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12:40 PM ET, March 31, 2022

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
BBC:
French intelligence chief Vidaud fired over Russian war failings  —  The head of French military intelligence, Gen Eric Vidaud, is losing his job after failing to predict Russia's war in Ukraine, reports say.  —  Seven months after he took on the role, one report said he was blamed for …
RELATED:
Reuters:
Russia drafts 134,500 conscripts but says they won't go to Ukraine  —  President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree ordering 134,500 new conscripts into the army as part of Russia's annual spring draft, but the defence ministry said the call-up had nothing to do with the war in Ukraine.
Seth G. Jones / TIME:
What It Will Take For Ukraine To Win the War  —  Jones is senior vice president and director of the international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  His most recent book is Three Dangerous Men: Russia, China, Iran, and the Rise of Irregular Warfare.
Alex Horton / Washington Post:
Russian troops near Kyiv, Chernobyl are repositioning, Pentagon says  —  About 20 percent of the Russian forces around Kyiv, and some forces near the Chernobyl nuclear site, are in various stages of moving north away from the capital, the Pentagon said Wednesday, with some personnel crossing into Belarus.
Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Ukraine needs better air defense systems, not more excuses
Discussion: nationalinterest.org
Wall Street Journal:   The U.S. Sanctions a Russian Oligarch—but Exempts His Companies
Foreign Policy:
Russia Prepares Destructive Cyberattacks
Discussion: NPR
Matt Taibbi / TK News:
“Regime Change” Doesn't Work, You Morons
Associated Press:
Parents of a Marine vet imprisoned in Russia meet with Biden
Washington Post:
Justice Dept. expands Jan. 6 probe to look at rally prep, financing … The criminal investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has expanded to examine the preparations for the rally that preceded the riot, as the Justice Department aims to determine the full extent of any conspiracy …
RELATED:
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
What explains the suspicious gap in Trump's call log? … From the moment we learned the extent of the 7.5-hour gap in White House records of President Trump's phone calls on Jan. 6, 2021, the question has been: How did this happen?  Could it just be sloppy record-keeping …
New York Times:
Justice Dept. Widens Jan. 6 Inquiry to Range of Pro-Trump Figures
The White House:
FACT SHEET: President Biden's Plan to Respond to Putin's Price Hike at the Pump  —  Americans face rising prices at the pump because of Putin's Price Hike.  Since Putin accelerated his military build-up around Ukraine, gas prices have increased by nearly a dollar per gallon.
RELATED:
Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Biden Plan Would Release a Million Barrels of Oil a Day From Reserve
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Ivermectin is the signature example of politics trumping health  —  By April 2020, President Donald Trump, elected in part due to his pledge to challenge the Washington establishment, had tired of the pandemic advice being offered by his health experts.  He began feuding directly with Anthony S. Fauci …
RELATED:
Los Angeles Times:
Concerns about Bruce Willis' declining cognitive state swirled around sets in recent years  —  Just days before Bruce Willis was scheduled to turn up on the set of one of his latest action films, the director of the project sent out an urgent request: Make the movie star's part smaller.
Alayna Treene / Axios:
Dems air anxieties after Biden's brutal NBC poll  —  Democrats across the political spectrum are panicking about a recent NBC News poll showing President Biden's approval rating at the lowest levels yet — 40%. … They tell Axios they're unsure whether the party can repair the damage in time.
Discussion: NRCC and IJR
RELATED:
David Siders / Politico:
'We've got to stop fooling ourselves': Enthusiasm gap keeps getting worse for Dems  —  At the end of October, Republicans held an 11-percentage-point advantage in voter enthusiasm.  By January, that margin had ticked up to 14 points.  Now, according to the most recent NBC News poll …
Discussion: HotAir and The Daily Wire
Jonathan Edwards / Washington Post:
