Top Items:
Colbie Holderness / Washington Post:
Rob Porter is my ex-husband. Here's what you should know about abuse. — Colbie Holderness was the first wife of former White House staff secretary Rob Porter. — White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday that she has no reason not to believe statements that Jennifer Willoughby …
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Eliana Johnson / Politico:
Kelly increasingly isolated as Porter scandal rages on — Turbulence in this West Wing is typically generated by President Donald Trump, but for the past week, it's been chief of staff John Kelly—the man brought in to be a steadying hand—who's inspiring what one White House official described as a crisis of confidence.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Political Wire, Splinter, Mediaite, Raw Story and Washington Examiner
Peter Baker / New York Times:
A Whirlwind Envelops the White House, and the Revolving Door Spins — WASHINGTON — The doors at the White House have been swinging a lot lately. A deputy chief of staff moved on. A speechwriter resigned. The associate attorney general stepped down. The chief of staff offered to quit.
Discussion:
The Hill, Vox, CNN, National Review, RedState, Weekly Standard, Axios, Raw Story and The Week
New York Times:
Accusations Against Aide Renew Attention on White House Security Clearances — WASHINGTON — One week after the 2016 election, President-elect Donald J. Trump tweeted that he was “not trying to get ‘top level security clearance’ for my children,” calling such claims “a typically false news story.”
Discussion:
National Review and Raw Story
Tara Palmeri / ABC News:
Rob Porter told White House senior staff ex-wife's black eye was accidental: Sources
Rob Porter told White House senior staff ex-wife's black eye was accidental: Sources
Daniel Lippman / Politico:
VETERAN REPUBLICAN pulls ISSA into his divorce case …
VETERAN REPUBLICAN pulls ISSA into his divorce case …
Discussion:
Chicago Tribune, Variety and The Week
Helena Bottemiller Evich / Politico:
Trump pitches plan to replace food stamps with food boxes — The Trump administration is proposing to save billions in the coming years by giving low-income families a box of government-picked, nonperishable foods every month instead of food stamps. — White House OMB Director Mick Mulvaney …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and The Week
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Erica Hunzinger / NPR:
Trump Administration Wants To Decide What Food SNAP Recipients Will Get
Trump Administration Wants To Decide What Food SNAP Recipients Will Get
Discussion:
KQED News and Common Dreams
Caitlin Dewey / Washington Post:
Trump wants to slash food stamps and replace them with a ‘Blue Apron-type program’
Trump wants to slash food stamps and replace them with a ‘Blue Apron-type program’
Discussion:
Common Dreams and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Chris Massie / CNN:
GOP Senate candidate's parents max out donations to primary campaign of Democrat he hopes to unseat — (CNN)Just months after Republican Kevin Nicholson announced his bid to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in 2018, his own parents donated the legal maximum to her primary campaign.
Discussion:
Political Wire, Politicus USA, FiveThirtyEight, Roll Call, Washington Times, Washington Press, Splinter, The Week and Raw Story
CNN:
Obama admin discussed how much of Russia meddling investigation to share with incoming Trump team — (CNN)President Barack Obama met in January 2017 with then-FBI Director James Comey and other top national security officials to discuss sharing information related to Russia …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, emptywheel, The Last Refuge and Politico
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Alex Pappas / Fox News:
Senators flag ‘unusual’ Susan Rice email on Russia probe from Inauguration Day
Senators flag ‘unusual’ Susan Rice email on Russia probe from Inauguration Day
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Fox News Insider, The Daily Caller and TheBlaze
Dan Alexander / Forbes:
Trump's Biggest Potential Conflict Of Interest Is Hiding In Plain Sight — The largest American office of China's largest bank sits on the 20th floor of Trump Tower, six levels below the desk where Donald Trump built an empire and wrested a presidency. It's hard to get a glimpse inside.
Discussion:
Raw Story and Political Wire
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John Cassidy / New Yorker:
A White House Budget Fit for the King of Debt — As a guide to policy, the White House's budget for 2019, which was released on Monday, isn't worth much. In the federal government, Congress holds the purse strings, and these days it has largely abandoned the annual budgeting process …
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Zach Carter / HuffPost:
Trump's Deficit Is Fine. His Budget Is Terrible.
Trump's Deficit Is Fine. His Budget Is Terrible.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Your Health Guide
David Brooks / New York Times:
The End of the Two-Party System — In the first half of the 1990s, I worked in Europe for The Wall Street Journal. I covered nothing but good news: the reunification of Germany, the liberation of Central Europe, the fall of the Soviet Union, the end of apartheid in South Africa, the Oslo peace process in the Middle East.
Kim Janssen / Chicago Tribune:
WLS-Ch.7 blames graphics ‘mix-up’ for confusion between P.F. Chang's and Pyeongchang — Pyeongchang is a mountainous county 110 miles southeast of Seoul in South Korea, and the host of the 2018 Winter Olympics. — P.F. Chang's is an Asian-inspired chain restaurant with 210 U.S. locations …
Discussion:
The Root, New York Magazine, Splinter, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Awful Announcing, Raw Story, Washington Free Beacon, twitchy.com, The Week and Mediaite
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Comey told Congress FBI agents didn't think Michael Flynn lied … In March 2017, then-FBI Director James Comey briefed a number of Capitol Hill lawmakers on the Trump-Russia investigation. One topic of intense interest was the case of Michael Flynn, the Trump White House national security adviser …
Discussion:
Power Line, The Last Refuge and The Gateway Pundit
Washpostpr / Washington Post:
Megan McArdle named Washington Post Opinions columnist — The Washington Post today announced Megan McArdle will be a columnist for the Opinions section starting March 1. In this role, McArdle will write columns with a focus on the intersection of economics, business and public policy.
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
Trump's Lawyer Michael Cohen Is Shopping a Book About the First Family, Stormy Daniels, and Russia … Donald Trump's longtime personal lawyer is writing a book about his life and relationship with the president. — According to a proposal shopped to multiple publishers and obtained by The Daily Beast …
Joe Concha / The Hill:
Trump proposes eliminating federal funding for PBS, NPR — 's newly proposed budget includes a proposal to end federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), part of a package that includes $300 billion in new spending overall. — CPB provides federal funding for PBS and National Public Radio stations.
Discussion:
CPB, Breitbart and Washington Press
Bloomberg:
U.S. Strikes Killed Scores of Russian Fighters in Syria, Sources Say — More than 200 contract soldiers are said to have been killed — The casualties dwarf official Russian army death toll in Syria — U.S. forces killed scores of Russian contract soldiers in Syria last week …
Discussion:
The Week and Political Wire
Aruna Viswanatha / Wall Street Journal:
Former Prosecutors Take Frustrations With Trump to the Campaign Trail — A number of Democrats running for Congress are ex-employees who left Justice Department — Chris Hunter was preparing to take a health-care fraud case to trial when he says he became concerned about the dynamics …
Discussion:
Political Wire and Politicus USA
USA Today:
Justice Department turnover is bad news for Mueller, ethics and democracy — Rachel Brand had the backbone to refuse wrongful orders. She provided a measure of protection for Mueller and Justice independence. But now she's gone. — CONNECT — Under normal circumstances …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Just Security, Washington Press, The Gateway Pundit, Shareblue Media, New York Magazine and RedState
Walter Russell Mead / Wall Street Journal:
Kim Yo Jong's Shattered Olympic Dream — The sister of North Korea's dictator was a media sensation—but a diplomatic failure. — The toughest event at this year's Winter Olympics has turned out to be the diplomatic lunge. Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's ruthless dictator …
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Ben Domenech / The Federalist:
Dear America: Your News Media Absolutely Hates You
Dear America: Your News Media Absolutely Hates You
Discussion:
Washington Post, Reuters, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire, The Daily Signal, IJR, Mediaite, Fox News, Breitbart and Hot Air
Lynette Rice / EW.com:
Celebrity Big Brother: Omarosa calls Vice President Mike Pence ‘scary’ — Omarosa may be on her way out but she still has plenty more to say about her time in the White House. — In this clip from tonight's episode of Celebrity Big Brother, Omarosa tells her fellow houseguests …
New York Times:
Trump's Infrastructure Plan Puts Burden on State and Private Money — President Trump's $200 billion plan to rebuild America upends the criteria that have long been used to pick ambitious federal projects, putting little emphasis on how much an infrastructure proposal benefits the public …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The White House, Politico, NPR, Humphrey On The Hill, The Week, The Last Refuge and Daily Kos
Jonah Engel Bromwich / New York Times:
Candidate Ejected From West Virginia House Floor for Listing Lawmakers' Oil and Gas Donors — John H. Shott, a West Virginia state lawmaker, did not appreciate when, during a public hearing on the House floor on Friday, a citizen began listing donations he and some of his colleagues had received from the oil and gas industry.
Antonio Olivo / Washington Post:
Va. Republicans move to dump controversial leader over anti-Semitic online post … For several years, Fredy Burgos has been a controversial but tolerated figure within Virginia's Republican Party — a verbal bomb thrower whose attacks against Muslims, immigrants and others have turned off moderates …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Bearing Drift and Washington Times
WBNS-TV:
Gigantic “Pigzilla” caught rummaging through dumpster — An enormous wild boar was caught on camera rifling through a garbage dumpster outside a school in Hong Kong. Video of the encounter posted on Facebook has gone viral, with thousands of shares and comments.
Discussion:
VICE and The Daily Caller
Mike Lofgren / New York Times:
Reagan's ‘Party of Ideas’ Is Down to Just One: Tax Cuts — It is a sign of our slide toward banana republic status when the president of the United States, leader of the world's foremost democracy, publicly brands Democrats who failed to applaud his State of the Union address as un-American and treasonous.
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Corker weighs his options as GOP frets about losing Tennessee — Retiring Sen. Bob Corker is “listening” to Republicans urging him to run for reelection, according to a person close to him, a development that would quell anxiety among Republicans over losing a must-win seat to Democrats this fall.
Discussion:
NBC News, Humphrey On The Hill, Shareblue Media, Politicus USA, Washington Press, Washington Times, Political Wire and Breitbart
Kevin Allen / USA Today:
U.S. women's hockey goalies may have to remove Statue of Liberty image from masks — GANGNEUNG, Korea - USA Hockey is working with the IOC to see whether goalies Nicole Hensley and Alex Rigsby really will have to remove the Statue of Liberty from their goalkeepers masks.