memeorandum: Amnesty International Tries to Put Israel on Trial (Elliot Kaufman/Wall Street Journal)

9:05 PM ET, February 5, 2022

Top Items:

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 …

Politico:

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: Election Law Blog, The Moderate Voice, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, TheBlaze, Bloomberg, Insider, The Hill and IJR

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, Washington Times, Mediaite, Slate and CBS News

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

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

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: Raw Story

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: Los Angeles Times, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Politico, Engadget, CNN, Datebook, Townhall, TheBlaze, One America News Network, globalnews.ca, Al Jazeera, ET Canada, The Verge, The A.V. Club, Stereogum, BrooklynVegan and Consequence, 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: New York Post, RedState, 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 …

Discussion: PIX11

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

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

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, Toronto Star, GoFundMe Stories, 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, Fox News, OutKick, Deadline, John's Newsletter, HotAir, Townhall, 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

Washington Post:

Russia could seize Kyiv in days and cause 50,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine, U.S. assessments find — Up to 5 million people likely to flee if Russia invades — Russia is close to completing preparations for what appears to be a large-scale invasion of Ukraine that could result …

Discussion: New York Times, The National Interest, Press Herald, Political Wire and TASS

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

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

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

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

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 …

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.

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: Mediaite, Breitbart, The Daily Caller and RedState

Kelly Yamanouchi / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Delta asks Justice Dept. to put unruly passengers on national no-fly list — Delta Air Lines is asking the U.S. Justice Department to create a national no-fly list of passengers who have been convicted for on-board disruptions. — Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta, wrote a letter …

Discussion: Washington Post and Associated Press

Reuters:

Russian forces at 70% of level needed for full Ukraine invasion, U.S. officials say … Russia has in place about 70% of the combat power it believes it would need for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is sending more battalion tactical groups to the border with its neighbor, two U.S. officials said on Saturday.

Discussion: One America News Network, Thoughts Into Words and TASS

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 …

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 …

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

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.