memeorandum: DOJ sends letter urging judges to watch out for discriminatory fees (Julia Shapero/The Hill)

7:10 PM ET, April 22, 2023

Top Items:

Mark Leibovich / The Atlantic:

Chris Christie Doesn't Want to Hear the Name Trump — “How many different ways are you gonna ask the same fucking question, Mark?” Chris Christie asked me. We were seated in the dining room of the Hay-Adams hotel. It's a nice hotel, five stars. Genteel.

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo, New York Times, Fox News, Joe.My.God., NBC10 Philadelphia, USA Today and New York Daily News

Victor Swezey / The Daily Beast:
Trump Once Again Trounces DeSantis in New WSJ Poll

Discussion: Mother Jones, Raw Story, National Review, Breitbart and Wall Street Journal

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
DeSantis Faces Republican Scrutiny on Issues While Trump Skates By

Discussion: Forbes and Just The News

Nick Robertson / The Hill:
44 percent of Republicans don't want Trump to run for reelection: poll

Discussion: Vanity Fair, PHL17.com, Joe.My.God., Political Wire, Al Jazeera and The Dispatch

Suzanne Bates / Deseret News:
Recent poll shows DeSantis ahead of Trump in Utah

Discussion: KSL-TV, USA Today, Florida Politics and Florida's Voice

MSN:
Trump Wants to End DeSantis's 2024 Campaign Before It Even Begins

Discussion: Yahoo News, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Fox News, Mediaite, RedState, Washington Examiner, National Review, New York Post, Florida Politics, Wide World of News, New York Magazine, Raw Story, The Hill, acecomments.mu.nu, Florida's Voice, NBC News and New York Times

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

The Supreme Court delivers a sigh of relief — and an outrageous dissent — Justice Clarence Thomas has gotten the attention of late due to questionable ethics. But it's high time Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. received the scrutiny he deserves. Alito's dissent in the mifepristone case …

Discussion: The States, HotAir, Law & Crime, VICE, Reason, ABC News and Advocate

Joyce Vance / Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance:

Not Quite Midnight at the Supreme Court — I was happily knitting away on my flight home from New York this evening, certain that the Supreme Court would go down to the wire on the Mifepristone case. The deadline Justice Alito had imposed for the Court to reach a decision was 11:59 p.m. Friday night.

Discussion: New York Times, Vox, Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Reason, NBC 6 South Florida, Alternet.org, Informed Comment, Breitbart, Roll Call and Talking Points Memo

Dani Anguiano / The Guardian:

A California journalist documents the far-right takeover of her town: 'We're a test case' — Doni Chamberlain's been a journalist in Shasta county for nearly 30 years. Now she's targeted by the extremists who are looking to reshape the region — The fight for democracy is supported by

Washington Post:

Afghanistan has become a terrorism staging ground again, leak reveals — Less than two years after President Biden withdrew U.S. personnel from Afghanistan, the country has become a significant coordination site for the Islamic State as the terrorist group plans attacks across Europe and Asia …

Discussion: Fox News

Washington Post:

Inside the final days before Biden announces his reelection bid — The last-minute scramble as Biden looks to release a video Tuesday officially declaring his 2024 candidacy — By the time Air Force One returned from Ireland in the pre-dawn hours of April 15, President Biden's plans …

Discussion: Political Wire, CNN, One America News Network, Washington Times and Washington Free Beacon

Jeff Stein / Washington Post:
Biden is running out of time to avoid calamitous debt ceiling outcomes

Discussion: Axios, Politico, Just The News, Washington Examiner, HotAir, Daily Kos and Los Angeles Times

Wall Street Journal:
Biden's Second-Term Mistake

Discussion: HotAir, BizPac Review, RedState, Power Line, Just The News, Fox News and Washington Examiner

Tom Boggioni / Raw Story:

Bombshell revelation of Trump election texts is ‘more damning’ than his Georgia phone call: legal analyst — Reacting to a CNN report that Trump operatives were making plans to use breached voting data to not only undercut the 2020 presidential election results but also to give the GOP control of the Senate …

Discussion: RADAR and Vanity Fair

Washington Post:

