Top Items:
The Commonwealth Fund:
Gaining Ground: Americans' Health Insurance Coverage and Access to Care After the Affordable Care Act's First Open Enrollment Period — A new Commonwealth Fund survey finds that in the wake of the Affordable Care Act's first open enrollment period, significantly fewer working-age adults …
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Jonathan Chait Follow / New York Magazine:
Libertarian Accidentally Shows How Obamacare Is Succeeding — Reading months of doomsaying all at once tells a different story. — The Commonwealth Fund has a new survey showing that the proportion of adults lacking health insurance has fallen by a quarter, from 20 percent of the population to 15 percent.
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Washington Monthly and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Jenna Levy / Gallup:
In U.S., Uninsured Rate Sinks to 13.4% in Second Quarter — Significant decline in uninsured rate across age groups since the end of 2013 — WASHINGTON, D.C. — The uninsured rate in the U.S. fell 2.2 percentage points to 13.4% in the second quarter of 2014.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and US News
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Obamacare Haters, Your Case Just Got Weaker — New report suggests number of uninsured declined, just as expected — Back in the spring, some conservatives insisted that Obamacare enrollment statistics were some kind of sham. Sure, people were finally signing up for the program.
Discussion:
American Prospect, New York Times, The Dish and Business Insider
Timothy Jost / Washington Post:
Courts won't void the Affordable Care Act over semantics — The Supreme Court's term ended in June with another Affordable Care Act ruling, and the ACA survived largely unscathed. Burwell v. Hobby Lobby has important ramifications for women's health and religious freedom but does not invalidate a single section of the law.
Discussion:
National Review
Margot Sanger-Katz / New York Times:
Newest Health Insurance Customers Are Generally Happy
Newest Health Insurance Customers Are Generally Happy
Discussion:
Bloomberg View, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress and The Incidental Economist
Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
CNN Host Confronts Rick Perry On His Obama ‘Conspiracy’ Theory (VIDEO) — CNN host Kate Bolduan confronted Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) in an interview that aired Thursday about his suggestion that President Barack Obama may have engineered the current immigration crisis at the Texas border.
Discussion:
New York Times, Liberaland and The Huffington Post
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Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
Pundits Collectively Lose It Over A Quote Obama Didn't Even Say
Pundits Collectively Lose It Over A Quote Obama Didn't Even Say
Discussion:
Townhall.com and Daily Kos
Amie Parnes / The Hill:
Gov. Perry: The face of GOP opposition
Gov. Perry: The face of GOP opposition
Discussion:
Politico, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Washington Monthly, ABC News, Power Line and Mediaite
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
In border crisis, Obama is accused of ‘lawlessness’ for following law
In border crisis, Obama is accused of ‘lawlessness’ for following law
Discussion:
The Mahablog, ABC News and Twitchy
Sarah Mimms / NationalJournal.com:
Boehner Goes Off On Obama Over Immigration Crisis — “When is he going to take responsibility for something?” the speaker said of the president Thursday. — BOEHNER: 'THIS IS A PROBLEM OF THE PRESIDENT'S OWN MAKING' — “This is a problem of the president's own making,” Speaker John Boehner said during his weekly press briefing.
Discussion:
Shakesville
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Gail Collins / New York Times:
The Rant Agenda — So little time, so much bad behavior to complain about.
The Rant Agenda — So little time, so much bad behavior to complain about.
Discussion:
CNN
James Oliphant / NationalJournal.com:
Obama's Texas Two-Step
Obama's Texas Two-Step
Discussion:
Fox News, The Hill, JustOneMinute, Hot Air and RedState
New York Times:
Chinese Hackers Pursue Key Data on U.S. Workers — WASHINGTON — Chinese hackers in March broke into the computer networks of the United States government agency that houses the personal information of all federal employees, according to senior American officials.
Discussion:
The Verge, The Hill, Guardian, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Mashable, Washington Free Beacon and Reuters
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Politico:
Todd Akin's only regret — “Doubt me? Google 'stress and infertility,” Akin writes of his rape comments. AP Photo — Close — Todd Akin takes it back. — He's not sorry. — Two years after the Missouri Republican's comments on rape, pregnancy and abortion doomed his campaign and fueled a …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Yahoo! News, OnPolitics, Daily Kos and Washington Post
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Eleanor Clift / The Daily Beast:
Jill Abramson Talks Obama Secrecy and Her New York Times Firing — Two months after her abrupt exit from the Gray Lady, the former executive editor delivered a speech about how different Obama is from Bush—and why she was dismissed from her post. — Aside from her unceremonious firing …
Discussion:
Politico, Poynter, The Huffington Post and Washington's Blog
Journalism.org:
America's Shifting Statehouse Press — Can New Players Compensate for Lost Legacy Reporters? — Within America's 50 state capitol buildings, 1,592 journalists inform the public about the actions and issues of state government, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Facing South, CBS DC, Capital New York and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »
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Reid Wilson / Washington Post:
The precipitous decline of state political coverage
The precipitous decline of state political coverage
Discussion:
Bloomberg View and Washington Monthly
Eli Stokols / KDVR.com:
Bloomberg dismisses Colo. Springs, Pueblo as roadless, rural backwaters … DENVER — Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is popping off about Colorado in a new Rolling Stone interview and Republicans here, who have been blasting Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper for taking cues …
Discussion:
National Review
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Valerie Richardson / The Colorado Observer:
Bloomberg: Colorado Gun Recall Towns So Rural, They Don't Have Roads
Bloomberg: Colorado Gun Recall Towns So Rural, They Don't Have Roads
Discussion:
Politico, Twitchy and The Daily Caller
Niam Yaraghi / Brookings Institute:
Have the Anti-Obamacare Ads Backfired? — According to the recent report of nonpartisan analysts Kantar Media CMAG, ACA opponents have spent 450 million dollars on anti-Obamacare ads so far. Spending on negative ads outpaced positive ones by more than 15 to 1. This map shows the spending on negative ads in each state.
Discussion:
Mediaite and Balloon Juice
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William Saletan / Slate:
The Gaza Rules — Israel, unlike Hamas, isn't trying to kill civilians. It's taking pains to spare them. — According to many critics, Israel is slaughtering civilians in Gaza. It's “purposefully wiping out entire families,” says an Arab member of Israel's parliament.
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Sasha Goldstein / NY Daily News:
Washington man first to buy legal weed in Spokane is fired after spotted on news — Mike Boyer, 30, was canned Tuesday after waiting 20 hours to buy pot and immediately going home to smoke. He was called up for urine analysis after he was spotted on TV buying the pot. Boyer told The News he ‘regrets nothing.’
Discussion:
Liberaland, Mashable and The Raw Story
Elliott Abrams / Pressure Points:
Israel Under Attack, Obama Remains Silent — Israel is under attack by the terrorist group Hamas. Hundreds of rockets have fallen on its cities and towns. Millions of Israelis run, and must pull their children, into shelters each day. — Prime Minister Netanyahu has discussed …
Discussion:
Power Line, Israel Matzav and Weekly Standard
Ali Watkins / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Justice declines to pursue allegations that CIA monitored Senate Intel staff — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has decided not to pursue accusations that the CIA spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee and allegations that committee staff slipped classified documents from a secure agency facility, McClatchy has confirmed.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, US News, The Daily Caller, Fox News, Mediaite and The Verge
Ann Coulter / The Clarion-Ledger:
McDaniel backers killing his political future — By continuing the fight over the primary, Chris McDaniel and his supporters are risking a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, not to mention McDaniel's own political future. — CONNECT — Chris McDaniel, candidate for the U.S. Senate …
Discussion:
protein wisdom, Talking Points Memo, Liberaland, Politico, OnPolitics and Washington Post
Jacob Fischler / BuzzFeed:
Major Union Drops Partnership With United Negro College Fund Because Of The Kochs — “This was a betrayal of everything the UNCF stands for,” AFSCME president says. — Shannon Stapleton / Reuters / Reuters — WASHINGTON — One of the nation's largest public-sector unions is severing …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
David Frum / The Atlantic Online:
Don't Knock the Reform Conservatives — Skeptics are right that the new crop of thinkers offer a bigger change in tone than substance. That change is reason enough for optimism. — The conservative intellectual Reihan Salam has shrewdly observed that people trying to reform institutions …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and New York Times