memeorandum: Alabama's only openly gay legislator to anti-trans bill backers: 'Don't you dare call me a friend' (Rebecca Griesbach/al.com)

2:35 PM 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 …

The White House:

Statement from the President on Delivery of Air Defense Systems to Ukraine — Since the outset of my administration, the United States has placed the highest priority on delivering critical military capabilities to Ukraine so it can defend itself against Russian aggression.

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

Discussion: Common Dreams, TechCrunch and Wide World of News

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

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Financial Times, Bill Emmott's Global View, Washington Post, Defense One, Raw Story and The Guardian

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

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Microsoft On the Issues, UPI, Common Dreams and Amnesty International

Jonathan Lemire / Politico:

The White House is freaked out that Putin's next big win could be in Paris — The White House has begun to harbor fears that Vladimir Putin could soon notch his biggest victory of Russia's invasion of Ukraine — in Paris. — There is growing concern within President Joe Biden's administration …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Politico and FiveThirtyEight, more at Mediagazer »

Edward Luce / Financial Times:

Putin's Trojan horse inside the west — If Russia cannot dominate on the battlefield, its next best hope is for dramatic new evidence of western decay — This article is an on-site version of our Swamp Notes newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox every Monday and Friday

Discussion: NDTV, THE JACKAL and The Guardian

New York Times:
A Reinvented Marine Le Pen Threatens to Upend French Elections

Discussion: HuffPost, The Guardian, The National, EUobserver, Associated Press, YouGov, New Statesman and The New Arab

Morgan Phillips / Daily Mail:

TikTok star briefed by the White House admits he was used as a PAWN when parroting their claims that Putin was to blame for soaring gas prices and the rest of the influencers just stayed on message — The White House held a Zoom briefing for about 30 popular internet figures …

Discussion: IJR and Mediaite

Eric Yoder / Washington Post: White House tells agencies to delay vaccine mandate after court win

Ian Richardson / Des Moines Register: President Joe Biden will visit Iowa on Tuesday, White House says

Ed Morrissey / HotAir:
Hmmm: Federal appeals court upholds vaccine mandate on federal workers

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Human Events and The Hill

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: POLITICUSUSA, Townhall, Raw Story, YouTube, Mediaite and The Daily Beast

Dana Milbank / Washington Post: GOP ‘built on fraud, fear and fascism’? If the jackboot fits...

USA Today:
'We've made it. All of us': Ketanji Brown Jackson celebrates historic Supreme Court confirmation

Discussion: ABC News, The Hill, Bloomberg, NBC News, NPR, Associated Press, Washington Times, RedState, CBS News, WSAV-TV, NBC Los Angeles, FOX40, CNN and Washington Post

New York Times:
Jackson Confirmation Aside, G.O.P. Sees an Opening With Black Voters

Discussion: claytoonz, NBC News and CBS News

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 …

Discussion: National Review and Truth and Consequences

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 …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Work from home for justice and Raw Story

Hannah Rabinowitz / CNN:
Member of Proud Boys leadership pleads guilty to US Capitol attack charges

Discussion: CBS News

Robert Legare / CBS News:
Proud Boys conspirator reaches plea deal in Jan. 6 case

Discussion: USA Today, Reuters, BuzzFeed News, The Hill, Politico and Raw Story

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: Washington Post, Daily Kos, The Status Kuo, Raw Story, Insider, NBC News, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Vanity Fair, RedState and New York Post

Salvador Hernandez / BuzzFeed News:

The Veteran Who Launched A Multimillion-Dollar Effort To Build A Border Wall Has Agreed To Plead Guilty To Fraud Charges — Brian Kolfage, an Iraq War veteran who launched a multimillion-dollar crowdfunding effort to build a private border wall, has agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges …

Jennifer Elias / CNBC:

Peter Thiel calls Warren Buffett a ‘sociopathic grandpa from Omaha’ and bitcoin's ‘enemy No. 1’ — At a bitcoin conference in Miami, venture investor Peter Thiel presented a slideshow that included criticisms of financial opinion leaders who he says are trying to stop the cryptocurrency.

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart, BizPac Review, Mediaite, New York Post and MarketWatch

Abram Brown / Forbes: Peter Thiel Pumps Bitcoin, Calls Warren Buffett A ‘Sociopathic Grandpa’

Compact Mag:

Compact Fake Gay History — From Mariupol to Missouri, in real wars and culture wars, soldiers like to film themselves in battle. Twitter is awash with footage of Ukrainian and Russian troops showing off their tactical prowess and grisly exploits. US culture warriors do likewise.

Joy Pullmann / The Federalist:

Cancel Your Disney Vacation And Go To Dollywood Instead — Dollywood turned out to be the perfect family getaway, with fresh, clean fun for every age and need. — Our family ended up at Dollywood recently by happenstance. We were visiting family in Tennessee.

Brian Flood / Fox News:

Google's Gmail favors left-wing candidates, sends far more emails from conservatives to spam: study — ‘Percentage of emails marked by Gmail as spam from right-wing candidates grew steadily as election approached,’ researchers wrote — Fox News Flash top headlines for April 8

Roger Sollenberger / The Daily Beast:

Madison Cawthorn's GOP Colleagues Have a New Reason to Hate Him — Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) isn't exactly making friends in Congress these days. His new stance on raising money for the party isn't going to help. — Last year, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) pulled hundreds of thousands …

Discussion: Raw Story

Sam Adler-Bell / New York Magazine:

Do Democrats Really Want Amazon's Workers to Win? — Seventy-nine years old and slouching toward a devastating midterm rebuke, President Joe Biden rarely appears to be enjoying his job these days. But some of the old spark was there Wednesday, when he addressed a gathering of building-trades unionists …

Discussion: The Lever

Molly Beck / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

On Steve Bannon podcast, Michael Gableman appeals to Trump supporters for help keeping the doors open on his Wisconsin election review — MADISON - The former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice overseeing a taxpayer-funded review of the 2020 election for Assembly Republicans is warning supporters …

The Economist:

Finland is hurtling towards NATO membership — The NATO-Russia border would double at a stroke — EVEN AS RUSSIAN troops were massing on Ukraine's borders in January, Sanna Marin, Finland's prime minister, insisted that it was “very unlikely” her country would join NATO during her time in office.

Discussion: The Hill, Bloomberg, ARY NEWS, Daily Kos and Anti-bellum

Punchbowl News:

4/8/22 ☀️ Punchbowl News AM. … IN FACT, TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO ORDER IT FROM THEIR LOCAL BOOKSTORES. … “THE EXPERIENCE OF BEGGING FOR SUPPORT WAS WEARING ON HER. .. PELOSI WAS THE ONLY DEMOCRAT IN THE CHAMBER — THE ONLY DEMOCRAT ALIVE — WHO HAD ALREADY SERVED AS SPEAKER …

Discussion: Insider, NBC News, The Intersection and Political Wire

Politico:

The Supreme Court question Republicans won't answer — They could have a Senate majority in 2023. But they won't say, definitively, how they would treat another Joe Biden Supreme Court nominee. — Don't ask Chuck Grassley how he'd handle another Supreme Court nomination from President Joe Biden.

Discussion: The Hill, New York Post and Associated Press

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

Unraveling the tale of Hunter Biden and $3.5 million from Russia — “She [Russian billionaire Elena Baturina] gave him [Hunter Biden] $3.5 million so now I would think [Russian president Vladimir] Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it. I think we should know that answer.”

Discussion: Forbes and Althouse

Jeff Stein / Washington Post:

ACLU helped defeat plan to seize Russian oligarchs' funds for Ukraine … The American Civil Liberties Union helped scuttle a bill this week that would have enabled the Biden administration to liquidate Russian oligarchs' assets and turn the proceeds over to Ukraine.