Top Items:
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
The 2016 nightmare is already repeating itself — The latest developments in the Michael Flynn case should prompt us to revisit one of the most glaring failures in political journalism, one that lends credibility to baseless narratives pushed for purely instrumental purposes, perversely rewarding bad-faith actors in the process.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Slate, CNN, IJR, New York Times, Spectator USA and Axios, more at Mediagazer »
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Elie Honig / CNN:
Judge slams the brakes on William Barr's abuse of power — Elie Honig is a CNN legal analyst and former federal and state prosecutor. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN. Watch Honig answer readers' questions on “CNN Newsroom with Ana Cabrera” at 5:40 p.m. ET Sundays.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Daily Beast and POLITICUSUSA
Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
An ‘Unmasking’ Q&A — U.S. intelligence gathering and the case of Michael Flynn — WASHINGTON—Republican senators on Wednesday released the names of Obama administration officials who had requested and received the identity of a U.S. citizen mentioned in classified foreign intelligence …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Brian Beutler / Crooked Media:
Trump Begins His Final Authoritarian Push — Under cover of awful darkness—85,000 dead Americans, nearly all of whom should be alive today, and a great depression of his own making—President Trump has accelerated his efforts to dismantle the rule of law in America.
Discussion:
Politico, The Moderate Voice and Business Insider Nederland
Andrew Desiderio / Politico:
Graham shoots down Trump's call for Obama testimony on Russia probe origins
Graham shoots down Trump's call for Obama testimony on Russia probe origins
Discussion:
Redstate, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Vox, Breitbart and Political Wire
Del Quentin Wilber / Los Angeles Times:
FBI serves warrant on senator in investigation of stock sales linked to coronavirus — Federal agents seized a cellphone belonging to a prominent Republican senator on Wednesday night as part of the Justice Department's investigation into controversial stock trades he made as the coronavirus …
Discussion:
Vox, Fox News, Mediaite, CNN, San Francisco Chronicle, BuzzFeed News, NBC News, USA Today, Patterico's Pontifications, Politico, Mother Jones, Townhall, The National Interest, Financial Times, Breitbart, The Root, Axios, The Gateway Pundit, Tangle, Vanity Fair, emptywheel, Talking Points Memo, ABC News, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, ABC7, 9to5Mac, VICE, National Review, MacRumors, Twitchy, Law & Crime, NPR, Letters from an American, Raw Story, Daily Kos and Just The News
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Washington Post:
Sen. Richard Burr stepping aside as Intelligence Committee chair amid FBI investigation of his stock sales
Sen. Richard Burr stepping aside as Intelligence Committee chair amid FBI investigation of his stock sales
Edward Luce / Financial Times:
Inside Trump's coronavirus meltdown — When the history is written of how America handled the global era's first real pandemic, March 6 will leap out of the timeline. That was the day Donald Trump visited the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Jamie Ross / The Daily Beast:
Trump Feared Testing Too Many People for Virus Would Spook Stock Markets, Says Report — FAILURE TO ACT — President Trump was wary of making preparations for the coronavirus pandemic because he was concerned doing so would sent the stock market into a panic, the Financial Times reports.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, Balloon Juice, POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
5 takeaways from coronavirus whistleblower Rick Bright's testimony — A Trump administration vaccine expert who says he was removed from a key role for raising concerns about the federal government's coronavirus response — and its promotion of unproven drugs to treat the virus — testified Thursday before Congress.
Discussion:
ABC News, Los Angeles Times, The Hill and Breitbart
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Washington Post:
Postal Services launches review of package delivery fees as Trump influence grows — Deputy Postmaster General Ronald A. Stroman will leave before new agency head Louis DeJoy takes the helm — Weeks before a Republican donor and top White House ally becomes postmaster general …
Discussion:
The Verge, The Hill, Jacobin and Raw Story, more at Techmeme »
Politico:
McConnell pines for Pompeo as Kansas chaos looms — Senate Republicans have a problem in Kansas. And they still think Mike Pompeo is the solution. — Staring at a messy primary, a credible Democratic challenger and a real battle for Senate control, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell …
Discussion:
The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Breitbart and NBC News
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David Welch / Bloomberg:
Michigan Cancels Legislative Session to Avoid Armed Protesters — Michigan closed down its capitol in Lansing on Thursday and canceled its legislative session rather than face the possibility of an armed protest and death threats against Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Discussion:
detroitnews and Daily Kos
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Andrew O'Reilly / Fox News:
Whitmer's stay-at-home orders protested outside Michigan Captiol as scuffle breaks out
Whitmer's stay-at-home orders protested outside Michigan Captiol as scuffle breaks out
Discussion:
MLive.com and The Daily Caller
Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:
After Wisconsin court ruling, crowds liberated and thirsty descend on bars. 'We're the Wild West,' Gov. Tony Evers says. — On Wednesday night in the heart of downtown Platteville, Wis., just hours after the Wisconsin Supreme Court threw out the state's stay-at-home order, Nick's on 2nd was packed wall to wall, standing room only.
Discussion:
Slate, KFOR-TV, Outside the Beltway, WQOW-TV, VICE, Fox News, POLITICUSUSA, Vanity Fair, New York Post, Axios and jsonline
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Robert Frank / CNBC:
Private jet company founded by Trump donor gets $27 million bailout — A private jet company founded by a donor to President Donald Trump received nearly $27 million in government funding under a program run by the Treasury Department, according to government filings.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Politico:
Pentagon fires its point person for Defense Production Act — Jennifer Santos, the Pentagon's industrial policy chief who oversees efforts to ramp up production of masks and other equipment to help fight Covid-19, was fired from her job this week and will move to a position in the Navy, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Fox News
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Mara Gay / New York Times:
Coronavirus Is Making Young People Very Sick. I Was One of Them. — Young, healthy people like me are getting very, very sick from the disease caused by the coronavirus. — Ms. Gay is a member of the editorial board. — The day before I got sick, I ran three miles, walked 10 more …
Washington Post:
Trump's company has received at least $970,000 from U.S. taxpayers for room rentals — The U.S. government has paid at least $970,000 to President Trump's company since Trump took office — including payments for more than 1,600 nightly room rentals at Trump's hotels and clubs …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Politico:
The New York Times Surrendered to an Outrage Mob. Journalism Will Suffer For It. — In a time in which even a virus has become the subject of partisan disinformation and myth-making, it's essential that mainstream journalistic institutions reaffirm their bona fides as disinterested purveyors of fact and honest brokers of controversy.
CBS News:
Trump's marks for handling COVID-19 outbreak decline - CBS News poll — Americans continue to say they trust medical professionals for virus information, but Republicans also rank President Trump about as highly among their trusted sources, even as others give him his lowest marks to date for handling the outbreak.
Discussion:
The Hill, IJR and Washington Post
CBS News:
Company tied to Trump campaign manager gets PPP loan — A company whose largest shareholder is Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale received nearly $800,000 from the federal coronavirus relief fund for small businesses, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Fadel Allassan / Axios:
NYT: EPA will not limit chemical compound linked to fetal damage — The Environmental Protection Agency will no longer impose limits on perchlorate, a toxic chemical compound linked to fetal and infant brain damage, the New York Times reports. — Where it stands: “The agency has determined …
Discussion:
Associated Press
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Lisa Friedman / New York Times:
E.P.A. Opts Against Limits on Water Contaminant Tied to Fetal Damage
E.P.A. Opts Against Limits on Water Contaminant Tied to Fetal Damage
Discussion:
EWG
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
The Curious Case of the People Who Want to “Reopen” America—But Not Wear Masks — The coronavirus, you may have heard, is a biological weapon engineered in a Chinese lab and unleashed—accidentally?— on America by the godless communists. At least, according to Alex Jones. — That's one theory, anyway.
Discussion:
VICE, The Mahablog, Progress Pond and The Guardian
Washington Post:
Ex-detective charged in death of Ahmaud Arbery lost power to make arrests after skipping use-of-force training — Gregory McMichael's law enforcement certification was suspended in 2019 after repeated failures to complete required training, according to records acquired by The Washington Post.
Discussion:
The Leadership Conference …, VICE, The Daily Beast, New York Post and The Hill
Associated Press:
Officials release edited coronavirus reopening guidance — NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials on Thursday released some of their long-delayed guidance that schools, businesses and other organizations can use as states reopen from coronavirus shutdowns. — The Centers for Disease Control …
John Hudson / Washington Post:
Democrats scrutinize State Department plan to overhaul Social Security — The Democratic chairmen of two House panels are scrutinizing a State Department plan to overhaul Social Security that they say unfairly takes away Americans' entitlement benefits in exchange for a quick cash payment.
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Appeals court greenlights emoluments suit against Trump — A lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump of violating the Constitution by accepting foreign government money through his luxury Washington hotel can proceed to fact-gathering about Trump's profits, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
Discussion:
The Hill, One America News Network, ABC News, POLITICUSUSA and JONATHAN TURLEY
Paul Sperry / RealClearInvestigations:
Transcripts: Clinton Aides Allied With Fusion GPS Pair After Election — to Re-Push Anti-Trump Dossier — Above, Hillary Clinton with her 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta. He testified that he backed a new post-election, anti-Trump effort with Fusion GPS's principals and Daniel Jones …
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Coronavirus is now invading Trump counties in the swing states — The novel coronavirus continues to shift our political geography. The latest development: It's now penetrating counties in the battleground states that were carried by President Trump, which raises the possibility …
The Texas Tribune:
Gov. Greg Abbott is limiting enforcement of COVID-19 orders, but many cities already took a lax approach — Texas cities and counties have dramatically different interpretations of the state's COVID-19 emergency orders. Complaint data from a dozen cities shows that disparate approaches to enforcement …
Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:
Trump Brings in the Infantry for His War on Blue America — Even during the shared national challenge of the coronavirus outbreak, President Donald Trump is escalating his attacks on the institutions of blue America. And a growing number of other Republicans are joining him.
Discussion:
Raw Story