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11:30 AM ET, October 13, 2026

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Wall Street Journal:
Ken Paxton Partied in Dubai With Fugitives Ahead of High-Stakes Texas Senate Race  —  Trump backed the scandal-plagued Paxton in one of the riskiest bets of the midterms  —  As President Trump weighed endorsing Ken Paxton over incumbent Texas Sen. John Cornyn this spring …
RELATED:
Politico:
High on hopium  —  With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner  —  Good Tuesday morning.  We're exactly three weeks out from Election Day, and early voting begins today in Georgia and Idaho.  Get in touch.  —  In today's Playbook ...  — Abdul El-Sayed and Chris Pappas show off Democrats' doubtless demeanor.
Discussion: Mediaite
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:   Billionaire Elon Musk has already funneled at least $366 million into the midterms to try to make sure voters elect Republicans. …
RELATED:
Politico:
GOP readies for an underwhelming lame duck  —  IN TODAY'S EDITION:  — Johnson scrambles leadership outlook  — Emmer endorses Trump's raid on Omar  — Dems gear up for trade oversight  —  Republicans' dreams of a productive lame-duck session are dimming.
Politico:   Republicans doubt their big lame-duck ambitions pan out
Alex Nguyen / Mother Jones:
Pete Hegseth's Firing Squad Livestream Is Finding Fans in the Defense Industry  —  Co-founders of Palantir and defense tech firm Anduril are defending “public and brutal” executions.  —  “I have been outspoken on wanting public executions for over a decade.”
RELATED:
Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:
The fascist spectacle of streamed executions
Discussion: The Transom and The Moderate Voice
Julia Ornedo / The Daily Beast:
Trump's New Mouthpiece Hit With Brutal Reviews for Big Debut … The reviews are in for President Donald Trump's new press secretary.  —  Katie Zacharia, 41, suffered savage reviews from administration insiders and critics alike within minutes of taking the podium as White House press secretary for the first time Tuesday morning.
RELATED:
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
White House has asked Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign, new Trump press secretary says
Ann E. Marimow / New York Times:
Supreme Court to Review Dispute Over Access to DOGE Records  —  A nonprofit watchdog group sued the Department of Government Efficiency, asserting that it should be subject to federal Freedom of Information Act discovery requests.  —  The Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it would review …
RELATED:
Greg Stohr / Bloomberg:
Supreme Court to Consider Halting Bid for Information About DOGE  —  The US Supreme Court will consider derailing efforts to get more information about the Department of Government Efficiency, the Elon Musk-led project that drove a sweeping purge at federal agencies in the opening months of Donald Trump's second presidential term.
Bridget Brown / Associated Press:
Live updates: Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump's ambassador to Greece, is asked to resign, White House says  —  Trump going to Kentucky on Saturday  —  White House press secretary Katie Zacharia said the president's midterm election blitz will take him to Kentucky on Saturday.
RELATED:
Laura Chung / New York Times:
Trump Says He Is ‘Looking at’ Firing Kimberly Guilfoyle
Nicholas Riccardi / Associated Press:
What to know about the search of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar's home  —  Federal agents searched Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington, D.C. home on Monday, only three weeks before the frequent target of President Donald Trump's criticism stands for reelection in her congressional district in Minnesota.
RELATED:
Anders Hagstrom / Fox News:
Trump rally crowd chants ‘deport’ as president rips Ilhan Omar after federal raid
Chadwick Moore / New York Post:
‘Compelling evidence’ of criminal activity drove feds to raid Rep. Ilhan Omar's home: sources
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
Trump's new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, claims she's a lawyer.  Is she?  —  There is no evidence Zacharia has ever been licensed to practice law — and the White House did not provide any  —  When President Trump plucked Katie Zacharia from obscurity and appointed her as his new press secretary, he called her “an attorney.”
Discussion: Associated Press
New Republic:
MAGA Voters Turn on Trump in Focus Group Bombshell: “Nothing but Lies”  —  Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark recently held a focus group with people who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 that took an extraordinary turn.  After being shown Trump's vile taxpayer-funded ad, in which he rages about expelling …
Discussion: Newsweek and The Bulwark
Benoit Faucon / Wall Street Journal:
Iran Fortifying Nuclear Sites and Rallying Its People for Return to Fighting  —  Regime, convinced the U.S. is ready to attack again, sees preparations as deterrent  —  Iran is fortifying its defenses, rallying loyalists and threatening a wider, harsher response against the U.S. and its Gulf allies …
RELATED:
Kate Shaw / New York Times:
Democrats Need a Plan for Supreme Court Reform.  Here's a Start.  —  The Supreme Court justices took the bench last week to hear oral arguments, but the start of this term feels different from previous ones.  For one thing, with the sharp increase in activity on the shadow docket …
Discussion: The Nation
Louise Radnofsky / Wall Street Journal:
Judge Yells at Trump Administration for Cutting Down Golf Course Trees  —  Several government officials called to testify about hasty removal on Washington site where president dreams of building championship-level course  —  An angry federal judge overseeing litigation challenging President Trump's plan …
Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill:
DOJ apologizes after campaign-style Trump ads air in violation of judge's order  —  The Department of Justice apologized late Monday that a controversial ad featuring President Trump continued to run after a court sided with government watchdog groups in temporarily blocking the ads.
Tariq Panja / New York Times:
FIFA's Trump Tower Deal: 7 Years, $4 Million, One Mostly Unused Office  —  The deal is another sign of how Gianni Infantino, the leader of soccer's global governing body, has sought closer ties to President Trump.  —  About a year before the World Cup, FIFA held a splashy opening for its latest office …
Eli Hager / ProPublica:
Scammers Are Stealing Millions From Food Stamp Recipients.  Congress Could Fix It — but Won't.  —  It wasn't the kind of call a grocery store gets every day.  A customer with a thick Eastern European accent was on the phone saying he wanted to buy several thousand cans of Red Bull.
Margaret Talev / Axios:
Axios-Ipsos poll: “Medicare for All” support surges  —  Supporters of “Medicare for All” now outnumber opponents by nearly 2-to-1, according to a new survey of U.S. adults from the Axios-Ipsos American Health Index. … - But the public's openness is driven more by desperation than by confidence in government.
Discussion: The Daily Caller
German Lopez / New York Times:
We Know How to Fix Homelessness.  Why Don't More Cities Do It?  —  Homelessness, all appearances to the contrary, is a long-solved problem.  We know both the causes and the cure.  You wouldn't think that's the case from visiting many U.S. cities.  Stymied by political and financial hurdles …
Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
New White House press secretary has a history of conspiracy-laced social media posts  —  Donald Trump Fighting disinformation Social media Epstein files  —  President Donald Trump's incoming White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, repeatedly made baseless accusations of pedophilia …
Discussion: NPR, more at Mediagazer »
Bayliss Wagner / New York Times:
Republicans Promoted a False Rumor That James Talarico Was in Ohio  —  The Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas spent nine days off the trail with what he and his campaign said was a bad case of the flu.  His opponents fueled rumors, including one that spread widely before it was debunked.
Leigh Kimmins / The Daily Beast:
RFK Jr. Shows Off Son's Lavish 3-Day Pop Star Wedding in Rio … Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pulled back the curtain on his son's lavish three-day wedding to a pop star in Brazil.  —  Conor Kennedy, 32, reportedly married Giulia Be, 27, in a civil ceremony in Los Angeles in March.
Mike Zapler / Axios:
Dems' red-state showings raise prospect of a bigger 2028 map  —  Move over Wisconsin and Arizona. … Sure, this could be a blip — or a reminder that it's a 50-50 moody nation, even in a bunch of red states.  — The conditions that helped Barack Obama carry conservative states like Indiana …
Discussion: New York Magazine
Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:
Top G.O.P. Groups Pull Support From First House Incumbents  —  Two major Republican super PACs are said to be withdrawing cash from the races of the incumbent Representatives Thomas H. Kean Jr. of New Jersey and Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa in an effort to triage the midterm map.
Discussion: Fox News and The Bulwark
Jessica Hill / Associated Press:
AI data centers are coming for federal land.  They are roiling the Nevada governor's race  —  Janelle Sorenson loves the clear night skies in Boulder City, less than an hour's drive from the bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip.  It's a small, quiet town, and she thinks …
Veronika Melkozerova / Politico:
Ukraine had ‘no warning’ of latest Russian ballistic missile strike on Kyiv  —  KYIV — Russia caught the Ukrainian capital off guard with its latest attack, hitting the country with over 100 drones and five ballistic missiles, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday.
Christopher Wiggins / Advocate:
Dan Levy demands men speak up after Shane Gillis demeans women on ‘SNL’  —  Comedian Shane Gillis said “f*ck” during a sketch on live network television and referenced Joe Rogan on Saturday.  It may have been the least offensive thing he said all night.  —  The comedian's latest turn hosting …
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
House Dems launch ads in four more Trump districts  —  House Democrats' campaign arm is expanding its target list just three weeks ahead of Election Day, going on the air for the first time in four more districts with coordinated ad buys with the candidates.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Philip Elliott / Time:
The New Campaign Strategy: Don't Debate
CBS News:
Multiple protesters removed from raucous Trump rally in Ohio
Andrew Chung / Reuters:
US Supreme Court to hear asylum fight involving Nigerian cook
Discussion: NBC News and The Hill
NBC News:
Brad Raffensperger defends election security in Georgia ahead of consequential midterms
Discussion: NewsMax.com
Politico:
'It's time to get a vaccine in place': RFK Jr.'s views helped stall bird flu plan
Jeff Stein / The Washington Sun:
The FTC Is Beginning to Probe the Sports Gambling Industry
Alex Miller / Fox News:
Trump vanishes from GOP senator's campaign website as poll numbers plunge weeks before election
Discussion: The Daily Caller and Mediaite
 Earlier Items: 
Alexei Koseff / Washington Post:
House speaker's wife ministers to Hill staffers, but nonprofit funding is a mystery
Lisa Kashinsky / Politico:
Mary Peltola raises $17M in Q3 in Alaska's Senate race
Discussion: NewsMax.com and Newsweek
Siobhan Hughes / Wall Street Journal:
Republicans Spend Big to Defend Nebraska Senate Seat
Discussion: Daily Kos, Politico and NewsMax.com
Josh Dawsey / Wall Street Journal:
I Went Home to South Carolina to Ask Young Voters About Trump and the Economy
CNN:
Republicans need evangelicals to turn out in the midterms. Faith leaders are sounding the alarm they may not
Matthew Choi / Washington Post:
Ken Paxton took campaign funds from donors with interests before his office
David Rothkopf / The Daily Beast:
How Trump Just Exposed Himself as America's True Enemy Within
Discussion: The Atlantic, Breitbart and Mediaite
 

 
From Techmeme:

Julian Chokkattu / Wired:
Apple unveils the $299 Apple HomeView, a 7" smart display with an A18 chip, tabletop and wall-mounted versions, and “HomeView software”, shipping November 13

Rhea Rose Abraham / Reuters:
Character.AI files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US, agrees to sell some assets to Disney for $20M, and plans to keep operating as it completes the sale

Alexander Lee / GamesBeat:
Sources: Rockstar plans to release the PC version of GTA 6 within the first three months of 2027, after releasing it on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19
 
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