memeorandum @ 1:40 PM ET, September 22, 2021

1:40 PM ET, September 22, 2021

Top Items:

Texas Gov. Abbott sends miles of cars along border to deter migrants — Abbott said this “steel wall” of vehicles was meant to stop migrants from crossing the dam. — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has sent a fleet of state-owned vehicles to line up for miles as a barricade along the border with Mexico …

Discussion: Fox News, The Hill, Daily Kos, Office of the Texas Governor and CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

Associated Press:

Officials: Many Haitian migrants are being released in US — DEL RIO, Texas (AP) — Many Haitian migrants camped in a small Texas border town are being released in the United States, two U.S. officials said, undercutting the Biden administration's public statements that the thousands in the camp faced immediate expulsion.

Discussion: NPR, HotAir, Washington Examiner, New York Post, Ace of Spades HQ, The Federalist, Washington Post, Fox News, TheBlaze, Breitbart, Forbes, RedState, National Review, Townhall, Power Line, Twitchy, WGN-TV, Associated Press and The Hill

Politico:

Biden slips into political quicksand amid Haitian migrant buildup — The mass of thousands of Haitians at the U.S. southern border has put the Biden administration in the exact place it's tried to avoid: knee deep in immigration politics. — In the past 24 hours, the White House has responded …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Guardian

Adam Shaw / Fox News:
ICE officers injured by Haitian migrants after deportation flights land in Port-au-Prince

Discussion: Washington Examiner, NBC News, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, The Bulwark, BizPac Review, TheBlaze and National Review

Patrice Lawrence / CNN:
An outrage at America's border

Discussion: Black Enterprise, Columbia Journalism Review and IJR

The Daily Beast:

Trump Sues NYT and Niece—Who Calls Him ‘F*cking Loser’ — The ex-president claims there was an “insidious plot to obtain confidential and highly-sensitive records.” … Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against The New York Times, three of its reporters, and his niece …

Tierney Sneed / CNN:
Donald Trump sues niece Mary Trump, New York Times reporters over disclosure of tax documents

Discussion: Deadline, The Root, KRON4, Right Side Broadcasting …, HuffPost, Raw Story, IJR and Insider

Jeff Stein / Washington Post:

Former GOP treasury secretaries tried defusing debt ceiling bomb in private talks with McConnell, Yellen — Paulson and Mnuchin have warned political leaders about the consequences of default, but the Biden administration and Senate Republicans don't appear close to a deal.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Insider, POLITICUSUSA, Daily Kos, New York Times, Hackwhackers, DCCC, Forbes, HotAir and Slate

Politico:
Biden set to play peacemaker for warring Democratic factions

Discussion: CNBC, Washington Post, CNN, New York Times, NBC News, HotAir, Arkansas Online, Reuters, Breitbart, FiveThirtyEight, Daily Caller News Foundation, ABC News, Common Dreams, Talking Points Memo and Detroit Metro Times

Reuters:

Aide to Ukraine's president survives assassination attempt — A volley of automatic gunfire hit a car carrying a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday, an incident a senior official called an assassination attempt and Zelenskiy said may have been a message intended for him.

Discussion: Axios, Укр …, One America News Network, Bloomberg, Politico and Political Wire

New York Times:
Top Adviser to Ukrainian President Is Targeted in an Assassination Attempt

Discussion: UPI, Associated Press and The Times of Israel

Megan Brenan / Gallup:

Biden's Approval Rating Hits New Low of 43%; Harris' Is 49% — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eight months after President Joe Biden's inauguration, his job approval rating has fallen six percentage points to 43%, the lowest of his presidency. For the first time, a majority, 53%, now disapproves of Biden's performance.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Examiner, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite and The Moderate Voice

Wall Street Journal:

Liz Cheney's Re-Election Bid Pits Trump Against Bush — George W. Bush to hold fundraiser for Wyoming congresswoman who has sparred with Donald Trump — WASHINGTON—The race for Wyoming's single U.S. House district has pitted two of the biggest names in Republican politics against one another …

Discussion: CNN, Fox News, New York Post, Forbes, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, The Western Journal and The Hill

Nick Ehli / Missoulian:

Postcard from an overrun ICU: ‘The problem is we are running out of hallways’ — BILLINGS — Nurses fill the hospital room to turn a patient from his stomach to his back. The ventilator forcing air into him is most effective when he's on his stomach, so he is in that position most hours of the day, sedated and paralyzed by drugs.

Discussion: NPR and Raw Story

Sarah Knapton / Telegraph:
Wuhan scientists planned to release coronaviruses into cave bats 18 months before outbreak

Discussion: HotAir, New York Post, Human Events, Mediaite, Raw Story, Orlando Sentinel and Raw Story

Andrew Boryga / The Daily Beast:
Lawyer Forces Ivermectin on Hospitals—and Drives Docs Crazy

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, Tampa Bay Times and Beacon

Washington Post:

Biden and French President Macron set October meeting following unprecedented rift — President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to meet in person next month when they spoke by phone Wednesday, French and U.S. officials said, as the two leaders seek to make peace …

Discussion: Insider, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, The Hill, New York Times, Politico, NBC News, CNN, France 24 and Washington Times

Sylvie Kauffmann / New York Times:
Why France Is Angry About the U.S.'s Submarine Deal

Discussion: The Hill, European Council … and The Liberal Patriot

Gabriella Borter / Reuters:

‘Critical race theory’ roils a Tennessee school district — Robin Steenman, an Air Force veteran and white mother of three, is fed up with the way public schools in her community of Franklin, Tennessee are teaching kids about race. — She believes that the reading materials and teachers' manuals …

Mona Charen / The Bulwark:

Why I'm a Single-Issue Voter — I'll vote against the party threatening the republic—simple as that. — In a few weeks, Virginia will hold an election and I will have to make a decision. Both the Democratic and the Republican candidates for governor could be described as moderates.

