memeorandum: Courting G.O.P.'s Mainstream and Extreme, McCarthy Plots Rise to Speaker (New York Times)

10:40 AM ET, February 24, 2022

Top Items:

Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russia launches attacks across Ukraine; Biden vows ‘consequences’ — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared martial law as explosions were heard throughout the country and Russian forces targeted the capital.

The White House:

Statement by President Biden on Russia's Unprovoked and Unjustified Attack on Ukraine — The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. President Putin has chosen a premeditated war …

Wall Street Journal:

Russia Attacks Ukraine, Drawing Broad Condemnation — Missiles and airstrikes hit Kyiv and several other cities in Ukraine, in what President Biden calls an unprovoked attack, pledging further action against Moscow — KYIV, Ukraine—Russian armored columns pushed into Ukraine and airstrikes hit …

Discussion: Common Sense, CNN, New York Times, Insider, Associated Press, Washington Post, Providence, WAVY-TV, RedState, Outside the Beltway, PIX11, CNN, Financial Times, Metro.co.uk, Outside the Tent and Talking Points Memo

NBC News:

Russia-Ukraine conflict live updates: Ukraine battles Russian attack on multiple fronts — Watch live: Russia launches attack on Ukraine — Russia launched what Ukraine said was a “full-scale attack” against its neighbor Thursday, with cities bombarded from the air and forces fighting on the ground.

Discussion: Politico, NATO, The Guardian, Washington Post, Associated Press, Washington Post, NBC New York and NBC News

Associated Press:

The Latest: UN chief warns Russian actions could devastate — The latest on the Russia-Ukraine crisis: — ___ — UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says Russia's attack on Ukraine — as he appealed for President Vladimir Putin to stop his troops — was “the saddest moment” of his five-year tenure.

Discussion: PIX11, KTLA, Reuters, Financial Times, Washington Examiner, CNN, Politico, Insider, CNN, Politico, Wall Street Journal, BBC, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Breitbart, WTOP News, Al Jazeera, KRQE-TV, WINK NEWS, Fox News, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, NATO, The Daily Caller, Situation's Newsletter, LifeSite, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, WFLA-TV, Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, TASS, Wall Street Journal, The BondBeat, Boston.com, Insider, Daily Mail, Metro.co.uk, KRQE-TV, UPI, WAVY-TV, Al Jazeera, KFOR-TV, Daily Kos, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, New York Times, Associated Press, Breitbart, NBC New York, Russia and Beyond, RedState, Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, Political Wire, Deseret News, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, WPRI-TV, KTLA, Insider, Изв …, Boston.com, HuffPost, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, National Newswatch, Forbes, One America News Network, Deseret News, Portland Mercury, Task & Purpose, Global Community, Townhall, Metro.co.uk, NBC News, FOX 5 San Diego and USA Today, more at Techmeme »

Telegraph:

Russia deploys mobile crematoriums to follow its troops into battle — Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, suggests the vehicle-mounted incinerators will be used to hide evidence of battlefield casualties — Russian forces have prepared a mobile crematorium for use in any future conflict …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Last Refuge

Politico:

Battles flare across Ukraine after Putin declares war — KYIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday launched an all-out assault on Ukraine with missiles, warplanes and tanks that threatens to push Europe into its biggest conflict since World War II.

Reuters:

Russia invades Ukraine in Europe's ‘darkest hours’ since WWII … Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday in a massed assault by land, sea and air, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two. — Missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities.

Discussion: Insider, New York Times, Fox News, The Energy Transitions Blog, Power Line, Mediaite, Townhall, The Guardian, TheBlaze and The Drifter

The White House:

Statement by President Joe Biden on Phone Call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine — President Zelenskyy reached out to me tonight and we just finished speaking. I condemned this unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. I briefed him on the steps we are taking …

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, Associated Press, Associated Press, New York Times, New York Times, WSVN-TV, The Bulwark, KSTP-TV, CNN, HotAir, The Moderate Voice, Denver Post, Washington Post, Newsy, Forbes and CNN

Joe Tidy / BBC:
Cyber-attacks bring down many Ukraine websites

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Reuters, UPI, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Sophos News, From The Forests of Arduinna, New York Post, NPR, CNBC and Townhall, more at Techmeme »

David E. Sanger / New York Times:
Putin Spins a Conspiracy Theory That Ukraine Is on a Path to Nuclear Weapons

Discussion: Politico, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, The Daily Caller, Associated Press, Foreign Exchanges and Insider

Michael Wines / New York Times:
North Carolina Court Imposes New District Map, Eliminating G.O.P. Edge

Discussion: VICE and Political Wire

CNN:
Russia launches military attack on Ukraine with reports of explosions and troops crossing border

Discussion: HuffPost, KRQE-TV, Media Matters for America, Politico and One America News Network

Gideon Rachman / Financial Times:

Putin's war will shake the world — Russia intends to install a puppet government in Kyiv. The west must now respond — ADD TO MYFT — The phoney war is over. The real war has begun. For several weeks, the US and British governments have believed that Vladimir Putin was intent on a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Discussion: New York Times, Bloomberg, TheJournal.ie and Washington Post

Wall Street Journal:

How Ukraine Was Betrayed in Budapest — Kyiv gave up its nuclear weapons in return for security assurances. So much for that. — By The Editorial Board — As the people of Ukraine steel themselves for a Russian attack, it's worth recalling how the U.S. persuaded the country to give up its nuclear weapons.

Discussion: NBC News, KRQE-TV, PBS NewsHour, Washington Times and TASS

Anne Applebaum / The Atlantic:

Calamity Again … The poem is called “Calamity Again.” The original version was written in Ukrainian, in 1859, and the author, Taras Shevchenko, was not speaking metaphorically when he wrote about slavery. Shevchenko was born into a family of serfs—slaves—on an estate in what is now central Ukraine …

Michael Kofman / The Economist:
Michael Kofman, an expert on Russia's armed forces, explains why the Kremlin will seek regime change in Ukraine

Discussion: Axios, Axios, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Washington Post, bellingcat, Insider, A Conservative Perspective, NBC News, AP-NORC and U.S. Department of Defense

Nick Wadhams / Bloomberg:
Biden's Own Aides Feared His Sanctions Wouldn't Stop Putin

Discussion: RedState, CBS News, Campaign Update, Summit News and Florida Politics

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
A deadly, devious intelligence war unfolds in Ukraine

Discussion: Washington Post

American Greatness:
Putin's Predictabilities — It is easy to predict what the Russian president will do in any given situation.

Discussion: Financial Times, Politico, Bloomberg and Small Dead Animals

Washington Post:
Why Ukraine — and Russian aggression against it — matters to Americans

Discussion: National Review, Bloomberg and Convert or Die

Ryan Lizza / Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: War in Europe

Discussion: Insider, New York Post, POLITICUSUSA and Bloomberg

Eliot A. Cohen / The Atlantic:
Arm the Ukrainians Now — A rule of thumb in the theater is that if someone produces a pistol …

Discussion: The Economist, Bloomberg and The Guardian

Anton Troianovski / New York Times:
Many Russians Feel a Deep Unease Over Going to War

Discussion: CNBC, Politico, The Guardian and Hackwhackers

Bernard-Henri Lévy / Tablet Magazine:
The Rape of Ukraine — Taking Putin's grievances seriously would be nothing more than a death wish …

Discussion: CNN

Ann Coulter:

Stop Talking About Ukraine, Republicans! — Amid the media's 24/7 UKRAINE UPDATES, perhaps some enterprising journalist could write an article explaining how our esteem for that country's borders benefits a single American — other than President Joe Biden.

Discussion: Washington Post and Washington Free Beacon

Aaron Rupar / Public Notice:

Trump thought US troops are fighting Russians in Ukraine. Really. — The former president's immediate Fox News reaction to Russia's invasion was totally bonkers — and totally sympathetic to Putin. — On Thursday morning in Ukraine — Wednesday evening here in the US …

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, Insider and Hennessy's View

Meryl Kornfield / Washington Post:
Trump and his supporters praise Putin and dismiss Biden as crisis unfolds

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Fox News, USA Today, CNN, Jihad Watch, Today's Edition Newsletter, POLITICUSUSA, New York Post, Raw Story, Mike Klonsky's Edu/Pol, Mercury News and Alpha News

David Corn / Mother Jones:
Is It Amnesia or Hypocrisy That Fuels the GOP's Crazy Response to Putin?

Discussion: Forbes, Washington Free Beacon, National Review, Morning Shots, Jacobin, Dakota Free Press, HuffPost, Mediaite, Fox News and Politico

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
Foreign-Policy Dissent Is Not Treason

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Fox News and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Judd Legum / Popular Information:

A far-right website created 36 days ago is more popular on Facebook than the Washington Post — Brandon Gill “provides strategic marketing direction for Conservative Brief,” the right-wing website whose underhanded tactics were exposed in yesterday's Popular Information.

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:

A Loss of Prosecutors Isn't Necessarily a Win for Trump — Every investigation of Donald Trump, during and after his presidency, has been freighted with emotion and politics, from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe and two impeachments to ongoing civil and criminal actions in multiple jurisdictions.

Discussion: Raw Story, JONATHAN TURLEY and Washington Post

New York Times:
2 Prosecutors Leading N.Y. Trump Inquiry Resign, Clouding Case's Future

Discussion: New York Daily News, IJR, Conservative Brief, National Review, BizPac Review, Washington Post, GNEWS, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Raw Story, Vox, Bloomberg, CNN and ragnar_forseti's Newsletter

Dylan Byers / Puck:

Is Jen Psaki the Next Rachel Maddow? — Biden's spokesperson, who plans to leave the White House this year, is being feverishly courted by CNN and MSNBC, among others. And Psaki has ambitions to become a marquee star. Is she the next Maddow or Anderson?

Discussion: Daily Mail, Mediaite, RedState and Too Much TV Newsletter

Politico: The frame that doomed BBB

Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post: White House press secretary Jen Psaki could reportedly replace Rachel Maddow on MSNBC

Jo Yurcaba / NBC News:

Texas governor calls on citizens to report parents of transgender kids for abuse — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on “licensed professionals” and “members of the general public” to report the parents of transgender minors to state authorities if it appears the minors are receiving gender-affirming medical care.