memeorandum: Dozens of Joe Rogan podcast episodes pulled from Spotify (Lexi Lonas/The Hill)

3:35 PM ET, February 5, 2022

Top Items:

Trump's ‘circular firing squad’ threatens GOP midterm gains — SALT LAKE CITY — Nine months before the midterm elections, nearly everything is falling the Republican Party's way, from President Joe Biden's dismal approval ratings to rising gas prices and a seemingly never-ending pandemic.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Raw Story, The Hill, TheBlaze, Bloomberg, Insider, HotAir and IJR

Caroline Vakil / The Hill:

Trump responds to Pence criticism — Former President Trump responded to former Vice President Mike Pence's remarks that he did not have the authority to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. — “Just saw Mike Pence's statement on the fact that he had no right to do anything …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Mediaite, Slate, Washington Times and CBS News

National Review:

RNC Should Take a Lesson from Mike Pence — The Republican National Committee has voted to formally censure Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for “actions in their positions as members of the January 6th Select Committee not befitting Republican members of Congress.” This is both morally repellent and politically self-destructive.

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Times:

In Scrutinizing Trump and His Allies, Jan. 6 Panel Adopts Prosecution Tactics — The House committee investigating the assault on the Capitol and what led to it is employing techniques more common in criminal cases than in congressional inquiries. — The House select committee scrutinizing …

Discussion: KVIA-TV

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

This was the week when Trump revealed all — He really did want to overturn the 2020 election, and he never meant it when he said those who broke the law on Jan. 6 should have to pay. — Former president Donald Trump has told some big lies over the years.

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story, Off The Mall and Salon

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

Joe Rogan Apologizes for ‘Shameful’ Past Use of Racial Slur — His apology came as listeners said that as many as 70 episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast had been quietly taken off Spotify; the company has yet to comment on the reported removals. — As pressure has intensified …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Townhall, Breitbart, MyNorthwest.com, Vanity Fair, globalnews.ca, One America News Network, TheBlaze, The A.V. Club, The Verge, ET Canada, Stereogum, Consequence and BrooklynVegan, more at Mediagazer »

Jessica Bennett / Page Six:

Joe Rogan addresses his repeated use of the N-word in viral clip … Joe Rogan has responded to a resurfaced clip of him using the N-word almost two dozen times while hosting his wildly popular podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.” — Calling the clip “the most regretful and shameful thing I've ever …

Discussion: RedState, Variety, The Daily Wire, Deadline, The Daily Caller and Consequence

Timothy Bella / Washington Post:

Joe Rogan apologizes for ‘regretful and shameful’ past use of the n-word — Joe Rogan apologized Saturday for the many previous instances in which the host used the n-word on his Spotify podcast. — Rogan, already under fire in recent weeks after medical professionals and musicians decried …

Lexi Lonas / The Hill:

Dozens of Joe Rogan podcast episodes pulled from Spotify — Dozens of episodes of Joe Rogan's podcast were quietly pulled from Spotify amid controversy over COVID-19 misinformation and past racial slurs used by the podcaster. — More than 70 episodes were taken off the platform …

Discussion: RADAR and The Daily Caller

Zach Montellaro / Politico:

GOP takes mail voting to court in swing states Biden won — A pair of looming state court cases could significantly curtail mail voting ahead of the midterms — one of Republicans' major goals since former President Donald Trump went to war against the practice in 2020.

Discussion: NBC10 Philadelphia

Michael Wines / New York Times:
North Carolina Court Says G.O.P. Political Maps Are Unconstitutional

Discussion: Zandar Versus The Stupid, Politico and Roll Call

Samuel Benson / Politico:
Former clerk rewrites SCOTUS contenders' Wikipedia bios

Discussion: Insider, BizPac Review, Outside the Beltway, Reason and Fox News

WRAL-TV:
North Carolina Supreme Court strikes down new voting maps

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Digby's Hullabaloo, Associated Press, Work Matters and One America News Network

Will Doran / Raleigh News & Observer:
Gerrymandering lawsuit: NC districts ruled unconstitutional

Discussion: The Hill, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Fox News, Washington Post, Washington Examiner, WRAL-TV and Breitbart

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Hawley posts a fist-pump to ignorance with his position on Ukraine — Something serious appears to have prompted Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., to label a fellow Republican, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a “con artist” and “one of the worst human beings.” Perhaps it was Hawley's public questioning …

Discussion: Fox News, Townhall, The Hill, Political Wire and HuffPost

Michael Schwirtz / New York Times:
Russian Troops in Final Stages of Readiness Add to Worries for Ukraine

Discussion: globalnews.ca, Japan Times, Comment is Freed, Townhall, Newsy and TFIGlobal

