memeorandum: Most people on Twitter don't live in political echo chambers — but mostly because they don't care enough to bother building one (Joshua Benton/Nieman Lab)

11:00 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, Washington Post and Wayne Besen

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.

Discussion: Alternet.org

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: Talking Points Memo, The Dispatch, Daily Kos, The Daily Beast, The Hill, New York Times, Newsweek, Mediaite, RedState, Forbes, NewsOne, CBS News and Raw Story

Washington Post:

Governor races in at least five states could determine abortion legality — Helloo, good morning. Are planes the best place for interviews? We can definitely see some advantages. … Today's edition: Nearly half of adults give the U.S. health system a poor or failing grade, per a new report.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Walker responds to abortion story with words, but legal action has yet to follow

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, Talking Points Memo, Politico, The Daily Wire, NBC News, Just The 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

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 »

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, New York Post, Townhall, Twitchy, The Daily Caller, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg and News Items

Axios:
Biden's new Saudi strategy

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

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

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 and Al Jazeera

David Ignatius / Washington Post: How the war in Ukraine has remade Europe

Timothy Snyder / Thinking about:
How does the Russo-Ukrainian War end?

Discussion: Diane Francis, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Bulwark, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Caller, HotAir, Policy Reform Now, The Federalist, NPR and Yahoo News

David Sacks / Newsweek:
The Neocons and the Woke Left Are Joining Hands and Leading Us to Woke War III

Discussion: Washington Post, New Statesman and CleanTechnica

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: USA Today and CNN

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.

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, more at Techmeme »

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

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

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

Tim Miller / New York Times:

Online Fund-Raising Was Supposed to Save Politics. Instead, It's Dragging Us to Hell. — In late 2003 the spirit of revolution was in the air and on our Yahoo browsers. Shock and awe had given way to the long slog of war. And the internet was allowing supporters of politicians to use new tools such as …

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, Common Dreams, FiveThirtyEight, The Daily Caller, UpNorthNews and Mandela Barnes for U.S. Senate

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 …

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

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, National Review, The Daily Wire, RedState and LifeNews.com

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: Fox News, The Daily Caller, The Tennessean and The Gateway Pundit

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 …

Discussion: RedState

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

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

Most people on Twitter don't live in political echo chambers — but mostly because they don't care enough to bother building one — You are weird. — It's okay — I'm weird too. But if you're reading a Nieman Lab story, chances are very good that your news consumption habits look pretty different from the median American's.

Elena Schneider / Politico:

Abortion ‘has given Democrats a second look’ from GOP-leaning women — EASTPOINTE, Mich. — White women without college degrees turned away from Democrats in recent years. Abortion politics could reel some of them back in. — That's what Veronica Klinefelt was looking for as she knocked …

Discussion: Washington Post