Top Items:
Daniel Lippman / Politico:
Aides struggle to see strategy in Trump's Conway, McCain fights — He is a “whack job,” a “husband from hell,” and a “stone cold LOSER.” Those were just some of the insults President Donald Trump hurled on Wednesday at a once little-known corporate litigator who happens to be married …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, No More Mister Nice Blog, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, Washington Press, RedState and CNN
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Peter Nicholas / The Atlantic:
Schwarzenegger Pulls No Punches in a Rare Rebuke of Trump — Arnold Schwarzenegger and John McCain saw in each other a willingness to buck the Republican Party and became fast friends and political allies. Mindful of McCain's legacy, the former California governor said on Wednesday …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, The Hill, Fox News, CNN, UPROXX, Breitbart, Joe.My.God. and New York Post
Daniel Lippman / Politico:
Trump wants Patriots owner Robert Kraft at White House despite prostitution bust
Trump wants Patriots owner Robert Kraft at White House despite prostitution bust
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God., The Week, New York Post, Mediaite and Boing Boing
Rebecca Shapiro / HuffPost:
Trump: 'I Didn't Get Thank You' For Approving John McCain's Funeral Arrangements
Trump: 'I Didn't Get Thank You' For Approving John McCain's Funeral Arrangements
Discussion:
Washington Post, USA Today and Raw Story
New York Times:
New Zealand to Ban Military-Style Semiautomatic Guns, Jacinda Ardern Says — CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday announced a national ban on all military-style semiautomatic weapons, all high-capacity ammunition magazines and all parts that allow weapons …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Week and The First Street Journal
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Aris Folley / The Hill:
New Zealanders turning over firearms after mass shooting — Authorities in New Zealand said citizens have been turning their firearms over to police in the days after a terror attack that targeted two mosques in Christchurch left at least 50 people dead, The Guardian reports.
Discussion:
ABC News, Daily Wire, One America News Network, Associated Press, Townhall, BuzzFeed News and RedState
Kate Lyons / The Guardian:
Jacinda Ardern bans all military-style semi-automatic guns and assault rifles - as it happened
Jacinda Ardern bans all military-style semi-automatic guns and assault rifles - as it happened
Discussion:
Contemptor
Mike Allen / Axios:
Scoop: Biden advisers debate Stacey Abrams as out-of-the-gate V.P. choice — Close advisers to former Vice President Joe Biden are debating the idea of packaging his presidential campaign announcement with a pledge to choose Stacey Abrams as his vice president.
Discussion:
New York Times, Breitbart, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Times, The Week, Joe.My.God. and Talking Points Memo
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Laura M. Holson / New York Times:
After Devin Nunes Sues a Parody Cow, It Surpasses Him on Twitter — Consider this: a parody account pretending to be an imaginary cow owned by Representative Devin Nunes, the California Republican, is more popular on Twitter than the congressman, a day after he sued the account (and Twitter) for $250 million.
Discussion:
Washington Post, UPROXX, The Wrap, The Mary Sue, The Week, The Stranger, SFist, Mediaite, Vox, Raw Story and claytoonz, more at Mediagazer »
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Marek Warszawski / Fresno Bee:
By suing Twitter and parody account @DevinCow, Nunes makes himself a laughingstock — Did you hear the one about Devin Nunes being so angry at a make-believe cow that he's suing Twitter for $250 million? — Now that's a lot of mooooo-la. — Ba dum tss
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Daily Beast and The Guardian
Courier-Journal:
Bevin exposed his 9 kids to chickenpox, says vaccine not for everyone — In a move experts say is medically unsound — and can be dangerous — Gov. Matt Bevin said in a radio interview Tuesday that he deliberately exposed all nine of his children to chickenpox so they would catch the disease and become immune.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Hill, Raw Story, Fox News, Talking Points Memo, Boing Boing, New York Post, Splinter and Joe.My.God.
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Eli Rosenberg / Washington Post:
A GOP governor doesn't believe in chickenpox vaccines. He took his nine kids to a pox party instead.
A GOP governor doesn't believe in chickenpox vaccines. He took his nine kids to a pox party instead.
Discussion:
ABC News, Axios and Talking Points Memo
CNN:
Former Trump confidante Hope Hicks to cooperate with House Democratic probe into Trump — (CNN)Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director and long-time confidante of President Donald Trump, plans to turn over documents to the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into potential obstruction of justice.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Washington Press, The Week, Washington Times, Joe.My.God. and Politico
Charles Kushner / Washington Post:
Here's the truth about my family and our business — Charles Kushner is a founder and principal of the Kushner Companies, a diversified real estate company. — Over the past two years, the news media have told a story about my family and our business with little regard for nuance, logic or even facts.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Week, Raw Story and Associated Press
New York Times:
Doomed Boeing Jets Lacked 2 Safety Features That Company Sold Only as Extras — As the pilots of the doomed Boeing jets in Ethiopia and Indonesia fought to control their planes, they lacked two notable safety features in their cockpits. — One reason: Boeing charged extra for them.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Trump, Inc.:
Trump's Moscow Tower Problem — This week, we're exploring President Donald Trump's efforts to do business in Moscow. Our team — Heather Vogell, Andrea Bernstein, Meg Cramer and Katie Zavadski — dug into just who Trump was working with and just what Trump needed from Russia to get a deal done.
