memeorandum: BuzzFeed Is Quietly Publishing Whole AI-Generated Articles, Not Just Quizzes These read like a proof of concept for replacing human writers. (Futurism)

8:40 PM ET, March 30, 2023

Top Items:

This is what will happen when Trump is arrested in the coming days. — Mr. Trump will be the first former president to face criminal charges. The precise charges are not yet known, but the case is focused on a hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign. — Pinned

Washington Post:

Trump indicted by N.Y. grand jury, first ex-president charged with crime — A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former president Donald Trump, multiple people familiar the matter said, becoming the first person in U.S. history to serve as commander in chief and then be charged with a crime.

Discussion: PBS NewsHour, NBC News, Associated Press, The Hill, The Daily Dot, UPI and Mock Paper Scissors

Wall Street Journal:

Trump Grand Jury Digs Into Hush Money Paid to Second Woman — Manhattan prosecutors investigating former president for payment to porn star Stormy Daniels have pressed witnesses on money paid to former Playboy model Karen McDougal — Trump-Stormy Daniels Investigation: The Path to a Possible Indictment

Discussion: The Guardian, CNN, New York Daily News, Insider, CBS News, Joe.My.God. and ABC7

CNN:

Donald Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury on more than 30 counts related to business fraud — Donald Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, according to two sources familiar with the case - the first time in American history …

Ryan Schwach / Queens News:

Queens man indicted — A Queens man was indicted on federal charges Thursday for allegedly making hush money payments to a porn star shortly before he was elected president of the United States in 2016. — Although the exact charges against former president and Queens native Donald Trump …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, New York Times and The Guardian

The Hill:

DeSantis: Florida won't cooperate with Trump extradition — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday called the indictment of former President Trump “un-American” and said the state would not assist in any extradition request. — “The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head.

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Examiner, Fox News, Politico, Bloomberg, Associated Press, NPR, Roll Call, PoliticusUSA, Florida Politics and The Daily Caller

Associated Press:

Lawyer: Trump indicted; 1st ex-president charged with crime — A lawyer for Donald Trump said Thursday he's been told that the former president has been indicted in New York on charges involving payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter.

William K. Rashbaum / New York Times:
This is what will happen when Trump is arrested in the coming days.

Discussion: Associated Press and Joe.My.God.

Dan Mangan / CNBC:
New York grand jury indicts former President Donald Trump in hush money payment case

Stephanie Bazzle / Washington Press:
INDICTED: Donald Trump becomes first former POTUS facing criminal charges

Discussion: HuffPost, CBS News, NBC 6 South Florida, Raw Story and The Post Millennial

Greg Walters / VICE:
Trump's Criminal Case Is Going to be Totally Wild

Discussion: Washington Examiner, CBS News, Insider, Slate, Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Post, Peoria | WMBD AM & FM, Semafor, The Guardian, New Republic and Just The News

Peter Baker / New York Times:
A President Faces Prosecution, and a Democracy Is Tested

Discussion: Bloomberg, ABC News, The Atlantic, Digby's Hullabaloo and NewsNation

NBC News:
A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict Trump

Discussion: MSNBC, Washington Examiner, HuffPost, Insider, CBS News, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Forbes, The Daily Signal and The Gateway Pundit

David Moye / HuffPost:
Fox News Hosts Audibly Gasp When Learning Of Trump's Indictment On Air

Discussion: New York Times, The Hill, Insider, Media Matters for America, Variety, KRON4, Rolling Stone and The Daily Caller

Rebecca Shabad / NBC News:
Live updates: A Manhattan grand jury has indicted Donald Trump

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Beast, ABC News, Washington Examiner, The Hill, New York Post, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, The Guardian, The Times of Israel, Al Jazeera, Fox 8 Cleveland WJW and IJR

New York Times:

Elon Musk Tried to Meet With F.T.C. Chair About Twitter but Was Rebuffed — Mr. Musk requested a meeting with Lina Khan, the chair of the F.T.C., which has been investigating Twitter's privacy and data practices. — David McCabe reports on tech policy from Washington.

Discussion: CNN and The Information, more at Mediagazer »

Bloomberg:

Musk's Twitter Antics Keep Some Advertisers Away, Curbing Sales — In the weeks after Elon Musk acquired Twitter Inc., hundreds of advertisers paused spending on the platform, wary of the changes the mercurial billionaire might bring to the social media platform.

Discussion: CNN, The Information, Variety and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

Secret trove offers rare look into Russian cyberwar ambitions — More than 5,000 pages of documents from a Moscow-based contractor offer unusual glimpses into planning and training for security services, including the notorious hacking group Sandworm — Russian intelligence agencies worked …

Discussion: The Hill and WKBN-TV

Brad Dress / The Hill:
Biden officials rebuke Russia over US reporter's detention

Discussion: New York Post

The Guardian:
‘Vulkan files’ leak reveals Putin's global and domestic cyberwarfare tactics

more at Techmeme »

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:

How Disney's lawyers brutally outmaneuvered DeSantis over control of Disney World — Did you really believe that Florida's arrogant, petty, childish Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) would get the better of Walt Disney Co. in their fight over Disney's supposed “wokeness”? — If so, you don't know your Disney.

Discussion: Insider, CNN, Orlando Sentinel, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Florida Politics, Florida's Voice, The Hill, BizPac Review and NPR, more at Mediagazer »

Nicole Narea / Vox:

How Disney just beat Ron DeSantis — Ron DeSantis is now losing to both Donald Trump and Mickey Mouse. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may have prematurely declared victory in his battle with Disney. — Last year, DeSantis made national headlines when he went after the company …

Discussion: BBC, Florida's Voice, The Root, Washington Examiner and WGN-TV

Daniel Michaels / Wall Street Journal:

Russian Court Orders Wall Street Journal Reporter to Be Held in Custody — Evan Gershkovich is part of WSJ's Moscow bureau; Journal vehemently denies espionage allegations against him, seeks his immediate release Russia's main security agency said Thursday it had detained Wall Street Journal …

New York Times:
Russia detains a Wall Street Journal reporter, accusing him of espionage.

Discussion: Axios, Fox News, Punchbowl News, CNBC, Deadline and Washington Examiner

Peter Schorsch / Florida Politics:

Why can't Christina Pushaw bring herself to fight back against Donald Trump? — The former President attacks Ron DeSantis daily. Where did his digital defender go? — Until recently, few questioned whether Christina Pushaw was anything short of a loyal warrior.

Jonathan V. Last / The Triad:
What If DeSantis Doesn't Run? — 1. Maybe He Isn't Running? — Let me drop two items here for you to consider:

Discussion: NBC News

Sally Goldenberg / Politico:
What DeSantis is telling big GOP donors behind closed doors

Discussion: Resolute Square and BizPac Review

New York Times:

Kushner Firm Got Hundreds of Millions From 2 Persian Gulf Nations — The infusion of money from interests in the two Persian Gulf monarchies reflects the close ties to Middle Eastern countries established by Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump's son-in-law.

Keith Griffith / Daily Mail:

QAnon Shaman Jacob Chansley is released 14 months early from prison after Jan. 6 footage showed him being ‘ESCORTED’ by cops inside the Capitol — Jacob Chansley, 35, was released on Thursday after serving 27 months in prison — His move to a halfway house appears to be a matter of routine prison policy

Discussion: Forbes, CBS News, FOX 10 Phoenix, Mediaite, Breitbart, HuffPost, UPI, Joe.My.God., KASW-TV, Washington Times, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, One America News Network, The Right Scoop and HotAir

Futurism:

BuzzFeed Is Quietly Publishing Whole AI-Generated Articles, Not Just Quizzes These read like a proof of concept for replacing human writers. — Earlier this year, when BuzzFeed announced plans to start publishing AI-assisted content, its CEO Jonah Peretti promised the tech would be held to a high standard.

more at Mediagazer »

Emily Brooks / The Hill:

McCarthy offers to make Biden ‘soft food’ lunch if he will meet on debt limit — Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) offered to make President Biden a “soft food” lunch if he agrees to meet on the debt limit. — “He is making the decision that he wants to put the economy in jeopardy.

Discussion: Breitbart, Joe.My.God. and Washington Examiner

Manu Raju / CNN:
House GOP prepared to move a fallback debt limit plan if White House refuses to negotiate

Discussion: The Hill, USA Today, UPI, NBC News, NPR, Forbes, New York Magazine and Bloomberg

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Federal Judge Strikes Down Obamacare Requirement for Free Preventive Care — The decision by a judge in Texas, which applies nationwide and could have far-reaching implications for millions of Americans, is likely to be appealed by the Biden administration.

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, NBC News, Law Dork with Chris Geidner, Slate, HuffPost, Bloomberg Law, Kaiser Health News, Reuters, New York Daily News, New Republic, The Texas Tribune, WGN-TV, Raw Story, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Washington Examiner and USA Today

Steven Erlanger / New York Times:

Sweden's Bid to Join NATO Remains Blocked by Turkey and Hungary — Finland Clears Last Hurdle to Join NATO, Reshaping Balance of Power … Finland's accession to NATO is a diplomatic and strategic setback for Russia. — BRUSSELS — Finland won final approval on Thursday to join …

Discussion: UPI, Washington Examiner, Al-Monitor, The Local, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Politico, Metro.co.uk, Al Jazeera, Reuters, Peoria | WMBD AM & FM, Financial Times and Semafor

Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:

Mark Russell, Piano-Playing Political Satirist, Dies at 90 — Washington was his main quarry. Did he have any writers? “Oh, yes — 100 in the Senate and 435 in the House of Representatives.” — Mark Russell, a master of political satire who stood at a star-spangled piano and kept …

Discussion: Washington Post, UPI, The Hill, National Review and The Hollywood Reporter

Bart Jansen / USA Today:

Clash at House hearing: GOP claims social media censorship, Democrats want to strike testimony — The hearing was part of widespread House Republican investigations of the Democratic Biden administration. — WASHINGTON - A fiery House hearing Thursday sounded like a Monty Python skit.

Discussion: House Committee …, Washington Times, Missouri Independent, New York Post, Raw Story and Fox News

NBC News:

Details about the Nashville shooter's gender identity sow confusion and disinformation — Hours after the fatal shooting at a private Christian school, police said the suspect was transgender. That information has fed what one trans activist called a “disinformation ecosystem.”

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Post and Twitchy

Lee Brown / New York Post:

Male powerlifter enters women's event, breaks record — A bearded pro powerlifter entered a women's competition in Canada — and smashed a record held by a trans lifter who was watching on. — Avi Silverberg — the head coach for Team Canada Powerlifting for more than 10 years …

Discussion: Fox News, RedState, The Western Journal and The Daily Caller

Julia Shapero / The Hill:

Joint Base Andrews on lockdown following report of active shooter — Joint Base Andrews (JBA) was placed on lockdown on Thursday, following reports of an active shooter. — “An armed individual has been reported near base housing,” the base said in a Facebook post. “Stay away from base housing.

Discussion: MSN, USA Today, RedState, Associated Press, Washington Post, New York Post and The Gateway Pundit

Phil Mayer / KRON4:

Executive Director of the San Jose Police Officers' Association charged with importing fentanyl — SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — The executive director of the San Jose Police Officers' Association (SJPOA) has been charged with attempting to illegally import a controlled substance, according to the United States Department of Justice.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, US Department of Justice, One America News Network, The Western Journal, New York Post, Washington Examiner, BizPac Review, WGN-TV and CBS News

Adam Edelman / NBC News:

Florida Legislature approves carrying a concealed loaded gun without a permit — The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has repeatedly indicated he will sign it. — Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature passed a bill Thursday allowing individuals to carry concealed loaded weapons anywhere without a permit.