memeorandum: Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to UN, dies suddenly at 64 (CNN)

3:35 PM ET, February 20, 2017

Top Items:

Milo Yiannopoulos / Facebook:

I am a gay man, and a child abuse victim. — I would like to restate my utter disgust at adults who sexually abuse minors. I am horrified by pedophilia and I have devoted large portions of my career as a journalist to exposing child abusers. I've outed three of them, in fact -\-\ three more than most of my critics.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, New York Magazine and RedState, more at Mediagazer »

Milo Yiannopoulos / Facebook:

A note for idiots (UPDATED): — I do not support pedophilia. Period. It is a vile and disgusting crime, perhaps the very worst. There are selectively edited videos doing the rounds, as part of a co-ordinated effort to discredit me from establishment Republicans, that suggest I am soft on the subject.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Daily News, RedState, AOL, Vox Popoli, Mediaite, The Guardian, IJR, The Daily Caller, Slate, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Stranger …, Joe.My.God., BizPac Review and twitchy.com

The Daily Beast:

CPAC Disinvites Milo Yiannopoulos, Despite His Attempt at Contrition — Milo Yiannopoulos, the conservative provocateur and face of the alt-right, has been disinvited from the Conservative Political Action Conference after a recording surfaced where he appeared to defend pedophilia.

Discussion: Morning Consult, RedState, Joe.My.God., The Resurgent, BizPac Review and Washington Free Beacon

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:

Milo Yiannopoulos disinvited from CPAC slot amid tape controversy — Milo Yiannopoulos lost his keynote speaking slot at the Conservative Political Action Conference after tapes surfaced of the right wing provocateur and senior Breitbart editor advocating for sexual relationships between “younger boys and older men.”

Discussion: ABC News and The Week

Margaret Hartmann / New York Magazine:
CPAC Blasted for Milo Yiannopoulos Invite After Pedophilia Remarks Resurface

Discussion: RedState, Walid Shoebat, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit, Towleroad, Mediaite, AOL, Axios, Joe.My.God., Patterico's Pontifications, TheBlaze, Vox and The Root, more at Mediagazer »

Leon Wolf / TheBlaze:
ACU board bewildered by Milo Yiannopoulos CPAC invitation, may revolt at this week's meeting

Discussion: RedState, Mediaite, Hit & Run, The Resurgent, Raw Story, ThinkProgress, Red Alert Politics and Political Wire

Max Greenwood / The Hill:
CNN's Tapper blasts CPAC for Milo Yiannopoulos invite

Discussion: RedState, Breitbart, Townhall.com, TheBlaze, FOX2now.com and Hot Air

DN.SE:

Swedish police featured in Fox News segment: Filmmaker is a madman — Trump's comments about Sweden during his rally in Melbourne, Florida, spawned headlines in newspapers all around the world. The American president later clarified on Twitter, saying that he was referring to a segment …

Discussion: The Hill, New York Times, Little Green Footballs, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, AOL, The Local, The Guardian and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Fox News:

Trump may have been unclear, but Sweden experiencing a migrant crime wave — Police investigator Peter Springare isn't likely to be among those mocking President Trump for his remarks about refugees in Sweden. — Trump's comments during a Florida campaign rally on Saturday …

Jennifer Calfas / The Hill:
Former Swedish PM: More murders in Florida where Trump spoke than in Sweden last year

Discussion: The Guardian, RedState and Joe.My.God.

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Trump's Former Aide Concedes There Was No Voter Fraud In New Hampshire — Corey Lewandowski is not reading from the same script. — In a rare bit of message contradiction within the ranks, Donald Trump's first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, conceded there was no evidence …

Discussion: CNN

Tim Skoczek / CNN:
Lewandowski: Trump's staff is letting him down

Discussion: RedState

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill: Lewandowski says he didn't see evidence of Trump's voter fraud claims in New Hampshire

Bill Neely / NBC News:

Russia Compiles Psychological Dossier on Trump for Putin — MOSCOW — A dossier on Donald Trump's psychological makeup is being prepared for Russian President Vladimir Putin. — Among its preliminary conclusions is that the new American leader is a risk-taker who can be naïve, according to a senior Kremlin adviser.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Geller Report, New York Times, AOL, New York Magazine, Raw Story, The Week, The Root and Hot Air

Ian Swanson / The Hill:
NBC: Russia setting up dossier on Trump

Discussion: RedState

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
33 questions about Donald Trump and Russia

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

Mickey White / RedState:

The Usual People Plan 'Not My President's Day' Protests in the Usual Places — Hey, Hillary Clinton supporters are having another protest. Today it's called the “Not My President's Day” Rally. NBC News also lumped the protests over the weekend into the event.

