memeorandum: High Food Prices Are Getting to People. The Scene at One Grocery Store Shows Why. (Rachel Wolfe/Wall Street Journal)

2:35 PM ET, September 19, 2022

Top Items:

The smoking gun in Martha's Vineyard — Popular Information has obtained documentary evidence that migrants from Venezuela were provided with false information to convince them to board flights chartered by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R). The documents suggest that the flights …

Discussion: Insider, The Triad, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Nation, PoliticusUSA, Daily Kos, BizPac Review, New York Post, Gregg Jarrett, Politico, Breitbart, Super-Probably Relevant …, al.com and ImmigrationProf Blog

Damon Linker / Eyes on the Right:

Ron DeSantis, King of the Jerks — America will be in trouble as long as Republicans believe they benefit from driving our politics into the gutter — My “brand” as a writer is empathy and equanimity, even toward those with whom I have strong political disagreements. Not that I always live up to those standards.

Discussion: CBS News, Townhall, The Atlantic and New York Times

Mark Hemingway / The Federalist:

If Martha's Vineyard Tried To Prove It Cares About Immigrants, It Failed Miserably — When Republican governors send 50 migrants to Martha's Vineyard, it's a humanitarian crisis. When 51 migrants who were encouraged to cross the border by Democrats die in the back of a truck, well, that's a statistic.

Discussion: New Republic, RedState and Twitchy

Miriam Jordan / New York Times:

After Texas Sent Him to Washington, One Migrant Launches a New Life — Lever Alejos, who was delivered to the nation's capital courtesy of Gov. Greg Abbott, has found plenty of work. ‘I feel fortunate the governor put me on a bus to Washington.’ — When Lever Alejos of Venezuela arrived …

Rolling Stone:
Trump Fumes: DeSantis Stole My Plan for Shipping Migrants

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Paul Street Report, CNN, Townhall, Insider, Raw Story and The Daily Wire

USA Today:
Massachusetts seeks human trafficking probe targeting Florida Gov. DeSantis over migrants

Discussion: claytoonz, The Hill and NBC Boston

David Byler / Washington Post:

This little-known election predictor should worry Democrats — As early voting begins around the country, every political data point would appear to marginally favor the Democrats. Polls suggest they lead ever so slightly in key Senate races and in national House polls.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, PennLive and Sacramento Bee

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:

Prominent pro-Trump couple to fundraise for Senate candidates — Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, and his wife, Mercedes, a former director of strategic communications in the Trump White House, are hosting Blake Masters, the Republican nominee for Senate in Arizona …

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Alex Samuels / FiveThirtyEight:
Could A Republican Win Colorado's Senate Seat?

Discussion: ABC News

Scott Pelley / CBS News:

President Joe Biden: The 2022 60 Minutes Interview — Summer was going so well for the president; the White House threw a party last week with a concert by James Taylor. Mr. Biden's streak began in June when he signed a bipartisan gun safety law. Then, in August, over Republican objections …

Politico:
Biden on ‘60 Minutes’: ‘The pandemic is over’

Jimmy Quinn / National Review:
Biden Says, for Fourth Time, U.S. Would Send Troops to Defend Taiwan from Chinese Invasion

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, 19FortyFive, Vanity Fair, NPR, New York Daily News, Townhall, HotAir, CBS News, American Greatness, The Daily Caller, Forbes, Just The News, Not the Bee, The Guardian, Washington Times and AsAmNews

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
On 60 Minutes, President Biden Admits His Student-Loan Order Is Illegal

Discussion: HotAir, Breitbart, Reason, CBS News, The Spectator World, RedState, Erick Erickson's Confessions …, Washington Post, derekhuntershow.site, The Daily Caller, Townhall and Twitchy

Rachel Wolfe / Wall Street Journal:

High Food Prices Are Getting to People. The Scene at One Grocery Store Shows Why. — Shoppers explain the stress they feel while buying groceries amid the highest food inflation in over 40 years — HOUMA, La.—To understand how people are navigating inflation these days, go to a grocery-store parking lot.

Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:

Trump's ‘Save America’ Scam — His PAC never launched a “legal defense fund,” despite deceitful ads that raked in millions. — (COMPOSITE / MIDJOURNEY) — In 2019, Donald Trump's charitable foundation was fined $2 million for misusing funds and ordered to shut down. The foundation's misdeeds included:

Discussion: Raw Story

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

Pentagon opens sweeping review of clandestine psychological operations — Complaints about the U.S. military's influence operations using Facebook and Twitter have raised concern in the White House and federal agencies. — The Pentagon has ordered a sweeping audit of how it conducts …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Just The News, The Verge, Balloon Juice and Raw Story, more at Techmeme »

Yoav Gonen / All:

Most-Complained-About NYPD Cop Retires, Avoiding Penalties — Lt. Eric Dym faced discipline on 52 allegations, but he won't be terminated for misconduct. Only one CCRB probe in the past decade has led to that outcome — for the officer who killed Eric Garner.

