Top Items:
Jim Acosta / CNN:
Trump to conservative leaders: If this plan fails, I'll blame Democrats — Washington (CNN)In an Oval Office meeting featuring several leaders of conservative groups already lining up against the House Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Donald Trump revealed his plan …
Discussion:
RedState, Washington Post, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, CNBC, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Common Dreams, twitchy.com, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon
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Washington Examiner:
Trump says privately second healthcare bill ready as early as next week — President Trump told a closed-door meeting of grassroots conservative leaders on Wednesday to expect another, companion healthcare bill to hit the House as early as next week, according to sources present for the meeting.
Discussion:
Hot Air
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Trump has a secret backup plan to kill Obamacare. It's actually brilliant.
Trump has a secret backup plan to kill Obamacare. It's actually brilliant.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Breitbart, NBC News, Washington Examiner and The Federalist
Elise Viebeck / Washington Post:
GOP health-care plan: Two House panels approve legislation as Trump tweets reassurance
GOP health-care plan: Two House panels approve legislation as Trump tweets reassurance
Margaret Hartmann / New York Magazine:
Trump's Backup Plan: Let Health-Care System Explode, Blame Democrats
Trump's Backup Plan: Let Health-Care System Explode, Blame Democrats
Discussion:
Politico, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Common Dreams, Forbes and The Hill
Marie Le Conte / BuzzFeed:
Nigel Farage Just Visited The Ecuadorian Embassy In London — Asked by BuzzFeed News if he'd been visiting Julian Assange, the former UKIP leader said he couldn't remember what he'd been doing in the building. — Nigel Farage visited the Ecuadorian embassy in west London on Thursday …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Independent, The Hill, The Moderate Voice, Associated Press, CANNONFIRE, Mediaite, The Week and New York Magazine
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Travis Gettys / Raw Story:
Trump's ‘unofficial adviser’ Nigel Farage visits Julian Assange's home after CIA docs leaked
Trump's ‘unofficial adviser’ Nigel Farage visits Julian Assange's home after CIA docs leaked
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, New York Times and Political Wire
John Bacon / USA Today:
WikiLeaks will give tech firms access to CIA hacking tools: Assange
WikiLeaks will give tech firms access to CIA hacking tools: Assange
Discussion:
The Hill, Common Dreams, RedState and Engadget
Tom DiChristopher / CNBC:
EPA chief Scott Pruitt says carbon dioxide is not a primary contributor to global warming — EPA takes aim at CAFE standards: Scott Pruitt — Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said Thursday he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming.
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Reuters, Washington Post, Common Dreams, The Daily Caller, KTLA, Gothamist, NPR, The Week, Media Matters for America, The FADER, ThinkProgress, Mashable, The Verge, Engadget, New York Magazine, Political Wire, Shakesville, Axios, Washington Free Beacon and Liberty Unyielding
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Coral Davenport / New York Times:
E.P.A. Chief Doubts Consensus View of Climate Change
E.P.A. Chief Doubts Consensus View of Climate Change
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Manu Raju / CNN:
First on CNN: After lobbying from Trump, Orrin Hatch plans to run again — (CNN)Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving GOP senator, told CNN he is planning to run for re-election next year, abandoning his plans to quit the chamber after four decades of service.
Discussion:
Washington Times
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Madeline Conway / Politico:
McConnell on Mexico paying for the border wall: ‘Uh, no’ — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday threw cold water on President Donald Trump's insistence that Mexico will pay for his proposed border wall. — “Uh, no,” McConnell said flatly, asked whether he thinks Mexico …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Washington Post, Washington Times, New York Magazine, Business Insider, Mediaite and The Week
Wbastone / The Smoking Gun:
Roger Stone's Russian Hacking “Hero” — Trump loyalist communicated with “Guccifer 2.0,” target of FBI probe — In the months before Election Day, a longtime confidante and political consultant for Donald Trump was in contact with the Russian hacking group that U.S. intelligence officials …
Discussion:
Raw Story, ThinkProgress and Mediaite
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Travis Gettys / Raw Story:
FBI has records of Trump trickster Roger Stone communicating with Russians behind DNC hacks: report
FBI has records of Trump trickster Roger Stone communicating with Russians behind DNC hacks: report
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and CANNONFIRE
Matt Taibbi / Rolling Stone:
Why the Russia Story Is a Minefield for Democrats and the Media
Why the Russia Story Is a Minefield for Democrats and the Media
Discussion:
twitchy.com
New York Times:
How Many People Are Affected by Obamacare Premium Increases? (Hint, It's Fewer Than You Think) — SCROLL TO START — Republicans cite rising insurance premiums as a primary reason for repealing the Affordable Care Act. But only a narrow slice of the market was actually affected by the increases.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and BostonGlobe.com
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Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Why Republicans Are Battling Republicans on Obamacare Repeal
Why Republicans Are Battling Republicans on Obamacare Repeal
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Last Refuge, RedState, Daily Kos, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Resurgent and Politico
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Ryan: This is the last chance to repeal Obamacare
Ryan: This is the last chance to repeal Obamacare
Discussion:
Political Wire
BuzzFeed:
Steve Bannon Helped Preserve DACA But Democrats And Activists Aren't Celebrating — They're bracing for what's coming: millions of deportations and further crackdowns on both legal and illegal immigration. — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration doesn't want to talk about it.
Discussion:
Daily Wire and The Week
Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
Russian ambassador denied meeting with Trump or campaign officials in October speech — (CNN)In an October speech to the Detroit Economic Club, Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, denied meeting with Donald Trump or campaign officials during the course of 2016 presidential election …
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Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:
President Mike Pence Doesn't Sound Quite So Bad, Some Top Democrats Say — “I'd sleep easier with almost any other human being as president than Donald Trump,” said a former Obama speechwriter. And they won't say so publicly, but several elected Democrats told BuzzFeed News they would much prefer …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, No More Mister Nice Blog, Shakesville, TheBlaze, The Week and The Daily Caller
Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
‘No Comment,’ Justice Dept. Says, Asked About a Trump Inquiry — WASHINGTON — With questions still swirling over President Trump's unsubstantiated claims that he was wiretapped on orders of President Barack Obama, the Justice Department on Thursday declined to confirm statements a day earlier …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Business Insider, Progress Pond and Raw Story
Mark Molloy / Telegraph:
Burger-flipping robot replaces humans on first day at work — A burger-flipping robot has just completed its first day on the job at a restaurant in California, replacing humans at the grill. — Flippy has mastered the art of cooking the perfect burger and has just started work at CaliBurger, a fast-food chain.
Discussion:
Breitbart, The Daily Caller, IJR, Forbes and Hit & Run
Tim Molloy / The Wrap:
Sex Columnist Dan Savage Calls Melania Trump ‘Ugly on the Inside’ — Savage says first lady gets a pass from some liberals because of her looks, but “is as ugly on the inside as she is pretty on the outside” — Author and sex columnist Dan Savage says many liberals are giving first lady Melania …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Daily Wire, Mediaite, IJR, TheBlaze and Fox News Insider
Brookings Institution:
Expect the CBO to estimate large coverage losses from the GOP health care plan — Editor's Note: — This analysis is part of The Leonard D. Schaeffer Initiative for Innovation in Health Policy, which is a partnership between the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Axios, Center For Children …, NPR and Daily Wire
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
States seek to block new Trump travel ban executive order — A group of at least four states are headed to court to block key elements of the new travel ban executive order President Donald Trump signed Monday. — Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said his office is filing …
Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
Trump's Run of Dumb Luck — How quickly Washington forgets. It was only two weeks ago that the biggest story in the nation's capital was how President Donald Trump's aides were pressuring the FBI and allies in Congress to shoot down the stories whirling around about his associates' ties to Russia.
Discussion:
NO QUARTER USA NET, Talking Points Memo and Snopes.com
David Ovalle / miamiherald:
Hot story: Miami lawyer's pants erupt in flames during arson trial in court — A Miami defense lawyer's pants burst into flames Wednesday afternoon as he began his closing arguments in front of a jury — in an arson case. — Stephen Gutierrez, who was arguing that his client's car spontaneously combusted …
Discussion:
Breitbart, AOL, Outside the Beltway, Above the Law, NBC News, The Big Lead, Daily Wire and Raw Story
Lou Michel / The Buffalo News:
Union tips off Border Patrol in immigration crackdown — Federal agents are not the only ones trying to remove people from the Buffalo area who have entered the country illegally. — If Bill Bing, a carpenters union official, discovers workers at local construction projects suspected …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
John Harwood / CNBC:
The Republican health-care bill threatens Trump's voters — “To the victor belong the spoils,” candidate Donald Trump reminded 2016 voters. But the House Republican health bill turns that old maxim on its head. — Instead of broadly rewarding Trump's backers, the House bill hands huge benefits …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Rachael Bade / Politico:
Republican Study Committee backs two Medicaid changes to Obamacare repeal bill — The Republican Study Committee is backing two proposed changes to the Obamacare repeal bill that could help win over conservatives to the measure, which has been in a markup before the House Energy and Commerce Committee for nearly 24 hours.
Discussion:
ABC News, The Fiscal Times, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Reuters, Daily Kos, Hot Air and Common Dreams
Alex Griswold / Mediaite:
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee Mocks Brain Cancer Patient For Having ‘Nazi Hair’ — TBS's Full Frontal With Samantha Bee mocked a CPAC attendee for having “Nazi hair” in a Wednesday segment, but according to his friends and family, his hair looks that way because he's undergoing treatment for brain cancer.
Discussion:
OUTSET, IJR, New York Times and The Daily Caller
New York Times:
C.I.A. Scrambles to Contain Damage From WikiLeaks Documents — WASHINGTON — The C.I.A. scrambled on Wednesday to assess and contain the damage from the release by WikiLeaks of thousands of documents that cataloged the agency's cyberspying capabilities, temporarily halting work on some projects …
Discussion:
Vox, Fox News, BBC, Refinery29, emptywheel, The Guardian, Just Security, Fox News Insider, Mashable, The Week, The Daily Caller, Political Wire and Consumerist
John Sides / Washington Post:
The 40-year decline in the tolerance of college students, graphed — Last week, the author Charles Murray was shouted down when he attempted to give an invited talk at Middlebury College. Allison Stanger, the political science professor who, at the request of students, participated in Murray's visit …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Daily Wire and The Week