memeorandum: John Cornyn Steps Up, Says He'll Spare the Whip (Abby Livingston/The Texas Tribune)

9:15 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: The Fiscal Times, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, Financial Times, National Review, Friendly Atheist, The Daily Caller, Little Green Footballs, Hot Air and Hit & Run

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

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

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

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: Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Betsy's Page, Telegraph, Raw Story and Joanne Jacobs, 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

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 Post, Washington Monthly, US News, Firedoglake, Hinterland Gazette and Althouse

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 …

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

Discussion: CNN, Guardian, Mediaite, Friendly Atheist, Hot Air, Bloomberg View, New York Times, Telegraph, Washington Post, Weasel Zippers, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Banter, The Huffington Post, TVNewser and Gawker

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

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

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

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

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

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, Friendly Atheist, 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: Vox, Gawker, Washington Free Beacon, Bloomberg and RT

Barney Henderson / Telegraph:
Paris Charlie Hebdo attack: live

Abby Livingston / The Texas Tribune:

John Cornyn Steps Up, Says He'll Spare the Whip … WASHINGTON, D.C. — For several years now, the most powerful Texan in Washington has been the Senate's No. 2 Republican, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. When Republicans took control of the Senate on Tuesday, he became even more so.

Discussion: ABC News

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

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, U.S. Senate Democratic … and Daily Kos

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, The Daily Caller and Daily Kos

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 …

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

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

San Francisco Chronicle:

IMAGE 1 OF 15 — Menus across the Bay Area were being hastily rewritten Wednesday after a federal judge struck down California's ban on foie gras, allowing restaurants to serve up the delicacy for the first time in two years. — U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson in Los Angeles ruled …

Discussion: Guardian, The Toast, New York Times, Reuters, Inside Scoop SF, PETA, Washington Times and Bloomberg Politics

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

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

USA Today:

People know the consequences: Opposing view — Why did France allow the tabloid to provoke Muslims? — Contrary to popular misconception, Islam does not mean peace but rather means submission to the commands of Allah alone. Therefore, Muslims do not believe in the concept of freedom of expression …

Discussion: Hot Air, PinkNews and Weasel Zippers

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

Jonah Goldberg / National Review:

The Dumbest 57 Seconds Ever On TV? — Adam Baldwin linked to this MSNBC clip with a succinct tweet “Spot the morons/cowards.” — All due respect to Adam, but his understatement is almost a scandal. We've posted a lot of incredibly stupid sound bites from MSNBC and other places around here …