memeorandum: Ignoring Sanctions, Russia Renews Broad Cybersurveillance Operation (David E. Sanger/New York Times)

10:30 AM ET, October 25, 2021

Top Items:

Hunter Walker / Rolling Stone:

EXCLUSIVE: Jan. 6 Protest Organizers Say They Participated in ‘Dozens’ of Planning Meetings With Members of Congress and White House Staff — As the House investigation into the Jan. 6 attack heats up, some of the planners of the pro-Trump rallies that took place in Washington, D.C. …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Post, Insider, Raw Story, Real Clear Politics, IJR, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, Just Security, BizPac Review, Outside the Beltway, Joe.My.God., Strangely Blogged, WCCO | CBS Minnesota, Mediaite, The Message Box and Yahoo News

Ben Smith / New York Times:

How Frances Haugen Became a Power Player in the Facebook Leaks — In a time of mega-leaks, journalists' sources have become power players. Frances Haugen, the former Facebook product manager who shared company documents, led a meticulous media rollout. — Frances Haugen first met Jeff Horwitz …

Discussion: UPI and CoinDesk, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

The case against Mark Zuckerberg: Insiders say Facebook's CEO chose growth over safety … Late last year, Mark Zuckerberg faced a choice: Comply with demands from Vietnam's ruling Communist Party to censor anti-government dissidents or risk getting knocked offline in one of Facebook's most lucrative Asian markets.

Discussion: New York Times, Wired, Bloomberg, The Verge, Telegraph, TechCrunch and Raw Story, more at Techmeme »

Cristiano Lima / Washington Post:

A whistleblower's power: Key takeaways from the Facebook Papers … A personal decision by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg leads to a crackdown on dissent in Vietnam. Measures to suppress hateful, deceptive content are lifted after the American presidential election in 2020 …

Discussion: The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Ellen Cushing / The Atlantic:

How Facebook Failed the World — Internal documents show the company routinely placing public-relations, profit, and regulatory concerns over user welfare. And if you think it's bad here, look beyond the U.S. — In the fall of 2019, Facebook launched a massive effort to combat the use of its platforms for human trafficking.

more at Techmeme »

Adrienne LaFrance / The Atlantic:

‘History Will Not Judge Us Kindly’ — Before I tell you what happened at exactly 2:28 p.m. on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the White House—and how it elicited a very specific reaction, some 2,400 miles away, in Menlo Park, California—you need to remember the mayhem of that day …

Discussion: Politico, Financial Times and CNN, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:
Facebook's Internal Chat Boards Show Politics Often at Center of Decision Making

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Times, New York Post, RedState, Power Line and Forbes, more at Mediagazer »

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Facebook shares under pressure following release of leaked whistleblower documents

Discussion: CNN, New York Post and Joe.My.God., more at Techmeme »

Eliza Mackintosh / CNN: Facebook knew it was being used to incite violence in Ethiopia. It did little to stop the spread, documents show

Associated Press:

AP source: Manchin agreeable to wealth tax for Biden plan — WASHINGTON (AP) — Pivotal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin appears to be on board with White House proposals for new taxes on billionaires and certain corporations to help pay for President Joe Biden's scaled-back social services and climate change package.

Discussion: NBC News, HotAir, Insider, Reuters, New York Times, Joe.My.God., Associated Press, NBC Bay Area, WPTA21 and Bloomberg

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
What drives Sinema? A different view of politics

Discussion: Sacramento Bee and WTOP

Politico:
What's still in the Dem megabill? Cheat sheet on 12 big topics

Discussion: Axios, Bloomberg, The Hill and CBS News

David E. Sanger / New York Times:

Ignoring Sanctions, Russia Renews Broad Cybersurveillance Operation — The new campaign came only months after President Biden imposed sanctions on Moscow in response to a series of spy operations it had conducted around the world. — SEA ISLAND, Ga. — Russia's premier intelligence agency …

Discussion: Forbes, Human Events, Raw Story and Joe.My.God., more at Techmeme »

Tom Burt / Microsoft On the Issues:
New activity from Russian actor Nobelium

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Microsoft Security Blog, Associated Press, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Al Jazeera and WPTA21

Katherine Huggins / Mediaite:

Trump Blasts Fox News For Supposedly Airing ‘Untruthful Anti-Trump Commercials’ — Former President Donald Trump blasted Fox News on Sunday, claiming the network “continually allow[s] horrible and untruthful anti-Trump commercials to be run.” — “What good is it if FOX News speaks …

Discussion: HotAir, BizPac Review and Joe.My.God.

ProPublica:

“The Liberty Way”: How Liberty University Discourages and Dismisses Students' Reports of Sexual Assaults — Note: This story includes descriptions of sexual violence and attempted suicide. — When Elizabeth Axley first told Liberty University officials she had been raped, she was confident they'd do the right thing.

Sarah Mucha / Axios:

McAuliffe pivots to schools — In the closing weeks of their closely watched Virginia gubernatorial race, Terry McAuliffe is going after Glenn Youngkin on unlikely ground — public education — as he tries to reverse the Republican's surprisingly strong challenge.

Discussion: HotAir, New Republic, ABC News, York News-Times, Washington Times and Washington Post

Brent Buchanan / Cygnal:
Cygnal Poll: YOUNGKIN TIED; GENERIC REPUBLICAN +1

Discussion: The Hill, RedState, Breitbart and Political Wire

John Lucas / The Federalist:

How The Rachel Levine ‘Four-Star Admiral’ Photo-Op Will Damage U.S. Security — While maneuvering his Third Army to relieve Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, Gen. George Patton would have been outranked by ‘first transgender admiral’ Rachel Levine. — To great public fanfare …

Discussion: Insider

Ivana Saric / Axios:
Twitter suspends Rep. Jim Banks for misgendering transgender four-star officer

Discussion: New York Post, HuffPost, NBC News, RedState, UPI, WPTA21 and New York Magazine

Scott Pelley / CBS News:

Former Saudi official calls Mohammed bin Salman a “psychopath,” says Saudi crown prince fears what he knows — Saad Aljabri was number two in Saudi intelligence until, he says, Mohammed bin Salman forced him out. Now, MBS is Saudi Arabia's crown prince, and Aljabri is in exile.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Guardian, Insider and Bloomberg

Bryn Stole / Baltimore Sun:

U.S. Rep. Anthony G. Brown launching campaign for Maryland attorney general — U.S. Rep. Anthony G. Brown, a Prince George's County Democrat and former lieutenant governor, will run for attorney general of Maryland next year. — Brown, 59, is the first major Democratic candidate to jump …

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller and Maryland Matters

BBC:

Sudan's military dissolves civilian government and arrests leaders — Sudan's military has dissolved civilian rule, arrested political leaders and declared a state of emergency. — Gen Abdel Fattah Burhan, who had been heading a joint council with civilian leaders, blamed political infighting.

New York Times:

How Amazon Mishandled Paying Dozens of Workers on Leave — A knot of problems with Amazon's system for handling paid and unpaid leaves has led to devastating consequences for workers. — A year ago, Tara Jones, an Amazon warehouse worker in Oklahoma, cradled her newborn …

Discussion: People's Policy Project

Jack Newman / Daily Mail:

Conservative pundit Candace Owens attacks Alec Baldwin over accidental shooting calling it ‘poetic justice’ for his previous criticism of Donald Trump — Owens said Baldwin spent four years painting Trump and his fans as ‘murderers’ — The actor portrayed the president on SNL and repeatedly slammed his politics

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Heidi Przybyla / NBC News:

Biden administration to announce plan for accelerating authorization of at-home Covid tests — The Biden administration on Monday will announce several steps aimed at making rapid, at-home Covid testing more widely available while lowering costs, according to details shared with NBC News.

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Reuters and HuffPost

Washington Post:

Inside PhRMA's fight to kill Democrats' drug pricing plan — Good morning, Early Birds. Please share your suggestions for what Theo should make with the dozens and dozens of apples he picked the other weekend — and also your tips! And if you have to choose between sending a recipe …

Discussion: Politico and Common Dreams

Boris Epshteyn / Newsweek:

Biden Administration Plans to Kill America's Energy Sector — The progressive environmental Left, led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other Green New Deal radicals, seems poised to suffer a significant defeat at the hands of its own party. — According to recent reports …

Tami Luhby / CNN:

Lower premiums, more choices on Obamacare exchanges for 2022 as Democrats battle to extend generous subsidies — (CNN)Consumers shopping for health coverage on the federal Affordable Care Act exchanges can likely find lower premiums and more choices for 2022 — as well as generous government assistance …

Fatma Khaled / Newsweek:

Ron DeSantis Planning $5K Bonus for Unvaccinated Police to Relocate to Florida — Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Sunday that he is hoping to sign legislation that would give unvaccinated police officers a $5,000 bonus to relocate to his state.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, The Guardian, Breitbart, Political Wire, The Expose, Rolling Stone, Discourse.net, HuffPost, Insider, Joe.My.God. and Forbes

Natalie Allison / Politico:

Disgraced former governor is recast as MAGA warrior in Senate bid — Missouri's open Senate race features a crowded cast of conservative characters. There's the self-described “farm girl,” the auctioneer on a bus tour, a state attorney general suing China, and the guy who stood on his lawn and pointed an AR-15 at protesters.

Discussion: Raw Story

Wall Street Journal:

Federal Judges Would Face Tougher Stock-Trading Rules Under Bipartisan Bill — House hearings set; planned actions follow Wall Street Journal reports on financial conflicts in the judiciary — Federal judges would be required to report stock trades over $1,000 within 45 days and post …

Axios:

1 big thing: Schlapps see '24 Trump run — The chairman of the American Conservative Union told Margaret Talev for “Axios on HBO” he accepts “Joe Biden is my president, and I want him to succeed,” but predicted Republicans retake the House and Senate in 2022 — and greater than 50% odds Donald Trump runs in 2024.

Discussion: The American Conservative

Albert Hunt / The Hill:

Republican spin on Biden is off the mark — The Republican spin about Joe Biden's presidency has taken hold: He ran as a centrist who'd promulgate bipartisan, moderate policies and appointments, but instead, they say, he's governing as a partisan left-winger, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and CNN

Jerry Zremski / Buffalo News:

Real? Absolutely. Resilient? You bet. But some wonder: Is India Walton ready? — In South Buffalo on a recent Saturday evening, India B. Walton, all 4 feet, 11 inches of her, filled a tent with her passion and her presence - and kept the first promise of her campaign slogan.