memeorandum: The future of QAnon, explained by 8 experts (Sean Illing/Vox)

1:10 PM ET, February 24, 2021

Top Items:

My story of working with Governor Cuomo — “Let's play strip poker.” — I should have been shocked by the Governor's crude comment, but I wasn't. — We were flying home from an October 2017 event in Western New York on his taxpayer-funded jet. He was seated facing me, so close our knees almost touched.

Discussion: New York Daily News, Politico, Fox News, VICE, The Daily Beast, HotAir, Washington Times and The Daily Caller

Alex Pareene / New Republic:

The Andrew Cuomo Show Has Lost the Plot — Halfway through a recent New York Times story about Governor Andrew Cuomo's long (but perhaps not widely known) history of governance-by-bullying, an ally tried to defend his signature political style. He didn't say that Cuomo's behavior was ethical, or reasonable, or even responsible.

Discussion: YouGov, Washington Examiner and Sean Hannity

Karen Hinton / New York Daily News:
How to counter penis politics: What it's like to work for Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio

Discussion: Mediaite

Andrea Salcedo / Washington Post:

South Dakota AG pushed by critics to resign over new evidence in fatal car incident: ‘He knew what he hit and he lied’ — Days after South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg fatally struck a man while driving in September, detectives told the Republican official they had found a pair …

Discussion: HotAir, Law & Crime, Grand Forks Herald, CBS News, Talking Points Memo and Argus Leader

Argus Leader:
‘His face was in your windshield, Jason.’ Ravnsborg videos provide more details about fatal crash

Discussion: Mercury News

New York Times:

New analyses show Johnson & Johnson's one-dose vaccine works well. — Johnson and Johnson's vaccine has a lower efficacy rate than the vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, which are both around 95 percent. … But in South Africa, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is so far the clear winner.

Discussion: National Review, HotAir, Virginia Mercury, Mother Jones and CBS News

Washington Post:

FDA review confirms safety and efficacy of single-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, especially against severe cases — A Food and Drug Administration review released Wednesday of the single-shot coronavirus vaccine made by pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson found it was safe …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Week, UPI, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, HotAir and Fox News

Berkeley Lovelace Jr / CNBC:
FDA staff endorses Johnson & Johnson's single-shot Covid vaccine for emergency use

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Hill, Townhall, NBC New York, FOX31 Denver, WSVN-TV, Mercury News, The Guardian, KXAN-TV, Cyprus Mail, STAT, Grand Forks Herald, IJR, CBS Philly and New York Post

Sarah Owermohle / Politico:
FDA confirms J&J vaccine is safe and effective

Discussion: CBS News, ABC News, Washington Examiner, NPR, Rolling Stone, Al Jazeera, The Verge and National Review

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

LGBT Identification Rises to 5.6% in Latest U.S. Estimate — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Gallup's latest update on lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender identification finds 5.6% of U.S. adults identifying as LGBT. The current estimate is up from 4.5% in Gallup's previous update based on 2017 data.

Discussion: USA Today, NBC News, The 19th, LGBTQ Nation, PinkNews, Washington Examiner, Althouse, The Hill and National Review

Samantha Schmidt / Washington Post: 1 in 6 Gen Z adults are LGBT. And this number could continue to grow.

Holley Ford / NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth:

Sen. Ted Cruz Piñatas Created at Dallas Party Store — First. it was former President Donald Trump, then U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. — Now, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has his own piñata courtesy of a Dallas party store. — Last week, Cruz sparked widespread outrage for flying …

Discussion: Raw Story and Crooks and Liars

David Siders / Politico:
Texas disaster puts Beto O'Rourke back in business

Discussion: El Paso Times and HuffPost

Mary Grace Granados / Dallas Morning News:
Oak Cliff party store has a new political piñata depicting Ted Cruz on his way to Cancún

Discussion: The Hill and Political Wire

Hans Nichols / Axios:

Scoop: Biden will call Saudi king ahead of damning report — President Biden plans to call Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Wednesday, ahead of the public release of a potentially damning intelligence report about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a source briefed on the call told Axios.

