memeorandum: Dad saw his son's socks as he raced to school shooting

1:50 PM ET, January 27, 2018

Top Items:

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Counsel Quietly Trying to Corral Trump While Pushing G.O.P.'s Agenda — WASHINGTON — When Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, moved into his corner office on the West Wing's second floor last January, he chose not to decorate its walls or fill its glass-paneled shelving with personal items.

Discussion: National Review and NPR, more at Mediagazer »

Murray Waas / Foreign Policy:

Trump Launched Campaign to Discredit Potential FBI Witnesses — The president targeted three bureau officials who could provide key testimony in the Mueller probe. — President Donald Trump pressed senior aides last June to devise and carry out a campaign to discredit senior FBI officials …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Booman Tribune, Common Dreams, Business Insider, Mother Jones, Palmer Report, Mediaite, Little Green Footballs, Hullabaloo, New York Times, Washington Press, Balloon Juice and Washington Monthly

CNN:

Frustrated by Russia investigation, Trump turns ire toward Rosenstein — Washington (CNN)Months after his reported effort to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, President Donald Trump is still fuming over the Russia investigation and has Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in his crosshairs.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, The Week, Palmer Report, Washington Press and WTVR-TV

New Yorker:

The Answer to Whether Trump Obstructed Justice Now Seems Clear — Most white-collar prosecutions turn on the issue of criminal intent. These cases involve behavior that would, in ordinary circumstances, be totally legal—if not for the intent of the defendant.

Discussion: National Review, Washington Post, NPR, New York Times, Washington Press, Politico, TVNewser, 89.3 KPCC, CNBC and Vox

Wall Street Journal:
Trump's Lawyers, Seeking Leverage in Russia Probe, Comb '90s Court Ruling

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Washington Examiner, New York Times, Axios, RedState, Washington Press, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:
Source: Strzok Hadn't Seen Evidence Of Collusion After 10 Months On Russia Probe

Discussion: Instapundit

New York Times:

The Follower Factory — Everyone wants to be popular online. — Some even pay for it. — Inside social media's black market. — Celebrities, athletes, pundits and politicians are buying millions of fake followers. — While the world's social media platforms look the other way.

more at Techmeme »

HuffPost:

Tronc Is Building A Shadow Newsroom Full Of Scabs, L.A. Times Staffers Fear — A mysterious new management team appears to be quietly building a non-union network. — As lunch was winding down Wednesday in the Los Angeles Times cafeteria, Bruce Upbin, one of several newly hired …

Discussion: Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »

Carolina A. Miranda / L.A. Times Guild:

Tronc execs need to come clean about their plans for the LA Times — Dear Colleagues: — As journalists, we demand transparency from the people we cover. As employees of the Los Angeles Times, we demand the same of the executives who run our company. — This week, various media reports …

Discussion: Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Bob Wojnowski / Detroit News:

Wojo: Michigan State mired in full-blown crisis of trust — The crisis at Michigan State keeps expanding and twisting, no longer only a horrific sexual-abuse scandal, or only a hunt for justice. For the school and whoever is left to lead, it's a crisis of trust.

ESPN:
OTL: Michigan State secrets extend far beyond Larry Nassar case

Discussion: CBS Denver, Detroit Free Press, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Shareblue Media, Mother Jones, CBS Detroit, The Comeback, WOOD-TV, Lansing State Journal, Balloon Juice, The Daily Caller, msuspartans.com, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Big Lead and The Ringer

Chris Solari / Detroit Free Press:
Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis steps down in wake of Larry Nassar scandal

Discussion: myfox8.com and TheBlaze

Tom Boggioni / Raw Story:

‘Scumbag and liar’: Ex-White House ethics chief hammers Trump apologist Jack Kingston for attacking Mueller investigation — During a CNN panel discussion on a report that President Donald Trump asked White House lawyer Doug McGahn to fire special counsel Robert Mueller …

NPR: Conservative Writer Says Republicans ‘Sacrificed Their Honor’ By Attacking FBI

Courier-Journal:

Reporter rushes to Kentucky school shooting - and learns the alleged gunman is her son … BENTON, Ky. — It was a journalist's worst nightmare. — The editor of the Marshall County Daily Online raced to the county's high school Tuesday morning after reports that shots had been fired.

Discussion: The Stranger …

Joe Sterling / CNN: Dad saw his son's socks as he raced to school shooting — and knew it was bad

Amy Sullivan / Politico:

Millions of Americans Believe God Made Trump President — If Donald Trump gets a little bored on his flight home from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he can always page through a book handed to him by a delegate not long after he arrived: “God and Donald Trump.”

Discussion: The Week

New York Post:

Michael Wolff's ugly, sexist smear of UN Ambassador Nikki Haley — UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, one of the Trump administration's brightest stars, has been forced to deny an ugly, sexist rumor fueled by sleazeball Michael Wolff. — On Bill Maher's HBO program, Wolff — author of a best-selling …

Discussion: Power Line

CNN:

Exclusive: Data shows Trump's DC hotel was pricier and emptier than peers in 2017 — Washington (CNN)Just a few months before President Donald Trump moved into the White House, his presence was already firmly established in downtown Washington, just a few blocks from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue …

Discussion: Shareblue Media

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

The G.O.P.'s Bonfire of the Sanities — Like Alexis de Tocqueville's “Democracy in America,” Richard Hofstadter's “The Paranoid Style in American Politics” is often cited but less often read, which is a shame because the landmark 1964 essay helps explain our times. Consider Ron Johnson, the Republican senator from Wisconsin.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

New York Times:

'It's a Massacre': Taliban Bomb in Ambulance Kills 95 in Kabul — KABUL, Afghanistan — A bomb placed in an ambulance set off a huge explosion on a busy Kabul street on Saturday, killing at least 95 people and injuring at least 158 others, Afghan officials said.

Discussion: The Atlantic and Common Dreams

BBC:
Kabul attack: Taliban kill 95 with ambulance bomb in Afghan capital

Discussion: Al Jazeera English, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller and The Week

CNN:
Taliban attacker driving ambulance packed with explosives kills 95 in Kabul

Discussion: ABC News

Maggie Astor / New York Times:

She Boarded a Plane to See Her Dying Mother. Then Her Ticket Was Canceled. — In a hospital in Minnesota, Carrol Amrich's mother was dying. — In Pueblo, Colo., a thousand miles away, Ms. Amrich was frantically trying to get there in time to say goodbye.

Discussion: Boing Boing

Ben Hubbard / New York Times:

Billionaire Saudi Prince, Alwaleed bin Talal, Is Freed From Detention — BEIRUT, Lebanon — Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Saudi Arabia's most prominent and flamboyant investor, has been released from detention in the Ritz-Carlton in the capital after he was arrested amid a sweeping crackdown on corruption …

Discussion: Reuters, Al Jazeera English, NPR and The Week, more at Techmeme »

Rhonda Colvin / Washington Post:

Some Americans are afraid to explore their own country, concerns that evoke the Jim Crow-era Green Book — It was the 1940s, and traveling to her parents' home town was not approached lightly after the family moved to Muskegon, Mich., during the Great Migration.

The Daily Beast:

RNC Silent So Far About Contributions From Steve Wynn After Allegations He Forced Women Into Sex … Just months after the Republican Party worked to tie Democrats to alleged serial sexual abuser Harvey Weinstein, the GOP's chief fundraiser has been accused of pressuring multiple women …