memeorandum: Texas braces for surge of 60,000 Haitian migrants (Anna Giaritelli/Washington Examiner)

2:30 PM ET, October 5, 2021

Top Items:

Felix Salmon / Axios:

Trillion-dollar platinum coin could be minted at the last minute — A trillion-dollar platinum coin could be minted “within hours of the Treasury Secretary's decision to do so,” Philip Diehl, former director of the United States Mint, tells Axios. — Why it matters: Congressional solutions …

Discussion: UPI, Daily Kos, Full Stack Economics, Reason and CNBC

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

As the U.S. Hurtles Toward a Debt Crisis, What Does McConnell Want? — Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, has a long record of tying debt ceiling increases to policy demands. But with a catastrophic default two weeks away, he has yet to make any.

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Post, Raw Story, Morning Shots, Ordinary Times and Financial Times

R. Marshall Brandt / The Bulwark:

What Was the Debt-Ceiling Showdown Really All About? — The answer is: Democracy. — The Western liberal tradition to which we belong has as it foundation two things: proportional representation of the will of the people and capitalism. — Both are equally as important. One cannot survive without the other.

Discussion: Twitchy

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:

Democrats Must Raise the Debt Limit to a Quadrillion Dollars — Congressional Democrats are about 48 hours away from staking the stability of the global financial system on Mitch McConnell's capacity for shame. — For weeks now, the Democratic and Republican caucuses have been locked in a staring contest over the debt ceiling.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Press Herald and The Daily Caller

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Biden getting frustrated with Manchin and Sinema

Discussion: HotAir, Associated Press, The Federalist, New York Magazine, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Florida Politics and Patrick J. Buchanan

CNN:
Manchin breaks with party leaders over strategy on debt ceiling and Biden's economic package

Discussion: Breitbart, Common Dreams, The American Independent, Axios, Real Clear Politics, Washington Examiner, CNN, Popular Information, Wall Street Journal, Politico, తెల …, Politico, The Hill and HotAir

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:
Biden plots debt ceiling blitz to focus the blame on McConnell

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, IJR, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Katherine Tully-McManus / Politico:
Downsizing Dems' social spending bill

Discussion: The Hill, New York Post and Washington Examiner

Ronald Brownstein / CNN:
Why the Senate doesn't work anymore

Discussion: Washington Post and Crooks and Liars

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:

‘I Was Part of Something Unusually Evil’ In Kansas with Stephanie Grisham, who does not believe she will be redeemed. — Stephanie Grisham saw the pickup outside and yelped, “That's Larry!” She grabbed a small package and raced out her front door, down the steps of the porch …

Discussion: NPR

Stephanie Grisham / Washington Post:

I told the Trumps my relationship with a White House staffer had turned abusive. They didn't seem to care. — Stephanie Grisham served as chief of staff to the first lady, press secretary and communications director in the Trump White House. Her book “I'll Take Your Questions Now …

Discussion: The Hill, Insider, Raw Story and HuffPost

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

Mike Pence Says Media Focus on January 6 Is a Media Distraction Meant to ‘Demean’ Trump Supporters — Former Vice President Mike Pence said the focus on January 6th is a distraction intended to “demean” millions of Trump supporters. — Pence spoke with Sean Hannity Monday night …

Discussion: Insider, CNN, Raw Story, HuffPost, The Hill, New York Post and IJR

Kate Bennett / CNN:
Trump's ex-press secretary says former administration's handling of Covid-19 was ‘tragic’

Discussion: HuffPost, The Daily Beast, The Hill and Raw Story

Colby Hall / Mediaite:
‘I Do’: Stephanie Grisham Straight-Up Confesses Her Enabling Trump Cost Lives During Covid

Discussion: IJR

Donna Cassata / Washington Post:
Pence says media focus on Jan. 6 insurrection is to ‘demean’ Trump supporters

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Times, The Daily Caller, The Hill, The Guardian, BizPac Review and Crooks and Liars

New York Daily News:

FBI raids NYPD sergeants union Manhattan headquarters — Federal investigators descended Tuesday on the Lower Manhattan headquarters of the NYPD's Sergeants Benevolent Association, the union headed by fiery and controversial president Ed Mullins, the Daily News has learned.

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, abc7NY, Raw Story, Fox News, The New Civil Rights Movement and CBS New York

New York Times:

F.B.I. Raids Headquarters of the N.Y.P.D. Sergeants' Union — Investigators executed a search warrant in connection with an ongoing inquiry, people familiar with the matter said. — Federal investigators on Tuesday morning raided the Manhattan office of one of New York City's main police unions …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Fox News and Insider

New York Post: FBI raids NYPD's Sergeants Benevolent Association headquarters

Dorian Abbot / Common Sense with Bari Weiss:

MIT Abandons Its Mission. And Me. — Let's make sure my cancellation is the last. That begins by standing up and saying no to the mob. — I am a professor who just had a prestigious public science lecture at MIT cancelled because of an outrage mob on Twitter. My crime?

Discussion: HotAir, Fox News, New York Post, The College Fix, JONATHAN TURLEY, Reason, Twitchy and Leiter Reports

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Manchin opens door to deal in range of $1.9T to $2.2T — Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Tuesday signaled he is open to a budget reconciliation bill in the ballpark of $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion, above the limit he set just last week of $1.5 trillion.

