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:
Washington Monthly, Daily Kos and Washington Post
RELATED:
Nate Cohn / New York Times:
Trump Supporters Have the Most to Lose in the G.O.P. Repeal Bill — The people who stand to lose the most in tax credits under the House Republican health plan tended to support Donald J. Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, according to a new Upshot analysis.
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Republican Health Care Crackup — The Republican health care bill could represent the moment when the old order of American politics completely cracks up, the end of a certain era in American politics. — That era began around 1974, when Ted Kennedy introduced a bill …
Discussion:
Vox and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Benjamin Sommers / Washington Post:
The GOP health-care plan would quietly kill the Medicaid expansion. Here's how.
The GOP health-care plan would quietly kill the Medicaid expansion. Here's how.
Discussion:
CNN and John Hawkins' Right Wing News
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.
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Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Speaker Ryan, this is not what conservative reform looks like
Speaker Ryan, this is not what conservative reform looks like
Discussion:
Power Line
Ali Rogin / ABC News:
Inside the Senate GOP resistance to Trumpcare
Inside the Senate GOP resistance to Trumpcare
Discussion:
Politico, TheBlaze, Washington Free Beacon and Breitbart
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.
Discussion:
Political Wire
Toluse Olorunnipa / Bloomberg:
Trump Points to Drudge's ‘Great Again’ Praise of New Jobs Report — President has primed his supporters for a huge jobs report — Donald Trump used the first federal jobs report reflecting a full month of his presidency to send a message: He's already making America great again.
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, New York Times, CNBC, Shot in the Dark and Business Insider
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Patricia Laya / Bloomberg:
America's Labor Market Is Getting Better by Almost Any Measure
America's Labor Market Is Getting Better by Almost Any Measure
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and New York Magazine
Ben Casselman / FiveThirtyEight:
Don't Let Trump — Or Any President — Take Credit For Strong Jobs Numbers
Don't Let Trump — Or Any President — Take Credit For Strong Jobs Numbers
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Post, Breitbart, Wall Street Journal and Mother Jones
Tracy Wilkinson / Los Angeles Times:
Mexican foreign secretary goes straight to the White House, skips usual channels — Mexico's top diplomat came to Washington Thursday for meetings with the U.S. government, sidestepping the normal channels and heading straight for the White House. — Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray met …
Discussion:
US Department of State, New York Magazine, Political Wire, Axios and Taylor Marsh
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Carol Giacomo / New York Times:
Why Is Mr. Tillerson in a Perpetual State of Duck and Cover?
Why Is Mr. Tillerson in a Perpetual State of Duck and Cover?
Discussion:
Bloomberg, New York Magazine, Just Security and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
There Really Was A Liberal Media Bubble — This is the ninth article in a series that reviews news coverage of the 2016 general election, explores how Donald Trump won and why his chances were underrated by most of the American media. — Last summer, the United Kingdom voted to leave …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Washington Times, The Week and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »
CNN:
The super-secret division in charge of the Russia investigation — Washington (CNN)Somewhere in the halls of the J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington, a closely held number of FBI agents face the daunting task of determining how the Russian government sought to manipulate the US presidential election.
Discussion:
The Week
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, Politico, Talking Points Memo, The Nation, RedState and Daily Kos
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Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Pelosi: Trump is ‘making fools’ out of GOP
Pelosi: Trump is ‘making fools’ out of GOP
Discussion:
The Week, Raw Story, Business Insider and No More Mister Nice Blog
Alexandra Rosenmann / Raw Story:
Trump supporters call for ‘liberal genocide’ and deportation of Jews at Arizona Rally — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — Maricopa County burnished its reputation as the Trumpiest in America last weekend as hundreds of locals, including heavily armed militiamen …
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE and Hullabaloo
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 …
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 …
RELATED:
Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:
South Korea Removes President Park Geun-hye
South Korea Removes President Park Geun-hye
Discussion:
Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Mother Jones, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Refinery29, The Diplomat, The Week and Political Wire
Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:
Amash cries after missing first vote in Congress — Rep. Justin Amash has long boasted about not missing a single vote since he arrived in Congress in 2011 — 4,289 in a row, give or take a vote, if you're counting. — But on Friday, as he was railing against the GOP's Obamacare replacement bill off …
Discussion:
Political Wire
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 …
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:
Raw Story and The Guardian
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 …
Hayley Miller / The Huffington Post:
Trans Pastor To Texas Bathroom Bill Supporters: ‘Stop Using God As An Excuse To Hate People’ — “In the beginning, God created humankind in God's image. ... So God is transgender.” — A transgender pastor is lashing out against people who cite God as their reason for supporting …
Discussion:
RedState, TheBlaze, Washington Free Beacon and Refinery29
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
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:
Lawyers, Guns & Money and claytoonz, more at Mediagazer »
Nikita Vladimirov / The Hill:
State Dept. seeks to keep Russian diplomat's cause of death private — The State Department asked the New York Medical Examiner not to publicly release information about the cause of death of Russia's ambassador to the United Nations. — Vitaly Churkin died unexpectedly in New York last month, one day before his 65th birthday.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Natasha Bertrand / Business Insider:
Top Democrat sent letter to Mike Pence in November warning of Michael Flynn's Turkey lobbying — President Donald Trump was not aware that his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was being paid to lobby for Turkish interests in the months before the US election, the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said Thursday.
Discussion:
RedState, Betsy's Page, New York Magazine, Associated Press, The Daily Beast, Politicus USA, Daily Kos and IJR
mypalmbeachpost:
Trump in Palm Beach: Why did Russian pay so much for his mansion? — NATION-WORLD By Alexandra Clough and John Pacenti - Palm Beach Post Staff Writer — Why did a Russian oligarch pay now-President Donald Trump $95 million for his Palm Beach mansion? — Almost a decade later …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Raw Story and Politico
Elise Viebeck / Washington Post:
Male Illinois rep asks why men should have to pay for prenatal coverage — Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., in 2014. — In the 27 hours the House Energy and Commerce Committee spent debating Republicans' Affordable Care Act revision plan, a handful of moments stand out. — This is one of them.
Discussion:
Political Wire, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Hullabaloo and The Week