memeorandum: The gunmen in Paris attacked more than a Muslim-baiting magazine (Tony Barber/Financial Times)

9:05 PM ET, January 7, 2015

Top Items:

Sharpening Contradictions: Why al-Qaeda attacked Satirists in Paris — The horrific murder of the editor, cartoonists and other staff of the irreverent satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, along with two policemen, by terrorists in Paris was in my view a strategic strike, aiming at polarizing the French and European public.

Discussion: Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, KFOR-TV, Washington Monthly, Making Light and The Dish

Bill / Catholic League:

MUSLIMS ARE RIGHT TO BE ANGRY — Bill Donohue comments on the killing of 12 people at the Paris office of the newspaper Charlie Hebdo: — Killing in response to insult, no matter how gross, must be unequivocally condemned. That is why what happened in Paris cannot be tolerated.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Daily Caller, Friendly Atheist, National Review and Hit & Run

New York Times:

Suspects Identified in Attack on French Newspaper, Charlie Hebdo — PARIS — The police organized an enormous manhunt across Paris on Wednesday for three suspects they said were involved in a brazen and methodical slaughter at a satirical newspaper that had lampooned Islam.

NBC News:

Paris Attack Suspect Dead, Two in Custody, U.S. Officials Say — One of the suspects in the Paris attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine has been killed and the two others are in custody, two senior U.S. counterterrorism officials told NBC News on Wednesday. — Authorities earlier had identified …

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, National Post, Hit & Run, Rule of Law, The Gateway Pundit, PUNDIT PRESS, ABC, Agence France-Presse, The Daily Caller, The Intercept, Ed Driscoll and The PJ Tatler

Guardian:

Charlie Hebdo shooting: eleven dead at Paris offices of satirical magazine - live updates — Eleven dead and four critically injured — Attackers on the run after firing on staff and police — ‘France in state of shock,’ says President Hollande from scene of attack

Ezra Klein / Vox:

Don't let murderers pretend their crimes are about cartoons — Yes, Charlie Hebdo was a magazine that delighted in controversy and provocation. Yes, it skewered religion and took joy in giving offense. Yes, the magazine knowingly antagonized extremists — Charlie Hebdo's web site …

Discussion: Hot Air

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:

Many Outlets Are Censoring Charlie Hebdo's Satirical Cartoons After Attack — News outlets shy away from publishing the controversial images of the paper's satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. — The cartoon of Muhammad that appeared on a 2011 cover of Charlie Hebdo.

Discussion: Hinterland Gazette, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Hit & Run, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, The PJ Tatler, Washington Post and US News, more at Mediagazer »

Ryan Broderick / BuzzFeed:

22 Heartbreaking Cartoons From Artists Responding To The Charlie Hebdo Shooting — Cartoonists from all over the world mourn in the wake of a Paris shooting that killed as many as 12 people, many of whom are members of Charlie Hebdo. — 1. David Pope … 2. Ruben L. Oppenheimer

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Mahablog

Associated Press:

FRENCH POLICE IDENTIFY 3 SUSPECTS IN ATTACK THAT KILLED 12 — PARIS (AP) — French police officials identified three men as suspects in a deadly attack against newspaper offices that killed 12 people and shook the nation on Wednesday. — Two officials named the suspects as Frenchmen …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Business Insider, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, New York Magazine, Associated Press, The Huffington Post, Reuters and The Moderate Voice, more at Mediagazer »

Amanda Taub / Vox:

Charlie Hebdo and its biting satire, explained in 9 of its most iconic covers — Masked gunmen on Wednesday attacked the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French magazine known for its biting humor — and, more specifically, for a string of satirical cartoons about Islam and the Prophet Muhammed.

Discussion: Telegraph, Washington Post and The Dish

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Internal CNN memo: ‘We are not at this time showing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons’ — CNN is not showing detailed images of cartoons from the Charlie Hebdo magazine that could be viewed as offensive to Muslims, CNN senior editorial director Richard Griffiths said in a message sent to CNN staff Wednesday afternoon.

Discussion: Washington Post, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, The Daily Banter and The Huffington Post

Tony Barber / Financial Times:
The gunmen in Paris attacked more than a Muslim-baiting magazine

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, TIME, National Review, Associated Press, Hot Air, Hit & Run, Slate and Questions and Observations, more at Mediagazer »

Daily Mail:
12 DEAD IN PARIS MASSACRE: Islamic gunmen execute French police officer as he pleads for his life …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, American Spectator, Flopping Aces, Business Insider, Friendly Atheist and The Jawa Report

Kim Willsher / Guardian:
Paris terror attack: huge manhunt under way after gunmen kill 12

Discussion: RT, CBS New York, Hot Air, Vox, The Huffington Post, Reporters Without Borders, The Dish, Telegraph, iotwreport.com and CBS DC, more at Mediagazer »

Kate Nocera / BuzzFeed:
Ted Cruz: Censoring Charlie Hebdo Cartoons “Unfortunate,” “Inconsistent” With Free Debate

Discussion: Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Hadas Gold / Politico:
News orgs censor Charlie Hebdo cartoons after attack

Discussion: Telegraph, Gawker, The Huffington Post, Mediaite, Mashable and National Review

BBC:
Charlie Hebdo: Gun attack on French magazine kills 11

Anne Penketh / Guardian:
Fight intimidation with controversy: Charlie Hebdo's response to critics

Discussion: Bloomberg, New York Times, Committee to Protect …, BBC, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Friendly Atheist, Poynter, Bloomberg Politics and ThinkProgress, more at Mediagazer »

Barney Henderson / Telegraph:
Paris Charlie Hebdo attack: live

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TIME, Guardian, NY Daily News, Da Tech Guy Blog, Reuters, US News, TheBlaze.com, Gawker, Twitchy, Mediaite and Press Association, more at Mediagazer »

Amir Taheri / New York Post:
Terror in Paris — the limits of appeasement

Discussion: Doug Ross

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:
Unarmed Paris Police Retreated From Terrorist Gunmen [VIDEO]

Discussion: Guardian, CBS News, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Gawker, The Huffington Post, Fox News Insider and Israel Matzav

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Why the Republican Congress's First Act Was to Declare War on Math — Budget nerds stood between them and their cherished tax cuts. — Shares — The first substantive act of the new, all-Republican Congress was a telling one: House and Senate leaders, now in partisan accord and able …

Discussion: The Hill, The Moderate Voice, The Mahablog, The White House, The Huffington Post, Keith Hennessey and Liberal Values

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:

Dems Respond To McConnell Taking Credit For Economic Growth: ‘Hahahahahahahahahahaha’ — The way Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sees it, recent good news on the American economy is directly linked to the fact that there's a new Republican majority in Congress.

Discussion: U.S. Senate Republican …, ThinkProgress, Addicting Info and The Moderate Voice

New York Times:
On Day 2, Senate Democrats Vow Aggressive Battle Against Republican Agenda

Discussion: Daily Kos

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
McConnell promises dramatic change

Discussion: Politico

Manu Raju / Politico:
Exclusive: Reid to tap former sergeant-at-arms as chief of staff

Discussion: New York Times and Washington Post

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Rove: Common Core is Jeb's ‘biggest challenge’ — Karl Rove says Jeb Bush's support for Common Core education standards will be the biggest obstacle he faces as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination. — “Common Core is, I think, the biggest challenge he faces,” Rove said Tuesday on the Fox News show “America's Newsroom.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Washington Monthly

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Chris Christie's Chances Are Overrated

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post and Hot Air

Roger Friedman / Showbiz411:

Exclusive: Bill Cosby Co-Star Tony Winner Phylicia Rashad Speaks Out for First Time, Defends Her Friend — EXCLUSIVE It was just happenstance: I ran into Tony winner Phylicia Rashad today at Paramount's super elegant lunch for the movie “Selma” at the Metropolitan Club.

Discussion: NY Daily News, USA Today, New York Times, Hinterland Gazette, Gawker, Feministing and theGrio

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:

Sen. Warren Blasts GOP Social Security Scheme — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is outraged by House Republicans' move to block a routine Social Security budgeting move to use as a bargaining chip in future entitlement reform negotiations. — On social media platforms Warren, in very clear terms …

Discussion: Off the Charts Blog, Hot Air, ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly and Addicting Info

Stephen Ohlemacher / Associated Press:
House rule sets up election-year battle over Social Security

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Daily Kos

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:

Congress Introduces A National Abortion Ban On Its Very First Day Back — House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio administers a re-enactment of the House oath to Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) — Republicans in Congress are wasting no time following through on the anti-abortion agenda the GOP laid …

Discussion: The Hill, RH Reality Check, Slate and Feministing

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:

ISIS Is Losing Its Greatest Weapon: Momentum — There was a time when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria appeared unstoppable. In September and October, as the jihadist group captured territory through a major offensive in Iraq's Anbar province, culminating in the fall of the town of Hit on October 13 …

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air and The Daily Beast

Jenna Levy / Gallup:

In U.S., Uninsured Rate Sinks to 12.9% — Story Highlights — WASHINGTON, D.C. — The uninsured rate among U.S. adults for the fourth quarter of 2014 averaged 12.9%. This is down slightly from 13.4% in the third quarter of 2014 and down significantly from 17.1% a year ago.

Discussion: Washington Post, US News, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos, Obamacare Facts and Politico

Ben White / Politico:

Jeb to come clean — Bush is willing to release decade of tax returns, associates say. — Getty — As he lays the groundwork for a likely presidential campaign, Jeb Bush is prepared to make an early disclosure of a decade or more of personal tax returns, according to people close to the former Florida governor.

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Business Insider and Balloon Juice