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10:05 PM ET, March 20, 2026

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
CNN:
US furiously seeks to avert potential monthslong closure of Strait of Hormuz  —  The Middle East National security Donald Trump Federal agencies  —  US officials are furiously trying to avert a potential monthslong closure of the Strait of Hormuz, privately acknowledging that reopening …
Discussion: KEYT-TV
RELATED:
New Republic:
Transcript: Trump War Takes Dark Turn as Leaks Unnerve Dems: “Madness”  —  The following is a lightly edited transcript of the March 20 episode of the Daily Blast podcast.  Listen to it here.  —  Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.
Discussion: Raw Story
NBC News:
Trump weighing several options for U.S. troops inside Iran  —  Discussions about possible ground troops have focused on missions aimed at escalating the war in attempt to end it, sources say, but no decisions have been made.  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump is weighing whether …
Axios:
Trump mulls risky Kharg Island takeover to force Iran to open strait
Emily Crane / New York Post:
Iran makes chilling threat to target tourist sites worldwide — as spring break kicks off in US
Bloomberg:
Trump Says US Considers ‘Winding Down’ Iran Military Effort
New York Times:
Trump Friend Asked ICE to Detain the Mother of His Child  —  Last year, Paolo Zampolli, the former modeling agent who famously introduced Donald and Melania Trump, asked the administration for a favor.  —  Megan Twohey  —  Zampolli was in a custody battle with his Brazilian ex-girlfriend over their son.
Nikki McCann Ramirez / Rolling Stone:
Top Disaster Response Official Claims He Teleported to a Waffle House  —  FEMA's Gregg Phillips says he has experienced multiple “scary” episodes of sudden teleportation  —  Far-right activist turned high-ranking FEMA official Gregg Phillips has a problem.
Discussion: Raw Story and CNN
RELATED:
Lora Kolodny / CNBC:
Elon Musk misled Twitter investors ahead of $44 billion acquisition, jury says … A jury in California found that Elon Musk misled Twitter shareholders during the runup to his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company, according to a verdict issued on Friday.
Erik Wemple / New York Times:
Judge Rules Pentagon Restrictions on Press Are Unconstitutional  —  A federal judge tossed parts of the Pentagon's restrictions on news outlets, saying they violated the First Amendment, in a lawsuit brought by The New York Times.  —  A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Pentagon's restrictions …
RELATED:
Michael Kunzelman / Associated Press:
Judge sides with New York Times in challenge to policy limiting reporters' access to Pentagon  —  A federal judge agreed Friday to block the Trump administration from enforcing a policy limiting news reporters' access to the Pentagon, ruling that key portions of the new rules are unlawful.
Aaron Pellish / Politico:
Federal judge reverses Pentagon press restrictions
Discussion: ABC News, HotAir and NPR
Carmel Dagan / Variety:
Chuck Norris, Action Icon and ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ Star, Dies at 86  —  Chuck Norris, the martial arts champion who became an iconic action star and led the hit series “Walker, Texas Ranger,” has died.  He was 86.  —  Norris was hospitalized in Hawaii on Thursday, and his family posted …
RELATED:
Politico:
White House revises its DHS offer as talks to end shutdown pick up  —  The White House offered additional immigration enforcement concessions to Democrats Friday evening as border czar Tom Homan met a second time with a bipartisan group of senators seeking to end the Homeland Security shutdown, according to lawmakers who attended.
Discussion: CBS News and Washington Times
RELATED:
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
Another DHS funding vote coming to House floor
Andrew Solender / Axios:
“He needs to go”: Dems rage over Fetterman's DHS vote
Glenn Thrush / New York Times:
Justice Dept. Seeks to Drop Charges Against Officers in Breonna Taylor's Death  —  The civil rights charges against the two Louisville, Ky., police officers stemmed from their involvement in drafting the no-knock search warrant that led to the fatal shooting.
RELATED:
Washington Post:
CBS News will end radio service as Weiss struggles to right ship  —  The troubled network is eliminating its century-old CBS News Radio division and laying off more staff.  —  CBS News will end its nearly century-old radio service, CBS News Radio, and cut more jobs amid a rocky turnaround effort under …
New York Times:
Denmark Was Ready to Blow Up Airfields to Stop a U.S. Invasion of Greenland  —  The Danes brought blood supplies, explosives and live ammunition to Greenland as part of contingency plans in case President Trump acted on his threats to seize the island.  —  As tensions with President Trump peaked …
The Atlantic:
Not So Fast, Bill Maher  —  The comedian was set to receive the Twain Prize before a sudden reversal of course.  —  You could measure the on-and-off feud between President Trump and the comedian Bill Maher in weeks, years, or decades.  Last month, Trump called Maher a “highly overrated LIGHTWEIGHT” in a lengthy Truth Social post.
Washington Post:
Cuba rejects U.S. Embassy request to bring in fuel, calls it ‘shameless’  —  An effective U.S. oil blockade has worsened the island's energy crisis.  The U.S. Embassy in Havana, too, is feeling the effects.  —  The Cuban government this week refused a request by the U.S. Embassy in Havana …
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Trump administration waves the white flag in some ICE cases … The new phenomenon is the latest manifestation of the extraordinary strain that the administration's mass deportation effort — compounded by the mass detention of people who have lived for years without incident in the U.S. interior — has exacted on the justice system.
Molly Taft / Wired:
Iran War Puts Global Energy Markets on the Brink of a Worst-Case Scenario  —  “This will be so, so, so, so, so bad,” one analyst says.  —  The war in Iran reached a new extreme this week, as both Israel and Iran launched strikes on oil and gas production and export facilities.
Politico:
Putin offers to stop sharing intel with Iran if US cuts off Ukraine  —  Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to the U.S. under which the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence information with Iran, such as the precise coordinates of U.S. military assets in the Middle East, if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intel about Russia.
New York Times:
Polymarket Says It Predicts the Truth.  Its Social Feeds Are Filled With Falsehoods.  —  A review of the betting market's social media feeds found it has published hundreds of false and misleading posts.  —  Polymarket, the betting website that accepts wagers on everything from who wins …
Meghann Myers / Defense One:
Defense workers' morale has plunged under Trump, survey finds  —  The Defense Department's civilian workforce is reporting a precipitous drop in job satisfaction, according to a survey released Thursday, following a year of cuts and a hiring freeze that has left many offices understaffed …
Aaron Pellish / Politico:
US pauses sanctions on some of Iran's oil as gas prices surge … “In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against Tehran to keep the price down as we continue Operation Epic Fury,” he said.  —  Oil prices have spiked to over $100 per barrel since the U.S. launched airstrikes on Iran last month …
Discussion: New York Post, Bloomberg and KEYT-TV
Matthew Tokson / Lawfare:
Fourth Amendment Law by Analogy  —  A review of Orin Kerr, “The Digital Fourth Amendment: Privacy and Policing in Our Online World,"(Oxford University Press, 2025).  —  mtokson  —  @mtokson.bsky.social  —  Meet The Authors  —  Orin Kerr is America's leading Fourth Amendment scholar.
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Mullin Said to Have Credited the King of Jordan for a Helicopter Rescue  —  The homeland security nominee brought up a mysterious trip in mid-2016 at a confirmation hearing.  He visited Jordan that August, congressional records show.  —  Soon after Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma joined …
Discussion: Raw Story
Emily Brooks / The Hill:
House GOP pushes spy powers vote to April amid opposition  —  House Republicans leaders will not bring a “clean” reauthorization of foreign surveillance powers up for a vote next week as they had hoped, a source familiar with the schedule confirmed to The Hill, as opposition to the program in both parties prevents swift passage.
Megan Mineiro / New York Times:
Deferring to Trump, G.O.P. Lawmakers Resist a Public Accounting on Iran  —  Nearly three weeks into a war that polls show is unpopular, top Republicans have yet to call administration officials to testify about it, arguing that hearings would put divisions on display.
Discussion: Wonkette
Stacy Cowley / New York Times:
Record Number of Student Loan Borrowers Are in Delinquency and Default  —  Recently released data from the Education Department showed that by the end of last year, 7.7 million borrowers had defaulted on $181 billion in federal student loans.  —  A record number of borrowers have fallen far behind …
CBS News:
CBS News Radio to shut down after nearly a century of broadcasting  —  Go Deeper With The Free Press  —  The U.S. Needs More Weapons.  Can This Company Supply Them?  —  The new defense entrepreneurs think America's preparedness suffers from two problems: a lack of modern warfighting tools …
Discussion: Axios, Breitbart and Deadline
Alex Horton / Washington Post:
U.S. military strike on boat in Pacific leaves two dead and a rare survivor  —  The ongoing U.S. maritime operation against alleged drug traffickers has killed 159 people in nearly 50 strikes.  —  A U.S. military strike on a vessel suspected of hauling drugs prompted the rescue of a sole survivor …
New York Times:
Alexander Brothers Are Said to Seek Trump Pardons for Sex Trafficking  —  People representing the three brothers have reached out to a lobbyist and an influential Jewish group that have supported clemency for others.  There are no signs the White House is considering a pardon.
New York Times:
U.S. Prosecutors Investigate Colombia's President, a Onetime Trump Foe  —  The Justice Department is examining whether President Gustavo Petro of Colombia has ties to drug traffickers.  —  President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, who has had a volatile relationship with President Trump …
Andrea Sachs / Washington Post:
TSA lines are miserably long.  Don't miss your flight because of them.  —  Monitor security checkpoint wait times, register for expedited security programs and invoke the “flat-tire” rule.  —  On Tuesday, a sign at a TSA security checkpoint at Miami International Airport said the wait time was 18 minutes.
Jeff Amy / Associated Press:
A Georgia appeals court rules Fulton County can reject GOP election board picks  —  A Georgia appeals court ruled on Friday that the state's largest county doesn't have to appoint two Republican nominees to the county election board, a decision that could tamp down GOP challenges to how elections …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Laura Kelly / The Hill:
Heritage president: MAGA tensions over Iran war ‘good’
Discussion: NewsMax.com
Adam Wren / Politico:
Poll: Talarico leads Cornyn and Paxton in general election matchups
Discussion: NewsMax.com, Newsweek and Breitbart
Axios:
Trump AI plan urges Congress to overrule states
Politico:
Confrontation between billionaire CEO and Lutnick hints at trouble with huge data center project
Caitlin Reilly / Bloomberg:
Tax Refunds Up, But Falling Short of Trump's $1,000 Promise
Discussion: KVIA-TV and WDEF-TV
Joel Lorenzi / The Athletic:
NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder won't visit White House due to ‘timing issue’
Discussion: New York Post and WKZO
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
We came from different parties and faiths. We left as compatriots.
 Earlier Items: 
Bram Sable-Smith / KFF Health News:
Oz Escalates Medicaid Fraud Claims Against States After Focus on Minnesota
Discussion: Associated Press, MPR News and Reason
Ryan J. Reilly / NBC News:
Ex-FBI agents assigned to Trump cases sue Kash Patel over ‘unlawful’ firings
The White House:
Preserving America's Game
New York Times:
Hegseth Invokes Divine Purpose to Justify Military Might
Discussion: Associated Press and twitchy.com
Amy Yurkanin / ProPublica:
She Was in Labor at a Florida Hospital. Then She Was in Zoom Court for Refusing a C-Section.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Google Search is now using AI to replace headlines
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
In a memo, Bari Weiss and Tom Cibrowski announce the closure of CBS News Radio on May 22 and attendant layoffs; CBS News Radio was founded in 1927

David Shepardson / Reuters:
Eight states ask a district court judge for a temporary restraining order to stop the Nexstar-Tegna merger, after Nexstar said the DOJ and FCC approved the deal

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
A study testing four AI chatbots on 2,267 news stories in English and French: ChatGPT credited news outlets 1% of the time, Gemini 6%, Grok 7%, and Claude 16%

 
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