Top Items:
Washington Post:
‘Where is Greg Abbott?’ Anger grows at Texas governor in deadly storm's wake — It was clear by Tuesday afternoon that Texas was in a full-blown crisis — and Gov. Greg Abbott (R) had largely been out of sight. — More than 4 million households did not have power amid dangerously low temperatures …
Discussion:
The Week and Talking Points Memo
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Glen Johnson / Axios:
Scoop: Cruz's Cancún trip included college roommate — In explaining his disastrous Cancún trip, Sen. Ted Cruz failed to mention his college roommate also was along for the visit. — Axios has learned Cruz (R-Texas) invited David Panton, his longtime friend and former roommate …
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Paul LeBlanc / CNN:
Texas GOP congressman knocks Cruz for Cancun trip and says when a crisis hits, 'I'm not going to go on some vacation'
Texas GOP congressman knocks Cruz for Cancun trip and says when a crisis hits, 'I'm not going to go on some vacation'
Discussion:
Slate
CNN:
AOC raises nearly $5 million in Texas relief efforts
AOC raises nearly $5 million in Texas relief efforts
Discussion:
The Hill, KTAB and Houston Public Media
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
What were the Capitol rioters thinking? — It's one of the most basic questions of the Capitol riot investigation: What was the rioters' plan? What did they think was going to happen when they stormed the Capitol on January 6, as Congress certified the results of the Electoral College?
Discussion:
emptywheel, Law & Crime and New York Times
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Linda So / Reuters:
Oath Keeper claims she met with Secret Service before Capitol riot
Oath Keeper claims she met with Secret Service before Capitol riot
Discussion:
Boston Herald and New York Post
Katelyn Polantz / CNN:
Oath Keeper claims she was VIP security at Trump rally before riot and says she met with Secret Service agents
Oath Keeper claims she was VIP security at Trump rally before riot and says she met with Secret Service agents
Discussion:
PinkNews, Raw Story, East Bay Times, Bloomberg and Insider
Samuel Osborne / The Independent:
Glasses-wearers up to three times less likely to catch coronavirus, study suggests — ‘Long term use of spectacles may prevent repeated touching and rubbing of the eyes,’ researchers say — People who wear glasses could be up to three times less likely to be infected by coronavirus, a study from India has suggested.
Washington Post:
‘The former guy’: Biden and his aides work to ignore Trump — but it won't be easy — During the campaign, the guidance from President Biden's team was clear: Engage with Donald Trump as little as possible. — Now, after riding that strategy to the White House, the directive on when to engage …
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Examiner, ABC News, NPR, Maryland Matters, Raw Story, Issues & Insights and justoneminute.typepad.com
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Clay Risen / New York Times:
Shlomo Hillel, Who Helped 120,000 Jews Flee Iraq, Dies at 97 — Working undercover, he used bribes, fake visas and a network of smugglers to bring refugees to Israel in the late 1940s and early '50s. — Shlomo Hillel, a Baghdad-born Israeli operative who in the late 1940s and early '50s used bribes …
Discussion:
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Mike Allen / Axios:
Scoop: Trump to claim total control of GOP — In his first post-presidential appearance, Donald Trump plans to send the message next weekend that he is Republicans' “presumptive 2024 nominee” with a vise grip on the party's base, top Trump allies tell Axios.
Discussion:
Politico, The Nation, The Guardian and Raw Story
Financial Times:
HSBC intensifies pivot to Asia with job moves and US exit — Three top executives expected to swap London for Hong Kong as bank jettisons American retail business — HSBC is accelerating its “pivot to Asia”, moving top executives from London to Hong Kong, scrapping its US retail banking operation …
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David Paleologos / USA Today:
Paleologos on the Poll: Move over Fox News, Trump voters are shifting toward Newsmax, OANN — David PaleologosSuffolk University Political Research Center — In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, most people have missed the shift of Trump voters away from Fox News and into the hands …
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USA Today:
Exclusive: Defeated and impeached, Trump still commands the loyalty of the GOP's voters
Exclusive: Defeated and impeached, Trump still commands the loyalty of the GOP's voters
Discussion:
New Republic, Mediaite, Slate, CNN, RedState, Progress Pond, Townhall, Big League Politics, Associated Press, Washington Post, The Boston Globe, New York Post, Rolling Stone, CBS News, The Hill and NBC News
Gabriela López / San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. school board president: Renamings are on hold, reopening is our priority — As a credentialed teacher serving as a volunteer school board member, I make every effort to respond to every email. Every single day I am talking to parents on the phone, answering their questions about distance learning …
David Bernstein / Reason:
Antisemitism Continues its March Toward Acceptability on the American Far Left — Cornel West, a celebrity academic, asked Harvard, where he had once been tenured before decamping to Princeton, to offer him a tenured position. Harvard declined, and instead offered the 67-year-old West a ten-year contract.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit
Eric Lipton / New York Times:
Tough Sanctions, Then a Mysterious Last-Minute Turnabout — The Treasury Department slapped sanctions on the Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler in 2017 for corruption in Africa. In Donald Trump's final days in office, they were rolled back with no explanation.
The Guardian:
‘Utter outrage’: White House says US in talks with Iran over detained Americans — President Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, calls the matter a ‘complete and utter outrage’ — Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday the US had begun to communicate …
Discussion:
IJR, New York Post and CBS News
iaea.org:
Discussion:
UPI and One America News Network
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Stephanie Liechtenstein / Politico:
Iran keeps hopes for nuclear deal alive
Iran keeps hopes for nuclear deal alive
Discussion:
The Guardian, PressTV, NPR, National Review, Latest MENA News Today and Associated Press
Scott Gottlieb / Wall Street Journal:
WHO Said What About Wuhan? — International investigators ignore the lab-leak theory but investigate frozen fish. — Chinese policy makers have been floating an implausible theory: The novel coronavirus didn't originate in China but was imported from Europe.
Discussion:
The Guardian and Informed Comment
Ben Smith / New York Times:
How Investigative Journalism Flourished in Hostile Russia — A new wave of news outlets has used conventional, and unconventional, methods to pierce the veil of Putin's power. — The Russian language has introduced a few words that in recent years have been widely used and misused in English: disinformation, kompromat, Novichok.
New York Times:
The Lost Hours: How Confusion and Inaction at the Capitol Delayed a Troop Deployment — As violence grew out of control on Jan. 6, the head of the Capitol Police made an urgent request for the National Guard. It took nearly two hours to be approved. — WASHINGTON — At 1:09 p.m. on Jan. 6 …
Mike Allen / Axios:
Biden's big summertime verdict — President Biden is promising COVID-19 vaccines will be available to all Americans by the end of July — and a Quinnipiac poll finds three-quarters of Americans expect him to pull it off. If he fails, the coronavirus could start to haunt the new president just like it did his predecessor.
Nick Troiano / The Hill:
Why America doesn't have the third party it wants — On the heels of a second historic impeachment trial, new polls from Gallup show a record number of Americans identify as independent (50 percent) and favor a new political party (62 percent). — In any other industry …
Sarah Chaney Cambon / Wall Street Journal:
Blue-Collar Jobs Boom as Covid-19 Boosts Housing, E-Commerce Demand — Residential construction, package delivery and warehousing jobs exceed pre-pandemic levels, and some companies can't find enough workers — America's blue-collar workforce is filled with signs of a strengthening job market.
Lesley Stahl / CBS News:
QAnon's corrosive impact on the U.S. — Tens of millions of Americans believe QAnon's core — and false — theory that an evil cabal of Satan-worshipping elites commits atrocities against children and controls much of the world. Where does this movement stand and who has it impacted?