Top Items:
CNN:
Gaetz showed nude photos of women he said he'd slept with to lawmakers, sources tell CNN — (CNN)Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican being investigated by the Justice Department over sex trafficking allegations, made a name for himself when he arrived on Capitol Hill as a conservative firebrand …
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New York Times:
Justice Dept. Inquiry Into Matt Gaetz Said to Be Focused on Cash Paid to Women — The congressman and a former official in Florida sent money to the women using cash apps, receipts showed. — WASHINGTON — A Justice Department investigation into Representative Matt Gaetz …
Discussion:
Insider, Raw Story, The Intellectualist, Talking Points Memo, Bark Bark Woof Woof, The Week, Crooks and Liars and The Daily Beast
CNN:
Feds' investigation of Matt Gaetz includes whether campaign funds were used to pay for travel and expenses — (CNN)Federal investigators looking into Rep. Matt Gaetz's relationships with young women have examined whether any federal campaign money was involved in paying for travel and expenses for the women …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Insider, Mock Paper Scissors, Florida Times Union and The Intellectualist
The Daily Beast:
Republicans Have Been Waiting for a Matt Gaetz Scandal to Break — The Florida congressman's less-than-sterling reputation among his colleagues has many Republicans questioning the wisdom of jumping to his defense. — After Rep. Matt Gaetz accused a Florida lawyer of a $25 million extortion scheme …
Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:
The Pandemic's Wrongest Man — The pandemic has made fools of many forecasters. Just about all of the predictions whiffed. Anthony Fauci was wrong about masks. California was wrong about the outdoors. New York was wrong about the subways. I was wrong about the necessary cost of pandemic relief.
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, Mediaite, Discourse Blog, Raw Story and National Review
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
The GOP war on voting takes an ugly new turn — Opinion by — An extraordinary event took place in Georgia on Wednesday night. Republicans sought to cancel a tax break for Delta Air Lines, the state's biggest employer, as punishment for the heresy of criticizing the new voter suppression law Republicans passed last week.
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Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Stacey Abrams: Georgia companies shouldn't face boycott ‘yet’ over election law
Stacey Abrams: Georgia companies shouldn't face boycott ‘yet’ over election law
Discussion:
Breitbart, Just The News, The Hill, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, The Guardian and Slate
Brian Flood / Fox News:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution issues correction after echoing Biden's falsehood about new Georgia election law
Atlanta Journal-Constitution issues correction after echoing Biden's falsehood about new Georgia election law
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Twitchy, RedState, Mediaite, One America News Network, The Federalist, The Daily Signal and The First TV
Robert Hart / Forbes:
Georgia House Passes Bill Stripping Delta Of A Multimillion Tax Break After It Slammed The State's New Voting Restrictions
Georgia House Passes Bill Stripping Delta Of A Multimillion Tax Break After It Slammed The State's New Voting Restrictions
Discussion:
Fox News, Washington Examiner, Talking Points Memo, CBS News, Louder With Crowder, Points and Figures, TheBlaze, Eater, The Intellectualist, Twitchy and Raw Story
Susan Ferrechio / Washington Examiner:
Pelosi backs adding tax break for wealthier homeowners to Biden infrastructure bill — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she supports including a provision that would reduce taxes for some wealthy homeowners in a massive infrastructure measure Congress will consider in the coming months.
Discussion:
Politico
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Andrew Desiderio / Politico:
SCOOP: Inside Dems' plans to take down Lauren Boebert — Ally Mutnick, Melanie Zanona, Marianne LeVine and Nicholas Wu contributed. — CASH COW — We're about to find out how Donald Trump's campaign to overturn the presidential election — which culminated in an insurrection …
David Frum / The Atlantic:
The Strange New Doctrine of the Republican Party — In 2002, the Weyerhaeuser paper mill in Valliant, Oklahoma, faced a drug problem. Managers at the mill in the small town, just north of the Texas line, brought contraband-sniffing dogs into the parking lot to identify suspect cars.
Discussion:
Bulwark+
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Will Wilkinson / Model Citizen:
Vaccine Passports and the Categorical Impermissibility of Inconveniencing Republicans — On the GOP's principled incoherence about freedom of association — Conservatives have been freaking out about the mere possibility of vaccine passports, government-issued documents certifying the bearer's Covid jabs.
Discussion:
HotAir
Neil Vigdor / New York Times:
A Man Found 15,000 Bees in His Car After Grocery Shopping — An off-duty firefighter in Las Cruces, N.M., whose hobby is beekeeping, safely removed the swarm from the man's car in an Albertsons supermarket parking lot. — He had just finished grocery shopping, but a New Mexico man got …
Insider:
Trump and his advisors are shrugging off DOJ's Capitol riot probe. But they see danger in the Georgia and New York investigations. — Trump and his advisors are dismissing the threat of legal exposure to him from the Capitol riot. — More danger is seen in what they call the …
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Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Republicans seek DOJ briefing on claims of ‘suspicious’ pre-Jan. 6 Capitol tours
Republicans seek DOJ briefing on claims of ‘suspicious’ pre-Jan. 6 Capitol tours
Discussion:
Political Wire
Kimberly Wehle / The Bulwark:
Two Capitol Cops Sue Trump for Jan. 6—What Are Their Chances?
Two Capitol Cops Sue Trump for Jan. 6—What Are Their Chances?
Discussion:
Bulwark+
Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:
Can Vaccinated People Spread the Virus? We Don't Know, Scientists Say. — Researchers pushed back after the C.D.C. director asserted that vaccinated people “do not carry the virus.” — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday walked back controversial comments made by its director …
Discussion:
RedState
Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
How Nancy Reagan helped end the Cold War — The second weekend of February 1983 found much of the Eastern Seaboard trapped under one of the biggest snowfalls of the century. The nation's capital, notoriously ill-equipped for extreme weather, was paralyzed under a frozen blanket 17 inches deep.
