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12:25 PM ET, August 21, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
The City:
Eric Adams Advisor Winnie Greco Handed a CITY Reporter Cash Stuffed in a Bag of Potato Chips  —  A former top City Hall advisor and current campaign confidante to Mayor Eric Adams attempted to give money to a reporter from THE CITY following a campaign event in Harlem Wednesday.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Adams Adviser Suspended From Campaign After Giving Cash to Reporter  —  A campaign volunteer for Mayor Eric Adams of New York was suspended after giving a journalist cash in a potato chip bag.  —  A close adviser to Mayor Eric Adams was suspended from his re-election campaign on Wednesday …
Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
Front-Row Seats at the Great Lib Purge
Discussion: The Daily Wire
The Texas Tribune:
Texas House approves GOP congressional map after two-week delay from Democrats' walkout  —  Republican lawmakers are pursuing the unusual mid-decade redistricting plan amid pressure from President Donald Trump to protect the GOP's slim majority in the U.S. House.
RELATED:
Associated Press:
The Texas House OK'd GOP-favored redistricting. California intends to counter with map of its own
Politico:
Playbook: One big, beautiful rebranding
Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story
Drew Shaw / ProPublica:   A Texas County Cuts Over 100 Polling Sites as Trump Attacks Mail-In Voting Nationally
Zach Schonfeld / The Hill:
California Supreme Court rejects GOP effort to halt Newsom's redistricting push
Wall Street Journal:
Weaponizing the Housing Regulator  —  Bill Pulte, the FHFA chief, goes after Trump's political opponents.  —  Click for Sound  —  Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director William Pulte on Wednesday accused Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, a Biden appointee, of mortgage fraud.
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
Fed Found Over 22,000 Mortgages Like Those Pulte Is Flagging  —  President Donald Trump and his allies are demanding Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook resign over alleged owner-occupancy fraud — a practice the central bank itself has found to be “broad-based” across the US.
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Unlikely enforcers shape Trump's “weaponization” crusade
Discussion: Bloomberg
ProPublica:
How Deeply Trump Has Cut Federal Health Agencies  —  When the Trump administration announced massive cuts to federal health agencies earlier this year, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he was getting rid of excess administrators who were larding the government with bureaucratic bloat.
Associated Press:
Appeals court throws out massive civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump  —  An appeals court has thrown out the massive civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump, ruling Thursday in New York state's lawsuit accusing him of exaggerating his wealth.
RELATED:
Corinne Ramey / Wall Street Journal:
N.Y. Appeals Court Throws Out $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump  —  The sharply divided panel's decision paves the way for further proceedings before the state's highest court  —  An appeals court on Thursday threw out a more than $500 million judgment against President Trump …
Discussion: Townhall and Washington Times
Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
James Dobson, Influential Leader of the Religious Right, Dies at 89  —  The founder of the evangelical group Focus on the Family, he spent decades denouncing what he saw as the unraveling of the social order.  —  James Dobson, the evangelical Christian broadcaster who waged war on homosexuality …
RELATED:
New Republic:
Stephen Miller Erupts in Manic Fascist Rant—and Reveals a Big Weakness  —  Stephen Miller exploded in a long, unhinged rant about demonstrators who are protesting President Trump's military occupation of Washington, D.C. It was classic authoritarian agitprop, attacking demonstrators as …
RELATED:
New Republic:
Transcript: Stephen Miller's Crazed Fascist Rant to Media Is Revealing
President Donald J. Trump / The White House:
Joint Statement on a United States-European Union Framework on an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade  —  The United States and the European Union are pleased to announce that they have agreed on a Framework on an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade ("Framework Agreement").
RELATED:
Steve Kopack / NBC News:
U.S. and E.U. trade deal caps tariffs on exports at 15%
Chris Cameron / New York Times:
Trump Officials Demanded Confidential Data About Transgender Children Seeking Care  —  A June subpoena to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia sought Social Security numbers and addresses of patients who received gender-related care, as well as “every writing or record” made by doctors on such treatments.
Discussion: Washington Blade
RELATED:
Kateryna Denisova / The Kyiv Independent:
Russian attack hits US electronics plant in western Ukraine  —  A massive Russian attack struck the U.S.-owned Flex factory in the western Ukrainian city of Mukachevo, Zakarpattia Oblast, overnight on Aug. 21.  —  “This was an ordinary civilian facility with American investment.
RELATED:
Jake Tapper / CNN:
Witkoff delivered Russian medal from Putin to family of American who was killed fighting for Russia in 2024  —  US special envoy Steve Witkoff delivered a Russian medal to the grieving family of an American who was killed fighting for Russia in 2024, a senior administration official told CNN.
Matt Gertz / Media Matters for America:
Eight damning new revelations about Fox's 2020 election lies from the Smartmatic filings  —  Newly available filings in the election technology company Smartmatic's $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News provide fresh insights into the network's egregious and irresponsible promotion …
Daniel Barnes / Politico:
The potential next target of Trump's bid to control DC: Local courts … For more than 50 years, judges who hear all the cases in Washington's local courts — both criminal and civil — have been nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, similar to federal judicial appointments.
RELATED:
The Guardian:
Revealed: Israeli military's own data indicates civilian death rate of 83% in Gaza war  —  Figures from classified IDF database listed 8,900 named fighters as dead or probably dead in May, as overall death toll reached 53,000  —  Emma Graham-Harrison and Yuval Abraham in Jerusalem
Discussion: Atlantic Council
Rachel Roth Aldhizer / New York Times:
I'm a Proud Conservative.  My Disabled Son Needs Medicaid to Live.  —  I'm a registered Republican who just watched her party spend much of the summer pushing through new cuts to Medicaid.  I'm also here to tell you why I'm an unlikely supporter of the program.  My son's life depends on government assistance.
Jonathan Edwards / Washington Post:
White House tours canceled indefinitely because of Trump's ballroom  —  Officials have canceled all tours that were scheduled for next month, when the president wants construction to start.  —  Just now  —  Public tours of the White House have been suspended indefinitely because of planned construction …
Ryan J. Reilly / NBC News:
Military officers shifted to prosecute local D.C. crimes amid Trump takeover  —  Members of the Judge Advocate General Corps are set to join the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.  —  WASHINGTON — As members of the National Guard deploy to the nation's capital as part …
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Wired and Business Insider remove ‘AI-written’ freelance articles  —  Wired and Business Insider have removed news features written by a freelance journalist after concerns they are likely AI-generated works of fiction.  —  Freedom of expression non-profit Index on Censorship is also in the process …
Alex Thompson / Axios:
Inside the Dems' fight to be “the new Iowa” and hold the first 2028 primary … - Nevada, New Hampshire, and Michigan are currently the frontrunners to be “the new Iowa,” and lead off the 2028 Democratic primary season, according to several people familiar with the Rules and Bylaws committee that will determine the order.
Discussion: Washington Examiner
David French / New York Times:
One Sentence in the Constitution Is Causing America Huge Problems  —  On Nov. 8, 1787, a pamphleteer who wrote under the pseudonym Cato published one of the most prescient warnings in American history.  —  Cato looked at the proposed Constitution and declared that it might well turn into a vehicle for tyranny.
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Elon Musk must face lawsuit claiming he ran illegal $1 million election lottery  —  Elon Musk was ordered on Wednesday by a federal judge to face a lawsuit by voters accusing the world's richest person of defrauding them into signing a petition to support the U.S. Constitution for a chance to win his $1 million-a-day giveaway.
Discussion: Bloomberg and The Independent
 
 
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 More Items: 
The Siren:
EXCLUSIVE: Gavin Newsom on Trump, Gerrymandering, Fighting Back, & more
Discussion: The Hill and Mediaite
Steve Vladeck / One First:
Bonus 173: The Election of 1864  —  At the lowest moment of his presidency (if not the Civil War) …
New York Times:
How Tiffany Trump's Husband Benefited From Proximity to Power
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
August 20, 2025  —  President Donald J. Trump created a firestorm yesterday …
Mark Hertling / The Bulwark:
Putin Always Breaks His Word. Why Would This Time Be Different?
Reuters:
Putin prepared to meet Zelenskiy but legitimacy an issue, Lavrov says
Discussion: The US Sun and Mediaite
 Earlier Items: 
Michael Scherer / The Atlantic:
‘Make McCarthy Great Again’
Discussion: The Hill
Levin Stamm / Bloomberg:
Countries Are Strategizing How to Please Trump
Matthew Yglesias / Slow Boring:
A warning sign for America about Trump's personalist rule
Zolan Kanno-Youngs / New York Times:
In Trump's Ideal Picture of America, Diversity Is Taboo
Eddie Kim / Gazetteer SF:
I reported from an ICE action on Sansome and all I got was a face full of pepper spray
 

 
From Techmeme:

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple says general counsel Kate Adams and policy chief Lisa Jackson will retire, and Jennifer Newstead, Meta's former chief legal officer, will replace Adams

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Sources: Meta is considering deep budget cuts to its metaverse efforts in 2026, potentially as high as 30% and most likely including layoffs as early as January

Will Oremus / Washington Post:
Two studies suggest AI chatbots can shift political views more effectively than TV campaign ads, especially by presenting many claims, regardless of accuracy

 
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