memeorandum: Hong Kong's top court overturns acquittal of human rights lawyer (Reuters)

12:25 AM ET, January 25, 2024

Top Items:

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

As Supreme Court weighs Trump's eligibility, the ‘10th justice’ stays mum — The solicitor general would typically file arguments on an issue of this magnitude — but the upcoming Trump case is a political lightning rod. — As the Supreme Court prepares to hold arguments next month …

Discussion: Raw Story and The Bulwark

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Collins, leading Senate GOP centrist, won't endorse Trump in 2024 — Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee and a key figure in getting bills passed through Congress, says she will not endorse former President Trump, even if he becomes the Republican Party's nominee for president.

Discussion: Salon, Mediaite, Axios, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, Washington Examiner, Right Wing Watch, USA Today, The Messenger, The Dispatch, The Guardian, New Yorker, The Maine Wire and Political Wire

Ian Ward / Politico:

The Tired Monotony of a Trump Rally in 2024 — ATKINSON, New Hampshire — The line snaked along the driveway, hundreds of people long. The weather was dreadful in southern New Hampshire — ice and the slush and the subfreezing temperatures — but Donald Trump's faithful didn't care.

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Post

Joe Gould / Politico:

Trump wants to send troops to the inner cities. A top senator wants to rein him in. — Sen. Richard Blumenthal is contacting other lawmakers in his bid to overhaul the Insurrection Act. — A top Democratic senator is renewing his effort to rein in Donald Trump's — or any other future president's …

HuffPost:

Trump Privately Pressuring GOP Senators To ‘Kill’ Border Deal To Deny Biden A Win — The former president is telling Republicans he “doesn't want Biden to have a victory” in 2024, said a source familiar with the bipartisan negotiations. — LOADING — WASHINGTON - Donald Trump …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

Washington Post:
After two Trump wins, congressional Republicans again fall in line

Discussion: The Daily Beast, New York Times, Political Wire, ABC News, KRDO, KXAN-TV, The UnPopulist, NBC News, Fox News, HuffPost, Breitbart and Raw Story

Sarah Fortinsky / The Hill:
Pelosi sounds warning over Trump's attacks on ObamaCare

Discussion: UPI and KFF Health News

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
Billionaire Reid Hoffman pauses Nikki Haley funding after her New Hampshire loss to Trump, source says

Discussion: RedState, CNN, Associated Press, Breitbart, Mock Paper Scissors, Newsbusters, Alaska Public Media, Bloomberg, The National Pulse+, Washington Examiner, Wall Street Journal, The Messenger, Political Wire and New Statesman

David Corn / Mother Jones:
Trump Shares His New Hampshire Victory With an Accused Sexual Predator

Discussion: HuffPost and Raw Story

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:
Lindsey Graham ‘threw Trump under the bus’ in Georgia case, book says

Discussion: HuffPost, Hachette Book Group, New Republic, The Hill, Raw Story, BizPac Review, Daily Caller News Foundation, PoliticusUSA, Mediaite, Mock Paper Scissors and The Messenger

Edward Luce / Financial Times:
Wall Street's bargain with Trump

Discussion: Washington Post, The Japan Times and Raw Story

New York Times:
5 Takeaways From the New Hampshire Primary

Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
The time for denial is over: Republicans are really nominating Donald Trump

Selena Simmons-Duffin / NPR:

Raped, pregnant and in an abortion ban state? Researchers gauge how often it happens — As an abortion provider in Montana, Dr. Samuel Dickman has seen patients routinely who tell him they became pregnant after a rape. His sense was the patients who were telling him were only a fraction of the true number.

Discussion: HuffPost, Axios, Abortion, Every Day, The Messenger and Digby's Hullabaloo

Megan Lebowitz / NBC News:

64K women and girls became pregnant due to rape in states with abortion bans, study estimates — The research letter, published by JAMA Internal Medicine, estimated that nearly 520,000 rapes were associated with 64,565 pregnancies across 14 states. — More than 64,000 women and girls became pregnant …

Discussion: The Hill and New Scientist

Kelby Vera / HuffPost:

Alina Habba Spotted At Trump Victory Party After Delaying Defamation Trial Over Illness — The former president's legal team requested a trial delay, saying Habba had been exposed to COVID and had a fever. She attended the party one day later. — LOADING

Discussion: Mediaite, The Messenger and Raw Story

CNN:

Exclusive: House ethics probe of Gaetz seeks information from DOJ and woman who allegedly had sex with congressman as a minor — The House Ethics Committee investigating Rep. Matt Gaetz has reached out to the woman whom the congressman allegedly had sexual relations with when she was a 17-year-old minor …

Discussion: CBS News, Raw Story, The Messenger, Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, Political Wire, Mediaite and Crooks and Liars

Nikki McCann Ramirez / Rolling Stone:

Trump's White House Pharmacy Handed Out Drugs Like Candy: Report — A Department of Defense report found an obscene lack of control over the handling of controlled medications while Trump was in office — White House pharmacists reportedly distributed uppers and downers like candy …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, KRDO and Digby's Hullabaloo

Beth Mole / Ars Technica:
The White House has its own pharmacy—and, boy, was it shady under Trump

Discussion: The Bulwark and Althouse

Nick Robertson / The Hill:

Arizona GOP chair resigns, alleges Kari Lake blackmail — The chairman of the Arizona Republican Party announced he will resign on Wednesday after leaked audio appeared to show him attempting to pay Senate candidate Kari Lake not to run for office in 2024. — Jeff DeWit said that the audio was “selectively edited.”

Discussion: NBC News, The National Pulse+, Forbes, The Daily Caller, Mercury News, One America News Network, New York Post and New Republic

Ben Giles / NPR:
After seeming to bribe Senate hopeful Kari Lake not to run, Arizona GOP Chair resigns

Tim Grierson / Cracked.com:

Penn Jillette Wants to Talk It All Out — Penn Jillette has a large, framed French-language poster of Renaldo and Clara behind him. Most people wouldn't know what that is, but as a Bob Dylan fan, I do — it's his largely forgotten, widely panned 1978 film that he wrote, directed and starred in.

Myah Ward / Politico:

Democrats win challenge to North Carolina voter election law — A federal judge blocked a specific provision of the law's same-day voter registration requirements. — Joe Biden quietly scored a legal victory in North Carolina this week, in what could prove to be a consequential development in a closely divided state.

The White House:

Statement from NSC Spokesperson Adrienne Watson on Reported Strikes at UNRWA Facility in Southern Gaza — We are gravely concerned by reports today of strikes hitting a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) facility — with subsequent reports of fires in the building—in a neighborhood …

Discussion: UPI

Brooke Migdon / The Hill:

Ohio lawmakers override DeWine veto of gender-affirming care ban, transgender athlete restrictions — The Ohio Senate voted 23-9 Wednesday to override Republican Gov. Mike DeWine's veto of legislation banning gender-affirming health care for minors and preventing transgender women and girls from competing on female school sports teams.

US Food and Drug Administration:

FDA warns consumers not to purchase or use Neptune's Fix or any tianeptine product due to serious risks … [1/23/2024] FDA continues to receive severe adverse event reports after use of Neptune's Fix products, including seizures, loss of consciousness and death.

Discussion: UPI, The Hill, NBC News and NewsNation

Reuters:

Hong Kong's top court overturns acquittal of human rights lawyer — Hong Kong's top court on Thursday overturned the acquittal of activist and human rights lawyer Chow Hang Tung of inciting others to join an unauthorised vigil to remember victims of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Discussion: Bloomberg.com

Adrian Carrasquillo / The Messenger:

The RNC Shuttered Most of the Hispanic Community Centers It Touted as Critical to Winning Over Latino Voters — JWPlayer — During the 2022 cycle, the Republican Party made a commitment to Latino voters that hadn't been seen before, touting nearly two dozen RNC Hispanic Community Centers …

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Raw Story

Jason DeRose / NPR:

Religious ‘Nones’ are now the largest single group in the U.S. — When Americans are asked to check a box indicating their religious affiliation, 28% now check ‘none.’ — A new study from Pew Research finds that the religiously unaffiliated - a group comprised of atheists …

Discussion: Business Insider, Pew Research Center, Deseret News, al.com, CBS News, Axios, Fox News and Pew Research Center's …

Stephen Neukam / The Messenger:

Republicans Turn on Their Impeachment Chairman: ‘Parade of Embarrassments’ (Exclusive) — One Trump ally told The Messenger ‘the base is starting to get more and more frustrated’ with Comer — JWPlayer — House Republicans are increasingly disenchanted with Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. …

Discussion: MeidasTouch, Digby's Hullabaloo, Raw Story, Democrats and PoliticusUSA

US Department of Justice:

Washington State “Proud Boy” Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Actions During and After Jan. 6 Capitol Breach — For Immediate Release — U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia — Defendant Told Judge “You could give me 100 years and I would still do it all over again.”

Discussion: The Daily Beast, NBC News, Law & Crime, New York Daily News, The Guardian, CBS News, Raw Story, The Hill, Hackwhackers, Axios and KOIN-TV

Nikki McCann Ramirez / Rolling Stone:

Auto Workers Union Endorses Biden Over ‘Scab’ Trump — The UAW is backing the president months after he made history by picketing alongside striking workers — THE UNITED AUTO Workers (UAW), one of the nation's largest and most influential unions in the country, has endorsed Joe Biden for president.