Top Items:
Washington Post:
Gaetz investigation complicated by overture to his father about ex-FBI agent who went missing — Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican known for his fierce allegiance to former president Donald Trump, had been under Justice Department investigation for months for a possible sex crime …
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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 …
Discussion:
Sun-Sentinel, Insider, The Wrap, IJR, Florida Times Union, HillReporter.com, ABC News and Raw Story
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: There's a new honcho atop Trumpworld — DRIVING THE DAY — It's been barely three months since he left office, but former President DONALD TRUMP is already reorganizing his nascent post-White House political operation, bringing in veteran political consultant SUSIE WILES to instill order.
Discussion:
New York Times, Insider, The Hill, Washington Post and National Review
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 …
Discussion:
Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA
Salvador Rizzo / Washington Post:
Matt Gaetz's claim that ‘travel records’ debunk the allegations against him — “It is a horrible allegation, and it is a lie. The New York Times is running a story that I have traveled with a 17-year-old woman, and that is verifiably false. People can look at my travel records and see that that is not the case.”
Discussion:
Raw Story, CNN, The Capitolist, HillReporter.com, Talking Points Memo, The Hill and Wall Street Journal
Thomas Moore / The Hill:
Fox has no interest in hiring Matt Gaetz — Fox News has confirmed it has no plans to hire Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for a job at the network. — “No one with any level of authority has had conversations with Matt Gaetz for any of our platforms, and we have no interest in hiring him,” the network said in a statement.
Discussion:
Mock Paper Scissors
Jeff Stein / SpyTalk:
Gaetz ‘Extortion’ Figure's Levinson Obsession
Gaetz ‘Extortion’ Figure's Levinson Obsession
Discussion:
Insider, Bark Bark Woof Woof, HuffPost and The Daily Beast
Emily Brooks / Washington Examiner:
Documents detail wild alleged $25 million Gaetz extortion scheme
Documents detail wild alleged $25 million Gaetz extortion scheme
Discussion:
Fox News, Salon, The Sun, The Intellectualist, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, The Week, HuffPost, HillReporter.com, The latest factchecks …, Mediaite, JONATHAN TURLEY, The First TV, Florida Politics, The Gateway Pundit, Slate, New Republic, Law & Crime, The National Pulse, The Rectification of Names, RedState, The Wrap, Insider and Talking Points Memo
Politico:
Infrastructure Year: Dems brace for brutal slog to pass Biden's $2.5T plan
Infrastructure Year: Dems brace for brutal slog to pass Biden's $2.5T plan
Discussion:
American Prospect, Axios, The Sun and Bloomberg
Catherine Garcia / The Week:
The Matt Gaetz case now involves a missing FBI agent last seen in Iran
The Matt Gaetz case now involves a missing FBI agent last seen in Iran
Discussion:
The Sun, New York Post and Raw Story
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.
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Biden's Election-Reform Deception — He has his facts wrong on Iowa and Georgia and applies standards inconsistently. — In last week's press conference, President Biden labeled Republican efforts to reform state election laws in Georgia and Iowa as “un-American” and “sick.”
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Joseph Choi / The Hill:
Georgia governor defends voting law amid corporate backlash
Georgia governor defends voting law amid corporate backlash
Discussion:
The Guardian, POLITICUSUSA, Slate and Popular Information
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Byron York's Daily Memo: From Delta, a lesson for woke corporations
Byron York's Daily Memo: From Delta, a lesson for woke corporations
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Hill and POLITICUSUSA
95.5 WSB:
Delta CEO blasts Georgia voting law, calling it “unacceptable”; Gov. Kemp responds
Delta CEO blasts Georgia voting law, calling it “unacceptable”; Gov. Kemp responds
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, The Intellectualist, Just The News and The Hill
Jonathan Bernstein / Bloomberg:
Five Thoughts About the Politics of Infrastructure — A few points on the politics of the Democrats' infrastructure initiative: — President Joe Biden keeps trying to do popular things. Government investment in infrastructure does extremely well in public opinion polls …
Discussion:
Fox News, New York Times, PBS NewsHour and Washington Post
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E.J. Dionne / Washington Post:
Biden is transforming the nation's political assumptions
Biden is transforming the nation's political assumptions
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Michael-In-Norfolk, New York Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Common Dreams and Raw Story
David E. Sanger / New York Times:
40 Years After Reagan, a Bet Big Government Can Get Something Done
40 Years After Reagan, a Bet Big Government Can Get Something Done
Discussion:
New Republic and Victory Girls Blog
Maggie Fox / CNN:
Pfizer says Covid-19 vaccine protection lasts at least six months, protects against variants — Take an exclusive look inside a busy Covid-19 vaccine facility — (CNN)The ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of Pfizer/BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine confirms its protection lasts at least six months …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, FiercePharma, The Times of Israel, KRDO and TheBlaze
RELATED:
Pfizer:
Pfizer and BioNTech Confirm High Efficacy and No Serious Safety Concerns Through Up to Six Months Following Second Dose in Updated Topline Analysis of Landmark COVID-19 Vaccine Study
Pfizer and BioNTech Confirm High Efficacy and No Serious Safety Concerns Through Up to Six Months Following Second Dose in Updated Topline Analysis of Landmark COVID-19 Vaccine Study
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, CBS News, CBS Baltimore, UPI, Fox News, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth and Business Wire
Associated Press:
New GOP-led voting restrictions move forward in Texas — AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans advanced a slate of proposed new voting restrictions Thursday that would reduce options to cast ballots, limit polling hours and hand more power to partisan poll watchers.
