Top Items:
Washington Post:
President Trump installed a room-sized golf simulator at White House — President Trump has installed a room-sized “golf simulator” game at the White House, which allows him to play virtual rounds at courses all over the world by hitting a ball into a large video screen, according to two people told about the system.
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Splinter, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, twitchy.com, The Big Lead, The Root and Mediaite
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CNN:
Trump intends to sign border deal to avoid another shutdown — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump intends to sign the border security deal to avoid another partial government shutdown, according to two sources who have spoken directly with the President.
Megan Brenan / Gallup:
Trump Approval, Economic Confidence Rebound — WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump's job approval rating has risen to 44% after the conclusion of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. While views of Trump have improved, the public's heightened positivity does not extend …
Discussion:
Daily Wire, Political Wire, Breitbart and NTK Network
U.S. Department of Justice:
Former U.S. Counterintelligence Agent Charged With Espionage on Behalf of Iran; Four Iranians Charged With a Cyber Campaign Targeting Her Former Colleagues — Indictment Unsealed as U.S. Treasury Department Announces Economic Sanctions — Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, a former U.S. service member …
Discussion:
New York Post, Axios, KTLA, Mashable, Defense One, Front Page Magazine, Gizmodo and Law & Crime, more at Techmeme »
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Dave Orrick / Twin Cities:
MN Jewish leaders talked with Ilhan Omar about anti-Semitism last year. Why they remain frustrated. — Ilhan Omar has been talked to about this before. — Last year, before she was elected to the House of Representatives, before she emerged from a crowded Democratic field …
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Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
‘That is a ridiculous question’: Rep. Ilhan Omar's tense clash with Trump's Venezuela envoy
‘That is a ridiculous question’: Rep. Ilhan Omar's tense clash with Trump's Venezuela envoy
Discussion:
Contemptor, Breitbart and Townhall
David Rutz / Washington Free Beacon:
Anti-Semitic Congresswoman Defames Jewish-American Hero
Anti-Semitic Congresswoman Defames Jewish-American Hero
Discussion:
Jihad Watch
Astead W. Herndon / New York Times:
Kamala Harris Was Accused of Lying About Listening to Tupac and Snoop Dogg. The Truth Is More Complicated. — It began as a lighthearted moment. Senator Kamala Harris, the California Democrat and former prosecutor who announced her presidential candidacy last month …
Discussion:
IJR, twitchy.com, Newsweek, Townhall, The FADER, JustOneMinute and Okayplayer
Ed Clowes / Gulf News:
Trump backer Tom Barrack defends Saudi Arabia — Real estate developer said that kingdom was misunderstood by the West — Dubai: America is in no moral position to criticise Saudi Arabia, according to financier and key Trump backer Tom Barrack. — Speaking on stage at the Milken Institute MENA Summit …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Mediaite, Raw Story, VICE News and The Week, more at Mediagazer »
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CNN:
Justice Department investigating leak of confidential Michael Cohen bank records — (CNN)The Justice Department is investigating the leak last year of confidential reports about Michael Cohen's personal bank records which led to revelations that the former Donald Trump lawyer was profiting …
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Megan McArdle / Washington Post:
Democrats are learning to copy Trump. Uh-oh. — Sometime in the past few years, the left became obsessed with “gaslighting.” Derived from the 1944 movie “Gaslight” starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer, the term means not just lying to someone's face but also persuading them that they don't see what you both plainly do.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast
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Jeryl Bier / The Script:
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's 2018 Campaign Spent $20,490 On Air Travel, $3,147 On Rail
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's 2018 Campaign Spent $20,490 On Air Travel, $3,147 On Rail
Discussion:
Louder With Crowder, The Daily Caller, The Daily Signal and IJR
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Owning The Libs By Voting On Their Proposals
Owning The Libs By Voting On Their Proposals
Discussion:
twitchy.com, The Week and IJR
Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:
Howard Schultz and the media's unlearned lesson — A billionaire flirts with a run for president and gets grossly disproportionate free airtime. We all know the punchline. Howard Schultz, the running-but-not-yet-running former CEO of Starbucks, has attracted intense media interest …
Discussion:
Common Dreams
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Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Howard Schultz's campaign about nothing
Howard Schultz's campaign about nothing
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and Breitbart
Marc Caputo / Politico:
Michael Bloomberg's $500 million anti-Trump moonshot — Billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg is preparing to spend at least $500 million from his own pocket to deny President Donald Trump a second term, according to Democratic operatives briefed on his plans.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, Front Page Magazine, twitchy.com, Breitbart, POLITICUSUSA, Townhall, National Review, NTK Network, NB Blog and Washington Times
Ryan Goodman / Just Security:
Who is Richard Burr, Really? Why the public can't trust his voice in the Russia probe — On the same day that Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) officially joined the Trump campaign as a senior national security advisor, the U.S. intelligence community released a statement that the Kremlin was trying to interfere in the election.
