memeorandum: Alleged school killer Dimitrios Pagourtzis had a fondness for trench coats and a growing darkness (Washington Post)

10:50 AM ET, May 19, 2018

Top Items:

F.B.I. Used Informant to Investigate Russia Ties to Campaign, Not to Spy, as Trump Claims — WASHINGTON — President Trump accused the F.B.I. on Friday, without evidence, of sending a spy to secretly infiltrate his 2016 campaign “for political purposes” even before the bureau had any inkling of the “phony Russia hoax.”

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, Hullabaloo, The Week, The Last Refuge, Mediaite, Wall Street Journal, Law & Crime, Daily Wire and MSNBC

Washington Post:

Secret FBI source for Russia investigation met with three Trump advisers during campaign — A retired American professor in 2016 began working as a secret informant for the FBI as it investigated Russia's interference in the U.S. presidential campaign, and he contacted three Trump advisers …

Discussion: twitchy.com, Raw Story and CNN

Asha Rangappa / Washington Post:

The FBI didn't use an informant to go after Trump. They used one to protect him. — What the president doesn't get about counterintelligence. — President Trump and his allies are outraged at reports that the FBI used an “informant” to spy on Trump's 2016 campaign.

Discussion: NBC News, The Gateway Pundit, Consortiumnews.com, twitchy.com, RealClearPolitics, The Last Refuge, ABC News and The Atlantic

Washington Post:

The GOP's campaign against the FBI makes the nation less safe — IN THEIR paranoid partisan war on the Justice Department's Russia probe, President Trump's allies have been pushing for the dangerous disclosure of national security information, including information about a top-secret FBI and CIA informant.

Discussion: CNN, NPR and New Republic

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:

Cambridge Professor Spied On Trump Campaign Advisers — A top-secret CIA and FBI source who spied on two Trump campaign advisers and initiated contact with a third was all but outed Friday night. — The New York Times and The Washington Post provided a detailed description of the source …

Discussion: The Intercept, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Post

Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media:

FBI forced to take emergency steps to protect informant — from Trump — Desperate to undermine the Russia probe, Trump is now actively endangering national security and forcing the FBI to take emergency steps to mitigate the fallout from his push to expose a confidential informant.

Discussion: Power Line, CNBC, Hullabaloo and Salon

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Why Trump Tweets

Discussion: Associated Press

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Warner: Identifying FBI source to undermine Russia probe could be a crime

Discussion: RedState

Katie Bo Williams / The Hill: Talk of unproven FBI ‘plant’ in Trump campaign circulates among Republicans

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:

Fake Facebook accounts and online lies multiply in hours after Santa Fe school shooting … In the first hours after the Texas school shooting that left at least 10 dead Friday, online hoaxers moved quickly to spread a viral lie, creating fake Facebook accounts with the suspected shooter's name …

Discussion: The Guardian, Women in the World, Raw Story and Truthdig

Houston Chronicle:

Details emerge about victims, survivors of Santa Fe shooting — Rome Shubert was sitting in his first-period art class shortly before 7:30 a.m. Friday when another student barged in and threw something on the desks behind him. Rome heard three loud pops and dropped to the ground, flipping his desk in front of him to shield himself.

Washington Post: Alleged school killer Dimitrios Pagourtzis had a fondness for trench coats and a growing darkness

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
2018 has been deadlier for schoolchildren than service members

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Atlantic, twitchy.com, Little Green Footballs, Bustle, The Week, Common Dreams, HuffPost, Hit & Run, AOL and Bangor Daily News

Ben Shapiro / Daily Wire:
CNN Says There Have Been 22 School Shootings This Year. That's A Lie.

Discussion: Breitbart, No More Mister Nice Blog, NewsBusters, Conservative Review, Bustle and The Week

Naomi Martin / Dallas Morning News:

White, straight and Christian: Dallas County politician admits rewarding kids for marrying within race — Vickers “Vic” Cunningham, a former criminal district judge now in a runoff to be the sole Republican Dallas County commissioner, acknowledged Friday that in 2010 he set up a living trust …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Friendly Atheist, HuffPost and Raw Story

Dallas Morning News: We withdraw Vickers Cunningham recommendation in GOP runoff for Dallas County Commissioners Court Precinct 2

Katie Rogers / New York Times:

White House Keeps Details of Melania Trump's Health Under Wraps — WASHINGTON — This week, the first lady, Melania Trump, underwent a procedure for what the White House called a benign kidney condition. Four days into her recovery for the procedure, which experts say typically …

Discussion: Raw Story and CNN

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

In Politicized Justice, Desperate Times Call for Disparate Measures — FBI director Comey and the Obama Justice Department applied a double standard in their handling of the Clinton-email and Trump-Russia investigations. — We wuz robbed. That's the theme Democrats and their media allies …

Discussion: Instapundit

Martin Belam / The Guardian:

Stars line up to attend royal wedding — Royal wedding watchers treated to a parade of A-list celebrities from both sides of the Atlantic — In a wedding that has broken royal tradition in many ways, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have also surprised with some of the choices for their guest list.

CBS News:

Royal wedding: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle marry at Windsor Castle — live updates — It's the most anticipated wedding of the year: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will tie the knot today at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. — Harry and his brother and Best Man Prince William greeted cheering fans …

Discussion: BloombergQuint, NPR, ABC News, twitchy.com and East Bay Times

Associated Press: Prince Harry marries American bride Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle

Reuters:

Exclusive: Special Counsel subpoenas another Stone aide in Russia probe - sources — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed a key assistant of long-time Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone, two people with knowledge of the matter said, the latest sign …

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story, Breitbart, Axios, VICE News, The Gateway Pundit, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Washington Post:

Trump personally pushed postmaster general to double rates on Amazon, other firms — President Trump has personally pushed U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon.com and other firms to ship packages, according to three people familiar …

New York Post:

Protesters spite racist lawyer with live Mariachi band outside home — A Mariachi band triumphantly played at a protest Friday outside the home of the Midtown lawyer caught on camera hurling racist insults at Spanish-speaking restaurant workers. — More than 100 people gathered in front …

Kate Conger / Gizmodo:

Google Removes 'Don't Be Evil' Clause From Its Code of Conduct — Google's unofficial motto has long been the simple phrase “don't be evil.” But that's over, according to the code of conduct that Google distributes to its employees. The phrase was removed sometime in late April or early May …

Discussion: Political Wire and American Greatness, more at Techmeme »

The Daily Beast:

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, Texas Shooting Suspect, Posted Neo-Nazi Imagery Online … Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the suspected gunman who opened fire at a Texas high school on Friday morning, apparently posted photos of neo-Nazi iconography online, according to social media accounts flagged by classmates and reviewed by The Daily Beast.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, RedState, CBS Los Angeles, The Resurgent, Splinter, The Guardian, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, CBS Dallas, fox5sandiego.com, CBS News, New York Times and Shakesville

NBC News:
Shooting suspect Dimitrios Pagourtzis posted ‘Born to Kill’ T-shirt

Discussion: Heavy.com, New York Times, AOL, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon

Kate Brannen / Just Security:

Getting to the Bottom of the Trump Tower Meeting — Donald Trump Jr. has no memory of Rinat Akhmetshin attending the infamous June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting, even though he was apparently dressed entirely in pink, and according to at least one attendee, did most of the talking.

Discussion: Washington Post

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:
Russian-American Lobbyist At Trump Tower Meeting Described Knowing Hillary Clinton, Associates

Discussion: Daily Caller News Foundation and The Gateway Pundit

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
Congratulations, America, indeed

Discussion: Politico, CNN, New York Times and Sputnik International

Vann R. Newkirk II / The Atlantic:

The Real Risk of Trump's Dehumanization of Immigrants — “You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people—these are animals.” — That was President Trump earlier this week, when according to The New York Times he “lashed out at undocumented immigrants” during a meeting on so-called sanctuary cities.

Discussion: Vox, Breitbart and The Federalist

Renuka Rayasam / Politico:

Texas Democrats look to single-payer in congressional races — Democrats hoping to wrest congressional seats away from diehard repeal-and-replace Republicans are campaigning on an unlikely issue for Texas — single-payer health care. — Across the country, many Democrats are trying to minimize internal battles on health care.

Axios:

Shocking details emerge from China's re-education camps for Muslims — Researchers and reporters have been slowly uncovering the massive scale of political re-education camps housing members of the Muslim minority in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Western China.

Discussion: Instapundit

Callum Hoare / Dailystar.co.uk:

Mystery booms and lights throughout US spark secret WW3 tunnelling fears — THE US government is running a not-so-secret underground project and the unexplainable booms across the country prove it, according to wild claims online. — Kimberly Kempke, a concerned resident from Anderson Township …

Fred Lucas / The Daily Signal:

Pompeo to Unveil New Iran Strategy in Heritage Foundation Speech — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will present a “diplomatic road map” on Monday for pursuing a “new security architecture” for dealing with Tehran after pulling out of the multilateral Iran nuclear deal.

Juliegrace Brufke / The Hill:

House rejects farm bill as conservatives revolt — House conservatives tanked a GOP farm bill on Friday over an intraparty feud over immigration, delivering a stunning blow to Republican leaders as they try to find a path forward on immigration. — In a 198-213 vote, GOP conservatives …