memeorandum: A covid surge in Western Europe has U.S. bracing for another wave (Washington Post)

3:10 PM ET, March 17, 2022

Top Items:

Jeff Zients to Leave as Biden's Covid Czar and Be Replaced by Ashish Jha — The choice of Dr. Jha, an outspoken public health expert, is a sign that the White House believes the country is entering a new phase of the pandemic. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Discussion: Associated Press, Fox News, Washington Post, We Love Trump, CNN, Washington Examiner, Townhall, Breitbart, NBC News, UPI, HotAir, Associated Press, NPR, Bloomberg, National Review, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Hill, WSVN-TV and Balloon Juice

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Living in red America can be life-threatening — It should come as no surprise that the highest rates for covid-19 deaths and murders are found mainly in red states. A political mind-set that prioritizes racial resentment, anti-science zealotry and manufactured cultural wedge issues …

Discussion: Raw Story, Alternet.org, Balloon Juice, Breitbart, Third Way and ArkansasTimes

Politico: POLITICO Playbook PM: Pelosi's Covid funding quagmire

Axios:
Scoop: Biden officials fear “mass migration event” if COVID policies end

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, CNN, Washington Examiner, New York Post, The Semi-Pro Pilgrim, Townhall and The Federalist

Washington Post:
A covid surge in Western Europe has U.S. bracing for another wave

Discussion: ABC News, Balloon Juice, Deadline, Deseret News, The Clay Travis & … and The Guardian

Ed Yong / The Atlantic:
The Coronavirus Funding Collapse Is a Disaster

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo, Becker's Hospital Review, Deseret News and Mic

The White House:
Statement by President Joe Biden on the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator

Discussion: Washington Post, CBS News, Washington Times, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Becker's Hospital Review and Politico

Kori Schake / Washington Post:

Russia's military is incompetent. That makes it more dangerous. … Last month, Russia's position on Ukraine's borders looked promising: Moscow had amassed an invasion force with nearly as many troops as Ukraine has in its active-duty military, had spent two decades modernizing its weapons and organization …

Discussion: Financial Times, Euractiv, National Review, Forbes, Task & Purpose, Washington Examiner, The Kyiv Independent and Paul's Defense News

Zach Dorfman / Yahoo News:

Exclusive: Secret CIA training program in Ukraine helped Kyiv prepare for Russian invasion — Ukrainian snipers had a problem: Russian forces in eastern Ukraine were trying to blind them. — As the Ukrainians were looking through their scopes in order to find their targets …

Discussion: TheBlaze, UPI, CANNONFIRE, The Most Revolutionary Act, 2nd Smartest Guy in the World, Associated Press, Raw Story, The Times of Israel, New York Post, Washington Post, Associated Press, Financial Times and New York Times

Cathy Young / The Bulwark:

Digging Into Russia's Latest Charge of ‘Ukrainian Nazis’ — Context and contrition. — From the start of the Ukraine/Russia conflict in 2014, claims that the new post-Euromaidan Ukraine—or at least its leadership—was a neo-Nazi wolf in liberal clothing figured prominently in pro-Kremlin discourse.

Discussion: Raw Story, Today's Edition Newsletter, The Kyiv Independent, Joe.My.God. and RedState

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Stop buying from these companies. They're funding Putin's war.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, HotAir, Ace of Spades HQ, The Liberty Loft, Daily Kos and Washington Times

Mona Charen / The Bulwark:
The Ukraine Speech Biden Should Give Now

Discussion: Haaretz, Euractiv, Washington Post, Washington Post, KEYE, Insider and The Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

Inside Edition:

Fearing Poisoning, Vladimir Putin Replaces 1,000 of His Personal Staff — Kremlin Questioned Protesting Russian TV Producer for 14 Hours After Arrest — Russian Speakers Make Cold Calls to Thwart Putin's Ukraine Propaganda — Parents of Ex-Marine Jailed in Russia Say Putin Is Using Him as a Political Pawn

Discussion: Althouse

Paul McLeod / BuzzFeed News:

Everyone Was Surprised By The Senate Passing Permanent Daylight Saving Time. Especially The Senators. — WASHINGTON — The Senate's unanimous passage of a bill to make daylight saving time permanent stunned many Americans, not least of which the senators themselves.

Discussion: Breitbart, Mediaite, TheBlaze, Political Wire, Washington Times, WHTM-TV and Alternet.org

New York Times:

Hunter Biden Paid Tax Bill, but Broad Federal Investigation Continues — The Justice Department inquiry into the business dealings of the president's son has remained active, with a grand jury seeking information about payments from around the world. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Glenn Greenwald:
The NYT Now Admits the Biden Laptop — Falsely Called “Russian Disinformation” — is Authentic

Discussion: National Review, Washington Examiner, New York Post, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, The Clay Travis & …, Twitchy, Washington Examiner, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, American Greatness and National Review

Miranda Devine / New York Post: ‘Putin’ us on: Why Dems' ‘Russian disinformation’ claims can't be taken seriously

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Hannity's clownish contortions on Ukraine reveal the rot at Trumpism's core — Donald Trump's most slavish propagandists have a problem. Trump withheld military aid from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an extortion scheme of unfathomable corruption and depravity.

