memeorandum: Are the Mercers Being Taken for a Ride by Their Favorite Hate-Mongering Boy Toy? (Tina Nguyen/Vanity Fair)

Montini: John McCain mocks Donald Trump's deferment ‘bone spurs’ (without naming him) — Sen. John McCain doesn't have to speak President Donald Trump's name to excoriate him. — He doesn't exactly call the president a draft dodger. But... in a way... he does.

Discussion: twitchy.com

Brandon Conradis / The Hill:

McCain appears to take swipe at Trump's ‘bone spur’ Vietnam deferment … (R-Ariz.) took what appeared to be a swipe at President Trump during an interview about the Vietnam War on Sunday, criticizing how upper-income Americans were able to obtain a draft deferment for having a “bone spur.”

Discussion: Washington Post, Shareblue Media, Politicus USA, Palmer Report and Raw Story

Charles M. Blow / New York Times:

Trump's Boogeymen? Women! — Donald Trump has a particular taste for the degradation of racial, ethnic and religious minorities and women — and God forbid those identities should overlap — as a way a playing out his personal sense of racial, sexist, and patriarchal entitlement.

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:

Political Guardrails Gone, a President's Somber Duty Skids Into Spectacle — WASHINGTON — Blame it on these bitter political times. — The feud over President Trump's call to the widow of a fallen soldier might never have escalated had Mr. Trump done what any of his predecessors almost certainly …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Times, Hullabaloo, The Root, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Deadline, IJR, WSVN-TV and Washington Post

Congressional Black Caucus:

CBC Women Demand Apology from White House Chief of Staff John Kelly — f t # e — Today, the women of the Congressional Black Caucus issued the following statement in response to the South Florida Sun Sentinel's release of a video of Congresswoman Frederica Wilson's (D-FL) …

Discussion: The Hill, National Review, Politico, Raw Story and theGrio

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Let's not staff a White House with generals ever again

Discussion: RedState and Scripting News

Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media:
Senator slams “white supremacists” in Trump admin, defends congresswoman and Gold Star family

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Washington Free Beacon and The Gateway Pundit

Nicki Zink / ABC News:
US military protects Americans' rights ‘to criticize us’: Ret. Gen. Petraeus

Discussion: Politico

Marcus Weisgerber / Defense One:

EXCLUSIVE: US Preparing to Put Nuclear Bombers Back on 24-Hour Alert — If the order comes, the B-52s will return to a ready-to-fly posture not seen since the Cold War. — BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. — The U.S. Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-armed bombers back on 24-hour ready alert …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:

Turning Tables in Magnitsky Case, Russia Accuses a Nemesis of Murder — MOSCOW — The case of Sergei L. Magnitsky, the Russian tax lawyer who was imprisoned in 2008 on false charges and died in jail, began as a tragedy. But now, after years of sanctions, countersanctions …

Discussion: National Review

Jay Nordlinger / National Review:

Why Is Bill Browder Banned from America? — Vladimir Putin keeps putting William Browder on Interpol's wanted list, or trying to. As far as I'm concerned, these attempts are the equivalent of medals of freedom. — Remember who Browder is: He is the financier whose lawyer was Sergei Magnitsky …

Discussion: Palmer Report

The Hill:

FBI watched, then acted as Russian spy moved closer to Hillary Clinton — was beginning her job as President Obama's chief diplomat, federal agents observed as multiple arms of Vladimir Putin's machine unleashed an influence campaign designed to win access to the new secretary of State, her husband Bill Clinton

Discussion: RedState

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Is tone of Trump-Russia probe changing? — Have you noticed? In recent public comments, the lawmakers investigating the Trump-Russia affair, along with some of the commentators who dissect its every development, seem to be focusing more on the facts of Russia's attempts to interfere …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Michael Tackett / New York Times:

A Presidential Bellwether Is Still Waiting to Start Winning Under Trump — TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Nobody is tired of winning here. — Not at the Crossroads Cafe, where regulars pick at politics over breakfast. Not at the Rotary Club, where the meeting dutifully opens with the invocation …

New York Times:

‘I Was Willing to Do Everything’: Mothers Defend Sons Accused of Sexual Assault — Four women met late last month at a restaurant in a Twin Cities suburb, where they spoke for hours, so intently their waiter had trouble getting their drink orders. — Each had a son who had been accused at college of sexual assault.

