memeorandum: The junk science Republicans used to undermine Ford and help save Kavanaugh (Avi Selk/Washington Post)

5:20 PM ET, October 7, 2018

Top Items:

Emily Tillett / CBS News:

McConnell: Senate won't be “intimidated” by “mob-like tactics” of anti-Kavanaugh protesters — Fresh off the successful confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the vote showed the Senate “will not be intimidated” by what he called the …

Discussion: Political Wire

Max Greenwood / The Hill:

Dems see blue ‘tsunami’ in House as Senate path narrows — Democrats have a better shot than ever at winning back the House majority with 30 days to go before the midterm elections, but have seen their chances of taking back the Senate erode amid the controversy surrounding Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Discussion: Splinter and Breitbart

Quinn Scanlan / ABC News:
Many women saw Kavanaugh as unfairly accused, could be ‘our husbands, our sons’: Trump counselor

Discussion: IJR, The Daily Caller and Breitbart

Emily Zanotti / Daily Wire: WATCH: Leftist Protesters FREAK OUT, Claw At Supreme Court Doors While Brett Kavanaugh Is Sworn In

Morgan Gstalter / The Hill:
Trump on why he mocked Christine Blasey Ford: ‘I had to even the playing field’

Discussion: ABC News, ThinkProgress, Politico, Breitbart and Axios

Benjamin Wallace-Wells / New Yorker:
The Political Aftermath of the Senate's Final Kavanaugh Vote

Discussion: Politico

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
Kavanaugh was the ‘slut whore drunk’ of the Ford story, Sen. Lindsey Graham says

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

CBS News:
Susan Collins: Kavanaugh vote “ranks right up there” with the most difficult votes she has cast

Discussion: Mother Jones, New York Daily News, Jezebel and AOL

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Kavanaugh's confirmation gives the GOP its most power since the Great Depression

Discussion: ThinkProgress

CBS News:

Senate races: GOP up in Texas, Tennessee; Dems up in Arizona, New Jersey — CBS News poll — The battle for Senate control finds Democrats trying to mount upset challenges in a string of typically Republican states, and this round of Battleground Tracker polls shows them having at best mixed results so far.

Discussion: Breitbart

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

Portrait of a female GOP voter who could hand the House majority to the Democrats — LAKELAND, Tenn. — If Democrats capture at least the House, they'll owe the good fortune to Republican voters like Anna Smith. — The 40-year-old, college-educated mother of two young children is married …

Committee to Protect Journalists:

Bulgarian TV host Victoria Marinova raped and killed — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Bulgarian authorities to conduct a rigorous, thorough investigation into the killing of Victoria Marinova, presenter and administrative director for local television channel TVN.

Discussion: Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Martin Dimitrov Birn Sofia / Balkan Insight:

TV Host's Brutal Murder Shakes Bulgaria — Bulgarian police confirmed on Sunday that Victoria Marinova, TV host and administrative director of the local TVN, has been killed - after reportedly being raped and then strangled. — Victoria Marinova, the 30-year-old TV host and administrative director …

Discussion: The Guardian

Barbie Latza Nadeau / The Daily Beast:
Bulgarian Journalist Victoria Marinova Brutally Raped and Murdered

Discussion: European Federation …, One America News Network and France 24

New York Times:

Interpol President Is Detained by China and Has Quit His Post — The Chinese Communist Party announced late Sunday that the missing president of Interpol, Meng Hongwei, was under investigation on “suspicion of violating the law” and was “under the supervision” of an anticorruption watchdog tied to the party.

Discussion: Daily Caller News Foundation

Associated Press:

Wife says Interpol officer sent knife image as danger signal — LYON, France (AP) — The wife of a leader of international police agency Interpol made an impassioned plea to the world Sunday for help bringing her missing husband to safety, saying he sent her an image of a knife before he disappeared …

Discussion: HuffPost, Reuters and ThinkProgress

Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:

Why I'm Leaving the Republican Party — Unlike Senator Susan Collins, who took pages upon pages of text on national television to tell us something we already knew, I will cut right to the chase: I am out of the Republican Party. — I will also acknowledge right away what I assume …

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Susan Collins's Declaration of Cowardice

Discussion: NBC News, New York Times and Bangor Daily News

Robert Costa / Washington Post:
Defiant Republicans hope Kavanaugh fight will stoke their voters next month

