Top Items:
New York Times:
Talking Points Brought to Trump Tower Meeting Were Shared With Kremlin — Natalia V. Veselnitskaya arrived at a meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 hoping to interest top Trump campaign officials in the contents of a memo she believed contained information damaging to the Democratic Party and, by extension, Hillary Clinton.
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Elana Schor / Politico:
GOP eyes end of Russia probes with Trump collusion unanswered
GOP eyes end of Russia probes with Trump collusion unanswered
Discussion:
Washington Post, Mother Jones, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Daily Kos, Power Line, Last Men and OverMen, Political Wire and The Hill
Eli Watkins / CNN:
Conway confirms Trump wanted FBI informant's gag order lifted — Washington (CNN)In response to reporting that President Donald Trump personally pressed for an informant's gag order to be lifted, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said Friday that he wanted the informant to be free to speak out.
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Brian Beutler / Crooked Media:
THE MAKINGS OF A GOP PSEUDO-SCANDAL — This week, House Republicans launched two joint investigations, spanning three congressional committees, aimed at sowing confusion about the nature of Russian influence over last year's election. — This isn't liberal gloss on a series of news developments …
Discussion:
CNN and Talking Points Memo
Prosenzweig / Lawfare:
Unpacking Uranium One: Hype and Law — Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, delivering remarks in 2010. (Photo: Flickr/U.S. Embassy in New Zealand) — The latest instance of “what-aboutism” is the House Republican decision to open an investigation of the Uranium One transaction …
Discussion:
FactCheck.org and Arc Digital
Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
The Coming Russia Bombshells
The Coming Russia Bombshells
Discussion:
Shakesville, The Gateway Pundit and Power Line
Helena Horton / Telegraph:
British newspaper received mystery call minutes before JFK assassination — A British newspaper received a mystery call minutes before the assassination of John F Kennedy. — This is one of the most astonishing revelations from the JFK files, released on Thursday.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, The Gateway Pundit and AOL
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NBC News:
Trump Allows Release of Most but Not All Remaining Kennedy Assassination Files — The National Archives published nearly 3,000 previously sealed or censored documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Thursday, but the White House said it was delaying the release of others.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Dallas Morning News, VICE, NPR, AOL, LewRockwell, The Daily Caller, Politicus USA, WhoWhatWhy, The Gateway Pundit, NBC News, Mediaite, TheBlaze, KXAN-TV, CNBC, twitchy.com and CBS Dallas
Adam Kelsey / ABC News:
JFK assassination files reveal Hoover's frustration over Oswald's death, Soviet reaction
JFK assassination files reveal Hoover's frustration over Oswald's death, Soviet reaction
Discussion:
The Independent, CNN, Deadspin, Axios, Palmer Report, Sputnik International, CBS Boston, The Guardian and abc11.com
ESPN:
Gaffes, TV ratings concerns dominated as NFL, players forged anthem peace — NOBODY KNEW WHERE to sit. Side by side or across from one another? — It was the final question raised by a group of 11 NFL team owners as they mingled inside the sixth-floor conference room …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Fox News Insider, ProFootballTalk, The Rush Limbaugh Show, IJR, Mashable, USA Today, AOL, Washingtonian, The Gateway Pundit, Deadspin, Mediaite, TMZ.com and The Guardian
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Stanley Kay / SI.com:
Texans Owner Apologizes After Comparing NFL Protests to ‘Inmates Running the Prison’
Texans Owner Apologizes After Comparing NFL Protests to ‘Inmates Running the Prison’
Discussion:
IJR and CBS Boston
Eleanor McManus / CNN:
I'm writing this to make sure other young women won't stay silent like I did — Mark Halperin apologizes after sexual harassment claims — Eleanor McManus: When I was just out of college, in a private informational meeting with Mark Halperin, he tried to kiss me and attempted a bit more
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Daily Caller, CNNMoney, USA Today, Talking Points Memo and Media Matters for America, more at Mediagazer »
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McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:
Orrin Hatch Tells Friends He Plans to Retire — SALT LAKE CITY, Utah—Senator Orrin Hatch has privately told allies in Utah that he is planning to retire at the end of his term next year, and if he does, Mitt Romney intends to run for his seat, according to five sources familiar with the situation.
Discussion:
Political Wire, Washington Free Beacon and fox13now.com
Andrew Sullivan / New York Magazine:
This Is What the Trump Abyss Looks Like — The past week was another watershed, it seems to me, in the rising power of Donald Trump. Flake is quitting; Corker is retiring; McCain is mortal. Sasse, Murkowski, Collins, and Paul remain, but the odds are mounting against them.
Discussion:
Hot Air
Rob Goldman / Facebook:
Update on Our Advertising Transparency and Authenticity Efforts — When it comes to advertising on Facebook, people should be able to tell who the advertiser is and see the ads they're running, especially for political ads. — That level of transparency is good for democracy and it's good for the electoral process.