Discussion:
The Hill, The Root, Forbes, The American Independent, The Texas Tribune, Associated Press and MyNorthwest.com
RELATED:
Jane C. Timm / NBC News:
Texas Senate passes restrictive new voting bill
Texas Senate passes restrictive new voting bill
Discussion:
CNN and POLITICUSUSA
Politico:
Inside the ‘Lord of the Flies’ factionalism now plaguing Trumpland — Just one month after Donald Trump left the White House, a top donor to his campaign received a call on his personal cellphone from a Republican candidate seeking financial support. — The call was unsolicited …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Los Angeles Times:
4 killed, including child, in mass shooting at Orange office complex — Four people, including a child, were killed Wednesday evening and a fifth person was injured in a mass shooting at an Orange office complex. — It marks the third mass shooting in the United States in two weeks …
Discussion:
KTLA, Orange County Register, BuzzFeed News, ABC7, Associated Press, UPI, Breitbart, Insider, The Week and Mediaite
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.
Josh Lederman / NBC News:
Texas officials circulated climate skeptic's talking points on power failures during storm — WASHINGTON — As millions of Texans went without power for days during February's devastating storm, Texas oil and gas regulators were circulating talking points from a noted climate skeptic blaming system failures …
Washington Post:
New York authorities file hate-crime charges in attack on Asian American woman — NEW YORK — Local authorities said Wednesday they have filed three felony hate-crime charges against 38-year-old Brandon Elliot in the brutal stomping of an elderly Asian American woman …
RELATED:
Eddie Scarry / Washington Examiner:
Joe Biden is about to lock up a lot of black people
Joe Biden is about to lock up a lot of black people
Discussion:
Daily Kos, NBC New York and Law & Crime
CNN:
Myanmar junta offers ceasefire to some, as UN envoy warns of ‘bloodbath’ — UN envoy says a ‘bloodbath is imminent’ in Myanmar — (CNN)As the United Nations Security Council discussed Myanmar's military coup on Wednesday, the country's junta declared a “ceasefire” …
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New York Times:
As Cuomo Sought $4 Million Book Deal, Aides Hid Damaging Death Toll — Gov. Andrew Cuomo boasted, “I am not a superhero,” in early versions of his book, drafted as his aides scrubbed a politically damaging Health Department report. — ALBANY, N.Y. — As the coronavirus subsided in New York last year …
Discussion:
Insider, The Journal News, Forbes, Talking Points Memo, Bulwark+, HotAir, Human Events, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Post, Fox News, The Sun and Mediaite
Mike Allen / Axios:
Exclusive: Apple's Tim Cook says voting “ought to be easier than ever” — Apple CEO Tim Cook, an Alabama native with a lifelong interest in civil rights, joins condemnations of Georgia's new voting law, in a statement provided first to Axios. — What he's saying: “The right to vote is fundamental in a democracy.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, Talking Points Memo and Insider
Craig Timberg / Washington Post:
One of QAnon's most widely quoted critics reveals his real name. Hint: It's not Travis View. — QAnon Anonymous co-host, riding a wave of newfound fame, acknowledges he was using a pseudonym all along — On a live stream of “QAnon Anonymous” last week, co-host Travis View did something …
Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story:
‘My God’: Former White House lawyer says ‘Donald Trump is in serious trouble’ with new lawsuit — Former acting White House Solicitor General Neal Katyal explained to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace that the new lawsuit in Washington, D.C. court saying former President Donald Trump is to blame …
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA
Liam Stack / New York Times:
The Push to Vaccinate 20,000 Holocaust Survivors in New York — One survivor who got her vaccine, Eva Rose, 96, said the last year has been “lousy,” but added: “I am still here, thank God.” — A year spent hiding at home from the coronavirus has given Anne Bertolino, 96 …
Lachlan Markay / Axios:
Obama Cabinet official took undisclosed foreign cash — Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood took $50,000 from an associate of a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire at the center of a sprawling scheme of illegal foreign campaign contributions, federal prosecutors revealed Wednesday.
Discussion:
U.S. Department of Justice, The Federalist, The Daily Caller, NPR and Raw Story
RELATED:
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Ray LaHood admitted hiding $50K loan from foreign billionaire
Ray LaHood admitted hiding $50K loan from foreign billionaire
Discussion:
The Week, Fox News and New York Times
David Gilbert / VICE:
Facebook Helped Alex Jones Share ‘Prepare For War’ Posts Before the Capitol Riots — Hundreds of thousands of Facebook users saw Jones' lies about a stolen election, even though Jones himself has been banned from Facebook. — DG — Alex Jones has been banned from Facebook for almost two years …