memeorandum: 'That's my neighbour': Mariupol residents' shock at Putin's parade line-up (Andrew Roth/The Guardian)

10:10 AM ET, February 26, 2023

Top Items:

Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Agency Now Says — Energy Department's revised assessment is based on new intelligence — WASHINGTON—The U.S. Energy Department has concluded that the Covid pandemic most likely arose from a laboratory leak, according …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, CNN, Instapundit, Washington Times and Not the Bee

Washington Post:

‘Dilbert’ dropped by The Post, other papers, after cartoonist's racist rant — Newspapers across the United States have pulled Scott Adams's long-running “Dilbert” comic strip after the cartoonist called Black Americans a “hate group” and said White people should “get the hell away from” them.

Eduardo Medina / New York Times:

Newspapers Drop ‘Dilbert’ Comic After Creator's Rant About Black ‘Hate Groups’ — Scott Adams, who created the syndicated comic strip, also said that white people should “get the hell away from Black people,” prompting criticism from editors across the country.

Discussion: NPR, Al Jazeera, PennLive, CBS News, Insider, Fox News, New Jersey Online, Oregonian, New York Post, Mother Jones, Forbes and New York Daily News

Los Angeles Times:

Los Angeles Times ceases publication of ‘Dilbert’ — The Times has decided to cease publication of “Dilbert.” Cartoonist Scott Adams made racist comments in a YouTube livestream Feb. 22, offensive remarks that The Times rejects. Further, in the last nine months The Times has on four occasions printed …

Discussion: Albuquerque Journal, The Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap

Kimberlee Speakman / People.com:

Jessa Duggar Reveals She Suffered a Miscarriage: ‘I Just Immediately Started Crying’ — The “19 Kids and Counting” alum said she plans to “take a break” from social media and focus on recovering — Jessa Duggar Seewald revealed that she suffered a miscarriage over the holidays.

Discussion: Fox News

CNN:

Ron DeSantis wanted to send weapons to Ukraine when he was a congressman — as a presidential hopeful he questions US involvement — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis once strongly supported arming Ukraine to fight Russia, urging then-President Barack Obama to do so as a deterrent to Russian aggression …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill and Washington Post

Shawna Chen / Axios:

Judge: Jan. 6 probe unable to review 2,000 records due to fight over Perry's phone — A judge ordered Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) to turn over more than 2,000 phone records after ruling that they are not shielded under the Constitution, according to newly unsealed court documents.

Discussion: Washington Press, HuffPost, Alternet.org, Digby's Hullabaloo, Balloon Juice, Raw Story, CNN, Washington Post and Politico

Andrew Roth / The Guardian:

'That's my neighbour': Mariupol residents' shock at Putin's parade line-up — Survivors' disgust as children thank ‘rescuers’ in a lavish Moscow celebration — At the climax of the pageantry in Moscow to mark the first anniversary of the start of Vladimir Putin's full-scale war in Ukraine …

Caleb Howe / Mediaite:

FL Democrat on MSNBC Says DeSantis Wants ‘More People to Live in Their Bigoted Extremisms Like He Has Been Doing’ — Florida Democrat Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick told MSNBC's Al Sharpton that Gov. Ron DeSantis's education policies are designed for the express purpose of encouraging …

David Smith / The Guardian:

What to expect from this year's CPAC: Biden bashing, 2024 Republican primary chatter and lawsuit gossip — The gathering of conservatives returns to Washington and could prove to be a crystal ball into the GOP's 2024 outlook — ts impresario is facing allegations of sexual assault.

Discussion: Raw Story

Stephen Neukam / The Hill:

‘Saturday Night Live’ mocks Trump visit to East Palestine — “Saturday Night Live” targeted former President Trump's visit to the town in Ohio where a train derailment has sparked environmental and public health concerns in its latest cold open, mocking Trump's off-the-cuff public speaking style.

Discussion: HuffPost, RedState, Variety, The Wrap, Deadline, Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter

David Gura / NPR:

Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has another big problem: He won't shut up — Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, isn't doing himself any favors. — Despite being charged with orchestrating one of the largest financial frauds in history …

Matt Lewis / The Daily Beast:

Pence Is the Reagan Republican No One Wants Anymore — The former vice president was right to break ranks with Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis in recent days but it makes him out of touch with today's GOP. … If you want to get a sense of how prolonged exposure to MAGA has shifted …

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:

Putin pitches the American right with an ungodly invocation of God — Here's a scoop for you: Vladimir Putin is sounding like someone who wants to enter the 2024 Republican presidential primaries. — How else do you explain that in the middle of his bellicose speech Tuesday promising success …

Discussion: Ukraine War Truth

Washington Post:

From Palm Beach to Staten Island, DeSantis makes 2024 moves on Trump's turf — The Florida governor's show of force this weekend was part of his increasingly open encroachments into the former president's longtime support base and ideological terrain — PALM BEACH, Fla. …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and Bloomberg