memeorandum: Google, Apple, Facebook, Uber plan to draft a joint letter opposing Trump's travel ban (Kara Swisher/Recode)

7:20 AM ET, February 2, 2017

Top Items:

No 'G'day, mate': On call with Australian prime minister, Trump badgers and brags — It should have been one of the most congenial calls for the new commander in chief — a conversation with the leader of Australia, one of America's staunchest allies, at the end of a triumphant week.

Discussion: NPR, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, Occupy Democrats, Mediaite, New York Times, The Diplomat, Mashable, The Last Refuge, Mother Jones, The American Conservative, The Week, Talking Points Memo and ABC

Vivian Salama / Associated Press:

TRUMP TO MEXICO: TAKE CARE OF ‘BAD HOMBRES’ OR US MIGHT — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump threatened in a phone call with his Mexican counterpart to send U.S. troops to stop “bad hombres down there” unless the Mexican military does more to control them, according to an excerpt …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Guardian, RedState, twitchy.com, Mediaite, Washington Times, Daily Kos, Politicus USA, Joe.My.God., The Moderate Voice and Balloon Juice

Christopher Woody / Business Insider:

Report: In a ‘humiliating’ and ‘threatening’ tone, Trump lambasted Mexico's president during a phone call — During a phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Friday, US President Donald Trump disparaged Mexico and threatened to use military force against the drug trade …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Guardian, AOL and Hullabaloo

CNN:

Refugee deal — The disagreement came as the two leaders discussed an agreement, reached under the Obama administration, for the US to accept refugees from Australia who are living on islands in detention centers off the mainland due to strict government policies.

Discussion: ABC News, Axios, NBC News, Q13 FOX News, The Guardian, The Times of Israel, The Week, Boing Boing, CBS Los Angeles and Mother Jones

CBS San Francisco:

Riot Forces Cancellation Of Yiannopoulos Talk At UC Berkeley — BERKELEY, Calif. (CBS SF/AP) — Protesters armed with bricks and fireworks mounted an assault on the building hosting a speech by polarizing Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos Wednesday night, forcing the event's cancellation.

Discussion: Grabien News RSS, Fox News, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, Heat Street, East Bay Times, The Other McCain, The Geller Report, Business Insider, CBS Pittsburgh, New York Times and NBC News, more at Mediagazer »

Public Affairs / Berkeley News:

Milo Yiannopoulos event canceled after violence erupts — Amid an apparently organized violent attack and destruction of property at UC Berkeley's Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, the UC Police Department (UCPD) determined it was necessary to evacuate controversial speaker Milo Yiannopoulos …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, KTLA, Refinery29, RedState, IJR, American Power and NPR

Steven Hayward / Power Line:
Today and Tomorrow at UC Berkeley (Updated)

Discussion: Breitbart

Ayesha Rascoe / Reuters:

U.S. military probing more possible civilian deaths in Yemen raid — The U.S. military said on Wednesday it was looking into whether more civilians were killed in a raid on al Qaeda in Yemen on the weekend, in the first operation authorized by President Donald Trump as commander in chief.

Discussion: Political Wire, Bloomberg, Mother Jones, Occupy Democrats and Oliver Willis

New York Times:

Raid in Yemen: Risky From the Start and Costly in the End — WASHINGTON — Just five days after taking office, over dinner with his newly installed secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, President Trump was presented with the first of what will be many life-or-death decisions …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice, Business Insider, Washington Post and The Week

Associated Press:
Trump makes unannounced trip to honor fallen Navy SEAL

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Occupy Democrats and The Guardian

Lawrence K. Altman / New York Times:

Donald Trump's Longtime Doctor Says President Takes Hair-Growth Drug — WASHINGTON — President Trump takes medication for three ailments, including a prostate-related drug to promote hair growth, Mr. Trump's longtime physician, Dr. Harold N. Bornstein, said in a series of recent interviews.

Discussion: The Guardian, The Week, Axios and Oliver Willis

Sarah Posner / The Nation:

Leaked Draft of Trump's Religious Freedom Order Reveals Sweeping Plans to Legalize Discrimination — If signed, the order would create wholesale exemptions for people and organizations who claim religious objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity. — By ,

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Joe.My.God. and The Stranger …

Rick Klein / ABC News:

Trump Executive Order Draft Could Curtail LGBT Rights — A draft of an executive order on “religious freedom” is circulating inside the Trump administration, outlining a potential weakening of protections designed to shield LGBT individuals from discrimination, according to a copy of the proposed order obtained by ABC News.

Discussion: Advocate

Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:

Neil Gorsuch Is Not a Villain — Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee is a rock-ribbed conservative who's difficult to oppose on jurisprudential grounds. — Neil Gorsuch, Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, is a brilliant, witty, handsome, eloquent, perfectly pedigreed judge.

