Top Items:
Paige Winfield Cunningham / Washington Post:
Senate health-care draft repeals Obamacare taxes, provides bigger subsidies for low-income Americans than House bill — Senate leaders on Wednesday were putting the final touches on legislation that would reshape a big piece of the U.S. health-care system by dramatically rolling back Medicaid …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, The Week, Politico, The Hill, Business Insider, New York Magazine, Gizmodo, ACASignups.net, The Guardian, Raw Story, Politicus USA, The Last Tradition, Bloomberg Government, Balloon Juice, The Atlantic and Axios
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Bloomberg:
Senate GOP Health Bill to Break With House on Key Points — GOP senators complain they don't know plan's contents — Chamber could vote as early as next week, McConnell says — Senate Republican leaders will unveil a closely held plan to replace Obamacare on Thursday that includes …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos and No More Mister Nice Blog
Jordan Weissmann / Slate:
How Mitch McConnell weaponized our short attention span. — Mitch McConnell is winning, yet again. — Senate Republicans are reportedly close to voting on a bill that would repeal Obamacare and potentially strip insurance from millions of Americans. Under normal circumstances …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Daily Kos and Townhall.com
New York Times:
Abortion Adds Obstacle as Republicans Plan to Unveil Health Bill
Abortion Adds Obstacle as Republicans Plan to Unveil Health Bill
Discussion:
USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Media Matters for America, Fusion and FiveThirtyEight
Caitlin Owens / Axios:
Senate Republicans are about to find out what's in their bill
Senate Republicans are about to find out what's in their bill
Discussion:
ThinkProgress
Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Rand Paul calls to slow down ‘rushed’ ObamaCare repeal process
Rand Paul calls to slow down ‘rushed’ ObamaCare repeal process
Discussion:
Politico and Politicus USA
Paige Winfield Cunningham / Washington Post:
Senate Republicans set to release health-care bill, but divisions remain
Senate Republicans set to release health-care bill, but divisions remain
CNN:
Intel chiefs tell investigators Trump suggested they refute collusion with Russians — Coats and Rogers said interactions with Trump about the Russia investigation were odd, uncomfortable — (CNN)Two of the nation's top intelligence officials told Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team …
Discussion:
RedState, Axios, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, Shakesville, Political Wire, Daily Kos, Joe.My.God., Politicus USA, The Hill, Raw Story, The Week and Washington Times
Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Trump Turns an Iowa Rally Into a Venting Session — CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — President Trump said on Wednesday that he was crafting legislation to bar new immigrants from receiving welfare for at least five years. He announced the proposal in a conquering-hero-returns speech in Iowa …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The New Civil Rights Movement, AOL, The Week, Mediaite and Joe.My.God.
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Graham Russell / The Guardian:
Trump says he doesn't want a ‘poor person’ handling economy
Trump says he doesn't want a ‘poor person’ handling economy
Discussion:
Political Wire and Washington Free Beacon
CBS News:
“All we do is win, win, win,” says Trump at campaign-style rally in Iowa
“All we do is win, win, win,” says Trump at campaign-style rally in Iowa
Discussion:
Political Wire and The Week
New York Times:
Kamala Harris Was Silenced. Then She Silenced Us. — Last week, Senator Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, made headlines when Republican senators interrupted her at a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee while she interrogated Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Travis Gettys / Raw Story:
WATCH: Morning Joe panel slams ‘dear leader’ Trump with horrifying 2-minute mashup of his Iowa lies — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — A “Morning Joe” panel examined President Donald Trump's lie-filled rally in Iowa, where his supporters cheered each falsehood and jeered when he attacked the media.
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Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:
The Note: Trump's ‘poor’ choice of words raises eyebrows — WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — Time to show their work: Senate Republicans share their health care draft this morning after negotiating it behind closed doors. The bill is expected to roll back Medicaid expansions but more gradually …
Discussion:
Politico and Associated Press
James Freeman / Wall Street Journal:
Irresistible — Georgia's Karen Handel pins another defeat on the anti-Trump left.
Discussion:
Instapundit
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Alan Pyke / ThinkProgress:
D.C. cops used ‘rape as punishment’ after Inauguration Day mass arrests, lawsuit says — Wide array of unconstitutional tactics alleged in suit over chilling round-up that hit peaceful protesters, journalists, and anarchists alike. — When black-clad marchers began smashing windows in Washington …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Chris Francescani / ABC News:
2 Cosby holdouts prevented guilty verdict, juror says — In an exclusive interview with ABC News, a juror in the Bill Cosby sexual assault case said that after dozens of hours of grueling deliberations in a tiny room, 10 of the 12 jurors agreed he was guilty on two counts.