In a thriving Michigan county, a community goes to war with itself — Ottawa County offers a glimpse of what happens when one of the building blocks of American democracy is consumed by ideological battles — WEST OLIVE, Mich. — The eight new members of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners …

Discussion: Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Katlyn Brieskorn / WFLA-TV:

Florida couple delivering Instacart groceries shot at after driving to wrong address — (WFLA) — A couple in Broward County said someone shot at them after they ended up at the wrong address while delivering groceries for Instacart. — Waldes Thomas told NBC affiliate WTVJ that he was delivering …

Discussion: Insider and NBC 6 South Florida

Ariane de Vogue / CNN:

Chief Justice John Roberts punts on request to investigate Clarence Thomas — Chief Justice John Roberts has declined to directly respond to a congressional request to investigate Justice Clarence Thomas' alleged ethical lapses. — Roberts instead referred the request …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Political Wire and Raw Story

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Ohio Republicans try to change rules to defeat abortion rights amendment — State lawmakers are seeking to toughen rules when public opinion appears to be running against them — For 111 years, Ohio voters have lived with a set of rules for amending their state constitution through citizen initiative.

Discussion: WVXU

Politico:

The GOP's new electability problem: North Carolina — Mark Robinson, North Carolina's highly controversial Republican lieutenant governor, is the latest test of firebrand politics in the GOP. — Republicans are on the verge of wiping out what remains of Democrats' political power in North Carolina.

Discussion: Associated Press, FOX8 WGHP, Political Wire, Raw Story, Just The News, WFAE 90.7 and The 19th

Morgan Sung / TechCrunch:

Missouri trans ‘snitch form’ down after people spammed it with the ‘Bee Movie’ script — A Missouri government tip site for submitting complaints and concerns about gender-affirming care is down after people flooded it with fanfiction, rambling anecdotes and the “Bee Movie” script.

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Azeen Ghorayshi / New York Times:
Many States Are Trying to Restrict Gender Treatments for Adults, Too

Discussion: NPR

Kansas City Star:
Claims that fueled Missouri GOP crackdown on trans care ‘unsubstantiated,’ university says

Discussion: The Source, CBS News and Missouri Independent

Minyvonne Burke / NBC News:

Jewish student with autism had swastika carved onto his back, mother says — The woman said she noticed the hate symbol after her nonverbal son came home from Clark High School in Las Vegas. — The FBI said it is in contact with authorities in Las Vegas after a woman said her Jewish son …

Joseph Menn / Washington Post:

Twitter removes labels from state-controlled media, helping propaganda — The move comes the same week that Russia and China were revealed to be operating armies of fake profiles — SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter has removed labels designating global media accounts as government-controlled or funded …

Discussion: New York Times, Mashable, BizPac Review, The Post Millennial, Forbes, The Daily Caller, UPI, The Wrap, Mediaite, The Verge, Gizmodo and Reuters, more at Mediagazer »

Acarvin / DFRLab:
State-controlled media experience sudden Twitter gains after unannounced platform policy change

Discussion: PJ Media

Dara Kerr / NPR:
Twitter once muzzled Russian and Chinese state propaganda. That's over now

Discussion: Joe.My.God., CNN, Variety, Mashable, Media Matters for America and Associated Press, more at Mediagazer »

Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill:

Greene silencing leads to new pledges of civility — The silencing of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) after she called Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a liar in a hearing has led to a pledge for a more civil House Homeland Security Committee going forward …

Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:

It Is a Delusion to Think Having a Gun in the Home Makes Us Safer — In most of the world, going to the wrong house is not a deadly risk. — But in the United States it is, because we're awash in an estimated 450 million guns and suffer from a mass delusion that a gun in the home makes us safer.

Discussion: Breitbart and New York Daily News

Francis Wilkinson / Bloomberg:
‘Wrong Address’ Shootings Reflect America's Rising Paranoia

Discussion: Daily Kos

Julia Shapero / The Hill:

DOJ sends letter urging judges to watch out for discriminatory fees — The Department of Justice (DOJ) sent a letter to state, local and juvenile courts on Thursday, warning judges to watch out for fees and fines that could unfairly burden low-income individuals and minors.