Top Items:
Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Chris Christie Endorses Donald Trump and Calls Marco Rubio ‘Desperate’ — Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey endorsed Donald J. Trump on Friday, a major turn in a wild race and one that gives the New York businessman a significant boost as he heads into the pivotal “Super Tuesday” contests.
Discussion:
NBC News, The Atlantic, Hot Air, Towleroad, US News, Associated Press, New York Magazine, Fusion, his vorpal sword, The Moderate Voice, Boing Boing, Taylor Marsh, alicublog, The Week, Hit & Run, U.S. News, Power Line, Refinery29, SaintPetersBlog, Althouse, The Last Tradition, Daily Kos and Joe.My.God.
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Lindsey Ellefson / Mediaite:
The ‘Stump for Trump’ Girls Just Said on CNN That Marco Rubio Had ‘A Gay Lifestyle’ — You know those “Stump for Trump Girls, Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway and Rochelle “Silk” Richardson? Well, in case you don't follow them on Twitter and didn't get the memo, they were on CNN this morning.
Discussion:
Politico, CNN, addictinginfo.org, Raw Story, Guardian, ABC News, Fox News Insider, Telegraph and WBUR
Jonathan Bernstein / BloombergView.com:
Trump's Debate Was a Disaster. If Voters Notice. — Donald Trump is better at TV than anyone else who has ever appeared in presidential debates. Much better. — He also has no capacity at all to speak coherently on policy. He's lazy: He's developed about five minutes, maybe 10, of talking points, and he sticks with them.
Discussion:
Bloomberg Business, MarketWatch, Shadowproof, The Federalist, Diane Ravitch's blog, National Review, New York Magazine and Mashable
Brian Beutler / New Republic:
Marco Rubio's Trump Attacks Expose Uncomfortable Truths for the Right — They raise the question of how a crooked demagogue managed to commandeer the Republican Party, almost without trying. — If you scroll back through social media, a couple things about the commentariat's real-time reaction …
Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
Rubio jokes that Trump may have wet his pants during debate — 's manhood during a rally Friday morning, portraying the GOP front-runner as a coward and suggesting he may have wet himself during Thursday night's presidential debate. — “He called me Mr. Meltdown.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute
Lynnley Browning / Bloomberg Business:
Trump's 12 Years of Audits ‘Very Unusual,’ Ex-IRS Agent Says — Agency's review doesn't preclude him from releasing returns — Pressure could mount as GOP rivals plan their own releases — Donald Trump's disclosure that his tax returns have been under review by the Internal Revenue Service …
Discussion:
The Hill, Politico, RedState, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Week and The Right Scoop
Alexander Burns / New York Times:
Group to Air Ads Featuring Ex-Students Saying Trump University Deceived Them — Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz assailed Donald J. Trump in the presidential debate on Thursday for his involvement in Trump University, a defunct educational company that triggered a massive fraud suit against Mr. Trump.
Discussion:
RedState, National Review, Newsmax, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway and Washington Free Beacon
Leon H. Wolf / RedState:
This Epic Video Shows that Marco Rubio is Not Done Embarrassing Trump Yet — I'm going to share with you a video here of Rubio making a speech at a rally today. Normally, my policy here is to always include a transcript with these videos, but I'm going to break that policy just this once …
Discussion:
Moe Lane, The Lonely Conservative and Shot in the Dark
Eliza Collins / Politico:
Rubio suggests Trump wet his pants on debate stage
Rubio suggests Trump wet his pants on debate stage
Discussion:
Washington Post, ABC News, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, Talking Points Memo, Guardian, WAGA-TV, ThinkProgressPage Array, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CBS New York, Washington Free Beacon, Business Insider, TODAY.com, KTLA, CBS Philly, The Gateway Pundit, American Power and Balloon Juice
Richard Rubin / Wall Street Journal:
IRS Commissioner Says Donald Trump's Audit Scenario ‘Rare’
IRS Commissioner Says Donald Trump's Audit Scenario ‘Rare’
Discussion:
Mediaite
Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:
That time Marco Rubio went full Trump on Donald Trump
That time Marco Rubio went full Trump on Donald Trump
Discussion:
Mother Jones and Vox
Politifact.com Truth-O-Meter rulings from National:
Marco Rubio: Says Donald Trump hired illegal workers “from Poland and he had to pay a million dollars …
Marco Rubio: Says Donald Trump hired illegal workers “from Poland and he had to pay a million dollars …
Discussion:
CNN, TheStreet.com, Hot Topics, The Daily Caller, ImmigrationProf Blog, Jezebel and Naked Politics
Jamil Smith:
Melissa Harris-Perry's Email to Her #nerdland Staff — On Friday afternoon, media reports emerged about my friend Melissa Harris-Perry's refusal to host her eponymous weekend program on MSNBC on Saturday. I was one of the original producers on the show when it launched in 2012, leaving for another job in 2015.
Discussion:
Mashable, Politicus USA, Business Insider and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »
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John Koblin / New York Times:
Melissa Harris-Perry Walks Off Her MSNBC Show After Pre-emptions — In an unusually public flare-up, one of MSNBC's television personalities clashed with the network on Friday in a dispute about airtime and editorial freedom and said she was refusing to host the show that bears her name this weekend.
Discussion:
addictinginfo.org, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Jezebel, Mediaite, TVNewser and theGrio, more at Mediagazer »
Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Donald Trump Might Not Keep Paying for His Campaign Himself, Chris Christie Suggests — Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey told his finance team late Friday that he anticipates that Donald J. Trump, who often boasts that he is funding his own campaign, will begin to solicit campaign contributions …
Discussion:
CNN
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Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
8 times Chris Christie suggested Donald Trump shouldn't be president
8 times Chris Christie suggested Donald Trump shouldn't be president
Discussion:
Washington Post, ABC News, MichelleMalkin.com, Mediaite, The Federalist, Jezebel, Hit & Run, Downtrend, BuzzFeed, The Resurgent, The Week and Yahoo Politics
A Current Affair / 9news.com.au:
Queensland man has spent ‘$100,000’ contesting $250 speeding ticket — A Queensland man who has allegedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars contesting a $250 speeding fine has vowed to become the first person to contest a speeding ticket in the High Court of Australia.
Discussion:
Sputnik International and fox8.com
Scott Bland / Politico:
Donors ask GOP consulting firm to research independent presidential bid — Conservative donors have engaged a major GOP consulting firm in Florida to research the feasibility of mounting a late, independent run for president amid growing fears that Donald Trump could win the Republican nomination.
Discussion:
addictinginfo.org, RedState and ballot-access.org
Heidi Hemmat / FOX31 Denver:
Teacher files lawsuit, saying 13-year-old student beat, bullied her … LOVELAND, Colo. — A Colorado teacher is speaking out after she says she was beaten and bullied by her own student, and prohibited by her superiors from reporting the abuse. — “I was told that was my job …
Discussion:
KFOR-TV
Hadas Gold / Politico:
Donald Trump: We're going to ‘open up’ libel laws — Donald Trump said on Friday he plans to change libel laws in the United States so that he can have an easier time suing news organizations. — During a rally in Fort Worth, Texas, Trump began his usual tirade against newspapers …
Discussion:
The Hill and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »
Isabel Kershner / New York Times:
She Was Asked to Switch Seats. Now She's Charging El Al With Sexism. — JERUSALEM — Renee Rabinowitz is a sharp-witted retired lawyer with a Ph.D. in educational psychology, who escaped the Nazis in Europe as a child. Now she is about to become a test case in the battle over religion …
Discussion:
Jezebel, The Times of Israel and Above the Law
Chad Livengood / Detroit News:
Ex-State Reps. Courser, Gamrat to face felony charges — Lansing — Attorney General Bill Schuette said Friday warrants have been issued for the arrest of former state Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat for felony charges of misconduct in office related to their failed attempts to cover …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
David Mastio / USA Today:
Poll finds Sanders & Clinton backers twice as racist as Rubio supporters: David Mastio — The rest of the story about that goofy YouGov survey that found Trump voters were fans of slavery — Bernie Sanders supporters are 50% more likely than Hillary Clinton supporters to disapprove …
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon, YouGov US Opinion Center News, Instapundit and Slate
Peter Shane / Washington Monthly:
What Do We Call Options Worse Than “Nuclear?” — Remember when the Democrats' move in 2012 to partially curtail the use of the Senate filibuster was called the “nuclear option?” I fear the blogosphere will soon be tasked to generate hyperbolic epithets yet more cataclysmic.
Discussion:
Booman Tribune and Discourse.net
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Twilight of the Apparatchiks — Lack of self-awareness can be fatal. The haplessness of the Republican establishment in the face of Trumpism is a case in point. — As many have noted, it's remarkable how shocked — shocked! — that establishment has been at the success of Donald Trump's racist, xenophobic campaign.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Daily Kos, New York Magazine, ABC News and Politico
Nate Cohn / New York Times:
How Marco Rubio Could Lose Every State on Super Tuesday and Still Win — Marco Rubio has not won a state, a fact that worries allies and pleases skeptics who mock his chances to win the Republican presidential nomination. — It doesn't even sound as if the Rubio team knows when it will win one.
Discussion:
Breitbart, Hot Air, Associated Press, New York Magazine, National Review, SaintPetersBlog, WBUR, CNN and Public Policy Polling
Phillip M. Bailey / Courier-Journal:
AT&T sues city over ‘Google Fiber’ proposal — AT&T filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday alleging Louisville lacks jurisdiction to allow high-speed Internet service providers such as Google Fiber to install equipment on its utility poles. — The telecommunications giant …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, The Verge and Techdirt
Ramesh Ponnuru / National Review:
Maryanne Trump Barry vs. Samuel Alito on Abortion — From last night's debate: … I think Trump doesn't know what he's talking about, starting with the fact that judicial opinions and bills are not the same thing. — What Cruz has mentioned in the past is Judge Maryanne Trump Barry's opinion …
Discussion:
Independent Journal Review, Power Line and LifeNews.com
Christopher Ingraham / Washington Post:
Tennessee's new official state rifle is so powerful it can “destroy commercial aircraft” — The Barrett .50 caliber rifle is a powerful gun. Originally designed for military use, its rounds can “penetrate light armor, down helicopters, destroy commercial aircraft, and blast through rail cars …
Discussion:
The Atlantic, New York Magazine, Mediaite and timesfreepress.com
The Local:
‘Soldiers of Allah’ to counter Soldiers of Odin in Norway — People with known ties to the Oslo Islamist scene claim to have created the group ‘Soldiers of Allah’ (Jundullaah) to counter the controversial Soldiers of Odin group now patrolling Norwegian streets.
Discussion:
Infowars