Top Items:
New York Times:
Trump Names Richard Grenell as Acting Head of Intelligence — The move places a loyalist atop the intelligence agencies that the president has long battled. — WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday named Richard Grenell, a vocal loyalist who quickly antagonized the German establishment …
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Breitbart, Townhall, Politico, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, The Guardian, The Hill, Mediaite, The Last Refuge, Twitchy, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times and The Week
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Axios:
Trump to install loyalist Ric Grenell as acting intelligence chief — President Trump confirmed in a tweet Wednesday night that he will install Richard Grenell, the current U.S. ambassador to Germany and a staunch defender of the president, as the acting director of national intelligence.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Blade and KTLA
Grant Stern / Occupy Democrats:
Trump names unqualified far-right political hack to nation's top intelligence job
Nico Hines / The Daily Beast:
Trump Offered Assange Pardon if He Covered Up Russian Hack, WikiLeaks Founder's Lawyer Claims — Lawyers acting for the WikiLeaks founder said Dana Rohrabacher, a former Republican congressman, had brought the message to London from Trump. — LONDON—President Trump offered to pardon Julian Assange …
Discussion:
New York Times, The American Independent, CNBC, Law & Crime, Mediaite, The Last Refuge, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Caller, The Verge, Twitchy, Mother Jones, The Week and Raw Story
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Owen Bowcott / The Guardian:
Donald Trump ‘offered Julian Assange a pardon if he denied Russia link to hack’ — Donald Trump offered Julian Assange a pardon if he would say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic party emails, a court in London has been told. — The extraordinary claim was made at Westminster magistrates court …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, VICE, РБК, The Hill, The Mahablog, IJR and UPI
Washington Post:
Assange lawyer claims congressman offered pardon on behalf of Trump in exchange for absolving Russia in WikiLeaks DNC case — LONDON — A lawyer for Julian Assange said in a British court Wednesday that former Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher, an ally of President Trump …
Discussion:
Vanity Fair
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
The White House denies Julian Assange's pardon claim. Here's what we know about it. — A day after President Trump issued executive clemency to 11 people including former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, another potential Trump pardon is in the news. — This one: For Julian Assange.
Tim Miller / The Bulwark:
The Skeptic's Case Against Bloomberg — Just a few questions before we anoint Mayor Mike as the moderate savior. — A friend texted—actually “signaled,” because that's what all the cool operatives are doing these days—me yesterday. The exchange went as such:
Discussion:
Washington Post and National Review
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Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
Several Joe Biden fundraisers jump ship from his struggling campaign to back Mike Bloomberg
Ezra Klein / Vox:
Bloomberg's plan to buy the presidency endangers democracy
Discussion:
The Atlantic, New York Post and CNN
Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:
Democracy 2020 Digest: Bloomberg wars with Biden ahead of debate debut
Discussion:
Associated Press, NBC News and The Hill
Nihar Kabinittal / ABC News:
Former Nevada Sen. Harry Reid says ‘not a chance in hell’ Medicare for All would pass — The former Senate Majority Leader also refuses to endorse a candidate just yet. — Former longtime Nevada lawmaker Harry Reid has declined to endorse a candidate ahead of the state's Democratic caucus …
Discussion:
The Hill
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Katie Rogers / New York Times:
When Democrats Vote, Trump Is Never Far Away
Discussion:
Politico, Rolling Stone and Raw Story
Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:
What a Sanders Win in Nevada Would Really Mean
Discussion:
Washington Post, Marist Poll and Mediaite
The Hill:
The Hill's review of John Solomon's columns on Ukraine — On Nov. 18, 2019, The Hill announced it was reviewing John Solomon's opinion columns on Ukraine after State Department diplomats criticized several of those columns during House impeachment hearings.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, VICE, Raw Story, Politico and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
Wall Street Journal:
Bloomberg Bankrolls a Social-Media Army to Push Message — Campaign is hiring workers for $2,500 per month to promote Bloomberg to all their contacts — Michael Bloomberg's presidential campaign is hiring hundreds of workers in California to post regularly on their personal social-media accounts …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, CNET, Vox, Breitbart, Axios, Raw Story, National Review and Twitchy
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Politico:
Republicans plead with Trump to leave Barr alone — Senate Republicans are mounting an urgent campaign to save Attorney General William Barr's job — fearful that his dismissal or resignation would deprive President Donald Trump of an effective enforcer of his agenda and hand the Senate a vacancy that's nearly impossible to fill.
Discussion:
Associated Press and NBC News
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Brian Beutler / Crooked Media:
House Democrats Stand Down — After Senate Republicans voted to conceal the evidence of Donald Trump's high crimes, and acquit him of them without holding a real trial, House Democrats seemed to understand that he'd interpret the outcome not as a chastening brush with accountability but as permission to commit further crimes unbound.
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA
Charlie Warzel / New York Times:
Twitter Is Real Life — Elites just pretend it's not. — Mr. Warzel is an Opinion writer at large. — For the better part of a year I've been hearing the same refrain. Friends, colleagues, peers, respected pollsters have cautioned: Twitter is not real life.
Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Mike Pompeo and lawmakers spar over ‘deep state’ attacks in private Munich meeting — Congressional frustration with the perceived failure by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to defend State Department personnel from political attacks spilled over during a “heated” private meeting last weekend in Munich.
Discussion:
Business Insider
Nicolas Vega / New York Post:
Mark Zuckerberg reportedly gets his armpits blow dried before speeches — It's not one of Facebook's better perks. — Communications employees at the social network routinely blow-dry CEO Mark Zuckerberg's armpits before big speeches, a new book claims. — Zuckerberg — who became famous …
Discussion:
The Independent and Fox News
Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:
The Hidden History of Sanders's Plot to Primary Obama — Bernie Sanders got so close to running a primary challenge to President Barack Obama that Senator Harry Reid had to intervene to stop him. — It took Reid two conversations over the summer of 2011 to get Sanders to scrap the idea …
Discussion:
The Independent, Twitchy, Raw Story, The Week, National Review, Washington Post, Bloomberg and Fox News
Wall Street Journal:
China Expels Three Wall Street Journal Reporters — China's Foreign Ministry says move was punishment for a recent opinion piece published by the Journal — China revoked the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal reporters based in Beijing, the first time in the post-Mao era …
Ariane de Vogue / CNN:
Judges postpone emergency meeting to discuss Trump/Barr concerns — Source: Barr thought about resigning over Trump's interference — Washington (CNN)A group of federal judges hastily postponed an emergency meeting that was scheduled to take place Wednesday to discuss concerns …
Discussion:
Occupy Democrats, Slate, NBC News, Raw Story and CNBC
Brandy Zadrozny / NBC News:
What is the ‘boogaloo?’ How online calls for a violent uprising are hitting the mainstream — The movement says it wants a second Civil War targeting liberal political opponents and law enforcement. — An anti-government movement that advocates for a violent uprising targeting liberal political opponents …
Jonah Goldberg / The Dispatch:
Does Anyone Really Believe Free Market Fundamentalists Are ‘Running the Show’? — Let's hope not. — 1 hr — Dear Reader, — “Conservative intellectuals launch a new group to challenge free-market ‘fundamentalism’ on the right.” —Washington Post, February 18, 2020
Discussion:
National Review and Big League Politics
Andy Greene / Rolling Stone:
Neil Young Pens Open Letter to Donald Trump: ‘You Are a Disgrace to My Country’ — Now an American citizen, Young rallies against the President — Neil Young has never hidden his contempt for Donald Trump, but now that he's officially an American citizen, he raising his voice even louder.
Julie Bosman / New York Times:
Rod Blagojevich Comes Home to Chicago, Defiant, ‘Bloody,’ Ready to Talk — Mr. Blagojevich, the former Democratic governor of Illinois, spoke of having his sentence for corruption commuted by President Trump and described himself as a “freed political prisoner.”
Siraj Qureshi / India Today:
Monkey menace at Taj Mahal could spoil Donald Trump's trip — The monkeys and other stray animals have attacked numerous domestic and foreign tourists till date inside the Taj Mahal. All the efforts made by the local CISF unit and ASI staff, to control the monkeys, have gone in vain. — Agra
Rebecca Ballhaus / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Rewards Vulnerable Senators for Loyalty in Impeachment — President set to hold campaign rallies with GOP senators running in states that will be competitive in presidential election — RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif.—Republican senators facing tight re-election battles remained loyal …
Alfred Ng / CNET:
Why Rudy Giuliani's Twitter typos are a security fail — When one letter off leads you to malicious advertisements rather than the former cybersecurity czar's website. — Sometimes, typing the wrong letter for a website address means sending visitors to a 404 page.
Discussion:
Axios
Ian Lee / CBS News:
How Jewish American pedophiles hide from justice in Israel — Tel Aviv — It's a tense stakeout, waiting for Jimmy Julius Karow to appear. He is a wanted man and is considered dangerous. Accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl in Oregon in 2000, he fled to Israel before authorities …
Rainesford Stauffer / InStyle.com:
Meet the Women Moderators of Tonight's Debate, Hallie Jackson and Vanessa Hauc — Hauc and Jackson tell InStyle about their careers (and how Hallie's priorities have changed now that she's 8 months pregnant) and how they're prepping for tonight's big event. — PIN — FB
New York Times:
The Great Google Revolt — Some of its employees tried to stop their company from doing work they saw as unethical. It blew up in their faces. — Laurence Berland had just gotten out of the subway in New York, some 3,000 miles from his desk in San Francisco, when he learned that Google had fired him.
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