memeorandum: Why is this California Trader Joe's pushing for a union? A rat infestation is only part of the problem (Suhauna Hussain/Los Angeles Times)

7:00 AM ET, March 23, 2023

Top Items:

DeSantis Calls Putin a ‘War Criminal,’ Clarifying Earlier Comment on Ukraine — The Florida governor and presumed G.O.P. presidential candidate previously described the Russia-Ukraine conflict as a “territorial dispute” and did not mention the Russian president.

Discussion: Fox News, Politico, Just The News and The Federalist

Piers Morgan / New York Post:

DeSantis brands Putin ‘a war criminal’ who should be ‘held accountable’ for Ukraine invasion — Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis has branded Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” and demanded he be “held accountable” for his barbaric invasion of Ukraine. Taking a tougher tone from his statement …

Discussion: NBC News, The Last Refuge, National Review, Breitbart, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Insider and The Atlantic

New York Times:

The DeSantis Foreign Policy: Hard Power, but With a High Bar — The Florida governor has never been the internationalist that some old-guard Republicans wanted or imagined him to be. A close reading of his record reveals how he might lead the U.S. abroad.

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

DeSantis-aligned PAC staffs up, brings on Ted Cruz's campaign manager — The move is the latest indication of a run to come, and a bruising one at that. — A super PAC closely aligned with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is making a major expansion, bringing on a top Republican strategist and establishing its headquarters in Atlanta, Ga.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, NBC News, Wide World of News, Mediaite and The Hill

Washington Post:
Top adviser to Youngkin moves to pro-DeSantis group

Discussion: Florida Politics, Associated Press, Washington Examiner and HuffPost

Politico:

Court rejects Trump's urgent bid to keep lawyer's records from special counsel — The ruling effectively permits the Justice Department to circumvent Trump's attorney-client privilege after a lower-court judge found that the documents likely contain evidence of a crime.

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Press, Joe.My.God. and Wall Street Journal

Alan Feuer / New York Times:

Appeals Court Orders Trump Lawyer to Hand Over Records in Documents Inquiry — The ruling compelling the lawyer, M. Evan Corcoran, to turn over documents came after a lightning round of appeals court filings overnight. — A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that a lawyer representing …

CNN:

Trump attorney to testify Friday in Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation after losing appeal — Former President Donald Trump's defense attorney Evan Corcoran is scheduled to testify Friday before the grand jury investigating classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago after a new order …

Discussion: New York Daily News, The Guardian, New York Post, Raw Story, Fox News, Washington Examiner, The Hill, USA Today and The Daily Beast

ABC News:
Appeals court rules that Trump attorney Evan Corcoran must testify in special counsel's documents probe

Discussion: CBS News, Wall Street Journal, ABC13 and Mediaite

Roger Sollenberger / The Daily Beast:

How to Pay Off a Porn Star (If You Really Must) — There are so many ways Trump could have paid off Stormy Daniels without running afoul of the law—including through his campaign! — We've all been there. — You're running for federal office, the race is hot, the polls are tight, but you're doing OK.

Discussion: The Bulwark, Letters from an American, New Republic, NPR, Political Wire and New York Post

Chris Stokel-Walker / BuzzFeed News:

A Journalist Believes He Was Banned From Midjourney After His AI Images Of Donald Trump Getting Arrested Went Viral — “I suspect it was pushing my luck when I did the [Twitter] thread,” Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins said. — Prosecutors in New York are thought to be on the brink …

Discussion: New York Post, Fox News, Washington Post, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, Not the Bee, Ars Technica and Wired, more at Mediagazer »

New York Post:
2018 letter shows Michael Cohen lying to feds about Stormy Daniels payment

Discussion: Raw Story, Fox News, HuffPost, The Guardian, RedState, Breitbart, The Daily Beast, Just The News and Mediaite

Laura Italiano / Insider:
Trump indictment grand jury not ‘likely’ to meet Thursday either after Manhattan DA paused Stormy Daniels case Wednesday

