memeorandum: Special election will fill Hortman seat but candidates agree they can't fill her void (Clay Masters/MPR News)

4:00 PM ET, September 15, 2025

Top Items:

The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced. — Last week, the Washington Post fired me. — The reason? Speaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America's apathy toward guns. — Eleven years ago, I joined the Washington Post's Opinions department …

Fox News:

Washington Post columnist fired over social media posts after Charlie Kirk's assassination — A left-wing columnist revealed in a Substack on Monday that she was fired by the Washington Post over social media posts amid the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the Colorado school shooting.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Townhall and The College Fix

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Washington Post Columnist Says She Was Fired for Posts After Charlie Kirk Shooting

Discussion: New Republic, The Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Signal, WAGA-TV, The Hill, Ace of Spades HQ, Breitbart, The Wrap and RedState

Josh Fiallo / The Daily Beast:
Bezos' MAGA Washington Post Fires Columnist Over ‘Unacceptable’ Charlie Kirk Posts

Discussion: Daily Mail, Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Samuel Benson / Politico:

‘The whole thing is screwed up’: Farmers in deep-red Pennsylvania struggle to find workers … “The whole thing is screwed up,” said John Painter, a three-time Trump voter who runs an organic dairy farm in Westfield. “We need people to do the jobs Americans are too spoiled to do.”

Discussion: MSNBC and Raw Story

New York Times:

China's Snub of U.S. Soybeans Is a Crisis for American Farmers China's Snub of U.S. Soybeans Is a Crisis for American Farmers — North Dakota farmers are scrambling to find extra storage space and bracing for land values to fall as soybeans that should be bound for China begin to pile up.

New York Times:

White House Plans Broad Crackdown on Liberal Groups — Some of the highest-ranking officials in the federal government used Charlie Kirk's podcast, guest-hosted by Vice President JD Vance, to lay out their plans. — Trump administration officials on Monday responded to the activist Charlie …

Discussion: The Hill

William Kristol / The Bulwark:

It's Stephen Miller's Show Now — Kash Patel's lonely one-man crusade to convince everybody he actually did a great job hunting down Charlie Kirk's killer continues. “I made the decision to surge so many resources,” he told Fox & Friends this morning. “I had to expedite the process …

Discussion: Boston.com

April Rubin / Axios:
Stephen Miller blames “terrorist networks” for Kirk's death, stoking MAGA outrage

Discussion: New York Post, Washington Times, The Sun, NewsMax.com and The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:

Anatomy of Two Giant Deals: The U.A.E. Got Chips. The Trump Team Got Crypto Riches. … This summer, Steve Witkoff, President Trump's Middle East envoy, paid a visit to the coast of Sardinia, a stretch of the Mediterranean Sea crowded with super yachts. — On one of those extravagant vessels …

Discussion: Raw Story, more at Techmeme »

Abha Bhattarai / Washington Post:

Long-term unemployment at post-pandemic high, straining workers and economy — More Americans are experiencing joblessness for six months or more, a sign of labor market's weakness ahead of the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated meeting this week. — More Americans are facing stretches …

Discussion: The Midwesterner

Noam Scheiber / New York Times:
The Newest Face of Long-Term Unemployment? The College Educated.

Discussion: NewsMax.com

Joseph Cox / 404 Media:

Airlines Sell 5 Billion Plane Ticket Records to the Government For Warrantless Searching — This article was primarily reported using public records requests. We are making it available to all readers as a public service. FOIA reporting can be expensive, please consider subscribing to 404 Media to support this work.

New York Times:

Fired Prosecutor Challenges Trump's Claims to Sweeping Power in Lawsuit — The Justice Department gave no reason for its dismissal of Maurene Comey, a longtime federal prosecutor in Manhattan and the daughter of the former F.B.I. director, James Comey. — Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor …

Discussion: Democracy Docket, MSNBC, New York Post, The Hill, Reuters, Scripps News, NBC News, CBS News, Bloomberg, The Guardian, UPI, Associated Press, Mediaite, NewsMax.com, Raw Story, Politico and The Gateway Pundit

Ed Mazza / HuffPost:

Trump Gets A Blunt Reminder After Rant About ‘Sick’ And ‘Deranged’ People — Critics offered the president some glaring examples of his own rhetoric. — President Donald Trump on Sunday got a reminder of his own rhetoric and that of his allies after he tried to blame “the left” for the current vitriol levels in the nation.

