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8:30 AM ET, February 19, 2020

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
The Daily Beast:
Trump Got Tons of Campaign Cash Before Handing Out Pardon  —  “I watched his wife on television,” Trump said of his decision to pardon Blago after seeing his spouse on Fox.  The network seems to have influenced several of Tuesday's pardons.  —  President Donald Trump on Tuesday granted clemency …
RELATED:
Natasha Korecki / Politico:
I Covered Blago's Trial From Start To Finish.  Trump's Commutation Isn't Crazy.  —  CHICAGO - The day of Rod Blagojevich's sentencing in late 2011, I was a federal courts reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times.  I was also extremely pregnant, days from my due date.
Associated Press:
President Trump goes on clemency spree, and the list is long  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump went on a clemency blitz Tuesday, commuting former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's 14-year prison sentence and pardoning former New York City police commissioner Bernie Kerik, among a long list of others.
New York Daily News:
Trump grants clemency to Rod Blagojevich, ex-NYPD commissioner Bernie Kerik and financier Michael Milken
Discussion: The Week
The White House:
Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grants of Clemency
Eli Stokols / Los Angeles Times:
Trump grants clemency to 11, including former junk bond king Michael Milken
Discussion: Vox
Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
Why Trump is letting a corrupt Democrat out of prison
Discussion: The Week
Associated Press:
AP source: Barr tells people he might quit over Trump tweets  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr has told people close to him he's considering quitting his post after President Donald Trump wouldn't heed his warning to stop tweeting about Justice Department cases, an administration official told The Associated Press.
Discussion: CNN, PJ Media Home and New York Post
RELATED:
ABC News:
Barr mulls resigning over Trump's tweets: Sources  —  Barr previously said that Trump's tweets make it “impossible” to do his job.  —  Just hours after President Donald Trump openly defied his public pleas to stop tweeting about criminal matters in the Justice Department …
Washington Post:
Barr has told those close to Trump he is considering quitting over the president's tweets about Justice Dept. investigations  —  Attorney General William P. Barr has told people close to President Trump — both inside and outside the White House — that he is considering quitting over Trump's tweets …
ABC News:
Democrat Pete Buttigieg overstated pledges of support from black leaders, public figures  —  Polls show he faces an ongoing challenge finding support from voters of color  —  When Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg touted support from African American comedian and actor Keegan-Michael Key …
Discussion: Fox News
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Sanders surges into national lead in new Post-ABC poll
Discussion: Slate
Mark Murray / NBC News:
NBC News/WSJ poll: Sanders opens up double-digit national lead in primary race
Michael Finnegan / Los Angeles Times:
Bernie Sanders takes wide lead in California primary, new poll finds  —  Bernie Sanders has opened a wide lead in California's Democratic presidential primary, and four rivals are virtually tied for a distant second place, according to a poll released Tuesday.
Discussion: The Hill and HuffPost
RELATED:
Aaron Zitner / Wall Street Journal:   Sanders Leads Democratic Primary Field as Biden Slips, WSJ/NBC News Poll Finds
Wall Street Journal:
China Expels Three Wall Street Journal Reporters  —  China's Foreign Ministry says move was punishment for a recent opinion piece published by the Journal  —  China revoked the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal reporters based in Beijing, the first time in the post-Mao era …
Dominic Holden / BuzzFeed News:
Mike Bloomberg Once Again Called Transgender People “It” And “Some Guy Wearing A Dress”  —  Bloomberg suggested transgender rights would sink Democratic campaigns in comments recorded last year in New York.  He's tried to distance himself from similar comments he made in 2016.
RELATED:
Matt Flegenheimer / New York Times:
Michael Bloomberg Has to Debate Without a Net  —  Candidates are not permitted to haul field organizers or canapés or record-reframing ad campaigns onstage with them.  So the former mayor will stand on his own.  —  For months, he has muscled into the Democratic primary …
Discussion: Fox News
Siobhan Hughes / Wall Street Journal:
Susan Collins Faces Tough Re-Election Race in Maine, Poll Suggests  —  Survey shows her slightly behind expected Democratic rival in November race  —  WASHINGTON—The polarized political climate is taking a toll on Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), who is facing a competitive race …
RELATED:
Rebecca Traister / The Cut:
The Immoderate Susan Collins After a long career voting across the aisle, why did the Maine …
Discussion: Balloon Juice
Jay Weaver / Miami Herald:
Mexican accused of being Russian agent after photographing U.S. informant's car in Miami  —  As he stood in Miami federal court, Hector Cabrera Fuentes didn't exactly look like an “international man of mystery.”  —  But Cabrera, a short and stocky Mexican citizen, was charged Tuesday with being an …
RELATED:
U.S. Department of Justice:
Individual Arrested for Acting Within the U.S. on Behalf of the Russian Government Without Notifying the Attorney General  —  Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, a Mexican citizen residing in Singapore, was arrested based on a Complaint charging him with acting within the United States on behalf …
Leo Shane III / Military Times:
Veterans coalition condemns Trump's continued attacks on Army officer who testified against him  —  A coalition of more than 1,100 veterans on Tuesday condemned President Donald Trump for his continued attacks on an Army officer who testified against him in the impeachment inquiry …
Discussion: Raw Story
RELATED:
R.D. Hooker Jr / Washington Post:   I can think of no more honorable soldier than Alexander Vindman
The Hill:
Limbaugh: Trump advised me to ‘never apologize’ for Buttigieg remarks  —  Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said President Trump advised him to “never apologize” for his comments on Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg's sexuality.  —  Limbaugh said on his Monday show …
RELATED:
Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:   Buttigieg blasts Trump: My marriage never involved ‘hush money’
Zach Montellaro / Politico:
Buttigieg, Sanders separated by thousandths of a point after Iowa recanvass  —  Pete Buttigieg's already narrow state delegate equivalent lead over Bernie Sanders has reduced further, to less than a hundredth of a percentage point, after the Iowa Democratic Party announced the results …
Discussion: Fox News, New York Times, The Hill and UPI
RELATED:
Alexandra Jaffe / Associated Press:   Bernie Sanders' campaign to request recount of Iowa caucuses
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Trump campaign hires alum of controversial data company  —  President Donald Trump's campaign is bringing on an alum of the controversial data firm Cambridge Analytica, a move likely to raise alarms among Trump critics and data privacy advocates who worry the president will push the technological envelope to get reelected in 2020.
Alexis Clark / New York Times:
After Fighting Nazis, Black G.I.s Faced Racism in U.S. Military  —  In commemoration of Black History Month, the latest article from “Beyond the World War II We Know,” a series by The Times that documents lesser-known stories from World War II, focuses on the challenges of black troops stationed in Germany in the aftermath of the war.
Chris Kahn / Reuters:
Exclusive: Ahead of 2020 election, a ‘Blue Wave’ is rising in the cities, polling analysis shows  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - As Republican President Donald Trump seeks a second term in November, Americans' interest in voting is growing faster in large cities dominated by Democrats …
Discussion: Raw Story
Tom Kludt / Vanity Fair:
Fox Has Been “More Fair”: Why Bernie's Team Has Had It With MSNBC  —  The liberal network's talk of “digital brown shirts” and Fidel Castro admiration has Sandersworld seeing red.  (More like “MSDNC,” says Glenn Greenwald).  The blowback is classic Sanders-campaign ref-working—and a sign of a deepening Democratic divide.
Michael Rezendes / Associated Press:
After learning of Whitey Bulger LSD tests, juror has regrets  —  EASTHAM, Mass. (AP) — One of the jurors who convicted notorious crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger says she regrets her decision after learning that he was an unwitting participant in a covert CIA experiment with LSD.
CNN:
Top Pentagon policy official expected to depart administration  —  (CNN)The Pentagon's top policy official is expected to depart his post soon, according to two sources familiar with the matter.  John Rood, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Pentagon, lost support among senior …
Erik Larson / Bloomberg:
Trump Rape Accuser Slams Effort to Stall Her Defamation Case  — A stay would delay a request for a sample of Trump's DNA  — The president has denied raping or defaming E. Jean Carroll  —  A New York advice columnist who claims President Donald Trump raped her two decades ago asked …
Discussion: Raw Story
 