Daily Wire to make conservative kids' shows to rival ‘woke’ Disney  —  Ben Shapiro grew up loving Disney movies, he told his podcast listeners last week.  The conservative firebrand passed that love on to his kids by taking them to Disneyland as soon as they were old enough — 6 months of age in the Shapiro household.
RELATED:
Karol Markowicz / New York Post:
I'm quitting Disney after seeing it boast about pushing ‘gender theory’
Christopher Rugaber / Associated Press:
A key inflation gauge sets 40-year high as gas and food soar  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge that is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve jumped 6.4% in February compared with a year ago, with sharply higher prices for food, gasoline and other necessities squeezing Americans' finances.
RELATED:
Jeff Cox / CNBC:
The Fed's preferred inflation gauge rose 5.4% in March, the highest since 1983
Discussion: The Daily Caller
Jo-Ann Mort / New Republic:
“Putin's Regime Is Going to End Very Soon”: The Oligarch Jailed by Putin Speaks  —  There's no name on the front of the nondescript building in Central London's Marylebone neighborhood, known for its preponderance of medical and dental offices.  There's also no visible security at the entrance.
Discussion: Raw Story
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Pence rolls out policy platform, staking out new ground separate from Trump  —  Former Vice President Mike Pence is taking another step toward running for the White House in 2024 — and leaning into his split with former President Donald Trump.  —  Pence is releasing a 19-page policy platform …
Rebecca Rubin / Variety:
Chris Rock Responds to Will Smith's Oscars Slap at Standup Show: 'I'm Still Kind of Processing What Happened' … What's on Chris Rock's mind?  —  It's a simple yet valid question, one that the world is wondering after Will Smith slapped the comedian on live television during the Oscars on Sunday.
Anne Applebaum / The Atlantic:
There Is No Liberal World Order  —  In February 1994, in the grand ballroom of the town hall in Hamburg, Germany, the president of Estonia gave a remarkable speech.  Standing before an audience in evening dress, Lennart Meri praised the values of the democratic world that Estonia then aspired to join.
Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:
Scoop: FEC fines DNC and Clinton for Trump dossier hoax  —  The Federal Election Commission has fined the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign for lying about the funding of the infamous, and discredited, Russian “dossier” used in a smear attempt against Donald Trump weeks …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Washington Post:
Voices from the siege of Mariupol
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
American paper company maintains lucrative business relationship with Russian government
Stephen Moore / Washington Examiner:
Technology and growth are the cures to climate doomsday
Discussion: RedState
Dennis Romboy / Deseret News:
How does Sen. Mike Lee stack up against Democrat, independent challengers in Senate race?
 Earlier Items: 
Andrew Perez / The Lever:
“He Signed A Historic Middle-Class Tax Cut”
Discussion: Inequality.org
Ian Millhiser / Vox:
Yes, Merrick Garland can prosecute Mark Meadows (and Peter Navarro, and Dan Scavino)
Discussion: Raw Story
David Horowitz / Front Page Magazine:
The Lynching of Justice Clarence Thomas
Discussion: The Daily Beast and Raw Story
Ssumner / TheMoneyIllusion:
100% of excessive inflation is due to bad monetary policy
New York Times:
In Hungary, Viktor Orban Remakes an Election to His Liking
Daniel Summers / The Daily Beast:
Republicans Say ‘Groomer’ to Put a Nice Face on Homophobia
CNN:
'He's an embarrassment': Republicans threaten to primary Cawthorn over controversial antics
Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:
When Will the Elite Political Media Start Treating the Republican Party Like The Threat It Is?
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has renewed discussions with OpenAI about using its technology to power some features in iOS 18; talks with Google on using Gemini remain ongoing

William Brown / Firstyear's blog-a-log:
Google and Apple use passkeys to capture users by locking credentials into their platforms and have made the UX of passkeys worse than that of password managers

Karen Weise / New York Times:
Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet disclosed that they had spent $32B+ combined on data centers and other capital expenses in Q1, as they accelerate AI spending

 
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