Anthony Izaguirre / Associated Press:

DeSantis to expand 'Don't Say Gay' law to high schools — The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is moving to forbid classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades, expanding the controversial law critics call “Don't Say Gay” as the Republican governor continues …

Victor Swezey / The Daily Beast:
Disney Defies DeSantis by Hosting Major LGBTQ+ Conference

Discussion: Tampa Bay Times, RedState, Twitchy, Joe.My.God. and Advocate

CNN:

Searchers find a body a short distance from vehicle of student suspected of shooting 2 staff members at Denver high school — After a shooting of two faculty members at a Denver high school Wednesday, authorities have found a male body about two-tenths of a mile from a vehicle connected to the suspect …

AJ McDougall / The Daily Beast:
Fox Reporter Reunites With Son During Live Broadcast at Scene of School Shooting

Discussion: Fox News, New York Post and WCBD News 2

Maya Yang / The Guardian:

SEC sues celebrities including Lindsay Lohan for endorsing cryptocurrencies — SEC charged eight celebrities for ‘illegally touting TRX and/or BTT’, along with Tron founder Justin Sun — The Securities and Exchange Commission have filed charges against a handful of celebrities including Lindsay Lohan …

Discussion: Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, CoinDesk, U.S. Securities …, Reuters, Daily News, Forbes, UPI, Jezebel, abc7NY, CBS News, Fortune, The Verge, Variety, Just The News, NPR, CoinDesk and KTLA, more at Techmeme »

NBC News:
Jake Paul and Lindsay Lohan among new batch of celebrities charged by SEC over crypto promotions

Discussion: Rolling Stone, WMTV – NBC15, Semafor, Plain Dealer, WGN-TV, New York Daily News, The Daily Beast, The Wrap, CoinDesk, TMZ.com, The Daily Caller, The Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »

Axios:

TikTok defenders emerge in Congress … A group of progressive members of Congress plans to mount a public defense of the social media app TikTok against the backdrop of bipartisan efforts to facilitate a ban of the app in the U.S. … - Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner …

Discussion: RedState, Reuters, New York Times, Fox News, NBC News, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Slate, The Hill, KFOR-TV, MyNorthwest.com, NPR, The Verge, USA Today, Al Jazeera, Wired, Adweek and Forbes, more at Techmeme »

NBC News:
TikTok ban would be ‘a slap in the face’ to young Democratic voters, activists warn

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit, NPR, The Daily Caller, CBS News, Wall Street Journal, Breitbart, Human Events and HuffPost, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post:

White House disbanding its covid-19 team in May — Ashish Jha is likely to depart as pandemic that engulfed Biden's early presidency takes a lower profile — The White House will shut down its covid response team after the public health emergency ends in May, with some staffers already departing …

Discussion: New York Times, New York Post, CNN, Fox News and ABC News

Gina Kolata / New York Times:

DNA From Beethoven's Hair Unlocks Medical and Family Secrets — By analyzing seven samples of hair said to have come from Ludwig van Beethoven, researchers debunked myths about the revered composer while raising new questions about his life and death. — It was March 1827 and Ludwig van Beethoven was dying.

Discussion: Fox News, New York Daily News, New York Post, WGN-TV, UPI and Sputnik News

Carolyn Y. Johnson / Washington Post:
Beethoven's DNA decoded from locks of hair saved by his fans

Discussion: Current Biology, Reuters, Raw Story, New Scientist, The Guardian, Metro.co.uk, CBS News, NPR, The Daily Caller, Pharyngula and Ars Technica

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Matt Taibbi Can't Comprehend That There Are Reasons To Study Propaganda Information Flows, So He Insists It Must Be Nefarious — from the not-how-any-of-this-works dept — Over the last few months, Elon Musk's handpicked journalists have continued revealing less and less with each new edition of the …

Stacey Barchenger / Arizona Republic:

Arizona Supreme Court rejects most of Kari Lake's election challenge — Arizona's top court has declined to hear Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake's challenge to her election loss, but kept the case alive by sending one of Lake's claims back to a county judge to review.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Arizona Mirror, The Post Millennial, Just The News and Political Wire

Courtney Kube / NBC News:

Armed Russian jets have flown over a U.S. base in Syria nearly every day in March, U.S. commander says — Armed Russian jets have flown over a U.S. military garrison in Syria nearly every day in March, violating a four-year-old agreement between the U.S. and Russia and risking escalation …

Discussion: Insider

Nora Gámez Torres / Miami Herald:

Once cherished in Miami, Elián González is set to become a legislator in Cuba — Elián González, the Cuban boy found clinging to an inner tube near Florida shores who became the center of an international child custody dispute as well as a political battle between …

Associated Press:

Biden approval dips near lowest point: AP-NORC poll — Approval of President Joe Biden has dipped slightly since a month ago, nearing the lowest point of his presidency as his administration tries to project a sense of stability while confronting a pair of bank failures and inflation that remains stubbornly high.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Forbes, AP-NORC, Associated Press and Political Wire

Teo Armus / Washington Post:

Arlington ends single-family-only zoning — The Northern Virginia county's ‘missing middle’ plan will allow buildings with four — and in some cases six — units in any neighborhood — Arlington lawmakers voted Wednesday to allow multiunit residential buildings across the county …

Maya Shimizu Harris / Casper Star-Tribune:

Abortion legal again in Wyoming after judge blocks ban — Abortion is legal again in Wyoming after a Teton County judge Wednesday temporarily blocked a new ban on the procedure while a new legal challenge winds through the courts. — “Wyomingites voted into law that they have a fundamental right …

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, Rolling Stone, One America News Network, Political Wire and MyNorthwest.com

New York Times:

Conservatives Aim to Build a Chatbot of Their Own — After criticizing A.I. companies for liberal bias, programmers started envisioning right-wing alternatives, making chatbots a new front in the culture wars. — When ChatGPT exploded in popularity as a tool using artificial intelligence …

more at Techmeme »

Hannah Grossman / Fox News:

Pentagon doctors claim 7-year-olds can make decisions to be injected with hormones, puberty suppressants … FIRST ON FOX - Health providers at U.S. military bases, some of whom are involved in treating military-connected minors, blasted the idea of waiting before injecting kids diagnosed …

Discussion: Law Dork with Chris Geidner, National Review, The Gateway Pundit, BizPac Review, Louder With Crowder, The Post Millennial, The Daily Caller and Georgia Public Broadcasting

Ann Coulter / Unsafe:

Heavy D Don't Tweet, He Acts — This is why DeSantis Scares Them. — Isn't it great to have the media complaining about what a Republican is doing, instead of what he's tweeting? — The New York Times recently did a major investigation into Gov. Ron DeSantis' suspension last August …

Brooke Leigh Howard / The Daily Beast:

Cops Investigate White Man's Viral N-Word Rant in Supermarket Parking Lot — During his hateful tirade, the man, who was shopping at a New York Aldi, told customers in the parking lot that all Black and Latino people should be killed. — An upstate New York community is reeling …

Discussion: Buffalo News and Raw Story

Suhauna Hussain / Los Angeles Times:

Why is this California Trader Joe's pushing for a union? A rat infestation is only part of the problem — Dominique Bernardo first noticed chewed-up bread. — “I think rats chewed on this,” she recalls telling her manager in early 2021 at a Trader Joe's store in Oakland.

Discussion: Raw Story

Mike Hixenbaugh / NBC News:

GOP lawmakers aim to reshape education with Texas Parental Bill of Rights — AUSTIN, Texas — Glennda Hardin awoke before sunrise and drove an hour from Temple to the state Capitol, her prepared speech folded neatly in her handbag. Hardin, a 73-year-old retired teacher, had never done anything like this before, she said.

Discussion: The Texas Tribune