memeorandum: U.S. has ‘no doubt’ Syrian President Bashar Assad ordered gas attack, Secretary of State Tillerson says (Tracy Wilkinson/Los Angeles Times)

10:45 PM ET, April 6, 2017

Top Items:

U.S. Launches Missiles at Syrian Base After Chemical Weapons Attack — The United States launched dozens of cruise missiles Thursday night at a Syrian airfield in response to what it believes was the Syrian government's use of banned chemical weapons blamed for having killed at least 100 people on Tuesday …

Discussion: CNN, CNBC, CNBC, Little Green Footballs, Power Line, Hit & Run, New York Magazine, BuzzFeed, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, The Daily Caller and twitchy.com

Matthew Cole / The Intercept:

U.S. WEIGHS “SATURATION STRIKE” AGAINST SYRIAN GOVERNMENT IN RESPONSE TO CHEMICAL ATTACK — The Pentagon has developed plans for an airstrike against Syrian government targets in response to this week's apparent chemical attack by Syrian government forces, according to two U.S. military officials.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Occupy Democrats, Raw Story, New York Magazine, Axios and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:

U.S. Said to Weigh Military Responses to Syrian Chemical Attack — WASHINGTON — Senior Defense Department officials are developing options for a military strike in response to the Syrian government's chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians on Tuesday, officials said on Thursday.

Discussion: Reuters, BuzzFeed, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Shareblue, Infowars, IJR, Business Insider, The Atlantic, Common Dreams, The Concourse, Political Wire and Mediaite

CNN:

Trump considering options for Syria retaliation, source says — US intel: Syrian warplanes behind gas attack — (CNN)President Donald Trump has told some members of Congress that he is considering military action in Syria in retaliation for this week's chemical attack …

Discussion: New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Patterico's Pontifications, TheBlaze, IJR, Vox, Business Insider, New York Magazine, Hot Air, Daily Wire, Vocativ, The Atlantic, The Week and Axios

Max Greenwood / The Hill:

Tillerson: ‘No role’ for Assad in governing Syria … Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday said the U.S. is considering an “appropriate response” to the Syrian government's apparent use of chemical weapons and that he sees “no role” in the country for President Bashar Assad.

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, Associated Press and Infowars

Sean Davis / The Federalist:
So You Want To Go To War In Syria To Depose Assad. Can You Answer These 14 Questions First?

Discussion: CNN, WTVR-TV, FOX6Now.com, Hot Air and Just Security

Tracy Wilkinson / Los Angeles Times:
U.S. has ‘no doubt’ Syrian President Bashar Assad ordered gas attack, Secretary of State Tillerson says

Discussion: Business Insider, Financial Times, The White House and IJR

Tom Vanden Brook / USA Today:
U.S. launches cruise missile strike on Syria after chemical weapons attack

Discussion: Vox, The Atlantic, RedState, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, KTLA, KFOR-TV, Instapundit and Vocativ

Courtney Kube / NBC News:
Defense Sec Mattis to Brief President Trump on Military Options in Syria

Discussion: Washington Post, RedState, Washington Times, CNBC, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Politico and NBC News

Washington Post:
Trump weighing military options following chemical weapons attack in Syria

Discussion: Fox News, The Atlantic, Washington Free Beacon, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Slot, Snopes.com and CNN

Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:

Steve Bannon Calls Jared Kushner a ‘Cuck’ and ‘Globalist’ Behind His Back — Donald Trump's chief strategist Stephen Bannon has called the president's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner a “cuck” and a “globalist” during a time of high tension between the two top aides …

Washington Post:

Bannon wants a war on Washington. Now he's part of one inside the White House. — Stephen K. Bannon — the combative architect of the nationalistic strategy that delivered President Trump to the White House — now finds himself losing ground in an internecine battle within the West Wing …

Discussion: Lawfare

Axios:

Bannon to associates: “I love a gunfight” — After a series of high-level White House leaks portraying Steve Bannon as fed up with his job and ready to quit, Trump's chief strategist has told associates the stories are “100 percent nonsense” and he's playing for keeps.

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, The Times of Israel, Hullabaloo, IJR and Raw Story

Eamon Javers / CNBC:
Bannon attended National Security Council meeting after his removal from top committee

Discussion: Breitbart, The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit

Mark Hensch / The Hill:
Bannon ready for White House ‘gunfight’: report

Discussion: Politico, Dispatches From the … and Raw Story

Rosie Gray / The Atlantic:
Kushner and Bannon Battle for the Soul of the Trump White House

Discussion: Hot Air, Axios, Dispatches From the …, The Guardian, Fox News, Daily Kos and Vox

CNN:
Inside the White House, paranoia and unrest among top staff

Discussion: Breitbart and NPR

Media Matters for America:
To Defend Bannon, Breitbart Has Opened Fire On The President's Son-In-Law

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Forbes, Washington Post, BillMoyers.com, Breitbart, National Review, Mediaite and No More Mister Nice Blog

Ari Berman / The Nation:

The GOP Has Declared War on Democracy — Going nuclear to confirm Neil Gorsuch is the latest example of how Republicans are thwarting the will of the people. — By , — Supreme Court Justice nominee Neil Gorsuch testifies on the second day of his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation on March 21, 2017.

Discussion: Common Dreams, BostonGlobe.com and Associated Press

Bob Dole / Washington Post:
Bob Dole and Trent Lott: The Senate has changed. It's time to use the nuclear option.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Townhall.com, The Daily Caller, RedState and Washington Free Beacon

Matt Flegenheimer / New York Times:
Senate Republicans Deploy ‘Nuclear Option’ to Clear Path for Gorsuch

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Outside the Beltway, Power Line, Shakesville, Political Wire, Taylor Marsh and TheBlaze

Shane Goldmacher / Politico:
Trump's hidden back channel to Justice Kennedy: Their kids

Discussion: Washington Post, Reuters, IJR, Heat Street, AOL and The Week

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:

C.I.A. Had Evidence of Russian Effort to Help Trump Earlier Than Believed — WASHINGTON — The C.I.A. told senior lawmakers in classified briefings last summer that it had information indicating that Russia was working to help elect Donald J. Trump president, a finding that did not emerge publicly until …

Discussion: Political Wire and Daily Kos

David Ingram / Reuters:

Twitter refuses U.S. order to disclose user behind anti-Trump account — Twitter Inc on Thursday refused to reveal the user behind an account opposed to President Donald Trump's tough immigration policies and said it was challenging the demand for records by the U.S. government in court, according to a lawsuit.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, Occupy Democrats, Snopes.com and TheBlaze, more at Mediagazer »

Kartikay Mehrotra / Bloomberg:
Trump Bid to Unmask @Alt Critic User Met by Twitter Lawsuit

Discussion: The Week

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed: Twitter Sues Feds Over Attempt To Reveal Identity Behind @ALT_USCIS Account

Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
The U.S. Government Is Trying to Unmask an Anonymous Anti-Trump Twitter Account

Discussion: Refinery29, Liberal Values and Gizmodo

Max Greenwood / The Hill:

Clinton: ‘Misogyny played a role’ in 2016 … Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton — said on Thursday that misogyny “played a role” her 2016 defeat. — “Certainly, misogyny played a role,” Clinton said at the Women of the World Summit in New York. “I mean, that just has to be admitted.

Discussion: Breitbart, RedState, Daily Wire, twitchy.com, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite and Mashable

Yahoo: Misogyny ‘played role’ in election loss: Clinton

Barbara Goldberg / Reuters:
Hillary Clinton calls for U.S. to bomb Syrian air fields

Discussion: Mediaite

Niamh McIntyre / The Independent:

Donald Trump's travel expenses in 10 weeks cost US taxpayers as much as Barack Obama spent in two years — US President has spent seven weekends at Mar-a-Lago since taking office 10 weeks ago — Donald Trump's trips to his luxury Florida resort have already cost the US taxpayer at least $24 million …

Annie Karni / Politico:

Ivanka's secret Planned Parenthood outreach — In the weeks following her father's inauguration, Ivanka Trump quietly reached out to the president of Planned Parenthood seeking common ground on the contentious issue of abortion. — The first daughter requested a sit-down with Cecile Richards …

Discussion: Breitbart, New York Times, BuzzFeed, The Hill, IJR, Talking Points Memo, Occupy Democrats, Balloon Juice, Washington Times, Heat Street, BizPac Review, Raw Story, ABC News, RedState, AOL, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, LifeNews.com, Mediaite and The Slot

Mattie Kahn / ELLE:
Shonda Rhimes Has Never Been Afraid to Tell Abortion Stories. Now She's Joining the Board of Planned Parenthood

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Washington Post, LifeNews.com, Associated Press, Refinery29, New York Magazine, Mashable and TheBlaze

New York Times:

Preet Bharara Links Firing to Trump Team's ‘Helter-Skelter Incompetence’ — Nearly a month after he was fired by the Trump administration, Preet Bharara, the former United States attorney in Manhattan, remains mystified by the circumstances of his ouster, saying he had never been told …

Discussion: Raw Story and Business Insider

New York Times:

Kushner Omitted Meeting With Russians on Security Clearance Forms — When Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, sought the top-secret security clearance that would give him access to some of the nation's most closely guarded secrets, he was required to disclose …

NEWS.com.au:

North Korea vows ‘most ruthless blow’ on United States after Donald Trump pledges to build up defences against Pyongyang — NORTH Korea is ready to deliver the “most ruthless blow” if provoked by the United States, its ambassador to Moscow said overnight, after US President Donald Trump pledged …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Tim Mak / The Daily Beast:

Devin Nunes Steps Aside; Ethics Committee Investigating for Spilling Secrets — Rep. Devin Nunes said Thursday he is stepping aside as chairman of the House intelligence committee because he is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegedly disclosing intelligence without proper authorization.

Discussion: Raw Story, ThinkProgress, Fox News, BizPac Review, Occupy Democrats, Daily Kos, Politicus USA, New York Magazine and IJR

Josh Dawsey / Politico:
Nunes steps aside from Russia probe

Discussion: Shareblue, House Committee on Ethics, Dallas Morning News, Speaker.gov, ABC News, The Nation, The Mahablog, The Week, Daily Wire, vice, Gizmodo, Hot Air and Vocativ

McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:

Senator Mitt Romney? — Republican leaders and high-powered donors in Utah are waging a quiet but concerted campaign to convince 83-year-old incumbent Senator Orrin Hatch not to seek reelection next year—and now, they may have found a successor. Mitt Romney, the one-time presidential nominee …

Discussion: RedState, New York Magazine, Business Insider, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Politicus USA, The Daily Caller and Axios

Michael Kazin / New York Times:

Should America Have Entered World War I? — One hundred years ago today, Congress voted to enter what was then the largest and bloodiest war in history. Four days earlier, President Woodrow Wilson had sought to unite a sharply divided populace with a stirring claim that the nation …

Discussion: NPR, Daily Wire and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Arthur Herman / National Review:
How 'Mr. Wilson's War' Shaped the World Order

Discussion: Daily Wire

Jennifer Kabbany / The College Fix:

‘War on Cops’ author Heather Mac Donald shouted down at UCLA by hysterical Black Lives Matter protest — Protester: ‘You have no right to speak!’ — A speech by Heather Mac Donald at UCLA on Wednesday frequently descended into chaos as Black Lives Matter protesters stormed the stage …

Discussion: Power Line and Mediaite