memeorandum: Jane Fonda on her climate activism journey and the stakes in the 2024 election: “We can't lose another 4 years” (Mary Cunningham/CBS News)

7:25 PM ET, September 23, 2024

Top Items:

Robinson rejected offers of tech help to investigate posts on porn site, sources say — Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's alleged rejection of the offers sowed doubt among some staff members, people familiar with the matter tell WRAL. His response in the wake of the report likely played a role …

Discussion: National Review, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Axios, New Republic, Raw Story, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, The Hill and Politico

Axios:

GOP retreats from North Carolina after Mark Robinson allegations … - “We don't comment on internal strategy or investment decisions, but we can confirm what's public — our current media buy in North Carolina expires tomorrow, and no further placements have been made,” …

Discussion: Alternet.org, CNN, New York Post, New York Times, Trending Politics Conservative, Joe.My.God., Mediaite and USA Today

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:

Oops! Mark Robinson Decries ‘Lies’ About Porn Site Posts, Then Says They ‘Possibly Happened’ — The North Carolina GOP gubernatorial nominee has lost staff and ad spending after a bombshell CNN report tied him to lewd and racist comments online. — LOADING

Discussion: USA Today, CNBC, The Hill, RedState, Mediaite, Fox News, Joe.My.God., Vanity Fair, Daily Kos, NC Newsline, The Daily Beast and CNN

New York Times:

Trump Shows Signs of Strength in Sun Belt Battlegrounds, Polls Find — New polls from The New York Times and Siena College showed Donald J. Trump ahead in Arizona and leading in tight races in Georgia and North Carolina. — Voters across the Sun Belt say that Donald J. Trump improved …

Judd Legum / Popular Information:

These companies are bankrolling a multi-million dollar effort to elect Mark Robinson governor of North Carolina — Even before securing the Republican nomination for Governor of North Carolina in March, Mark Robinson had a long and well-documented record of promoting conspiracy theories …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, NC Newsline and Digby's Hullabaloo

Natalie Allison / Politico:

Newly unearthed data shows closer links to Robinson and porn, dating sites — Trump, who endorsed Robinson, has publicly remained silent about the embattled lieutenant governor. — Top Republican leaders in North Carolina have called on Mark Robinson to provide proof that he wasn't behind salacious posts …

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Washington Post, Alternet.org and HuffPost

Aaron Sanderford / Nebraska Examiner:

State Sen. Mike McDonnell deflates GOP hopes for Nebraska winner-take-all in 2024 — State Sen. Mike McDonnell announces leaving the Democratic Party after he was censured by the state and Douglas County Democrats. LINCOLN — The Republican push to change how Nebraska awards …

Reid J. Epstein / New York Times:
Key Nebraska Republican Rejects Trump's Push to Shake Up Electoral Map

Discussion: Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and Politico

Washington Post:
GOP effort to change how Nebraska allocates electoral votes hits roadblock

Discussion: NBC News, The Bulwark, The Daily Beast, Axios, Politico, Deseret News and Rolling Stone

The Verge:

X will let people you've blocked see your posts … X will now make your posts visible to users you've blocked. In a reply on Monday, X owner Elon Musk said the “block function will block that account from engaging with, but not block seeing, public post.”

Discussion: The Hill and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Federal Bureau of Investigation:

FBI Releases 2023 Crime in the Nation Statistics — The FBI released detailed data on over 14 million criminal offenses for 2023 reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program by participating law enforcement agencies. More than 16,000 state, county, city, university and college …

Discussion: Reason, Axios, Jeff-alytics, The Times of Israel, Washington Post, WHDH-TV, Daily Kos and The Hill

NBC News:
Murder and other violent crime dropped across the U.S. last year, FBI data shows

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Associated Press, Crime Prevention …, Pluribus News, FOX8 WGHP, New York Times, ABC7, CBS News and NPR

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
The place crime obviously spiked since 2020? Trump's imagination.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and The Follow

Jack Kelly / Wisconsin Watch:

Kamala Harris has largest post-debate lead yet over Donald Trump in new Wisconsin Watch poll — Vice President Kamala Harris has grown her lead over former President Donald Trump in Wisconsin following their Sept. 10 debate, according to a new Wisconsin Watch poll conducted by The MassINC Polling Group and released on Monday.

Discussion: The Hill and Joe.My.God.

Rochelle Olson / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Minnesota Poll: Harris leads Trump in close presidential race

Discussion: Raw Story, The Hill, Joe.My.God., New Jersey Online, PJ Media, HotAir, Washington Post, CBS News, USA Today, New Republic, OutsideTheBeltway and Bloomberg

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Democrats fear pollsters are undercounting Trump

Discussion: Silver Bulletin, The Guardian, HotAir, New York Times, RedState, Fox News, Washington Examiner and Raw Story

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

The ‘policy’ mirage that undergirds Donald Trump's support — The former president and his supporters insist he wins a race centered on policy. It's not because of Trump's detailed policy platform. — One of the central characteristics of the 2024 presidential election is its steadiness.

