memeorandum: Federal judge rejects challenge to ‘weighty and urgent’ Jan. 6 committee (Kyle Cheney/Politico)

10:00 AM ET, January 26, 2022

Top Items:

BBC:

Ukraine: US could sanction Putin personally if Russia invades, Biden says — US President Joe Biden says he would consider personal sanctions on Vladimir Putin if Russia invades Ukraine. — Mr Biden said there would be “enormous consequences” for the world if Russia made a move on the nation, which sits on its south-western border.

Discussion: Fox News, The Guardian, Reuters, New York Times, The Moderate Voice, TheJournal.ie, Insider, Politico, Al Jazeera and Rioting Times …

Vladimir Isachenkov / Associated Press:

Russia threatens retaliation if Ukraine demands not met — MOSCOW (AP) — Russia warned Wednesday it would quickly take “retaliatory measures” if the U.S. and its allies reject its security demands and continue their “aggressive” policies, ratcheting up pressure on the West amid concerns that Moscow is planning to invade Ukraine.

Discussion: NBC News, Breitbart, TIMCAST, Washington Post and almasirah.net.ye

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
The fight ahead in Ukraine: Body bags and cyberwar

Discussion: The Conservative Woman, Occidental Orientation, Insider, Ineptocracy Chronicles and Nonzero Newsletter

Katrin Bennhold / New York Times:
Where Is Germany in the Ukraine Standoff? Its Allies Wonder.

Discussion: The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Voice of America, Metro.co.uk, The Nation and New York Post

Politico:
Will There Be a War Over Ukraine? 13 Putin Watchers Weigh In

Discussion: Washington Examiner, National Review, One America News Network, Bloomberg and Radio Free Europe/Radio …

Max Bergmann / Center for American Progress:
How the United States Should Respond if Russia Invades Ukraine

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, The Economist, Associated Press, UPI, The Unz Review, CBS News, CNN and The White House

Julia Davis / The Daily Beast:
Kremlin TV Worries Tucker Carlson's Pro-Putin Bias Has Gone Too Far

Discussion: The Guardian, Against the Grain and The Dispatch

Andrew Romano / Yahoo News:
Poll: As Ukraine tensions escalate, 62% of Republicans say Putin is a ‘stronger leader’ than Biden

Discussion: Washington Post, Informed Comment, CBS News and Defense One

Jada Yuan / Washington Post:

Melania Trump auctions off her hat, and has become the latest victim of the cryptocurrency crash — The former first lady's chapeau is still far below her asking price. — (This article has been updated to reflect that the auction, which was offline for part of Tuesday, is back online.)

Eric Lipton / New York Times:
Melania Trump's Auction of Hat Hit by Plunge in Cryptocurrency

Discussion: Raw Story

Holly Otterbein / Politico:

Dr. Oz stumbles out of the gate in Senate race — PHILADELPHIA — Mehmet Oz's introduction to GOP grassroots politics is a code-red crisis. In his first three unofficial tests as a candidate in Pennsylvania's Republican Senate primary, the celebrity physician known as Dr. Oz has been handily rejected by party activists.

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

Cawthorn Challenge Raises the Question: Who Is an ‘Insurrectionist’? — The challenge to Representative Madison Cawthorn's re-election bid could set a precedent to challenge other Republicans who encouraged the Jan. 6 attack. — WASHINGTON — A group of lawyers is working to disqualify …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Beast and Raw Story

Glenn Youngkin / Washington Post:

Virginia's parents can decide what's best for their children — Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, is governor of Virginia. — In November's election, Virginians came together to declare that too many local leaders were failing a generation of schoolchildren.