Discussion: Raw Story

Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:

Tim Cook says employees who leak memos do not belong at Apple, according to leaked memo — The CEO says the company is doing everything in its power to track down workers — Tim Cook sent an email to Apple employees Tuesday evening about an all-hands meeting that leaked to The Verge last week.

Discussion: AppleInsider

Tom Phillips / The Guardian:

Brazilian minister tests positive for Covid after meeting maskless Johnson — Marcelo Queiroga sat close to Boris Johnson and Liz Truss at New York meeting — Brazil's health minister, Marcelo Queiroga, has tested positive for Covid and gone into isolation, 24 hours after meeting …

Discussion: New York Times, Insider, New York Post, Washington Post and UPI

Oliver Milman / The Guardian:
DeSantis names doctor opposed to masks and vaccine mandates as Florida's surgeon general

Discussion: CNN, CBS News, VICE, WKMG and Twitchy

Erica Pandey / Axios:

Charter schools boomed during the pandemic — Charter schools picked off hundreds of thousands of public school students across the U.S. during the pandemic, according to a new analysis from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. — Why it matters: The pandemic …

Discussion: The 74, Eduwonk, Reason and Twitchy

Wall Street Journal:

Bipartisan Police-Overhaul Talks End With No Deal — Lawmakers had sought to address abuses by law-enforcement in wake of protests over killings of Black Americans — WASHINGTON — Bipartisan talks aimed at overhauling police tactics and accountability have ended with no agreement …

Jeff Asher / New York Times:

Murder Rose by Almost 30% in 2020. It's Rising at a Slower Rate in 2021. — The increase in murders this summer does not appear to be as large as the record spike last summer. — The United States in 2020 experienced the biggest rise in murder since the start of national record-keeping in 1960 …

Reed Abelson / New York Times:

High Covid Hospitalizations Have Delayed Elective Surgeries — In areas inundated with coronavirus patients, hospitals have postponed treatments and surgeries for people with other serious conditions. — In chronic pain, Mary O'Donnell can't get around much.

Jen Fifield / Arizona Republic:

Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Chucri resigns after election-related recording released — Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Chucri announced he will resign after a recording of him talking about the 2020 election and his county colleagues surfaced. — In the leaked recording …

Josefa Velasquez / THE CITY:

NYC Set to Pass Food Delivery App Laws Securing Workers Minimum Pay, Bathrooms and More — De Blasio supports first-in-the-nation bills scheduled for Thursday vote, seeking better working conditions in the booming tech-driven food courier economy. The City Council's actions come as app firms sue to block bills it passed previously.

Adam Barnes / The Hill:

Washington governor to Idaho officials: ‘Stop clogging up my hospitals’ — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) criticized neighboring Idaho's leadership late last week, saying that Idaho Gov. Brad Little's (R) policies were “clogging up” Washington's hospitals. — “Today in my state …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

Jay Willis / Balls and Strikes:

Book Review: ‘The Authority of the Court and the Peril of How Much I Love My Job,’ by Stephen Breyer — The 83-year-old leader of the Court's liberal wing is facing significant public pressure to step down from the bench. He decided to write a book instead.

Andrius Sytas / Reuters:

Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to censorship concerns — Lithuania's Defense Ministry recommended that consumers avoid buying Chinese mobile phones and advised people to throw away the ones they have now after a government report found the devices had built-in censorship capabilities.

Discussion: BBC, CBS News, Politico and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »

Thomas B. Edsall / New York Times:

'It's Become Increasingly Hard for Them to Feel Good About Themselves' — Mr. Edsall contributes a weekly column from Washington, D.C., on politics, demographics and inequality. — Is there a whole class of men who no longer fit into the social order? — A decade ago, Marianne Bertrand …

Matthew Yglesias / Slow Boring:

The median voter is a 50-something white person who didn't go to college — Cognitive behavioral therapy for Democrats — So much in politics is uncertain or difficult that I think even professionals tend to underrate the upside to doing things that are obvious and easy.

Leada Gore / al.com:

Secretary of State disputes MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's claims Alabama had 100,000 ‘flipped’ votes — Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill is disputing claims cybercriminals “flipped” 100,000 votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Discussion: Washington Post, Joe.My.God., Talking Points Memo and Alabama Political Reporter

Lili Loofbourow / Slate:

The Unbelievable Grimness of HermanCainAward, the Subreddit That Catalogs Anti-Vaxxer COVID Deaths — This is not a forum that attempts to change minds. It's much darker. — HermanCainAward, one of the fastest-growing subreddits on Reddit.com, is exactly what it sounds like …

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Aaron Sibarium / Washington Free Beacon:

How Racial Anxiety Conquered an Orchestra and Crushed a Career — Most people haven't heard of James Zimmermann, but most have heard him. A decorated musician with a long string of acoustic accolades, Zimmermann, 39, has made the sound of his clarinet difficult to avoid.

Rasmussen Reports:

52% Rate Biden ‘Poor’ on Immigration — A majority of voters blame President Joe Biden for the migrant crisis at the Mexico border, and rate him “poor” on his handling of immigration. Most voters also give the media poor ratings for their coverage of America's immigration problems.

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Breitbart