Zinke's Montana land deal with oil services firm executive is under scrutiny for possible criminal investigation.

Maddow, last night.  About 21 minutes.

WaPo's Margaret Sullivan October 29 column, "Voter suppression is a crucial story in America, but broadcast news mostly shrugs": https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/voter-suppression-is-a-cr...

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In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour and comedian Dave Chappelle, Stewart essentially credited President Trump for strategically manipulating the U.S. media. “I think the journalists have taken it personally,” said Stewart of Trump’s endless attacks on journalism over the past few years. “They’re personally wounded and offended by this man. He baits them and they dive in. And what he’s done well, I thought, is appeal to their own narcissism, to their own ego … and the journalists stand up and say, ‘We are noble, we are honorable, how dare you, sir.’ And they take it personally. And now he’s changed the conversation to not that his policies are silly or not working or any of those other things. It’s all about the fight.”

Amanpour pointed out that the abuse from the White House raises the “specter of violence.” To which Stewart replied, “But you’re not used to it. Think of the communities of color. Think of Muslims. Think of black communities, people … Think of the lives that they’ve been leading under this.”

Fair point — the experience of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria provides a tidy example of just this phenomenon. While news outlets cycled through the meretricious Trump mini-scandals following the storm’s 2017 blow to the island, deep coverage of the suffering there was scant. More robust, though, was the media’s response to the separation earlier this year of families and children at the border. Round-the-clock news reports documented every wrinkle of that crisis.

There is a weakness in Stewart’s argument, however. He attempts a distinction between Trump’s “policies” and his attacks on the media, when in fact his attacks on the media are his most consistent policy. Those attacks started in the first days of his campaign and have only intensified. Though he has publicly explored both sides of many traditional policy issues, he has been steadfast and undaunted in ripping the media for political gain.

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Erik Wemple, WaPo online column this afternoon

Plenty of questions lingered after the Oct. 6 confirmation of Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. A new one surfaced last week: What was NBC thinking?

On Oct. 1, as sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh reached their fevered height, NBC News aired an interview with his third accuser, Julie Swetnick. Her attorney, Michael Avenatti, had provided the Senate Judiciary Committee with her sworn statement alleging that when Kavanaugh was in high school, he and Swetnick had both attended parties where gang rapes occurred. Swetnick’s statement had strongly implied that Kavanaugh was among the perpetrators.

But during her NBC interview, Swetnick backtracked from her allegations. Now it emerges that NBC News was aware that there might be other serious problems with her story — but waited until Thursday last week to inform the public.

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Megan McArdle, WaPo today

Book review by David Quammen, online now @ NYBooks.com for Nov. 8 print issue of NYRB

[....] Evolution by natural selection, as Darwinians believed then, and had believed ever since Darwin stated it, moved “with extreme slowness" [....]

Menno Schilthuizen is a Dutch biologist based at Leiden University, in a country whose population is more urban than rural. In other words, he inhabits the future. His new book, Darwin Comes to Town, implicitly answers Hutchinson and Slobodkin—and Darwin himself—alerting us to contrary evidence about the pace of evolution. By watching the evolutionary play as it runs in urban theaters, not just wildish ones, Schilthuizen and some colleagues—you might think of them as postmodern biologists, making the best of highly urbanized twenty-first-century landscapes—have noticed that evolution’s tempo can be surprisingly brisk [....]

Transcript of podcast interview by Tim Alberta @ Politico Magazine, Oct. 30

[....] The chief strategist who steered Barack Obama’s winning White House campaigns worries that President Donald Trump has laid a trap—and that his party is walking right into it. “Escalation breeds escalation,” Axelrod said in an interview for POLITICO’s Off Message podcast. “And within the Democratic Party, I think there is a big debate about how to deal with Trump because he has no boundaries. He’s willing to do anything and say anything to promote his interests. It’s a values-free politics; it’s an amoral politics. And so, there is this body of thought that you have to fight fire with fire and so on. But I worry that we’ll all be consumed in the conflagration.”

Stressing that “civility actually is a really important element of politics,” Axelrod criticized Hillary Clinton and former Attorney General Eric Holder for recent comments they’ve made, and described the backlash he has faced for urging Democrats to avoid confrontation. The best way to defeat Trump, Axelrod argued, is by nominating someone who can appeal to an exhausted electorate.

“I don’t think people will be looking for a Democratic version of Trump,” he said. “I don’t think they’ll be looking for people who can go jibe for jibe and low blow for low blow. I think people are going to be looking for someone who can pull this country out of this hothouse that we’re in.” [....]

On Friday, the special counsel interviewed Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, about alleged claims Roger Stone made privately about WikiLeaks, according to people familiar with the session.

By Robert Costa, Carol D. Leonnig, Rosalind S. Helderman and Mauel Roig-Franzia @ WashingtonPost.com, Oct. 30

The special counsel investigation is pressing witnesses about longtime Trump ally Roger Stone’s private interactions with senior campaign officials and whether he had knowledge of politically explosive Democratic emails that were released in October 2016, according to people familiar with the probe.

As part of his investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III appears to be focused on the question of whether WikiLeaks coordinated its activities with Stone and the campaign, including the group’s timing, the people said. Stone and WikiLeaks have adamantly denied being in contact.

On Friday, Mueller’s team questioned Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, about claims Stone is said to have made privately about WikiLeaks before the group released emails that prosecutors say were hacked by Russian operatives, according to people familiar with the session [....]

By Eric Gardner @ CNN.com, Oct. 30

[....] Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, tweeted: "Congressman Steve King's recent comments, actions, and retweets are completely inappropriate. We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms, and I strongly condemn this behavior."

[tweet image]

A National Republican Congressional Committee aide said it was the growing volume of King's remarks, rather than a specific incident, that led to the unusual rebuke [....]

Written and directed by Barbra Streisand, who comments on the page: