memeorandum: Abolish States — Or defund them. Either way. — Ross Douthat wrote a column arguing … (Alex Pareene/The AP (Alex Pareene) Newsletter)

6:50 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 Daily Caller, The Moderate Voice, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, TheBlaze, Bloomberg, Insider, The Hill and IJR

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

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

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, Washington Times, Slate and CBS News

Associated Press:
Trump's GOP: Party further tightens tie to former president

Discussion: The Atlantic, The Times of Israel, Daily Kos, Just An Earth-Bound Misfit, I and HuffPost

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 …

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, New York Post, Insider, Variety, Hollywood in Toto, The Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, Deadline 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

Discussion: RADAR, Vanity Fair and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

‘He never stopped ripping things up’: Inside Trump's relentless document destruction habits — Trump's shredding of paper in the White House was far more widespread and indiscriminate than previously known and — despite multiple admonishments — extended throughout his presidency.

Discussion: Political Wire

Sandy Garossino / National Observer:

Startling Trump interference points to GoFundMe convoy campaign manipulation — As the defeated ex-president Donald Trump threw his weight behind the Ottawa protest for a second time, lashing out at GoFundMe for suspending payments to organizers of the $10-million “Freedom Convoy 2022,” remember this ...

Discussion: CBC News, GoFundMe Stories, Toronto Star, a vivisection … and Digby's Hullabaloo

Timothy Nerozzi / Fox Business:

GoFundMe backtracks on redistributing money for Canadian truckers, under threat of fraud investigation — Crowdfunding platform says it will automatically refund $10 million in donations — Facing a potential fraud investigation by the state of Florida, GoFundMe reversed a decision …

Discussion: National Review, OutKick, HotAir, Deadline, John's Newsletter, Townhall, Fox News, The Daily Wire, Truck News and Just The News

Amanda Coletta / Washington Post:
Ottawa endures ‘increasingly dangerous’ covid mandate protests as ‘Freedom Convoy’ blockades leave city on edge

Discussion: Mashable, Free Press and Twitchy

Alex Pareene / The AP (Alex Pareene) Newsletter:

Abolish States — Or defund them. Either way. — Ross Douthat wrote a column arguing that liberals are not as committed to democracy as they claim and that conservatives are more committed than they are accused of being. Eric Levitz wrote a response saying Douthat was “wrong to posit a coherent …

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 …

Discussion: MyNorthwest.com

Ben Paviour / VPM.org:

Historian resigns from Executive Mansion position highlighting stories of enslaved — Archeologist and historian Kelley Fanto Deetz resigned on Friday from a position as Virginia's Executive Mansion's director of historic interpretation and education. — Deetz had worked with a broader team aiming …

Discussion: Blue Virginia

Michelle Nichols / Reuters:

EXCLUSIVE North Korea grows nuclear, missiles programs, profits from cyberattacks -U.N. report … North Korea continued to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs during the past year and cyberattacks on cryptocurrency exchanges were an important revenue source for Pyongyang …

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, National Zero and NBC News

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

Jon Levine / New York Post:

‘Genocide games’: NBC refuses to run ad critical of China by NBA's Kanter, Florida congressman — NBC is refusing to broadcast an ad critical of China during the 2022 Winter Olympic games in Beijing, a US congressman says. — The 30-second spot, purchased by Florida GOP Rep. Mike Waltz …

Discussion: Breitbart, The Daily Caller and RedState

Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:

Phone, email records for lawyer of Bannon, Giuliani sought by Justice Dept. — Bannon's team decried the collection Robert J. Costello's records, saying it may have violated attorney-client privilege. — The Justice Department has sought phone and email records of a defense attorney …

Eric Alterman / American Prospect:

Altercation: Shed No Tears for Jeff Zucker, Trump's Great Enabler — At NBC and CNN, Zucker was key to Trump's rise. — Jeff Zucker listens in the spin room after the first of two Democratic presidential primary debates hosted by CNN, July 30, 2019, in the Fox Theatre in Detroit.

Discussion: Newsbusters

Kipp Jones / Mediaite:
Somber Don Lemon Eulogizes Jeff Zucker as ‘The Reason You Have a Gay Black Man’ in Primetime

Discussion: Townhall, The Daily Wire, Deadline, Fox News and BizPac Review

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

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.

The Hill:

White House gets set for cautious pivot on pandemic — The White House is preparing to pivot on the pandemic — but with a different approach than the July 4 celebration last summer that some have subsequently criticized as premature. — “No one wants a repeat of last July,” said one Democratic strategist.

Discussion: Direct Left and Political Wire