Top Items:
Axios:
Scoop: Kevin McCarthy tells Trump new health care push makes no sense — Reflecting widespread concerns within his party, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has told President Trump he disagrees with the Trump administration's attempt to get the entire Affordable Care Act thrown out in court.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Politico, HillReporter.com, The Daily Caller, The Week, Raw Story, Political Wire, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Post and ABC News
RELATED:
Burgess Everett / Politico:
White House Obamacare reversal made over Cabinet objections — The Trump administration's surprising move to invalidate Obamacare on Monday came despite the opposition of two key Cabinet secretaries: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Attorney General William Barr.
Discussion:
CNN, USA Today, Shareblue Media, WCSH, New York Times, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Vanity Fair, National Review, The Daily Caller, Quartz, The Resurgent, Talking Points Memo, The Week, Raw Story, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, Big League Politics, Hullabaloo, Outside the Beltway, Mother Jones, Mercury News, Vox, twitchy.com, Slate and The Hill
New York Times:
In Divided White House, Trump Sided With Mulvaney in Push for Nullifying Health Act — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration's surprise decision to press for a court-ordered demolition of the Affordable Care Act came after a heated meeting in the Oval Office on Monday …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Sarah Kliff / Vox:
Donald Trump is very committed to taking away your health insurance
Donald Trump is very committed to taking away your health insurance
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, Off the Kuff, POLITICUSUSA, CNN and Breitbart
Susan Page / USA Today:
Barbara Bush: Did she still consider herself a Republican? 'I'd probably say no today.' — Barbara Bush, in a forthcoming book, had given up on the Republican Party. Susan Page expounds upon the story from her book, “The Matriarch.” — CONNECT — EXCLUSIVE: This story is adapted …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Mediaite, New York Daily News, Mercury News, Politico, Vanity Fair, Slate, CNN, Breitbart, Washington Times, Raw Story, HillReporter.com, Fox News, Talking Points Memo, NB Blog, New York Post, Contemptor, Political Wire, Althouse, FOX31 Denver, IJR, Axios, The Week and The Daily Caller
Guy Benson / Townhall:
Whitewash: Cook County Clerk's Office Stunned as Smollett Case File Vanishes From Records System — Chicago is still reeling from yesterday's extraordinary development in the Jussie Smollett case, in which the office of the State's Attorney chose to drop all 16 felony charges against the disgraced actor.
Discussion:
New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, The Wrap and CBS News
RELATED:
Crime In Boystown / CWB Chicago:
Exclusive: Chicago Police Department's complete investigative file of Jussie Smollett case — CWBChicago is posting the complete Chicago Police Department investigative file on the Jussie Smollett “hate crime” investigation that we have received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
John Kass / Chicago Tribune:
Column: Kim Foxx cleans Jussie Smollett up, the Chicago Way
Column: Kim Foxx cleans Jussie Smollett up, the Chicago Way
Discussion:
Chicago, IL Patch, TMZ.com and twitchy.com
Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
Mueller grand jury ‘continuing robustly,’ prosecutor says — The special counsel grand jury that investigated Russian collusion into the 2016 presidential election is “continuing robustly” despite the end of Robert Mueller's probe, a federal prosecutor said in court Wednesday.
Discussion:
HillReporter.com, Daily Kos, Law & Crime, Raw Story and Political Wire
The Daily Beast:
MSNBC's Trump-Russia Ratings Fizzle: ‘Time to Pivot to 2020’ — The Mueller report and its potential implications have driven the network's coverage—and monster ratings—for two years. Now it's ended with a whimper, leaving execs in a bind. — Attorney General William Barr's short …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, National Review, Breitbart, RedState, Paste, twitchy.com, IJR, Politico, Althouse, Roll Call, Mediaite, Fox News and Vanity Fair, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:
The Resistance Media Weren't Ready for This
The Resistance Media Weren't Ready for This
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Daily Beast and patribotics
Motherboard:
Facebook Bans White Nationalism and White Separatism — After a civil rights backlash, Facebook will now treat white nationalism and separatism the same as white supremacy, and will direct users who try to post that content to a nonprofit that helps people leave hate groups.
Discussion:
Boing Boing, Paste, TechCrunch, Washington Post, The Week and New York Post, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Facebook:
Standing Against Hate — Today we're announcing a ban on praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism on Facebook and Instagram, which we'll start enforcing next week. It's clear that these concepts are deeply linked to organized hate groups and have no place on our services.
Washington Post:
Theresa May says she will resign as prime minister after she ‘delivers Brexit’ — BREAKING NEWS: The British leader bowed to pressure from her Conservative Party and said she will resign before the next phase of Brexit talks. She is seeking to win majority backing for her twice-rejected …
RELATED:
emptywheel:
The Roger Stone Indictment Proves Barr's Memo Understates Trump Flunkies' Complicity — I've made this point implicitly a few times, but it bears making explicitly. We have proof that Bill Barr's memo spins the known contents of the Mueller Report to minimize the complicity of Trump's flunkies.
Discussion:
Raw Story, PolitiFact and NB Blog
RELATED:
George T. Conway III / Washington Post:
George Conway: Trump is guilty — of being unfit for office
George Conway: Trump is guilty — of being unfit for office
Discussion:
American Enterprise Institute, IJR, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Politico, The Daily Caller, The Week and Mediaite
Des Moines Register:
EXCLUSIVE: Elizabeth Warren lays out plan to target corporate agriculture, support family farms — Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is taking aim at some of the nation's largest agribusiness companies, such as Tyson and Bayer-Monsanto, continuing her campaign's assault on corporate consolidation.
Discussion:
Common Dreams and Motherboard, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Andrew Desiderio / Politico:
House Democrats make new push for 10 years of Trump's financial records — The House Oversight and Reform Committee is seeking 10 years of President Donald Trump's financial records from an accounting firm, two Republicans on the panel revealed on Wednesday.
Discussion:
Axios and The Daily Beast
RELATED:
Alexander Burns / New York Times:
Gillibrand Discloses 2018 Taxes, Pushing 2020 Rivals to Follow Suit
Gillibrand Discloses 2018 Taxes, Pushing 2020 Rivals to Follow Suit
Discussion:
Axios, Fox News, Talking Points Memo, Politico, The Week, YouTube and Washington Free Beacon
Los Angeles Times:
For Michael Avenatti, a luxury lifestyle built on a purported house of cards — Long before he was Stormy Daniels' lawyer, well before he was accused of trying to shake down Nike for millions of dollars, Michael Avenatti was an Orange County plaintiff's attorney living a luxe life adorned with fast cars …
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Five Trump trips to Mar-a-Lago would cover Betsy Devos's proposed Special Olympics cuts — It's not Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's fault that her department has to cut its budget. That's a mandate coming down from her boss, President Trump. — But DeVos is the one to make specific recommendations …
Discussion:
Politico, Philly.com, Splinter, Rolling Stone and Raw Story
RELATED:
Doha Madani / NBC News:
Betsy DeVos grilled in Congress over proposed elimination of Special Olympics funding
Betsy DeVos grilled in Congress over proposed elimination of Special Olympics funding
Discussion:
Washington Post, Shakesville, KTLA, Fox News and Splinter
Chris Cillizza / CNN:
129 seconds that perfectly explain why liberals go wild for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — (CNN)On the day that the Senate rejected — by a vote of 0-57 — the broad strokes of the so-called “Green New Deal,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D), one of the leading voices for the legislation …
Discussion:
New York Post, twitchy.com, Paste, The Hill, Fox News, Breitbart and Shareblue Media
Niklas Magnusson / Bloomberg:
Swedbank Laundering Case Explodes With Alleged Manafort Link — Swedish bank is now reportedly being investigated in the U.S. — Bank's headquarters in Stockholm were raided on Wednesday — The Swedbank AB money laundering scandal grew considerably more serious this week amid reports …
RELATED:
Anita Kumar / Politico:
Departing Trump aides failed to disclose next job as law requires — Seven former senior Trump aides, including the White House's top ethics official, may have violated federal law by failing to disclose their future employment on financial reports, according to records obtained by POLITICO.
Discussion:
Heritage Foundation
RELATED:
Nancy Cook / Politico:
How Frank Luntz went from Trump enemy to White House insider
How Frank Luntz went from Trump enemy to White House insider
Discussion:
ABC News
Anna M. Phillips / Los Angeles Times:
How a couple worked charter school regulations to make millions — The warning signs appeared soon after Denise Kawamoto accepted a job at Today's Fresh Start Charter School in South Los Angeles. — Though she was fresh out of college, she was pretty sure it wasn't normal for the school …
Discussion:
Diane Ravitch's blog
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Jean Rimbach / NorthJersey.com:
Millions of your tax dollars have disappeared into NJ's flawed charter school experiment
Millions of your tax dollars have disappeared into NJ's flawed charter school experiment
Discussion:
Joanne Jacobs
Associated Press:
Gay sex and adultery will be punishable by stoning to death and thieves will be amputated under ‘vicious’ new Sharia laws brought in by Brunei — Brunei could start whipping or stoning gay people to death next week when strict new laws are introduced, human rights groups have warned.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
Sean McElwee / New York Times:
People Actually Like the Green New Deal — Mitch McConnell's show vote in the Senate on Tuesday rejected the plan, but Republicans may come to regret their mockery. — Mr. McElwee is one of the founders of Data for Progress. — Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader …
Discussion:
Curbed, Common Dreams and Mercury News
Julia Ainsley / NBC News:
James Comey says he is confused by Mueller's decision on obstruction — “The entire rationale for a special counsel is to make sure the politicals aren't making the key charging decisions,” the former FBI chief said. — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former FBI Director James Comey told an audience …
Discussion:
Reuters, ABC News, Mediaite, Breitbart, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Axios, Washington Times and New York Post
Wall Street Journal:
Former NSA Contractor Expected to Plead Guilty This Week for Theft of Top Secret Documents — A former National Security Agency contractor who was scheduled to go to trial in June on charges of removing a huge amount of classified material from the agency's headquarters is expected to plead guilty on Thursday.
Karoun Demirjian / Washington Post:
‘Undoubtedly there is collusion’: Trump antagonist Adam Schiff doubles down after Mueller finds no conspiracy — President Trump, emboldened by the special counsel's determination he was not part of a criminal conspiracy to sway the 2016 election, has an early target as he seeks recompense from his critics …
Amy Goldstein / Washington Post:
A job-scarce town struggles with Arkansas's first-in-nation Medicaid work rules — Marianna, ARK. — At the center of Court Square in this old Mississippi Delta town, the monument to the county's Confederate dead is inscribed: “No braver bled for a brighter land. No brighter land had a cause so grand.”
Discussion:
Splinter