memeorandum: The busboy who tried to help a wounded Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 dies. His life was haunted by the violence (Steve Lopez/Los Angeles Times)

1:05 PM ET, October 4, 2018

Top Items:

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 …

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Post, HuffPost, Splinter, No More Mister Nice Blog, RealClearPolitics, ThinkProgress, The American Conservative, Instapundit and The Daily Beast

Dow Jones Newswires:

White House Finds No Corroboration of Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Kavanaugh in FBI Report — It is unclear whether White House had finalized its review of FBI interview reports — WASHINGTON—The White House has found no corroboration of the allegations of sexual misconduct …

New Yorker:

The F.B.I. Probe Ignored Testimonies from Former Classmates of Kavanaugh — Frustrated potential witnesses who have been unable to speak with the F.B.I agents conducting the investigation into sexual-assault allegations against Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh …

James Roche / Slate:

I Was Brett Kavanaugh's College Roommate — There's Nothing Like Seeing a Headline About the President Inheriting a Fortune via Fraud and Knowing He'll Definitely Get Away With It — In 1983, I was one of Brett Kavanaugh's freshman roommates at Yale University.

Discussion: VICE, The Guardian, CNN, Common Dreams, Raw Story, NBC News, Splinter and Jezebel

Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:

As FBI background check of Kavanaugh nears its end, probe appears to have been highly curtailed — The FBI background check of Brett M. Kavanaugh appeared to remain curtailed in its scope Wednesday even as agents neared the end of their work, opening up the possibility that the bureau …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Splinter, The Week, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Daily Kos, Weekly Standard, Media Matters for America, Political Wire and Jezebel

New York Times:

The Senate Should Not Confirm Kavanaugh, Signed, 1,700+ Law Professors (and Counting) — The following letter will be presented to the United States Senate on Oct. 4. It will be updated as more signatures are received. — Judicial temperament is one of the most important qualities of a judge.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Times of San Diego, Lawyers, Guns & Money, BloombergQuint, Shareblue Media, Associated Press, Althouse, Common Dreams, Daily Wire, Roll Call, Politico, Axios, Mediaite, POLITICUSUSA, The Week and Outside the Beltway

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Flake: No corroboration for Ford's claims in FBI report — Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), a key swing Republican vote, said Thursday that a new FBI report on Brett Kavanaugh has failed to corroborate Christine Blasey Ford's allegation of sexual assault against the Supreme Court nominee.

Discussion: Townhall and Political Wire

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Is Kavanaugh Helping Republicans' Midterm Chances? — In midterm elections, with different candidates on the ballot in every state and district, it's rare to see the sort of sharp, turn-on-a-dime shifts in the polls that we frequently saw during the 2016 presidential election, for example.

Discussion: USA Today, The Federalist, The Root, Outside the Beltway and Daily Wire

Axios:

An October surprise: The Brett bounce — Top Republicans tell Axios that they're seeing a surprising and widespread surge in GOP voter enthusiasm, powered largely by support for Brett Kavanaugh and his Supreme Court nomination. — What they're saying: “The Kavanaugh debate has dropped …

Discussion: Townhall, National Review, NPR, The Federalist, Fox News, The Week, NTK Network and twitchy.com

Wall Street Journal:

The Never Conservatives — The Kavanaugh fight isn't about Trump. We're all deplorables now. — The Editorial Board — Donald Trump didn't help Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation with his crude mockery of Christine Blasey Ford on Tuesday night in Tennessee, but then this Supreme Court moshpit isn't about this President.

Discussion: Breitbart

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:

In The New Yorker, Ronan Farrow Disgraces Himself Once Again — At The New Yorker, Ronan Farrow ties himself and his reputation to another preposterous Jane Mayer effort, and thereby continues what has been a baffling self-immolation. One might have thought that, after the rank embarrassment …

Discussion: Politico and Raw Story

CNN:
Collins: “It appears to be a very thorough investigation”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Common Dreams and The Intellectualist

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Republicans Have Decided to Ignore All of Brett Kavanaugh's Lies

Discussion: Gothamist, The Week and Chicks On The Right

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

Discussion: Raw Story and The Federalist

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

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, HuffPost, CNN, Chicks On The Right, IJR, The Right Scoop, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Jezebel, Shakesville, Joe.My.God., Daily Wire and Daily Caller News Foundation

Brandon Morse / RedState:
It's Over: Flake And Collins Agree Kavanaugh FBI Report Is Good As Democrats Leave Chuck Schumer's Office “Stone-Faced”

Discussion: Mediaite

CNN:
Flake: “We've seen no additional corroborating information”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

John Bresnahan / Politico:
Manchin stays on the fence during Kavanaugh battle

Discussion: HuffPost, The Week, Associated Press, One America News Network, Talking Points Memo, Breitbart and Al Jazeera English

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
What's going on with that FBI investigation?

