memeorandum: Where Does American Democracy Go From Here? (Charles Homans/New York Times)

4:05 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

Ed Yong / The Atlantic:

The Coronavirus Funding Collapse Is a Disaster — All epidemics trigger the same Sisyphean cycle of panic and neglect. Even so, that cycle isn't meant to spin this quickly. — All epidemics trigger the same dispiriting cycle. First, panic: As new pathogens emerge, governments throw money, resources, and attention at the threat.

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

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 and Third Way

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Post, The Daily Wire, CBS News, Washington Times, New York Post, Becker's Hospital Review, The Daily Caller 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: nationalinterest.org, TheBlaze, UPI, CANNONFIRE, The Most Revolutionary Act, 2nd Smartest Guy in the World, Associated Press, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., RedState, The Times of Israel, New York Post, Associated Press and Reuters

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

Cathy Young / The Bulwark:
Digging Into Russia's Latest Charge of ‘Ukrainian Nazis’

Discussion: CNN, Raw Story, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Today's Edition Newsletter and The Kyiv Independent

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

Discussion: Haaretz, Euractiv, Washington Post, KEYE, Washington Post, 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, Alternet.org and WHTM-TV

Glenn Greenwald:

The NYT Now Admits the Biden Laptop — Falsely Called “Russian Disinformation” — is Authentic — The media outlets which spread this lie from ex-CIA officials never retracted their pre-election falsehoods, ones used by Big Tech to censor reporting on the front-runner.

Discussion: National Review, New York Post, The New Neo, Washington Examiner, Breitbart, Letters From Luke and Twitchy

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

Kenneth Garger / New York Post:
Hunter Biden's infamous laptop confirmed in New York Times report

Discussion: JONATHAN TURLEY, TheBlaze, The Truth Barrier, Ace of Spades HQ, Newsbusters, The Gateway Pundit, The Clay Travis & …, Washington Examiner, Don Surber, We Love Trump, The Daily Caller, American Greatness, TheBlaze and National Review

Jeremy Pelzer / Plain Dealer:

Gov. Mike DeWine's suggestion to break Ohio's redistricting impasse: have mapmakers collaborate on bipartisan plan — COLUMBUS, Ohio — The morning after the Ohio Supreme Court threw out a third Republican-backed legislative redistricting plan, Gov. Mike DeWine suggested having Democratic and GOP mapmakers …

Discussion: Rolling Stone and Election Law Blog

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:
2022 GOP showdown: New Hampshire Gov. Sununu to veto redistricting map written by Republicans

Discussion: CBS News and Associated Press

Maya King / New York Times: Why Stacey Abrams Isn't Embracing Her Democratic Stardom (So Far)

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

Jack Shafer / Politico:
Why Journalists Love War

Discussion: Vanity Fair, Raw Story and Chicago Sun-Times

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 and POLITICUSUSA

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, Washington Post, Graham's Newsletter, Ivan's Newsletter, Al Jazeera, Foreign Affairs, TheBlaze, New York Times, New York Times, Uncensored, Joe.My.God., New York Times and Wall Street Journal, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:
Biden calls Putin a ‘murderous dictator’ and ‘pure thug’

Discussion: The Hill, Insider, Washington Examiner and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:

Russian Forces Take Losses on Battlefield, but Civilian Toll Worsens — Russia's ground advance slowed, but more missile and other attacks struck civilians. As cease-fire talks continued with uncertain prospects, the U.N. Security Council was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Ukraine.

Discussion: HotAir, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, BBC, NPR, The Daily Wire, Associated Press and One America News Network

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

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

Washington Post:

Koch Industries to stay in Russia, says exiting does ‘more harm than good’ — Koch Industries, the American manufacturing giant that employs 122,000 people across the world, said Wednesday it would not exit its operations in Russia because doing so would put its “employees there at greater risk and do more harm than good.”

Discussion: Popular Information, KOCH Newsroom, Daily Kos and Joe.My.God.

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.

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.

Discussion: RedState

Charles Homans / New York Times:

Where Does American Democracy Go From Here? — Early last year, Freedom House, an American organization that since World War II has warned against autocracy and repression on the march around the world, issued a special report on a country that had not usually warranted such attention: its own.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Washington Examiner

Foreign Policy:

Republican Senators Block Confirmation of Key Biden Officials, Stymying Ukraine Response — A Democratic lawmaker accuses Sen. Rick Scott of “single-handedly undermining” the United States' full response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. — In recent weeks, the Biden administration …

Discussion: 19FortyFive

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 ▾

David Lat / Original Jurisdiction:

Is Free Speech In American Law Schools A Lost Cause? — Recent controversies at UC Hastings and Yale Law—Yale, shocking, I know—don't provide much reason for hope. … On March 1, at the UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, the law school's chapter of the Federalist Society attempted …

Discussion: HotAir, Washington Examiner, National Review, TheBlaze, BizPac Review, Yale Daily News and American Greatness

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 …

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