New York Times:
Michael Steinhardt, a Leading Philanthropist of Jewish Causes, Is Accused of a Pattern of Sexual Harassment — Several women said Mr. Steinhardt made sexual requests of them while they were relying on or seeking his support. He denies many of the actions attributed to him.
Discussion:
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Sarah Marsh / The Guardian:
Cambridge University rescinds Jordan Peterson invitation — Offer of visiting fellowship to controversial professor resulted in backlash from faculty and students — Cambridge University has rescinded its offer of a visiting fellowship to Jordan Peterson, the self-styled …
Discussion:
The American Conservative and Hit & Run
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David French / National Review:
In Defense of the Iraq War — Today is the 16th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and Twitter is alive with condemnations of the conflict — countered by precious few defenses. Yet I believed the Iraq War was just and proper in 2003, and I still believe that today.
Discussion:
The American Conservative
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
Poll: 78% of GOP Fox News Viewers Say Trump Is Best President Ever — A new survey of the network's watchers reveal the hard core of the Republican Party and how hopeless it is for Democrats to try and court them. — Almost 8 in 10 Republicans who watch Fox News say Donald Trump is the most successful president in history.
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story
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Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:
Donna Brazile Explains Why She's Working for Fox News
Donna Brazile Explains Why She's Working for Fox News
Discussion:
Big League Politics, Hullabaloo, Washington Post, Contemptor, Splinter, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg:
Dump the Electoral College? Some 2020 Democrats Back Liberals' Goals — Eliminating Electoral College, expanding court get fresh look — Push mirrors a generational and ideological split in party — The Democratic nomination race is moving beyond stump speeches and fundraising pleas …
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David Harsanyi / The Federalist:
Democrats Want To Kill The Electoral College Because They Fear The Constitution
Democrats Want To Kill The Electoral College Because They Fear The Constitution
Discussion:
RedState, The Babylon Bee and Daily Wire
David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
The Kingdom and the Kushners: Jared Went to Riyadh. So Did His Brother. — In late October 2017, Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and Middle East adviser, dropped into Saudi Arabia for an unannounced visit to the desert retreat of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was in the process of consolidating his power.
Julie K. Brown / miamiherald:
Two mystery parties try to restrict release of documents in Jeffrey Epstein civil suit — Two mysterious parties, labeling themselves Jane Doe and John Doe, have filed separate legal briefs in an attempt to limit the public release of personal information that could connect …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Pence woos 2016 anti-Trumpers to bankroll billion-dollar reelection — The vice president is serving as a conduit and Trump translator for the traditional GOP donor set. — When Vice President Mike Pence appeared before some of the GOP's most powerful donors at the iconic Pebble Beach golf course …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Robert McMillan / Wall Street Journal:
After New Zealand Shooting, Founder of 8chan Expresses Regrets — Fredrick Brennan founded the website 8chan as a home for unconstrained speech devoted to critiquing what he saw as the authoritarianism of leftist culture and politics. Now, he says, it has gone too far.
Jonathan Shorman / Wichita Eagle:
Kansas lawmakers take big step toward expanding Medicaid — Kansas lawmakers took a major step Wednesday toward expanding Medicaid, a change that could extend health coverage to 150,000 Kansans but potentially cost $47 million a year. — Lawmakers, ignoring Republican objections …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Joel Achenbach / Washington Post:
Fentanyl drug overdose deaths rising most sharply among African Americans — The synthetic opioid fentanyl has been driving up the rate of fatal drug overdoses across racial and social lines in the United States, with the sharpest increase among African Americans, according to a new analysis …
Melanie Mason / Los Angeles Times:
Bernie Sanders, at UCLA, highlights his longtime support for organized labor — Bernie Sanders' first appearance in California as a 2020 presidential candidate was not at a mega-rally like the ones that defined his previous bid, but at a speech before sun-baked picketers in front of UCLA's medical center.
Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Women are lagging in the 2020 primary polls — that's too bad — The case for making 2020 the real Year of the Woman. — When women proved markedly more likely than men to win contested Democratic primaries in 2018, I thought female candidates would have the edge in the 2020 sweepstakes.
Politico:
Gillum's ‘red flag’ plan to stop Trump: 1M more Florida voters — Andrew Gillum announced a plan Wednesday to register and turn-out 1 million new and low-propensity Florida voters in an effort to crush President Donald Trump's reelection chances in the nation's largest swing state.
Discussion:
Conservative News Today, Splinter and Bring it Home Florida
Sarah Ellison / Washington Post:
Lachlan Murdoch takes control of Fox Corp. But how will he deal with President Trump? — LOS ANGELES — President Trump has never called Lachlan Murdoch. — The 47-year-old media scion, best known for being Rupert Murdoch's son, is finally inheriting the mantle of chief executive of the family business.
Jacob Kornbluh / Jewish Insider:
At town hall, Rep. Max Rose apologizes to Jewish constituents for Omar's rhetoric — Rep. Max Rose (D-NY) began his town hall meeting with Jewish constituents on Tuesday night with an apology. “As a young congressman, I've got to tell you I'm sorry,” Rose confessed to the crowd gathered …
Discussion:
Breitbart, Fox News and National Review