Discussion:
HotAir, Politico and Amazon.com
Ian Duncan / Washington Post:
A woman called for a highway's removal in a Black neighborhood. The White House singled it out in its infrastructure plan. — Since she moved back home to Tremé almost a decade ago, Amy Stelly has waged a campaign for the removal of a highway that cuts through her New Orleans neighborhood.
Politico:
Army probes missing rifle from National Guard unit deployed to the Capitol — A misplaced or unaccounted-for weapon is a major security risk, Guard members said. — National Guard stand their posts around the Capitol at sunrise. The Army has dispatched its in-house criminal investigative arm …
Houston Chronicle:
Analysis reveals nearly 200 died in Texas cold storm and blackouts, almost double the official count — The deaths of nearly 200 people are linked to February's cold snap and blackouts, a Houston Chronicle analysis reveals, making the natural disaster one of the worst in Texas this past century.
Washington Post:
New York attorney general probes finances of key Trump aide — The New York attorney general has gathered personal financial records of the Trump Organization's longtime chief financial officer and his family, according to a witness who provided some documents — another sign of legal pressure …
Discussion:
Forbes, New York Magazine, The Hill, Law & Crime and HillReporter.com
Discourse Blog:
The New Republic Makes an Uneasy Peace With Staff Over D.C. Move — Staffers say they're still worried about the magazine's future. — Last week, staffers at The New Republic had their first meeting with incoming editor Michael Tomasky soon after they found out simultaneously via an email …
Amelia Pollard / American Prospect:
The Right Curriculum? How PragerU Infiltrates Schools. — The right-wing nonprofit, known for viral videos like ‘The Left Ruins Everything,’ launched a program specifically designed for teachers last fall. But according to students, its content has been in public schools for years.
Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Will U.S. learn from a $1.7 trillion goof that would have paid for Biden's infrastructure plan? | Will Bunch — A Ferrari is surely a wonderful sports car, but let's be honest: Most of us couldn't afford the day-to-day maintenance, let alone the sticker price, and these beautiful creatures …
Discussion:
Common Dreams
Politico:
Dems pine to face Ron Johnson just one more time — Here's something you don't see every day: Democrats goading an incumbent Republican senator to run for reelection. — It's not only that Democrats see Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) as finally ripe for defeat after closely aligning himself …
Tal Axelrod / The Hill:
Marjorie Taylor Greene offers bills to fire Fauci, ban vaccine passports — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced two bills Thursday that would eliminate Anthony Fauci's salary and ban vaccine passports. — Greene's “Fire Fauci Act” would cut the salary for Fauci, the government's leading infectious disease expert, to zero.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, One America News Network, Raw Story, IJR, Forbes, The Daily Caller and The Western Journal
Anna Massoglia / OpenSecrets.org:
Foreign billionaire conspired to violate election law in straw donor scheme — A Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire agreed to pay the U.S. government $1.8 million to resolve allegations that he conspired to violate federal election laws in a “straw donor” scheme to route illegal foreign contributions …
Discussion:
Fox News, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and The Federalist
Paul Blumenthal / HuffPost:
Jim Clyburn ‘Insulted’ By Joe Manchin's Position On Voting Rights Bill — The high-ranking House Democrat warned that his party will “pay the biggest price it has ever paid at the polls” if the bill is not enacted into law. — Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the third-highest ranking member …
Discussion:
Fox News and POLITICUSUSA
Daniel Lippman / Politico:
Interior Department chief of staff being removed from post after indoor party fiasco — The White House is removing the Interior Department's chief of staff, Jennifer Van der Heide, who recently planned a 50-person indoor party at the agency that the White House ordered canceled …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, New York Times and Political Wire
USA Today:
This isn't your ex-president's ‘Infrastructure Week.’ Biden plan is big, serious and paid for. — The American Jobs Plan is not just a response to past failures. It's essential for our national future. We cannot recover or grow or be safe without it. — President Joe Biden has just unveiled …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, HuffPost and New York Times
Aimee Picchi / CBS News:
USDA drops Trump plan to cut food stamps for 700,000 Americans — A Trump-era plan to cut food stamps is now off the table after the Biden administration said it is abandoning a previous plan to tighten work requirements for working-age adults without children.
Discussion:
The Intellectualist
Geoff Duncan / USA Today:
Georgia's election reform law isn't voter suppression, but Republicans need to ease up — Republicans have a huge hole to climb out of because of the 2020 election. Conservatism shouldn't be confused as divisive or mean-spirited. — Once again, Georgia found itself in the national spotlight …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, The Western Journal, JONATHAN TURLEY and HotAir
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
That Spotty Wi-Fi? There's $100 Billion to Fix It. — WASHINGTON — Kimberly Vasquez, a high school senior in Baltimore, faced a tough problem when the pandemic began. She had no fast internet service in her home, but all her classes were online. — Marigold Lewi, a sophomore at the same school …
Michael Schaffer / Washingtonian:
The Washingtonian Interview: Kojo Nnamdi — With his WAMU show ending, the radio favorite reflects on his decades covering DC. — Kojo Nnamdi first hit the DC airwaves back when he was managing an activist bookstore. Now, a half century after starting his career at Howard University's …
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The problem with cheering for the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News — When Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani became fixtures on right-wing media with their outlandish election conspiracy theories, their disinformation was more than just false. — It was harmful.
Discussion:
Instapundit
Hannah Hartig / Pew Research Center:
Share of Republicans saying ‘everything possible’ should be done to make voting easy declines sharply — As partisan conflicts over voting access take center stage in Congress and in scores of states around the country, the share of Americans who say “everything possible” …
Discussion:
Courthouse News Service and Forbes