Top Items:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
A Bill So Bad It's Awesome — It has long been obvious to anyone following health policy that Republicans would never devise a workable replacement for Obamacare. But the bill unveiled this week is worse than even the cynics expected; its awfulness is almost surreal.
Discussion:
Daily Kos and Washington Post
RELATED:
Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:
Conservatives want to blow up Senate rules to kill Obamacare — House Republican leaders narrowly tailored their Obamacare repeal bill to avoid violating Senate rules, but conservatives are pushing back with advice of their own: tear up the rulebook. — A growing number of conservative lawmakers …
Discussion:
The Week
Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Chris Hayes to GOP Rep.: ‘Why Are You Rushing So Fast’ on Obamacare Replacement? — MSNBC's Chris Hayes faced off with a Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee tonight over why they're “rushing so fast” on the Obamacare repeal-and-replace plan.
Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:
The Note: Health care disconnect — TRUMP'S FIRST 100 DAYS with ABC's RICK KLEIN and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI — The big story: Here at the halfway point of President Trump's first 100 days, a question looms: Which version of reality to believe? The one where the House is marching toward passing …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Tim Hains / RealClearPolitics:
Paul Ryan PowerPoint Presentation: “This Is The Closest We Will Ever Get” To Obamacare Repeal — At his weekly press conference, House Speaker Paul Ryan explained the merits and goals of the American Health Care Act, the reconciliation process, and health reform.
Jason Squitieri / CNN:
Rep. Jordan criticizes GOP Obamacare plan after meeting with Trump
Rep. Jordan criticizes GOP Obamacare plan after meeting with Trump
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and The Daily Signal
Alan Rappeport / New York Times:
White House Casts Pre-emptive Doubt on Congressional Budget Office
White House Casts Pre-emptive Doubt on Congressional Budget Office
Discussion:
Politico, The Week and Political Wire
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Cruz: Let's overrule Senate officer to expand ObamaCare bill
Cruz: Let's overrule Senate officer to expand ObamaCare bill
Discussion:
Raw Story
Patricia Laya / Bloomberg:
U.S. Jobs, Wages Show Solid Gains in Trump's First Full Month — U.S. employers added jobs at an above-average pace for a second month on outsized gains in construction and manufacturing, showing the labor market continued its steady growth in the new year.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Politico, CNBC, The Guardian and Daily Kos
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Patrick Gillespie / CNNMoney:
U.S. economy added 235,000 jobs in Trump's first full month — The danger to economic data in the age of Trump — President Trump's first full month was a big one for jobs. — The U.S. economy added a robust 235,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department said Friday.
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys
Jeff Cox / CNBC:
US created 235,000 jobs in Feb, vs 190,000 expected — February nonfarm payrolls up 235,000 — Nonfarm payrolls increased by 235,000 in February and the unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in the first full month of President Donald Trump's term, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Discussion:
The Guardian
CNN:
Sources: FBI investigation continues into ‘odd’ computer link between Russian bank and Trump Organization — (CNN)Federal investigators and computer scientists continue to examine whether there was a computer server connection between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank, sources close to the investigation tell CNN.
Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
In major shift, White House privately backing earlier rollback of Medicaid expansion — Such a move, however, could blow up the already fragile efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act — Washington (CNN)The White House is privately lining up behind conservative calls to roll …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Tyler Durden / zerohedge.com/fullrss2.xml/PhoneBook:
South Korea's Ex-President Refuses To Vacate Residence After Impeachment, Two Dead During Protests — As discussed last night, in a historic ruling, the South Korean Constitutional Court upheld an impeachment decision against President Park Geun-hye, removing her from office on Friday …
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Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:
South Korea Removes President Park Geun-hye
South Korea Removes President Park Geun-hye
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Diplomat, The Week and Political Wire
Eric Tucker / Associated Press:
AG SUGGESTS OPENNESS TO REVIEW OF PREDECESSORS' ACTIONS — WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions suggested Thursday that he would be open to the appointment of an outside counsel to review actions taken by the Justice Department during the Obama administration.
Discussion:
Power Line
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Julia Edwards Ainsley / Reuters:
Trump administration sends judges to immigration detention centers: sources
Trump administration sends judges to immigration detention centers: sources
Discussion:
John Hawkins' Right Wing News
David Edwards / Raw Story:
Sean Spicer tries to walk back wiretap claims by comically repeating 'I'm not aware' 10 times
Sean Spicer tries to walk back wiretap claims by comically repeating 'I'm not aware' 10 times
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.
Delia Gallagher / CNN:
Pope signals he's open to married Catholic men becoming priests — Rome (CNN)Pope Francis has said he is open to married men becoming priests to combat the Roman Catholic Church's shortage of clergy. — In an interview with German newspaper Die Zeit, Pope Francis said the lack of Catholic priests was an …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Kimberly Dozier / The Daily Beast:
U.S. Spies Live in Fear of Trump's Next Tweet — As Friday evening draws to a close around Washington, D.C., the city's tight-knit and secretive national security clan goes to sleep with a new unease. It's not Syria or Iran or even North Korea they're most worried about.
Discussion:
The Guardian
Kyle Olson / The American Mirror:
Malik Obama shares photo of brother Barack's Kenya ‘certificate of birth’ — An Obama has joined the birther movement. — Malik Obama, Barack Obama's half-brother, tweeted image of what appears to be Barack's birth certificate. — Except it's not from Hawaii, but rather Kenya.
Discussion:
The Last Tradition
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Josh Harkinson / Mother Jones:
Meet Silicon Valley's Secretive Alt-Right Followers — Readers of The Right Stuff long knew that founder “Mike Enoch” had two main interests: technology and white supremacy. Posts on the neo-Nazi site have included discussion of “a new blogging platform built on node.js,” …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Russell Berman / The Atlantic:
Sam Brownback Might Not Be Governing Kansas Much Longer — Donald Trump won Kansas last November by just over 20 points, and in the coming days he's expected to give the Jayhawk State's voters their reward: a new governor. — The president reportedly will name Governor Sam Brownback …
Zeynep Tufekci / New York Times:
The Truth About the WikiLeaks C.I.A. Cache — On Tuesday morning, WikiLeaks released an enormous cache of documents that it claimed detailed “C.I.A. hacking tools.” Immediately afterward, it posted two startling tweets asserting that “C.I.A. hacker malware” posed a threat to journalists …
Discussion:
claytoonz, more at Mediagazer »
Susan Jones / CNSNews:
152,528,000: Record Number of Employed in February; Participation Rate Rises — (CNSNews.com) - A record 152,528,000 Americans were employed in February, 447,000 more than in January, and the labor force participation rate went up, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday.
Dave Itzkoff / New York Times:
Samantha Bee Show Apologizes to Writer for ‘Nazi Hair’ Mockery — The TBS comedy program “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” apologized on Thursday for broadcasting a segment in which a writer who has talked about his cancer diagnosis was mocked for having what the program called “Nazi hair.”
Discussion:
Breitbart, OUTSET, BizPac Review, Washington Post, The Week, Business Insider, Refinery29, The Gateway Pundit, RedState, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon and twitchy.com
Josh Dawsey / Politico:
Trump's in the White House bubble, and he loves it — President Donald Trump is sticking to his comfort zone. — Trump has spent each of the 48 nights of his presidency either at the White House or at his private Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. He has dined out in the nation's capital just once …
Discussion:
The Week
MSNBC:
Sen. Murphy: Wikileaks release is ‘suspiciously timed’ — Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn, says the WikiLeaks release seems to be timed purposefully for a moment of weakness for President Trump. ... more Duration: {{video.duration.momentjs}}
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Lisa Baertlein / Yahoo:
Starbucks CEO's refugee comments sour customer views of chain - survey — Starbucks Corp's vow to hire thousands of refugees after President Donald Trump's first executive order that temporarily banned travel from seven mostly-Muslim nations appears to be hurting customer sentiment of the coffee chain.
Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:
Bill Clinton: Resurgent nationalism ‘taking us to the edge of our destruction’ — Don't buy what purports to be nationalism that's engulfed politics in America and all over the world, former President Bill Clinton said Thursday; what's actually at play, he argued, is more insidious and interconnected than that.
Sharon Begley / STAT:
House Republicans would let employers demand workers' genetic test results — little-noticed bill moving through Congress would allow companies to require employees to undergo genetic testing or risk paying a penalty of thousands of dollars, and would let employers see that genetic and other health information.
Carol Giacomo / New York Times:
Why Is Mr. Tillerson in a Perpetual State of Duck and Cover? — For a guy who has spent his life delivering messages — as a businessman, reality TV star, presidential candidate and now president — President Trump is doing an abysmal job explaining his view of the world and America's place in it.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Just Security and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »
Michael Grunwald / Politico:
The coming GOP assault on regulations — While President Donald Trump has launched a noisy crusade to slash regulations that constrain American businesses, Republicans in Congress have embarked on a less prominent but potentially more lasting effort to make it much harder for federal agencies to create new regulations in the future.
Chicago Tribune:
‘Exhibit A for gun violence,’ judge says in handing down prison for brazen Northwest Side shooting — An iPhone video recorded Aug. 17, 2015, by Jose Roman, gang associate of Thaddeus Jimenez, shows the two men driving through the Irving Park neighborhood before Jimenez shoots Earl Casteel, a onetime gang member.
Discussion:
WHNT-TV and Daily Wire
Doyle Murphy / News, Riverfront Times:
KKK Wife Malissa Ancona Hoarded Cats, Popped Pills and, Police Say, Murdered the Local Imperial Wizard — Frank Ancona, the imperial wizard of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, smelled like cat piss. — The stench clung to the 51-year-old's graying hair and mustache.
Discussion:
The Root