memeorandum: Justice Department Charges Leaders of Megaupload with Widespread Online Copyright Infringement (The United States Department of Justice)

5:00 AM ET, January 20, 2012

Top Items:

Speaker Newt Gingrich and Mrs. Gingrich Release 2010 Income Tax Return and Gingrich Foundation Tax Return — Atlanta, GA - Today, Newt and Callista Gingrich released their 2010 federal income tax return, which they filed jointly with the Internal Revenue Service.

Discussion: Mediaite, Telegraph, Campaign 2012, The Page, Washington Post, CNN, Washington Wire and Taylor Marsh

Brian Ross / ABCNEWS:

Exclusive: Gingrich Lacks Moral Character to Be President, Ex-Wife Says — Newt Gingrich lacks the moral character to serve as President, his second ex-wife Marianne told ABC News, saying his campaign positions on the sanctity of marriage and the importance of family values do not square …

Jeff Poor / The Daily Caller:

Palin: ‘Dumb arses’ in media ‘overplayed their hand’ with Gingrich — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has now weighed in on the controversy surrounding an ABC interview with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's ex-wife, and Palin had some tough words for the media.

Discussion: Don Surber, Hot Air and Mediaite

A.Killough / CNN:

BREAKING: Romney calls Santorum — (CNN) - Mitt Romney made a “polite” phone call Thursday to rival Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum to “concede victory” in Iowa, according to Santorum's spokesman Hogan Gidley. — But Romney's team objected, saying his campaign didn't concede.

Discussion: msnbc.com, The Politico, The BRAD BLOG, The Daily Caller, Washington Post and Rush Limbaugh

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Romney's Incredible Luck Continues — Mitt Romney's run of luck during the Republican nominating race is beginning to defy belief. Begin with the fact that Rick Santorum turns out to have won the Iowa caucuses. Finding this out now is approximately 0.001 percent as valuable as having it announced the night of the caucuses.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Politico, msnbc.com, Big Government, The Reaction, Reuters, Political Mojo and The Daily Dish

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Limbaugh On Gingrich Cheating On His Ex-Wife: 'Newt's A Victim' — ABC News is planning to air a explosive interview tonight with Newt Gingrich's ex-wife — her first since 1999 — in which she reveals that the former Speaker asked her for an open marriage so he continue to see his current wife, Callista.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Rush Limbaugh, Gawker, Mail Online and Washington Post

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Gingrich Tied With Romney in South Carolina Forecast

Discussion: The Politico, Iowa Caucuses, CBS News, The Huffington Post, The Reaction, The Atlantic Online, Hit & Run, Hot Air, Shot in the Dark, Indecision Forever, The Stranger … and Washington Post

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Romney dodges question on releasing multiple years of tax returns

Discussion: The Politico

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Gingrich leads Romney on 1st night of tracking

Discussion: National, Talking Points Memo, Wake up America, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, FiveThirtyEight, Ballot Box, The Politico, The Impolitic, Firedoglake, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Taegan Goddard's … and The Daily Dish

The Hill:
Gingrich's attack on the media sets feisty tone for GOP debate

Discussion: The Politico, Los Angeles Times and ABCNEWS

Benjy Sarlin / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPM2012 — Newt: CNN ‘Despicable’ To Bring Up ‘Trash’ Open Marriage Story

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Seeing the Forest and Hullabaloo

Evan McMorris-Santoro / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPM2012 — Looking The Other Way: South Carolinians Yawn Over Newt ‘Bombshell’

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh and Indecision Forever

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Gingrich maintains 6 point lead

Discussion: Hot Air and Daily Kos

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Newt Gingrich cuts off media when asked about extramarital affairs

Discussion: Reuters, The Politico, CNN and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Steven Ertelt / LifeNews.com: Pro-Family Leader James Dobson Endorses Rick Santorum

James V. Grimaldi / Washington Post:
Marianne Gingrich, Newt's ex-wife, says he wanted ‘open marriage’

New York Times:
Debate Opens With Questions on Gingrich's Marriages

Discussion: Washington Post, FITSNews and The Caucus

Richard Adams / Guardian:
South Carolina Republican debate - as it happened

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Moderate Voice, The Politico and Daily Kos

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Palin Says Interview With Ex-Wife Will Help Gingrich ‘Soar’

Discussion: CBS News and The Political Carnival

Smitty / The Other McCain:
GOP MADNESS @ FINAL FOUR

Discussion: PJ Media, ABCNEWS, Washington Post and The Lonely Conservative

Wall Street Journal:
Fewer Debaters, Plenty of Heat

Discussion: The Politico, ABCNEWS, USA Today and Fox News

Zeke Miller / Politics:
Stephen Colbert To Hold Rally With Herman Cain In South Carolina On Friday

Discussion: Guardian, msnbc.com, Runnin' Scared, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake and Fox News