Discussion: MSNBC, The Hill, The Daily Beast and HuffPost

Jennifer Rubin / The Contrarian:
We Cannot Excuse Political Violence

Discussion: CNN

Aaron Sibarium / The Washington Free Beacon:

EXCLUSIVE: FBI Investigating Social Media Accounts That Appeared To Indicate Foreknowledge of Kirk Assassination — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating social media posts by at least seven different accounts that appeared to indicate foreknowledge of the assassination of Charlie Kirk …

Discussion: PJ Media, HotAir, Ace of Spades HQ, New York Post, Human Events, The Post Millennial, Mediaite, Washington Examiner, NewsMax.com, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, New York Sun and RedState

Rachel Treisman / NPR:

Who is Fed nominee Stephen Miran, and why is he so controversial? — The Senate is set to vote Monday night to fill a vacancy on the Federal Reserve Board, the seven-member body that sets the nation's monetary policy and has found itself increasingly under attack by President Trump.

Discussion: New York Times

Nikki McCann Ramirez / Rolling Stone:

British TV Station to Air Marathon of Trump's Lies as He Visits UK — The president's 2019 state visit to London was met with widespread protests. He's headed back this week … The trip has already drawn criticism given Trump's increasingly authoritarian governance of the United States …

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, CNBC, Politico and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Michael Savage / The Guardian:
Channel 4 to mark Trump's UK visit with ‘longest uninterrupted reel of untruths’

Discussion: Deadline and HuffPost

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

GOP momentum grows to force Trump DOJ to release Epstein files — Some Republicans now say privately that it's inevitable that Congress will pass legislation directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all files the Department of Justice (DOJ) has related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Discussion: NewsMax.com, The Independent and Blue Virginia

Calen Razor / Politico:
Trump to GOP: Vote yes on the ‘clean’ CR

Discussion: The Hill and The Daily Caller

Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:

“Conservatism” Is Now Just a Domination Fetish — 1. Fetlife — UPDATE: My convo with Heather Cox Richardson as been postponed because Substack kind of blew up this morning. Hoping to reschedule soon as possible. Sorry. I promise that I'm more disappointed than you are. —JVL

Kathy Hochul / New York Times:

Why I Am Endorsing Zohran Mamdani — In the four years since I took office, one of my foundational beliefs has been the importance of the office of New York governor working hand in hand with the mayor of New York City for the betterment of the 8.3 million residents we both represent.

Lauren Dezenski / Bloomberg:
New York Governor Backs Mamdani, Triggers Trump Funding Threat

Washington Post:

‘It was me’: Suspect in Charlie Kirk shooting appeared to confess in Discord chat — ‘Im sorry for all of this’ read a message from the suspect's account, according to two people familiar with the message and screenshots obtained by The Post. — The 22-year-old suspect in Charlie Kirk's killing appears …

Discussion: HotAir, New York Post, New York Times, The Sun, TMZ.com, New York Daily News, twitchy.com and Fox News, more at Mediagazer »

The Harvard Crimson:

Harvard Ends Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program as Trump Targets Race in Admissions — By ending the minority recruitment program in May, Harvard shuttered a more than 50-year-old initiative to encourage minority high school students to apply. — Facing pressure from the Trump administration …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Patrick Reilly / New York Post:

‘Hacks’ star Hannah Einbinder slammed for crude Emmys speech: ‘F-k ICE and free Palestine’ — “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder is under fire for turning her Emmy acceptance speech into a crude, political soapbox in which she said, “F—k ICE and free Palestine.”

Discussion: The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Mail, Page Six, Variety, RedState, Breitbart, TMZ.com, The Forward, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, PinkNews, Washington Post, HuffPost, Deadline, MovieMaker Magazine, Rolling Stone, USA Today, Al Jazeera, Just Jared and The Sun

Patrick Reilly / New York Post:

Texas Tech student arrested after hurling vile comments at Charlie Kirk mourners: 'F-k y'all homie dead' — A Texas Tech student was arrested after she was filmed mocking Charlie Kirk's assassination and harassing mourners at a vigil for the conservative influencer.

