memeorandum: Girl, 8, pulls a 1,500-year-old sword from a lake in Sweden (BBC)

9:40 PM ET, October 4, 2018

Top Items:

Brett M. Kavanaugh / Wall Street Journal:

I Am an Independent, Impartial Judge — Yes, I was emotional last Thursday. I hope everyone can understand I was there as a son, husband and dad. — I was deeply honored to stand at the White House July 9 with my wife, Ashley, and my daughters, Margaret and Liza, to accept President Trump's nomination …

Kevin Wallevand / WDAY-TV:

EXCLUSIVE: Heitkamp reveals Kavanaugh vote and reasoning to WDAY News — FARGO — U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp will vote NO on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination. — Heitkamp sat down exclusively with WDAY News to share what she will do when the U.S. Senate votes …

Lulu Ramadan / mypalmbeachpost:

Retired Supreme Court Justice: Kavanaugh does not belong on high court — Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens on Thursday said that high court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, who Stevens once lauded in one of his books, does not belong on the Supreme Court.

Discussion: Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, The Intercept, The Hill, CNN, Chicago Sun-Times, Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Weekly Standard, Political Wire, Shareblue Media, The Gateway Pundit, Law & Crime, Joe.My.God., Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Townhall, Breitbart and Daily Kos

Charles Ludington / Washington Post:

We were Brett Kavanaugh's drinking buddies. We don't think he should be confirmed. — Charles Ludington, Lynne Brookes and Elizabeth Swisher attended Yale University from 1983 to 1987 with Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh. — We were college classmates and drinking buddies with Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Atlantic, Pacific Standard, Vanity Fair and ThinkProgress

Washington Post:

Vote ‘no’ on Kavanaugh — AS SENATORS prepare to vote this week on Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, they, and the rest of the country, must wonder: Which Brett M. Kavanaugh are they evaluating? Is it the steady, conservative jurist he was reputed to be before his confirmation saga?

Discussion: Political Wire, POLITICUSUSA, Conservative News Today and Outside the Beltway

Associated Press:

Sen. Steve Daines will be at daughter's wedding in Montana — Kavanaugh vote or no — Republican Sen. Steve Daines says he's going to attend his daughter's wedding back home in Montana on Saturday regardless of a possible weekend Senate vote on embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Discussion: Townhall, Political Wire, Roll Call, The Gateway Pundit and KTVQ-TV

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

For Once, I'm Grateful for Trump — In the president, one big bully stands up to others. — For the first time since Donald Trump entered the political fray, I find myself grateful that he's in it. I'm reluctant to admit it and astonished to say it, especially since …

Tal Axelrod / The Hill:

GOP senator may miss Kavanaugh vote for daughter's wedding — A GOP senator may miss a Senate confirmation vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh this weekend because his daughter is getting married on Saturday. — Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) will walk his daughter down the aisle …

Jordan Valinsky / CNN:

Time magazine puts Christine Blasey Ford on the cover — New York (CNN Business)Christine Blasey Ford is on the cover of this week's Time magazine. But it's not a photograph of Ford; it's an illustration of the words and phrases from her testimony arranged into a striking image of her taking an oath.

Discussion: TIME, twitchy.com, Axios, Mashable and The Daily Caller

Salt Lake Tribune:

Tribune editorial: Hatch attack on alleged witness is despicable — The despicable attack launched by Sen. Orrin Hatch and the Senate Judiciary Committee — more precisely, the Republicans on that committee — on one of the women who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh …

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Republicans' misogyny will come back to haunt them

Discussion: Hot Air, The Federalist, New Republic, LifeZette, Raw Story and Daily Wire

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Flake: No corroboration for Ford's claims in FBI report

Discussion: Politico, ABC News, Associated Press, Vox, Washington Post, Townhall, Conservative News Today, Breitbart, IJR, Raw Story, Daily Wire, Political Wire and Splinter

Ruth Graham / Slate:
The Kavanaugh Hearings Have Women Fired Up ... to Vote Republican

Discussion: Washington Post, The Federalist, The Atlantic and The Rush Limbaugh Show, more at Mediagazer »

David Corn / Mother Jones:
The Real Reason the White House Told the FBI Not to Interview Christine Blasey Ford?

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Hill, Kennebec Journal …, Common Dreams, Taylor Marsh and Daily Kos

Steven Nelson / Washington Examiner:
Former ACLU leaders blast ‘appalling’ anti-Brett Kavanaugh ad campaign

Discussion: RT

CNN: Cory Booker says report had “hints of misconduct”

Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story:
Trump supporter arrested for threatening to slaughter senators and their families for not supporting Brett Kavanaugh

Discussion: Ledger and The Intellectualist

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Here's a list of people the FBI did NOT interview. Okay with this, Flake and Collins?

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Daily Kos and Common Dreams

Megan Doyle / Press Herald: Maine women, including sexual assault survivors, converge on Capitol to sway Collins

Benjamin Fearnow / Newsweek:
GOP County Chair Shares Fake 1980s Christine Blasey Ford Picture, Suggests She's Too Ugly to Sexually Assault

Discussion: Law & Crime, The Intellectualist, Joe.My.God., HuffPost and Raleigh News & Observer

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Is Kavanaugh Helping Republicans' Midterm Chances?

