memeorandum: A Crank of the Far Right? (John Hinderaker/Power Line)

9:55 AM ET, February 18, 2016

Top Items:

CBS News poll: Trump maintains commanding lead over GOP field — Donald Trump (35 percent) continues to hold a commanding lead over the rest of the field, with a 17 point lead over his closest rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz (18 percent). John Kasich (11 percent) has now risen to a virtual third-place tie with Marco Rubio (12 percent).

Discussion: Politico, Political Wire and USA Today

Isaac Chotiner / Slate:

MSNBC's Town Hall With Donald Trump Was Disgraceful — The media's coverage of Trump has been soft, insufficient, and without substance. — Is Donald Trump in trouble? After facing hostile questions from Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Wednesday night—they comprehensively laid out his flip-flops …

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Mother Jones

CBS News:

CBS News poll: The next Supreme Court justice, Obama, and the economy — The U.S. Supreme Court — With an unexpected vacancy on the Supreme Court as a result of Justice Antonin Scalia's death, it's unclear if he will be replaced before the November election.

Discussion: Politico, mprnews.org, NBC News, Outside the Beltway, Political Wire and Washington Post

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Donald Trump Falls Behind Ted Cruz in National NBC/WSJ Poll — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has fallen behind Ted Cruz in the national GOP horserace, according to a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. — In the poll, Cruz is the first choice of 28 percent …

Michael Falcone / ABC News:

The Note: Palmetto Pummel

Discussion: Associated Press and abc11.com

Chris Kahn / Reuters:

Trump leads Republican field nationally by more than 20 points: poll — Donald Trump has taken a more than 20-point lead over U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in the Republican race for the presidential nomination, bolstering his position ahead of the party's primary in South Carolina on Saturday …

Discussion: Power Line

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Trump: I'll be ‘neutral’ on Israel and Palestine — GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Wednesday refused to pick sides in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. — “You know, I don't want to get into it,” he told hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski during a MSNBC town hall in Charleston, S.C.

Discussion: Hot Air

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

Trump Mistakenly Thinks Description Of Sanders Is About Himself (VIDEO) — During a Wednesday night town hall moderated by MSNBC's “Morning Joe,” co-host Mika Brzezinski described a “political outsider” candidate, and Donald Trump incorrectly guessed that she was describing himself.

Discussion: MSNBC and The Week

Janet Hook / Wall Street Journal:
Ted Cruz Overtakes Donald Trump in Latest Republican Presidential Poll

Discussion: Power Line, The Week, Mother Jones, RedState and The Resurgent

Mike Zapler / Politico:
Rubio holds ‘town halls’ — with no audience questions

Discussion: Associated Press, Slantpoint, American Bridge PAC and Talking Points Memo

Andrew Shain / The State:
Haley endorses Rubio for president

Eli Stokols / Politico:
Bush struggles to mask mounting frustration

Discussion: Washington Post, National Review, Guardian, BostonGlobe.com, Hot Air, Florida Politics, RedState and ABC News

David Lat / Above the Law:

Controversy Erupts At A T14 Law School Over How (Or Even Whether) To Mourn Justice Scalia — How should one respond to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a controversial figure within the law? One can imagine a range of possible reactions, from mourning and tributes to criticism …

Discussion: Althouse, Instapundit, Campus Reform, The Daily Caller and The College Fix

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

White House: Obama ‘regrets’ his filibuster of Supreme Court nominee — President Obama “regrets” filibustering the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in 2006, his top spokesman said Wednesday, though he maintains that the Republican opposition to his effort to replace Justice Antonin Scalia is unprecedented.

Discussion: Politico, CNBC, Power Line, The Daily Signal, The Week and CNN

Garrett Epps / The Atlantic:

The Republicans' Scalia Hysteria — A half-century ago, the brilliant British comedy troupe Beyond the Fringe produced “The End of the World,” a skit in which a group of cultists gather atop a mountain to greet the Apocalypse, prophesied for that very day. “Now is the end!” they chant.

Discussion: Prairie Weather and New York Times

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:
Summing Up Scalia — Getting right to the point:

Discussion: Balkinization

Kate Hudson / CBS News:
Ranch owner clarifies how he found Scalia amid conspiracy theories

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Hot Air, Friendly Atheist, AOL, Talking Points Memo, The Week, NBC News, The Atlantic, USA Today, Mashable and Right Wing Watch

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Literal Holy Crap: Glenn Beck Says Scalia's Death Part of God's Plan to Elect Ted Cruz

Discussion: CNN, addictinginfo.org and Raw Story

Eric Bradner / CNN:
Sandra Day O'Connor: Obama should name Scalia's replacement

Discussion: addictinginfo.org, Slantpoint and The Week

Scott Greer / The Daily Caller:
Glenn Beck: God Brought About Scalia's Death So America Would Vote For Ted Cruz

Discussion: Betsy's Page, The Last Refuge, Mediaite and Washington Post

Washington Post:
Why Justice Scalia was staying for free at a Texas resort

Discussion: Political Wire, The Hill, New York Magazine, Above the Law, Business Insider, Prairie Weather and The Week

Jamiles Lartey / Guardian:
Call for Obama to delay supreme court nomination is ‘absurd’, say legal scholars

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Times and Refinery29

Eliza Collins / Politico:
Obama to skip Scalia's funeral

New York Times:
Blacks See Bias in Delay on a Scalia Successor

Discussion: NBC News

Dan Guido / Trail of Bits Blog:

Apple can comply with the FBI court order — Earlier today, a federal judge ordered Apple to comply with the FBI's request for technical assistance in the recovery of the San Bernadino gunmen's iPhone 5C. Since then, many have argued whether these requests from the FBI are technically feasible given …

Shane Harris / The Daily Beast:
Apple Unlocked iPhones for the Feds 70 Times Before

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Apple's Stance Highlights a More Confrontational Tech Industry

Discussion: US News, The Daily Caller, Balloon Juice, Outside the Beltway, Refinery29, Independent Journal Review and Electronic Frontier Foundation

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Mainstream G.O.P. Field of Three Faces Brutal Delegate Math — If the Republican Party remains divided for much longer, it will start getting more difficult for a mainstream candidate to win the nomination. — Yet Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and John Kasich all have incentives to stay in the race …

Emily Smith / Page Six:

'Don't f-k with me': Hear Kanye's uncensored ‘SNL’ meltdown — Kanye West blasted Taylor Swift as a “fake ass” and called NBC staffers “white m— s” during his epic meltdown backstage at “Saturday Night Live. In an audio clip exclusively obtained by Page Six, Kanye can be heard repeatedly yelling at …

Discussion: CBS Philly, TMZ.com, Fox News Insider, Mashable, Gothamist, Consequence of Sound, The Daily Caller, Refinery29 and Just Jared

Bradford Richardson / The Hill:

Obama ‘Hope’ designer endorses Sanders — Artist and activist Shepard Fairey, who designed the iconic “Hope” poster during then-Sen. Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, is backing Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. — “I'm supporting Bernie Sanders …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Ben Shapiro / Breitbart:

Pope Francis Rips Capitalism, American Immigration Policy at Mexican Border — Pope Francis, apparently desperate to reach out to the Catholic Church's growing base in Latin America, spent the day slapping Americans in the face from across the US-Mexico border.

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:

Graham: GOP will get ‘slaughtered’ if Trump nominee — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) argued Wednesday that if Donald Trump is the GOP nominee, Republicans will get “slaughtered” in the November election. — Lambasting the outspoken Republican front-runner as an “opportunist,” …

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
Trump: Lindsey Graham a ‘disgrace,’ ‘nut job,’ ‘one of the dumbest human beings’

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, MARK-CM and Trail Blazers Blog

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

A Crank of the Far Right? — I have been vaguely aware of Milo Yiannopoulos for a while. He is a gay Brit who works for Breitbart News. Lately he has been embroiled in controversy on Twitter and on college campuses, but I hadn't paid enough attention to know what the fuss was about.

Discussion: Star Tribune