memeorandum: Arkansas education department nixes AP African American Studies course at last minute (Austin Bailey/ArkansasTimes)

7:45 AM ET, August 14, 2023

Top Items:

CNN:

Exclusive: Georgia prosecutors have messages showing Trump's team is behind voting system breach — Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia are in possession of text messages and emails directly connecting members of Donald Trump's legal team …

Rolling Stone:

Trump's ‘Co-Conspirators’ Are Already Starting to Turn on Each Other — “It is the 'please don't put me in jail, put that other guy in jail' strategy,” says one attorney working in Trump's legal orbit … A number of the ex-president's chief lieutenants and alleged co-conspirators in the plot …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

Hailey Fuchs / Politico:

Louis DeJoy: From Trump villain to Biden's clean energy buddy — The postmaster general has struck up an unexpected partnership with the president's green guru, John Podesta. — During the summer of 2020, there were few bigger Democratic super villains than Louis DeJoy.

Brady Leonard / Washington Examiner:

What is the plan, Trump? — Former President Donald Trump is notoriously a man of many words, as are his multitudes of surrogates and supporters. The 45th president and his team have had quite a bit to say recently about the mental state of special counsel Jack Smith, “disloyal” Ron …

Discussion: The Guardian, Raw Story and The Hill

Wall Street Journal:

Georgia Is Ground Zero for Trump Exhaustion as Another Indictment Looms — Case is a reminder of the 2020 election saga that has torn state GOP apart; 'It's just getting ridiculous' — PEACHTREE CITY, Ga.—Georgia has become ground zero for exhaustion over the legal drama surrounding Donald Trump …

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, The Hill, Financial Times, El País, UPI, Raw Story, The Messenger, RedState, ABC News, Forbes, HuffPost, Politico, The Gateway Pundit, Election Law Blog, New York Post, PoliticusUSA and New York Times

New York Times:

How Trump Benefits From an Indictment Effect — In polling, fund-raising and conservative media, the former president has turned criminal charges into political assets. — Early on March 18, former President Donald J. Trump hit send on a social media post saying he would be “arrested on Tuesday of next week.”

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Althouse and Florida Politics

NBC News:

RFK Jr. says he'd sign a federal ban on abortions after three months of pregnancy — The stance puts Kennedy — who's mounting long shot bid to unseat President Joe Biden as the Democratic standard bearer in 2024 — out of step with most of his party. — DES MOINES, IOWA …

Discussion: The Messenger, Raw Story, Politico, scheerpost.com, CNN, The Hill, The Post Millennial, Lawyers, Guns & Money, BizPac Review, The American Conservative, Rolling Stone, Kennedy24, New York Post, Political Wire and SBA Pro-Life America

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:

Newsom vs. DeSantis debate stalling over Fox News audience — The California Democrat and Florida Republican agreed to the debate, but hit a stalemate over the network hosting a live studio audience. — Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis have reached an impasse in their Fox News debate planned for November …

Discussion: The Hill, The Messenger and ABC7

Ian Millhiser / Vox:

The Supreme Court is taking a wrecking ball to the wall between church and state — The Court's Republican majority has ground the Constitution's establishment clause down to a nub. — Last June, a previously obscure Oklahoma state board voted to allow two Roman Catholic dioceses to operate a charter school in that state.

Discussion: The Guardian

David Cohen / Politico:

Christie says no one has given him a loyalty pledge to sign — The RNC's loyalty pledge is a hot issue in advance of the first GOP debate. — Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said Sunday he has yet to sign the party's loyalty pledge because no one has given it to him.

Discussion: HuffPost, Washington Examiner, Vanity Fair, Fox News, The Hill, The Messenger, Political Wire, Insider, PJ Media and USA Today

Julia Mueller / The Hill:
Trump creates spectacle with debate guessing game

Discussion: NBC News

Kenneth Niemeyer / Insider:

Massachusetts passed a 4% millionaire's tax last year. Now every public school student is going to get free lunch. — Massachusetts passed a 4% tax on people who make more than $1 million per year. — Revenue from the new income tax is being used to give kids in the state free lunch and breakfast at school.

Marisa Kabas / The Handbasket:

A conversation with the newspaper owner raided by cops — Very few stories these days take my breath away, but this one did the trick: Cops in Kansas raided the office of local newspaper the Marion County Record Friday morning because of a complaint by a local restaurant owner named Kari Newell.

Clay Wirestone / Kansas Reflector:
In Marion County newspaper raid, a grim threat to Kansans' First Amendment rights

Discussion: New York Times, CNN, National Newspaper Association, NPR, Fox News, Reuters, RedState, Associated Press, Deadline, HotAir, Marion County Record, The Messenger, Raw Story, Political Wire, Mother Jones and Crooks and Liars, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

The Clean Energy Future Is Arriving Faster Than You Think — The United States is pivoting away from fossil fuels and toward wind, solar and other renewable energy, even in areas dominated by the oil and gas industries. — This is the first article in a three-part series examining the speed …

CNN:

Hunter Biden's lawyer says trial ‘not inevitable’ as scrutiny mounts — Hunter Biden's lawyer on Sunday said a trial is “not inevitable,” days after the Trump-appointed US attorney investigating the president's son was granted special counsel status following a breakdown in plea talks to resolve tax and gun charges.

Dennis Romero / NBC News:

2 eject from vintage Soviet jet before crash at Michigan air show — No injuries were reported when the MiG-23, flying at Thunder Over Michigan, plummeted and hit vehicles in a parking lot in Belleville, authorities said. — Two people in a vintage fighter jet ejected dramatically …

Discussion: WDIV-TV, BizPac Review, inews.co.uk, The Daily Caller, UPI, New York Post, Twitchy, The Post Millennial and The Messenger

Washington Post:

Trump swoops into Iowa fair, defying customs and clashing with DeSantis — Pork chops, protesters of the Florida governor and a swift visit by the former president were at the center of a high-drama day — DES MOINES — The crowd that had craned to watch Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) …