memeorandum: Live Updates: Yellen Visits Kyiv, Reaffirming U.S. Support for Ukraine (New York Times)

12:10 PM ET, February 27, 2023

Top Items:

Ron DeSantis' 2024 campaign emerges from the shadows — WASHINGTON — Ron DeSantis' shadow campaign for the presidency has suddenly become much more visible, even as his advisers insist he's focused on governing Florida. — DeSantis recently launched a tax-exempt organization that sponsored …

Discussion: CBS News, New York Post and Wall Street Journal

Steve Peoples / Associated Press:
DeSantis moves toward GOP presidential bid on his own terms

Discussion: RedState, The Hill, The Post Millennial and NewsNation

Damon Linker / New York Times:
My Fellow Liberals Are Exaggerating the Dangers of Ron DeSantis

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Florida Politics and PoliticusUSA

Will Oremus / Washington Post:

Musk defends ‘Dilbert’ creator, says media is ‘racist against whites’ — The Tesla and Twitter chief blasted media outlets for dropping Scott Adams's comic strip after the cartoonist's rant against Black people — Twitter and Tesla chief Elon Musk defended Scott Adams, the under-fire creator of …

Sheila Dang / Reuters:
Elon Musk accuses media of racism after newspapers drop ‘Dilbert’ cartoon

Discussion: The Post Millennial, Fortune, Raw Story, claytoonz, RADAR, UPI, Political Wire, The Daily Caller, New Jersey Online, New York Times, The Hill, Mediaite and National Review, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

In Latest Round of Job Cuts, Twitter Is Said to Lay Off at Least 200 Employees — The social media platform now has a work force of less than 2,000, down from 7,500 when Elon Musk took it over in October. — Twitter laid off at least 200 of its employees on Saturday night …

Discussion: Thurrott, Washington Examiner, PCMag, New York Post, Al Jazeera and The Information

Steve Mollman / Fortune:
Elon Musk lays off more Twitter employees, including hard-core loyalists: 'Looks like I'm let go'

Discussion: The Information, Sputnik News, Al Jazeera, IJR, The Wrap, New York Post and One America News Network

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Twitter Blue head Esther Crawford is out at Twitter

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Fortune, New York Post, Financial Times, The Information, Bloomberg and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

So far, Trump's rollback of regulations can't be blamed for Ohio train wreck — “I had nothing to do with it.” — Former president Donald Trump, asked about criticism of his pulling back rail regulations, in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 22 — Trump's comment during his tour of East Palestine …

New York Times:
This Is Not How Pete Buttigieg Wanted to Visit Ohio

Discussion: Althouse

Katherine Doyle / Washington Examiner: Trading places: Is Pete Buttigieg the new Kamala Harris?

Jennifer Szalai / New York Times:

Preaching Freedom, Ron DeSantis Leads By Cracking Down — In his new book, “The Courage to Be Free,” the Florida governor and potential Republican presidential candidate offers a template for governing based on an expansive vision of executive power. — Buy Book ▾

Discussion: Politico, Fox News, The Hill, Forbes, RedState, Florida Politics, Florida's Voice and The Guardian

Washington Post:

Israeli settlers rampage through Palestinian towns in revenge for shooting — HUWARA, West Bank — Dozens of Israeli settlers rampaged through Palestinian towns, torching cars, homes and killing a man, hours after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israelis. — The scenes from the hours-long …

Discussion: The Times of Israel, middleeastmonitor.com, Haaretz, New York Times and Associated Press

Isabel Kershner / New York Times:
West Bank Erupts in Violence as Officials Pledge to Work for Calm

Discussion: CBS News, The Times of Israel, Haaretz, Financial Times, CNN, Associated Press, Albuquerque Journal, middleeastmonitor.com, UPI, Fox News, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Al Jazeera

New York Times:

Live Updates: Yellen Visits Kyiv, Reaffirming U.S. Support for Ukraine — The U.S. treasury secretary is in Kyiv. Here is the latest. — KYIV, Ukraine — One week after President Biden visited Kyiv to reaffirm an enduring commitment to helping defend against the Russian invasion …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, CBS News and Political Wire

John Wagner / Washington Post:

Embattled Rep. Ogles acknowledges misrepresenting his college major — Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.), who is facing allegations of embellishing his résumé, acknowledged Monday that he misstated the degree he received from Middle Tennessee State University, claiming he learned …

Discussion: WTVF-TV and Raw Story

Brian Slodysko / Associated Press:

GOP leaders, stung by losses, plan to wade into Senate races — 1 of 5 — A football legend who held a gun to his ex-wife's head. Rivals who nearly brawled during a televised debate. A venture capitalist who voiced sympathy for the Unabomber. — And that's just to name a few.

Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:

Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin announces Senate run in Michigan — The U.S. House member abd former CIA analyst is seen by many top Democrats as a formidable Democratic contender in a key battleground — Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin announced her candidacy for U.S. Senate in Michigan on Monday …

Discussion: New York Times, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, CNN, Detroit Free Press, ABC News, Associated Press, CBS News, Bloomberg, Forbes, Washington Examiner, Roll Call, The Hill, The Daily Caller and Just The News

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court to Take Up Case on Fate of Consumer Watchdog — A decision against the bureau could cast doubt on every rule and enforcement action the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken. — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear a case that could hobble …

Discussion: NBC News, Fox News, Politico, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Associated Press, CNBC, USA Today, The Hill, Roll Call, CBS News, SCOTUSblog and Los Angeles Times

Lisa Rein / Washington Post:

Emboldened by its majority, House GOP turns up heat on federal workers — At a House hearing this month on fraud and waste in pandemic aid, some Republicans zeroed in on one group in particular for criticism: the federal employees overseeing the money. — “Fire people if they don't do …

Discussion: Raw Story

Lauren Weber / Washington Post:

Doctors who touted ivermectin as covid fix now pushing it for flu, RSV — First, the group of doctors championed ivermectin as a covid panacea. It failed to live up to the hype. Now, they're promoting the anti-parasitic to prevent and treat the flu and RSV.

Discussion: Alternet.org

Decca Muldowney / The Daily Beast:

Inside the Unholy Sex Scandal Rocking Trump's Ex-Adviser — Frank Pavone once chaired Catholics for Trump. Then he was defrocked by the Vatican. Now, women are coming forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct. — Frank Pavone, a defrocked priest who was formerly a Catholic adviser to Donald Trump …

Discussion: Raw Story and Alternet.org

DAWN:

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Prosecutor Seeks Death Penalty against 10 Former Judges for “High Treason” — Repression continues to devour Saudi citizens, even government allies, as Crown Prince entrenches his authority — The Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in Riyadh, used to prosecute “terrorism” …

Bloomberg:

UK, EU Seal New Post-Brexit Deal on Northern Ireland Trade — The UK and European Union reached a deal on Northern Ireland's trading arrangements, ending more than a year of often acrimonious wrangling over the post-Brexit settlement for the region, people familiar with the matter said.

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Fox News Rejects Ad From Progressive Group Highlighting Stars' Damning Texts — The MoveOn ad features messages from Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity blasting the baseless election fraud conspiracies being peddled by Team Trump. — Fox News is refusing to run an ad from political action group MoveOn …

Discussion: Votebeat, Washington Post, National Review, RADAR, Mediaite, The Hill, HuffPost, Insider, The Dean's Report and Raw Story

Julian E. Barnes / New York Times:

Lab Leak Most Likely Caused Pandemic, Energy Dept. Says — The conclusion, which was made with “low confidence,” came as America's intelligence agencies remained divided over the origins of the coronavirus. — WASHINGTON — New intelligence has prompted the Energy Department to conclude …

Discussion: CNN, USA Today, The Hill, Reason, Digby's Hullabaloo, National Review, Washington Examiner, Al Jazeera, Orange County Register, Denver Post, Fox News, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal, UPI and Althouse

Lauren Sforza / The Hill:
Republicans jump on ‘lab leak’ report, call for action against China

Ian Millhiser / Vox:

Texas asks a Trump judge to declare most of the federal government unconstitutional — Ordinarily, this lawsuit would be laughed out of court. But you never can tell with Trump's judges. — Earlier this month, Texas's Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit claiming …

Greg Craig / New York Times:

Democratic Voters, Not Biden, Should Choose Vice President — For many months — since the 2020 campaign — Republicans have tried to portray Joe Biden as being too old to be president, as mentally deficient, as one small step away from death or disability.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill, The Atlantic and Fox News

Lidia Kelly / Reuters:

Belarus activists say they blew up Russian military aircraft near Minsk — Belarusian anti-government activists said they had blown up a sophisticated Russian military surveillance aircraft in a drone attack at an airfield near the Belarusian capital Minsk, a claim that neither Russia nor Belarus confirmed.

Discussion: Insider, The Guardian, Euractiv, Al Jazeera, TASS and RSS BelTA

Jess Bidgood / The Boston Globe:

John Kerry plans to stay in special climate envoy role at least through late this year — WASHINGTON — John Kerry, the nation's top international climate envoy, has told President Biden he will stay in his role at least through this year's United Nations climate summit in Dubai, which begins in late November.

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

Jane C. Timm / NBC News:

Fraud hunters challenged 92,000 voter registrations in Georgia last year — Amateur voter fraud hunters challenged 92,000 Georgia voter registrations last year, using voter rolls, public records, door-to-door canvassing and hours of their own time to ferret out the ballot rigging that election workers …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, American Thinker and The Federalist

Politico:

The biggest election of 2023 reaches final sprint — Millions of dollars are flowing into the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, as the state rockets toward an election that could decide the future of abortion rights, redistricting and more in the key battleground state.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight and Wall Street Journal

Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story:

Florida will become the place where public higher education goes to die: education expert — MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan pointed out on Sunday that there's one thing that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) loves to talk about, and it's “freedom” in his state. But the latest moves are working to restrict academic freedom …

Reuters:

Republican war on ‘woke’ policies creeps into U.S. debt-ceiling debate — U.S. House Republicans are eyeing $150 billion in spending cuts that reflect a hardline drive to target education, healthcare and housing - particularly efforts to address racial inequities that conservatives deride as …

Discussion: Insider and PJ Media