Discussion: The Hill, Middle East Monitor, Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera and The New Arab

Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:

Jamal Khashoggi: Biden faces calls to ‘strike a blow’ for Saudi human rights — President Biden to call King Salman as his administration prepare to release intelligence report expected to implicate crown prince — Joe Biden is expected to call Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Wednesday …

Discussion: CNN

Nomaan Merchant / Associated Press:

Judge bans enforcement of Biden's 100-day deportation pause — A federal judge has indefinitely banned President Joe Biden's administration from enforcing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations — Rep. Linda Sanchez on new immigration reform bill presented by Democrats

Discussion: HotAir, National Review, Politico, CNN, Human Events, Talking Points Memo, Sean Hannity, The Texas Tribune, Townhall, Breitbart, Washington Times, Forbes, Mother Jones, Louder With Crowder and New York Times

Kaelan Deese / Washington Examiner:
Federal judge slaps indefinite ban on 100-day moratorium on deportations

Discussion: ABC News, USA Today, Insider and Fox News

Sarah Mucha / Axios:

Scoop: Senate committee postpones hearing for imperiled Tanden — The Senate Homeland Security Committee is postponing a confirmation hearing scheduled Wednesday for Neera Tanden, Axios has learned, a potential death knell for President Biden's nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

Discussion: American Prospect, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, GovExec.com, Politico, CNN, Reuters, ABC News, The Hill, Breitbart, Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Politico:
How the White House botched the Neera Tanden nomination

Discussion: Washington Post, Axios, HotAir, Bangor Daily News and Washington Times

Mitt Romney / Wall Street Journal:

Biden's Stimulus Bill Is a $1.9 Trillion Clunker — Senate Republicans are eager to get aid where it's needed, reopen schools and encourage work. — Democrats are anxious for any excuse to blow up the Senate filibuster, the last procedural hurdle to one-party government.

Discussion: Insider, Raw Story, Washington Post, Deseret News and Fox News

Claire Williams / Morning Consult:
With Congressional Stimulus Fight Looming, 76% of Voters Back $1.9 Trillion Plan, Including 60% of Republicans

Discussion: Insider

Christian Vanderbrouk / The Bulwark:

MAGA's Moment of Weakness — Trump and his allies have been defeated, humiliated, and betrayed. It's time to sweep the leg. — “We're going to win so much, you're going to be so sick and tired of winning, you're going to come to me and go 'Please, please, we can't win anymore.' You'll say 'Please …

Discussion: New York Magazine, HotAir, New York Post, New York Times, Raw Story and Salon

Phil Mattingly / CNN:

First on CNN: Biden's Covid plan gets backing from more than 150 top business leaders — What Biden said he would do for the Covid-19 economy — (CNN)More than 150 senior executives from some of the largest American companies across several major industries have lined …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Katy Feinberg / Partnership for New York City:
New York Business Leaders Join National Support for Biden Stimulus Package

Discussion: CNBC, The Hill, Insider and CBS Philly

The Daily Beast:

NY Prosecutors Are Looking at Don Jr. in Trump Biz Probe — The Daily Beast has learned that investigators have been asking questions in recent days about Trump's eldest son as they expand their criminal probe into Trump's business empire. … For months, some of Donald Trump's top advisers …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, New York Times, Insider, Palmer Report and Political Wire

Wall Street Journal:

Texas Electric Bills Were $28 Billion Higher Under Deregulation — Competition in the electricity-supply business promised reliable power at a more affordable cost — Texas's deregulated electricity market, which was supposed to provide reliable power at a lower price, left millions in the dark last week.

Discussion: The Hill and Kevin Drum

Adam Bernstein / Washington Post:

Fanne Foxe, ‘Argentine Firecracker’ at center of D.C. sex scandal, dies at 84 — At about 2 a.m. Oct. 7, 1974, U.S. Park Police pulled over a silver-blue Lincoln Continental that had been swerving and speeding without headlights on near the Jefferson Memorial in Washington.

Washington Post:

Life amid the ruins of QAnon: ‘I wanted my family back’ — An epidemic of conspiracy theories, fanned by social media and self-serving politicians, is tearing families apart. … She bought ammunition, camping gear, a water purifier and boxes of canned food.

Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:

Power Up: What senators still want to know about Jan. 6 attack from defense and FBI leaders — Good Wednesday morning. This is the Power Up newsletter. Tips, comments, recipes? Reach out and sign up. Thanks for waking up with us. — The investigations

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, The Week, CBS News and Raw Story

Dan Froomkin / Press Watch:
It wasn't an ‘intelligence failure’ that left the Capitol Police unprepared - it was racism

Discussion: Fox News, Washington Post, Crooks and Liars, The Intellectualist, BizPac Review and The Week

Rachel Lerman / Washington Post:

Major Trump backer Rebekah Mercer orchestrates Parler's second act — Mercer, whose family also invested in right-wing news site Breitbart, controls two of the three board seats at the company — When social media website Parler's founding CEO John Matze was pushed out last month …

Stephen Fowler / Georgia Public Broadcasting:

New Omnibus Georgia Senate Proposal Would Severely Restrict Absentee Voting — Poll Worker in Bibb Co. looks over an absentee ballot — All but three Republicans in the Georgia Senate majority are cosponsoring a massive elections bill that would give Georgia one of the most restrictive absentee …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Des Moines Register, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, mailchi.mp and Big League Politics

Ben Chapman / Wall Street Journal:

Bruce Springsteen's Drunken-Driving Charges Dropped by Prosecutors — Musician's blood-alcohol level was under the legal limit, federal prosecutors say; Springsteen pleaded guilty to consuming alcohol in a closed area — Federal prosecutors in New Jersey said Wednesday …

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:

McDonald's Secretive Intel Team Spies on ‘Fight for $15’ Workers, Internal Documents Show — McDonald's collects ‘strategic intelligence’ on workers advocating for a $15 minimum wage, including ‘how and where will FF$15 attack the brand.’ — For years, McDonald's has internally labeled activists …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Popular Information and USA Today

Alex Brandon / RealClearInvestigations:

With Ashli Babbitt Killing Shrouded in Mystery, Capitol Officer Who Shot Her Is in Hiding for His Own Safety — All told, seven people died in connection with the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6. But only Ashli Babbitt's death was directly caused by violence that day.

Discussion: Instapundit

ProPublica:

Sheryl Sandberg and Top Facebook Execs Silenced an Enemy of Turkey to Prevent a Hit to the Company's Business — Amid a 2018 Turkish military campaign, Facebook ultimately sided with Turkey's demand to block the page of a mostly Kurdish militia. “I am fine with this,” Sandberg wrote.

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:

Key Biden aide said pandemic was ‘best thing that ever happened to him’, book says — Anita Dunn said privately what aides ‘would never say in public’ — Cautious campaigning won Covid battle with Trump — A senior adviser to Democrat Joe Biden in his campaign for president believed …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Blue State Conservative and Raw Story

Zach Everson / Slate:

How Screwed Is the Trump Hotel D.C.? — For three years, the lobby of the Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. was the hedonistic center of the MAGA-verse. The room glittered with chandeliers and the flashes of sabers slicing open champagne bottles (prefaced by the ringing of a bell to draw eyeballs to the spectacle).

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Raw Story

Emma Nolan / Newsweek:

Tucker Carlson Says No White Supremacy at Riot—An Officer Says He Was Called Racial Slurs — Tucker Carlson has claimed that there is no evidence of white supremacy at the Capitol Riot on January 6—on the same day that a Capitol police officer said he was called racial slurs while defending the building during the insurrection.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mock Paper Scissors and CNN

Sean Illing / Vox:

The future of QAnon, explained by 8 experts — QAnon's prophecies failed to come true. Here's why the conspiracy theory will persist anyway. — If you're a hardcore QAnon believer, you had high hopes for January. — Among other things, you expected Donald Trump to remain president.

Discussion: Raw Story

Politico:

Top Florida Democrat makes 2022 play as DeSantis' stock rises — TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis' profile is growing, and Nikki Fried has noticed. — As DeSantis quickly becomes the national conservative media's favorite governor and basks in recent polling that his approval rating is above 50 percent …

Discussion: Orlando Sentinel

Barak Ravid / Axios:

Scoop: U.S. and Israel to convene strategic forum on Iran — The United States and Israel have elected to reconvene a strategic working group on Iran, with the first round of talks on intelligence surrounding the Iranian nuclear program expected in the coming days, Axios has learned.

Thomas Kaplan / New York Times:

Romney predicts Trump would win the 2024 G.O.P. nomination if he ran for president. — Senator Mitt Romney of Utah said on Tuesday that he believed Donald J. Trump would win the Republican nomination for president if he ran for his former office in 2024, another indication of Mr. Trump's perceived strength in the party.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Forbes, CNN, Politico, National Review, NBC News, TheBlaze, IJR, BizPac Review, Bloomberg, Disrn, CBS News, HuffPost, The Hill, New York Post and Washington Times

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

One America News clashes again with White House correspondents over Trump-approved camera tent — One America News, the upstart right-wing cable channel that was granted special status by the Trump White House, is clashing again with its mainstream colleagues on the presidential beat.

Sarah McCammon / NPR:

Evangelical Leaders Condemn ‘Radicalized Christian Nationalism’ — A coalition of evangelical Christian leaders is condemning the role of “radicalized Christian nationalism” in feeding the political extremism that led to the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by supporters of former President Trump.

Discussion: The Guardian and Raw Story