Top Items:


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.
Discussion:
Vox, Hullabaloo, Hot Air, Common Dreams and Daily Kos
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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:
Politico, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos and Washington Post

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:
Lawyers, Guns & Money


7 Reasons Why Obamacare 2.0 Is All But Guaranteed to Impose Crushing Costs on Voters, Hurt Trump's Base, And Hand Power Back to the Democrats — If passed in its current form, the GOP's Obamacare 2.0 bill will impose brutal costs Americans still struggling to make it through a great recession …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast and Daily Wire

Is the Republican health plan designed to fail?
Discussion:
The Mahablog, NBC News, The Atlantic, Washington Post and National Review


Sean Spicer's Quick Twitter Reaction to Jobs Report May Break a Rule — The enthusiastic reaction of Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, was understandable on Friday when the Labor Department reported a gain of 235,000 jobs. “Great news for American workers,” he proclaimed, “in first report for @POTUS Trump.”
Discussion:
Washington Post, USA Today, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, TVNewser, Mashable, NPR, Politicus USA, CNBC, Mediaite, New York Magazine and Washington Free Beacon
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Sean Spicer wore an upside-down flag pin. The Internet lost its mind. — White House press secretary Sean Spicer showed up at his Friday press briefing wearing an upside-down American flag pin on his lapel. — The White House press corps, with whom Spicer has locked horns, immediately brought it to his attention.
Discussion:
Snopes.com, Refinery29, Mashable and Politicus USA


Trump team knew Flynn was possible foreign agent before Inauguration Day
Discussion:
National Review

Sean Spicer's appalling answer about economic data shows how far we've lowered the bar for Trump
Discussion:
Business Insider, Raw Story, Political Wire, The Week and Axios

Trump taps private security director for White House job
Discussion:
Washington Post and ThinkProgress


Trump Abruptly Orders 46 Obama-Era Prosecutors to Resign — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday moved to sweep away the remaining vestiges of Obama administration prosecutors at the Justice Department, ordering 46 holdover United States attorneys to tender their resignations immediately …
Discussion:
Political Wire
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Sessions asks 46 Obama-era US attorneys to resign — has asked dozens of U.S. attorneys appointed by former President Barack Obama — to submit their resignations, the Department of Justice announced Friday. — U.S. attorneys are normally replaced at the beginning of new administrations.
Discussion:
Axios

State Dept. seeks to keep Russian diplomat's cause of death private
Discussion:
Raw Story

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:
Hit & Run, The Daily Caller and Political Wire

Pelosi: I would have retired had Clinton won — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is publicly declaring what she's been saying privately since after the election: Had Hillary Clinton won the presidency, the longtime Democratic leader was planning to ditch Congress.
Discussion:
BizPac Review, The Daily Caller, The Resurgent, Washington Free Beacon, The American Mirror and Townhall.com
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Pelosi: Trump is ‘making fools’ out of GOP
Discussion:
CNN, The Week, Daily Wire and Raw Story


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:
New York Times, The Atlantic, RedState, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire, Daily Kos and IJR
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The Note: Health care disconnect
Discussion:
Politico, Associated Press and Washington Post

Treasury calls on Congress to raise debt limit, begins steps to delay default
Discussion:
Washington Monthly

Speaker Ryan, this is not what conservative reform looks like
Discussion:
Power Line and Hot Air


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:
The Rush Limbaugh Show, Media Matters for America, New York Times, CNBC, Shot in the Dark and Business Insider
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Don't Let Trump — Or Any President — Take Credit For Strong Jobs Numbers
Discussion:
Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Signal, Breitbart and Freedom Partners


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


White House civil war breaks out over trade — ‘Fiery meeting’ in Oval Office between economic nationalists and pro-trade moderates — Read next … A civil war has broken out within the White House over trade, leading to what one official called “a fiery meeting” in the Oval Office …
Discussion:
Axios


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:
New York Magazine and Political Wire


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 »


Trump's Leading Candidate for FDA Is Scott Gottlieb, Sources Say — Likely nominee was senior FDA executive under George W. Bush — Choice would represent mainstream pick for drug industry — Scott Gottlieb, a former deputy commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration …
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Trump poised to nominate Scott Gottlieb to head FDA: sources
Discussion:
Common Dreams


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:
Talking Points Memo, US Department of State, NPR, The Guardian, Axios, Taylor Marsh, New York Magazine, Political Wire and Poynter
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Rex Tillerson is off to an agonizingly slow start
Discussion:
New York Times, Bloomberg and New York Magazine

GOP rep: Obama stayed in capital to run ‘shadow government’ — A Pennsylvania congressman has accused former President Barack Obama of staying in Washington solely to run a “shadow government” to undermine the GOP agenda. — U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly made the claim to fellow Republicans at an event Saturday north of Pittsburgh.
Discussion:
Political Wire, Daily Kos, Axios and Mediaite

Something good came out of Samantha Bee's attack on ‘Nazi hair’ — Something good came out of Samantha Bee's show this week. Kyle Coddington, who was mocked in a segment about CPAC and described as having “Nazi hair,” has received tens of thousands of dollars to support his treatment for brain cancer.
Discussion:
Townhall.com, Fox News Insider and OUTSET


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


Contender to Run Civil Rights Post Can't Be Pigeonholed — Harmeet Dhillon, a trial lawyer from San Francisco, has ties to both the ACLU and Heritage Foundation — A media-savvy Indian-American leader of the California Republican Party who sang a Sikh prayer at last year's national convention …
Discussion:
RedState

IMMIGRATION AGENT CONVICTED OF ACCEPTING CASH BRIBES, SEX — NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A former Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer has been convicted of accepting cash bribes and sex in exchange for employment authorization documents. — Arnaldo Echevarria, of Somerset, New Jersey …
Discussion:
Daily Wire


FBI Used Best Buy's Geek Squad To Increase Secret Public Surveillance … Recently unsealed records reveal a much more extensive secret relationship than previously known between the FBI and Best Buy's Geek Squad, including evidence the agency trained company technicians on law-enforcement …