Discussion: HuffPost, ABC News, The Hill, The Capitolist, Vox, Rewire.News, Daily Kos, BloombergQuint, Balloon Juice, The Root, The Right Scoop, Outside the Beltway, Bearing Drift and The Week

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:
‘Never Trumpers’ unite to back Trump's battle for Kavanaugh

Discussion: New Republic, Front Page Magazine, Vox, Breitbart and Instapundit

Howard Koplowitz / al.com:
Doug Jones says female staffers have been threatened by Brett Kavanaugh supporters

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Law & Crime

Kendall Karson / ABC News:
Kavanaugh latest: Sen. Collins, a key GOP vote, says FBI investigation appears ‘very thorough’

Discussion: HuffPost, RedState, Joe.My.God., IJR and Axios

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
How Jeff Flake's One-Week Delay Helped Clear Brett Kavanaugh's Name

Discussion: Shareblue Media, HuffPost, USA Today, National Review, New York Times, Washington Post, Townhall, Hullabaloo and Washington Free Beacon

NBC News:
FBI confidential Kavanaugh report handed to White House, Senate

Axios:
An October surprise: The Brett bounce

Discussion: Washington Post, Hot Air, CNN, Splinter, Bloomberg, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Conservative Intelligence …, Roll Call, NTK Network, twitchy.com, National Review and The Week

Haley Sweetland Edwards / TIME:
How Christine Blasey Ford's Testimony Changed America

Discussion: Mother Jones

Bloomberg:

The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies — In 2015, Amazon.com Inc. began quietly evaluating a startup called Elemental Technologies, a potential acquisition to help with a major expansion of its streaming video service, known today as Amazon Prime Video.

Fred Sainz / Apple:
What Businessweek got wrong about Apple

Discussion: Talking Biz News, Bloomberg and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

Rifts Break Open at Facebook Over Kavanaugh Hearing — SAN FRANCISCO — “I want to apologize,” the Facebook executive wrote last Friday in a note to staff. “I recognize this moment is a deeply painful one — internally and externally.” — The apology came from Joel Kaplan, Facebook's vice president for global public policy.

Discussion: Mashable, CNBC and Daily Caller News Foundation, more at Techmeme »

BBC:

Girl, 8, pulls a 1,500-year-old sword from a lake in Sweden — An eight-year-old found a pre-Viking-era sword while swimming in a lake in Sweden during the summer. — Saga Vanecek found the relic in the Vidöstern lake while at her family's holiday home in Jönköping County.

Lara Seligman / Foreign Policy:

Trump Considers Ousting Air Force Head Over Space Force Pushback — The president appears to be tired of Pentagon officials slow rolling his orders. — U.S. President Donald Trump is peeved with Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson over her handling of his directive to stand up a separate Space Force …

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Task & Purpose

Colin Dwyer / NPR:

Here Are The Winners Of The 2018 MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grants — What could possibly bring together a painter, an economist, a pastor and a planetary scientist? If you ask the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the answer is simpler than you may think: They've all shown creativity …

Discussion: New York Times

Charleston Gazette-Mail:
Local journalism makes a difference

more at Mediagazer »

Yonat Shimron / Religion News Service: Pastor and activist William J. Barber II wins MacArthur ‘genius’ grant

Andrew Seidman / Philly.com:

Alex Trebek apologizes for his performance as moderator of Pa. Gov. debate — Alex Trebek, the Jeopardy! host roundly criticized for his Monday night performance as moderator of the lone Pennsylvania gubernatorial debate this fall, apologized Wednesday, saying he had “failed to recognize the seriousness of the event for the voters.”

Discussion: HuffPost

The Daily Beast:

Democrats Fear the Party's Kavanaugh Obsession Could Backfire — Sensing a bump for Republicans, some strategists want to pivot if he's confirmed. Problem is the base may not be so ready to let it go. — With Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court looking more likely …

Discussion: Washington Post and Raw Story

Fox News:

Accused doxxer of GOP senators allegedly threatened to publish their children's health information — A Democratic congressional intern accused of publishing the private information of at least three Republican lawmakers allegedly threatened to leak senators' children's health information if a witness told anyone about his activities.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, LifeZette, Geller Report, Daily Wire and twitchy.com

Julián Aguilar / The Texas Tribune:

Beto O'Rourke on possible endorsement from Obama: “I don't think we're interested.” — Former President Barack Obama has endorsed nearly a dozen Texas Democrats so far this election year. But Beto O'Rourke isn't one of them. On Thursday the border Democrat said that was fine by him.

Discussion: Daily Wire

John Merline / Investor's Business Daily:

Trump, GOP Get A Big Kavanaugh Bounce — IBD/TIPP Poll — The Democrats' all-out attack on Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, which culminated in a blisteringly partisan hearing last Thursday, may have backfired on the party just before the November elections.

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau