memeorandum: So, Is Clarence Thomas at Real Risk Here? Absolutely. (Slate)

3:30 AM ET, April 19, 2023

Top Items:

Fox Will Pay $787.5 Million to Settle Defamation Suit — The settlement with Dominion Voting Systems was the latest extraordinary twist in a case that exposed the inner workings of the most powerful voice in conservative news. — Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

Washington Post:

Fox News, Dominion settle defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million — The agreement brings an abrupt end to one of the most significant media cases in recent decades, one that hinged on false claims about a presidential election — WILMINGTON, Del. — Fox News agreed Tuesday to pay $787.5 million …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, HuffPost, Washington Press, Insider, Politico, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Deadline, Financial Times, Quartz, RedState, The Wrap, The Guardian, Deseret News, ABC News and Joe.My.God., more at Mediagazer »

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

The big hole in the Dominion-Fox News settlement — When news of a possible settlement between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News surfaced on Sunday night, pleas from concerned citizens popped up on social media: Don't settle this lawsuit, Dominion. Put all the evidence before a jury.

Jack Shafer / Politico:

Rupert Wins Again — For the media mogul, the massive Dominion settlement fee is just the cost of doing business. — If it seems fairly daft to congratulate Rupert Murdoch on settling the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case at a cost of $787.5 million, you probably need to be brought …

Discussion: New York Times

Reuters:

Exclusive: Fox investors seek records in possible step toward suing directors — Fox Corp shareholders are demanding company records that may show whether directors and executives properly oversaw Fox News' coverage of former President Donald Trump's election-rigging claims, sources told Reuters …

Discussion: Insider, Washington Post and Associated Press

Peter Maass / The Intercept:

Dominion Was Never Going to Save Our Democracy From Fox News … Will private equity save American democracy? — That question, which has lurked behind the defamation lawsuit Dominion Voting Systems filed against Fox News, was answered today in an unsurprising fashion: no.

Discussion: The Wrap, The Gateway Pundit, Media Matters for America, National Review, HuffPost, Mediaite, The Hill and Patterico's Pontifications

Clare Malone / New Yorker:

The Stunning End of Dominion's Case Against Fox News — The voting-machine company has agreed to a seven-hundred-million-dollar settlement in its defamation suit against Rupert Murdoch's cable news network. — A little before 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Judge Eric Davis uttered six words that brought …

Discussion: Politico, Slate and Deadline

Ankush Khardori / Politico:

Why Fox News had to settle the Dominion suit — PAYOUT — One of the year's most hotly anticipated trials reached a stunning conclusion before it even began. Poised to face off in the courtroom this afternoon, with jury selection complete, Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News instead reached a settlement.

Discussion: Raw Story and Politico

Wajahat Ali / The Daily Beast:

Dominion's Big Fox News Settlement Is America's Loss — The country deserves a lengthy trial that lays bare the depth of Fox's hypocrisy, venality, and insincerity. … Dominion Voting, America's unexpected fighter for its fledgling democracy, settled its $1.6 billion lawsuit with Fox …

Discussion: WGCU PBS & NPR …, Financial Times, The Guardian, Deadline and Raw Story

Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story:
Fox News settlement doesn't stop special master probe that could end in obstruction charges: legal expert

Discussion: NBC News, Alternet.org and Mediaite

Bill O'Reilly / No Spin News: Special Message: Fox News Settlement

CNBC:
Fox to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle election defamation lawsuit

Discussion: ABC News, New York Times, Mediaite, The Guardian, Reuters, Techdirt, Raw Story, Deadline, El País, Los Angeles Times, The Ringer, The Post Millennial, RedState, USA Today and CBS News, more at Mediagazer »

Quin Hillyer / Washington Examiner: Fox News settlement is the best result for everybody

NBC News:
Fox News and Dominion reach settlement on first day of trial

Discussion: Slate, Mediaite, National Review, ABC News, CBS News, The Wrap, Above the Law, Raw Story, Forbes, New York Post and Variety

Washington Post:

Complaints about Justice Thomas's disclosures sent to judicial committee — Allegations from congressional Democrats that Justice Clarence Thomas likely violated federal ethics laws in his dealings with a Republican donor have been sent to a committee of federal judges responsible for …

Discussion: HuffPost, Raw Story and Bloomberg

NBC News:

Senate Democrats eye a hearing on Clarence Thomas as Republicans shrug off gift revelations — Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat, called Thomas' conduct “outrageous.” But most Republicans say they're not troubled by the conservative justice's ethics controversy.

Discussion: Take Back the Court, CNN, RedState, Forbes, Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God., The Hill, Political Wire, Reason and Bloomberg

Slate:
So, Is Clarence Thomas at Real Risk Here? Absolutely.

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Washington Examiner and Daily Kos

Devlin Barrett / Washington Post:

U.S. charges four Americans with aiding Kremlin efforts — Charges are the latest Justice Department effort against secret foreign propaganda networks on U.S. soil — Federal authorities charged four Americans on Tuesday with roles in a malign campaign pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Reuters, TASS, US Department of Justice, Insider Paper, Fox News, NewsNation, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Hill and WFLA-TV

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:
Alleged U.S. Cult Members Accused of Working for Russian Spies

Discussion: The Hill, Radio Free Europe/Radio … and Raw Story

Molly Jong-Fast / Vanity Fair:

It's Time for Dianne Feinstein to Resign — The 89-year-old California senator has been a trailblazer. But a public servant needs to serve the public—and Feinstein is no longer doing that. — We should not hold a United States senator to a lower standard than that to which we hold all other Americans.

Discussion: Alternet.org, The Hill, New Republic and Slate

Politico:
Senate Dems wrestle with Feinstein resignation chatter

Discussion: Fox News, Townhall, Breitbart, Washington Examiner, New York Times, UPI, USA Today, Associated Press, HuffPost, New Republic, Mercury News, CNN, Roll Call, Washington Post, KTLA, The Hill, BizPac Review, NPR, RedState and Bloomberg

Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Republicans block Senate Democrats' push to replace Feinstein on Judiciary panel

Discussion: The Hill, New York Post and Washington Examiner

New York Times:

DeSantis Meets With Republicans on Capitol Hill, to a Lukewarm Response — Ron DeSantis has not managed much momentum from his party in Congress, where he served before becoming Florida's governor. — Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Tuesday made a rare return trip to Washington …

Discussion: Politico, Fox News, Washington Examiner, Breitbart, The Guardian, CNN, CBS News, Mediaite, Sacramento Bee, HuffPost, Florida Politics, The Hill, Forbes, Political Wire, Just The News and The Daily Caller

Salvador Rizzo / Washington Post:

Grand jury indicts torch carriers in 2017 Charlottesville rally — At least three men who marched with blazing tiki torches at the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville are now facing criminal charges, according to indictments unsealed this week. — A grand jury in Virginia indicted …

Discussion: Associated Press, CBS19 News, New York Times, Raw Story and Alternet.org

Jose Pagliery / The Daily Beast:

Trump's Fake Georgia Electors Are Now Ratting on Each Other — The fake GOP electors Trump recruited in Georgia are now turning on each other, according to new court documents. — The fake GOP electors in Georgia that former President Donald Trump recruited as part of his failed attempt …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Joe.My.God., New York Daily News, USA Today, The Guardian, Washington Post, Raw Story and CNN

New York Times:
Atlanta Prosecutor Seeks Removal of Lawyer in Trump Case

Discussion: Raw Story, Politico, Bloomberg and Vanity Fair

Ken Miller / Associated Press:

Oklahoma sheriff says recording of killing talk was illegal — A southeastern Oklahoma sheriff's office says the recording in which the sheriff and others are reportedly heard discussing killing two journalists was illegal and predicted felony charges will be filed.

Discussion: New York Times, Oregonian, New York Daily News, Occupy Democrats, The Hill, The Root and Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

Corky Siemaszko / NBC News:
More audio coming from reporter who taped Oklahoma leaders talking about killing reporters and lynching Black people

Discussion: NPR, Joe.My.God., Daily Kos, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal and Digby's Hullabaloo

Greg Woodfield / Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Prominent DeSantis ally who shot himself dead last year was under investigation for using sold out Taylor Swift tickets to lure teen to his office and show him her breasts - then trying to buy family's silence — Kent Stermon, 50, of Jacksonville, was facing allegations …

Discussion: Florida Politics, Joe.My.God. and Political Wire

Alex Horton / Washington Post:

Russia unveils secretive weapon to target SpaceX's Starlink in Ukraine — Russia's quest to sabotage Ukrainian forces' internet access by targeting the Starlink satellite operations that billionaire Elon Musk has provided to Kyiv since the war's earliest days appears to be more advanced …

Discussion: The Post Millennial

New York Times:
Putin and Zelensky Highlight Separate Trips to Frontline Areas

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, HotAir, Defense One and Associated Press

Andrew Romano / Yahoo News:

Poll: Trump's big post-indictment bounce is fading fast — The former president's lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary has shrunk 10 points since late March. — Former President Donald Trump got a big bounce among Republican primary voters after his indictment …

Discussion: New York Post and Washington Post

Matt Stevens / New York Times:

Ex-Member of Menudo Says He Was Raped by Father of the Menendez Brothers — The allegation, made in a forthcoming docuseries, resembles the claims of abuse by the brothers, who were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents. — It was a gripping case that was one of the first to draw …

Discussion: Breitbart, TMZ.com, Los Angeles Times, Billboard, Variety, UPI, The Daily Beast, New York Daily News and The Daily Caller

Matt Binder / Mashable:

National Weather Service accounts were not granted API exemptions by Twitter — Public safety accounts will still be limited unless they pay up for Twitter API access. — On Friday and throughout the weekend, multiple National Weather Service (NWS) accounts announced that Twitter had removed …

Discussion: Media Matters for America and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Ann M. Simmons / Wall Street Journal:

Russian Court Upholds WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich's Detention — Journalist to remain in pretrial detention at Moscow's Lefortovo prison — A Moscow court upheld the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich at the prison where he has been held since his arrest last month.

Discussion: The Atlantic, CNN, Reason, The Hill, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, CBS News, The Wrap, Cyprus Mail, Al Jazeera, The Gateway Pundit, New York Post and NPR, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:
House China Committee goes to war (game)

Discussion: Semafor and Washington Examiner

Neil Vigdor / New York Times:

Another Texas Election Official Quits After Threats From Trump Supporters — Heider Garcia, the top election official in deep-red Tarrant County, had previously testified about being harassed by the former president's right-wing supporters. — Heider Garcia, the head of elections in Tarrant County …

Discussion: Raw Story and Bloomberg

Reuters:

Alleged leaker Teixeira's unit ordered to halt intelligence mission, Air Force says — The U.S. Air Force's 102nd Intelligence Wing, which the alleged leaker of classified information belonged to, has been ordered to halt its intelligence mission as the service's inspector general carries …

Discussion: New York Times

Shannon Ryan / ABC13:

Man arrested after 2 Woodlands Elite cheerleaders were shot outside HEB near Austin, police say — Police say Payton Washington was one of two Woodlands Elite cheerleaders hit when someone opened fire near a grocery store outside Austin. One man is in custody.

Discussion: The Daily Beast and New York Post

Chris Prentice / Reuters:

Credit Suisse hampered internal probe into Nazi-linked accounts, U.S. senators say — A committee of U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday said troubled Swiss bank Credit Suisse Group (CSGN.S) hampered a multiyear investigation into the servicing of Nazi clients and Nazi-linked accounts.

Discussion: Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Alternet.org, Sputnik News and New York Times

Phil Williams / WTVF-TV:

‘Now is the time!’ Sheryl Crow, Amy Grant push Tennessee lawmakers, governor for action on gun violence — NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nashville-based artists Sheryl Crow and Amy Grant led a delegation Tuesday, lobbying Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and state lawmakers to enact serious reforms following the deadly Covenant School shooting.

Discussion: Rolling Stone

Barbara Ortutay / Associated Press:

Twitter removes policy against deadnaming transgender people — Twitter has quietly removed a policy against the “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals,” raising concerns that the Elon Musk-owned platform is becoming less safe for marginalized groups.