memeorandum: McCain Responds to Filibuster Threat: 'We're Going to Confirm Gorsuch' (John McCormack/Weekly Standard)

9:25 AM ET, March 24, 2017

Top Items:

A Brave Front, but Regrets? On Health Bill, Trump Has a Few — WASHINGTON — President Trump, the author of “The Art of the Deal,” has been projecting his usual bravado in public this week about the prospects of repealing the Affordable Care Act. Privately he is grappling with rare bouts of self-doubt.

Discussion: Vox, Business Insider, Salon, Axios, NPR, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Politico and New York Magazine

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

A postponed health-care vote, a big GOP embarrassment and no good options ahead — Thursday was supposed to be a glorious anniversary for President Trump and the Republicans. Seven years after former president Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, Republicans were poised …

Discussion: Occupy Democrats and Politico

Adam Peck / ThinkProgress:

The White House may have skirted federal law to try and save its failing health care bill — Several official Twitter accounts lobbied Congress in support of the AHCA bill. — On Thursday morning, as the Trump administration frantically tried to save its deeply unpopular Affordable Care …

Discussion: Politicus USA, NBC News, Occupy Democrats, CNBC, The Slot, ACASignups.net, The Guardian and Daily Kos

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
The Republican health-care proposal is breathtakingly unpopular

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Hill, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Slate, Informed Comment, The Guardian, US News, Common Dreams, Fox News Insider, Daily Wire and Hot Air

Axios:
The state of Trumpcare: Failure is an option

Discussion: Vox

Adam Davidson / New Yorker:
What the G.O.P. Doesn't Get About Who Pays for Health Care

Discussion: Daily Kos and Vox

Scott Wong / The Hill:
Trump threatens to leave ObamaCare in place if repeal bill fails

Discussion: Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Political Wire

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
Trump delivers ultimatum to House Republicans: Pass health-care measure on Friday or he'll move on

Discussion: Politico, The Atlantic, CNN, alicublog, Booman Tribune, Power Line, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, New York Times, TalkLeft, Washington Monthly, ACASignups.net, Mother Jones, New York Magazine, The Mahablog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Bloomberg and Outside the Beltway

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
The Republican health care plan is totally nuts

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Los Angeles Times

Axios:
The new reality on Trump and the Freedom Caucus

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Tami Luhby / CNNMoney:
Revised Republican health care bill is more costly, but doesn't insure more people

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite and WPMT FOX43

Josh Dawsey / Politico:
Trump demands Friday vote on health care plan

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Here's why House conservatives think only partial repeal of Obamacare regulations will punish the sick

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Hot Air, RedState, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Heat Street and Talking Points Memo

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:
What's Missing From This Photo of Politicians Deciding the Future of Women's Health?

Discussion: Fox News, Vox, theGrio, The Guardian, Occupy Democrats, Hullabaloo, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Mashable, Jamie Dupree, ThinkProgress, Washington Post and RT

Fox News:

Potential ‘smoking gun’ showing Obama administration spied on Trump team, source says — Republican congressional investigators expect a potential “smoking gun” establishing that the Obama administration spied on the Trump transition team, and possibly the president-elect himself …

Discussion: Power Line, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, BizPac Review, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Scared Monkeys, Washington Free Beacon, RedState, Hot Air, Axios, The Gateway Pundit, TheBlaze, The Last Tradition and SARAH PALIN

CNN:

Schiff: New evidence shows possible Trump-Russia collusion — Schiff: New Trump-Russia collusion evidence — Washington (CNN)The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee is claiming that he has been presented with new information on collusion between associates of President Donald …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Political Wire

Mike Levine / ABC News:

Intel chair Devin Nunes unsure if Trump associates were directly surveilled — The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, R-Calif., does not know “for sure” whether President Donald Trump or members of his transition team were even on the phone calls or other communications …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, RT, Business Insider, Politico, Mediaite, RedState, Patterico's Pontifications, CNN, Political Wire and The Daily Caller

Daniel Chaitin / Washington Examiner:

Bob Woodward: Obama officials possibly facing criminal charges for unmasking scheme — The Washington Post's Bob Woodward warned on Wednesday that there are people from the Obama administration who could be facing criminal charges for unmasking the names of Trump transition team members from surveillance of foreign officials.