Discussion: ABC News and Blue Virginia

James Gordon / Daily Mail:
New Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin launches tip line to report educators for teaching ‘divisive’ subjects after signing order banning Critical Race Theory

Discussion: Falls Church, VA Patch, WWBT-TV, Raw Story, The Western Journal, The Daily Caller and Vanity Fair

New York Times:

A Political Scientist Warns the Democratic Party Is Off Course — Ruy Teixeira was co-author of one of the most influential political books of the 21st century. Now, he says, Democrats are getting its lessons all wrong. — A funny thing happened on the way to the emerging Democratic majority.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, Washington Post, NH Journal, HotAir and IJR

Washington Post:

Matea Gold named National Editor, Philip Rucker named Deputy National Editor — Announcement from Executive Editor Sally Buzbee, Senior Managing Editor Cameron Barr, Managing Editor Steven Ginsberg, Managing Editor Tracy Grant, Managing Editor Krissah Thompson, and Chief Product Officer and Managing Editor Kat Downs Mulder:

Discussion: Deadline, more at Mediagazer »

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:

Partisanship Made the Omicron Crisis Worse — On Monday, at least 2,181 Americans died from COVID-19. Over the past week, average daily COVID deaths in the United States have risen to 2,369 — the highest death rate the country has seen in nearly a year. Given the lag time between spiking cases …

Discussion: HotAir, Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic

Kristen Jordan Shamus / Detroit Free Press:

For 1st time in Michigan history, more people died than were born in 2020 — For the first time in Michigan's recorded history, deaths outpaced births in 2020 — a situation worsened by the wave of deaths from COVID-19, said Kurt Metzger, a demographer who founded Data Driven Detroit and studies Michigan population trends.

Yvonne Wingett Sanchez / Arizona Republic:

Sen. Mark Kelly ‘does not support the censure’ of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema — Sen. Mark Kelly broke his silence over the censure of his Democratic colleague Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, with a campaign spokesperson saying he disagreed with it and she should not be singled out over her opposition to changing the Senate's filibuster rules.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post, bearingarms.com and Talking Points Memo

Matt Friedman / Politico:

New Jersey political consultant Sean Caddle pleads guilty in murder-for-hire plot — The 44-year-old resident of Hamburg, Sussex County, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire in the stabbing death of the unnamed victim. — The New Jersey state house is pictured.

Discussion: NBC10 Philadelphia

The Dworkin Report:

Author reveals how Peter Thiel helped Trump cut a deal with Facebook to evade fact checking — Scott talks with author and journalist Max Chafkin, who is a features editor and a tech reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek. Max is the author of “The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power …

Politico:

'She was Zoom'd out:' Veep mulls escape from D.C. bubble — Sitting among some of the most influential Black women in America last month, Vice President Kamala Harris confessed to a stifling sensation that had fallen over her while in office. She was struggling to escape the D.C. bubble …

Discussion: HotAir

Jason Tidd / USA Today:

Kansas bill forces pharmacists to fill ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine as off-label COVID treatment — TOPEKA, Kansas - A group of Kansas politicians tasked with steering public health policy are pushing to allow doctors to prescribe unproven treatments and preventives for COVID-19 without any potential for responsibility.

Discussion: KFOR-TV

Nick Judin / Mississippi Free Press:

Ridgeland Mayor Demands LGBTQ+ Book Purge, Threatens Library Funding — Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee is withholding $110,000 of funding from the Madison County Library System allegedly on the basis of his personal religious beliefs, with library officials stating that he has demanded …

Discussion: Insider and Raw Story

Tess Owen / VICE:

Leaked Chats Reveal Fascist Group Patriot Front Shames Members About Their Porn, Junk Food Habits — The inner workings of the group were laid bare after the release of 400 gigabytes of data by the left-wing collective Unicorn Riot. — TO — It shouldn't be a surprise that fascists rule …

Discussion: Raw Story

Bloomberg:

Mark Zuckerberg's Stablecoin Ambitions Unravel With Diem Sale Talks — The controversial cryptocurrency project that Mark Zuckerberg once defended in front of Congress is unraveling after regulatory pressure. — The Diem Association, a cryptocurrency initiative once known as Libra backed …

Discussion: CoinDesk, The Verge and Protocol, more at Techmeme »

Michael Schaub / Kirkus Reviews:

Missouri School District Bans Toni Morrison Book — A school board in Missouri has banned four books, including Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, from libraries in the district's high schools, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. — The Wentzville School Board voted 4-3 to remove …

Discussion: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

New York Times:

As Islamic State Resurges, U.S. Is Drawn Back Into the Fray — “ISIS is not over”: Attacks in Syria and Iraq make clear that the militants have lost neither their will to fight nor their ability to do so. — BAGHDAD, Iraq — An audacious attack on a prison housing thousands of former ISIS fighters in Syria.

