memeorandum: ‘Pure devastation’: At least 17 dead, with hundreds missing, as California wildfires spread (Washington Post)

5:20 PM ET, October 11, 2017

Top Items:

Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:

“I Hate Everyone in the White House!”: Trump Seethes as Advisers Fear the President Is “Unraveling” — In recent days, I've spoken with a half dozen prominent Republicans and Trump advisers, and they all describe a White House in crisis as advisers struggle to contain a president that seems …

Discussion: RedState, Washington Monthly, Business Insider, Salon, Mediaite, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Shareblue Media and Mashable

NBC News:

Trump Wanted Tenfold Increase in Nuclear Arsenal, Surprising Military — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he wanted what amounted to a nearly tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal during a gathering this past summer of the nation's highest ranking national security leaders …

Politico:

Trump suggests challenging NBC's broadcast license — His tweet follows a story by NBC News Wednesday that the president calls ‘pure fiction, made up to demean.’ — President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that NBC's broadcast license should be pulled as punishment after NBC News published …

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

Trump expected to name Kelly's White House deputy as DHS secretary — Kirstjen Nielsen, who also served as Kelly's No. 2 at DHS, was his pick to fill his old job, which has been vacant since July. — President Donald Trump is expected to nominate Kirstjen Nielsen to run the Department …

Discussion: Reuters, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, The Daily Signal, Axios, Nextgov, NBC News, New York Magazine, New York Times, Daily Kos, Business Insider and IJR

Noah Bierman / Los Angeles Times:

Trump unleashes himself from would-be handlers, lashing out mornings, nights and weekends — President Donald Trump and his chief of staff John Kelly at a briefing with senior military leaders at the White House on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. (Andrew Harrer / Getty Images)

Discussion: Political Wire

Mike Allen / Axios:
Inside Bannon's plans for a GOP civil war

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Breitbart and No More Mister Nice Blog

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Trump threatens to cancel NBC's broadcast license over critical reporting

Discussion: The Federalist, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Business Insider, Raw Story, Breitbart Unmasked, NBC News, CNBC, Talking Points Memo, Politicus USA, Mediaite and IJR

CNNMoney:
President Trump threatens NBC over critical coverage

Discussion: Washington Post, Mother Jones, Politico, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider, Media Matters for America, IJR, Vox, Shareblue Media, The Resurgent, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Axios, Joe.My.God., Talking Points Memo and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

Undisclosed deal guaranteed Roy Moore $180,000 a year for part-time work at charity — Former Alabama judge Roy Moore, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, once said publicly that he did not take a “regular salary” from the small charity he founded to promote Christian values because he did not want to be a financial burden.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, National Review and Joe.My.God.

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:

How NBC ‘Killed’ Ronan Farrow's Weinstein Exposé … Freelance NBC News correspondent Ronan Farrow, whose months-long investigation into reports of Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct was spiked by the network but morphed into a journalistic blockbuster at The New Yorker …

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

How NBC gave up Ronan Farrow's explosive Harvey Weinstein scoop — Gwyneth Paltrow and many others accuse Weinstein of harassment — Last year NBC News was scooped on one of the biggest stories of the year — Donald Trump talking about groping women on NBC's “Access Hollywood” tape.

Discussion: Politico, The Guardian, New York Times, ThinkProgress, New York Magazine, Conservative News Today, France 24, Talking Points Memo, Deadline and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

TMZ.com:
Harvey Weinstein Flying to Europe Tonight for Sex Addiction Rehab

Discussion: The Atlantic, IJR, The Hill, Page Six, Daily Wire, People.com, Gothamist, IndieWire, The Daily Caller, Instapundit and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:
Why Ronan Farrow's Harvey Weinstein Bombshell Did Not Run on NBC

Discussion: Mediaite, PerezHilton and Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard:

Mitch McConnell Goes to the Mattresses for Trump's Judicial Nominees — The Senate majority leader takes charge of the confirmation process. — The Republican drive to confirm federal judges has gained momentum from a series of actions by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Discussion: RedState, Power Line, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Crime and Consequences Blog, Talking Points Memo and Washington Free Beacon

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
McConnell ratchets up judicial wars — again

Discussion: Power Line

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:
Mitch McConnell Is Keeping The Senate Rule That Lets Dems Block Trump's Judges

Discussion: Business Insider, ThinkProgress and The Daily Caller

David Dayen / The Intercept:

Puerto Rico Relief Bill Cancels $16 Billion in Debt — But Not for Puerto Rico — House Republicans unveiled a $36.5 billion disaster relief supplemental package Tuesday night, intended to pay for relief and rebuilding efforts for the floods, hurricanes, and wildfires of the past several months.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Grist, Raw Story, Politico and New York Magazine

Richard Wolffe / The Guardian:
Puerto Rico: US officials privately acknowledge serious food shortage

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Ray Sanchez / CNN:
Puerto Rico's hurricane death toll rises to 45

Discussion: Washington Post

Cristina Marcos / The Hill:

House Democrat unveils articles of impeachment against Trump, but misses chance to force vote — (D-Texas) on Wednesday unveiled articles of impeachment against President Trump in an effort to force a House vote on removing him from office. — Green's articles of impeachment were introduced as …

Discussion: Vox and Raw Story

Alexander Burns / New York Times:
Pledge to Impeach Trump, a Key Donor Demands of Democrats

Discussion: New York Magazine, TheBlaze, Washington Free Beacon and Political Wire

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
Democrat stops just short of forcing House vote on Trump's impeachment

Discussion: Vox

Michael Bamberger / GOLF.com:

‘He hit the ball on the screws’: Sen. Graham details President Trump's improbable 73 — The real Donald Trump is revealed through his golf game — Late on Monday afternoon, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), offered, by way of Twitter, a report on his Columbus Day round with President Trump …

Discussion: Mediaite and Political Wire

Erin Mershon / STAT:

An old-school pharmacy hand-delivers drugs to Congress, a little-known perk for the powerful — ASHINGTON — If House Speaker Paul Ryan comes down with the flu this winter, he and his security detail won't be screeching off toward the closest CVS for his Tamiflu.

Discussion: Daily Wire and Vox

Washington Post:

‘Pure devastation’: At least 17 dead, with hundreds missing, as California wildfires spread — SANTA ROSA, Calif. — A series of historically deadly Northern California wildfires regained momentum Wednesday as winds whipped back up, pushing blazes through parched hills and vineyards and prompting …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Axios, Blue Lives Matter, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, CNN, The Daily Caller and IJR

CNN:
California fires: At least 17 dead as hundreds reported missing

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Pete Williams / NBC News:

Boy Scouts Will Admit Girls, Allow Them to Earn Eagle Scout Rank — The Boy Scouts of America announced Wednesday that girls will soon be allowed to become Cub Scouts and to earn the coveted rank of Eagle Scout, the organization's highest honor. — “We believe it is critical to evolve …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, RedState, The Daily Signal, Friendly Atheist, Conservative News Today, Washington Free Beacon, Boing Boing, Mashable and IJR

Shannon Hall / New York Times:

A Surprise From the Supervolcano Under Yellowstone — Beneath Yellowstone National Park lies a supervolcano, a behemoth far more powerful than your average volcano. It has the ability to expel more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of rock and ash at once — 250,000 times more material than erupted …

Discussion: CBS Dallas and Althouse

Wall Street Journal:

Russia Has Turned Kaspersky Software Into Tool for Spying — Searches exploited popular Russian-made antivirus software to seek classified material, officials say — WASHINGTON—The Russian government used a popular antivirus software to secretly scan computers around the world …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Gizmodo, Security Affairs, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Daily Wire, Washington Post and CANNONFIRE, more at Techmeme »

Gavin Haynes / The Guardian:

Can IQ tests settle whether Trump is a moron or not? — Following reports that Rex Tillerson questioned the US president's brain power, the latter has offered to settle the matter with an IQ test. But are they really a way to reliably quantify intelligence?

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, CBS Miami, Washington Post, Business Insider and Gizmodo

Michael Kranish / Washington Post:

'He's better than this,' says Thomas Barrack, Trump's loyal whisperer — NEW YORK — Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a billionaire who is one of President Trump's oldest friends, had spent weeks trying to smooth the way for a May presidential meeting in Saudi Arabia with Gulf leaders. — All initially went well.

Discussion: Business Insider, CNBC and ABC News

Kevin Quealy / New York Times:

The N.F.L. Is Now One of the Most Divisive Brands in the U.S. — About three weeks ago — before President Trump said that N.F.L. owners should fire players who kneel during the national anthem — Democrats and Republicans held relatively similar views about the league.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Sophia Tesfaye / Salon:

Trump's Benghazi? Ambush of U.S. soldiers in Niger goes unnoticed — Four dead Americans. — It's been five years since terrorists attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, leaving four Americans dead. Last week, as CIA officers disguised in wigs and mustaches testified …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Politicus USA and New York Times

ESPN:

Gerald McCoy: 'It's going to be an uproar' if players forced to stand — Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive lineman Gerald McCoy, speaking on Adam Schefter's Know Them From Adam podcast, said he thinks there might “be an uproar” if NFL players are forced to stand for the national anthem.

Discussion: Daily Wire, Washington Free Beacon, Fox News Insider, CBS Philly and IJR