memeorandum: Aretha Franklin, ‘The Queen of Soul,’ dies at age 76 (Devin Scillian/WDIV-TV)

11:05 AM ET, August 16, 2018

Top Items:

John O. Brennan / New York Times:

John Brennan: President Trump's Claims of No Collusion Are Hogwash — That's why the president revoked my security clearance: to try to silence anyone who would dare challenge him. — Mr. Brennan was director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2013 to 2017.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CNN, Politico, Power Line, Associated Press, Washington Post, The Guardian, IJR, Shareblue Media, Talking Points Memo, DC Tribune, Taylor Marsh, HuffPost, KTLA, Washington Times, POLITICUSUSA, Balloon Juice, Axios, Althouse, The Week, Raw Story, Mediaite, CNBC and WTKR-TV

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Trump blurts out another Lester Holt moment — It really was the Russia investigation all along. — In an interview with the Wall Street Journal posted late Wednesday, President Trump once again gave away the ballgame when it comes to his efforts to impact the probe and tear down its leaders (both current and former).

Discussion: Just Security, MSNBC, The Week and Politico

Peter Nicholas / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Revokes Ex-CIA Director John Brennan's Security Clearance — Brennan has been a vocal critic of President Trump — WASHINGTON—President Trump revoked the security clearance of former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, a prominent critic of the president, the White House said Wednesday.

Sara Carter / Sara A. Carter:

Intel Official: “Brennan's Actions are Unconscionable...Trump Did The Right Thing” — Numerous intelligence officials say Brennan's behavior is damaging to national security — Former CIA Director John Brennan's security clearance was revoked by President Trump Wednesday …

Discussion: ABC News, Liberty Unyielding, IJR, Fox News Insider, New York Times and HuffPost

ACLU:
ACLU Comment on Revocation of John Brennan's Security Clearance

Discussion: Common Dreams and Washington Post

Elizabeth Zwirz / Fox News:
John Brennan's nasty history with Trump preceded national security clearance revocation

Discussion: CNN, Sara A. Carter and The Daily Banter

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:

‘If they take the House, he wins big’: Trump loyalists see upside in impeachment — Why some Trump allies think his path to reelection runs through an effort to kick him out of the Oval Office. — There's a new way of demonstrating loyalty to Donald Trump and his Republican Party …

Discussion: The Week and Raw Story

New York Times:

Pelosi Talks of ‘Bridge’ to New Leader as Democrats Test Her Strength — Nancy Pelosi is confronting rising threats from different corners of the Democratic Party, and is girding for a mortal challenge to her leadership after the November midterm elections or even sooner.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and CNN

New York Times:
Bannon's New Group Issues a Midterm Plea: Save Trump

Discussion: New Republic

Associated Press:
Democrats avoid abuse allegations against party leader

Discussion: Power Line and Weekly Standard

Ben Terris / Washington Post:

She works for Trump. He can't stand him. This is life with Kellyanne and George Conway. — Kellyanne Conway is in her living room, showing me an enormous painting of Audrey Hepburn wearing a peacock on her head, but her husband, George, really wants us to come into his office and look …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Patterico's Pontifications, New York Times, Conservative News Today, HuffPost, Hot Air, The Week, Law & Crime, TheBlaze, AOL and Mediaite

Devin Scillian / WDIV-TV:

Aretha Franklin, ‘The Queen of Soul,’ dies at age 76 — Aretha Franklin, known famously as “The Queen of Soul,” has died at age 76. — Simply put, Franklin was arguably the greatest woman singer of the modern music era. With a voice that moved easily between thunderous power and wondrous finesse …

Stereo Williams / The Daily Beast:

Aretha Franklin Dead at 76: A Queen Who Embodied Black Music's Spirit and Vision … She was an icon. A legend. And so much more than that. — Aretha Franklin was one of our greatest treasures; a prodigious talent and studious craftswoman who reached the pinnacle of her profession …

Discussion: Politico and One America News Network

J. Freedom du Lac / Washington Post:
Aretha Franklin, music's ‘Queen of Soul,’ dies at 76

Discussion: New Yorker, The Atlantic and New York Times

Erin Durkin / The Guardian:

Almost 350 news outlets to publish editorials denouncing Trump's ‘dirty war’ on press — Participation comes after a push organized by the Boston Globe to run coordinated editorials against Trump's attacks on the media — Nearly 350 news organizations are set to publish editorials …

Discussion: Tablet Magazine, Talking Points Memo, Shakesville, Daily Kos and The Moderate Voice

Rebecca Morin / Politico:
Trump labels media ‘the opposition party’ as newspapers push back en masse

Discussion: ABC News and Defense One

Julie Kelly / American Greatness:

The Weekly Standard's Ties to Fusion GPS — In his online appeal for money after being fired this week, disgraced former FBI agent Peter Strzok credited an unlikely source to vouch for his victim status: The Weekly Standard. — At one time a leading conservative magazine …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Liberty Unyielding, Washington Times, Breitbart, 100PercentFedUp.com and National Review

Katie Benner / New York Times:
Little-Known Justice Dept. Official Makes Trump's Security Clearance List

Discussion: Power Line, TheBlaze and Vox

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:

Trump, Seeking to Relax Rules on U.S. Cyberattacks, Reverses Obama Directive — It isn't clear what rules the president is adopting to replace the existing ones — President Trump has reversed an Obama-era memorandum governing how and when the U.S. government can deploy cyberweapons …

Discussion: Associated Press, VICE News, Front Page Magazine and middleeastmonitor.com, more at Techmeme »

Hannah Sparks / New York Post:

My trust fund made me miserable — Over the past six years, Lane Fury has collected more than $185,000 in family money. Eventually, Fury stands to inherit roughly $6 million, but the 27-year-old doesn't see this good fortune as a positive thing. — “I don't actually want it,” says Fury.

Washington Post:

CEO pay jumps to $19 million annually, as fears mount over the wealthy pocketing gains — Top executives of America's biggest companies saw their average annual pay surge to $18.9 million in 2017, according to a report released Thursday, fueling concerns about the gulf between the nation's richest and everyone else.

Discussion: The Guardian

Economic Policy Institute: CEO compensation surged in 2017

Washington Post:

Jack Dorsey says he's rethinking the core of how Twitter works — Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey said he is rethinking core parts of the social media platform so that it doesn't enable the spread of hate speech, harassment and false news, including conspiracy theories shared by prominent users like Alex Jones and Infowars.

Discussion: NBC News, The Verge, Gizmodo, Poynter, Engadget, Mediaite and BuzzFeed News, more at Mediagazer »

Harper Neidig / The Hill:
The Hill Interview: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explains what got Alex Jones suspended

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Betsy Woodruff / amp.thedailybeast.com:

Trump Staffer Says He Recruited Lobbyists for Russian Mogul — In the time since the election, a little-known Trump campaign staffer named Daniel Gelbinovich reached out to a number of Washington lobbyists with an eyebrow-raising ask: to shield a Putin ally from U.S. sanctions.

Michael Sinkewicz / pluralist:

Millennial Couple Bikes Through ISIS Territory to Prove ‘Humans Are Kind’ and Gets Killed — “Evil is a make-believe concept we've invented to deal with the complexities of fellow humans.” — An idealistic young American couple was killed in an Islamic State-claimed terrorist attack …

Discussion: Daily Wire and Clarion Project

Politico:

Manafort trial Day 13: Jury deliberations begin — The former Trump campaign chairman has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of tax and bank fraud. — Jurors began deliberating Thursday in Paul Manafort's trial on bank- and tax-fraud charges, but the possible timing of a verdict remains unknown.

Sharon LaFraniere / New York Times: Evidence Against Manafort Is ‘Overwhelming,’ Prosecutors Say

Nicholas Goldberg / Los Angeles Times:

The Los Angeles Times is not participating in today's nationwide editorial page protest against Trump's attacks on the press. Here's why — More than 300 newspapers around the country will participate today in a group protest of President Trump's frequent attacks on the news media.

Discussion: CNN, The Week and Roll Call, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

ISIS Member Arrested in Sacramento, U.S. Says — Federal authorities said Wednesday they had arrested an Iraqi national and longtime member of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State who fled after killing an Iraqi police officer in 2014, eventually settling in Sacramento as a purported refugee.

Discussion: U.S. Department of Justice, RedState, Front Page Magazine and Breitbart

Zach Dorfman / Foreign Policy:

Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Chinese Agents — The number of informants executed in the debacle is higher than initially thought. — It was considered one of the CIA's worst failures in decades: Over a two-year period starting in late 2010, Chinese authorities …

more at Techmeme »

Toluse Olorunnipa / Bloomberg:

Trump's Speeches Feature Mystery Men the White House Won't Name — The president leans on unidentified allies to back policies — White House won't identify people Trump describes in remarks — One of the biggest supporters of President Donald Trump's trade policies …

Peter Nicholas / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Says His Tariffs Will Rescue U.S. Steel Industry — President says U.S. steelmakers were in danger of closing; others take issue with the tariffs' impact — WASHINGTON—President Trump said that his steel tariffs on China and other countries are rescuing an iconic U.S. industry …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, MSNBC, Outside the Beltway, CNBC, Political Wire, The Week, CBS Baltimore and Mediaite

Julia Davis / The Daily Beast:

‘Trump Is Ours’: Kremlin Media Fear Democratic Victory in November Midterm Elections … During any other presidency, it would be highly unusual for the Russian media to be preoccupied with the American midterm elections, but in the time of Donald Trump, Russian politicians and pundits …

Discussion: Raw Story

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:

Papadopoulos's Wife Says He Should Scrap His Plea Deal With Mueller — The wife of Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos is making the bombshell suggestion that her husband drop a plea deal he has with special counsel Robert Mueller. — Papadopoulos is scheduled to be sentenced …

Discussion: Observer and Law & Crime

Therese Shaheen / National Review:

The Belt and Road Illusion — China's international-development project reflects its global ambitions but masks problems at home. — The president is a man who often makes aspirational statements and presents them as fact. He has a grandiose sense of what he is accomplishing …

Conor Finnegan / ABC News:

US concerned by Russian satellite's ‘very abnormal behavior’ — When Vice President Mike Pence laid out the Trump administration's plan to establish a Space Force as a new branch of the military last Thursday, critics said it was a wasteful and unnecessary step that added bureaucracy for something that didn't present a threat.

Emily Zauzmer / People.com:

Omarosa Claims Ivanka Trump ‘Would Not Stop’ Complaining About SNL's ‘Complicit’ Perfume Ad — Omarosa Manigault Newman's tell-all Unhinged claims that Ivanka Trump hated the Saturday Night Live sketch that labeled her “complicit” in March 2017. — “At the senior staff meeting …

Discussion: RightWire

Michael Tackett / New York Times:

In Kentucky House Race, a Battle of Ideology vs. Résumé — LEXINGTON, Ky. — One morning last week, Representative Andy Barr stood on a podium to celebrate the renaming of Veterans Affairs facilities here for two local World War II heroes, the result of legislation the congressman had sponsored.

Kevin D. Williamson / National Review:

Elizabeth Warren's Batty Plan to Nationalize . . . Everything — Wholesale seizure and control of private property? With 2020 in her sights, Warren woos the hard Left. — Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has one-upped socialists Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez …