memeorandum: Access to abortion is a unifying issue (Jennifer Rubin/Washington Post)

1:55 PM ET, February 26, 2023

Top Items:

Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Agency Now Says — Energy Department's revised assessment is based on new intelligence — WASHINGTON—The U.S. Energy Department has concluded that the Covid pandemic most likely arose from a laboratory leak, according …

Rolling Stone:

Trump White House Pressured Disney to Censor ... Jimmy Kimmel — The former president was so incensed by the late-night host making fun of him that he had his staff take action — IN EARLY 2018, the American national security apparatus was fixated on reports that North Korea …

Eduardo Medina / New York Times:

Newspapers Drop ‘Dilbert’ Comic After Creator's Rant About Black ‘Hate Groups’ — Scott Adams, who created the syndicated comic strip, also said that white people should “get the hell away from Black people,” prompting criticism from editors across the country.

Discussion: NPR, HotAir, Reuters, UPI, Al Jazeera, Outside the Beltway, Rolling Stone, PennLive, CBS News, ABC7, Fox News, Oregonian, Insider and New York Post

Washington Post:

‘Dilbert’ dropped by The Post, other papers, after cartoonist's racist rant — Newspapers across the United States have pulled Scott Adams's long-running “Dilbert” comic strip after the cartoonist called Black Americans a “hate group” and said White people should “get the hell away from” them.

David French / New York Times:

Why Fox News Lied to the Viewers It ‘Respects’ — There are some stories that are important enough to pause the news cycle and linger on them, to explore not just what happened, but why. And so it is with Fox News's role in the events leading up to Jan. 6, 2021.

Discussion: Raw Story

Mike Allen / Axios:

Scoop: House GOP plans Ohio derailment hearings — Multiple House committees are gaming out aggressive hearings 0n the Biden administration's response to the toxic train wreck in Ohio — including how the government supervises giant rail companies, Axios has learned.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, WFLA-TV and Washington Times

Washington Post:
How a small-town train derailment erupted into a culture battle

Discussion: New York Post

Washington Post:
Here's how to fix freight rail after the Ohio derailment debacle

Discussion: Fortune and NBC News

Dana Kennedy / New York Post:
‘Sound like Mickey Mouse’: East Palestine residents' shock illnesses after derailment

Discussion: Washington Examiner, CNN, HotAir, Bloomberg, New York Daily News, RedState, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Plain Dealer, Breitbart and NPR

Carey Gillam / The Guardian:
Revealed: the US is averaging one chemical accident every two days

Discussion: Raw Story and Vox

David Gura / NPR:

Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has another big problem: He won't shut up — Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, isn't doing himself any favors. — Despite being charged with orchestrating one of the largest financial frauds in history …

Kimberlee Speakman / People.com:

Jessa Duggar Reveals She Suffered a Miscarriage: ‘I Just Immediately Started Crying’ — The “19 Kids and Counting” alum said she plans to “take a break” from social media and focus on recovering — Jessa Duggar Seewald revealed that she suffered a miscarriage over the holidays.

Discussion: Fox News

David Smith / The Guardian:

What to expect from this year's CPAC: Biden bashing, 2024 Republican primary chatter and lawsuit gossip — The gathering of conservatives returns to Washington and could prove to be a crystal ball into the GOP's 2024 outlook — ts impresario is facing allegations of sexual assault.

Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story

Stephen Neukam / The Hill:

‘Saturday Night Live’ mocks Trump visit to East Palestine — “Saturday Night Live” targeted former President Trump's visit to the town in Ohio where a train derailment has sparked environmental and public health concerns in its latest cold open, mocking Trump's off-the-cuff public speaking style.

Discussion: RedState, Variety, HuffPost, The Wrap, New York Post, Washington Examiner, Deadline, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter

CNN:

Ron DeSantis wanted to send weapons to Ukraine when he was a congressman — as a presidential hopeful he questions US involvement — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis once strongly supported arming Ukraine to fight Russia, urging then-President Barack Obama to do so as a deterrent to Russian aggression …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, Big League Politics and Washington Post

NBC News:

With Trump running, nearly all Republican senators say no to a presidential bid — WASHINGTON — There's an old joke that senators look in the mirror and see a president. These days, a whole lot of mirrors in the chamber seem to be broken. — Republicans have an open presidential primary in 2024 …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Bloomberg:

Sunak, Von der Leyen to Meet on N. Ireland Brexit Deal Progress — Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen will meet in the UK on Monday, as expectation builds for an imminent announcement on a post-Brexit settlement for Northern Ireland. — The pair “agreed to continue their work in person towards shared …

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Sun, Al Jazeera, The Sunday Times, Metro.co.uk and Reuters

Abraham Josephine Riesman / New York Times:

How the W.W.E. Explains What's Happened to U.S. Politics — Mx. Riesman is a journalist and the author of a biography of Vince McMahon. — What shall we call contemporary Republican ideology? Is it conservatism? Libertarianism? Authoritarianism? Trumpism? Fascism? — How about kayfabe?

Discussion: Associated Press