memeorandum: F.B.I. Says Little Doubt North Korea Hit Sony (Michael S. Schmidt/New York Times)

8:45 AM ET, January 8, 2015

Top Items:

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: Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, National Review, The Daily Caller, Friendly Atheist, Little Green Footballs, Hit & Run and Hot Air

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: Voice of America, The Daily Caller, Roger L. Simon, Rule of Law, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Ed Driscoll, Agence France-Presse and The Intercept

Juan Cole / Informed Comment:

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

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: The Federalist, Althouse, Fact-Based, In-Depth News, Politico, Hot Air, Washington Center …, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller and The Dish, more at Mediagazer »

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

Europe Is Under Siege — The European Parliament complex in Brussels, where I happen to be sitting at the moment, is meant to be a monument to post-World War II continental ideals of peaceable integration, tolerance, free speech, and openness. All of these notions seem to be under attack at once …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Ricochet

George Packer / New Yorker:

The Blame for the Charlie Hebdo Murders — The murders today in Paris are not a result of France's failure to assimilate two generations of Muslim immigrants from its former colonies. They're not about French military action against the Islamic State in the Middle East, or the American invasion of Iraq before that.

Discussion: Guardian, Betsy's Page, Telegraph, Raw Story, Wall Street Journal and Joanne Jacobs, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

‘Dangerous Moment’ for Europe, as Fear and Resentment Grow — LONDON — The sophisticated, military-style strike Wednesday on a French newspaper known for satirizing Islam staggered a continent already seething with anti-immigrant sentiments in some quarters, feeding far-right nationalist parties like France's National Front.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, Washington Monthly, US News, Firedoglake, Hinterland Gazette, Althouse and New York Magazine

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: Weasel Zippers, The Huffington Post, The Mahablog and Taylor Marsh

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

The Blasphemy We Need — In the wake of the vicious murders at the offices of the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo today, let me offer three tentative premises about blasphemy in a free society. — 1) The right to blaspheme (and otherwise give offense) is essential to the liberal order.

Hadas Gold / Politico:
Internal CNN memo: ‘We are not at this time showing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons’

Discussion: CNN, Guardian, Hot Air, Bloomberg View, Mediaite, Washington Post, Weasel Zippers, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Banter, TVNewser and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

Associated Press:
FRENCH POLICE IDENTIFY 3 SUSPECTS IN ATTACK THAT KILLED 12

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, Reuters, Scared Monkeys, The Huffington Post, NPR, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, The Right Scoop and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »

Pete Williams / NBC News:
Confusion as French Hunt Magazine Attack Suspects

Discussion: New York Magazine, ABC News, The Other McCain, Heavy.com, Hit & Run, Mediaite and The PJ Tatler, more at Mediagazer »

Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:
Is Islam to Blame for the Shooting at Charlie Hebdo in Paris?

Discussion: Guardian, National Review, New York Magazine and Newseum

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:
Many Outlets Are Censoring Charlie Hebdo's Satirical Cartoons After Attack

Discussion: Guardian, Hinterland Gazette, Mediaite, ThinkProgress, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Commentary, The Huffington Post, The PJ Tatler, Telegraph, Talking Points Memo, US News, Daily Mail and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

The White House:
Statement by the President on the Attack in France

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, TPNN, Associated Press, Weasel Zippers, Hit & Run, Telegraph, Weekly Standard, White House.gov Blog, Fox News and American Spectator

Washington Post:
Charlie Hebdo stands solidly for free expression. The West must do no less.

Discussion: Gawker, Washington Free Beacon, Bloomberg, RT and NY Daily News

Amanda Taub / Vox:
Charlie Hebdo and its biting satire, explained in 9 of its most iconic covers

Discussion: The Dish, Telegraph and Washington Post

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

Discussion: Friendly Atheist, New York Times, Telegraph, Gawker, Associated Press, Mashable, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, Democracy in America and National Review

Barney Henderson / Telegraph:
Paris Charlie Hebdo attack: live

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

Discussion: Bloomberg, New York Times, Washington Post, Committee to Protect …, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Bloomberg Politics, Associated Press, BuzzFeed, Friendly Atheist, ThinkProgress, Daily Signal, Addicting Info, BarbWire.com and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

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: msnbc.com, FreakOutNation, U.S. Senate Republican …, ThinkProgress and Addicting Info

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:
Congress Introduces A National Abortion Ban On Its Very First Day Back

Discussion: Liberaland, RH Reality Check, Slate, Feministing, The Hill, Balloon Juice and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

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

Discussion: U.S. Senate Democratic … and Daily Kos

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Why the Republican Congress's First Act Was to Declare War on Math

Discussion: Democratic Strategist, The Huffington Post, Bloomberg View, The Mahablog, The Hill, Liberal Values, National Review, The Dish, The White House and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Scott Wong / The Hill:

Boehner defends retribution — A day after winning his third term as Speaker, John Boehner (R-Ohio) said his conference had begun a “family conversation” about how to respond to the 25 conservatives who revolted and voted against him on the floor. — Boehner confirmed that the Rules …

Discussion: Hot Air and Politico

Jake Sherman / Politico:
Boehner may let dissenters off the hook

Discussion: BarbWire.com, Daily Signal, Daily Kos and The Daily Caller

Bernie Becker / The Hill:

Support builds for medical device tax repeal — A bipartisan group of lawmakers predicted Wednesday that the House could repeal ObamaCare's tax on medical device sales by the end of March. — Republicans have pushed to roll back the tax for years, and have insisted for months …

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:

Neil deGrasse Tyson Gets a Late-Night Nat Geo Talk Show — Neil deGrasse Tyson is getting his own show. — The astrophysicist and TV personality, who fronted Cosmos in 2014, has nabbed a late-night series on National Geographic Channel called Star Talk. — “Cosmos allowed us to share …

Discussion: Joe. My. God., Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, Friendly Atheist, Mediaite, The Huffington Post and StarTalk Radio Show

Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:

It's All Right with Sam — Samuel A. Alito Jr. may be the least recognizable of Supreme Court justices. I doubt if one American in a thousand could pick him out of a lineup. Those who do know the name, if not the face, of the 64-year-old justice most likely lump him with the other conservatives …

Discussion: SCOTUSblog and Election Law Blog

Heather Haddon / Wall Street Journal:

Christie's Re-Election Campaign Gets Subpoena — Prosecutors Seek Documents Relating to Meetings Allegedly Canceled With Jersey City's Mayor — Federal prosecutors in New Jersey have subpoenaed Gov. Chris Christie's re-election campaign for documents relating to government meetings …

Discussion: susiemadrak.com and Politico

Gallup:

Story Highlights — PRINCETON, N.J. — An average 43% of Americans identified politically as independents in 2014, establishing a new high in Gallup telephone poll trends back to 1988. In terms of national identification with the two major parties, Democrats continued to hold a modest edge over Republicans, 30% to 26%.

Discussion: Washington Post

Steve Osborne / New York Times:

The N.Y.P.D. Protests: An Officer's View — ON Sunday, at the funeral of the slain New York City police officer Wenjian Liu, his grieving father described how his son would call him at the end of each day's tour of duty, just to let him know he was O.K. — This sort of habit is familiar to many cops.

Discussion: Unfogged