Discussion: ThinkProgress and USA Today

James Arkin / Politico: GOP struggles to put away vulnerable Dems in Senate battlegrounds

Phil Mattingly / CNN:
The single copy of the FBI's Kavanaugh report is behind closed doors. Here's what senators have to do to see it

Discussion: The Root

James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: How Senate Republicans could win the battle and the war on Kavanaugh

Discussion: Conservative News Today, New York Times and Breitbart

Washington Post:
Key Republicans signal satisfaction with FBI report, increasing confirmation odds for Kavanaugh

Discussion: Vox, Politico, ABC News, The Hill, CNN, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Breitbart, Daily Wire and IJR

Sohrab Ahmari / New York Post:
Democrats' Kavanaugh assassination is re-uniting the right

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Roll Call, The Resurgent, The Daily Beast, MacIver Institute, The Week, New York Times, The Right Scoop, Hot Air and TheBlaze

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:
In 2:30 a.m. tweets, White House says FBI report supports Kavanaugh confirmation

Discussion: Townhall, HuffPost and Talking Points Memo

Samuel Chamberlain / Fox News:
Democratic staffer arrested in doxxing of GOP senators during Kavanaugh hearing

Discussion: United States Capitol Police, Politico, Roll Call, Patterico's Pontifications, Townhall, Front Page Magazine, The Other McCain, Chicks On The Right, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze and Breaking911

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.

Discussion: Washington Post, New Republic, CNBC, Motherboard, The Guardian, VentureBeat, GeekWire, Chicago Boyz, Mashable, Gizmodo, Boing Boing, The Verge and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

The Daily Beast:

Russia's Global Hacking Op Busted, Seven Agents Indicted — Four GRU operatives who targeted the chemical weapons watchdog publicly outed while the DOJ indicts seven operatives. — Western governments joined forces to lay bare the inner workings of Russian military intelligence Thursday …

Discussion: Politico, consilium.europa.eu, One America News Network and GOV.UK

Charleston Gazette-Mail:

Local journalism makes a difference — Your support makes that possible — subscribe today — Your support makes that possible — subscribe today — Ken Ward Jr., an award-winning reporter at the Charleston Gazette-Mail and the Charleston Gazette for more than a quarter-century …

Colin Dwyer / NPR:
Here Are The Winners Of The 2018 MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grants

Discussion: New York Times

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

Jennifer E. Duffy / The Cook Political Report:

Senate: Rating Changes in Four Races — Two things tend to happen in the final weeks of an election cycle: a few races that we've been watching become more competitive while others that had the potential to become very close recede to safer columns for the party holding the seats.

David Lauter / Los Angeles Times:

Republicans face big risks in contested California races as Democrats fight for control of the House … Republicans are at risk of a wipeout in California's six most hotly contested congressional races, a new poll shows — a result that could radically reshape the state's political map, with major consequences nationally.

Steve Lopez / Los Angeles Times:

The busboy who tried to help a wounded Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 dies. His life was haunted by the violence — Juan Romero struggled for decades with a memory he could not escape. — He left Los Angeles and moved to Wyoming, later came back west and settled in San Jose, raised a family and devoted himself to construction work.

Daily Mail:

Latest From MailOnline … - A weary-looking Leland Keyser was seen for the first time since Christine Ford named her as a corroborating witness to claims Brett Kavanaugh attempted to rape her — Keyser, 52, whom Ford described as her ‘best friend’ at Holton-Arms preparatory school in Bethesda …

Discussion: twitchy.com

Aaron Elstein / Crain's New York Business:

If ‘Times’ is right, Trumps could face $400M state tax bill — The president is trustee to his parents' estates—which could put him in line to pay a bigger share — President Donald Trump and his siblings could owe New York state more than $400 million in unpaid taxes …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Bloomberg and Shareblue Media, more at Mediagazer »

Kyle Pope / Columbia Journalism Review:
The Times Trump investigation and the power of the long game

more at Mediagazer »

John Solomon / The Hill:

Russia collusion bombshell: DNC lawyers met with FBI on dossier before surveillance warrant — Congressional investigators have confirmed that a top FBI official met with Democratic Party lawyers to talk about allegations of Donald Trump-Russia collusion weeks before the 2016 election …

Discussion: Fox News, Politico, The Last Refuge and Columbian

Kelley Paul / CNN:

My husband, Rand Paul, and our family have suffered intimidation and threats — Sen. Paul's injuries worse than first reported — Kelley Paul is the wife of Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. — (CNN)An open letter to Senator Cory Booker:

Discussion: RedState, Townhall, IJR, The Resurgent and Washington Free Beacon

Los Angeles Times:

L.A. County deputies stopped thousands of innocent Latinos on the 5 Freeway in hopes of their next drug bust — The team of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies cruises the 5 Freeway, stopping motorists on the Grapevine in search of cars carrying drugs. — They've worked the mountain pass …

David Frum / The Atlantic:

The Republican Party Needs to Embrace Liberalism — The word liberal was one of the many casualties of the Vietnam era. — A generation before, Americans competed to own the term. Anti-New Deal Republicans like Senator Robert Taft claimed that they, not their opponents, were the “true liberals.”