Discussion: Insider, POLITICUSUSA and MSNBC

David Horowitz / Front Page Magazine: Trump Reveals What Kept Putin From Invading Ukraine During His Presidency

Guy Faulconbridge / Reuters:

Russia warns United States: we have the might to put you in your place — Russia warned the United States on Thursday that Moscow had the might to put the world's pre-eminent superpower in its place and accused the West of stoking a wild Russophobic plot to tear Russia apart.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, BizPac Review, Graham's Newsletter, New York Times, New York Times, Al Jazeera, Foreign Affairs, Ivan's Newsletter, TheBlaze, Uncensored, Joe.My.God., New York Times and Wall Street Journal

Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Defense Secretary Austin stops short of accusing Russia of war crimes

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Insider

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:
Biden calls Putin a ‘war criminal’

Hugo Lowell / The Guardian:

Trump White House aide was secret author of report used to push ‘big lie’ — Report on Dominion voting machines produced after 2020 election was not the work of volunteer in Trump's post-election legal team — Weeks after the 2020 election, at least one Trump White House aide was named …

Discussion: The Full Belmonte, Alternet.org and Raw Story

Elisha Fieldstadt / NBC News:

Brittney Griner's detention extended until May, Russian news agency says — American basketball star Brittney Griner's detention in Russia has been extended until May, Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing the Khimki Court of the Moscow Region. — “The court granted the petition …

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio …, CNN, Insider, NPR, The Guardian and CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

Associated Press:
WNBA star Brittney Griner's detention in Russia extended to May 19

Discussion: CBS News, New York Times, Washington Examiner, TMZ.com, Associated Press, Daily Kos, The Root, TheBlaze, Sports Illustrated, National Review, New York Post, Voice of America, RADAR, The Daily Caller, LGBTQ Nation, Mic, Just The News and PBS NewsHour

Rebecca Davis O'Brien / New York Times:

Chinese Officer Charged With Harassing N.Y. Congressional Candidate — Yan Xiong, a Chinese dissident who immigrated to America and is now a political candidate in New York, was targeted by an agent of the Chinese government, federal prosecutors said. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Discussion: HotAir, Associated Press, The Diplomat, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, CNBC, Insider, Washington Free Beacon, The Gateway Pundit, UPI and Washington Post

Sally Ho / Associated Press:
U.S. Olympian Alysa Liu, father targeted in Chinese spy case

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, Insider, CBS News, The Daily Caller and Bloomberg

Rachael Bade / Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Scoop: RNC down to two 2024 convention finalists — DRIVING THE DAY — ZELENSKYY'S APPEAL FALLS SHORT (FOR NOW) — No one was surprised by the request: a no-fly zone — and if not that, then access to those Soviet-style fighter jets in Poland that could help them “close the sky.”

Discussion: ABC News, UPI, Deseret News, CNN, Insider, Daily Kos, Raw Story, YouTube, Political Wire and Wall Street Journal

Molly McKew / Great Power:

Escalating fears that Putin might do something crazy — A brief note on a very strange day … I think there are two points worth dwelling on. — First, there will always be fresh terror from Putin. A show trial. Chernobyl. Chem/bio insinuations.

Marianne LeVine / Politico:

Durbin, White House slam emerging GOP attack on KBJ sex offender rulings — Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and the Biden White House on Thursday derided a new GOP attack on Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, centered on her handling of sex offenders.

Discussion: Washington Times, The Gateway Pundit and Political Wire

New York Times:

Republicans Push Crackdown on Crime Wave That Doesn't Exist: Voter Fraud — Election fraud is exceedingly rare and often accidental. Still, G.O.P. lawmakers and prosecutors are promoting tough new enforcement efforts. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Discussion: Salon and Raw Story

Ed White / HuffPost:

Man Accused In Kidnap Plot Wanted ‘Tyrant’ Michigan Governor Tied Up On Table — Adam Dean Scott told an undercover FBI agent he wanted to restrain Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on a table for a photo made to look “like we just made the biggest drug bust.” — A key figure in an alleged plot …

Discussion: Insider

Vicky Prodeline / Monmouth University Polling …:

Negative View of State of the Union — Americans describe country as ‘divided,’ ‘mess,’ ‘chaos’ — West Long Branch, NJ - Divided. That is the most commonly mentioned description of the country today, according to the Monmouth ("Mon-muth") University Poll.

Jennifer Szalai / New York Times:

In ‘Lessons From the Edge,’ How an Ambassador to Ukraine Became a Casualty of the Trump Administration — Marie Yovanovitch recounts her career in public service and the experience of testifying during President Trump's first impeachment. — Buy Book ▾

Holly Otterbein / Politico:

Sanders camp quietly pushes Khanna presidential bid — Top figures from Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign are privately encouraging Ro Khanna to run for president in 2024 if Joe Biden doesn't seek a second term, giving the California congressman an important stamp of approval from progressives …

Discussion: Common Dreams

Sarah L. Kaufman / Washington Post:

Bolshoi star ballerina quits famed Moscow company: ‘I never thought I would be ashamed of Russia’ … Bolshoi ballerina Olga Smirnova, an international ballet star who recently publicly denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has quit the famed Moscow ballet company and joined the Dutch National Ballet …