memeorandum: U.S. Sanctions Aimed at Russia Could Take a Wide Toll (New York Times)

1:25 PM ET, January 29, 2022

Top Items:

Aidin Vaziri / Datebook:

Spotify loses $4 billion in market value following Neil Young controversy — Spotify lost $4 billion in market value this week after rock icon Neil Young called out the company for allowing comedian Joe Rogan to use its service to spread misinformation about the COVID vaccine on his popular podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

Discussion: Variety, Fortune, One America News Network, Stereogum and Rolling Stone, more at Mediagazer »

Ellise Shafer / Variety:

Joni Mitchell Says She's Removing Music From Spotify: ‘Irresponsible People Are Spreading Lies’ … Joni Mitchell has pledged to remove her music from Spotify, just a few days after fellow singer-songwriter icon Neil Young did the same. — In a note on her official website titled …

Discussion: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CBS News, Datebook, Vanity Fair, QTR's Fringe Finance, Outside the Beltway, HillReporter.com and The Wrap, more at Mediagazer »

Joni Mitchell:

News Item — I Stand With Neil Young! — I've decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue. —Joni Mitchell

Discussion: New York Post, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, NPR, The Atlantic, The Verge, The Guardian, WSVN-TV, POLITICUSUSA, Bloomberg, Common Dreams, UPI, Deadline, WGN-TV, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Insider, Althouse and Stereogum

Ashton Pittman / Mississippi Free Press:

Wicker: Black Woman Supreme Court Pick An Affirmative Action ‘Beneficiary’ — The first Black woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court in history will be a “beneficiary” of affirmative action, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker told a radio show this afternoon. The senior Republican senator from Mississippi …

Discussion: CNN, HuffPost, Insider, The Guardian, Boston Herald, YouTube, PolitiFact, New York Times, New Yorker and The Daily Beast

John Fritze / USA Today:

Biden considering Judge J. Michelle Childs and may be casting wider net for Supreme Court vacancy — WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden is considering a federal judge in South Carolina as one of several candidates to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, the White House confirmed …

Discussion: CNN and Washington Examiner

Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:
White House confirms South Carolina judge is under consideration for Supreme Court

Discussion: CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, NBC News, CBS News, Fox News, NPR, Washington Examiner and National Review

New York Times:
As Breyer Pondered Retirement, Biden Bet on a Hands-Off Strategy

Discussion: Insider, The Western Journal, TheGrio, Washington Examiner and Off The Mall

Washington Post:

U.S. and allies debate the intelligence on how quickly Putin will order an invasion of Ukraine — or whether he will at all — As the United States and Britain sound the alarm, the Ukrainian president appears unconvinced; meanwhile, France and Germany hedge.

Discussion: The Kyiv Independent, BizPac Review, NPR and Fox News

Timothy Snyder / Washington Post:

Putin's case for invading Ukraine rests on phony grievances and ancient myths … Last July, Vladimir Putin supplied the mythical basis for Russian war propaganda in an essay titled “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.” The essential idea is that Russia has the right to Ukraine …

Discussion: Fox News, TL;DR'd, The Fog, Al Jazeera and Bangor Daily News

New York Times:

U.S. Sanctions Aimed at Russia Could Take a Wide Toll — The boldest measures that President Biden is threatening to deter an invasion of Ukraine could roil the entire Russian economy — but also those of other nations. — WASHINGTON — The most punishing sanctions that U.S. officials …

Discussion: CNN, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Associated Press, Precious Things, There Will Be Trouble, New York Post, Metro.co.uk, One America News Network, Defense One and The National Interest

New York Times:
White House Warnings Over Russia Strain Ukraine-U.S. Partnership

Discussion: CNN, The Guardian, Japan Times, Wide World of News, NPR, Los Angeles Times, Washington Examiner, The Continentalist, The National Interest, Voice of America, Balloon Juice and Reuters

Washington Post:
U.S. says Russia ‘clearly’ now has capability to attack as Ukraine complains of Western panic

Discussion: Voice of America, Breitbart, The Halfway Cafe and Prada's Newsletter

Michael Cavna / Washington Post:

