memeorandum: ‘The Arpaio of the East’ Faces His First Opponent in 12 Years. Is Anyone Watching? (Alex Burness/Bolts)

3:45 PM ET, October 31, 2022

Top Items:

Alex Heath / The Verge:

Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification … Now that he owns Twitter, Elon Musk has given employees their first ultimatum: Meet his deadline to introduce paid verification on Twitter or pack up and leave. — The directive is to change Twitter Blue …

Siva Vaidhyanathan / The Guardian:

Like Trump, Elon Musk reveals a vapid mind super-charged by wealth and ego — Musk, despite his wealth, good fortune and global influence, is not a serious person - but he is toying with dangerous ideas — t took less than 48 hours for Elon Musk to reveal just how dangerous his new toy can be to this world.

Axios:

Scoop: Musk team working to reboot Vine this year — Elon Musk has instructed Twitter engineers to work on a Vine reboot that could be ready by year end, multiple sources tell Axios. … - Twitter reportedly tried to sell Vine shortly after. … - One source says “it needs a lot of work.”

Discussion: The Western Journal, New York Post, TechCrunch, Hollywood Unlocked, Mashable and Bloomberg, more at Mediagazer »

Michael Tomasky / New Republic:

Paul Pelosi Almost Died, and Most Republicans Don't Have a Big Problem With That — Nothing in particular was happening on July 31, 2021, that should have given Kevin McCarthy's words any special weight. It was a Saturday. The House of Representatives was on summer break.

Discussion: Washington Post, TheBlaze, The Daily Dot, Newsweek, Boing Boing, HuffPost, The Wrap and Fox News

New York Times:

Senate Control Hinges on Neck-and-Neck Races, Times/Siena Poll Finds — The contests are close in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Many voters want Republicans to flip the Senate, but prefer the Democrat in their state. — Control of the Senate rests on a knife's edge …

Discussion: CNBC, National Review, Raw Story, DNyuz, PoliticusUSA, Politico, New York Post, Washington Times, Outside the Beltway, Bloomberg and The Forward

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Final AJC midterm poll: Kemp leads Abrams, deadlocked Senate race — Gov. Brian Kemp maintains a solid lead over Democrat Stacey Abrams in the latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll, while the race between U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker remains a neck-and-neck contest that could be headed toward a runoff.

Discussion: The Hill, Sabato's Crystal Ball, Mediaite, Breitbart, New York Magazine, FiveThirtyEight, Washington Examiner and Political Wire

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Times/Siena Polls Show Democrats Slightly Ahead in Key Senate Races — Respondents said they preferred Republicans to control the Senate, but individual matchups showed a different story. — Eight days before the election, we have our final* midterm surveys: polls of the four states likeliest to determine control of the Senate.

Discussion: DNyuz, Just The News and Raw Story

U.S. Department of Justice:

Man Charged with Assault and Attempted Kidnapping Following Breaking and Entering of Pelosi Residence — A California man was charged today with assault and attempted kidnapping in violation of federal law in connection with the break-in at the residence of Nancy and Paul Pelosi in San Francisco on Friday.

Discussion: CNBC, Washington Examiner, The Hill, NewsNation, Forbes, CBS News, The Guardian and FOX8 WGHP

Adam Wren / Politico:

Prominent conservatives share online disinformation about Paul Pelosi assault — Even as Republican leaders condemn the brutal assault on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, other GOP figures are broadcasting a much different message on social media — at turns downplaying, mocking and trading in disinformation about the attack.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, HuffPost, The Hill, The Daily Beast, RedState, The Daily Caller, Gizmodo, DNyuz, Washington Examiner, Twitchy, Rolling Stone and Mediaite

Washington Post:
Feds charge alleged Pelosi attacker with attempted kidnapping

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Bloomberg, CNN, Insider, New York Times, NewsNation and Political Wire

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Trump: Attack on Paul Pelosi a ‘terrible thing’

Discussion: Mediaite, CNN, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, CD Media, New York Post, HuffPost, Insider, FOX8 WGHP, Lucianne and BizPac Review

The Intercept:

Leaked Documents Outline DHS's Plans to Police Disinformation — The Department of Homeland Security is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous, an investigation by The Intercept has found. Years of internal DHS memos, emails, and documents …

Discussion: The Post Millennial, HotAir, Washington Examiner, Steve Bannon's War Room, Ace of Spades HQ, The Daily Caller and Twitchy, more at Techmeme »

NBC News:

Biden lost temper with Zelenskyy in June phone call when Ukrainian leader asked for more aid — It's become routine since Russia invaded Ukraine: President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak by phone whenever the U.S. announces a new package of military assistance for Kyiv.

Discussion: Politico, National Review, Insider, The Western Journal, Washington Examiner, Breitbart, New York Post, DNyuz, Mediaite and IJR

Mike Allen / Axios:

First look: Mike Pence's new book reveals key moment before Jan. 6 — In former Vice President Mike Pence's “So Help Me God” — out Nov. 15 — he describes a scene in November 2020, just after the election, when he and former President Trump met in the Oval Office to review legal challenges with the campaign's lawyers.

Discussion: USA Today, HuffPost, Mediaite, The Guardian, Raw Story, Washington Examiner and The Hill

Tierney Sneed / CNN:

Trump asks Supreme Court to stop IRS from turning over his tax returns to the House — Former President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to put on hold the release of his tax returns by the Internal Revenue Service to a Democratic-led House committee.

Discussion: Insider, CNBC, Washington Post, NBC News, The Hill, Associated Press, ABC News, Washington Examiner, Fox News, New York Times, New York Post, Metro.co.uk, PoliticusUSA, Reuters, Washington Times, Axios, Just The News and DNyuz

Rolling Stone:

Dr. Oz's Campaign Is Stocked With Jan. 6ers — The Republican has kept his distance from the “stolen election” lie while running for Senate, but records obtained by Rolling Stone reveal some of his staffers have embraced it wholeheartedly — and even attended the Jan. 6 rally to overturn the election

Discussion: Raw Story and The Hill

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: The next big precedent SCOTUS is set to overturn

Discussion: American Errata

Washington Post:
Election denier Mark Finchem's sleeper campaign closes in on MAGA prize

Discussion: NBC News, Raw Story, Election Law Blog and CBS News

Nora Mishanec / San Francisco Chronicle:

Ex-girlfriend of suspect in Paul Pelosi attack says he struggled with mental illness, drugs, believed he was ‘Jesus for a year’ — The imprisoned longtime partner of David DePape, the suspect in the attack on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul, said Sunday that mental illness …

Discussion: HotAir, National Review, The Daily Caller, ABC7, The Federalist, Twitchy, The Post Millennial, Commentary Magazine and CBS News

Andrew Griffin / The Independent:

Elon Musk dissolves Twitter's board and makes himself ‘sole director’ — Board had previously been made up of nine directors, including ousted chief executive Parag Agrawal — Twitter To Start Charging $20 a Month for Verification … Elon Musk has dissolved Twitter's board and made himself the “sole director” of the company.

Discussion: The Hill, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, TechCrunch, The Wrap, National Review, The Post Millennial and NDTV, more at Techmeme »

Alex Burness / Bolts:

‘The Arpaio of the East’ Faces His First Opponent in 12 Years. Is Anyone Watching? — The official line was that Mark Trafton's suicide came out of nowhere. — A guard found Trafton hanging in his cell just before 5 a.m. on May 3, 2019, inside the Ash Street Jail in New Bedford …

Max Tani / Semafor:

ProPublica scrambles to check translation in COVID origin story — In the days after ProPublica published a searing expose based on a close reading of Communist Party memoranda in Mandarin, it called in at least two translators, according to three people familiar with the exchanges.

Discussion: DNyuz

Associated Press:

AP source: Biden to float windfall tax on energy producers — President Joe Biden on Monday will raise the possibility of imposing a ‘windfall tax’ on energy companies, as his administration aims to combat high gas prices just days before the midterm elections.

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, USA Today, Bloomberg, New York Post, Washington Post, The Daily Caller and Fox Business

David Weigel / Semafor:

Happy Halloween, there's a candy-colored fentanyl scare on the campaign trail — MESA, Ariz. - It was the talk of Republican candidates over Halloween weekend: A rumor that their trick-or-treating kids might get candy-colored fentanyl from strangers. — “The cartels, they're dressing …

Discussion: Capitol Fax.com, Florida Politics, NPR, Mediaite and Tampa Bay Times

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

In final debate, Kemp won't say whether he'd sign new abortion limits — Gov. Brian Kemp wouldn't say at Sunday's Channel 2 Action News debate whether he would sign new abortion limits into law if he's elected to a second term, weeks after he said at a previous showdown that he “would not” …

Discussion: HotAir, HuffPost, Fox News, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, IJR, InsiderAdvantageGeorgia, Albuquerque Journal and DNyuz

Doug Bock Clark / ProPublica:

A County Elections Director Stood Up to Locals Who Believe the Voting System Is Rigged. They Pushed Back Harder. — Even in a county where Trump won more than 70% of the 2020 vote, local election deniers have mounted a campaign to access voting machines and slash the elections director's pay.

Kurt Schlichter / Frontpage Mag:

Everyone is Laughing at the Ridiculous Pelosi Big Lie — Meet the underwear-clad MAGA assassin from a hippie commune in Berkeley. — How dare you reject the Official Approved Narrative parroted by the regime media about the weird Schiff that went down at Casa de Pelosi the other night.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Liberty Loft and IJR

Matthew Kassel / Jewish Insider:

Laxalt campaign paid thousands to political operative linked to Twitter account that denigrated Jews, women — A Twitter account connected to former Laxalt staffer Michael Pecjak has compared abortion to the Holocaust and claimed that “Jews are not a religious sect and are a cult,” among other comments

Discussion: Axios

David Dayen / American Prospect:

The Crime Wave That Republicans Defend — Corporate theft and fraud is not only tolerated by the GOP, it's shielded. Yet Democrats rarely use this to attack Republican messaging on crime. — CEOs of some of the nation's largest banks testify before the Senate Banking Committee during …

Discussion: Insider

Lawrence Mower / Tampa Bay Times:

After voter fraud arrests, Florida issues new forms that could bolster future cases — “This is just going to make future prosecutions easier for the state,” an attorney said. “I think it's horrifying.” — TALLAHASSEE — A week after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the arrests of 20 people …

Discussion: Raw Story

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

GOP bracing for Trump indictment soon after Election Day — Republican aides and strategists privately expect Attorney General Merrick Garland to pursue an indictment of former President Trump within 60 to 90 days after Election Day, predicting the window for prosecuting Trump will close once …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Torch Report and Raw Story

Jack Nicas / Reuters:

Lula's victory likely means big changes for Brazil, though his specific plans are vague. — Maria Magdalena Arréllaga for The New York Times — Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York Times — Victor Venco Moriyama for the New York Times — Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York Times