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:
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 …
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.
Discussion:
Vox
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?
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, Washington Free Beacon, TheBlaze and Breitbart
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, Truth Against the Machine and John Hawkins' Right Wing News
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
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
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, Taylor Marsh and Axios
RELATED:
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 »
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
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:
CANNONFIRE and 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 …
RELATED:
Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:
South Korea Removes President Park Geun-hye
South Korea Removes President Park Geun-hye
Discussion:
Washington Post, Mother Jones, Outside the Beltway, 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, Politico, RedState, The Nation and Daily Kos
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
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 …
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
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
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 »
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 …
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 …
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
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
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.”
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, The Week and Hullabaloo
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