Top Items:
Michael Barone / Washington Examiner:
2016 is looking like the new normal … If you wanted to predict the results of Tuesday's gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, you would have been wise to ignore the flurry of polls and campaign events. You would have paid no heed to the conventional wisdom that Republican Kim Guadagno …
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Wall Street Journal:
The Anti-Trump Wave — Democrats come out in droves and the GOP …
The Anti-Trump Wave — Democrats come out in droves and the GOP …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard and Washington Free Beacon
New York Times:
Suburbs Rebel Against Trump, Threatening Republicans in Congress
Suburbs Rebel Against Trump, Threatening Republicans in Congress
Discussion:
Philly.com, Washington Times, Washington Post, The Daily Caller and Politicus USA
Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:
5 Takeaways On Virginia's Election Sweep For Democrats
5 Takeaways On Virginia's Election Sweep For Democrats
Discussion:
Instapundit, RedState, Media Matters for America, New Republic and National Review
CNN:
Flynn worries about son in special counsel probe — Washington (CNN)Former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn has expressed concern about the potential legal exposure of his son, Michael Flynn Jr., who, like his father, is under scrutiny by special counsel Robert Mueller …
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Brandon Carter / The Hill:
GOP lawmaker calls for Mueller to be fired in speech on House floor
GOP lawmaker calls for Mueller to be fired in speech on House floor
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and Politicus USA
Dave Lawler / Axios:
Trump to Chinese leaders: I don't blame you for taking advantage of us — On Thursday morning (local time) in Beijing, President Trump repeated something he has told rallies across the U.S.: China is taking advantage of us, and I don't blame them for it. — Trump made remarks to that effect …
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Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:
Trump blames predecessors, not China for unfair trade practices — President Trump in China on Thursday blamed past administrations instead of Beijing for “unfair” trade practices, offering a starkly different tone from the rhetoric he used during his campaign.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, CNBC, Joe.My.God. and New York Times
Antony J. Blinken / New York Times:
Trump Is Ceding Global Leadership to China
David Nakamura / Washington Post:
In Beijing, Trump declines to hit President Xi Jinping on trade: 'I don't blame China'
In Beijing, Trump declines to hit President Xi Jinping on trade: 'I don't blame China'
Discussion:
CNN, Just Security, The Guardian, New York Times and The Week
John Harwood / CNBC:
Gary Cohn: Trickle-down is good for the economy — Gary Cohn says, “I don't believe that we've set out to create a tax cut for the wealthy. If someone's getting a tax cut, I'm not upset that they're getting a tax cut.” — Gary Cohn, 57, was in some ways an unlikely choice for Donald Trump's White House.
Discussion:
New York Magazine and Raw Story
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CNN:
Academic at heart of Clinton ‘dirt’ claim vanishes, leaving trail of questions — Poll: Americans concerned about Russia probe — (CNN)Joseph Mifsud, the Maltese academic suspected of being a link between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, was once a regular on the foreign policy circuit, attending conferences the world over.
Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:
Rand Paul's neighbors rip media ‘landscaping dispute’ reports — The Bowling Green, Ky. neighbor who allegedly sucker attack Sen. Rand Paul last weekend, causing six broken ribs, was aggressively anti-Trump and anti-GOP in his social media, calling for the impeachment of the president …
Discussion:
The Hill, RedState, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Post, IJR and 105.9 FM and AM 630
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Seung Min Kim / Politico:
GOP election drubbing scrambles tax reform outlook — Top Republicans in Congress had an urgent message to lawmakers after the party's drubbing in Tuesday's elections: Pass tax reform or we're toast in 2018. — “I think it simply means we've got to deliver,” Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday.