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight, The Root, Associated Press and Althouse
Chris Ariens / TVNewser:
Hugh Hewitt to Host Show on MSNBC — MSNBC is expanding weekend news with live programming until 9 p.m. ET Saturday and Sunday nights, TVNewser has learned. — As part of the expansion, conservative radio talk show host and MSNBC contributor Hugh Hewitt is getting a half hour show, airing Saturdays at 8 a.m. ET.
Discussion:
Mediaite and Media Matters for America, more at Mediagazer »
Harvey Day / Daily Mail:
North Korea calls Donald Trump a ‘psychopath’ and accuses him of considering a preemptive strike to divert attention from his own ‘tough situation’ in the US — North Korea on Thursday called US President Donald Trump a ‘psychopath’ as tensions soar following the death of American student Otto Warmbier …
Discussion:
Agence France-Presse, AOL and SARAH PALIN
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Alex Clark / Breitbart:
5 Times the Far-Left Mocked and Criticized Now Deceased Otto Warmbier
5 Times the Far-Left Mocked and Criticized Now Deceased Otto Warmbier
Discussion:
John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Daily Caller
Spencer Ackerman / The Daily Beast:
FBI Fired Sebastian Gorka for Anti-Muslim Diatribes … The inflammatory pundit Sebastian Gorka worked for the FBI while he was a paid consultant to Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, lecturing bureau employees on counterterrorism issues. — Until the FBI terminated Gorka for his over-the-top Islamophobic rhetoric.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Wired and Media Matters for America, more at Mediagazer »
Carrie Levine / Center for Public Integrity:
Trump appointee is a Saudi government lobbyist — Richard Hohlt earning six figures from kingdom bent on influencing Trump — President Donald Trump talks with Saudi King Salman as they pose for photos with leaders at the Arab Islamic American Summit, at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center …
Discussion:
The Week, Raw Story and Just Security
John Kass / Chicago Tribune:
Column: What to do with a broken Illinois: Dissolve the Land of Lincoln — Illinois is like Venezuela now, a fiscally broken state that has lost its will to live, although for the moment, we still have enough toilet paper. — But before we run out of the essentials, let's finally admit …
Charlie Mahtesian / Politico:
The GOP's Suburban Nightmare — Surveying the Democratic wreckage after a disastrous 1952 campaign, Robert Taft, the typically taciturn Ohio Republican senator, made a bold prediction about the opposition. “The Democratic Party,” the one-time Senate majority leader asserted …
Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:
Trumps suggests creating law that has been enacted since 1996 — President Trump in a rally on Wednesday evening said immigrants who enter the United States should not be eligible for welfare benefits for five years, though such a law has already existed for 20 years.
Discussion:
Fox News, Daily Wire, NPR and Above the Law
Robert Fife / Globe and Mail:
Canadian elite special forces sniper makes record-breaking kill shot in Iraq — OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF — The Globe and Mail (includes correction) — A sniper with Canada's elite special forces in Iraq has shattered the world record for the longest confirmed kill shot in military history at a staggering distance of 3,540 metres.
Discussion:
USA Today, Business Insider and Daily Mail
Bob Price / Breitbart:
Algerian Man Dangles Baby from 15th Floor Demanding Facebook ‘Likes’ — A court in Algeria sentenced a man to two years in prison after he posted a photo where he dangled a baby from a high-rise balcony. He threatened to drop the toddler from the 15th story balcony if he didn't receive 1,000 Facebook likes.
Discussion:
John Hawkins' Right Wing News and AOL
Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Gingrich: Media was right, special elections were a referendum … Former Speaker Newt Gingrich on Thursday said he thinks the media is correct in that the recent Congressional special elections have been a referendum on President Trump. — “The news media had it right,” Gingrich said on “Fox & Friends.”
Annie Linskey / BostonGlobe.com:
Trump's voter-fraud panel wants to look into Russian hacking, too — WASHINGTON — Two members of a presidential commission charged with investigating alleged voter fraud want the panel to focus on what could be the biggest fraudulent scheme of all: attempted Russian hacking of numerous state election systems.
Discussion:
American Prospect, electionlawblog.org, IJR, Department of Homeland …, Politico, Gizmodo and Weekly Standard
New York Times:
White House Tries to Get G.O.P. to Water Down Russia Sanctions Bill — WASHINGTON — The White House is quietly lobbying House Republicans to weaken a bill overwhelmingly passed by the Senate last week that would slap tough new sanctions on Russia for its meddling in the 2016 election …