:

Colorado baker fighting ruling over gender transition cake — The Colorado baker who won a partial Supreme Court victory after refusing on religious grounds to make a gay couple's wedding cake a decade ago is challenging a separate ruling he violated the state's anti-discrimination law …

David Ignatius / Washington Post:

How the war in Ukraine has remade Europe — WARSAW — For Europe, Ukraine is the good war — a moment when brave Ukrainian patriots have partially rolled back a brutal Russian invasion and, in the process, reignited belief in the values of democracy and common defense.

Discussion: Thinking about and Policy Reform Now

Bloomberg:

Thai Daycare Center Shooting Leaves 32 Dead, Mostly Children — A mass shooting that began with a daycare center in northeastern Thailand left 38 people dead, the majority of them children, according to officials. — A 34-year-old former cop used an automatic weapon to fire at the center located …

U.S. Department of Justice:

Eleven Defendants Indicted for Obstructing a Reproductive Health Services Facility in Tennessee — A federal indictment unsealed today charges 11 individuals with violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. — Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Calvin Zastrow …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Tennessean and The Gateway Pundit

The White House:

Statement by President Joe Biden on Protecting Dreamers — I am disappointed in today's Fifth Circuit decision holding that DACA is unlawful. The court's stay provides a temporary reprieve for DACA recipients but one thing remains clear: the lives of Dreamers remain in limbo.

Discussion: Fox News, IJR, Townhall, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, KNWA FOX24, New York Times, CBS News, The Guardian, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NBC News and NBC Bay Area

Guttmacher Institute:

100 Days Post-Roe: At Least 66 Clinics Across 15 US States Have Stopped Offering Abortion Care — Marielle Kirstein, Guttmacher Institute — The time is now. Will you stand up for reproductive health and rights? — Donate Now — October 2, 2022 marked 100 days since …

Discussion: VICE, CBS News, The Hill, National Review, LifeNews.com, Politico, HuffPost, Forbes, WITF, The 19th and Al Jazeera

Associated Press:

Fetterman records show light schedule as Pa. lieutenant gov. — In his campaign for a crucial U.S. Senate seat, Democrat John Fetterman takes credit for reinventing Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor's office, transforming it from a political pit stop into a “bully pulpit” from which he's advanced progressive causes.

Discussion: RedState

Benoît Morenne / Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Gasoline Prices Are Climbing Again and May Get Worse — After weeks of price declines, drivers are paying more at the pump as refinery outages—planned and unplanned—combine with global trends to pinch consumers — U.S. gasoline prices are ticking up after a roughly 100-day decline …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Reason and The Daily Caller

CNN:

House GOP amps up talk about impeaching Biden's border chief, posing a test for McCarthy — House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy will be swiftly confronted in a Republican majority with a politically dicey proposition gaining steam within his conference: Launching impeachment proceedings …