memeorandum: Putin's case for invading Ukraine rests on phony grievances and ancient myths (Timothy Snyder/Washington Post)

12:30 PM ET, January 29, 2022

Top Items:

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, QTR's Fringe Finance, Outside the Beltway, The Wrap and HillReporter.com, 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

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, One America News Network, Fortune, Stereogum and Rolling Stone

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, New York Times, PolitiFact, Fox News, New Yorker and The Daily Beast

Robby Soave / Reason:
Georgetown Should Not Fire Ilya Shapiro for a Bad Tweet

Discussion: Power Line, TheGrio, Twitchy, The Mahablog and The Hill

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: NPR, Fox News, TL;DR'd, The Fog and Al Jazeera

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

Discussion: Japan Times, Wide World of News, Los Angeles Times, Washington Examiner, The Continentalist, The National Interest and Voice of America

Phil Stewart / Reuters:
Exclusive: Russia moves blood supplies near Ukraine, adding to U.S. concern

Discussion: The Guardian, RedState, NOQ Report, PBS NewsHour, Fox News, Voice of America, NPR, The National Interest, New York Post, Insider, Al Jazeera, Washington Examiner, New York Times, The Racket, WGN-TV, TheBlaze, TheJournal.ie and Тел …

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, TheGrio and The Blue State Conservative

Washington Examiner:
Shovel more dirt onto Build Back Better

Discussion: Chalkbeat Tennessee

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

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

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

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

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 …

Discussion: Insider, Letters from an American, NBC News, Raw Story, Mediaite, The Guardian, Breitbart, Hackwhackers, CNBC and Wall Street Journal

Hunter Walker / The Uprising:
Trump Campaign Aide Among 14 ‘Alternate Electors’ Subpoenaed By January 6 Committee

Discussion: Bloomberg, Raw Story, Washington Times, NPR, Washington Post, CBS News and Mother Jones

Select Committee to Investigate …:
Select Committee Subpoenas “Alternate Electors” from Seven States

Discussion: Cartas de una estadounidense, Associated Press, POLITICUSUSA, Kansas Reflector, File411's Newsletter, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, USA Today, UPI, Forbes, PolitiFact, Raw Story and Alternet.org

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

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: The Daily Beast

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

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.

Justin Rohrlich / The Daily Beast:

Kansas Man on ‘Mission From God’ Charged With Threatening Biden's Life — ‘BLOOD OF THE LAMB’ — A Kansas man claiming he had been told by God to travel to Washington, D.C., to “lop off the head of the serpent in the heart of the nation” has been charged with threatening …

Discussion: Insider, CNN and New York Post

Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:

White House confirms South Carolina judge is under consideration for Supreme Court — The White House on Friday confirmed that President Biden is considering a South Carolina federal judge and favorite of House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) as a potential candidate for the Supreme Court.

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

Vikrant Thardak / TFIGlobal:

Top Chinese scientist working in Hypersonic program flees China with critical secrets — Vikrant Thardak — Reading Time: 4 mins read — Become a Patron! — The US officials were left stunned when a Financial Times report revealed that Beijing had tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August last year.

Discussion: Washington Post, Aearnur's Newsletter, Atlantic Council and One America News Network

Daniel Dale / CNN:

Twitter says it has quit taking action against lies about the 2020 election — (CNN)Twitter quit taking action to try to limit the spread of lies about the 2020 election, the company said on Friday — a day after another social media platform, YouTube, removed a Republican congressman's campaign ad because it included a 2020 lie.

Discussion: Springfield News-Leader and Raw Story, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Biden Had Strategy to Beat Covid-19. Then Variants Arrived. — Some public-health officials say president's team overlooked steps that could have helped mitigate Omicron surge — WASHINGTON—President Biden took office with a detailed plan to battle Covid-19 by accelerating vaccinations …