Discussion: Political Wire

John Nichols / The Nation:
Pramila Jayapal's Perfect Pitch

Discussion: CBS News, Daily Kos, The Editorial Board and Washington Post

Washington Post:
Democrats begin to narrow their differences on Biden's agenda bill

Discussion: USA Today, Media Matters for America, CBS News and Wall Street Journal

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

What's Wrong With Kyrsten Sinema? — In 2003, Joe Lieberman, at the time the worst Democratic senator, traveled to Arizona to campaign for his party's presidential nomination and was regularly greeted by antiwar demonstrators. “He's a shame to Democrats,” said the organizer of a protest outside …

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
The Piranhas Come for Kyrsten Sinema

Discussion: Twitchy, IJR, The Hill and Washington Examiner

Washington Examiner:
The Left's hate machine is going to get more people hurt

Discussion: Twitchy, Newsweek and New York Magazine

Dan Alexander / Forbes:

Donald Trump Falls Off The Forbes 400 For First Time In 25 Years — Donald Trump is worth an estimated $2.5 billion, leaving him $400 million short of the cutoff to make this year's Forbes 400 list of America's richest people. The real estate mogul is just as wealthy as he was a year ago …

Discussion: HuffPost, The Daily Beast, Insider, CNN, NPR, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite, Raw Story and IJR

Peter Stone / The Guardian:

Criminal inquiry into Trump's Georgia election interference gathers steam — The disgraced former president faces a range of possible charges - including conspiracy and election fraud — Donald Trump is facing increasing legal scrutiny in the crucial battleground state of Georgia …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Raw Story and Brookings

Jose Pagliery / The Daily Beast:
GA Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger Details Trump's ‘Threats’

Discussion: Raw Story

Ramesh Ponnuru / National Review:

What WaPo Writers Keep Getting Wrong about 2020 — No, Trump didn't come close to overturning the election, and it's alright to say so. — elling people to take a deep breath and calm down, as the headline-writer for my latest column advised, does not always achieve its intended effect.

Discussion: Washington Post

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Facebook is harming our society. Here's a radical solution for reining it in. — Frances Haugen, who revealed herself Sunday as the Facebook whistleblower, could not have made things any clearer. — “Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, HuffPost, Pirate Wires and CNN, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Captured, Killed or Compromised: C.I.A. Admits to Losing Dozens of Informants — Counterintelligence officials said in a top secret cable to all stations and bases around the world that too many of the people it recruits from other countries to spy for the U.S. are being lost.

Irina Ivanova / CBS News:

Biggest tax haven in U.S.? South Dakota, says Pandora Papers investigation — Mention tax havens, and most people imagine small nations with balmy weather: The Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Malta. — But South Dakota and a handful of other U.S. states are increasingly competing as landing pads …

Discussion: The Atlantic, ICIJ and The Guardian

Washington Post:

Pfizer vaccine 90% effective against hospitalization, death six months later, study says … The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine continues to be 90 percent effective in protecting against hospitalization and death from covid-19 up to six months after the second dose …

Discussion: The Hill, Los Angeles Times, Content Lab U.S., UPI, Associated Press and NBC News

Virginia Aabram / Washington Examiner:
Johnson & Johnson requests emergency authorization for COVID-19 vaccine booster

Discussion: The Hill, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, HotAir, Deseret News, Associated Press and WTOP

Ovetta Wiggins / Washington Post:

Md. Gov. Hogan's former chief of staff is indicted on federal wire fraud charges — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's former chief of staff, Roy McGrath, was indicted in federal court on Tuesday, charged with defrauding Maryland Environmental Service, a quasi-governmental agency he previously led.

Discussion: Baltimore Sun and Maryland Matters

Anna Gustafson / Michigan Advance:

Once lauded as heroes, health care workers are now spit on and ‘threatened every day at work’ — When Tom Kelsch heads to his job as a registered nurse in Mercy Health Muskegon's emergency department, he knows, almost without a doubt, that he'll be threatened by a patient or their family that day.

Robert Kolker / New York Times:

Who Is the Bad Art Friend? — Art often draws inspiration from life — but what happens when it's your life? Inside the curious case of Dawn Dorland v. Sonya Larson. — To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

The Once and Future Threat of Trump — Last fall, before the November election, Barton Gellman wrote an essay for The Atlantic sketching out a series of worst-case scenarios for the voting and its aftermath. It was essentially a blueprint for how Donald Trump could either force the country …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

NIH News Release:

Francis Collins to step down as director of the National Institutes of Health — Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., today announced his decision to end his tenure as the director of the National Institutes of Health by the end of the year. Dr. Collins is the longest serving presidentially …

Discussion: CNN, Politico, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, NPR, Insider, RedState, Breitbart, HotAir, CBS News, LifeNews.com, Bloomberg, The Daily Caller, The Hill, RELEVANT and Townhall

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Ron Johnson takes 2 covid conspiracy theories from fever swamps to Fox News prime time — When Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) appeared on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show on Monday night, the conversation turned to what could have been done differently to prevent the 700,000 coronavirus deaths we've seen so far.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and STAT

Makena Kelly / The Verge:

Taylor Swift fans are getting caught up in the Virginia gubernatorial race — Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin was involved in the controversial sale of Swift's master recordings — Weeks before Virginia's gubernatorial election, the campaign for Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe …