memeorandum: Pompeo's Message to Saudis? Enough Is Enough: Stop Qatar Blockade (Gardiner Harris/New York Times)

6:15 AM ET, April 29, 2018

Top Items:

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

Why Trump's snubbing of White House correspondents' dinner matters — Trump's thinly veiled attack on Wash Post — For a second straight year, President Trump is using the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner to wage his war on the reporters who cover him.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico, twitchy.com, RedState and The Gateway Pundit

Associated Press:

The Latest: Trump attacks familiar enemies, adds new targets — The Latest on President Donald Trump's Michigan rally Saturday night (all times local): — President Donald Trump is attacking familiar enemies and adding fresh targets for his scorn during a campaign-style speech in Michigan.

Discussion: NPR, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:

Michelle Wolf Mocks Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders to Their Faces at WHCD … Michelle Wolf was admittedly relieved when she found out President Donald Trump would once again be skipping the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner this year. — “The first thing I thought …

Discussion: CBS News, ABC News, YouTube and Raw Story

Quint Forgey / Politico:

Trump vilifies ‘dishonest’ press at Michigan rally — For the second consecutive year, President Donald Trump vilified the American press at a campaign-style rally orchestrated to effectively counter-program an annual dinner in Washington, D.C., celebrating the work of White House journalists.

Discussion: ABC News

Washington Post:

Trump rallies in Mich., touting economy and diplomacy and blasting media … WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — President Trump bragged about his economic and diplomatic accomplishments and savaged the media during a raucous rally Saturday before thousands of supporters in a state that is critical to his reelection hopes.

Discussion: Breitbart and AOL

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
White House Says Records Don't Match Accusation Against Jackson

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Federalist, Splinter, USA Today, Washington Press, Vox, Daily Kos and Outside the Beltway

Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media:

Nunes blames ‘radical leftists’ for his failing re-election campaign — With his congressional seat in danger, Devin Nunes is desperately blaming his own failures on imaginary boogeymen. — With his House seat no longer considered ‘safe’ by election forecasters, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) …

New York Times:

Trump's Role in Midterm Elections Roils Republicans — WASHINGTON — President Trump is privately rejecting the growing consensus among Republican leaders that they may lose the House and possibly the Senate in November, leaving party officials and the president's advisers nervous that he does …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Raw Story, Shareblue Media, Mediaite and Daily Kos

Aleksandra Appleton / Sacramento Bee:

Rep. Devin Nunes is no longer ‘safe’ in his race for re-election, forecaster says — The race for congressional District 22, held by longtime GOP incumbent Devin Nunes, has been downgraded from “safely Republican” to “likely Republican” by a closely watched political forecasting website run …

Discussion: The Hill

Gardiner Harris / New York Times:

Pompeo's Message to Saudis? Enough Is Enough: Stop Qatar Blockade — RIYADH, Saudi Arabi — As Saudi Arabia considers digging a moat along its border with Qatar and dumping nuclear waste nearby, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh on his first overseas trip as the nation's top diplomat …

Discussion: Informed Comment and ABC News

Lesley Wroughton / Reuters:
Pompeo starts Mideast tour with call for new Iran sanctions

Discussion: Axios

John Kass / Chicago Tribune:

Column: England's Baby Alfie and the politics of life — Supporters hang balloons and posters in support of British toddler Alfie Evans on a bus stop in Liverpool, north-west England on April 26, 2018. (Oli Scarff / Getty-AFP) — When we're having dinner as a family …

BBC:
Alfie Evans: Legal battle toddler dies

Discussion: Fox News, NBC News, Daily Wire, IJR, Hot Air, The Resurgent, TheBlaze, PJ Media Home and The Week

M.L. Nestel / ABC News:

Waffle House shooting hero raises almost $185K for victims — James Shaw Jr., the hero of the April 22 Waffle House shooting, has launched a campaign on a crowdfunding site to raise money for the victims of the deadly attack in a Nashville suburb. — Shaw initially wanted to raised $15,000.

Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:

MSNBC's Joy Reid Says, “I Genuinely Do Not Believe I Wrote Those Hateful Things” — The host says she doesn't think she wrote the posts, but admits they don't seem to have been hacked. — On Saturday morning, five days after Joy Reid was accused of authoring a series of homophobic blog posts …

Discussion: Fox News, CNNMoney, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Law & Crime, Scripting News, NBC News and Refinery29, more at Mediagazer »

Brent D. Griffiths / Politico:
Joy Reid apologizes for ‘hurtful’ LGBT comments, doesn't ‘believe’ she wrote anti-gay posts

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Sydney Brownstone / The Stranger:

City of Seattle Files Motion to Vacate Misdemeanor Pot Convictions — Following an announcement by Mayor Jenny Durkan in February, today the Seattle City Attorney filed a motion with the Seattle Municipal Court to vacate roughly 500 misdemeanor marijuana possession convictions between 1996 and 2010.

Discussion: The Root and The Hill

New York Times:

Shorebirds, the World's Greatest Travelers, Face Extinction — Dr. Fitzpatrick is director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Dr. Senner is a scientist who studies migratory shorebirds. — A worldwide catastrophe is underway among an extraordinary group of birds — the marathon migrants we know as shorebirds.

Discussion: Nature