memeorandum: McMaster and Commander — Can a national-security adviser retain … (Patrick Radden Keefe/New Yorker)

5:20 PM ET, April 23, 2018

Top Items:

Kristine Phillips / Washington Post:

‘No credible sightings’ of Waffle House shooting suspect as manhunt continues, police say … Police continued their intensive search Monday for the 29-year-old suspected of opening fire at a Tennessee Waffle House and killing four people one day earlier. — The Metro Nashville Police Department …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Journal Star, USA Today, Townhall, Tennessean.com, Hit & Run, CNN, National Review, Daily Kos, VICE News and Splinter

Connor Sheets / al.com:

Outrage growing over black woman's arrest in Alabama Waffle House by white police officers — Censored: Saraland Police arrest woman at Waffle House, exposing her breasts — The treatment of a 25-year-old black Mobile woman who was arrested early Sunday morning inside a Waffle House …

Discussion: Vox, The Root, CBS News, The Guardian, theGrio, The Daily Beast, YouTube, ThinkProgress and Jezebel

New York Times:

'I'm Not a Hero,' Says Unarmed Man Who Wrested Rifle From Waffle House Gunman — For the latest on the Waffle House shooting, read Monday's live updates. — NASHVILLE — The young woman, bandaged and shrouded in bedsheets, began to cry when James Shaw Jr. walked into Trauma Room No. 26 on Monday morning.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, The Root, Political Wire, The Daily Caller and twitchy.com

Alex Horton / Washington Post:
Police wrestled a black woman to the ground, exposing her breasts in restaurant, video shows

Discussion: al.com, Eater and CBS Chicago

Christal Hayes / USA Today:
Waffle House suspect Travis Reinking deemed himself a ‘sovereign citizen,’ part of anti-government group

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice, Raw Story, Tennessean.com, CNN and Washington Post

Anita Wadhwani / Tennessean.com:
Woman gives birth in car outside scene of Waffle House tragedy, with employee assist

Discussion: Bearing Arms

Allison Klein / Washington Post:
Waffle House hero wrestled gun from shooter. The next day, he raised more than $24,000 for the victims' families.

Discussion: Hot Air, Wall Street Journal and Tennessean.com

Travis Fedschun / Fox News:
Waffle House shooter arrested, after cops say he stole BMW days before deadly rampage

Discussion: Tennessean.com, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Daily Wire

CNN:
Waffle House murder suspect Travis Reinking is now in custody

Discussion: ThinkProgress, National Review, Townhall, Washington Free Beacon, Mother Jones, The Guardian, Splinter, WNEP-TV and Louder With Crowder

Vernon Silver / Bloomberg:

Flight Records Illuminate Mystery of Trump's Moscow Nights — President denied overnight Miss Universe stay, Comey memos say — Jet landed on a Friday, left pre-dawn Sunday after pageant — President Donald Trump twice gave James Comey an alibi for why a salacious report …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Raw Story and Daily Kos

Bloomberg:

White House Deterring Republicans From Defending Pruitt, Sources Say — Republicans who fawned over EPA boss now sharpening criticism — Four Republicans and 170 Democrats said Pruitt should quit — White House officials are cautioning Republican lawmakers and other conservative allies …

Discussion: Political Wire, ThinkProgress and Talking Points Memo

CNN:

Trump ramps up personal cell phone use — (CNN)President Donald Trump is increasingly relying on his personal cell phone to contact outside advisers, multiple sources inside and outside the White House told CNN, as Trump returns to the free-wheeling mode of operation that characterized the earliest days of his administration.

Patrick Radden Keefe / New Yorker:

McMaster and Commander — Can a national-security adviser retain his integrity if the President has none? — When Donald Trump had a phone conversation with Vladimir Putin on the morning of March 20th, the two were at an excruciatingly delicate juncture.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, Raw Story, Booman Tribune, Politico and Axios

Victor Davis Hanson / American Greatness:

Respect Unearned — Washington's self-righteous establishmentarians talk of professionalism when they act unprofessionally. They refer at length to their intellectual and professional pedigrees when they prove incompetent. And they cite their morality and ethics when they possess neither.

USA Today:

Love him or hate him, Jeff Sessions is why Mueller's Russia probe is still on track — Thank Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller for running Justice and the Russia probe by the book despite extreme pressure from Donald Trump. — CONNECT — One of us is a supporter …

Discussion: National Review and Above the Law

Heidi Przybyla / NBC News:

John Bolton chaired anti-Muslim think tank — WASHINGTON — John Bolton, President Donald Trump's new national security adviser, chaired a nonprofit that has promoted misleading and false anti-Muslim news, some of which was amplified by a Russian troll factory, an NBC News review found.

Discussion: AOL, IJR, Media Matters for America, Splinter, Front Page Magazine, Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Trump's Re-Elect Figures Similar to Those of Obama, Clinton — WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. registered voters solidly believe that President Donald Trump does not deserve to be re-elected, by 59% to 37%. The percentage of voters who say Trump deserves re-election is essentially identical …

Discussion: National Review, RedState and Political Wire

Caleb Ecarma / Mediaite:

EXCLUSIVE: Joy Reid Claims Newly Discovered Homophobic Posts From Her Blog Were ‘Fabricated’ — Mediaite has obtained a series of homophobic posts from Joy Ann Reid's old blog that she denies were actually written by her. — In an exclusive statement to Mediaite, the MSNBC host claims …

Discussion: National Review, Sean Hannity, Breitbart and twitchy.com

Hank Berrien / Daily Wire: MSNBC's Joy Reid: Homophobic Posts On My Blog Were Made By ‘An Unknown, External Party’

Brett Samuels / The Hill:

First lady releases menu, details for Macron's state visit — The White House on Monday revealed the menu, entertainment and other details of the first state visit of the Trump administration in anticipation of the French president's arrival. — French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife …

Discussion: TIME, CNN and IJR

James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: Macron wants to be Trump's buddy. Can it last? Five flash points to watch.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Guardian, France 24 and Al Jazeera English

Chauncey Devega / Salon:

Pulitzer-winning reporter David Cay Johnston: “The evidence suggests Trump is a traitor” — Investigative reporter who has covered Trump for 30 years dares to imagine impeachment — and President Nancy Pelosi — The saga of President Donald Trump consists of several parallel and intersecting stories.

Discussion: Washington Press

Nataliya Vasilyeva / Associated Press:
Russian lawyer questions why Mueller hasn't contacted her

Discussion: IJR, Daily Wire, Politico and JustOneMinute

Josh K. Elliott / CTVNews:

Suspect in custody after van strikes people on Toronto sidewalk — Police have arrested a suspect after a white van mounted the curb and struck numerous pedestrians in Toronto. — The incident happened on Yonge Street south of Finch Avenue around 1:30 p.m. Monday, according to the Toronto Police Service.

Discussion: ABC News, Breitbart and Mediaite

Debbie Nathan / The Intercept:

How the Border Patrol Faked Statistics Showing a 73 Percent Rise in Assaults Against Agents — Last November, reports that a pair of U.S. Border Patrol agents had been attacked with rocks at a desolate spot in West Texas made news around the country. The agents were found injured and unconscious …

Discussion: Raw Story and Splinter

Anna M. Tinsley / Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Tarrant County judge pleads guilty, resigns after using fake signatures to get on ballot — Justice of the Peace Russ Casey pleaded guilty Monday to tampering with a government record and resigned after an investigation showed he turned in fake signatures to secure a place on the March 6 primary ballot.

Discussion: The Root and Raw Story

Dylan Matthews / Vox:

The myth of an ending: why even removing Trump from office won't save American democracy — It feels like this moment in history deserves a definitive ending. It won't get one. — When the president's lawyer is getting his office raided by the FBI, and his former national security adviser …

Karma Allen / Yahoo:

Starbucks' ‘unconscious bias training’ isn't enough, protesters say — Members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity rallied at a Starbucks in Philadelphia on Sunday after their fraternity brother, Rashon Nelson, was arrested there earlier this month in an incident the city's mayor called an example of racial profiling.

