memeorandum: House majority leader deletes tweet saying Soros, Bloomberg, Steyer are trying to “buy” election (Devan Cole/CNN)

9:20 AM ET, October 29, 2018

Top Items:

Joel Achenbach / Washington Post:

A conspiracy theory about George Soros and a migrant caravan inspired horror — Conspiracy theories are flourishing in America, from the Oval Office to the fever swamps of the Internet. They include the viral notion that the liberal 88-year-old billionaire George Soros …

Discussion: Daily Kos and Mother Jones, more at Mediagazer »

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

Fox condemns rhetoric used by Lou Dobbs guest as channel's star host faces growing criticism — (CNN)The Fox Business Network has a Lou Dobbs problem. — On Sunday, the network's senior vice president for programming, Gary Schreier, released a statement denouncing what many people called …

Discussion: TVNewser, Talking Points Memo, KRTV-TV, Hullabaloo and ThinkProgress

Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:

‘There Is Still So Much Evil’: Growing Anti-Semitism Stuns American Jews — Until recent years, many Jews in America believed that the worst of anti-Semitism was over there, in Europe, a vestige of the old country. — American Jews were welcome in universities, country clubs and corporate boards …

Discussion: The Guardian

Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:
Trump's Caravan Hysteria Led to This

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, KRTV-TV, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, New York Times, Quillette and New York Daily News

Jonathan A. Greenblatt / New York Times:
When Hate Goes Mainstream

Discussion: CNN, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Post and Politico

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
Trump has stoked the fears of the Bowerses among us

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Shareblue Media and Mediaite

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Trump's Ideology Is Anti-Semitism Without Jews

Discussion: Raw Story, Breitbart and Deadline

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Trump's America is not a safe place for Jews

Discussion: Raw Story, The Moderate Voice, Reason and Daily Kos

Washington Post:
Trump, GOP defiant amid allegations that incendiary rhetoric contributed to climate of violence

Discussion: Breitbart

Devan Cole / CNN:
House majority leader deletes tweet saying Soros, Bloomberg, Steyer are trying to “buy” election

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, Shareblue Media, Splinter, Salon, Mother Jones and Washington Post

Max Boot / Washington Post:
Ask the questions about right-wing terrorists that we ask about Islamist militants

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Slate and Raw Story

David Harsanyi / The Federalist:
The Left's Response To The Mass Shooting Of Jews Is An Act Of Bad Faith

Discussion: Breitbart, Betsy's Page, Algemeiner.com and Jerusalem Post

Morgan Gstalter / The Hill:

Jewish leaders tell Trump he's not welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounces white nationalism — A group of Jewish leaders told President Trump that he is no longer welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounces white nationalism following the shooting at a synagogue there over the weekend.

Discussion: The Week

Bend the Arc:

Letter to President Trump from Pittsburgh Jewish Leaders — We are the Pittsburgh affiliate of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice. — President Trump: — Yesterday, a gunman slaughtered 11 Americans during Shabbat morning services. We mourn with the victims' families and pray for the wounded.

Discussion: Washington Post, Splinter, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Reuters, DC Tribune, AOL, Boing Boing and HuffPost

New York Times:

For Trump, Dutiful Words of Grief, Then Off to the Next Fight — WASHINGTON — For months, Republican officials have complained privately that President Trump lacks the ability to confront moments of crisis with moral clarity, choosing to inflame the divisions that have torn the country apart rather than try to bring it together.

Discussion: Politico, HuffPost, New Republic, Washington Post, The Week, The Guardian and NBC News

New York Times:

Jair Bolsonaro Wins Brazil's Presidency, in a Shift to the Far Right — RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil on Sunday became the latest country to drift toward the far right, electing a strident populist as president in the nation's most radical political change since democracy was restored more than 30 years ago.

Discussion: The Guardian, FiveThirtyEight, Human Rights Watch, Splinter, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Jezebel and Mediaite

Andrew Fishman / The Intercept:

Jair Bolsonaro Is Elected President of Brazil. Read His Extremist, Far-Right Positions in His Own Words. — Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil on Sunday evening. The far-right candidate received more than 55 percent of valid votes. His opponent, Fernando Haddad of the Workers' Party, received less than 45 percent.

Discussion: VICE News US

Ryan Broderick / BuzzFeed News: Brazil's Election Is The End Of The Far-Right, Populist Wave. Now We Live With The Results.