Discussion: Washington Post

CNN:

Exclusive: Federal prosecutors looking at 2020 fake elector certifications, deputy attorney general tells CNN — Trump ends interview after being pressed about false 2020 election claims — (CNN)Federal prosecutors are reviewing fake Electoral College certifications that declared former …

Discussion: The Bulwark, New York Times, Raw Story, Washington Post, Today's Edition Newsletter, Twitchy, Washington Examiner, The Forward Counter, Wall Street Journal, Talking Points Memo and Alternet.org

Oliver Milman / The Guardian:

'He's a villain': Joe Manchin attracts global anger over climate crisis — The West Virginia senator's name is reviled on the streets of Bangladesh and other countries facing climate disaster as he blocks Biden's effort to curb planet-heating gases — Within the brutal machinations of US politics …

Discussion: Alternet.org

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Federal judge rejects challenge to ‘weighty and urgent’ Jan. 6 committee — A federal judge in California on Tuesday delivered a forceful defense of the Jan. 6 select committee's efforts, sharply rejecting a bid by attorney John Eastman — a key driver of Donald Trump's effort to subvert the 2020 election …

Discussion: Bloomberg and Instapundit

Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:

Top Human Rights Watch investigator allegedly hacked with Pegasus spyware — Allegation marks latest example of how NSO clients have used powerful surveillance tool to target campaigners and journalists — The mobile phones of a senior Human Rights Watch staff member are alleged …

Discussion: Washington Post and Al Jazeera

Sophia Ankel / Insider:

Prosecutors explained the plot of ‘Game of Thrones’ to argue that a rioter quoting Cersei Lannister was proof of criminal intent — Jeremiah Caplinger quoted from “Game of Thrones” in a social media post days after the Capitol riot. — “As said by Cersi Lannister 'I choose violence …

Discussion: Raw Story and Law & Crime

Zach Hirsch / NCPR Daily News:

Special report: How Stefanik won power and support for spreading Trump's ‘Big Lie’ — The false claim that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent or stolen lives on. — Former president Donald Trump continues to spread what's become known as the “Big Lie” — because it's a baseless myth — to this day.

Discussion: Grid News

Paul Burton / CBS Boston:

Man Can't Get Heart Transplant Because He's Not Vaccinated Against COVID — BOSTON (CBS) - David Ferguson is speaking out passionately on behalf of his son DJ. He says the 31-year-old is fighting for his life at Brigham and Women's Hospital and in desperate need of a heart transplant.

BBC:

Fishermen plan to disrupt Russian military exercise off Irish coast — A group of fishermen is planning to peacefully disrupt Russia's plans to hold a military exercise off the coast of Ireland in February. — The chief executive of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation …

Discussion: Politico, TheJournal.ie, RTÉ and Irish News

Sergio Olmos / The Guardian:

‘The most dangerous man in Congress’: how Paul Gosar became a darling of the far right — Once fringe, now dominant in the party, rightwing Republicans are strategizing for minoritarian rule — he Arizona Republican congressman Paul Gosar had a simple message for the crowd when he recently addressed …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight

Anna Giaritelli / Washington Examiner:

Biden enters second year with migration plans for Central America unfulfilled — President Joe Biden's vow to overhaul the asylum process remains unfulfilled as he enters his second year — as does his promise to deal with the factors in Central America that have prompted millions in recent years to flee for the United States.

Discussion: The Federalist and Vox

Niels Lesniewski / Roll Call:

Thirteen percent of congressional staffers make less than a living wage, report shows — About 1 in 8 congressional staffers are not making a living wage, according to a new analysis of payroll data. — The problem is particularly acute for staff assistants, who are often the most junior staffers in congressional offices.

Discussion: NBC News and Talking Points Memo