memeorandum: An Appalachian town was told a bitcoin mine would bring an economic boom. It got noise pollution and an eyesore. (Kevin Williams/Washington Post)

10:00 AM ET, March 19, 2022

Top Items:

Alaska U.S. Rep. Don Young has died at age 88 — Alaska U.S. Rep. Don Young died Friday, his office said. — His wife, Anne, was by his side, his office said in statement. — “It's with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we announce Congressman Don Young, the Dean of the House …

Greg Jaffe / Washington Post:

Afghanistan's last finance minister, now a D.C. Uber driver, ponders what went wrong — Until last summer, Khalid Payenda was Afghanistan's finance minister, overseeing a $6 billion budget — the lifeblood of a government fighting for its survival in a war that had long been at the center of U.S. foreign policy.

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:

How low will the GOP go in taking on Ketanji Brown Jackson? Josh Hawley lets us know. — How desperate can you get? This desperate: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is pushing the argument that Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is dangerously soft on sex offenders, child pornographers in particular.

Discussion: Sentencing Law and Policy, HuffPost, Vox, CBS News, Reason and The Daily Caller

Tierney Sneed / CNN:
GOP senators push misleading portrayal of Ketanji Brown Jackson's record on child porn cases

Discussion: Washington Post and Red Hot Rebel's Rants

Zachary Pleat / Media Matters for America:
Baseless OAN attack on Ketanji Brown Jackson echoes QAnon conspiracy theory

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Kansas City Star

New York Post:

Spies who lie: 51 ‘intelligence’ experts refuse to apologize for discrediting true Hunter Biden story — They are the supposed nonpartisan group of top spies looking out for the best interest of the nation. — But the 51 former “intelligence” officials who cast doubt on The Post's Hunter …

Discussion: Power Line and TheBlaze

Foreign Policy:

How Putin Bungled His Invasion of Ukraine — Faulty assumptions, terrible logistics, and a ferocious Ukrainian resistance have turned Russian President Vladimir Putin's Ukrainian adventure to ashes—for now. — Three weeks after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, social media around the world …

Discussion: Associated Press

Tom Rogan / Washington Examiner:
How the US should deter Vladimir Putin's nuclear brinkmanship

Discussion: We Love Trump, Washington Times, National Review and DownWithTyranny!

Wall Street Journal:

Ukrainian Forces Try to Hold Mariupol as Combat Reaches City Streets — Russia fires a long-range ballistic air missile hitting a military base in western Ukraine; capturing Mariupol in the south remains a key objective — KYIV, Ukraine—Russian forces pushed into the city of Mariupol Saturday …

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:

Purim in Berlin: Ukrainian Jews find refuge in what was once Europe's ‘center of darkness’ — BERLIN — Yaroslava Sveshnikov danced and sang. He ate hamantaschen, pastries symbolizing the wicked courtier Haman, whose thwarted effort to annihilate the Jews in ancient Persia is narrated …

Washington Post:

It's 70 degrees warmer than normal in eastern Antarctica. Scientists are flabbergasted. … The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50 to 90 degrees above normal.

Discussion: WINK NEWS and The Times of Israel

Christina Wilkie / CNBC:

Biden warns Xi of global backlash if China helps Russia's attack on Ukraine — President Joe Biden spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping for nearly two hours on Friday morning, largely about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. — Moscow has asked Beijing for assistance in its war …

The White House:
Readout of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Call with President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China

Discussion: Letters from an American, RedState, Marketplace, Vanity Fair, Politico, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite and Axios

New York Times:
Biden Warns China of ‘Consequences’ if It Aids Russia in Ukraine War

Discussion: The Hub, One America News Network and The New Arab

John Ismay / New York Times:

Ukraine Is Wrecking Russian Tanks With a Gift From Britain — In video after video taken in Ukraine, a puff of smoke and a brief flash of light signal that another clutch of Russian troops are about to die. — Sometimes it is only a split second before that light streaks to a tank …

Discussion: HotAir

NBC News:

Ukraine-Russia war live updates: Russia says it used hypersonic missiles as Zelenskyy calls for talks — Experts answer viewer questions on the war in Ukraine — Russia's military said Saturday it had used a hypersonic missiles in combat for the first time to destroy an ammunition depot in Ukraine's west.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, HotAir, France 24, Raw Story and Al Jazeera

David French / The Atlantic:

What the Russia Invasion Teaches Us About the Right — Contrarians aren't critical thinkers. They're gullible reactionaries, vulnerable to conspiracy theories. … I want to share with you two remarkably similar numbers. At first glance, they should have nothing to do with each other.