Art Spiegelman sees the new ban of his book ‘Maus’ as a ‘red alert’ — Art Spiegelman didn't set out to write an educational aid for young-adult readers. A half-century ago, he simply wanted to better know his own origin story, discover more about his parents' histories — and hear from his father …

Discussion: Forbes

Dan Mangan / CNBC:
‘Maus’ is an Amazon bestseller after Tennessee school ban - author Art Spiegelman compares board to Putin

Discussion: NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Salon

Nate Gartrell / Mercury News:

Federal judge bucks prosecutors, jails CA man who mailed 75 racist death threats to anti-Trump politicians — Cards included racist language, ‘KKK’ signature — SAN FRANCISCO — In a rare rebuke of prosecutors, a federal judge handed down a jail sentence to a California man who spent …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

Mostly dead or slightly alive? Democrats don't yet know if Build Back Better can be revived — The fate of Democrats' top agenda item will not only have major policy repercussions for the country but also the party's political prospects in the midterm elections.

Discussion: Nancy Brisson's Newsletter, New York Post, Washington Examiner and The Blue State Conservative

Washington Examiner:
Shovel more dirt onto Build Back Better

Discussion: Chalkbeat Tennessee

Jared Malsin / Wall Street Journal:

Turkey's Erdogan Fires Statistics Chief After Record Inflation — President also appoints another member of ruling party as justice minister — ISTANBUL—Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan replaced the head of the state statistics agency weeks after it reported record inflation …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Al Jazeera and One America News Network

New York Times:

Democrats Decried Dark Money. Then They Won With It in 2020. — A New York Times analysis reveals how the left outdid the right at raising and spending millions from undisclosed donors to defeat Donald Trump and win power in Washington. — Ken Vogel's reporting from Washington focuses …

Jill Colvin / Associated Press:

Trump facing legal, political headwinds as he eyes comeback — CONROE, Texas (AP) — As he prepared to tee off at one of his Florida golf courses, a fellow player introduced Donald Trump as the “45th president of the United States.” — “45th and 47th,” Trump responded matter-of-factly, before hitting his drive.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Political Wire and Las Vegas Review-Journal

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

New York Police Officers Remember Jason Rivera — We don't hear much about good cops these days. — Their stories get lost amid the scalding episodes with trigger-happy, racist and sadistic cops. — The good ones get tarred with the same brush, even though the last person who wants …

Discussion: Fox News

U.S. Department of Justice:

American Woman Who Led ISIS Battalion Charged with Providing Material Support to a Terrorist Organization — A criminal complaint filed in 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, which is now unsealed, alleges that Allison Fluke-Ekren, a United States citizen …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone and Fox News

Kyle Morris / Fox News:

Washington trooper who defied state vaccine mandate and told gov to ‘kiss my a—’ dies from COVID-19 — Former Trooper Robert LaMay was 51 years old — Ivy League parents take stand over college vaccine booster mandates — A Washington State Patrol officer who defied a statewide vaccine mandate …

Discussion: Mediaite

Caroline Kitchener / Washington Post:

Republican-led states rush to pass antiabortion bills before Supreme Court rules on Roe — Lawmakers in at least 29 states, anticipating a new legal landscape, have filed measures to restrict abortion. — Nebraska lawmakers kicked off the new year by introducing a bill to ban all abortions …

Adriana Cohen / New York Post:

Why hasn't Fauci been fired and put under FBI investigation yet? — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House top medical adviser, shouldn't be on TV; he should be under federal investigation answering serious questions about his knowledge of the National Institutes of Health's reckless funding …

Discussion: The Daily Conservative

Jesse Wegman / New York Times:

The Equal Rights Amendment Is Now the Law of the Land. Isn't It? — Mr. Wegman is a member of the editorial board. — Even if you are a political junkie, there's a good chance you didn't realize that the United States Constitution grew 58 words longer this week.

CNN:

Trump WH spokesman is sent subpoena by January 6 committee — (CNN)The House Select Committee investigating January 6 has issued a subpoena Friday for a former White House spokesman with firsthand knowledge of Donald Trump's behavior before and during the January 6 attack on the Capitol …