memeorandum: Oligarch Fridman Bemoans a Life ‘Destroyed’ by EU Sanctions (Stephanie Bodoni/Bloomberg)

8:20 AM ET, July 4, 2023

Top Items:

Charlie Warzel / The Atlantic:

Elon Musk Really Broke Twitter This Time — The social network has never seen chaos quite like this. — Twitter may have just had its worst weekend ever, technically speaking. In response to a series of server emergencies, Elon Musk, the Twitter owner and self-professed free-speech …

Discussion: Financial Times, MIT Technology Review, Fortune, Bloomberg, New York Post, The New European, The Messenger, TechCrunch, Variety, Forbes, CBS News, The Register and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »

Kylie Cheung / Jezebel:

Elon Musk Suggests ‘Childless’ People Should Lose the Right to Vote — People without children “have little stake in the future,” says the right-wing billionaire whose own daughter said she doesn't want to be related to him. — Elon Musk, the right-wing billionaire and deadbeat dad who's hellbent …

Discussion: Occupy Democrats, Washington Post and The Messenger

Jody Godoy / Reuters:
Musk's Twitter rate limits could undermine new CEO, ad experts say

Discussion: The European Conservative, Reuters, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, Deadline, Hackwhackers, New Republic, BizPac Review, The Messenger, Daring Fireball, Quartz, The Overspill, New York Post and IJR, more at Mediagazer »

Olafimihan Oshin / The Hill:

Federal court blocks Florida election law — A federal court blocked a Florida election law Monday that would've imposed more limitations on voter registration efforts in the state. — In a 58-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker agreed with the plaintiffs that the new state law …

Discussion: CNN, ACLU, UPI, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, Associated Press, Election Law Blog and Just The News

Gary Fineout / Politico:
Federal judge halts new Florida law he calls ‘latest assault’ on voting

Discussion: Forbes, Florida Politics, Orlando Sentinel and Joe.My.God.

Charles R. Davis / Insider:
Judge blocks new Florida election law, signed by DeSantis this spring, calling it the ‘latest assault on the right to vote’

Discussion: Raw Story, Associated Press and New York Daily News

David Badash / Raw Story:

'We didn't want to live in fear': Exodus of workers begins as Florida's extreme anti-immigrant law goes into effect — Business owners in Florida are worried after Governor Ron DeSantis' new anti-immigrant law took effect on Saturday, forcing many migrant workers to flee the state and head north …

Deborah Acosta / Wall Street Journal:

Migrant Workers Flee Florida as New Immigration Law Takes Effect — Farm owners and construction companies say the law, which started July 1, has already diminished their workforce — Florida's agricultural and construction industries say they are experiencing a labor shortage …

Discussion: NBC News and Digby's Hullabaloo

NBC News:

Four killed, two injured in Philadelphia shooting, police say — Police say a suspect with a semiautomatic rifle, handgun, body armor, and police scanner opened fire and continued shooting as officers pursued him. — Four people were killed and two others, both minors …

Discussion: Associated Press, ABC News, Washington Post, Joe.My.God., NBC Bay Area, The Daily Beast, KTLA, RTÉ, Forbes, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, NewsNation, UPI, New York Times, Mercury News, abc7NY and Just The News

Stephanie Saul / New York Times:

Harvard's Admissions Is Challenged for Favoring Children of Alumni — After the Supreme Court banned race-conscious affirmative action, activists filed a complaint, saying legacy admissions helped students who are overwhelmingly rich and white. — It's been called affirmative action for the rich …

Discussion: New York Post, Reason, Instapundit and Reuters

Collin Binkley / Associated Press:
Activists spurred by affirmative action ruling challenge legacy admissions at Harvard

Robby Soave / Reason:

UCLA Declined To Hire a Professor After Students Denounced His Mild DEI Criticism — Yoel Inbar is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. He was slated to join the University of California at Los Angeles as a tenured professor of psychology …

Discussion: HotAir

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:

Williamson torches DNC's ‘outrageous’ support for Biden in 2024 Dem primary — Marianne Williamson tells Fox News Digital that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine skepticism ‘obviously’ out-of-line with many Democratic voters — MANCHESTER, N.H. - White House hopeful Marianne Williamson …

Discussion: New York Post, Washington Examiner, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion and al.com

Jack Shafer / Politico:
Why Democrats Should Primary Biden

Discussion: HotAir, The Hill and The Gateway Pundit

Brakkton Booker / Politico:

GOP has its most diverse presidential field ever — But most Republicans are loathe to talk about it. — The GOP has its most diverse presidential field in modern history. But the party isn't keen to trumpet it — if they address it at all. — Few of the candidates speak directly to it.

Discussion: Political Wire and Florida Politics

Elie Mystal / The Nation:

The Supreme Court Has Kicked the Door Wide Open to Jim Crow-Style Bigotry The Supreme Court Has Kicked the Door Wide Open to Jim Crow-Style Bigotry — The court's conservatives used a case literally based on a homophobe's fantasies to blow a huge hole in our antidiscrimination laws and revive the spirit of Plessy v. Ferguson.

Anastasia Stognei / Financial Times:

Prigozhin appeals for public support as Wagner continues recruiting — Paramilitary group still signing contracts with fighters for Ukrainian front despite terms of truce with the Kremlin — Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin called on the Russian public to stand up for his Wagner paramilitaries …

Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg:

Oligarch Fridman Bemoans a Life ‘Destroyed’ by EU Sanctions — The life of Mikhail Fridman, one of Russia's original oligarchs, was “destroyed” after he was hit by European Union sanctions following the Kremlin-led invasion of Ukraine, his attorney told an EU court.

Discussion: Political Wire

David Strom / HotAir:

Were you aware that the White House grounds were evacuated? — I saw this on Twitter and thought it must have been a joke. — After all, if the White House grounds were evacuated and a Hazmat team called in, I would have thought it would be all the talk.

Bradford Betz / Fox News:
White House grounds evacuated after Secret Service discovers ‘unknown item’

Discussion: Washington Post, The Post Millennial, Breitbart, PJ Media, RedState and Washington Examiner

Jack Forrest / CNN:

Biden nominates controversial former Trump-appointee to Public Diplomacy Commission — President Joe Biden announced Monday his intention to nominate a former appointee under former President Donald Trump with a controversial past in Latin America to the bipartisan United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Raw Story

Elian Peltier / New York Times:

Macky Sall, Senegal's Leader, Says He Won't Run for Third Term — Macky Sall had considered seeking a third term in the West African country despite a constitutional limit of two. — Reporting from Dakar, Senegal — President Macky Sall of Senegal said on Monday that he would not seek …

Discussion: Financial Times, Voice of America, Washington Post, Mercury News, Bloomberg and Reuters

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Trump Showed Docs to People at Mar-a-Lago's Dining Room Patio Claims Former White House Press Secretary — Stephanie Grisham revealed that she witnessed her former boss, former President Donald Trump, show classified documents to people at his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Colorado Sun, Knewz, Occupy Democrats, Metro, Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Insider, The Messenger, IJR, New York Post, Joe.My.God., UPROXX and Crooks and Liars

Financial Times:

Marine Le Pen seizes on French riots in push to outflank Emmanuel Macron — Far-right party launches recruitment drive amid unrest triggered by police killing of teenager — Fires of unrest burned across France, protests gripped cities over the fatal police shooting of a teenager but …

Discussion: Semafor and Associated Press

Mark Sweetman / Bloomberg:

Ukraine Recap: NATO Chief Extends Tenure as Kyiv Forces Advance — NATO extended Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's by a year as the military alliance confronts Russia's invasion, while Ukraine pressed forward with its counteroffensive in the country's east.

Mohammad Yunus Yawar / Reuters:

Taliban administration orders beauty salons in Afghanistan to close — The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has ordered beauty salons to close within a month, the morality ministry said, in the latest shrinking of access to public places for Afghan women.

Discussion: Bloomberg

Meridith McGraw / Politico:

‘We are way behind’: Top DeSantis PAC official sounds alarm — Steve Cortes got pretty blunt during a Twitter spaces session on Sunday night. — A top spokesperson for Ron DeSantis' super PAC is sounding a decidedly dour note on the Florida governor's presidential prospects …

Discussion: Breitbart, Mediaite, New York Post, Just The News, Washington Examiner, Joe.My.God., Florida Politics, The Hill, Raw Story, The National Pulse+, The Messenger and UPROXX

Nick Schager / The Daily Beast:

Actor Michael Rapaport Trashes ‘Sore Loser’ Kari Lake in New Video — ‘YOU LOST!’ — Outspoken actor and comedian Michael Rapaport has never been one to mince words, and he certainly didn't hold back on Monday, posting a no-holds-barred video in which he brutally slams Republican election denier Kari Lake …

Discussion: Raw Story

Josh Boswell / Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: ‘This calls into question the integrity of their investigation.’ Sen. Ron Johnson slams Hunter Biden probe as it's revealed prosecutor who signed off on ‘sweetheart’ tax deal previously worked for First Son's business partner — Assistant US Attorney Derek Hines …

Discussion: RedState and Washington Examiner

Emily Schultheis / Foreign Policy:

Germany's Far Right Sees Its Opening (Again) — The AfD is on the rise nationally, notching a mayoral win and matching the Social Democrats in polls. Can it last? — BERLIN—Is Germany ready for the populist, far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to govern?

Discussion: The European Conservative and Agence France-Presse