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:
Why Trump Supporters Have the Most to Lose With 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.
Tim Hains / RealClearPolitics:
Paul Ryan PowerPoint Presentation: “This Is The Closest We Will Ever Get” To Obamacare Repeal
Paul Ryan PowerPoint Presentation: “This Is The Closest We Will Ever Get” To Obamacare Repeal
Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Chris Hayes to GOP Rep.: ‘Why Are You Rushing So Fast’ on Obamacare Replacement?
Chris Hayes to GOP Rep.: ‘Why Are You Rushing So Fast’ on Obamacare Replacement?
Ali Rogin / ABC News:
Inside the Senate GOP resistance to Trumpcare
Inside the Senate GOP resistance to Trumpcare
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Free Beacon, TheBlaze and Breitbart
Matt Fuller / The Huffington Post:
Conservatives Find A Paul Ryan Workaround On Health Care: Donald Trump
Conservatives Find A Paul Ryan Workaround On Health Care: Donald Trump
Discussion:
Salon, Hullabaloo and Esquire
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:
Political Wire, New York Magazine, Taylor Marsh and Axios
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David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Rex Tillerson is off to an agonizingly slow start
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, Poynter, New York Magazine and Just Security, more at Mediagazer »
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:
New York Times, CNBC, Shot in the Dark and Business Insider
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Lucia Mutikani / Reuters:
Strong U.S. job growth, rising wages set stage for Fed rate hike
Strong U.S. job growth, rising wages set stage for Fed rate hike
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal and New York Magazine
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 …
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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
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, The Week and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »
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:
Hullabaloo
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:
Mother Jones, Washington Post, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Refinery29, The Diplomat, The Week and Political Wire
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:
The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, RedState, Politico and Daily Kos
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.
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 …
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 …
Scott Shafer / KQED News:
Could Dianne Feinstein Face a Democratic Challenge in 2018? — By every indication, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is running for re-election next year. In an interview with KQED in January, Feinstein indicated she would be a candidate and has since begun raising money.
Discussion:
Politico and America Rising
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
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.
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Hill, Political Wire, Axios and Hot Air
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 …
Samantha Schmidt / Washington Post:
A lawyer named Amal Clooney gave a powerful speech at the U.N. Some only saw her baby bump. — An accomplished, international human rights lawyer delivered a potent call for action at the United Nations on Thursday, urging the organization to back an investigation into crimes committed by the Islamic State in Iraq.
Discussion:
Refinery29 and Mashable
Warner Todd Huston / Breitbart:
Credit Suisse Says Plan to Hire 10,000 Muslim Refugees Is Hurting Starbucks' Brand and Sales — Swiss financial services company Credit Suisse is warning that coffee giant Starbucks' announcement of a plan to hire 10,000 Muslim refugees has clearly hurt the company by negatively impacting sales and damaging the company's brand.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Fox News Insider and The Last Refuge
Courtney Reagan / CNBC:
Ivanka Trump's brand saw HUGE online surge in February — Ivanka Trump stepped down from her eponymous brand as her father moved into the Oval Office, but sales of the first daughter's apparel, accessories and fragrance brand still took a hit from a social media-spurred shopping boycott in January.
Discussion:
Political Wire
Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Ethics watchdog slams White House for not disciplining Conway — The government's ethics watchdog on Thursday hammered the White House's decision not to discipline counselor Kellyanne Conway for promoting Ivanka Trump's merchandise in a TV interview. — In a letter sent to deputy White …
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Daily Wire, Common Dreams, IJR, NPR, Vox and AOL
Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Hannity: Trump should ‘purge’ holdovers from Obama era — Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday called for President Trump to “purge” the executive branch of Obama-era bureaucrats and appointees. — In the wake of a series of damaging leaks that have marred Trump's first weeks in office …
Discussion:
RedState
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
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 »
Letitia Stein / Reuters:
Americans oppose bathroom laws limiting transgender rights: poll — The majority of respondents to a new U.S. poll opposed laws barring transgender people from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identities and indicated growing acceptance for gay rights, a nonpartisan research group said on Friday.
Discussion:
Political Wire and Axios