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Politico, Axios and Fox News

Abigail Abrams / TIME:
‘These Things Always Blow Over.’ Mitch McConnell Confident Country Will Move Past Kavanaugh Fight

Discussion: Political Wire, CNN, Politico and thenewcivilrightsmovement.com

Wall Street Journal:

GOP Operative Secretly Raised at Least $100,000 in Search for Clinton Emails — Opposition researcher's efforts are of intense interest to investigators probing Russian election interference — WASHINGTON—A veteran Republican operative and opposition researcher solicited and raised …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

New York Times:

Limo Crash Leaves 20 Dead in Upstate New York; Accident Toll Is One of the Worst in Memory — SCHOHARIE, N.Y. — It was an intersection of two highways, one a steep downhill road, that residents had long warned was notoriously dangerous. — On Saturday afternoon, their worst fears were realized …

Discussion: The Guardian, Splinter and WHYY

Albany Times Union:

20 killed in Schoharie limousine crash — State Police confirm the number of dead as they work to notify relatives of the dead — SCHOHARIE - Twenty people died in Saturday's crash of a limousine in Schoharie County, a tragedy that unfolded outside a popular tourist stop that was filled …

Discussion: USA Today, New York Post, Breitbart, AOL and KFOR-TV

Blake Montgomery / BuzzFeed News:

Police Removed A Texas Yard Sign Showing A GOP Elephant With Its Trunk Up A Woman's Skirt — Police in Texas removed an anti-Republican political sign from a woman's yard Tuesday night last week, amid nationwide rancor over the Senate's vote on Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Discussion: Washington Post and Law & Crime

Jamal Khashoggi / Washington Post:

Read Jamal Khashoggi's columns for The Washington Post — Jamal Khashoggi, a veteran Saudi journalist, was killed in Istanbul after walking into the consulate of Saudi Arabia, according to Turkish officials. In a statement released Saturday, Fred Hiatt, The Post's editorial page editor …

Discussion: KTVQ-TV, Amnesty International, Common Dreams, Daily Caller News Foundation, Mondoweiss, Outside the Beltway, The Week and Middle East Eye

New York Times:
Turkey Demands ‘Convincing Explanation’ on Missing Saudi Journalist

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Reuters, Fox News, NPR, Committee to Protect … and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Brett Samuels / The Hill:

Nunes' hometown newspaper endorses opponent in midterms — The Fresno Bee on Sunday endorsed Democrat Andrew Janz over Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) in next month's election in California's 22nd Congressional District. — “Voters in the 22nd District... can elect a representative …

Fresno Bee:
For the good of the 22nd District and the nation, the choice is clear: Andrew Janz

Discussion: Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA

Avi Selk / Washington Post:

The junk science Republicans used to undermine Ford and help save Kavanaugh — The politically convenient, scientifically baseless theory that sexual assault so traumatized Christine Blasey Ford she mixed up her attacker is now something like common wisdom for many Republicans.

Discussion: HuffPost, Mother Jones, Townhall, Splinter, twitchy.com and POLITICUSUSA

Chris Cameron / New York Post:

Hamptons millionaires build luxe panic rooms to hide from MS-13 — There is a specter haunting the Hamptons — one that's turning some of the priciest properties in the country into fortresses equipped with bulletproof glass, weaponry and panic rooms. — “I sleep with a gun underneath my pillow …

Simon Denyer / Washington Post:

Pompeo has ‘productive conversation’ with Kim Jong Un in North Korea, attempting to set stage for second Trump-Kim summit — TOKYO — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spent several hours with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang on Sunday, later describing his talks as “productive” …

Matthew Lee / Associated Press: Pompeo cites progress made with Kim Jong Un on N. Korea trip

Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:
Pompeo Trip to North Korea Yields New Summit Meeting, South Korea Says

Discussion: Vox, US Department of State, Test Feed Using Fields and The Week

Jerusalem Post:

WEST BANK SHOOTING VICTIMS IDENTIFIED: KIM YEHEZKEL (29), ZIV HAJBANI (35) — Two of the victims, a man and woman in their 30's, were fatally wounded and later passed away and one, a woman in her 50's, was in moderate condition, according to Magen David Adom.

Isabel Kershner / New York Times: Palestinian Killed 2 Israelis in West Bank Attack