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Million dollar bracket in the works for GOP tax plan — The Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee — engaged in a high-pressure, high-stakes tax policy rewrite — are currently exploring not cutting the income tax rate for people who earn $1 million or more per year.

Discussion: Politico

Ken Stern / New York Post:

Former NPR CEO opens up about liberal media bias … Most reporters and editors are liberal — a now dated Pew Research Center poll found that liberals outnumber conservatives in the media by some 5 to 1, and that comports with my own anecdotal experience at National Public Radio.

Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media:

Trump shamefully ignores “nightmare” HIV crisis brewing in rural America — As a candidate, Donald Trump promised to bring an end to the opioid epidemic that experts have described as the “defining public health challenge of our time.” With an estimated 150 Americans dying …

New York Times:

Still Waiting for FEMA in Texas and Florida After Hurricanes — HOUSTON — Outside Rachel Roberts's house, a skeleton sits on a chair next to the driveway, a skeleton child on its lap, an empty cup in its hand and a sign at its feet that reads “Waiting on FEMA.”

Jia Tolentino / New Yorker:

Harvey Weinstein and the Impunity of Powerful Men — For women speaking up about their experiences with harassment and assault, being heard is one kind of power, and being free is another. — In 2015, in a hotel hallway in New York, the movie producer Harvey Weinstein insisted …

New York Times:

A Newly Assertive C.I.A. Expands Its Taliban Hunt in Afghanistan — WASHINGTON — The C.I.A. is expanding its covert operations in Afghanistan, sending small teams of highly experienced officers and contractors alongside Afghan forces to hunt and kill Taliban militants across the country …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Glenn Whipp / Los Angeles Times:

38 women have come forward to accuse director James Toback of sexual harassment — Writer-director James Toback attends the premiere of his latest movie, “The Private Life of a Modern Woman,” at the Venice Film Festival last month. (Filippo Monteforte / AFP/Getty Images)

Discussion: Deadline, New York Times, NBC News, Mashable, twitchy.com, IndieWire, ABC News, TMZ.com and rbc.ru

Julia Manchester / The Hill:

Fake Facebook post shows military widow criticize congresswoman, defend Trump — The widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, Myeshia, has said a Facebook post criticizing Rep. Frederica Wilson — (D-Fla.), which has been reportedly circulating since Oct. 17 from a person claiming to be her, is fake, according to ABC News.

Discussion: twitchy.com, RedState and Raw Story

Bill O'Reilly / No Spin News:

Statement by Mark Fabiani on Behalf of Bill O'Reilly Relating to the New York Times Smear Piece — Once again, The New York Times has maliciously smeared Bill O'Reilly, this time even failing to print a sworn affidavit from his former lawyer, Lis Wiehl, repudiating all allegations against Bill O'Reilly.

Discussion: New York Times, TheBlaze and RedState, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Kraushaar / National Journal:

House GOP Fears Wave in 2018 as Money Woes Grow — The odds of Nancy Pelosi becoming speaker again are rising as Republican donors show frustration over the party's stalled agenda on Capitol Hill. — House Republicans are growing increasingly alarmed that some of their most vulnerable members …

Discussion: Politicus USA and Booman Tribune

Jennifer Hansler / CNN:

Tom Hanks: 'If you're concerned about what's going on today, read history' — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks on Saturday night urged the importance of understanding and learning from history, especially for those troubled by the current state of affairs.

Discussion: Raw Story and IJR

Carla Marinucci / Politico:

California Republicans go gaga for Trump — ANAHEIM, Calif. — His former chief strategist pillories fellow Republicans they once loved. His dreadful poll numbers here might drag their House incumbents down next year. — But with little else to cheer in this heavily Democratic state …