memeorandum: GOP Rep. Will Introduce Bill to Provide Temporary Asylum to Canadian Trucker Protesters, Compares Trudeau's Actions to an ‘Authoritarian Regime Like Venezuela’ (Katherine Huggins/Mediaite)

9:40 PM ET, February 19, 2022

Top Items:

Kim Willsher / The Guardian:

Jean-Luc Brunel, held on suspicion of supplying girls to Epstein, found hanged — Former model agency boss accused of rape and suspected of trafficking minors has died in prison — The former boss of a French model agency accused of rape and questioned on suspicion of supplying underage girls …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, TheJournal.ie, Raw Story, The Western Journal, Cyprus Mail, The Daily Caller, KGET-TV, Cracked Bowl and Washington Examiner

Angela Charlton / Associated Press:

Modeling agent close to Epstein found dead in French jail — PARIS (AP) — A modeling agent who was close to disgraced U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead Saturday in his French jail cell, where he was being held in an investigation into the rape and sex trafficking of minors, according to the Paris prosecutor's office.

Discussion: HotAir, Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Telegraph, Slate, NBC Connecticut, Al Jazeera, The Times of Israel, Metro.co.uk and New York Post

Peter Allen / Daily Mail:
Jeffrey Epstein's pimp Jean-Luc Brunel ‘hangs himself alone in Paris jail with no CCTV’: Ghislaine Maxwell's family ‘shocked and scared for her’ as man …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Global Community Weekly, Breitbart, Financial Times, The Gateway Pundit, The Wrap, Conservative Brief, RedState, TheBlaze, Addy's Newsletter and Instapundit

Miami Herald:
Jeffrey Epstein associate Jean-Luc Brunel, ex-Miami modeling agent, found dead in Paris jail

Discussion: The Huxleyan, UPI, Townhall and National Review

Liam James / The Independent:
Jean-Luc Brunel: Jeffrey Epstein-linked fashion agent found dead in cell

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Times and Page Array

Martin Goillandeau / CNN:
French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel found dead in prison cell

Discussion: New York Post

Karen Gilchrist / CNBC:

German Chancellor rejects calls to sanction Russia now — argues the West should keep Putin guessing — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday rejected calls to sanction Russia now, saying that Moscow should not be sure “exactly” how the West will react.

New York Times:

A Press Tour Turns Frantic in Ukraine As Russia-Backed Shelling Intensifies — As shelling intensified in eastern Ukraine, a seemingly routine press tour turned into a frantic rush to safety. — NOVOLUHANSKE, Ukraine — “Be calm,” Denis, the 28-year-old driver said, after several mortar shells landed on the road behind us.

Discussion: Washington Post, One America News Network, Anti-bellum, TASS and Breitbart

The Guardian:
West plans to arm resistance if Russian forces occupy Ukraine

Discussion: Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, Reuters and Interfax-Ukraine

Steven Erlanger / New York Times:
Shelling Escalates in Ukraine, as Thousands Flee Fearing Attack

Discussion: Washington Post, The Times of Israel, CBS Chicago, Hitman's Hidden Notes, Boston.com, Politico, TheBlaze, PIX11 and Al Jazeera

New York Times:
Russia Stokes Ukraine Tensions With Evacuations and Missile Tests

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Examiner, The Western Journal, UPI, Al Jazeera, National Review, HotAir, BizPac Review, 6abc, Space.com, The Moderate Voice, CBS News, Associated Press, NBC Los Angeles, The Times of Israel, Mother Jones, CNN and Interfax-Ukraine

New York Times:

What Does Vladimir Putin Want in Ukraine? — We spoke with Fiona Hill, a former Trump adviser, about how the Russian leader's view of history has led him to the brink of war. — Winston Churchill once described Russia as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”

Discussion: Relentless Liberty, Politico, The Guardian and Financial Times

Anton Troianovski / New York Times:

In Ukraine Crisis, the Looming Threat of a New Cold War — If he invades, President Vladimir V. Putin is inviting a new global struggle with the West. He should think about how the last one ended, analysts say. — MOSCOW — Vladimir Pozner was an English-language Soviet propaganda editor …

Reuters:
Putin launches nuclear drills as U.S. says Russian forces ‘uncoil’ for Ukraine attack

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, RTÉ, Agence France-Presse, New York Post, Insider, Forbes and TheJournal.ie

David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:

Who Is Behind QAnon? Linguistic Detectives Find Fingerprints — Using machine learning, separate teams of computer scientists identified the same two men as likely authors of messages that fueled the viral movement. — “Open your eyes,” the online post began, claiming, “Many in our govt worship Satan.”

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:

Trump properties in talks to host lucrative Saudi golf events … Former president Donald Trump's company is angling to host events at his golf courses for the controversial Saudi golf league, according to three people familiar with the matter, potentially handing Trump a lucrative business partnership …

Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story

Vimal Patel / New York Times:

Biden extends the national pandemic emergency first declared in March 2020. — President Biden said on Friday that he would extend the national emergency that was first declared in March 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The additional authority had been set to expire on March 1.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The White House

Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:

Families of U.S. troops killed in Kabul airport bombing question whether Pentagon distorted investigation findings — As the sun faded on another anxious, adrenalized day, Kareem Nikoui, a 20-year-old U.S. Marine from Southern California, balanced on top of a concrete traffic barrier and scanned the crowd.

Discussion: Fox News and The Daily Caller

Clare Malone / New Yorker:

CNN's Problems Are Bigger Than Jeff Zucker — How an upcoming merger at Time Warner could upend life at the cable news network. — In 1973, Tele-Communications Inc., a cable company headed by a thirty-two-year-old named John Malone, was having trouble getting the city of Vail, Colorado, to accept its rates.

Discussion: Raw Story and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Orange County Watch:

California NAACP Calls For Spitzer's “Immediate Resignation” — Earlier today, Rick Callender, President of the California State Conference of the NAACP, told OC Watch that the organization is calling for the “immediate resignation” of Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer …

Auswärtiges Amt / German Federal Foreign Office:

G7 Foreign Ministers' Statement on Russia and Ukraine — We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and the High Representative of the European Union, remain gravely concerned about Russia's threatening military build …

Discussion: Fox News and Radio Free Europe/Radio …

Katherine Huggins / Mediaite:

GOP Rep. Will Introduce Bill to Provide Temporary Asylum to Canadian Trucker Protesters, Compares Trudeau's Actions to an ‘Authoritarian Regime Like Venezuela’ — Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-NM) compared Canada's handling of vaccine mandate protesters to “an authoritarian regime like Venezuela” …

Discussion: The Hill and RedState

David Folkenflik / NPR:

‘The Washington Post’ takes new approach to national coverage with a ‘Democracy Desk’ — The Washington Post is about to unveil a Democracy Desk to report on the front lines of battles over voting, access to the polls, and the people caught up in these fights.

Reid J. Epstein / New York Times:

Fringe Scheme to Reverse 2020 Election Splits Wisconsin G.O.P. — False claims that Donald J. Trump can be reinstalled in the White House are picking up steam — and spiraling further from reality as they go. — MADISON, Wis. — First, Wisconsin Republicans ordered an audit of the 2020 election.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The Jay Weber Show