Discussion: USA Today, NBC News, Faithwire and Instapundit

Chelsea Bailey / NBC News:
President Trump Officially Won't Be the Shortest-Serving U.S. President

Discussion: MichelleMalkin.com, Daily Wire, NBC News and Mediaite

Jennifer Calfas / The Hill:
Thousands expected to attend ‘Not My Presidents Day’ rallies across the country

Discussion: Townhall.com, Common Dreams, Political Wire, Hot Air, NBC News, The Root and The Independent

Jamie Schram / New York Post:

Russian ambassador to UN rushed to hospital — Russia's ambassador to the United Nations was rushed to a Manhattan hospital Monday morning after suffering heart problems, sources told The Post. — Vitaly Churkin was at the Russian embassy on East 67th Street when he became sick with a …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Week and Joe.My.God.

CNN:

Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to UN, dies suddenly at 64 — (2014) Churkin talks international role in crisis — Moscow (CNN)The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin, died suddenly in New York on Monday the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Discussion: alan.com

Thomas E. Ricks / Foreign Policy:

Last man standing: McMaster for NSA? — I think Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster will be the next national security advisor. Like Vice Adm. Bob Harward, General David Petraeus reportedly has withdrawn over the issue of being able to bring in his own staff. And Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg …

Discussion: Washington Post and Axios

ABC News:

Trump tries to move past controversies, toward legislating — As President Donald Trump begins his second month in office, his team is trying to move past the crush of controversies that overtook his first month and make progress on health care and tax overhauls long sought by Republicans.

Discussion: Politico and Associated Press

Natalie Andrews / Wall Street Journal:
Justin Amash Emerges as Leading Critic of Fellow Republican Donald Trump

Discussion: Liberal Values and Cafe Hayek

Patricia Sullivan / Washington Post:

Va. Democrats to challenge GOP state lawmakers in each district Clinton won — Buoyed by a wave of progressive activism that began after the election of President Trump, Virginia Democrats plan to challenge 45 GOP incumbents in the deep-red House of Delegates this November …

Discussion: Political Wire and Balloon Juice

Nick Corasaniti / New York Times:

Joe Piscopo Considers Running for Governor of New Jersey. No Joke. — He found fame in the 1980s impersonating Frank Sinatra, President Ronald Reagan and countless others on “Saturday Night Live,” followed by numerous Hollywood gigs, stand-up routines and a drive-time radio show.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Graydon Carter / Vanity Fair:

Trump's White House: The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight — The Constitution-straining conflicts surrounding the president, his top aides, some of his children, and his licensing-and-development business are a problem with no end in sight. — We aren't even a third of the way through …

Steve Berman / The Resurgent:

The Hill reported Monday morning: … I'm still smarting from the decision by ACU to invite Milo to begin with. It was a bonehead move worthy of a group that decided suicide would be better than actual conservative thought. — We will now dispense with further discussion of Milo Yiannopoulos.

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:

In Trump's Volleys, Echoes of Alex Jones's Conspiracy Theories — Way back on Friday, President Trump declared that several news organizations — ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, The New York Times — were “the enemy of the American people.” You know who's not the enemy, in his book? — Alex Jones.

more at Mediagazer »

Associated Press:

AP source: Revised travel ban targets same countries — WASHINGTON — A draft of President Donald Trump's revised immigration ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travelers who already have a visa to travel to the U.S., even if they haven't used it yet.

Discussion: Hot Air, AOL, Common Dreams, Daily Kos and alan.com

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Learning Eye-Popping Details About Mr Sater — As I noted in my previous post, I've been keenly interested in Donald Trump's association with Felix Sater going back to last Spring. I also knew he had been an FBI informant and leveraged that status to dramatically reduce his sentence in a major financial crime.