Discussion: TheBlaze, IJR, Daily Wire and twitchy.com

Elizabeth Djinis / Sarasota Herald:

Sarasota student makes racist prom proposal — Riverview High School says it is investigating. — SARASOTA COUNTY — A Riverview High student is under fire after using a racist sign to ask his girlfriend to the school's prom. — The sign, reading “If I was black, I'd be picking cotton …

Discussion: Raw Story and The Root

Washington Post:

How merchants use Facebook to flood Amazon with fake reviews — SAN FRANCISCO — On Amazon, customer comments can help a product surge in popularity. The online retail giant says that more than 99 percent of its reviews are legitimate because they are written by real shoppers who aren't paid for them.

more at Techmeme »

Sean Hannity:

Sean Hannity Responds to Latest Fake News Attack — It is ironic that I am being attacked for investing my personal money in communities that badly need such investment and in which, I am sure, those attacking me have not invested their money. The fact is, these are investments …

Discussion: USA Today, Daily Kos, Raw Story, CNNMoney, Splinter, Mediaite, New York Magazine and The Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

GOP candidates are now mimicking Trump's authoritarianism. That's ominous. … THE MORNING PLUM: — Around the country, Republicans embroiled in tough primaries are increasingly emulating President Trump — by echoing his xenophobia, his veiled racist appeals, his attacks on the news media …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, Salon, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hullabaloo and Bloomberg

Sam Stein / The Daily Beast:

Republican National Committee Spent $225K at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Resort Just Last Month — The Republican National Committee spent more than $224,000 at President Donald Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club in March, according to newly filed FEC reports. The expenditures, which were for rental …

Juliegrace Brufke / The Hill:

Keeping up with the cosmetics: Kourtney Kardashian to urge makeup reform on Capitol Hill — Reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian is set to make an appearance on Capitol Hill Tuesday to speak on cosmetics reform alongside Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. — (D-N.J.).

Andrew Khouri / Los Angeles Times:

Southern California home prices jump to a new record high — Southern California's median home price jumped 8.4% in March from a year earlier, setting a new all-time high, as hopeful buyers engaged in bidding wars over a limited supply of homes on the market.

New York Times:

Mueller Guides Us Through the Swamp — The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section. — The special counsel, Robert Mueller, has not yet presented evidence that the Trump campaign conspired …

Bloomberg:

U.S. Softens Stance on Rusal Sanctions; Aluminum Plunges — Mnuchin says U.S. is reviewing Rusal request to lift sanctions — U.S. statement adds pressure on Deripaska to give up control — The U.S. softened its position on sanctions against Russian metals giant United Co. Rusal, sparking a record plunge in aluminum prices.

Discussion: New York Magazine and Politico

Dan Rozenblum / pluralist:

Watch New York Bargoers Force ‘Nazi Scum’ Milo Yiannopoulos — Wondering where Milo Yiannopoulos had been lately? Well, on Sunday, he was getting shouted out of a New York pub. — The right-wing provocateur and former Breitbart News editor unwittingly walked into the lion's den.

Discussion: LGBTQ Nation, Raw Story and Mediaite

Joy Pullmann / The Federalist:

Christian Publisher Says Google Banned It Over ‘Faith We Express’ — Google ads has refused to do business with a Christian publishing house ‘because of the faith we express on our website,’ said CEO Bruce Kintz in a Facebook post today. — Google ads has refused to do business …

Associated Press:

Penn State says wilderness is too risky for outdoors clubs — STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — A near-century-old outdoor recreation club will now refrain from going outside because it is too dangerous out in the wilderness, according to officials at Penn State University.

Daniella Diaz / CNN:

2 more Democratic senators say they'll vote for Pompeo — Washington (CNN)Secretary of state nominee Mike Pompeo now has the support of three Democratic senators, after two lawmakers said Monday they'd back the CIA director to be the nation's next top diplomat.

Discussion: National Review, Townhall, RedState, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, The Daily Beast and USA Today

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:

Sarah Sanders: Dems have to decide if they love the US more than they hate Trump … White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said early Monday that Democrats must decide if they love the United States more than they hate President Trump — 's nomination to lead the State Department.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Raw Story, Townhall, Talking Points Memo and Splinter

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Democrats Have Great Female Presidential Candidates. They Need to Avoid the Victim Trap. — Last June, Senator Kamala Harris used a televised hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee to mercilessly dismantle Jeff Sessions, the attorney general. Sessions told the committee he could not answer …

Discussion: New Republic