memeorandum: Secret Service: No visitor logs for Mar-a-Lago (Josh Gerstein/Politico)

1:15 PM ET, October 5, 2017

Top Items:

Las Vegas Strip shooter targeted aviation fuel tanks, source says — Fuel tanks near the Route 91 Harvest country music festival, pictured on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017, were targeted by Strip shooter Stephen Paddock when he fired on concert-goers from his Mandalay Bay room Sunday night.

Discussion: RedState, The Resurgent, Daily Wire, Raw Story and The Daily Caller

CNN:

Las Vegas gunman planned to escape after massacre, sheriff says — (CNN)The gunman in the Las Vegas massacre planned to escape after targeting the country music concert, but instead left behind a note and killed himself, authorities say. — Stephen Paddock led such a secretive life …

Discussion: IJR, FOX6Now.com, Splinter, The Week, Daily Wire, TheBlaze, Washington Post, Daily Mail, Althouse, Axios and fox13now.com

USA Today:

Las Vegas shooter booked rooms facing Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago in August — Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock booked rooms in a Chicago hotel facing the Lollapalooza music festival in August, a law enforcement official told USA TODAY on Thursday.

Discussion: TheBlaze and Raw Story

TMZ.com:

Stephen Paddock Booked Hotel Overlooking Lollapalooza 2 Months Before Vegas Massacre — Stephen Paddock — Booked Hotel Overlooking Lollapalooza 2 Months Before Massacre — EXCLUSIVE — Stephen Paddock had his sights set on Lollapalooza in Chicago and even booked 2 rooms in a hotel …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, NBC News, Fox News Insider and CBS Dallas

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
Top House Republicans open to legislation regulating ‘bump stocks’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Los Angeles Times, Outside the Beltway, Washington Free Beacon, CNBC and The Hill

Derek Hunter / Townhall.com:
After Las Vegas, Democrats Send In The Clowns

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, IJR and The Federalist

Todd Starnes / Fox News:
Vegas survivor: Shot in leg or not, I'm standing for my president

Discussion: RedState and Scared Monkeys

CNN:
Hero who saved 30 people reunited with officer who saved his own life

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Mashable

New York Times:
Republicans Open to Banning ‘Bump Stocks’ Used in Massacre

Justin Glawe / The Daily Beast:
Unarmed Security Guard Took On Las Vegas Killer Stephen Paddock

Discussion: The Federalist, twitchy.com, AOL and IJR

Washington Post:
The ATF-approved ‘goofy little doodad’ used by Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, New York Magazine, New York Times and Vox

New York Times:
Las Vegas Shooting: Investigators Grapple With Gunman's ‘Secret Life’

Discussion: The Week

Pete Williams / NBC News:
Investigators Looking for Mystery Woman Seen With Vegas Shooter

Discussion: IJR, AOL, bet.com and TMZ.com

Morgan Winsor / ABC News:
Las Vegas shooter booked hotel overlooking Lollapalooza, visited other music festivals

Discussion: Raw Story

Anne Gearan / Washington Post:

‘Death spiral’: Tillerson makes nice but may not last long with Trump — The moment was as remarkable as it was unprecedented: A sitting U.S. secretary of state took to the microphone to pledge his fealty to the president — despite his well-documented unhappiness in the job and the growing presumption …

Discussion: Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Axios, Politico, Just Security, NBC News, The Week and The Hill

Melissa Quinn / Associated Press:

Tillerson, Mattis, Mnuchin forge ‘suicide pact’ in the event Trump wants one of them gone: Report … Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin reportedly have forged a “suicide pact” in which all three members of President Trump's Cabinet …

Discussion: RedState, BuzzFeed, The Week, Liberal Values, Washington Monthly, Little Green Footballs, Political Wire and Raw Story

Annie Linskey / BostonGlobe.com: John Kelly: The Boston native in charge of bringing order to President Trump's White House

New York Times:
Donald Trump's Foreign Policy Circus

Discussion: USA Today, ABC News, Axios, ThinkProgress, Washington Post and Vox

The Daily Beast:
White House Aides Wanted Rex Tillerson to Resign for Calling Trump a ‘F**king Moron’

Discussion: The Week and Daily Kos

Dominic Holden / BuzzFeed:

Jeff Sessions Just Reversed A Policy That Protects Transgender Workers From Discrimination — The Justice Department under Obama decreed that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned transgender discrimination in the workplace. But in a new memo, the attorney general rescinded the policy.

Discussion: The Atlantic, ThinkProgress, Vox, Axios, Splinter, Towleroad and The Week

Laura Jarrett / CNN: Sessions says civil rights law doesn't protect transgender workers

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed:
The Justice Department Is Investigating Harvard's Admissions Practices

Discussion: Above the Law, Daily Kos, The Root and Business Insider

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

Repeal the Second Amendment — I have never understood the conservative fetish for the Second Amendment. — From a law-and-order standpoint, more guns means more murder. “States with higher rates of gun ownership had disproportionately large numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Mediaite, The Federalist, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, National Review, Slate, ThinkProgress, The Daily Signal and Hot Air

Charles M. Blow / New York Times:
Blood Pact With the N.R.A.

Discussion: Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, Q13 FOX News and Daily Kos

Tennessean.com:

Exclusive: U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn launches U.S. Senate bid — Marsha Blackburn announces she is running for U.S. Senate — NASHVILLE — U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is entering the 2018 U.S. Senate race to replace retiring Sen. Bob Corker, ending a week's worth of speculation …

Discussion: Axios, Rewire and Splinter

Marsha Blackburn / YouTube:

Why I'm Running — The United States Senate...It's totally dysfunctional and it's enough to drive you nuts. And that's why I've decided to do something about it. — I'm Marsha Blackburn. I'm a hard core, card carrying Tennessee conservative. I'm politically incorrect, and proud of it.

Discussion: Politico, WREG-TV and WJHL

Pew Research Center:

The Partisan Divide on Political Values Grows Even Wider — Sharp shifts among Democrats on aid to needy, race, immigration — The divisions between Republicans and Democrats on fundamental political values - on government, race, immigration, national security, environmental protection and other areas …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Atlantic, Axios and Politico

Pew Research Center:

1. Partisan divides over political values widen — The gap between the political values of Democrats and Republicans is now larger than at any point in Pew Research Center surveys dating back to 1994, a continuation of a steep increase in the ideological divisions between the two parties over more than a decade.

Manu Raju / CNN:

Grassley: ‘No way of avoiding’ public hearing for Trump Jr — Grassley requests that Trump Jr. testify — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — (CNN)Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley signaled Thursday that Donald Trump Jr. will ultimately have to testify publicly before his panel, something Democrats have been demanding for weeks.

CNN:
Burr on Trump tweet: Panel will hold media ‘accountable’ on Russia

Discussion: Washington Post, CNNMoney, Shareblue, Just Security, The Daily Caller, IJR, Mashable, Sputnik International, CNBC, Deadline, Media Matters for America, The Express Tribune, Washington Times and Talking Points Memo

Craig Timberg / Washington Post:

Russian propaganda may have been shared hundreds of millions of times, new research says — Facebook has said ads bought by Russian operatives reached 10 million of its users. — But does that include everyone reached by the information operation? Couldn't the Russians also have created simple …

Discussion: CBS Detroit, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Secret Service: No visitor logs for Mar-a-Lago — There are no visitor logs or other system of tracking those who visited President Donald Trump at his winter retreat known as Mar-a-Lago, a Secret Service official confirmed Wednesday. — Responding to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CNN, Talking Points Memo and Democrats.com

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Secret Service claims there are no Mar-a-Lago visitor logs

Discussion: RedState

Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:

Inside North Korea, and Feeling the Drums of War — PYONGYANG, North Korea — To fly into North Korea on an old Russian aircraft is to step into an alternate universe, one in which “the Supreme Leader” defeats craven American imperialists, in which triplets are taken from parents to be raised by the state …

Discussion: AOL, Mediaite, 38 North, The Daily Caller, Common Dreams and Business Insider

Jimmy Carter / Washington Post:
What I've learned from North Korea's leaders

Discussion: JustOneMinute, RedState and Business Insider

Ezra Klein / Vox:

4 political scientists are tracking whether Trump is damaging American democracy — So far, the story of Trump's presidency is dysfunction, not authoritarianism. — In February 2017, four political scientists formed Bright Line Watch. Their mission was a chilling sign of the times …

Bright Line Watch:
The Health of American Democracy: Comparing Perceptions of Experts and the American Public

Discussion: Brendan Nyhan

Hollywood Reporter:

Harvey Weinstein Lawyers Battling N.Y. Times, New Yorker Over Potentially Explosive Stories (Exclusive) — The Hollywood mogul has enlisted a team of attorneys to fight planned articles that are said to be about his personal behavior. — Is The New York Times about to expose damaging information on Harvey Weinstein?

Discussion: Variety, East Bay Times and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Dan Abrams / Mediaite:

Hate for Megyn Kelly is Everything That's Wrong With America Today — Let me be clear at the outset, I don't know if Megyn Kelly's new NBC show will succeed. After all, it's LESS THAN two weeks old so how can anyone really know. — I have always liked Megyn personally and more importantly …

Discussion: Bloomberg and New York Times

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:

Angry GOP donors close their wallets — Republicans are confronting a growing revolt from their top donors, who are cutting off the party in protest over its inability to get anything done. — Tensions reached a boiling point at a recent dinner at the home of Los Angeles billionaire Robert Day.

Discussion: Raw Story, Last Men and OverMen, Balloon Juice and Daily Kos