Discussion: Daily Mail, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Townhall, Blaze Media and The Gateway Pundit

Punchbowl News:

Manchin's revenge tour — against Dems … Manchin is doing a media blitz starting this morning and lasting throughout the week. This includes appearances on CBS, “The View,” Fox News, MSNBC's “Morning Joe,” CNN, plus lots and lots of podcasts. — We got an advance copy of Manchin's book.

Discussion: The Contrarian, Washington Examiner, The Hill, New York Post and NewsMax.com

Democracy Now:

U.S. Expresses Regret over ICE Raid Targeting South Korean Workers in Georgia — On Sunday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau expressed regret over the recent ICE raid that detained 300 South Korean workers at a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia.

Discussion: The Verge, Agence France-Presse, The Independent and The Korea Herald

Barak Ravid / Axios:

Scoop: Netanyahu spoke to Trump before Israel bombed Qatar — Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed President Trump last Tuesday morning that Israel planned to attack Hamas leaders in Qatar shortly before the strike took place, three Israeli officials with direct knowledge tell Axios.

Discussion: Middle East Monitor, Just Security and Bloomberg

Charlie Sykes / To the Contrary:

Now Is Not the Moment to Fall Silent — Call Fascism, “fascism”. And hate, “hate”. — The moment when it becomes most difficult, perhaps even impossible, to tell the truth, is the moment when it is most critically important to tell it. — Over the last few days …

Discussion: The Wrap

Ben Berkowitz / Axios:

Trump says public companies should not have to report quarterly results — President Trump on Monday suggested U.S. public companies should no longer have to report earnings quarterly, but on a six-month schedule instead. … - The change would require approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Discussion: CNBC, Reuters, CBS News, Fortune, The Wrap, UPI, NewsMax.com, Variety, The Hill and Fox Business

Eliana Johnson / The Washington Free Beacon:

Elliott Abrams on Why There Will Never Be a Palestinian State … After they rejected [former Israeli prime minister Ehud] Olmert's 2008 offer. I hated his offer, which would have abandoned Jerusalem, and thought it would never get cabinet or Knesset approval. But even that offer was rejected by the Palestinians.

Discussion: Tikvah Ideas and The Guardian

Washington Post:

Why 1 in 6 U.S. parents are rejecting vaccine recommendations … The American parents who are choosing to skip or delay vaccines for their children are more likely to home-school their children, be White and very religious, identify as Republican or be under 35, according …

Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story

Reuters:

We set out to craft the perfect phishing scam. — Major AI chatbots were happy to help. — Reuters and a Harvard University researcher used top chatbots to plot a simulated phishing scam - from composing emails to tips on timing - and tested it on 108 elderly volunteers.

Discussion: itfunk.org and Fox News

Robert Reich:

Trump's Phase 2 now begins — We are now witnessing the start of what might be seen as Phase 2 of Trump's efforts to eradicate political opposition. — Phase 1 has centered on silencing criticism. It has featured retribution toward people Trump deemed personal “enemies” …

New York Times:

Trump Redirects Millions to Historically Black Colleges, Charter Schools — The Trump administration is cutting money from programs that have supported minority students, including at other universities. — The Trump administration on Monday announced that it would inject nearly $500 million …

Discussion: Axios, Newsweek and Fox News

Rusty Weiss / RedState:

Patel Reveals Shocking Note Left by Kirk's Assassin, Debunks Claims He Wasn't Driven by Leftist Ideology — FBI Director Kash Patel revealed new details in the case against Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, including information about a chilling note he allegedly wrote before the shooting.

Discussion: The Hill, RTÉ, Daily Mail, Politico, al.com, The Post Millennial, NewsMax.com, The Sun, The Gateway Pundit and Just Jared

Jim Saksa / Democracy Docket:

Right Wing Groups Press Election Agency on Proof Citizenship Rule for Voter Registration — Right-wing groups are mobilizing activists to pressure a top federal voting agency to require documentary proof of citizenship on the federal voter registration form.