memeorandum: Migrants Died In Detention Fire Because They Couldn't Pay $200 Bribe to Be Released (Luis Chaparro/VICE)

1:50 PM ET, April 6, 2023

Top Items:

Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire — IN LATE JUNE 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago …

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:

Ocasio-Cortez Calls For Clarence Thomas To Be Impeached Over Gifts From GOP Megadonor — “This degree of corruption is shocking — almost cartoonish,” said the Democratic lawmaker. — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Thursday called for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas …

Discussion: Raw Story

John Wagner / Washington Post:

Justice Thomas accepted luxury travel for years from GOP donor, report says — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted luxury trips around the globe for more than two decades, including travel on a superyacht and private jet, from a prominent Republican donor without disclosing them, according to a new report.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, Insider, Alternet.org, Raw Story, The Texas Tribune, Althouse and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Alex Henderson / Alternet.org:
‘Rank corruption’: AOC calls for Clarence Thomas' impeachment following bombshell report on megadonor gifts

Discussion: The Hill and The Guardian

Sarah Elbeshbishi / USA Today:
Thomas Clarence accepted luxury gifts from GOP megadonor for decades without disclosing them

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Insider, Daily Montanan and Mediaite

NBC News:

Trump judge and his family receive threats after New York arrest — Judge Juan Merchan, his family and the Manhattan court where Trump was arraigned Tuesday have already received numerous threats, sources told NBC News. — In the 24 hours since former President Donald Trump's arraignment …

Discussion: New York Daily News, Punchbowl News, VICE, Washington Examiner, The Hill, The Guardian, Crooks and Liars, The Atlantic, Sputnik News, Mediaite, BizPac Review, New York Post, NBC New York and Political Wire

Lucien Bruggeman / ABC News:

Inside the 3 so-called ‘catch and kill’ payments in Trump's indictment — Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg detailed the alleged scheme on Tuesday. — In August 2015, shortly after announcing his candidacy for president, Donald Trump convened a meeting at his namesake Manhattan skyscraper to hatch a plan to …

Discussion: Financial Times, The Guardian, The Hill, The Bulwark, KGTV-TV, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and CBS News, more at Mediagazer »

Peter Laffin / Washington Examiner:

MAGA sacrilege makes a mockery of faith — Christians worldwide entered into Holy Week on Sunday. Known across Christian denominations as Palm Sunday, the holiday commemorates Jesus's arrival on a donkey into the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, during which he was arrested …

Discussion: Rolling Stone

Benjy Sarlin / Semafor:

You won't be talking about Donald Trump's arrest for long — The Donald Trump indictment was historic with a capital “H.” News outlets, including Semafor, flooded the zone with coverage of the scene, the politics, and the law surrounding his arrest on Tuesday.

Discussion: America's Voice, Breitbart, Florida Politics, Mashable and YouGov

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:

The GOP's ‘Abusive Relationship’ With Trump — The former president's ability to surmount this latest tumult continues one of the defining patterns of his political career. — It's a measure of Donald Trump's hold on the Republican Party that his unprecedented criminal indictment is strengthening, not loosening, his grip.

Discussion: New York Times and Washington Examiner

Sophia Cai / Axios:
How Trump could talk himself into a gag order

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo and CNN

New York Times:
Republicans Vowed to Grill Bragg About Trump, but It's Not So Simple

Discussion: CNN, Bloomberg, NBC News, Politico, Associated Press, The Hill, National Review, Spotify, New Yorker, Washington Times, Mediaite, Just The News, The Gateway Pundit, Slay News, FiveThirtyEight, Fox News, WKBN-TV, Raw Story and New York Times

New York Times:
Trump's Charges Bring Doubts, Hopes and Uncertainty in Both Parties

Discussion: Right Side Broadcasting …, Raw Story and Fox News

Ann Coulter / Unsafe:
You're Being Played, Republicans! — A few years ago, I posted this riddle on Twitter:

Discussion: Raw Story, The Atlantic, HuffPost, FiveThirtyEight and Just The News

Reuters:

Special Report: Tesla workers shared sensitive images recorded by customer cars — Tesla Inc assures its millions of electric car owners that their privacy “is and will always be enormously important to us.” The cameras it builds into vehicles to assist driving, it notes on its website …

Discussion: Forbes and New York Daily News, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Staring Down a Debt Crisis, McCarthy Toils to Navigate G.O.P. Divisions — The House speaker has little trust in his Budget Committee chairman or his No. 2 as he works to unite the fractious Republican majority around a spending plan. — WASHINGTON — It was midway through Representative …

Discussion: Fox News and Bloomberg

NBC News:

Ron DeSantis' long-haul strategy against Trump comes into view — Although he hasn't yet announced a presidential bid, the Florida governor's team has already had internal discussions about delegate strategy. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' team is already plotting out a strategy to run against Donald Trump for the long haul.

Discussion: Miami Herald, Political Wire, Associated Press, The Hill and Associated Press

Gary Fineout / Politico:
Florida lawmakers swing into action after Trump smacks DeSantis on insurance

Discussion: The Colorado Sun, The Capitolist, Politico, Florida's Voice and Political Wire

Vivian Jones / The Tennessean:

Expulsion vote thrusts Tennessee politics onto the national stage, could set precedent — The Democrats could become political martyrs if expelled from the legislature. The move shows the power the GOP holds and could set a precedent for the future. — Tennessee's Republican supermajority …

Discussion: Raw Story, BBC, MLK50, Talking Points Memo, New York Daily News, NewsNation, Forbes, Outside the Beltway, WKRN-TV, WPLN News, PoliticusUSA, NBC News, Vox and Political Wire

Associated Press:
GOP lawmakers consider expelling Democrats over gun protest

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Reuters, ABC News, The Hill, CBS News, Washington Free Beacon, NBC News, WKRN-TV, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, New York Times, Al Jazeera, Chalkbeat, abc7NY, The 19th, Mother Jones, ABC11, Daily Kos, WPLN News and The Tennessean

Washington Post:

Wisconsin Supreme Court election sends message on abortion rights — MILWAUKEE — In overturning a national right to abortion last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court gave conservatives a policy they'd been seeking for nearly half a century. In the process, the justices also angered millions …

Wall Street Journal:
The Left Wins Big in Midwest Elections

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Morning Shots, The Bulwark, Alternet.org, The Daily Caller, Digby's Hullabaloo, WisPolitics, Washington Examiner, New York Times, Fox News, Power Line, The Hill, Washington Post, Daily Kos and Semafor

CNN:

FBI and Army members raided the wrong hotel room during a training exercise and detained a guest inside — Members of the FBI and the US Army Special Operations Command who were conducting a training exercise in downtown Boston raided the wrong hotel room and detained the person inside …

Discussion: The Hill, NBC News, The Boston Globe, Politico, Louder With Crowder, Boston Herald, Just The News, MyStateline.com and CBS News

Ashley Oliver / Breitbart:

Exclusive: Jim Jordan Subpoenas Manhattan Prosecutor Who Resigned over Suspended Trump Probe — House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) escalated Republicans' investigation into the Manhattan district attorney's indictment of former President Donald Trump by subpoenaing …

Amy B Wang / Washington Post:
Trump ally Jordan issues subpoena to former N.Y. prosecutor

Discussion: RedState, Right Side Broadcasting … and Political Wire

San Francisco Chronicle:

‘A child of dreams.’ Friends mourn Cash App founder Bob Lee, stabbed to death in S.F. — San Francisco's tech community mourned the violent death of one of their own Wednesday, calling Cash App founder Bob Lee a standout among Silicon Valley geniuses, someone idolized as a brilliant thinker …

Susie Neilson / San Francisco Chronicle:
Elon Musk said ‘violent crime in SF is horrific’ after tech exec's killing. What does the data show?

Discussion: Washington Examiner, NBC 6 South Florida, ABC7, Bloomberg and NBC Bay Area

Luis Chaparro / VICE:

Migrants Died In Detention Fire Because They Couldn't Pay $200 Bribe to Be Released — The facility operated as an “extortion center,” according to three survivors and two guards who spoke to VICE World News. — Luis Chaparro — CIUDAD JUÁREZ, México …

Discussion: America Magazine and FOX8 WGHP

Shaylee Ragar / Montana Public Radio:

Republicans back bill to change election rules — only for the upcoming Senate race — A Republican-backed bill to create a “jungle primary” that would box-out third party candidates in the next U.S. Senate race in Montana has advanced. — Senate Bill 566 would create a primary system …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, KLAS, Political Wire and Associated Press

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:

How Fox Chased Its Audience Down the Rabbit Hole — Rupert Murdoch built an empire by giving viewers exactly what they wanted. But what they wanted — election lies and insurrection — put that empire (and the country) in peril. — On the evening of Nov. 19, 2020, Rupert Murdoch …

Nicholas Wu / Politico:

Freedom Caucus and progressives lock arms — and that could be bad news for McCarthy — The speaker's immediate headache is a growing right-left alliance on Iraq war powers. But House liberals and conservatives are linking up on other issues, too. — The House's most conservative Republicans …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Brandon Girod / Pensacola News Journal:

Rebekah Jones' 13-year-old son arrested in Navarre, Florida for ‘digital threats of terrorism’ — Embattled former state of Florida employee Rebekah Jones announced on Twitter Wednesday night that her 13-year-old son had been arrested for “digital threats of terrorism.”

Discussion: Twitchy

Reuters:

Rockets from Lebanon hit northern Israel — Rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel on Thursday and answered by a burst of cross-border artillery fire, officials said, amid escalating tension following Israeli police raids on the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

Politico:

Whitmania: Dems eye Michigan gov's sister for battleground House race — If Liz Whitmer Gereghty runs against the Republican who shockingly upset Democrats' campaign chief last cycle, her family ties could bring a dose of star power. — The Whitmer political dynasty might be expanding — into the New York City suburbs.

Discussion: Fox News and Washington Examiner

Ann M. Simmons / Wall Street Journal:

Russian Court to Hear Appeal on Detention of WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich — A Moscow court will hear an appeal on April 18 that could decide where he is held or grant him bail — A Moscow court said Thursday that it would hear an appeal from the lawyers of , Evan Gershkovich …

Discussion: The Hill, Sputnik News, Reuters, HotAir, Bloomberg, HuffPost, NBC News, Voice of America and Vatican News

Jennifer Agiesta / CNN:

CNN Poll: One-third of Americans say Biden deserves to be reelected in 2024 — Just a third of Americans say President Joe Biden deserves to be reelected, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, as a majority in his party say they would like to see someone else as the Democratic nominee for president next year.

Discussion: Breitbart, Political Wire and PJ Media

Washington Post:

Virginia voters divided on direction of the state, Post-Schar poll finds — RICHMOND — Virginia voters are divided on their outlook more than a year after pivoting from a Democratic state government to a Republican governor and a split legislature, with 47 percent saying the state is heading …

Discussion: The Hill and The Post Millennial

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:

White House pulls its punches over GOP judicial nomination blockade — The latest refusal by a Republican senator to return a blue slip has been met with restraint by the administration. — Senate Republicans have once more told Joe Biden to pound sand on one of his judicial nominees and …

Jennifer A Dlouhy / Bloomberg:

Biden Is Set to Propose Toughest-Ever Rules on Car Pollution to Spur EVs — The Biden administration is on track to propose the toughest-ever US curbs on car pollution, while stopping short of an electric-vehicle mandate or ban on gas-powered models. — The proposed standards on cars and light trucks …

Discussion: Just The News

NBC News:

‘Just the way the Nazis did’: Evidence suggests Russians are stealing art from Ukraine on a World War II scale — “Our research suggests that this looting is state-sponsored by Russia,” said a researcher at the Smithsonian Institution, which is preparing a report on the massive scale of the theft.