memeorandum: Signal Mountain Man Planned Small Militia Unit For “High Casualties” … (Chattanoogan.com)

9:25 AM ET, February 7, 2017

Top Items:

Tara Palmeri / Politico:

White House rattled by McCarthy's spoof of Spicer — As the press secretary for a president who's obsessed with how things play on cable TV, Sean Spicer's real audience during his daily televised press briefings has always been an audience of one. — And the devastating “Saturday Night Live” …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Slot, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mediaite, Occupy Democrats, Refinery29, The Week, Eschaton, The Guardian and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, more at Mediagazer »

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Spicer: New York Times owes Trump an apology

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CNN, The Guardian, Raw Story, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God. and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:
Here are the 78 terrorist attacks the White House says were largely under-reported

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Mother Jones

New York Times:

President Trump's Real Fear: The Courts — When President Trump doesn't get what he wants, he tends to look for someone to blame — crooked pollsters, fraudulent voters, lying journalists. Anyone who questions him or his actions becomes his foe. — Over the past few days …

Discussion: NBC News, Boing Boing, Rewire, The Stranger …, The Daily Signal, Washington Times, Hit & Run, Washington Post and The Guardian

Rich Lowry / New York Post:

Sorry: Trump's immigration order is totally legal — MORE FROM: — If the law means anything, the Trump administration will succeed in overturning the so-called court ruling against its travel ban. — The nationwide stay of the ban issued by Judge James Robart, a Washington state-based federal district judge, is tissue-thin.

Sen. Chuck Schumer / Politico:
Neil Gorsuch Needs 60 Votes

Discussion: The Federalist and Daily Kos

Ariane de Vogue / CNN:
All eyes on 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in battle over Trump's travel ban

Discussion: CBS New York, Washington Post, The Hill, CNNMoney, The Week, The Guardian, AOL, New York Times, NBC News, Common Dreams, TheBlaze, The Atlantic, Raw Story and The Mahablog

Alan Rappeport / New York Times:

Andrew Puzder, Trump's Labor Pick, Admits to Hiring Undocumented Maid — WASHINGTON — Andrew F. Puzder, President Trump's pick to head the Labor Department, who has come under fire for criticizing worker protections, acknowledged on Monday that he previously employed an undocumented immigrant to clean his house.

Discussion: Political Wire

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:

Labor Nominee Andrew Puzder Has Another Problem: Undocumented Help — He did the right thing. And it could cost him. — Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post — WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's nominee to run the Department of Labor, Andrew Puzder, employed …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Week

Dan Merica / CNN:
Trump's Labor Dept. pick admits to employing undocumented worker

Discussion: The Last Refuge, The Week and The Atlantic

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Trump's suggestion that the media is ignoring terrorist attacks traces to a familiar source: InfoWars — President Trump made a whopper of a claim on Monday, suggesting that the media is deliberately ignoring terrorist attacks. — “It's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Occupy Democrats and The Atlantic

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
President Trump is now speculating that the media is covering up terrorist attacks

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Guardian, Occupy Democrats, Hot Air, Mediaite, Common Dreams, CANNONFIRE, ThinkProgress, The Atlantic, Politicus USA, Gothamist, Joe.My.God. and Lawfare, more at Mediagazer »

Tom Hamburger / Washington Post:

Melania Trump missed out on ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ to make millions, lawsuit says — A lawyer for first lady Melania Trump argued in a lawsuit filed Monday that an article falsely alleging she once worked for an escort service hurt her chance to establish “multimillion dollar …

Discussion: Politico, The Week, The Hill and Boing Boing, more at Mediagazer »

Julia Marsh / New York Post:

Melania sues Mail Online a third time for claiming she was an escort — More On: — Melania Trump has filed her third defamation lawsuit against the Mail Online over an August 2016 article that accused her of having once been a prostitute, arguing for the first time that the story ruined her …

Discussion: Business Insider, Occupy Democrats, ThinkProgress, Raw Story and Political Wire

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

Cotton and Trump plot crackdown on legal immigration — Overlooked in Donald Trump's campaign crusade against illegal immigration was his vow to crack down on legal immigration, too. — Now, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a reliable Trump ally, is taking steps to execute that part …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Axios and Political Wire

Emmarie Huetteman / New York Times:

Mike Pence's Vote on a Cabinet Nominee Would Be Historic — WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, call him the tiebreaker. — A vice president does not have much on his plate, as far as constitutional responsibilities go. He presides over the official count of electoral votes once, possibly twice …

Discussion: The Week

Gregory Giroux / Bloomberg: A History of the Rare Senate Tie-Breaker

NBC News:

Yemen Raid Had Secret Target: Al Qaeda Leader Qassim Al-Rimi — Exclusive: Top al-Qaeda Leader was Target of U.S. Raid in Yemen, Sources Say 2:40 — The Navy SEAL raid in Yemen last week had a secret objective — the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who survived …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Week, The Hill, TalkLeft and Political Wire

TMZ.com:

Kanye West — Deletes All Trump Tweets I'm Not with Him Anymore — Kanye West has scrubbed his Twitter account of all things Trump, and it's because he's super unhappy with the president's performance over his first 2 weeks in office. — Kanye had tweeted about Trump in a positive light after the election.