 
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 More Items: 
Martin Longman / Washington Monthly:
How to End the Democrats' Health Care Demolition Derby
Discussion: Balloon Juice
Ruairí Arrieta-Kenna / Politico:
Could Higher Turnout Actually Help Trump?
Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:
Emails: Burisma Consultant Linked To Hunter Biden Approached Top State Department Official To Arrange Ukraine Meeting
Discussion: Instapundit
Joshua Green / Bloomberg:
Harry Reid Tells Candidates Hoping to Stop Sanders to ‘Speak Up’
Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:
Power Up: Joe Manchin visits Mike Bloomberg's campaign headquarters in New York
Discussion: The Daily Wire, Axios and The Week
Nihar Kabinittal / ABC News:
Sanders and Bloomberg rise, Biden falls, with sharp shifts in views of electability
Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:
Bloomberg and Obama: A more ‘complicated’ relationship than the ads suggest
Discussion: Politico, MSNBC and New York Post
Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
Klobuchar gets second chance to name Mexico's president
Discussion: NBC News
 Earlier Items: 
Sarah Jones / New York Magazine:
This Obscure Foundation Helped Fund The Alt-Right
Julia Azari / Washington Post:
It's time to give the elites a bigger say in choosing the president
Washington Post:
The Saudi crown prince has learned he can persecute Americans with no pushback from Trump or Pompeo
Vandana Rambaran / Fox News:
Pennsylvania Democrat apologizes for old pro-Trump, anti-Hillary Clinton Facebook posts
Discussion: The Gateway Pundit
Charles Bethea / New Yorker:
The Party Raiders of South Carolina
Nilesh Christopher / VICE:
We've Just Seen the First Use of Deepfakes in an Indian Election Campaign
Bill Allison / Bloomberg:
Trump Backers Want Extra $1 Billion to Blunt Bloomberg Spending
 

 
From Techmeme:

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:
Anthropic's Claude 3 Opus surpassed OpenAI's GPT-4 for the first time on Chatbot Arena, a crowdsourced leaderboard used by AI researchers for LLM evaluations

Rebekah Valentine / IGN:
Take-Two acquires Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment from the Embracer Group for $460M in stock; the deal is expected to close by the end of June 2024

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Oregon's governor signs the first US right-to-repair law that bans manufacturers from using “parts pairing” to dictate what replacement components can be used

 
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