Discussion:
ABC News
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Jane Lytvynenko / BuzzFeed:
InfoWars Has Republished More Than 1,000 Articles From RT Without Permission — The conspiracy site also copied content from many other mainstream publications. — Over the past three years, conspiracy site InfoWars has copied more than 1,000 articles produced by Russian state-sponsored broadcaster RT …
National Enquirer:
HIV Charlie Sheen Raped 13-Year-Old Corey Haim — Shocking Claim — Dying child star named monster who assaulted him on ‘Lucas’ film set! — HIV-infected Charlie Sheen is finally being unmasked by The National ENQUIRER as a twisted child molester — the ruthless adult rapist …
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, Towleroad, AOL, The Daily Caller, The Last Tradition, Blunt Force Truth, RedState, bizpacreview.com, Boing Boing, Decider, viraltop1, twitchy.com and IndieWire
Megan Cerullo / New York Daily News:
Palm Springs City Council now entirely queer after election of transgender, bisexual women — The Palm Springs, Calif., City Council is entirely LGBT or queer after two new members were elected to the council Tuesday. — Lisa Middleton made history Tuesday as the first openly transgender candidate elected …
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Jesse Marx / Desert Sun:
Palm Springs election: Transgender candidate makes history in California
Palm Springs election: Transgender candidate makes history in California
Discussion:
Advocate, The Daily Caller and Los Angeles Blade
Gregg Re / Fox News:
More layoffs planned at Carrier plant Trump promised to save — Carrier Corp., the HVAC manufacturer that had planned to move its operations to Mexico before President Trump staged a much-heralded intervention, said Tuesday it is gearing up for yet another round of layoffs.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Kevin O'Leary / American Prospect:
Could Alabama Be Next? — Jeronimo Nisa /The Decatur Daily via AP — Candidate Doug Jones chats with constituents before a Democratic Senate candidate forum at the Princess Theatre in Decatur, Alabama — The hill country of northern Alabama holds one of the keys to next month's special election …
Robert Costa / Washington Post:
‘Canary in the coal mine’: Republicans fear Democratic wins mean more losses to come — Virginia republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie pauses in his concession speech Tuesday night in Richmond, Va. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) — A wave of Democratic victories ignited …
Discussion:
Political Wire
New York Times:
After Night of Drinking, F.B.I. Supervisor Wakes to Find a Woman Stole His Gun — WASHINGTON — An F.B.I. counterterrorism supervisor is under internal investigation after a woman stole his gun following a night of heavy drinking in a North Carolina hotel, according to documents and government officials.
Mike Fleming / Deadline:
Shocker: Kevin Spacey Dropped From ‘All The Money In The World;’ J Paul Getty Role Recast With Christopher Plummer — EXCLUSIVE: In an unprecedented bold move, director Ridley Scott, along with Imperative Entertainment's Dan Friedkin and Bradley Thomas have decided to remove Kevin Spacey …
Financial Times:
US regulators demand CNN sale to approve AT&T-Time Warner deal … AT&T has been told by the US Department of Justice that it needs to sell CNN, Time Warner's cable news channel, to get its $84.5bn acquisition of the media company approved, according to three people with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
Discussion:
Recode, New York Times, The Hill, NPR, Politico, Talking Points Memo, RT, RedState, CNBC, The Verge, Business Insider, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, The Guardian, Deadline, Mashable, TVNewser and The Gateway Pundit, more at Techmeme »
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New York Times:
U.S. Said to Seek Sale of CNN or DirecTV in AT&T-Time Warner Deal
U.S. Said to Seek Sale of CNN or DirecTV in AT&T-Time Warner Deal
Discussion:
TheBlaze, Politico, Recode, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, The Atlantic, AOL, New York Magazine, Joe.My.God., Vox, rbc.ru, The Week, CNNMoney, ThinkProgress, Mediaite, The Verge and Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »
Ben Collins / The Daily Beast:
Twitter Verifies Charlottesville Rally Boss Jason Kessler, Who Called Slain Protester's Death ‘Payback Time’ … On Tuesday, Twitter gave its preferred status, a verified check mark, to Jason Kessler, the creator of the white supremacist Charlottesville rally in August that left one dead.
Discussion:
The Root, twitchy.com, Little Green Footballs and Mashable
Alan Rappeport / New York Times:
The New Washington Drama: Treasury Secretary Versus Treasury Secretary — WASHINGTON — It is an unwritten rule that if a former Treasury secretary has nothing nice to say about one of his successors he does not say anything at all. But in the nation's capital these days, the rules of political comity are meant to be broken.
Discussion:
Political Wire
Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
The Promising Crisis in Saudi Arabia — Purging rivals is often a bad sign. But in this case it may show an impatience to reform. — We've seen this before. A rising leader arrests his political rivals on corruption charges to clear his path to power. Usually this kind of thing doesn't work out well for U.S. interests.
Discussion:
CNBC, New York Times, CNN, Foreign Policy and NPR
Travis Andersen / BostonGlobe.com:
Heather Unruh says Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted her son — Fighting back tears, former Channel 5 anchor Heather Unruh told reporters on Wednesday that actor Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted her teenage son during an encounter last year at a Nantucket bar.
Discussion:
Mediaite, CBS Boston, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Caller, viraltop1, IndieWire, CBS Los Angeles, Towleroad and AOL, more at Mediagazer »
John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Is the National Anthem Racist? — There are several possible answers to this question: — 1) Of course, because everything is racist. — 2) It's anyone's guess. The word “racist” has no meaning. — 3) Don't be stupid. — “Yes” isn't really on the list.
Discussion:
Snopes.com, CBS13, CBS San Francisco, RT and Washington Free Beacon