memeorandum: As Russia probe closes in, Trump wakes up early to obsess about Hillary Clinton (Eric Boehlert/Shareblue)

1:35 PM ET, September 22, 2017

Top Items:

How will the Graham-Cassidy proposal affect the number of people with health insurance coverage? — Editor's Note: … On September 13, Senators Graham and Cassidy, together with two other Republican colleagues, introduced legislation that would repeal major portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Politico:

Trump publicly backs healthcare effort, privately harbors doubts — While the president appears all in some in the White House wonder about Graham-Cassidy's contents and its chances. — In public, President Donald Trump is all-in on the Senate's final chance to repeal Obamacare.

Discussion: Shareblue, Talking Points Memo, Shakesville, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, ABC News, The Week and Vox

Associated Press:

The Latest: Collins ‘leaning against’ GOP health care bill — https://apnews.com/41a6c9068d454a15a47e c728fa51a4fc — Link copied! — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The Latest on health care legislation (all times local): — Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says she's “leaning against” …

Discussion: Political Wire

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Cruelty, Incompetence and Lies — Graham-Cassidy, the health bill the Senate may vote on next week, is stunningly cruel. It's also incompetently drafted: The bill's sponsors clearly had no idea what they were doing when they put it together. Furthermore, their efforts to sell the bill involve obvious, blatant lies.

Discussion: Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Vox, New York Magazine, The Guardian, The Week, The Atlantic, Daily Kos, Whatever Source Derived, AOL, Business Insider, Hit & Run, Bloomberg, CNN and The Nation

Joe Lawlorstaff / Press Herald:

Sen. Collins says she's leaning against voting for Graham-Cassidy health care bill — The Republican from Maine listed serious deficiences in her party's latest effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins all but said she would vote “no” …

Discussion: Political Wire and The Week

Megan Messerly / The Nevada Independent:

Sandoval doubles down on criticism of Heller-sponsored measure; state analysis highlights up to $2 billion loss — Gov. Brian Sandoval said Thursday that the flexibility fellow Republican Sen. Dean Heller promised will be good for Nevada in a health-care bill he's sponsoring is a “false choice” …

Discussion: Washington Post and Political Wire

CNN:
Axelrod: I cried when they passed Obamacare

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Caitlin Owens / Axios:
The key states that would lose funding under Graham-Cassidy

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, Politico, National Review, New York Magazine, baker and Vox

Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
This Republican health-care bill is the most monstrous yet

Discussion: TVNewser, CNN, KTLA, Daily Kos and Forbes

Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Administration Finalizes New Restrictions to Replace Travel Ban — Targeted rules would affect about eight or nine countries, vary based on factors including cooperation with U.S. mandates — The Trump administration is preparing to replace its controversial travel ban …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Politico, New York Magazine, Business Insider, KTLA and IJR

New York Times:

Trump's Travel Ban to Be Replaced by Restrictions Tailored to Certain Countries — WASHINGTON — President Trump's ban on travelers from six majority-Muslim countries is set to be replaced as soon as this weekend with more targeted restrictions on visits to the United States that would vary by country …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Religion News Service and The Daily Caller

Joshua Stewart / sandiegouniontribune.com:
Rep. Hunter calls for preemptive strike against North Korea

Discussion: CNNMoney, AOL, New York Magazine and IJR

CNN:
Trump administration to replace travel ban with country-specific restrictions

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog

Bloomberg:
Trump's Travel Ban Decision Could Set Off New Wave of Turmoil

Discussion: Axios

Eric Boehlert / Shareblue:

As Russia probe closes in, Trump wakes up early to obsess about Hillary Clinton — Trump grabbed his phone early this morning to lash out at his enemies in both parties and find solace that lots of people are tweeting about him. — Just as we are learning that special counsel Robert Mueller …

Discussion: New York Times, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Politicus USA and Washington Free Beacon

Shane Harris / Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Monitored Manafort After He Left Trump Campaign — The surveillance came as part of a counterintelligence probe into Russian interference with presidential election — U.S. authorities placed Paul Manafort under surveillance after he was ousted as Donald Trump's campaign manager …

Discussion: The Hill, JustOneMinute and Washington Post

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
Trump says this is all a hoax. Mueller, Congress and Facebook disagree.

Discussion: ABC News, Axios, Talking Points Memo, Sputnik International, RT, CNN, Mashable, IJR, CNBC, Raw Story, Deadline, Mediaite, Political Wire and NBC News, more at Mediagazer »

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:
A Dizzying Week of Trump-Russia Revelations

Discussion: Salon, Hullabaloo and Washington Free Beacon

Bob Grip / WALA-TV:

Roy Moore leads Luther Strange in FOX10 News poll — If the Alabama GOP Senate runoff election were held today, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore would defeat incumbent Senator Luther Strange, according to an exclusive, FOX10 News/Strategy Research statewide poll, conducted Wednesday.

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Poll finds Moore with eight-point lead on Strange in Alabama

Discussion: RedState

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Donald Trump Can't Lose

Discussion: CNN

Louis Nelson / Politico:
Trump: Strange has ‘gained mightily’ since my endorsement

Discussion: ABC News

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Trump aides begin looking for the exits — A fast-growing number of White House staffers are starting to look for the exits, even though the one-year mark of President Donald Trump's first term is still months away. — Many who joined the administration in January did so with the explicit idea …

Discussion: Raw Story and The Week

Aaron C. Davis / Washington Post:

How Tom Price decided chartered, private jets were a good use of taxpayer money — After Tom Price was sworn in as health and human services secretary, the Georgia Republican faced an inconvenience known to millions of Americans: His flight was delayed, an aide said, and he was forced to spend hours at an airport.

Discussion: Politico, Bloomberg, Vox, Shareblue, ThinkProgress, The Resurgent, Business Insider, Daily Kos and Mother Jones

Dan Diamond / Politico:
Price traveled by private plane at least 24 times

Discussion: Axios, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Washington Free Beacon, IJR, Hullabaloo, Media Matters for America, The Week, New York Magazine, Mediaite, Politicus USA, Talking Points Memo and Associated Press

Jason Leopold / BuzzFeed:

Sebastian Gorka Gave A Classified “Tirade” About Radical Islam — The former Trump aide delivered a two-and-a-half-hour speech to students at a US Army elite special operations center, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show. People who were there said it was a fiery speech …

Discussion: Axios

Phil McCausland / NBC News:

Kim Jong Un Calls President Trump ‘Dotard’ and ‘Frightened Dog’ — North Korea's leader called President Donald Trump “a frightened dog” and a “gangster fond of playing with fire” in an official statement released Thursday. — Kim Jong Un responded to Trump's United Nations speech in a dispatch written in the first person.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Yonhap News Agency, PerezHilton, Daily Wire, CNN, Business Insider, AOL, NBC News, The Week, CNBC, The Daily Caller, The Root and IJR

Jonathan Cheng / Wall Street Journal:
North Korea Warns of Hydrogen-Bomb Test Over Pacific Ocean

Discussion: RedState, New York Times, The Hill, NBC News, Defense One, Just Security, The Guardian and Washington Post

New York Times:
Full Text of Kim Jong-un's Response to President Trump

Discussion: The White House, IJR, 38 North, Althouse, Washington Free Beacon, Shakesville and Daily Kos

Chip Cummins / Wall Street Journal:

London Won't Reissue Uber's License, Saying It Is Unfit to Operate — Uber will be allowed to operate during appeal process — LONDON—The U.K. capital's top transport authority said Friday it won't reissue a private-car hire license to Uber Technologies Inc., saying it found the company unfit to hold such a permit.

Discussion: Instapundit, more at Techmeme »

BBC:
Uber London loses licence to operate

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Week and Eschaton

Stef W. Kight / Axios:

The insane news cycle of Trump's presidency in 1 chart — If it feels like the Trump presidency has been hit by non-stop scandals and crises from day one, it's probably because it has been. The Google News Lab looked at the search trends for stories about 40 of the biggest news events of Trump's presidency from Jan. 20 until Sept. 1.

Discussion: Mashable and Gothamist

Scott Schwebke / Orange County Register:

End-of-world prediction interrupts TV broadcasts in Orange County — Some Orange County residents were stunned Thursday, Sept. 21, when television programming was suddenly interrupted for about a minute with an ominous message predicting the end of the world.

Discussion: Gizmodo, Sputnik International, RT, CBS Los Angeles, Raw Story and The Last Tradition

Politico:

Obama-era school sexual assault policy rescinded — The Trump administration announced today that it is now rescinding Obama-era school sexual assault guidance and issuing a question-and-answer document while a formal review is undertaken. — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said a new direction …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Daily Caller and Daily Kos

Louis Nelson / Politico:

Protesters disrupt James Comey's Howard University convocation speech — Former FBI director James Comey struggled on Friday to give the convocation address at Howard University, speaking over a group of about 20 students who sang and chanted continuously throughout the speech.

Discussion: ABC News and Washington Free Beacon

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Republicans to Murkowski: Nice State You Have There. Shame If Something Should Happen to It. — Wall Street Journal writer Kimberley Strassel's column typically channels talking points from congressional Republicans, and today's effort is dedicated to putting the squeeze on Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski.