memeorandum: Seventh graders arrested, accused of putting pepper flakes in teacher's soda (Orlando Sentinel)

7:10 PM ET, February 27, 2016

Top Items:

Inside the Republican Party's Desperate Mission to Stop Donald Trump — The scenario Karl Rove outlined was bleak. — Addressing a luncheon of Republican governors and donors in Washington on Feb. 19, he warned that Donald J. Trump's increasingly likely nomination would be catastrophic, dooming the party in November.

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

Will Conservatives Abandon Donald Trump in the General Election? — The New York Times has a big story this morning about the trials and tribulations of the Republican Party establishment in their efforts to stop Donald Trump. I would like to draw your attention to two things. First this:

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Times, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog and Gothamist

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Inside the GOP Implosion and the War to Stop Trump — Here is a New York Times article you may have seen. It describes the GOP's panicked, hyperbolic and yet utterly ineffectual rush to stop the Donald Trump juggernaut. As I've said before, the GOP's Trump problem reminds of the regional and global powers efforts to destroy ISIS.

Kristen East / Politico:

Jan Brewer endorses Donald Trump — Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Saturday endorsed Donald Trump for president. — Trump has made immigration a central issue in his campaign for president, vowing to build a wall along the southern border of the United States and promising to have Mexico pay for it.

Discussion: RedState, Outside the Beltway and CNN

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

‘You Inspire Us All’ — 'You inspire us all. " With that fulsome greeting, Pat Robertson welcomed Donald Trump this week to the stage of Regent University. According to the school's catalogue, the university's name invokes the fact that “a regent is one who represents Christ, our Sovereign …

Michael Shepherd / Bangor Daily News:
LePage, Christie endorse Donald Trump for president

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The Atlantic

New York Daily News:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump for president

Discussion: Joe.My.God., The Week, CNN and Mediaite

Jacob Heilbrunn / The National Interest:
Why Trump Is Panicking Robert Kagan

Discussion: Mondoweiss

New York Times:
Donald Trump and Chris Christie Start a Bully Bromance

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Politico, Da Tech Guy Blog, Associated Press, Boston Globe, Taylor Marsh and Washington Post

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Business:
Chris Christie Delivers Major Blow to Party Elites Resisting Trump

Discussion: Politico, Red Alert Politics and WMTW-TV

James Queally / Los Angeles Times:

Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim erupts in violence; three stabbed — A protester was stabbed at the site of a Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim on Saturday. — Three people were stabbed and several arrested when a Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim erupted in violence Saturday, police said.

Discussion: Boing Boing, KTLA, SOOPERMEXICAN, SEC Primary and Fusion

ABC News:

Live South Carolina Democratic Primary Exit Poll Analysis

Discussion: ThinkProgressPage Array, Yahoo Politics, Washington Post, New York Times, Politicus USA, The Atlantic and Guardian

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:
Sanders puts South Carolina in rear-view mirror

Discussion: Washington Post

Abby Phillip / Washington Post:
South Carolina primary: Democrats vote as Clinton, Sanders head out of state

Discussion: Politico, Hot Air, New Jersey News …, Outside the Beltway and Common Dreams

Ari Berman / The Nation:
63,756 Reasons Racism Is Still Alive in South Carolina

Discussion: ThinkProgressPage Array, New York Times and Daily Kos

Anne Gearan / Washington Post:
What happens when Hillary Clinton crashes a bachelor party? She's in the photos.

Discussion: Politico, Los Angeles Times, CBS News, Taylor Marsh, PAPERMAG, Tennessean.com and BizPac Review

Kerry Picket / The Daily Caller:

Bill Clinton Loses It Over Benghazi Hecklers At Campaign Rally [VIDEO] — Former president Bill Clinton became angry when he was heckled by protesters during a campaign event in Bluffton, South Carolina on Friday. — The protesters demanded to know if his wife Hillary Clinton lied …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Gateway Pundit and The Last Tradition

Olaf Ekberg / The American Mirror:
VIDEO: Bill Clinton snaps at veteran during speech: ‘Shut up and listen to my answer’

Discussion: RedState

David Weigel / Washington Post:

Rubio's verbal assault on Trump continues, joined by seven-figure ad buys — OKLAHOMA CITY — It was the biggest crowd Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) had gotten in this state, perhaps a thousand voters filling the floor of a downtown event center to hear him. And for 10 minutes …

Discussion: National Review, Princeton Election Consortium, Mother Jones, Politico and Wall Street Journal

Orlando Sentinel:

Seventh graders arrested, accused of putting pepper flakes in teacher's soda … Three seventh-graders at Deltona Middle School are facing criminal charges after allegedly putting crushed red pepper flakes in their teacher's can of Mountain Dew, a Volusia County sheriff's spokesman said.

Discussion: Raw Story, New York's PIX11 and NBC News

Oliver Darcy / TheBlaze.com:

‘I Will Not Be Used As a Tool for Their Purposes’: MSNBC Host Unleashes on Network in Brutal Letter — MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry blasted network executives in an email sent to colleagues and published online Friday, writing that recent decisions to substitute her weekend show …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNNMoney, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Moderate Voice, theGrio, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Fusion, BizPac Review, Washington Post, Independent Journal Review, The Hill, Downtrend, Outside the Beltway and Jezebel, more at Mediagazer »

Joe Concha / Mediaite:
Harris-Perry Throws Away TV Career, Petulantly Plays Race Card From Bottom of the Deck

Discussion: Townhall.com, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, TVNewser and addictinginfo.org, more at Mediagazer »

Justin Fox / BloombergView.com:

Stuff Keeps Getting Cheaper — Since 1995, durable goods (cars, televisions, computers and the like) have been getting cheaper in the U.S. That's even as the prices of services and nondurables have mostly kept rising. — In the chart above, prices are viewed using 2009 as the base year.

Discussion: Equitable Growth

Patrick Brennan / Marco Rubio:

Here Are Marco's Tax Returns. Where Are Trump's? — The Rubio campaign released Marco and Jeanette Rubio's joint federal tax returns from 2010 to 2014. The Rubios' income has included earnings from employment with the U.S. Senate and Florida International University, Marco's legal work, Marco's books, and Jeanette's business.

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press and NPR

Elliot Smilowitz / The Hill:

Rubio mocks Trump for spelling, ‘spray tan,’ ‘Hair Force One’ plane — is running for president, but it sounds like he would settle for a Comedy Central special. — Rubio on Saturday continued his mockery of rival Donald Trump — , going after the businessman's spelling errors and “spray tan” at a campaign event in Kennesaw, Ga.