Discussion: Fox News Insider and Balloon Juice

Peter Hoekstra / Wall Street Journal:

Did Obama Abuse Raw Intelligence? — I couldn't have seen those transcripts when I led the House intel committee. — By — It was remarkable when Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, revealed Wednesday that Trump campaign officials were caught up in the inadvertent collection of intelligence.

Discussion: The Hill and Washington Post

New York Times:

Rep. Nunes Is a Lapdog in a Watchdog Role — Representative Devin Nunes looked uneasy. Mr. Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was struggling on Monday to elicit details from James Comey, the F.B.I. director, about his explosive revelation that the bureau …

Discussion: MSNBC

Washington Post:
Shut down Nunes's investigation — and investigate him for leaking

Discussion: Politicus USA, Raw Story, The Atlantic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Right Wing Watch, Hit & Run, Common Dreams, New York Magazine, Media Matters for America and CNBC

Bill Gertz / Washington Free Beacon: Intelligence Reports Reveal Improper Political Surveillance of Trump, Transition Team

John Nolte / Daily Wire:
Trump Is 100% Vindicated On Wiretapping, and 7 Other Things You Should Know

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Investor's Business Daily

Matt Flegenheimer / New York Times:

Democrats Plan to Filibuster to Thwart Gorsuch Nomination — WASHINGTON — Democrats signaled on Thursday that they would filibuster the nomination of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump's Supreme Court pick, setting up a showdown with Republicans who may be forced to change longstanding rules …

Discussion: The Hill, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, SCOTUSblog, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, DCReport, CNN, USA Today, Balloon Juice, Washington Post, Politico and Reuters

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
McCain Responds to Filibuster Threat: 'We're Going to Confirm Gorsuch'

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
Democrats are going to filibuster Gorsuch. It's the right thing to do.

Discussion: Salon, RT, SCOTUSblog and Occupy Democrats

Heritage Action for America:

“NO” ON AMERICAN HEALTH CARE ACT (H.R. 1628) — At some point, the House is expected to vote on the American Health Care Act (H.R. 1628), which would partially repeal and replace various components of Obamacare. The proposed legislation repeals a number of Obamacare provisions …

Discussion: The Daily Signal, Talking Points Memo and FOX6Now.com

CBO's Publications:
H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act, incorporating manager's amendments 4, 5, 24, and 25

Discussion: Health Affairs Blog and Hit & Run

Media Matters for America:

The Life Cycle Of A Donald Trump Lie — On March 4, President Donald Trump declared himself the victim of a scandal on the level of the the Watergate crimes that brought down President Richard Nixon. In an early-morning tweetstorm apparently triggered by reading a Breitbart article …

Discussion: PolitiFact, CNBC, Hullabaloo, Mashable and The Atlantic

Nicholas Bagley / The Incidental Economist:

Confusion over essential health benefits — Last night, House Republicans released the text of the final manager's amendment to the American Health Care Act, including changes to the rules governing the essential health benefits. With these tweaks, the House hopes to pass the bill today.

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Mother Jones

Katie J.M. Baker / BuzzFeed:

A Former Student Says UC Berkeley's Star Philosophy Professor Groped Her And Watched Porn At Work — A lawsuit alleges UC Berkeley professor John R. Searle sexually harassed, assaulted, and retaliated against a former student and employee — and that the university did nothing to stop him.

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

In Wake of Rockville Rape, School Superintendent Accuses Parents of Racism — In the wake of an alleged brutal rape at Rockville High School in Maryland by two illegal aliens last week, Montgomery County Superintendent Dr. Jack Smith is accusing parents of racism and xenophobia.

Discussion: BizPac Review, Fox News Insider and Washington Post

Derek Hunter / Townhall.com: Liberals Prefer Illegal Aliens Over Your Kids

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Scammers, the Scammed and America's Fate — Many people are horrified, and rightly so, by what passes for leadership in today's Washington. And it's important to keep the horror of our political situation up front, to keep highlighting the lies, the cruelty, the bad judgment.

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

Mulvaney: If Your State Doesn't Mandate Maternity Care, Change Your State — Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, one of the top administration officials who had been working to pass the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, on Friday morning brushed off concerns …

WikiLeaks:

Dark Matter — Today, March 23rd 2017, WikiLeaks releases Vault 7 “Dark Matter”, which contains documentation for several CIA projects that infect Apple Mac firmware (meaning the infection persists even if the operating system is re-installed) developed by the CIA's Embedded Development Branch (EDB).