Michael Crowley / New York Times:
All Options Are Not on the Table as Biden Moves Troops Closer to Ukraine

Discussion: The National Interest, HotAir and TFIGlobal

The Daily Beast:

Trump Fixated on ‘Fucking Weird’ Senate Candidate and His Sex Life — The former president has gossiped openly about and so far declined to endorse Josh Mandel. — Starting at the very dawn of the Biden presidency, a slate of increasingly MAGA-fied Republican candidates have each competed …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Columbus Dispatch, NBC News and National Zero

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:

Todd Gitlin, a Voice and Critic of the New Left, Dies at 79 — He earned his stripes in the antiwar movement of the 1960s. In his later years, he was often critical of his erstwhile kindred spirits. — Todd Gitlin, whose immersion in the student rebellions of the 1960s laid the foundation …

Yaroslav Trofimov / Wall Street Journal:

Dismal Russian Record in Occupied Eastern Ukraine Serves as Warning — The areas, once engines of the Ukrainian economy, are now impoverished, depopulated enclaves that increasingly rely on Russian subsidies to survive. It's what many fear could happen to the rest of the country if Vladimir Putin carries out a broader invasion.

Amanda Holpuch / New York Times:

Esper Memoir of Trump Tenure to Move Ahead After Legal Battle Ends — The former defense secretary dropped a lawsuit against the Defense Department after it reversed decisions on what parts of his memoir were to be redacted, his lawyer said. — A memoir by the former defense secretary …

Politico:

New York mayor holds court in swanky restaurant alongside friend with checkered past — NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams' whereabouts have long been a source of intrigue — from his unconventional living arrangement that spilled into public view on the campaign trail last year …

Discussion: New York Magazine

Chris Megerian / Associated Press:

Looking for evidence? Trust us, Biden administration says — WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Biden's administration was asked for evidence to back up dramatic claims about national security developments this past week, it demurred with a simple rejoinder: You'll have to trust us on that.

Discussion: Breitbart and The Daily Beast

Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Why ‘Trust Us’ Is Often Reason Enough Not to Trust the Government

Discussion: Mano Singham

Andrew Mark Miller / New York Post:

Man who tried to burn Minnesota school during BLM riots gets probation — A man convicted of attempting to set fire to a high school during the Black Lives Matter riots in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd has been sentenced to five years probation.

Discussion: Fox News and The Gateway Pundit

Cleve R. Wootson Jr / Washington Post:

Trump and allies try to redefine racism by casting White men as victims — Holding court at a political rally in Texas last week, former president Donald Trump implied that he — a wealthy White man who was elected to an office almost exclusively held by White men — was also a victim of racism.

Discussion: Slate and The Western Journal

Washington Post:

Democrats' big dilemma: Avoid Biden or embrace him? — Some vulnerable Democratic lawmakers are refusing to say whether they want the president to campaign with them. Others welcome him into their states, but urge better communication. — Sen. Mark Kelly, one of this year's most vulnerable Democrats …

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau, Engadget, Associated Press and Insider

Amanda Coletta / Washington Post:

Ottawa endures ‘increasingly dangerous’ covid mandate protests as ‘Freedom Convoy’ blockades leave city on edge — OTTAWA — Canada's capital on Saturday was witnessing a surge of demonstrators joining a week-long protest of public health measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau …

Discussion: Toronto Star, Fox Business, Free Press and Twitchy

Mujib Mashal / New York Times:

Editor in Kashmir Is Arrested Amid Intensifying Clampdown — The police accused Fahad Shah, who edits a news website, of “uploading anti-national content.” Critics say journalists in Kashmir have increasingly been harassed and intimidated. — NEW DELHI — The editor of a news website …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill, Al Jazeera and Committee to Protect …, more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:

The World Is Likely Sicker Than It Has Been in 100 Years — Omicron has probably made more people ill at the same time than in any period since the flu pandemic, experts say — in Mexico City, Joanna Sugden in London and Rajesh Roy — The world is living through a unique moment …

Audrey Mcavoy / Associated Press:

US military faces crisis in Hawaii after leak poisons water — HONOLULU (AP) — A giant U.S. government fuel storage installation hidden inside a mountain ridge overlooking Pearl Harbor has provided fuel to military ships and planes crisscrossing the Pacific Ocean since World War II.

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Where Fox News and Donald Trump Took Us — Roger Ailes understood the appeal Mr. Trump had for Fox viewers. He didn't foresee how together they would redefine the limits of political discourse. — When Roger Ailes ran CNBC in the mid-1990s, he gave himself a talk show called “Straight Forward.”

Discussion: Mediaite