memeorandum: In eastern Ukraine, Russian military razing towns to take them over (Dalton Bennett/Washington Post)

9:10 AM ET, April 8, 2022

Top Items:

Live Updates: At Least 39 Killed in Strike on Train Station, Ukraine Says, as Thousands Flee From East — The station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk had been a main point of evacuation as the region braced for a scaling up of Russia's offensive. The European Union formally approved …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Guardian and Just The News

Financial Times:

Nato states agree to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine — Russia admits ‘significant losses of troops’ as Donbas region prepares for fresh offensive — Nato member states have agreed to supply new types of advanced weaponry to Ukraine, alliance representatives have said …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Wall Street Journal, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, EUobserver, Foreign Affairs, NDTV, New York Post, Slate, Daily Mail, Joseph's Newsletter, Carl Beijer, RedState, Forbes, EL PAÍS in English and The Guardian

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
As Ukraine braces for a second round, the West has a duty to step up

Discussion: Yahoo News, American Purpose, Wide World of News, Politico, NDTV, Associated Press, president.gov.ua, NPR and Washington Examiner

Dalton Bennett / Washington Post:
In eastern Ukraine, Russian military razing towns to take them over

Discussion: The Atlantic

Washington Post:
Expulsion of Russian ‘diplomats’ may strangle Moscow's spying

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Atlantic, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, Reuters, Fox News, Foreign Policy, CNN, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, UN News and CNN

Reuters: U.S. cracks down on Russian airlines after flights violated export controls

Alexis Petridis / The Guardian:
‘This is a crazy, unjust attack’: Pink Floyd re-form to support Ukraine

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio …, YouTube, CBS News, NDTV, New York Post and The Sun

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
How Germany Became Putin's Enabler

Discussion: Bill Emmott's Global View and Defense One

Amnesty International:
Ukraine: Russian forces extrajudicially executing civilians in apparent war crimes - new testimony

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio …

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

GOP ‘built on fraud, fear and fascism’? If the jackboot fits... There were even more vermin than usual in Washington this week. A rabid fox at the Capitol bit at least nine people, including Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.). And Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison attacked Sen. Tom Cotton …

Washington Post:

Rep. Gonzales on how the GOP can win more Hispanic voters — Good morning, Early Birds. Congress has skipped town, but we're still here. Send us your best tips: earlytips@washpost.com. Thanks for waking up with us. — In today's edition: Why Black voters who celebrated Ketanji Brown …

Russell Berman / The Atlantic:
A Push for Normalcy Tests the Gerontocracy

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Outside the Beltway, CNN, Occupy Democrats, Deseret News, TheBlaze and ABC News

The Daily Beast:

‘Gutted’: Inside the Manhattan DA's Unraveling Trump Probe — The Manhattan DA's case against Donald Trump increasingly seems to be going nowhere. … Over the last several weeks, the Manhattan District Attorney's investigation into former President Donald Trump has appeared to be unraveling …

Discussion: Occupy Democrats, Yahoo News, CNN and Political Wire

New York Times:
Under Fire, Manhattan D.A. Defends Handling of Trump Investigation

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Puck, The Daily Beast, Bloomberg, Brooklyn Eagle, Manhattan District …, Washington Post, Politico, Law & Crime, Raw Story, CBS News, CNBC, Raw Story, Forbes, New York Magazine, Insider and Washington Examiner

New York Times:

F.B.I. Preparing to Investigate How Classified Material Went to Trump's Home — Federal authorities want to know more about how sensitive national security information came to be in 15 boxes of documents and mementos sent to Mar-a-Lago from the White House. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Discussion: Insider, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Vanity Fair, RedState, New York Post, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, Forbes, Metro.co.uk and Talking Points Memo

Justin Rohrlich / The Daily Beast:

Yakuza Boss Arrested at Manhattan Steakhouse for Alleged Rockets-for-Heroin Scheme — “The drugs were destined for New York streets, and the weapons shipments were meant for factions in unstable nations.” — A Japanese organized crime kingpin conspired to broker massive deals …

Discussion: Justice News, The Guardian, UPI, Raw Story and Voice of America

Abram Brown / Forbes:

Peter Thiel Pumps Bitcoin, Calls Warren Buffett A ‘Sociopathic Grandpa’ — Peter Thiel, the lightning-rod venture capitalist, offered up what he called an “enemies list” on Thursday, his attempt to call out anti-crypto investors while speaking at a prominent cryptocurrency conference in Miami, a crypto hot spot.

