Check out Mini-memeorandum for simple mobiles or memeorandum Mobile for modern smartphones.
6:55 AM ET, March 19, 2026

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Shelby Talcott / Semafor:
FBI investigates intelligence aide who resigned over war  —  The Scoop  —  The FBI has opened a leak investigation into a top former intelligence official who resigned Tuesday in protest over the war in Iran.  —  The investigation into former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent …
RELATED:
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Joe Kent's Resignation Letter Is Dangerous Because It's Half True  —  For those who suspect that Israel manipulated America into war, the resignation of Joe Kent, Donald Trump's director of the National Counterterrorism Center, surely seems like confirmation.
Ian Ward / Politico:
8 Fault Lines That Could Spell Trouble for Trump's Coalition
Discussion: Raw Story
Jennifer Jacobs / CBS News:
Joe Kent, ex-Trump counterterrorism chief who resigned over Iran war, under FBI investigation for alleged leaks
Washington Post:
Pentagon seeks more than $200 billion in budget request for Iran war  —  Some White House officials do not think the Pentagon's request has a realistic shot of being approved in Congress, one senior administration official said.  —  The Pentagon has asked the White House to approve …
RELATED:
Reuters:
Exclusive: US weighs military reinforcements as Iran war enters possible new phase  —  President Donald Trump's administration is considering deploying thousands of U.S. troops to reinforce its operation in the Middle East, as the U.S. military prepares for possible next steps in its campaign against Iran …
Punchbowl News:
3/19/26☀️ AM: … Congress has sat firmly on the sidelines as President Donald Trump wages an increasingly deadly war on Iran.  GOP leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers have repeatedly voted against efforts to rein in Trump's war powers, insisting that this would be a quick and victorious campaign.
Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire
New York Times:
Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years  —  An investigation by The New York Times found extensive evidence that the United Farm Workers co-founder groomed and sexually abused girls who worked in the movement.  —  Ana Murguia remembers the day the man …
RELATED:
Dolores Huerta:
A Statement from Dolores Huerta
Washington Post:
Drones over base where Rubio, Hegseth live raise security concerns  —  Lockdowns at U.S. bases and a global security alert underscore concerns that Iranian retaliation could extend to officials on U.S. soil  —  U.S. officials detected unidentified drones above the Washington Army base …
Discussion: Reuters, The US Sun and IJR
Peter Beaumont / The Guardian:
Middle East war: why attacks on gasfields like South Pars are a major escalation  —  Strike was first time a fossil fuel energy production facility has been hit.  But why is it significant and who does it affect?  —  Prefer the Guardian on Google  —  Strikes by both sides …
RELATED:
Barak Ravid / Axios:
After Tehran strikes, Trump says Israel won't attack Iran gas fields anymore
Robert Jimison / New York Times:
U.S. Intelligence Saw No Change in Iran's Missile Capabilities Before War  —  On Wednesday, the director of national intelligence and C.I.A. director contradicted one of the justifications the Trump administration had given for its attacks on Iran.  —  Two top intelligence officials directly contradicted …
RELATED:
Avery Lotz / Axios:
Gabbard defers to Trump when asked if Iran posed “imminent threat”
Lisa Mascaro / Associated Press:
One ‘freaking snake’ and no apologies: How the Mullin hearing went off the rails  —  The chairman opened the hearing with a provocative dare: Say it to my face.  Sen. Rand Paul, the Republican from Kentucky, has made clear he has little regard for President Donald Trump's nominee to lead …
RELATED:
Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
What to know about Trump's Homeland Security pick
Sam Sutton / Politico:
‘What is he doing?’:  New threats emerge for Trump's economy as war drags on … “Downside risks are rising, and this is an extremely fluid situation,” he said.  —  The data shows that the warning lights were flickering even before Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz, choking global supply chains.
Discussion: Mediaite and Blaze Media
Bill Donahue / Billboard:
Afroman Wins Verdict Rejecting Lawsuit Filed by Ohio Cops Over Mocking Music Videos  —  Police officers raided the “Because I Got High” rapper's Ohio home, then sued him after he ridiculed them on social media — but a jury just sided with Afroman. … Afroman won a jury verdict Wednesday …
Brent Lang / Variety:
Val Kilmer Resurrected by AI to Star in ‘As Deep as the Grave’ Movie — First Look (EXCLUSIVE)  —  Five years prior to his death in 2025, Val Kilmer was cast as Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist, in “As Deep as the Grave.”  But Kilmer, who was battling throat cancer, was too sick to ever make it to set.
Meghan Bartels / Scientific American:
COVID probably killed 150,000 more people in its first two years than official U.S. tolls show  —  We have severely undercounted the number of COVID deaths, scientists say … COVID may have killed significantly more people in the U.S. in the first two years of the pandemic than official records indicate …
Discussion: Associated Press and Gizmodo
Nick Lichtenberg / Fortune:
The national debt just crossed $39 trillion—almost doubling since Trump vowed to erase it  —  The United States national debt crossed $39 trillion for the first time Tuesday, arriving at the grim milestone less than five months after it first hit $38 trillion in late October …
Discussion: Associated Press and Fox Business
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
HHS investigating 13 states for ‘coercing’ healthcare providers to provide abortions  —  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today that it is launching investigations into 13 states for violating a federal health refusal clause and “coercing” healthcare entities into providing or performing abortion services.
Discussion: Washington Examiner
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
Kennedy's vaccine agenda takes a major blow  —  A court ruling on Monday dealt a heavy blow to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s efforts to transform America's vaccine policy, just as the White House is reportedly losing interest in the project.
Reuters:
Europe tells Trump Iran is ‘not our war’  —  For a self-described Transatlanticist like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the language has been unusually blunt.  —  When President Donald Trump asked countries to join a global effort against Iran and deploy ships to prise open the Strait of Hormuz …
RELATED:
David Strom / HotAir:
The Most Gavin Newsom Thing Ever  —  I've been doing a lot of research on the explosive fraud in California, but with all the other news, I really haven't gotten around to writing about it.  Besides, Beege did a bang-up job with a piece yesterday, so I can take a breather until things settle down.
Natasha Korecki / NBC News:
Illinois results solidify JB Pritzker's ‘powerhouse’ role — and set up a White House run  —  The Illinois governor sank money and political capital into an open Democratic Senate primary and came out a winner alongside Juliana Stratton, who won the race.  — ADD NBC NEWS TO GOOGLE
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Scoop: How the left plans to start winning primaries again  —  Progressives plan to exert more pressure in Democratic congressional primaries to get the left to coalesce behind one viable candidate rather than split the vote and create an opening for moderates, Axios has learned.
Dan Diamond / Washington Post:
Trump's face on a gold coin?  His hand-picked panel will decide.  —  The proposal has already been rejected by members of a separate federal coin committee — and panned by former member Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  —  Just now  —  A federal arts commission will weigh whether to approve …
Discussion: New York Sun
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
Kiley switches parties, loses committees  —  Rep. Kevin Kiley, the former Republican who recently registered as an Independent, said in an interview Wednesday he plans to caucus with the House GOP and will seek to regain his committee assignments.  The California lawmaker was formally removed …
Discussion: Breitbart
Politico:
‘Warrants or bust’: House hard-liners deliver ultimatum ahead of spy powers vote … “Warrants or bust,” Boebert said, adding that a clean bill “will not pass.”  —  Separately, Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is demanding the House attach partisan elections legislation, the SAVE America Act …
Discussion: Roll Call
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Following Trump, Republicans in Congress Propose to Ban Most Voting by Mail  —  A restrictive voter I.D. bill under consideration in the Senate could severely limit mail-in voting.  Conservatives are pressing to end the practice outright, taking aim at an option that is widely used by voters.
Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
Voters in a key Pennsylvania swing district weigh in on Trump, gas prices and Iran war  —  NBC News spoke to voters at a gas station in the 10th District, the type of area that will be key for Republicans to win in the midterms if they hope to retain control of the House majority.  — ADD NBC NEWS TO GOOGLE
Discussion: Raw Story and New Republic
 
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of memeorandum at 6:55 AM ET, March 19, 2026.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 See Also: 
memeorandum: site main
memeorandum River: reverse chronological memeorandum
memeorandum Mobile: for phones
memeorandum Leaderboard: memeorandum's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
memeorandum RSS feed
memeorandum on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Joyce Vance / Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance:
We Have Not Forgotten About The Epstein Files
Discussion: Raw Story and New York Post
Erica Orden / Politico:
British authorities seek DOJ's help in investigations into former Prince Andrew, Peter Mandelson
Hugo Lowell / The Guardian:
Nancy Mace draws White House ire over independent Middle East rescue efforts
Discussion: Raw Story
 Earlier Items: 
Reuters:
Child vaccination rate drops sharply in Michigan under RFK Jr's influence
Politico:
Inside the White House plan to sell the Iran war online
Politico:
House rejects effort to force a balanced budget in the US
Darlene Superville / Associated Press:
Trump pays his respects in Delaware to 6 US service members killed in the Middle East
 

 
From Techmeme:

Agnee Ghosh / Bloomberg:
OpenAI agrees to acquire Astral, which makes Python tools for developers, to integrate its team into Codex, and says Codex has 2M+ users, up 3x since January

Rustin Banks / The Keyword:
Google updates Stitch to let users turn natural language prompts into UI designs, introducing an “AI-native” software design canvas and a reasoning design agent

Janko Roettgers / Lowpass:
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says Meta will keep Horizon Worlds in VR “for existing games”, a day after Meta said Quest owners will lose access from June 15
 
Sister Sites:

Techmeme
 Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web
Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page