Top Items:

Where the Senate Health Care Bill Fails — Speaking at a rally for his wife's presidential campaign last year, Bill Clinton called Obamacare “the craziest thing in the world.” As he put it, “The people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half.”
Discussion:
Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Week, AOL and Political Wire
RELATED:


Why Dems can't break through on Obamacare repeal — Even before Senate Republicans released their Obamacare repeal plan last week, a call went out from liberal activists: Head to the airport and greet departing senators with a furious protest. — About five dozen demonstrators showed …


Privately, health plan worries Senate bill would “cause most small employers' premiums to go up” — A large health plan is privately expressing concern that a little-noticed provision in the Senate health bill could drive up premiums for small business health plans. — Sign up for VoxCare
Discussion:
Media Matters for America


Kellyanne Conway Defends Medicaid Cuts, Says Adults Can Always Find Jobs — Reality check: Most of them have jobs already. — White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Sunday came right out and said what so many Republicans are probably thinking that taking Medicaid away from able-bodied adults …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, CNN, CNBC, Los Angeles Times, Fox News Insider, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, Politicus USA, Talking Points Memo, Shareblue, Mediaite and New York Times


The cruel reality of high-speed health care legislating — Four days ago, Senate Republicans got their first glimpse at their leadership's plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. — Three days from now, Senate Republicans are expected to vote on that plan.
Discussion:
Politico, Axios, The Week and Daily Wire


Replacing Obamacare is a make-or-break moment for Republicans
Discussion:
NBC News

Senate Leaders Try to Appease Members as Support for Health Bill Slips
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, CNBC, Outside the Beltway, CNN, Politico, The Week, Axios and Washington Post

Ernst polls supporters on Obamacare repeal plan
Discussion:
The Daily Caller


Kushner firm's $285 million Deutsche Bank loan came just before Election Day — One month before Election Day, Jared Kushner's real estate company finalized a $285 million loan as part of a refinancing package for its property near Times Square in Manhattan. — The loan came at a critical moment.
Discussion:
HuffPost, TheStreet, Talking Points Memo, The Week and Balloon Juice
RELATED:

Kushner company received $285M loan from Deutsche Bank shortly before election: report
Discussion:
RedState


No, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Is Not Retiring Tomorrow — Based on this weekend's reunion of his law clerks, reports of AMK's retirement are greatly exaggerated. — [Please note the UPDATES I have added, and will continue to add, at the end of this story.]
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Fusion, The Daily Caller, Slate, Outside the Beltway, TheBlaze, Politico, LifeZette and AOL
RELATED:


D.C. on edge: rumors of new Supreme Court vacancy swirl
Discussion:
Politico, ABC News and Political Wire


Trump's Deflections and Denials on Russia Frustrate Even His Allies — In the span of 72 hours, President Trump described the email hacking that roiled the 2016 campaign as a Democratic “hoax” and as clear aggression by Russia that his predecessor, President Barack Obama, failed to address.
Discussion:
CNN, The Week, Business Insider, Conservative News Today and The New Daily
RELATED:


The National Enquirer's Fervor for Trump — The tabloid is defined by its predatory spirit. Why has it embraced the President with such sycophantic zeal? — Every Wednesday afternoon, in a windowless conference room in an office building at the tip of lower Manhattan …
Discussion:
Political Wire and The Week


Frank Rich: Nixon, Trump, and How a Presidency Ends — “Let others wallow in Watergate, we are going to do our job,” said Richard Nixon with typical unearned self-righteousness in July 1973. By then, more than a year had passed since a slapstick posse of five had been caught in a bungled burglary …


Scoop: Trump group gives Heller a 2nd chance on health bill — Many Republicans wondered this weekend if it made sense for America First Policies, the outside group backing President Trump, to run attack ads against Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) for wavering on healthcare, when his vote is desperately needed.
Discussion:
Raw Story
RELATED:


CNN Is Imposing Strict New Rules On Its Russia Coverage — The decision came after the network deleted and retracted a post on Friday. — CNN is imposing strict new publishing restrictions for online articles involving Russia after the network deleted a story and then issued a retraction late Friday …
Discussion:
Daily Wire, TVNewser, Breitbart, Conservative News Today, RedState, Mediaite and SARAH PALIN, more at Mediagazer »


Ivanka Trump: ‘I try to stay out of politics’ — Ivanka Trump may keep an office in the White House and hold an official position within her father's administration, but when it comes to politics, the first daughter said in an interview that aired Monday that she tries to stay out of President Donald Trump's way.
Discussion:
Axios


Gay Pride marchers with Jewish flags told to leave Chicago parade — U.S. LGBT PRIDE LGBT ISRAEL-PALESTINE — Jewish people celebrating LGBT Pride in Chicago were told not to display Star of David flags because other people found them ‘offensive.’ — The Jewish Star of David flag …
Discussion:
TheBlaze, Washington Free Beacon, RedState, MILO NEWS and The Daily Caller
RELATED:


On Russia, a senator's deception and a timeline of Trump frustration — Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley's accusation that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer lied about President Trump and the Russia investigation — that Schumer said the president was under investigation after he, Schumer …


Support for Same-Sex Marriage Grows, Even Among Groups That Had Been Skeptical — For first time, as many Republicans favor as oppose gay marriage — Two years after the Supreme Court decision that required states to recognize same-sex marriages nationwide, support for allowing gays …
Discussion:
Shakesville and Political Wire


Advice To Help Our Beloved Democrat Friends Win In 2018 — Since we conservatives humiliated Felonia von Pantsuit last November, it's been all winning, all the time, from Neil Gorsuch to crushing the liberal climate cult to appointing a Defense Secretary nicknamed Mad Dog …


Where Trump Zigs, Tillerson Zags, Putting Him at Odds With White House — WASHINGTON — When Rex W. Tillerson, the former chief executive of Exxon Mobil, arrived in Washington five months ago to become the secretary of state, his boosters said he brought two valuable assets to a job …
Discussion:
Axios, Jacobin Magazine and Just Security


The Senate health care bill's biggest fan makes the case for it — “I'm an advocate of market-based universal coverage.” — This week, Senate Republicans could pass a health care bill that leading conservative health care expert Avik Roy would consider “the greatest policy achievement by a GOP Congress in my lifetime.”
Discussion:
Washington Post and Balloon Juice