memeorandum: El Chapo escaped two prisons in Mexico — but no one's ever busted out of the American ‘ADX’ (Deanna Paul/Washington Post)

2:10 PM ET, February 14, 2019

Top Items:

Andrew G. McCabe / The Atlantic:

Every Day Is a New Low in Trump's White House — The president steps over bright ethical and moral lines wherever he encounters them. Everyone in America saw it when he fired my boss. But I saw it firsthand time and time again. … On Wednesday, May 10, 2017, my first full day on the job …

Discussion: Vox, POLITICUSUSA, Yahoo News, Politico, Washington Post, ABC News, Breitbart, Axios, Contemptor, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, Raw Story, One America News Network, Law & Crime, The Week and Mediaite

CBS News:

McCabe says he ordered the obstruction of justice probe of President Trump — The former FBI acting director tells 60 Minutes about the measures taken to ensure investigations into President Trump wouldn't “vanish.” See the full story Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CBS

New York Times:

McCabe Says Justice Officials Discussed Recruiting Cabinet Members to Push Trump Out of Office — WASHINGTON — Andrew G. McCabe, the former deputy F.B.I. director, said in an interview aired on Thursday that top Justice Department officials were so alarmed by President Trump's decision …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Hit & Run, RedState, Daily Wire, Outside the Beltway, Raw Story, Althouse, CNBC, Chicks On The Right, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Times

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Senate confirms Trump pick William Barr as new attorney general

Discussion: Axios

Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post: Senate confirm William Barr as attorney general

Avery Anapol / The Hill:
McCabe says DOJ talked 25th Amendment, Rosenstein offer to wear wire around Trump was serious: report

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Week, Chicks On The Right and Daily Wire

CNN:
Daughter and son-in-law of AG nominee leaving the Justice Department

Discussion: KTLA, Above the Law and Raw Story

J. David Goodman / New York Times:

Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Headquarters — [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] — Amazon said on Thursday that it was canceling plans to build a corporate campus in New York City. The company had planned to build a sprawling complex …

The Amazon Blog:

Update on plans for New York City headquarters — After much thought and deliberation, we've decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens. For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive …

Discussion: Curbed NY, RedState, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Townhall, Motherboard, WPIX 11 New York, Hot Air, GeekWire, BloombergQuint, Chalkbeat, Washingtonian, DCist, The Guardian, The Verge, CBS New York, KDFW, WGN-TV, FOX31 Denver, Engadget, NPR, WHYY, CBS Chicago and Splinter

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:
Amazon Got Exactly What It Deserved—And So Did New York

Discussion: CNN, Curbed NY and GeekWire

New York Times:

Trump Puts Best Face on Border Deal, as Aides Try to Assuage an Angry Right — WASHINGTON — In pursuit of a wall, President Trump ran into one. A single-minded drive to force Congress to finance his signature campaign promise has left Mr. Trump right back where he started …

Discussion: NBC News, TVNewser, The Daily Beast, Media Matters for America, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Week, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Mediaite and Telegraph, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

Trump privately gripes that GOP was outplayed by Democrats — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump appears to be moving — unhappily — toward signing a bipartisan agreement that provides only a fraction of the money he demanded for a border wall. But in conversations with allies over the past days …

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, Political Wire and New York Times

Daniel Horowitz / Conservative Review:
5 insane provisions in the amnesty omnibus bill

Discussion: Big League Politics

Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:

The Ocasio-Cortez Effect: Wave of Challenges Hits Entrenched N.Y. Democrats — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be just the beginning. — Less than eight months after Ms. Ocasio-Cortez stunned the political world by unseating a powerful Democratic congressman, her home state is emerging …

Discussion: Splinter and Washington Free Beacon

Jeff Stein / Washington Post:

'Here's the system, it sucks': Meet the Hill staffers hired by Ocasio-Cortez to upend Washington — One is the daughter of an immigrant from Nigeria who wanted to understand the causes of her mom's plight, starting a search that would lead her to Spelman, Oxford, Harvard, Georgetown …

Discussion: 71 Republic and Media Matters for America

Jedediah Britton-Purdy / New York Times:
The Green New Deal Is What Realistic Environmental Policy Looks Like

Discussion: National Review, Washington Post and Cafe Hayek

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
GOP wants to pit Ocasio-Cortez against Democrats in the Senate

Discussion: Washington Post

Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Isn't Looking to Retire Yet, But Is Another Supreme Court Justice Ready to Go? — No one tells a Supreme Court Justice when to retire. But there are currently two retirement dramas under way at the Court—one semi-public and the other semi-private …

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Times, Althouse and Crooked Media

The Daily Beast:

Trump's DHS Guts Task Forces Protecting Elections From Foreign Meddling — “It's very curious why the leadership has not committed resources to prepare for the 2020 election,” one DHS official tells The Daily Beast. — Two teams of federal officials assembled to fight foreign election interference …

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, Just Security and Raw Story, more at Techmeme »

Jim DeRogatis / New Yorker:

Prosecutors Are Moving to Indict R. Kelly, After the Discovery of Another Videotape — According to a senior law-enforcement official, the tape shows Kelly sexually assaulting an underage girl. — A videotape from the R. & B. superstar R. Kelly's past may soon lead to his indictment in Illinois …

Discussion: Okayplayer

Sara Sidner / CNN:
CNN has seen tape Avenatti says shows R. Kelly having sex with underage girl

Discussion: The Root and TMZ.com

Moritz Rakuszitzky / bellingcat:

Third Suspect in Skripal Poisoning Identified as Denis Sergeev, High-Ranking GRU Officer — Bellingcat previously confirmed that a third GRU officer was present in the UK during the time Sergey and Yulia Skripal fell into a coma, after what the UK authorities said was a deliberate poisoning with Novichok.

