memeorandum: Florida GOP in crisis as major donor threatens to pull money over guns (Caroline Orr/Shareblue Media)

10:30 PM ET, February 17, 2018

Top Items:

Alexander Burns / New York Times:

Prominent Republican Donor Issues Ultimatum on Assault Weapons — A prominent Republican political donor demanded on Saturday that the party pass legislation to restrict access to guns, and vowed not to contribute to any candidates or electioneering groups that did not support a ban on the sale of military-style firearms to civilians.

Discussion: Axios, Mediaite, Washington Press, Business Insider, Politicus USA, TheBlaze, Raw Story and Political Wire

David Ferguson / Raw Story:

Trumps went straight from Parkland to Studio 54- themed ‘disco party’ at Mar-a-Lago: report — President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump didn't spend overlong pondering the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Friday night, according to Mediaite.com.

Discussion: Mediaite and Politicus USA

Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media:

Florida GOP in crisis as major donor threatens to pull money over guns — “I will not write another check unless they all support a ban on assault weapons. Enough is enough!” — Republicans in Florida are facing a crisis after a Republican mega-donor threatened to cut off future contributions …

Caleb Parke / Fox News:

Florida Teacher of the Year's gun violence post goes viral after school shooting — A Teacher of the Year at a Florida middle school posted a Facebook message that has since gone viral saying parents need to “step up” when it comes to their kids' behavior. — “Okay, I'll be the bad guy …

Discussion: The Right Scoop, DEARLY and TheBlaze

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

The NRA donated $10,000 to help train the Parkland shooting suspect to use a rifle — Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old who charged with murdering 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, honed his marksmanship skills in a school program supported by the NRA.

Discussion: RedState, Task & Purpose, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, TheBlaze, New York Daily News, Associated Press, Law & Crime and Vox

New York Times:
Florida Agency Investigated Nikolas Cruz After Violent Social Media Posts

Discussion: RedState and The Capitolist

CNN:
CNN announces town hall with students, parents affected by Florida school shooting

Discussion: twitchy.com

ABC News:
Florida teen who survived shooting massacre rallies passionate crowd, 'It's time for victims' to change gun laws

Discussion: twitchy.com

Paula McMahon / Sun-Sentinel:
Nikolas Cruz was investigated after cutting himself on Snapchat, state report shows

Discussion: WPIX 11 New York and New York Times

Mary Ellen Klas / miamiherald:
Lawmakers agree to destroy site of school carnage: ‘This building has to come down’

Discussion: Your News Wire, IJR, Florida Politics and Daily Wire

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The students at Florida's Douglas High are amazing communicators. That could save lives.

Discussion: New Yorker, Politico, ThinkProgress and CNN

Dakin Andone / CNN:
These young survivors of the Parkland shooting give voice to a nation's outrage

Discussion: WTVR-TV, Shareblue Media, TMZ.com, fox13now.com and The Moderate Voice

Jerome Hudson / Breitbart:
Reporter Becky Griffin: Fewer Mass Shootings if More Babies Were Aborted

Discussion: Your News Wire, TheBlaze and LifeNews.com

Los Angeles Times: Horrified Florida students beg the adults: Please, do something about guns

Fox News Insider:
Florida School Shooting: Sheriff Judd Says Teachers Should Carry Guns to Prevent Violence

Discussion: The Right Scoop and IJR

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Trump's Conspicuous Silence Leaves a Struggle Against Russia Without a Leader — WASHINGTON — After more than a dozen Russians and three companies were indicted on Friday for interfering in the 2016 elections, President Trump's first reaction was to claim personal vindication …

Sophie Tatum / CNN:

McMaster: Evidence of Russian meddling is ‘now really incontrovertible’ — McMaster responds to Russian indictments — Washington (CNN)Evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 election is “now really incontrovertible,” White House National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said Saturday.

New York Times:

To Stir Discord in 2016, Russians Turned Most Often to Facebook — SAN FRANCISCO — In 2014, Russians working for a shadowy firm called the Internet Research Agency started gathering American followers in online groups focused on issues like religion and immigration.

Discussion: Mother Jones, BuzzFeed, Gizmodo, Joe.My.God., Mediaite, The Atlantic and CNN, more at Mediagazer »

Dustin Volz / Reuters:
Facebook plans to use U.S. mail to verify IDs of election ad buyers

Discussion: The Verge and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Michael Goodwin / New York Post:
Russian indictments prove Trump won fair and square

Discussion: Mediaite, The Last Refuge and The Daily Caller

Associated Press:
The Latest: Ex-Russian diplomat calls US charges ‘fantasies’

Discussion: ThinkProgress, IJR and ABC News

Amy Held / NPR:
McMaster Says Evidence of Russia Interference ‘Incontrovertible’

Discussion: New York Times, Los Angeles Times, 89.3 KPCC and Politicus USA

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Mueller's new indictments put the pressure on Trump to act

Discussion: Breitbart

Politico:
‘Something was weird’: Inside the Russian effort to bamboozle Florida

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, WBBH-TV and Political Wire

Bob Bauer / Just Security:

The Charging Mystery in the Russia Indictments—And Its Indication of What Comes Next in the Mueller Investigation — The special counsel's indictment of Russian individuals and organizations brought campaign finance law for the first time into formal charges in the case. But this development came with a mystery.

Discussion: emptywheel

emptywheel:
What Did Mueller Achieve with the Internet Research Agency Indictment?

Discussion: Law & Crime, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Vox, VICE News, The Daily Signal, The Verge, BuzzFeed and U.S. Department of Justice

Robert Barnes / Law & Crime:
Does Mueller Indictment Mean Clinton Campaign Can Be Indicted for Chris Steele?

Discussion: Power Line

Brandon Carter / The Hill:

Kushner requests more intel info than almost all White House staff: report — 's son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner — has reportedly requested more intelligence information than almost every other White House official. — The Washington Post reports that Kushner …

Discussion: Breitbart, New York Magazine, Hullabaloo, Axios, ThinkProgress, Vox, Joe.My.God. and Eschaton

Mike Allen / Axios:
We know nothing; Mueller knows all

Discussion: Politico and Washington Monthly

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

No Country for Young Men With AR-15s — Four years ago the essayist Helen Andrews wrote a critique, for the religious journal First Things, of what she described as “bloodless moralism” — meaning the decay of public moral arguments into a kind of a vulgar empiricism, a mode of debate …

Bret Stephens / New York Times: To Repeat: Repeal the Second Amendment

Remy Smidt / BuzzFeed:

The Florida School Shooting Suspect Snapped Into A Jealous Rage When Another Student Began Dating His Ex-Girlfriend — Former friends and classmates of suspected Florida high school shooter Nikolas Cruz said they received threats from him shortly after a breakup. — Reporting From Parkland, Florida

Discussion: RedState, Mediaite, thecut, IJR and Washington Post

Josh Lederman / Associated Press:

Joe Biden, in public and private, tiptoes toward a 2020 run — WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden is tiptoeing toward a potential run in 2020, even broaching the possibility during a recent gathering of longtime foreign policy aides. — Huddled in his newly opened office steps …

Bruce Riley Ashford / Fox News:

Mike Pence, Tim Tebow, Tony Dungy have all been ‘Christian Shamed.’ This ugly form of bigotry must stop — Is believing in God a sign of mental illness? Is praying a silly exercise in make-believe - just a big waste of time and a delusional activity? — I certainly don't think so, nor do most Americans.

Discussion: Breitbart