memeorandum: Former ‘Onion’ editor: Freedom of speech cannot be killed (Joe Randazzo/msnbc.com)

10:45 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: The Daily Caller, Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality, Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Making Light, KFOR-TV 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: The Daily Caller, Friendly Atheist, Little Green Footballs, Hit & Run and National Review

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: National Post, Heavy.com, Mediaite, Roger L. Simon, Hit & Run, PUNDIT PRESS, The Daily Caller, ABC, Rule of Law, Agence France-Presse, The Gateway Pundit, The Intercept, Ed Driscoll and The PJ Tatler, more at Mediagazer »

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.

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

Ryan Broderick / BuzzFeed:

23 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: The Huffington Post, Weasel Zippers and The Mahablog

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: Hot Air, Mediaite, Washington Post, The Daily Banter, Weasel Zippers and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

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, NPR, Mediaite, Business Insider, Weasel Zippers, The Huffington Post and Reuters

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: The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, The PJ Tatler, Washington Post and US News, 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

Guardian:
Charlie Hebdo shooting: eleven dead at Paris offices of satirical magazine - live updates

Ross Douthat / New York Times:
The Blasphemy We Need — In the wake of the vicious murders …

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, New York Magazine, Weekly Standard, Hit & Run, Slate, TheBlaze.com, Washington Post, National Review, The Gateway Pundit and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:
‘Dangerous Moment’ for Europe, as Fear and Resentment Grow

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, The Daily Caller, US News and Hinterland Gazette

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

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

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

Discussion: Telegraph, NY Daily News, Mediaite, Gawker, The Daily Banter, The Huffington Post, Mashable and National Review

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

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

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

Discussion: Bloomberg, New York Times, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, BBC, Committee to Protect …, Friendly Atheist, Hot Air, Bloomberg Politics, Poynter, Gawker and Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

Barney Henderson / Telegraph:
Paris Charlie Hebdo attack: live

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

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

Discussion: Doug Ross

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

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

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

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

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 …, Addicting Info and ThinkProgress

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: RH Reality Check, Slate, The Hill and Feministing

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

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

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

Grassley sets timetable for Loretta Lynch hearings — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley plans to hold confirmation hearings for attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch in the last week of January or the beginning of February, an aide said Wednesday.

Discussion: National Review

Reuters:
U.S. denies Cuba resisting release of several prisoners on list

Discussion: Hot Air

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

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, Gawker and Feministing

Joe Randazzo / msnbc.com:

Former ‘Onion’ editor: Freedom of speech cannot be killed — When I was editor there, The Onion was located in the heart of Manhattan and the one person manning our front entrance was our petite, tattooed office manager, Jessie. She was the definition of unthreatening …

Discussion: Addicting Info, The Daily Banter, Guardian and Mediaite

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Ron Paul On Paris Attack: Bad Foreign Policy “Invites Retaliation” — “It's that overall policy which invites retaliation, and they see us as intruders.” — View Video › — Former Republican presidential candidate and congressman Ron Paul says bad foreign policy is to blame …

Discussion: RedState, Weasel Zippers and Mediaite