Discussion: The Week, The Concourse, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, New York Times, Hullabaloo, Salon, The Hill and Outside the Beltway

Politico:
What Could Gorsuch Mean for the Supreme Court?

Chris McDaniel / BuzzFeed:
Trump's Supreme Court Pick Determined That A Badly Botched Execution Was An “Innocent Misadventure”

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Above the Law, Mediaite, CNN, IJR, Daily Kos, Denver Post, USA Today, The Crime Report, Bloomberg, Politico, Associated Press, Mother Jones, NPR, American Greatness and Hit & Run

Mark Hensch / The Hill:
Michael Moore to Dems: Block Gorsuch or face primaries

Discussion: Politico, TheBlaze, RedState, Raw Story, Infowars and twitchy.com

Bill McMorris / Washington Free Beacon:

GOP Defectors Have Received Thousands From Teachers Union — The two Republicans who broke ranks with their party and announced they would vote against education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos have received thousands of dollars from the nation's largest teachers union.

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, RedState and The Daily Caller

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Two GOP senators to vote ‘no’ on Betsy DeVos

Discussion: Politico, Power Line, Mediaite, Common Dreams, Liberal Values, Daily Kos, Booman Tribune, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Axios and Fox News Insider

Joel Rubin / Los Angeles Times:

L.A. federal judge orders a temporary halt to Trump's travel ban — U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr., in his prior job as the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) — A federal judge in Los Angeles has added another legal challenge …

Discussion: The Concourse, Hit & Run, KTLA and New York Times

Jennifer Medina / New York Times: Judge Orders U.S. to Let In Immigrant Visa Holders

Bloomberg:

Republicans Rebrand Obamacare Strategy From ‘Repeal’ to ‘Repair’ — Lawmakers advised to shift to friendlier Obamacare messaging — Some try out ‘repair’ as others stick with stronger words — Some Republicans in Congress are starting to talk more about trying to “repair” Obamacare …

Discussion: Politicus USA

Peter Sullivan / The Hill:
GOP talk shifts from replacing ObamaCare to repairing it

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Mother Jones

Nik DeCosta-Klipa / Boston Globe:

Read the full transcript of President Trump's unusual Black History Month remarks here — President Donald Trump raised more than a few eyebrows with his remarks Wednesday — the first day of Black History Month — during an “African American History Month Listening Session” at the White House.

Discussion: Toronto Star, The Guardian and IJR

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
Donald Trump's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Discussion: Marginal REVOLUTION, Mediaite and Cafe Hayek, more at Mediagazer »

Hamilton Nolan / The Concourse:
A Full Transcript Of Donald Trump's Black History Month Remarks

Discussion: New York Times, Balloon Juice, Mediaite, Vox, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, Shakesville, theGrio and Common Dreams

Reuters:

Exclusive: Trump to focus counter-extremism program solely on Islam - sources — The Trump administration wants to revamp and rename a U.S. government program designed to counter all violent ideologies so that it focuses solely on Islamist extremism, five people briefed on the matter told Reuters.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Gizmodo, Occupy Democrats, ThinkProgress, Washington Times and Talking Points Memo

Kara Swisher / Recode:

Google, Apple, Facebook, Uber plan to draft a joint letter opposing Trump's travel ban — It's the first joint effort from big U.S. businesses to try to support immigration. — Alphabet, Apple, Facebook, Uber, Stripe, along with a consumer packaged goods company and others are working together …

Discussion: The Next Web, Business Insider, Axios, CBS Los Angeles and Washington Times

Matt Stevens / Los Angeles Times:

Witnesses describe chaotic, terrifying scene of stabbing rampage in Hollywood — A stabbing and police shooting were reported in Hollywood on Tuesday afternoon. By Luis Sinco and Brain van der Brug / Los Angeles Times — Witnesses described a chaotic scene Tuesday when a knife-wielding man went …

Discussion: Hit & Run and KTLA

WJBK-TV:

Man who claimed mom died in Iraq after Trump's ban lied, Imam confirms — DETROIT (WJBK) - The leader of a mosque in Dearborn has confirmed to FOX 2 that a man who claimed his mother died in Iraq after being barred from returning to the United States under a ban instituted by President Trump this weekend …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, IJR, Washington Post, TheBlaze, AOL, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, theGrio, twitchy.com, RedState, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon, Heat Street, Hit & Run and The American Conservative

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Anthony Scaramucci Won't Join White House, Official Says — WASHINGTON — Anthony Scaramucci, an investment firm founder and a Republican donor, will not be taking a senior job at the White House as previously announced, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

Discussion: Washington Post

Gardiner Harris / New York Times:

Rex Tillerson Is Confirmed as Secretary of State Amid Record Opposition — WASHINGTON — Rex W. Tillerson, the former chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, was confirmed by the Senate on Wednesday in a 56-to-43 vote to become the nation's 69th secretary of state just as serious strains …