memeorandum: Senators expected to largely endorse intel report on Russian meddling, sound alarm about next election (Karoun Demirjian/Washington Post)

11:35 PM ET, October 3, 2017

Top Items:

Two strangers bond over country music and beer. Then the gunshots started. — Up-and-coming country star Luke Combs had just started his set on the smaller of the two festival stages when Kody Robertson, an auto parts salesman from Columbus, Ohio, squeezed in at the end of the bar next to Michelle Vo …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Washington Post:

Police say Las Vegas gunman planned ‘extensively,’ used cameras to monitor police as they approached — LAS VEGAS — Authorities in Las Vegas said Tuesday that the gunman who killed least 59 people at a country music festival “extensively” planned the massacre, placing cameras in his suite …

Discussion: Power Line, ABC News, Raw Story, Daily Breeze, IJR, Daily Kos, AOL, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo and Q13 FOX News

Mike Rowe:

Off The Wall — Mike - I live in Las Vegas, and I've seen you here often. Once, in the lobby at Mandalay Bay. We're all shattered here, obviously. A comforting word from you would go a long way... Molly Carr — Hi Molly — I'm not surprised you saw me at the Mandalay.

Discussion: RedState and The Daily Caller

Tara Golshan / Vox:
Republican senator blames the culture of “sanctuary cities” for mass shootings

Discussion: Politico, New York Magazine, Political Wire and Common Dreams

Heather Long / Washington Post:
He was shot helping people during the Las Vegas shooting. His heroics helped his photo go viral.

Discussion: The Intercept, Refinery29, Splinter, Daily Wire, TheBlaze, twitchy.com, IJR, San Bernardino Sun and Doug Ross

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Bannon warns: “end of everything” if Trump supports gun controls

Rebekah Entralgo / ThinkProgress:
The Las Vegas shooter exploited a gun law loophole

Discussion: Business Insider, New York Times and The Resurgent

Burgess Everett / Politico:
McConnell swats away talk of gun control

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo and The Resurgent

Khaled Beydoun / Washington Post:
‘Lone wolf’: Our stunning double standard when it comes to race and religion

Discussion: Daily Kos

Travis Gettys / Raw Story:
MSNBC's Mika: No Republican lawmakers would appear on ‘Morning Joe’ to discuss the Las Vegas massacre

Discussion: twitchy.com

Jimmy Kimmel / YouTube:
Jimmy Kimmel on Mass Shooting in Las Vegas

Discussion: Hit & Run, Washington Post, NewsBusters, Red Alert Politics, Romper, twitchy.com, Deadline and The Last Tradition

Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Adelsons meet with Trump, discuss Las Vegas shooting

Discussion: The Hill

Michelle Ghoussoub / CBC News:
3 Canadians among dozens killed in Las Vegas mass shooting

Discussion: KQCA-TV, ThinkProgress, NBC News, Los Angeles Times, Romper, AOL, New York Times, USA Today, NPR and National Post

NBC News:

Las Vegas Shooter Wired $100,000 to Philippines Last Week — Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock wired $100,000 to an account in his live-in girlfriend's home country of the Philippines in the week before he unleashed the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, according to multiple senior law enforcement officials.

Discussion: WFXT, Axios, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze, Daily Wire, NBC News, Power Line, Talking Points Memo, The Last Refuge, AOL, IJR, RedState, CANNONFIRE, The Week, Business Insider, CNN, Joe.My.God., Instapundit and Reno Gazette-Journal

Louis Sahagun / Los Angeles Times:

At his local Starbucks, Las Vegas shooter remembered for berating his girlfriend — The workers behind the counter at the Starbucks inside the Virgin River Casino in Mesquite, Nev., winced whenever Stephen Paddock and his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, lined up for their usual beverages.

Discussion: Raw Story and WTVR-TV

The Daily Beast:

Las Vegas Gunman May Have First Planned to Attack Chance the Rapper and Lorde Concert … LAS VEGAS—The gunman who murdered at least 59 people at a country-music concert on Sunday might have originally targeted another Las Vegas music festival held the previous weekend, according to a senior law enforcement source.

Discussion: The Nevada Independent, Daily Wire, IJR and Romper

NBC News:
Las Vegas Shooter Stephen Paddock Gambled With at Least $160K in Recent Weeks

Discussion: Business Insider, NBC News, TheBlaze, IJR, The Last Refuge, Axios, AOL, Talking Points Memo, Daily Wire and The Daily Caller

New York Times:
Las Vegas Shooting: Gunman's Rifle Had ‘Bump Stock’ to Make It Rapid-Fire Weapon

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, CityLab, Guns.com, Mediaite, NewsBusters, Fox News, The Guardian, Latino Rebels and IJR

Associated Press:
The Latest: Off-duty firefighters at concert set up triage

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Chris Cillizza / CNN:

Trump's Puerto Rico event was way worse than his tweets — (CNN)President Donald Trump faced a major test on Tuesday as he traveled to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico: Show the American citizens struggling for survival on the island that he understood their plight, sympathized with them and was doing everything …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Common Dreams, The Daily Caller and The Week

Dr. Sanjay Gupta / CNN:
Dr. Sanjay Gupta's dire warning on Puerto Rico

Discussion: Gizmodo

Eliza Barclay / Vox:
Puerto Rico hasn't updated the Hurricane Maria death toll in 6 days

Discussion: Shareblue, New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, IJR, USNI News, Raw Story, Mashable, Romper, Snopes.com, ThinkProgress, Latino Rebels, New York Magazine, Just Security, Grist, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE and Politico

Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:
Trump officials allow Puerto Ricans to use food stamps for fast food

Discussion: New York Times, The Root, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and CNN

Alexia Fernández Campbell / Vox:
Trump to Puerto Rico: your hurricane isn't a “real catastrophe” like Katrina

Discussion: Shareblue, The White House, BuzzFeed, ABC News, Hullabaloo, Washington Post, Balloon Juice, Joe.My.God. and ThinkProgress

Oxfam America:
Statement by Oxfam America President Abby Maxman regarding Puerto Rico Hurricane Response

Discussion: The Guardian, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress, The Hill, After the fall of ISIS …, Business Insider, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Common Dreams, The Week, Talking Points Memo and CNN

Omaya Sosa Pascual / miamiherald:
Hurricane Maria: government official acknowledges there are more deaths in Puerto Rico

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, IJR and NBC News

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:
‘Incredible.’ ‘Great.’ ‘Unbelievable.’ In storm-torn Puerto Rico, Trump focuses on the positive

Discussion: Politico, ThinkProgress, Common Dreams, Balloon Juice, American Greatness, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, RedState, Vox, Romper, Business Insider, The Root, Talking Points Memo, Bloomberg, CityLab and Political Wire

CNN:

Exclusive: Russian-linked Facebook ads targeted Michigan and Wisconsin — (CNN)A number of Russian-linked Facebook ads specifically targeted Michigan and Wisconsin, two states crucial to Donald Trump's victory last November, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

Discussion: Political Wire and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

Tony Romm / Recode:
Twitter and Facebook haven't stopped Russia-backed RT from advertising on their websites

Discussion: Political Wire

Elias Groll / Foreign Policy:

GOP Congressman Met in Moscow With Kremlin-Linked Lawyer at Center of Russia Investigation — Rep. Dana Rohrabacher met in Moscow with Natalia Veselnitskaya two months before she met with Donald Trump Jr. — Rep. Dana Rohrabacher met with the Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya during …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Hill, Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

John Bowden / The Hill:

Kelly won't let Rohrabacher talk to Trump: report — is blocking a pro-Russia congressman from meeting with President Trump, according to a new report. — Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) told Business Insider on Tuesday that Kelly and other top Trump aides are actively blocking …

Discussion: RedState

Leah Libresco / Washington Post:

I used to think gun control was the answer. My research told me otherwise. — Leah Libresco is a statistician and former newswriter at FiveThirtyEight, a data journalism site. She is the author of “Arriving at Amen.” — Before I started researching gun deaths, gun-control policy used to frustrate me.

Discussion: Townhall.com, New York Times, Washington Free Beacon, Axios, FiveThirtyEight and Daily Wire

Brad Heath / USA Today:

Exclusive: Jared Kushner's personal email moved to Trump Organization computers amid public scrutiny — President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump moved their personal email accounts to computers run by the Trump Organization as public scrutiny intensified over their use …

Discussion: Raw Story, Axios, The Week, The Daily Caller, Political Wire, Business Insider and Talking Points Memo

David Edwards / Raw Story:

Sen. John Thune blames shooting victims for failing to ‘take precautions’ and ‘get small’ to avoid gunfire — Sen. John Thune (R-SD) on Tuesday responded to calls for increased gun control after the massacre in Las Vegas by telling reporters that shooting victims had a responsibility to protect themselves from gunfire.

Discussion: Daily Kos and IJR

Jim Himes / Washington Post:
Why I boycotted Congress's latest empty moment of silence for gun victims

Discussion: Washington Monthly and New York Times

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:

Pence's chief of staff floats ‘purge’ of anti-Trump Republicans to wealthy donors — Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff railed against congressional leaders in closed-door remarks to wealthy donors and called for a “purge” if GOP lawmakers don't quickly rally behind President Donald Trump's agenda.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Business Insider, Axios and Talking Points Memo

Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:

Ginsburg Slaps Gorsuch in Gerrymandering Case — Toward the end of the Supreme Court's argument in Gill v. Whitford, about the future of partisan gerrymandering, there was a revealing moment about the place of the newest Justice in the esteem of at least one of his peers.

Discussion: Instapundit

New York Times:

Kennedy's Vote Is in Play on Voting Maps Warped by Politics — WASHINGTON — Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has long been troubled by extreme partisan gerrymandering, where the party in power draws voting districts to give itself a lopsided advantage in elections.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Axios, electionlawblog.org, Politico, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, SCOTUSblog, The Nation, Splinter, Outside the Beltway, Althouse and Washington Post

Eric H. Holder Jr / Washington Post:
Eric Holder: Gerrymandering has broken our democracy. The Supreme Court should help fix it.

Discussion: Mother Jones and New York Times

Hayes Brown / BuzzFeed:

This Is Why The US Voted Against A UN Resolution Condemning The Death Penalty For LGBT People — It wasn't just about the provision protecting LGBT people from being killed via the death penalty. The US just really likes the death penalty. — The Trump administration is under fire …

Discussion: Los Angeles Blade and Instapundit

Zack Ford / ThinkProgress:
United States rejects UN resolution condemning use of death penalty to target LGBTQ people

Discussion: The Independent, Snopes.com, ILGA, Shareblue, RedState and Towleroad

Nancy Scola / Politico:

IRS awards multimillion-dollar fraud-prevention contract to Equifax — The IRS will pay Equifax $7.25 million to verify taxpayer identities and help prevent fraud under a no-bid contract issued last week, even as lawmakers lash the embattled company about a massive security breach …