Discussion: Raw Story

Wall Street Journal:

We Have a Bill to Help Prevent Another Jan. 6 Attack — It's past time to reform the Electoral Count Act to make clear Congress can't overturn an election result. — WSJ Opinion: Inflation Reduction Act Not Working So Far — Skip Ad — in 15 — YOU MAY ALSO LIKE — Created with sketchtool.

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Examiner, CNN, The Guardian, Talking Points Memo and The Hill

Washington Post:
Why Elise Stefanik may be moving up by moving down

Discussion: Punchbowl News, Steve Bannon's War Room and The Hill

Ed Pilkington / The Guardian:

Proud Boys memo reveals meticulous planning for ‘street-level violence’ — Document of 23 pages shows the lengths to which the far-right group goes to prepare for potentially violent encounters and exposes the militaristic structure and language it has adopted

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Raw Story

Brock Wilson / CBC News:

'It's a slippery slope': How young men fall into online radicalization — Reid Brown says YouTube started showing him problematic content when he was 13 — Reid Brown remembers the first time he got sucked in by the algorithm — he was just 13, watching videos after school when YouTube started pushing him to controversial content.

David Gilbert / VICE:

What Is This Eerie Salute People Are Doing at Trump Rallies Now? — The signal was immediately compared to the “Sieg Heil” salute. — David Gilbert — On Saturday night, as former President Donald Trump was wrapping up a political rally in Youngstown, Ohio, one section of the crowd …

Discussion: The Guardian, Raw Story and Mediaite

Associated Press:

Family of American says he was freed by Taliban in swap — An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years by the Taliban has been released, his family said Monday, as a Taliban drug lord jailed by the United States was also freed and returned to Kabul.

Discussion: Voice of America, Stars & Stripes, USA Today, Washington Examiner, The Guardian, Politico, Chicago Journal, Washington Times, Task & Purpose, Associated Press, Chicago Sun-Times, Axios, Bloomberg, HotAir and CBS News

CNN:
American held captive in Afghanistan for more than 2 years is released in prisoner swap

Discussion: United States Department …, ABC News, Reuters, Washington Examiner, BBC, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Al Jazeera, UPI and The Hill

Luc Cohen / Reuters:

Trump ally's trial on foreign agent charges kicks off with jury selection — A federal judge on Monday began questioning potential jurors in Brooklyn for the trial of Tom Barrack, the private equity executive and onetime fundraiser for former President Donald Trump charged with acting …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Kara Scannell / CNN:
Trump ally goes on trial for ‘espionage lite’ and obstruction

Discussion: New York Times, Financial Times, Bloomberg and Raw Story

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Youngkin to hold Arizona events supporting Lake — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is expected to stump for Arizona governor candidate Kari Lake next month, escalating his midterm campaign efforts ahead of a prospective 2024 presidential bid. — Youngkin is embarking on the Arizona trip …

Discussion: The Hill, Mock Paper Scissors and Blue Virginia

Kelly Hooper / Politico:

Judge refuses Lindell motion to dismiss suit brought by voting machine company — A Minnesota District Court judge on Monday denied MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's motion to throw out a lawsuit brought by a voting technology company that claims he defamed it by pushing the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen.

Discussion: Bloomberg and Raw Story

Wall Street Journal:

The Real Midterm Election Stakes — Will voters put a check on the unrequited ambitions of the Democratic left? — WSJ Opinion: Inflation Reduction Act Not Working So Far — Skip Ad — in 15 — YOU MAY ALSO LIKE — Created with sketchtool.

Discussion: The Hill, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, This Week in Statehouse Action and Bloomberg

Andrew C. McCarthy / New York Post:

John Durham's final act: exposing the FBI — Russiagate special counsel John Durham is in the homestretch. His grand jury wrapped up work last week, apparently with no new indictments on the horizon. Attorney General Merrick Garland is said to anticipate receiving his final report by the end of the year.

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: What two new polls tell us about the midterms — With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross — DRIVING THE DAY — HAPPENING NOW — The funeral of QUEEN ELIZABETH II is underway. Watch live via BBC ... WaPo: World watches Britain lay its longest-reigning monarch to rest …

Discussion: Out of the Ordinary, The Hill and New York Times