Discussion:
Vox and Hullabaloo
Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Green New Deal has paved the way for Trump to cave on border wall funding at lower political cost — Thanks to the release of the Green New Deal, President Trump will be able to sign on to the latest plan to fund the government without his border wall funding at a much lower political cost.
Discussion:
CNBC
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Karen Geier / VICE:
Being Raised by Two Narcissists Taught Me How to Deal with Trump — Two years in, some people are still expecting one of his scandals to bring him down. I know better. — If you've watched the past three-plus years of the Donald Trump circus looking for some glimmer of hope he'll get owned …
Kevin Robillard / HuffPost:
Mark Kelly's Arizona Senate Run Could Spark A Clash With The Left — He's a dream recruit for Democrats, but he could face one of several contentious primaries in key Senate races. — WASHINGTON Democratic operatives are ecstatic about Mark Kelly's decision to run against appointed Arizona Republican Sen. Martha McSally in 2020.
Discussion:
Power Line, Mother Jones and OpenSecrets.org
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New York Times:
U.S. Revives Secret Program to Sabotage Iranian Missiles and Rockets — WARSAW — The Trump White House has accelerated a secret American program to sabotage Iran's missiles and rockets, according to current and former administration officials, who described it as part of an expanding campaign …
Discussion:
Political Wire
Mike Allen / Axios:
House Democrats plan vast Russia probe — Mueller is just the beginning. House Democrats plan a vast probe of President Trump and Russia — with a heavy focus on money laundering — that will include multiple committees and dramatic public hearings, and could last into 2020.
Discussion:
Townhall, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, TheBlaze, Mediaite and The Daily Caller
Washington Post:
Investigation finds no evidence of ‘racist or offensive statements’ by Covington Catholic students during Lincoln Memorial incident — An investigation released Wednesday into an encounter between Covington Catholic High School students and Native American activists at the Lincoln Memorial …
Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:
President Trump wants the press to check out the Great Tariff Debate of 1888. Okay! — On tariffs, what can 1888 tell us about 2019? — Many things happened at President Trump's El Paso rally on Monday night. A BBC cameraman was violently attacked by a #MAGA supporter; you can read his colleague's account of that here.
Discussion:
BBC, Salon and CNN, more at Mediagazer »
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Brock Long resigns as FEMA administrator — FEMA Administrator Brock Long announced Wednesday that he would resign from his post. Peter Gaynor will serve as acting administrator. — The big picture: Long had been criticized and investigated by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general …
Carolina A. Miranda / L.A. Times Guild:
An open letter to Los Angeles Times management about its intellectual property proposals — We, the undersigned journalists of the Los Angeles Times, write to protest a proposed company policy on intellectual property that would mark a new low in the newspaper industry …
Bill Barrow / Associated Press:
APNewsBreak: Howard Dean to head new Dem voter data exchange — Howard Dean is back. — The one-time presidential candidate, former Vermont governor and ex-Democratic National Committee chairman is set to return to prominence as head of a new operation that Democrats hope puts them back on par …
Marcia Dunn / Associated Press:
NASA rover finally bites the dust on Mars after 15 years — CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's Opportunity, the Mars rover that was built to operate just three months but kept going and going, was pronounced dead Wednesday, 15 years after it landed on the red planet.
Discussion:
WHYY, Gizmodo and FOX2now.com
New York Times:
Unmistakable Divide Among Women in Virginia Over Accusations Against Fairfax — RICHMOND, Va. — To Constance Cordovilla, the president of the Virginia National Organization for Women, the two sexual assault allegations against Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax are not just grounds for him to resign …
Discussion:
RedState and Front Page Magazine
Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:
McCarthy rebuffs accusations of anti-Semitism in deleted tweet about Soros, Steyer and Bloomberg — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday denied expressing anti-Semitic undertones in a now-deleted tweet he posted before last year's midterms that warned of three prominent Jewish …
Discussion:
Contemptor and Townhall
Tovah Lazaroff / Jerusalem Post:
NETANYAHU: ISRAEL AND ARAB STATES ADVANCING COMMON INTEREST OF WAR WITH IRAN — Israel is working to oust Iran from Syria, Netanyahu said, adding, “we are obligated to do this and we will do this.” — Arab countries and Israel are talking about war with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu …
Discussion:
The American Conservative