Travis Waldron / HuffPost:
Brazil Elects Far-Right Authoritarian Jair Bolsonaro As President

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Breitbart and Jacobin

BBC:
Jair Bolsonaro: Far-right candidate wins Brazil poll

Discussion: Economist, New York Times, The Daily Caller and New Republic

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

9 hours of ‘Executive Time’: Trump's unstructured days define his presidency — President Donald Trump had about three times as much free time planned for last Tuesday as work time, according to his private schedule. The president was slated for more than nine hours of “Executive Time,” …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Emily Birnbaum / The Hill:

Hillary Clinton leaves door open for 2020 run: 'I'd like to be president' — Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during an event over the weekend left the door open to a possible 2020 run, saying that even though she doesn't want to run, “I'd like to be president.”

Discussion: Sputnik International, POLITICUSUSA and Breitbart

John Wagner / Washington Post: 'Well, I'd like to be president': Hillary Clinton sends mixed signals on a 2020 White House bid

Eric Johnson / Recode:
Full Q&A: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Recode Decode

Discussion: Townhall and The Gateway Pundit

Margi Murphy / Telegraph:

Twitter to remove ‘like’ tool in a bid to improve the quality of debate — Twitter is planning to remove the ability to “like” tweets in a radical move that aims to improve the quality of debate on the social network. — Founder Jack Dorsey last week admitted at a Twitter event …

Arne Delfs / Bloomberg:

Merkel to Quit as Party Chief as Her Chancellorship Wobbles — German leader makes dramatic concession to her party critics — Power waning after leading Christian Democrats for 18 years — German Chancellor Angela Merkel will quit as head of her Christian Democratic party …

Discussion: CNN and The Week

Andrew Gray / Politico:
Merkel to step down as CDU leader

Discussion: One America News Network

YouTube:

We Can't Go Back … Things are getting better - we can't go back! Learn how to vote now at: https://vote.donaldjtrump.com/ — This dramatic, high-quality ad depicts the new optimism of a working mom and the very real way that the future of her family is at stake in this election.

Greensburg Tribune-Review:

Synagogue victims Cecil and David Rosenthal remembered as loving, inseparable — Raye Coffey raised three children, but she could have been considered a surrogate mom, of sorts, for Cecil and David Rosenthal. — The brothers lived next door to the Coffeys in Stanton Heights and often could be found at the Coffey residence.

Discussion: Refinery29, NPR and CBS Pittsburgh

Josh Nathan-Kazis / The Forward:
Holocaust Survivor Cheated Death At Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre By 4 Minutes

Discussion: Snopes.com and The Week

Katy Waldman / New Yorker:
Trump's Response to the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting and His Obsession with the Word “Frankly”

Discussion: Althouse and The Daily Caller

Paul Sperry / RealClearInvestigations:

‘Nothing to Gain,’ Kavanaugh Accuser Raises Nearly $1 Million — During the crucible of Brett Kavanaugh's Senate confirmation hearings, Democrats repeatedly asserted that Christine Blasey Ford had “nothing to gain” by coming forward with her explosive accusation of attempted rape against the Supreme Court nominee.

Discussion: Power Line

Kate Kelly / New York Times:
Back at Georgetown Prep, Kavanaugh Is Hailed as a Hero

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Jezebel

New York Times:

American ISIS Suspect Is Freed After Being Held More Than a Year — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has freed an American citizen whom the military imprisoned without trial for more than 13 months as a suspected Islamic State member, United States officials said on Monday.

Victor Davis Hanson / American Greatness:

Caravan Contradictions — A “caravan”—the euphemism for a current foot-army of more than 10,000 Central Americans—of would-be border crossers has now passed into Mexico. The marchers promise they will continue 1,000 miles and more northward to the U.S. border, despite warnings …

Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press: Mattis: Military already moving equipment to southern border

Desmond Butler / Associated Press:

Russian held as agent studied US groups' cyberdefenses — WASHINGTON (AP) — A year before federal prosecutors accused Maria Butina of operating as a secret agent for the Russian government, she was a graduate student at American University working on a sensitive project involving cybersecurity.

Brianna Sacks / BuzzFeed News:

A Doctor Who Died In The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Helped Save AIDS Patients In The 1980s — Years ago, Michael Kerr penned a letter to his doctor, letting the physician know that he was doing ok, that the HIV medications Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz had nudged him to take were working, and thanking Rabinowitz for helping to save his life.

Washington Post: The lives lost in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

However the Midterms Go, the Republican Party Is Going to Get More Extreme — Politics since Donald Trump's election has felt like a static state of misery, as the president's approval ratings have been surprisingly stable and the only apparent variable has been each party's chances of gaining or consolidating power in the midterms.

Discussion: Althouse