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:
Donald Trump's imaginary and frightening world

Discussion: Raw Story, The Hill, Digby's Hullabaloo and Alternet.org

Alexandra Marquez / NBC News:
Democrats to dub Trump a ‘chicken’ to pressure him to debate Harris

Discussion: New Republic, Alabama Reflector, Adweek, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, New Jersey Online, The Hill, Politico, IJR, Daily Kos and Forbes

Holmes Lybrand / CNN:

Man suspected of assassination attempt against Trump left a letter detailing his plans, prosecutors say — The man who authorities say sat with a rifle in the trees where Donald Trump was golfing earlier this month in West Palm Beach, Florida, previously wrote a letter stating …

NBC News:
Trump to rally next month in Pennsylvania city where his first assassination attempt occurred

Discussion: Raw Story, Joe.My.God., CBS News and UPI

Hafiz Rashid / New Republic:

J.D. Vance Caught Lying About Egg Prices in Painfully Bad Video — J.D. Vance attempted to point out high prices in a recent campaign stunt at a grocery store, only to be caught with egg on his face. — On Saturday, the Trump War Room account on X posted a video of Vance visiting a grocery story …

Discussion: Plain Dealer, Mercury News, TMZ.com, Alternet.org, Raw Story and Daily Kos

State of California:

Attorney General Bonta Sues ExxonMobil for Deceiving the Public on Recyclability of Plastic Products — Attorney General Bonta Sues ExxonMobil for Deceiving the Pub... Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov — The first-of-its-kind lawsuit seeks to hold …

Discussion: Grist, Reuters, Salon, CNN, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Axios, Beyond Plastics, The Verge, The Allegheny Front, Associated Press, Mercury News, SiliconValley.com, Joe.My.God., CBS News and The Daily Caller

Allyson Chiu / Washington Post:
California accuses ExxonMobil of lying about plastics being recyclable

Discussion: The Guardian, Steady, Bangor Daily News, NPR, New York Times, Politico, Los Angeles Times and Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

CNN:

Melania Trump was paid for a rare appearance at a political event. It's not clear who cut the unusual six-figure check — Melania Trump has barely been seen on the campaign trail this year. One of the few times she has appeared at a political event, she's received a six-figure paycheck …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Daily Beast, New Republic, Joe.My.God., Forbes and Alternet.org

Marin Scotten / Salon:

Jill Stein paid $100,000 to a Republican consulting firm led by a suspected January 6 rioter — The Green Party leader has hired a GOP consulting firm and worked with Trump-affiliated lawyers — Allies of former President Donald Trump and others affiliated with the GOP are supporting …

Discussion: Alternet.org

Lauren Sausser / CNN:

She was accused of murder after losing her pregnancy. SC woman now tells her story — Orangeburg, South Carolina , KFF Health News — Amari Marsh had just finished her junior year at South Carolina State University in May 2023 when she received a text message from a law enforcement officer.

Charlie Spiering / Daily Mail:

Resurfaced video shows Kamala Harris protesting against deporting migrants with disgraced celebrity — Vice President Kamala Harris in now promising to secure the border, but when she was a senator of California, she was a staunch opponent of deporting illegal immigrants.

Discussion: Fox News, HotAir, Trending Politics Conservative, RedState, IJR, Breitbart, Twitchy, New York Post, Townhall, The Gateway Pundit and freebeacon.com

The Guardian:

Texas jury clears ‘Trump Train’ for surrounding 2020 Biden-Harris bus — Those onboard the bus had alleged they were ‘terrorised’ for over 90 minutes and calling 911 also did not yield any help — A federal jury in Texas on Monday cleared a group of Donald Trump's supporters and found …

Discussion: Politico and Off the Kuff

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:

Trump Media plummets 10% as post-lockup selloff picks up steam … Shares of Trump Media sank Monday to their lowest price since 2021, days after majority owner Donald Trump and other company insiders got the green light to start selling their stakes in the Truth Social operator.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Raw Story

James Kilner / Telegraph:

Zelensky: Trump doesn't know how to end war and Vance is too radical — The president of Ukraine criticises the Republican nominees as he visits the US to share his plan for victory over Russia — Donald Trump doesn't know how to stop the war in Ukraine, despite claiming he could end …

Discussion: HotAir, RedState, Breitbart, GZERO, American Greatness, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Twitchy, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, UnHerd, Axios, New Yorker and IJR

Alex Gangitano / The Hill:

Harris to skip, Trump to attend annual Al Smith dinner — Vice President Harris will not attend the annual Al Smith dinner in New York next month, while former President Trump said on Monday that he will be there. — The New York Catholic Charities fundraiser, which is scheduled for Oct. 17 …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Alternet.org, New York Post, Associated Press, Townhall, Raw Story, New York Daily News and The Daily Caller

Rong-Gong Lin II / Los Angeles Times:

New COVID subvariant XEC poses potential threat heading into winter — XEC, which was first detected in Germany, is gaining traction in Western Europe — There are estimates that XEC makes up 13% of coronavirus samples in Germany and 7% in Britain. Will America be next?

Discussion: The Hill

Sean Craig / The Daily Beast:

MAGA Sheriff's Post About Harris Yard Signs Gets Department Booted From Election Duties — BLEW IT — Bruce Zuchowski, a Trump-supporting Republican, likened migrants to “human locusts” and called the vice president a “Flip-Flopping, Laughing Hyena.” — The sheriff's department in Portage County …

Discussion: The Conversation, Politico, Raw Story, Alternet.org, Joe.My.God., New Republic and Plain Dealer

The Hill:

Coalition pushes lawmakers to sign ‘No Dictators Declaration’ in wake of immunity decision — A bipartisan coalition is pushing for lawmakers to sign a declaration to combat possible abuses of power by the president in the wake of a Supreme Court decision giving former executives broad immunity from criminal prosecution.

Discussion: Trending Politics Conservative, HuffPost, Fox News and Default

Associated Press:

Lebanon sees deadliest day of conflict since 2006 as Israeli strikes kill 492 — Israeli strikes on Lebanon Monday killed more than 490 people, including more than 90 women and children, Lebanese authorities said, in the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.