Kate Scanlon / Washington Examiner:

Josh Mandel and Mike Gibbons nearly come to blows at Ohio candidate forum — Ohio Republican Senate candidates Josh Mandel and Mike Gibbons nearly came to blows during a candidate forum Friday evening. — Mandel, a former state treasurer and an early front-runner in the race …

Discussion: HuffPost, Joe.My.God., Insider, The Daily Caller, New York Post, Politico, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, The Hill and HotAir

Greg Bluestein / Politico:

How Brian Kemp Resisted Trump's Pressure to Overturn the Georgia Election Results — In late 2020, as Donald Trump launched a last-ditch effort to pressure state legislatures and governors to stop the certification of the vote that had made Joe Biden the president-elect, Trump set his sights on Georgia.

Discussion: Raw Story

Kevin Williams / Washington Post:

An Appalachian town was told a bitcoin mine would bring an economic boom. It got noise pollution and an eyesore. … LIMESTONE, Tenn. — It started as a low hum one day last spring. Then it got louder, and soon some residents said the noise was like a jet engine idling on a nearby tarmac.

Discussion: Althouse and Cryptocracy

Charles R. Davis / Insider:

The socialite daughter of Putin's spokesman complains US sanctions are ‘unfair’ but thinks they won't make a difference … - Elizaveta Peskova is the daughter of Vladimir Putin spokesperson Dmitriy Peskov. — The US government sanctioned her and the rest of her family on March 11.

Discussion: Financial Times and Policy Magazine

Michelle Boorstein / Washington Post:

Researchers warn that Christian nationalists are becoming more radical and are targeting voting — New research linking Christian nationalism with a desire to limit voting. People citing their faith as the reason they support trucker convoys that shut down the border over covid protections.

Washington Post:

Mixed signals from Ukraine's president and his aides leave West confused about his end game … The mounting death toll in Ukraine has forced President Volodymyr Zelensky to consider concessions to Russia in order to bring an end to the devastating conflict, but the specific elements …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Agence France-Presse, Wide World of News, FDD and New York Times

Maria Cramer / New York Times:

Trump Campaign Owes $300,000 in Legal Fees After Another Failed NDA Case — The award stems from an arbitration claim that was dismissed in part because of the “vague and unenforceable” provisions of a nondisclosure agreement. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Discussion: BuzzFeed News

Zachary Petrizzo / The Daily Beast:

People's Convoy Reveals Ridiculous New Goal: ‘Take Back’ Black Lives Matter Plaza — ‘TAR & FEATHERED’ — On Friday morning, the so-called “People's Convoy” seemed to reveal a new goal for the right-wing trucker movement: Reclaim the two-block-long Black Lives Matter Plaza in downtown Washington …

Discussion: The Hill and TMZ.com

Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:

Dr. Oz's Heritage Is Targeted as Rivals Vie for Trump Backing — The Senate candidate's Turkish background has emerged as a focus of David McCormick's attacks in Pennsylvania's G.O.P. primary. — Give this article- - - Read in app — Late last year, before he had formally entered …

Discussion: New York Post and NBC News

Steve Hendrix / Washington Post:

Inside the transfer of foreign military equipment to Ukrainian soldiers … ON THE POLAND-UKRAINE BORDER — There were no passport officers on the dirt road, no customs lane, no signs marking this isolated patch of farmland for what it has become: a clandestine gateway for military supplies entering Ukraine.

Dan Froomkin / Press Watch:

The New York Times editorial board should retract and resign — It's hard to imagine a more fundamental misreading of the freedom of speech - or an organization whose credibility depends more on understanding it correctly - than today's lead editorial from the New York Times editorial board.

Discussion: JONATHAN TURLEY, A Saturday Letter, driftglass, Armchair Pundit, Raw Story, FIRE, PLURIBUS, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Reason, TheBlaze, Daily Briefing, IJR, The Hill, Mediaite and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

‘Madison is wrong’: GOP backlash over Cawthorn grows after Zelensky insult — (CNN)When House Republicans gathered on the baseball field Friday morning for their weekly practice, members were abuzz about one topic: Rep. Madison Cawthorn. — The North Carolina Republican infuriated members …

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, CBS News, HuffPost and The Hill