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, Politico and Engadget, more at Mediagazer »
Michelle Cottle / The Atlantic:
Leon Wieseltier: A Reckoning — It was never an “open secret” among me and my then-colleagues that Leon Wieseltier, the longtime literary czar of the New Republic, behaved inappropriately with women in the workplace. It was simply out in the open. This week, Wieseltier's previously …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Lloyd Grove / Vanity Fair:
The Very Busy, Very Unproductive Life of Leon Wieseltier
The Very Busy, Very Unproductive Life of Leon Wieseltier
Discussion:
Splinter
BBC:
Catalan parliament declares independence from Spain — The Catalan regional parliament has voted to declare independence from Spain, while the Spanish parliament has approved direct rule over the region. — Catalan MPs backed the motion 70-10 in a ballot boycotted by the opposition.
Discussion:
RedState, Telegraph, The Guardian, New York Magazine, IJR and Vox Popoli
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John Bowden / The Hill:
Whitefish Energy contract bars government from auditing deal — A deal reached between the government and a small Montana energy company located in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke — 's hometown prohibits the government from reviewing labor costs or profits related to the company's relief efforts …
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Alexi McCammond / Axios:
A breakdown of the $300M Whitefish contract for Puerto Rico
A breakdown of the $300M Whitefish contract for Puerto Rico
Discussion:
Associated Press, ThinkProgress, Shareblue Media and Washington Post
New York Times:
‘Terry Richardson Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg’ — This week, in an apparently defensive move after a social media outcry, the biggest fashion magazines cut ties with the photographer Terry Richardson over his history of alleged sexual harassment. — On Monday, The Telegraph broke …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:
The Attempted Remaking of Michael Grimm — Steve Bannon looked at a convicted felon — and saw a populist. — It was Friday, which meant it was Michael Grimm's cheat day. — The muscle mass he carried during his time as a Marine, an undercover FBI agent, and even as a congressman has …
Discussion:
Political Wire
Foreign Policy:
State Department Scraps Sanctions Office — The Trump administration is three weeks late on Russia sanctions. But it's killed the office that coordinates them. — The State Department shuttered an office that oversees sanctions policy, even as the Donald Trump administration faces criticism …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Palmer Report, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Beast, BillMoyers.com and corker.senate.gov
RELATED:
Brandon Carter / The Hill:
Tillerson eliminates key State Department sanctions office: report
Tillerson eliminates key State Department sanctions office: report
Discussion:
Raw Story
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Week Trump Won — One hundred years ago on Friday, John Reed was in St. Petersburg watching Lenin, Trotsky and the rest of the Bolsheviks take over Russia. It was interesting to read his account, “Ten Days That Shook the World,” this week — the week when Donald Trump and Steve Bannon solidified …
Discussion:
Washington Post and Raw Story
Washington Post:
Gillespie's ads are poisonous to Virginia and the nation — (Pete Marovich/For The Washington Post) — SINCE 2001, when he was convicted of a sex offense and served a brief prison term, and early this year, when he was convicted on child-pornography charges, Virginia resident John Bowen …
Bob Brigham / Raw Story:
‘Something fairly big is coming’: Ex-FBI double-agent predicts Russia bombshell after Trump evasions — MSNBC anchor Joy Reid investigated whether the latest revelations involving Cambridge Analytica and Wikileaks may be related to Republicans ‘hysteria’ to find a Russia-related story that tarnishes Democrats.
Lisa Pham / Bloomberg:
This Company Added the Word ‘Blockchain’ to Its Name and Saw Its Shares Surge 394% — A British company that has been investing in internet and information businesses is having its best day on record. — On-line Plc jumped as much as 394 percent on Friday after announcing plans to change …
Discussion:
Mother Jones
Katie Zavadski / The Daily Beast:
Russia's Troll Factory Made ‘Hillary Clinton’ Sex Tape, Ex-Worker Claims … A Russian-government-backed “troll factory” hired a black man and a Hillary Clinton look-alike to make a sex tape, according to the first former employee of the factory's American division to go on the record.
Discussion:
Liberal Values, Mediaite, Joe.My.God. and Raw Story
Kaja Whitehouse / New York Post:
De Blasio donor's shocking testimony: $100K bought me the mayor — Mayor Bill de Blasio and donor Jona Rechnitz — A Mayor Bill de Blasio donor-turned-felon testified in extraordinary detail Thursday that he and his businessman pals wrote the book on city corruption …
Discussion:
Politico, Fox News, Gothamist, The Daily Caller, New York Times, Washington Free Beacon and Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Madison Park / CNN:
Two women and their dogs rescued after 5 months adrift in the Pacific — (CNN)Two women from Hawaii who were lost at sea for nearly five months have been rescued by the US Navy. — Jennifer Appel, Tasha Fuiava and their two dogs were found Wednesday, drifting about 900 miles southeast of Japan, a Navy statement said.
Discussion:
TheBlaze, Associated Press, VICE, IJR and WWLP-TV
Melissa Chan / TIME:
‘Mom, Where Are You?’ Girl With Cerebral Palsy Detained by Immigration Officials Cries for Help — The mother of a 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who was detained in Texas on her way to the hospital for emergency surgery wept as she tried consoling her daughter on the phone, one of the girl's lawyers said Thursday.