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

7 Charged as F.B.I. Closes a Top File-Sharing Site — The federal authorities on Thursday announced that they had charged seven people connected to the Web site Megaupload, including its founder, with running an international criminal enterprise centered on copyright infringement on the Internet.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Ars Technica, FP Passport, Scared Monkeys, Gothamist, msnbc.com, Gizmodo, Engadget and Media Decoder, more at Mediagazer »

The United States Department of Justice:

Justice Department Charges Leaders of Megaupload with Widespread Online Copyright Infringement — WASHINGTON - Seven individuals and two corporations have been charged in the United States with running an international organized criminal enterprise allegedly responsible for massive worldwide online piracy …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Stuff.co.nz, Guardian, The Verge, Threat Level, Law Blog, GigaOM, Washington Post, Pat Dollard, Big Government, Deadline.com, Techdirt, Gizmodo and Truthdig, more at Techmeme »

Sam Biddle / Gizmodo:

Anonymous Goes on Megaupload Revenge Spree: DoJ, RIAA, MPAA, and Universal Music All Offline — Anonymous has sure been quiet lately, but today's federal bust of Megaupload riled 'em up good: a retaliatory strike against DoJ.gov (and plenty of other foes) leaving them completely dead.

Discussion: rt.com, Gawker, The Gateway Pundit, TalkLeft, TechCrunch, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Caller and Unqualified Offerings, more at Techmeme »

Matthew Barakat / Associated Press:
Popular file-sharing website Megaupload shut down

Discussion: Company Town, Gizmodo, Washington Post, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Mashable!, Associated Press and BuzzFeed, more at Techmeme »

Devlin Barrett / Wall Street Journal:
FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

Discussion: Ars Technica, The Raw Story, TechCrunch, GigaOM, Law Blog and Kathy Gill, more at Techmeme »

Brendan Sasso / The Hill:
Feds shutdown file-sharing site one day after web protest

Discussion: The Politico

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Romney to Occupy protester: Go back to Russia — The Romney campaign is proudly circulating this video of Mitt Romney dressing down an Occupy Wall Street protester with this line: “America's right, and you're wrong.” — “GREAT VIDEO,” Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom Tweeted just now.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hullabaloo, Balloon Juice and ABCNEWS

Paul Werdel / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPM2012 — Romney Snaps At Questioner, 'America's Right, And You're Wrong!

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community

Robert J. Samuelson / Washington Post:

Rejecting the Keystone pipeline is an act of insanity — President Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity. It isn't often that a president makes a decision that has no redeeming virtues and — beyond the symbolism …

Discussion: Salon.com, The Huffington Post, Power Line, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Ron Radosh, The Heritage Foundation, Doug Ross, TransCanada Corporation Home and New York Times

Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:
Secretary Clinton won't testify on Keystone pipeline rejection

Discussion: The Politico and New York Times

OpenCongress:

Protect IP Act Senate whip count — This page is an OpenCongress community project. — We are seeking to get each U.S. senator on-record with their position on the Protect IP Act of 2011 (known as “whipping the vote” in DC-speak). By forcing votes out into the open …

Discussion: Threat Level, The Atlantic Online, Mashable!, Policy Blog, Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Raw Story, Taylor Marsh, CNET, Towleroad News #gay, Insert Coin, The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress and Daily Kos

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
SOPA Activism Moves Republicans More Than Democrats

Discussion: Techdirt, Althouse, Daily Kos, The Verge and CNET

Jennifer Martinezand Jonathan Allen / The Politico:

Senate Dems released from PIPA, sources say — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid won't whip Democratic votes for an online anti-piracy bill, according to sources familiar with his plans. — The decision deals a severe blow to movie, music and television producers, who had hoped to withstand …

Discussion: PolitickerNY and Guardian

Aaron D. Rubinger / Jerusalem Post:

Déjà Jew — Is European anti-Semitism different today or is there a feeling that we've been here before? — The term déjà vu brings to mind the English expression, been there, done that. The odd sensation of reliving something for the second time unnerves us precisely …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Atlas Shrugs

Reuters:

Exclusive: Senior al Qaeda figure killed in drone strike — A militant who acted as a senior operations organizer for al Qaeda was targeted and killed in one of two U.S. drone strikes launched against targets inside Pakistan last week, a U.S. official said.

Discussion: The Long War Journal, The Jawa Report and Weasel Zippers

Rosie Gray / Politics:

Rick Santorum: Attack On His Wife “Ugly, Cheap, Tawdry” — Santorum dismisses the flyers handed out after the Personhood USA forum as dirty politics. — Rick Santorum speaking in Mt Pleasant on Thursday. — MT PLEASANT, S.C. — Rick Santorum today blasted a pro-life critic …

Discussion: The Other McCain and FITSNews

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Herman Cain will deliver Tea Party response to the State of the Union — Herman Cain will deliver the Tea Party Express response to President Obama's State of the Union address. — Tea Party Express, a political action committee, announced on Thursday that the former presidential candidate would be the speaker.

Discussion: Indecision Forever and Hot Air