Discussion: CNBC

Hugo Lowell / The Guardian:

Capitol attack investigators zero in on far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys — Panel appears to believe militias coordinated to physically stop certification of Joe Biden's election victory on 6 January last year — The House select committee investigating January 6 appears to believe …

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:
Far-Right's Pedo Obsession Goes Mainstream With Calls to ‘Bring Ammo’ to Disney Fight

Discussion: Raw Story

Elena Schneider / Politico:

‘If we do this right...’: The new Dem organizing strategy catching fire ahead of the midterms — A group of Democratic strategists is trying to spread a novel organizing tactic in this year's election. Technically, it's called “paid relational organizing,” but it boils down to this …

Choire Sicha / New York Magazine:

Journalism's Twitter Problem Is the Journalists — Today, New York Times honcho Dean Baquet ordered a company-wide “reset” in how his staff should think about Twitter. Mostly, he'd like them to never look at it again. — You can see why. Most of the people who work for him are very bad …

Discussion: Althouse, NDTV, The Hill, The Daily Wire, Mediaite, Twitchy, The Daily Beast and RedState, more at Mediagazer »

Breck Dumas / Fox Business:

GEICO apologizes, reverses course after inviting Linda Sarsour to speak at company event — The pro-Palestinian activist has been widely accused of anti-Semitism — Property and casualty insurer GEICO landed in hot water with several Jewish advocacy groups this week after inviting pro-Palestinian activist …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, OutKick and The Daily Wire

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

If the Senate can't help workers, maybe unions and states can — For now, legislative proposals to reduce costs and improve the lives of workers, such as expanding paid leave, subsidizing child care and making prekindergarten universal, is kaput. Support for such a comprehensive package …

Discussion: New York Times

The Lever:
Biden Offers Amazon Workers Rhetoric, But No Action

Discussion: Washington Post

U.S. Department of Justice:

District Man Sentenced to 151 Months in Prison for Receipt of Child Pornography — Defendant Requested Videos of Babies — WASHINGTON - Ruben Verastigui, 29, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 151 months in prison on a federal charge of receipt of child pornography.

Discussion: Politico and Raw Story

CBS News:

Men accused of impersonating federal agents being investigated for possible ties to Iranian intelligence — The two men accused of impersonating federal agents over the course of several years will remain in jail pending a detention hearing Friday, a federal magistrate judge ruled Thursday.

Kansas City Star:

Request for investigation sent before alleged abuse by Greitens — Missouri state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed grew concerned enough about Gov. Eric Greitens' potential for violence in April 2018 that she sent a letter asking the Department of Public Safety to investigate rumors of an incident involving …

Discussion: Raw Story

Megan Durisin / Bloomberg:

Food Prices Jump Most on Record as War Sparks Supply Chaos — Global food prices are surging at the fastest pace ever as the war in Ukraine chokes crop supplies, piling more inflationary pain on consumers and worsening a global hunger crisis. — The war has wreaked havoc on supply chains …

Discussion: Washington Post

Jennifer Haberkorn / Los Angeles Times:

Rape exceptions to abortion bans were once widely accepted. No more — As conservative states enacted stringent abortion bans in recent decades, there was one threshold they were loath to cross: Abortion was nearly always allowed in cases of rape or incest.

Discussion: The Guardian

Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:

Elon Musk to address Twitter staff after internal outcry … Twitter plans to host Elon Musk for a question-and-answer session with employees after a week of internal outcries over his appointment to the social network's board of directors, according to company messages obtained by The Washington Post.

Discussion: Screen Shot, OutKick, Menagerie, the Newsletter, Reuters and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

Emily Crane / New York Post:

Bin Laden's niece praises Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz for backing Capitol rioters — Osama bin Laden's niece, Noor bin Ladin, has praised Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) as well as Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) for publicly defending the US Capitol rioters.

Fareed Zakaria / Washington Post:

Right-wing populists are thriving — even when they're friends of Putin — When Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, a wide variety of commentators believed there was at least one silver lining in this catastrophic cloud. Vladimir Putin's assault on the liberal order, they hoped …

Discussion: Financial Times

New York Times:

Supreme Court Highlights: Senate Confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson — The 53-47 vote elevated the first Black woman to the pinnacle of the judicial branch as senators erupted in cheers. Three Republicans joined Democrats in supporting President Biden's nominee. — Here's what you need to know: