memeorandum: “The Conversation About CNN Changed”: Network Leaves Drama Behind With Focus on War in Ukraine (Joe Pompeo/Vanity Fair)

9:40 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 and The Guardian

Reuters:

U.S. cracks down on Russian airlines after flights violated export controls — The U.S. Commerce Department stepped up its crackdown against Russian airlines on Thursday, slapping Aeroflot (AFLT.MM), Azur Air, and UTair (UTAR.MM) with enforcement actions for violating American export controls issued after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Financial Times:
Nato states agree to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine

Discussion: Common Dreams, The Federalist, Outside the Beltway, Wall Street Journal, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Foreign Affairs, New York Post, Slate, Daily Mail and The Guardian

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Common Dreams and The Atlantic

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

Discussion: Bill Emmott's Global View and Defense One

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

Discussion: Common Dreams, Outside the Beltway, EUobserver, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Washington Examiner, The Atlantic, Raw Story, Foreign Policy, Fox News, CNN, New York Times, UN News and CNN

Associated Press:
Missile kills 30 evacuees at busy Ukrainian train station

Discussion: CNN, HotAir, Insider, Associated Press, UPI, NBC News, Common Dreams, Metro.co.uk, NBC New York, Укр … and WHDH-TV

Tom Burt / Microsoft On the Issues:
Disrupting cyberattacks targeting Ukraine

Discussion: Washington Post, TechCrunch, Amnesty International, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, USA Today and The Hill, more at Techmeme »

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, Raw Story and Political Wire

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

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Puck, Bloomberg, Brooklyn Eagle, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Manhattan District …, Politico, Law & Crime, 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, Raw Story, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Vanity Fair, RedState, New York Post, The Daily Beast, Forbes, Metro.co.uk, Talking Points Memo and 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: Raw Story

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Ex-RNC staffer gets more than 12 years in prison in child porn case — Probe that snared Ruben Verastigui allegedly involved at least 18 others, including a former Commerce Department aide. — A former GOP staffer and Republican National Committee aide who admitted to being part of a ring …

New York Times:

A Reinvented Marine Le Pen Threatens to Upend French Elections — The far-right presidential candidate has opened up about her personal life and tweaked her policies to gain sympathy and credibility among more mainstream voters. — STIRING-WENDEL, France — Marine Le Pen …

Discussion: The Guardian, YouGov and New Statesman

Fareed Zakaria / Washington Post:
Right-wing populists are thriving — even when they're friends of Putin

Discussion: Financial Times

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 …

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 …

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

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

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.

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

Trish Bendix / New York Times:

Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls the Police on Jimmy Kimmel — Kimmel said of Greene's angry tweets about a joke he made earlier this week: “She's a snowflake and a sociopath — a ‘snowciopath.’” … Marjorie Is the New Karen — Jimmy Kimmel struck a nerve with Marjorie Taylor Greene this week …

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, YouTube and The Daily Beast

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 …

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

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

Adam Kredo / Washington Free Beacon:

Exposed: The Russian Companies That Will Get Billions From New Iran Nuclear Deal — U.S.-government document shows Russia's top state companies stand to cash in when sanctions drop — Several of Russia's top state-controlled nuclear companies stand to gain billions of dollars in revenue …

Jennifer Hassan / Washington Post:

A Zelensky impersonator escapes Ukraine — helped by fake Putin, Kim Jong Un — The day after Russia invaded his country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the world that he was “the enemy's number one target.” Around the same time, a man famous for looking startlingly like Zelensky …

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:

“The Conversation About CNN Changed”: Network Leaves Drama Behind With Focus on War in Ukraine — With dozens of reporters on the ground, from Christiane Amanpour to Anderson Cooper, CNN gets back to basics in the wake of leadership turmoil. “This is what we are there to do,” senior international correspondent Sam Kiley says.

more at Mediagazer »

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 »

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 …

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.