Discussion: AOL, NBC News, Gothamist, The Guardian, Occupy Democrats and Mediaite

Deena Zaru / CNN:
Kanye West deletes all tweets defending Trump meeting

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Ben Riley-Smith / Telegraph:

Exclusive: How Theresa May poked fun at the size of Donald Trump's hands — Theresa May has joked about the size of Donald Trump's hands at a private fundraiser as she made light of a photograph of the pair at the White House. — The Prime Minister's tongue-in-cheek remarks came after her visit …

Colin Moynihan / New York Times:

About 20 Rabbis Arrested During Protest Over Trump Travel Ban — About 20 rabbis affiliated with a liberal Jewish group were arrested on Monday night after blocking the street near the Trump International Hotel and Tower at Columbus Circle in Manhattan to protest an executive order …

Kelly Mclaughlin / Daily Mail:

‘Step up and speak out’: Hillary Clinton makes a rallying cry for women to rise up against the Trump administration as she speaks on video for the first time since the inauguration to say ‘the future is female’ — By , KELLY MCLAUGHLIN FOR MAILONLINE — Hillary Clinton said female leaders need …

Rachel Desantis / EW.com:

Lena Dunham: ‘Soul-crushing pain’ of Trump's election made me lose weight — Most people turn to diets and exercise to lose extra pounds, but Girls star Lena Dunham is sharing a new weight-loss trick you may not want to try at home. — Dunham stopped by Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show Monday morning …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review, twitchy.com, Fox News Insider, TheBlaze and Refinery29

Jason Horowitz / New York Times:

Steve Bannon Carries Battles to Another Influential Hub: The Vatican — ROME — When Steve Bannon was still heading Breitbart News, he went to the Vatican to cover the canonization of John Paul II and make some friends. High on his list of people to meet was an archconservative American cardinal …

Discussion: Millennial

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:

Trump's White House tries to rehab its Hill outreach — Kellyanne Conway, one of President Donald Trump's most prominent aides, trekked to Capitol Hill Monday morning on a diplomatic mission — to reassure the 100 or so Senate GOP communications staffers that Trump has no intention …

New York Times:

From ‘Repeal’ to ‘Repair’: Campaign Talk on Health Law Meets Reality — WASHINGTON — Asked at a confirmation hearing two weeks ago if he was working with President Trump on a secret plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, Representative Tom Price, Mr. Trump's nominee for secretary of health …

Discussion: Axios

Carrie Levine / Center for Public Integrity:

Secret money fueling pro-Betsy DeVos ad campaigns — Conservative groups making final push to save Trump's education secretary pick — Only 100 U.S. senators — not the general public — will vote to approve President Donald Trump's cabinet nominees. — But that's not stopping several …

Discussion: New York Times, NPR, MyNorthwest.com and ThinkProgress

Jim VandeHei / Axios:

Sorry! American politics will get worse — Donald Trump was a symptom, not the cause, of our cancerous politics — and the disease is metastasizing. — Signs of it spreading are everywhere. — In our politics: — There is no market for normal politics, much less compromise.

Eli Stokols / Politico:

What Steve Bannon Wants You to Read — The first weeks of the Trump presidency have brought as much focus on the White House's chief strategist, Steven Bannon, as on the new president himself. But if Bannon has been the driving force behind the frenzy of activity in the White House …

Discussion: The Week and Power Line

Brian Beutler / New Republic:

Never Believe the Republicans' B.S. Ever Again — Their silence on Trump reveals that their Obama-era sanctimony was fake. — It's forgotten history at this point, but the stunningly over-hyped Hillary Clinton email server controversy that ultimately cost her the presidency grew …

Discussion: Washington Post

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / New York Times:

Trump Seems to Side With Russia in Comments on Ukraine — WASHINGTON — President Trump cast doubt on whether Moscow is backing separatists engaged in the recent escalation of fighting in eastern Ukraine, appearing to side with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has long denied involvement …

Discussion: Boing Boing and Reuters

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:

On Russia, Trump Is a Code Pink Republican — After watching his interview on Fox News this weekend, it's worth asking whether President Donald Trump is now the leader of the Code Pink Republicans. — This is the term coined by the conservative author and radio host Mark Levin to describe …

Discussion: Hot Air

Chattanoogan.com:

Signal Mountain Man Planned Small Militia Unit For “High Casualties” Against Perceived U.S. Enemies, According To Trial Testimony — A Signal Mountain man planned to lead a small militia unit against groups he considered enemies of the U.S., according to testimony in the opening day of the trial of Robert Doggart in Federal Court.