memeorandum: We are dropping the Dilbert comic strip because of creator Scott Adams' racist rant: Letter from the Editor (Chris Quinn/Plain Dealer)

10:55 AM ET, February 25, 2023

Top Items:

Chris Quinn / Plain Dealer:

We are dropping the Dilbert comic strip because of creator Scott Adams' racist rant: Letter from the Editor — Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, went on a racist rant this week on his Coffee with Scott Adams online video show, and we will no longer carry his comic strip in The Plain Dealer.

Discussion: New Jersey Online, Variety, MLive.com, The Gateway Pundit, Oregonian, Bloomberg, The Wrap, New York Daily News, Raw Story, Deadline, Parallax and Orange County Register

Politico:

Judge rejected Perry's bid to shield thousands of emails from Jan. 6 investigators — The chief judge of the federal district court in Washington, D.C., secretly rejected Rep. Scott Perry's bid to shield more than 2,000 messages relevant to Justice Department investigators probing efforts …

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, NBC News, Bloomberg and Washington Post

Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:

Fight over Rep. Perry's phone has prevented review of 2,200 documents in Jan. 6 probe — Six months after the FBI seized Perry's phone, a U.S. appeals court is reviewing a judge's order that 90 percent of Perry's messages fall outside Congress's immunity from criminal investigation.

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Times:

What Fox News Hosts Said Privately vs. Publicly About Voter Fraud — No serious lawyer could believe what they were saying. — Two days after the 2020 election, Tucker Carlson was furious. — Fox News viewers were abandoning the network for Newsmax and One America News, two conservative rivals …

Discussion: Jacobin

Oliver Darcy / CNN:
'It's a major blow': Dominion has uncovered ‘smoking gun’ evidence in case against Fox News, legal experts say

Discussion: Off the Kuff, Raw Story, Tangle and Mediaite

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
Republican elites fear the monster they created

Discussion: Raw Story, The Moderate Voice and The Guardian

Hannah Dreier / New York Times:

Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S. — Arriving in record numbers, they're ending up in dangerous jobs that violate child labor laws — including in factories that make some of the country's best-known products. — Hannah traveled to Alabama, Florida …

Wall Street Journal:

Ukraine Is the West's War Now — The initial reluctance of the U.S. and its allies to help Kyiv fight Russia has turned into a massive program of military assistance, which carries risks of its own — Two days before the Russian invasion of his country, on Feb. 22, 2022 …

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Hill and Financial Times

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

America's Interests Are Not Necessarily the Same as Ukraine's — We should support Ukraine because Russia is our enemy, but that support can't be unlimited. — Friday marked the one-year anniversary of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. A two-year anniversary is highly likely …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Vladimir's News, ABC News, New York Daily News and NK News

Holly Otterbein / Politico:

Sanders supporters took over the Nevada Democratic Party. It's not going well. — When Bernie Sanders' supporters took over the Nevada Democratic Party two years ago, progressives across the country were thrilled. — Socialists had managed to bring down one of the most powerful establishment forces …

Discussion: RedState, Raw Story, Las Vegas Review-Journal and Fox News

NBC News:

No ‘apologists for Putin’: Pence draws contrast with DeSantis on support for Ukraine — Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday rebuked fellow Republicans who have given less-than-robust support for America's defense of Ukraine — a group that includes potential presidential campaign rivals like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Associated Press, The Hill, The Dispatch and New York Post

NBC News:
Pence says he is nearing a decision on 2024 presidential bid

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, The Hill, HuffPost, Vanity Fair and Al Jazeera

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
Mike Pence, possible Trump 2024 challenger, slams ‘apologists for Putin’ in the GOP

Discussion: National Review, NBC News, 19FortyFive, The Hill, Washington Examiner and ABC News

Eric Dolan / Raw Story:

Trump brutally mocked after tabloid reveals details of his new Mar-a-Lago gig — Critics of President Donald Trump are having a field day after learning about his new hobby. — Page Six reported Friday that the former president “now has a regular gig” as a DJ at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Insider, Page Six and Forbes

Laura Bassett / Jezebel:
Donald Trump Moonlights As a DJ Now

Discussion: Balloon Juice

CNN:

Chinese fighter jet confronts US Navy plane with CNN crew aboard as tensions simmer in the South China Sea — Kadena Air Base, Japan CNN — The US Navy reconnaissance jet flies at 21,500 feet over the South China Sea, 30 miles from the contested Paracel Islands, a group of about 130 small atolls …

NBC News:
Chinese fighter jet flies within 500 feet of U.S. patrol over South China Sea

Discussion: HotAir, The Gateway Pundit, CBS News, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal

Lauren Weber / Wall Street Journal:

Burned Out, More Americans Are Turning to Part-Time Jobs — The number of people working part time rose by 1.2 million in December and January—most were people who chose it. ‘25 hours is the new 35.’ — Part-time work is exploding. — The number of Americans working part time rose …

Caroline Kitchener / Washington Post:

The Texas judge who could take down the abortion pill … By Caroline Kitchener and Ann E. Marimow — ABILENE, Tex. — Matthew Kacsmaryk was a 22-year-old law student when he drove to a small city in west Texas to spend a day with a baby he would probably never see again.

Discussion: Home with the Armadillo and Repro Rights NOW

Scott Macfarlane / CBS News:

Media organizations demand Jan. 6 videos McCarthy shared with Fox News' Tucker Carlson — A group of media organizations, including CBS News, is demanding access to a tranche of surveillance and police videos from the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol that U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy provided to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post, NBC News, Twitchy, PBS NewsHour and Breitbart

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar:

Hannity and Carlson Admit Lying to Audience (Then Try to Fire Fact-Checker), DeSantis Hires Sexist Educator, NYT Writers Protest, Roald Dahl Gets Sanitized, Roberto Clemente Bio Banned, and More — My thoughts on the top—and top-ish—stories in this week's political, sports, and pop culture news.

Discussion: New York Daily News

Neil Genzlinger / New York Times:

Robert Hébras, Last Survivor of a 1944 Massacre in France, Dies at 97 — Dead bodies shielded him as the Nazis killed 643 people in Oradour-sur-Glane. He spent his life keeping the memory of the slaughter alive. — Robert Hébras, who, shielded under dead bodies …

Rebecca Solnit / The Guardian:

Feminism taught me all I need to know about men like Trump and Putin — Like all abusive men, dictators seek to control who can speak and which narratives are believed. The only difference is scale — s the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfolded, I was reminded over and over again …

CBS News:

5 dead after Care Flight plane crash, including a patient and the pilot — Five people — including a patient and a pilot — were killed on Friday after a Care Flight plane crashed near Stagecoach, Nevada, about 45 miles east of Reno. — The incident happened around 9:15 p.m. local …

Discussion: ABC News, UPI and New York Post

Brooke Leigh Howard / The Daily Beast:

Black TikToker Says Woman Called the Cops on Him for Shoveling Snow — “They don't have no respect,” she complained to police as the men kindly cleared the sidewalk outside her home. — A TikTok video has gone viral after a white woman called the police on two Black men for shoveling snow …

Discussion: Raw Story

ABC News:

Biden tells ABC's Muir ‘we would respond’ if China sends weapons to Russia — He spoke in an exclusive interview at the White House Friday. — During an exclusive interview with ABC's David Muir, President Joe Biden said Friday the U.S. “would respond” if China were to supply Russia …

Discussion: UPI, Financial Times, Fox News, Mediaite, Newsbusters, The Gateway Pundit, Insta, Breitbart, Bloomberg, New York Post, TASS and Human Events

Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:

Brian Stelter defends 2020 media coverage of Hunter Biden laptop story: We never labeled it ‘disinformation’ … Will CNN dropping of Brian Stelter bring network back towards the middle?: Concha — Former CNN host Brian Stelter defended the media's coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story …

Discussion: Twitchy, Newsbusters and Mediaite

Nate DiCamillo / Yahoo Finance:

Tennessee is set to become the first US state to ban drag … Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill banning drag shows in public on Thursday, sending the measure to the Republican Governor Bill Lee's desk. — The law would make Tennessee the first state to ban public drag …

Discussion: HotAir, Daily Montanan and Common Dreams

Tiney Ricciardi / Denver Post:

Rep. Lauren Boebert's Shooters Grill will be replaced by a Mexican restaurant — Tapatios recently applied for a liquor license at 120 E. 3rd St. in Rifle — A Mexican restaurant is taking over a high-profile location in the town of Rifle, Colorado, where U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert's Shooters Grill previously resided.

Discussion: HuffPost, Raw Story and Political Wire

Sara Boboltz / HuffPost:

GOP Ex-Sen. Inhofe Retired Due To Long COVID After Opposing COVID Aid — The longtime senator from Oklahoma said complications from the virus contributed to his stepping aside. — Former Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) attributed his decision to retire due to the long-term effects of COVID-19 …

Discussion: New Republic and Political Wire

Graham Kates / CBS News:

George Santos falsely claimed in court that he worked for Goldman Sachs, audio reveals — In audio from a 2017 court appearance at a bail hearing for a “family friend,” George Santos can be heard telling a Seattle judge, “I'm an aspiring politician and I work for Goldman Sachs.”

Discussion: Politico