memeorandum: The Trump team and Fox News alleged dead voters. Most cases were either debunked or actually involved Republicans. (Aaron Blake/Washington Post)

1:55 PM ET, October 25, 2021

Top Items:

The case against Mark Zuckerberg: Insiders say Facebook's CEO chose growth over safety … Late last year, Mark Zuckerberg faced a choice: Comply with demands from Vietnam's ruling Communist Party to censor anti-government dissidents or risk getting knocked offline in one of Facebook's most lucrative Asian markets.

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Verge, Insider, CNN, Forbes, New York Post, The Guardian, TechCrunch, Rolling Stone, Raw Story, Wired, Power Line, Telegraph and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »

Adrienne LaFrance / The Atlantic:

‘History Will Not Judge Us Kindly’ — Before I tell you what happened at exactly 2:28 p.m. on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the White House—and how it elicited a very specific reaction, some 2,400 miles away, in Menlo Park, California—you need to remember the mayhem of that day …

Discussion: New York Post, The Daily Caller, The Verge, Mock Paper Scissors, Raw Story, TechCrunch, Washington Times, Joe.My.God. and CNN, more at Mediagazer »

Ben Smith / New York Times:

How Frances Haugen Became a Power Player in the Facebook Leaks — In a time of mega-leaks, journalists' sources have become power players. Frances Haugen, the former Facebook product manager who shared company documents, led a meticulous media rollout. — Frances Haugen first met Jeff Horwitz …

Discussion: Glenn Greenwald, Breitbart, New York Post, UPI, RedState and CoinDesk, more at Mediagazer »

Ellen Cushing / The Atlantic:
How Facebook Fails 90 Percent of Its Users

Discussion: TheGrio, more at Techmeme »

Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Facebook Debates What to Do With Its Like and Share Buttons

Discussion: Wired and Politico, more at Techmeme »

NBC News:
The Facebook Papers: Documents reveal internal fury and dissent over site's policies

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, The Daily Dot, Raw Story, KFOR-TV, NBC 6 South Florida, Wired and CBS News, more at Techmeme »

Cristiano Lima / Washington Post:
A whistleblower's power: Key takeaways from the Facebook Papers

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Clare Duffy / CNN:
The Facebook Papers may be the biggest crisis in the company's history

Discussion: Wired, New York Times, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Financial Times and Common Dreams

Financial Times:
Employees pleaded with Facebook to stop letting politicians bend rules

Discussion: Insider, Politico and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Facebook shares under pressure following release of leaked whistleblower documents

Discussion: Washington Examiner, CNN, The Verge and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »

Hunter Walker / Rolling Stone:

EXCLUSIVE: Jan. 6 Protest Organizers Say They Participated in ‘Dozens’ of Planning Meetings With Members of Congress and White House Staff — As the House investigation into the Jan. 6 attack heats up, some of the planners of the pro-Trump rallies that took place in Washington, D.C. …

Associated Press:

AP source: Manchin agreeable to wealth tax for Biden plan — WASHINGTON (AP) — Pivotal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin appears to be on board with White House proposals for new taxes on billionaires and certain corporations to help pay for President Joe Biden's scaled-back social services and climate change package.

Discussion: HotAir, Breitbart, Insider, Reuters, NBC News, Joe.My.God., Associated Press, New York Times, NBC Bay Area, Bloomberg and WPTA21

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:

What drives Sinema? A different view of politics — Analysis: Democrats can't pass the ‘Build Back Better’ agenda in spite of the Arizona senator. They have to work with her. — WASHINGTON — Democrats in Washington and across the country have been wondering the same thing for months …

Discussion: Insider, Sacramento Bee, HotAir and CBS News

Politico:
What's still in the Dem megabill? Cheat sheet on 12 big topics

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, New York Times and RedState

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Manchin says framework ‘should’ be possible this week

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Post and Political Wire

Jamie Ross / The Daily Beast:

Donald Trump Jr. Is Hawking Shockingly Tacky ‘Alec Baldwin Kills People’ T-Shirts — The Trump son also posted a photoshopped pic of Baldwin wearing one of the Ts, three days after the accidental and fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins. — It's only been three days since Alec Baldwin accidentally shot …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Independent, Insider, Mercury News, NBC News, Who the Hell Is Jim Treacher?, Raw Story, First Draft, Mock Paper Scissors and Crooks and Liars, more at Mediagazer »

Jack Newman / Daily Mail:
Conservative pundit Candace Owens attacks Alec Baldwin over accidental shooting calling it ‘poetic justice’ for his previous criticism of Donald Trump

Discussion: BizPac Review, Joe.My.God. and The Daily Beast

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

The Trump team and Fox News alleged dead voters. Most cases were either debunked or actually involved Republicans. — President Donald Trump and those around him threw a multitude of voter-fraud conspiracy theories at the wall after the 2020 election. And few were as pervasive as the idea …

Discussion: Insider, Wall Street Journal, POLITICUSUSA and Mediaite

Margaret Renkl / New York Times:

Leaf Blowers Destroy the Environment — Ms. Renkl is a contributing Opinion writer who covers flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South. — NASHVILLE — Into these perfect October afternoons, when light gleams on the red dogwood berries and the blue arrowwood berries …

John Lucas / The Federalist:

How The Rachel Levine ‘Four-Star Admiral’ Photo-Op Will Damage U.S. Security — While maneuvering his Third Army to relieve Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, Gen. George Patton would have been outranked by ‘first transgender admiral’ Rachel Levine. — To great public fanfare …

Discussion: IJR and Insider

Ivana Saric / Axios:
Twitter suspends Rep. Jim Banks for misgendering transgender four-star officer

Discussion: CBS News, New York Post, RedState, HuffPost, WPTA21, UPI, NBC News and New York Magazine

ProPublica:

“The Liberty Way”: How Liberty University Discourages and Dismisses Students' Reports of Sexual Assaults — Note: This story includes descriptions of sexual violence and attempted suicide. — When Elizabeth Axley first told Liberty University officials she had been raped, she was confident they'd do the right thing.

Discussion: New York Post

Clare Ansberry / Wall Street Journal:

Young People Say Disconnect Keeps Them From Church — Half of people between 13 and 25 surveyed by a nonprofit said they felt out of sync with their houses of worship on race, gender, immigration and more — Several religious denominations have seen memberships fall in recent years, including among young adults and teens.

Discussion: Raw Story

Tom Burt / Microsoft On the Issues:

New activity from Russian actor Nobelium — Tom Burt - Corporate Vice President, Customer Security & Trust — Today, we're sharing the latest activity we've observed from the Russian nation-state actor Nobelium. This is the same actor behind the cyberattacks targeting SolarWinds customers …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Fox News, Microsoft Security Blog, Wall Street Journal, Protocol, Associated Press, New York Post, WTOP, CyberScoop, The Daily Caller, Al Jazeera, NPR, WPTA21 and Defense One, more at Techmeme »

David E. Sanger / New York Times:
Ignoring Sanctions, Russia Renews Broad Cybersurveillance Operation

Discussion: Forbes, Insider, Human Events, Joe.My.God. and Raw Story

Revolver:

Meet Ray Epps: The Fed-Protected Provocateur Who Appears To Have Led The Very First 1/6 Attack On The U.S. Capitol — Experience Revolver without ads … In a House hearing on Thursday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) questioned AG Merrick Garland about a mysterious man, Ray Epps …

Discussion: Raw Story

Sarah Mucha / Axios:

McAuliffe pivots to schools — In the closing weeks of their closely watched Virginia gubernatorial race, Terry McAuliffe is going after Glenn Youngkin on unlikely ground — public education — as he tries to reverse the Republican's surprisingly strong challenge.

Discussion: New Republic, Townhall, Washington Post, HotAir, Ace of Spades HQ, York News-Times, ABC News and Washington Times

Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:

Are Vaccine Boosters Widely Needed? Some Federal Advisers Have Misgivings. — “In our hearts, I think people don't quite agree with this notion of a booster dose,” said one leading vaccine expert. — Following a series of endorsements over the last month by scientific panels advising federal agencies …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Althouse

Christina Zhao / Newsweek:

Cowboys for Trump Founder Turns on Trump in Conference Speech Over Capitol Riot Charges — Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin, who is facing charges in connection with the U.S. Capitol riot, has turned on the former president in a conference speech for abandoning January 6 rioters and failing to deliver on a campaign promise.

Discussion: Raw Story and IJR

Natalie Allison / Politico:

Disgraced former governor is recast as MAGA warrior in Senate bid — Missouri's open Senate race features a crowded cast of conservative characters. There's the self-described “farm girl,” the auctioneer on a bus tour, a state attorney general suing China, and the guy who stood on his lawn and pointed an AR-15 at protesters.

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Raw Story

American Greatness:

Ground Zero of Woke — Universities are making themselves not just disliked and disreputable but ultimately irrelevant and replaceable. — Many of our once revered and most hallowed institutions are failing us. To mention only the most significant ones: our top-ranking military echelon …

Mitch Hotts / Macomb Daily:

Macomb County GOP on board with Trump election conspiracy theory — Party says ex-president won election by ‘wide margin’ in endorsing two state candidates — The Macomb County Republican Party is on-board with former President Donald Trump's assertions that 2020 presidential election …

Discussion: Washington Post

BBC:

Sudan's military dissolves civilian government and arrests leaders — Sudan's military has dissolved civilian rule, arrested political leaders and declared a state of emergency. — Gen Abdel Fattah Burhan, who had been heading a joint council with civilian leaders, blamed political infighting.

Katherine Huggins / Mediaite:

Trump Blasts Fox News For Supposedly Airing ‘Untruthful Anti-Trump Commercials’ — Former President Donald Trump blasted Fox News on Sunday, claiming the network “continually allow[s] horrible and untruthful anti-Trump commercials to be run.” — “What good is it if FOX News speaks …

Discussion: HotAir, BizPac Review and Joe.My.God.

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Private equity, hedge funds accounted for over $625 million in political spending during 2020 campaign, study says — Private equity and hedge funds accounted for over $625 million in political spending during the runup to the 2020 election, with the lion's share going to campaign contributions, according to new research.

Discussion: Insider and Political Wire

Cathy Young / The Bulwark:

What Cancel Culture Is—and Isn't — Don't underestimate the chilling effect. — (PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK) — Not a day goes by, it seems, without another “cancel culture” story: the backlash against Dave Chapelle's new Netflix standup special from transgender activists …