Top Items:
CNN:
FBI refused White House request to knock down recent Trump-Russia stories — Washington (CNN)The FBI rejected a recent White House request to publicly knock down media reports about communications between Donald Trump's associates and Russians known to US intelligence during the 2016 presidential campaign …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Politico, Politicus USA, Axios, The Root, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, CANNONFIRE, Towleroad, Business Insider, The Hill, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Mother Jones, Occupy Democrats, TheBlaze, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hot Air and The Week, more at Mediagazer »
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NBC News:
Republicans in Congress Are Still Looking for Direction from Trump — First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter — President Trump to address CPAC after rare Steve Bannon appearance 3:09
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Mother Jones, RedState, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Washington Examiner, Daily Kos, Sputnik International and Politico
Michelle Goldberg / Slate:
CPAC invented an alternate history of the alt-right to justify Steve Bannon's invite. — NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—On Thursday, white nationalist Richard Spencer was thrown out of the Conservative Political Action Conference. As security escorted him to the door, a college junior in a blue blazer and fashy haircut followed him.
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Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Bannon vows a daily fight for ‘deconstruction of the administrative state’ — The reclusive mastermind behind President Trump's nationalist ideology and combative tactics made his public debut Thursday, delivering a fiery rebuke of the media and declaring that the new administration …
Discussion:
John Hawkins' Right Wing News, New York Magazine and CNNMoney
Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:
The Note: Priebus asks the FBI to refute Trump Russia reports
The Note: Priebus asks the FBI to refute Trump Russia reports
Discussion:
Political Wire
Jon Ward / Yahoo:
Trumpism versus conservatism at CPAC
Trumpism versus conservatism at CPAC
Discussion:
Washington Post, Media Matters for America and Vox Popoli
Bloomberg:
GOP Obamacare Plan Would Cover Fewer People; Blowback Grows — Plan expands access for those who want it, Republicans say — ‘Not everybody is going to have health care’: GOP lawmaker — Republican lawmakers expect that their Obamacare replacement will result in fewer Americans covered …
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Axios
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Numbers / Pew Research Center:
Support for 2010 health care law reaches new high — With congressional Republicans discussing proposals to replace the Affordable Care Act, public support for the 2010 health care law has reached its highest level on record. — Currently, 54% approve of the health care law passed seven years ago …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Axios, Business Insider and FiveThirtyEight
Samantha Schmidt / Washington Post:
He yelled ‘Get out of my country,’ witnesses say, and then shot 2 men from India, killing one — A 51-year-old man faces first-degree murder charges after shooting three men in an Olathe, Kan., bar Wednesday night, police say, reportedly telling two of them, local Garmin engineers from India, to “get out of my country.”
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Kansas City Star and FOX2now.com
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Ian Cummings / Kansas City Star:
'It wasn't right,' says Olathe man wounded at Austins while trying to stop shooter — Ian Grillot, hiding behind a table, counted the gunshots. When he thought the gunman was out of bullets, he jumped up to pursue the man. — But the man who opened fire inside Austins Bar & Grill …
New Yorker:
Trump, Putin, and the New Cold War — What lay behind Russia's interference in the 2016 election—and what lies ahead? — 1. SOFT TARGETS — On April 12, 1982, Yuri Andropov, the chairman of the K.G.B., ordered foreign-intelligence operatives to carry out “active measures” …
Discussion:
Political Wire
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Françoise Mouly / New Yorker:
Cover Story: Barry Blitt's “Eustace Vladimirovich Tilley”
Cover Story: Barry Blitt's “Eustace Vladimirovich Tilley”
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Business Insider and Axios
New York Times:
President Trump Breaks a Promise on Transgender Rights — On the campaign trail, Donald Trump broke with Republican Party orthodoxy by vowing to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans from violence and oppression. Soon after taking office, President Trump announced …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Week, Joanne Jacobs, Gothamist, The Daily Signal and The Resurgent
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Rebecca Mead / New Yorker:
Betsy DeVos's Spineless Transgender Bathroom Politics
Betsy DeVos's Spineless Transgender Bathroom Politics
Discussion:
alicublog, Politicus USA, New York Times, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Rewire and NPR
Arne Duncan / Washington Post:
The White House's thoughtless, cruel and sad rollback of transgender rights
The White House's thoughtless, cruel and sad rollback of transgender rights
Discussion:
USA Today, Advocate, The Week, Engadget, The Verge, Common Dreams, Red Alert Politics and Mashable
Steve Holland / Reuters:
Trump wants to make sure U.S. nuclear arsenal at ‘top of the pack’ — President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to ensure the U.S. nuclear arsenal is at the “top of the pack,” saying the United States has fallen behind in its weapons capacity. — In a Reuters interview …
Discussion:
Political Wire, The Week, Sputnik International, ABC News, The Daily Caller, Western Journalism and Hot Air
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Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
State Department writes anti-leak memo, which promptly leaks — The State Department legal office prepared a four-page memo for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warning of the dangers of leaking by State Department employees. It promptly leaked, to me. That's only the latest sign …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Foreign Policy, The Gateway Pundit and Vox
New York Times:
Weakened Democrats Bow to Voters, Opting for Total War on Trump — WASHINGTON — Reduced to their weakest state in a generation, Democratic Party leaders will gather in two cities this weekend to plot strategy and select a new national chairman with the daunting task of rebuilding the party's depleted organization.
Discussion:
The Hugh Hewitt Show and Mother Jones
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Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:
2020 race lures sprawling Democratic field
Tom LoBianco / CNN:
GOP congressman: Trump should release tax returns — Congress could force release of Trump's taxes — As a candidate, Trump was the first major-party nominee in decades not to release his tax returns — Pace, Florida (CNN)A conservative member of Congress called on President Donald …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Washington Post and The Week
Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story:
Marsha Blackburn claims out of state people infiltrated her town hall — records seem to show she's lying — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said that her recent town hall was overwhelmed by angry people that were not from her district.
Discussion:
Dow Jones Newswires and The Week
Francis Wilkinson / Bloomberg:
Yes, Mass Deportations Are Coming. And We Know Why. — There are two main questions about President Donald Trump's recently issued immigration policies. First, is the administration embarking on a campaign of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants? Second, if so, why?
Discussion:
The Week, Washington Post and The Guardian
Wall Street Journal:
Kushner, Ivanka Trump Pushed to Remove Words Critical of Climate Deal From Executive Order — Trump plans to issue orders aimed at rolling back Obama climate agenda soon; language critical of Paris accord removed — WASHINGTON—At the request of President Donald Trump's son-in-law …
Discussion:
The Week, The Daily Caller and Axios
Matthew Continetti / Washington Free Beacon:
The New Nationalism in America — Decades of intellectual and political activity preceded the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review in 1955. A little less than a decade later, National Review publisher William Rusher helped orchestrate Barry Goldwater's presidential nomination.
Discussion:
The Week
Eliza Collins / USA Today:
Where in the world is Sarah Palin? Her political star is fading — NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — As the Conservative Political Action Conference kicked off just outside of Washington this week, there was one name noticeably missing from the roster of speakers: Sarah Palin.
Reed Tucker / New York Post:
Nobody cares about any recent Best Picture Oscar winners — The film that walks away with the Best Picture statue at Sunday's Academy Awards will earn a place forever in the history books — but perhaps not on viewers' screens. — More On: — The cream of the crop of Hollywood's golden age gained immortality.
Soumya Karlamangla / Los Angeles Times:
Why therapists are having such a hard time talking about Trump — Therapists such as Dr. Arlene Drake, who practices in West L.A., say that many of their patients are talking about President Trump, presenting a challenge for a group of professionals who have been trained not to expose their own political beliefs.
Discussion:
The Week
Ryan Cooper / The Week:
Ivanka Trump wants to help the wealthy pay their au pairs — One of the biggest lingering questions about the Donald Trump presidency is the degree to which his campaign shtick of being a working-class populist was an open fraud. So far, all signs point towards “completely.”
Discussion:
AOL, Mother Jones, Politicus USA and Bloomberg
Kyle Stock / Bloomberg:
Why La La Land Worked Better Than Anyone Dreamed — How value investing, mixed with a contrarian streak, helped Lions Gate beat the blockbuster model. — by — Brassy love ballads, Technicolor dialogue, and a smattering of soft-shoe-La La Land had all the makings of a blockbuster, in the 1940s at least.
Rumana Ahmed / The Atlantic:
I Was a Muslim in Trump's White House — In 2011, I was hired, straight out of college, to work at the White House and eventually the National Security Council. My job there was to promote and protect the best of what my country stands for. I am a hijab-wearing Muslim woman …
Discussion:
BizPac Review, twitchy.com, The Guardian, Raw Story and Shakesville
Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:
Border Patrol Agents Stop Domestic Travelers at New York Airport — A search for a deportation target leads to a demand for travelers' “papers” at JFK — Passengers of a domestic Delta flight from San Francisco to New York were told to show their identity documents to uniformed agents …
Discussion:
BizPac Review, Gothamist, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Hit & Run, Daily Kos and Shakesville