Jewish Insider:

Daily Kickoff: Rep. Ilhan Omar vs. Elliott Abrams | Why Howard Schultz keeps a stone from Auschwitz on his desk | Annie Leibovitz's early years — Tell your friends to sign up for the Daily Kickoff here or for early 7AM access via Debut Inbox — SCOOP: HEARD LAST NIGHT — Sen. Bernie Sanders …

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Jihad Watch

Ronald Radosh / The Daily Beast:
How Ilhan Omar's Attempt to Shame Elliott Abrams Backfired

Discussion: Washington Post, RedState and Breitbart

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Paul Manafort Keeps Lying About Russia Collusion. Is It to Protect Donald Trump? — Last night, a federal judge ruled that Paul Manafort violated his plea agreement by lying repeatedly to federal prosecutors about the Russia investigation. Some of Manafort's lies go …

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

The three 2020 Democrats Trump's campaign is watching most closely — Donald Trump's political advisers are homing in on three declared Democratic candidates who they believe are the most viable at this early stage of the campaign. — The reelection campaign has begun compiling opposition research …

Discussion: The Week and Talking Points Memo

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:

Anti-Vaccine Facebook Ads Target Women in Measles-Stricken States — Nearly 150 spots are targeting women over the age of 25—the group most likely to include mothers of children who might need to be vaccinated. — BEAST INSIDE … Facebook's advertising platform is being used …

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh:

Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh eyewitness accounts of the incident involving Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Publisher John Robinson Block — After much careful consideration, the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh has decided to release some of the eyewitness accounts of the incident involving Pittsburgh …

Discussion: KBZK, The Big Lead, The Incline, Boing Boing and Splinter, more at Mediagazer »

Ivan Dikov / European Views:

Belgian Counterintelligence Chief Suspected of Spying for Russia — Belgium's intelligence service ADIV has been plagued by a long-standing conflict between its intelligence and counter-intelligence departments. — Clement Vandenborre, counterintelligence head in Belgium's intelligence service …

Andrea Drusch / Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Worried Texas Republicans call for more national help in 2020 — Texas Republicans have long coasted to re-election while ignoring their Democratic opponents. Not anymore. — For 2020, GOP incumbents in what has historically been one of the most solidly red states in the union …

Discussion: Politico, Off the Kuff, Daily Kos and McClatchy Washington Bureau

Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:

Trump Is Making ‘Socialism’ Sound Pretty Good — And in any case, Democrats are not planning to seize the means of production anytime soon. — Only a handful of Democrats in Congress (and just one Democrat-adjacent presidential contender) identify as “socialist,” but they appear …

Discussion: Observer and American Thinker

Daily Mail:

Timeline of the London girls' journey into ISIS' heart of terror - but now one wants to come home — December - Counter terrorism police question Shamima Begum, Kadiz Sultana and Amira Abase after their friend Sharmeema Begum goes to Syria. — Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum …

Discussion: Jihad Watch

Sam Biddle / The Intercept:

Amazon's Home Surveillance Chief Declared War on “Dirtbag Criminals” as Company Got Closer to Police — On March 17, 2016, Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff emailed out a company-wide declaration of war. The message, under the subject line “Going to war,” made two things clear to the home surveillance …

miamiherald:

A remembrance of the victims from the Parkland shooting — as told by their classmates — BY STUDENTS OF MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD — Twelve months ago, 14 students and three adults were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland. On Valentine's Day.

Discussion: New York Times, The Guardian, Boing Boing, The Trace and Mashable

Deanna Paul / Washington Post:

El Chapo escaped two prisons in Mexico — but no one's ever busted out of the American ‘ADX’ — There's a supermax prison in Florence, Colo., two hours outside Denver. It's the highest-security penitentiary in the United States. Since opening in 1994, no prisoner has escaped …

Mike Allen / Axios:

House Democrats may target Ivanka Trump in their Russia probe — Outlining a blueprint for the vast Russia probe planned by the new House majority, a Democratic member of Congress suggested at a roundtable with reporters this week that lawmakers may seek testimony from Ivanka Trump.

Discussion: The Topline, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA and Townhall

Ken Meyer / Mediaite:

Jussie Smollett Goes There: If I Said My Attackers Were Muslim or Mexican, Doubters Would Support Me — In his Thursday interview with Good Morning America, Empire actor Jussie Smollett struck back at those who have doubted his story of an alleged hate crime attack in Chicago.

Discussion: Law & Crime

Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:

Journalists Have Been Banned From A Powerful Database That Lets You Search People's Phone Numbers And Addresses — Until now, Trace IQ let journalists search names, phone numbers and addresses in one database - now they've been banned, but other groups, such as debt collectors, haven't.

more at Mediagazer »

Stephen Shankland / CNET:

Silicon Valley Index shows the misery and triumph of the world's tech capital … Living at the center of the tech universe? Well, I have some good news and some bad news. — The good news is that Silicon Valley is thriving economically, generating new technology and good jobs.

Laura Strickler / NBC News:

‘Whistleblower’ seeks protection after sounding alarm over White House security clearances — Tricia Newbold says her supervisor “repeatedly mishandled security files and has approved unwarranted security clearances.” — Specialist in White House security clearance office suspended without pay

Discussion: CNN and Raw Story