Top Items:
Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Democrats to introduce bill to expand Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices — WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats will introduce legislation Thursday to expand the Supreme Court from nine to 13 justices, alongside progressive activists pushing to transform the high court.
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA, Talking Points Memo, HotAir, OutKick, Real America's Voice News, Townhall, Washington Examiner, TheBlaze, KHON2, Insider, Current and The Week
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Kate Riga / Talking Points Memo:
‘Frankly, I Think Everyone Is Baffled’: Searching For Clues In SCOTUS' Abortion Silence — When Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court in October 2020, the anti-abortion community celebrated the beginning of a new era. The Court would now be heavily skewed to the right …
Discussion:
Fox News, No More Mister Nice Blog, Arkansas Online, Politico and Washington Free Beacon
Ian Millhiser / Vox:
A new bill would add 4 seats to the Supreme Court — It's on! — Four Democratic members of Congress plan to introduce legislation that would add four seats to the Supreme Court, which would, if passed, allow President Biden to immediately name four individuals to fill those seats and give Democrats a 7-6 majority.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and Fox News
Ryan Grim / The Intercept:
House and Senate Democrats Plan Bill to Add Four Justices to Supreme Court
House and Senate Democrats Plan Bill to Add Four Justices to Supreme Court
Discussion:
Alternet.org, BizPac Review, Raw Story, Charlie Kirk, USA Today, Liberty Unyielding, CD Media, Breitbart, The Sun, Twitchy, The Gateway Pundit, Fox News, The RFAngle, Mediaite, Todd Starnes and New York Post
Jess Bravin / Wall Street Journal:
Democratic Lawmakers to Present Plan to Expand Supreme Court
Democratic Lawmakers to Present Plan to Expand Supreme Court
Discussion:
Washington Post, National Review, The Guardian, Politico, HotAir and Washington Times
Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:
Pelosi rips McConnell in new book: He's an ‘enabler of some of the worst stuff’
Pelosi rips McConnell in new book: He's an ‘enabler of some of the worst stuff’
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite and The American Independent
Tyler Olson / Fox News:
Republicans slam ‘assault’ on Supreme Court by Dems' court-packing bill, say move will help GOP in elections
Republicans slam ‘assault’ on Supreme Court by Dems' court-packing bill, say move will help GOP in elections
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and The Gateway Pundit
Edmund DeMarche / Fox News:
Cotton says Dems will do anything for power amid Supreme Court packing move
Cotton says Dems will do anything for power amid Supreme Court packing move
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Examiner, CBS News, RedState and Washington Post
The White House:
FACT SHEET: Imposing Costs for Harmful Foreign Activities by the Russian Government … The Biden administration has been clear that the United States desires a relationship with Russia that is stable and predictable. We do not think that we need to continue on a negative trajectory.
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U.S. Department of the Treasury:
Treasury Escalates Sanctions Against the Russian Government's Attempts to Influence U.S. Elections — WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took sweeping action against 16 entities and 16 individuals who attempted to influence …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, UPI, Washington Times and Meduza.io
Bloomberg:
Biden Imposes Sanctions on Russia, Restricts Buying New Debt
Biden Imposes Sanctions on Russia, Restricts Buying New Debt
Discussion:
New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, The Sun, Insider, Raw Story, New York Post and The Week, more at Techmeme »
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Biden administration imposes significant economic sanctions on Russia over cyberspying, efforts to influence presidential election
Biden administration imposes significant economic sanctions on Russia over cyberspying, efforts to influence presidential election
Discussion:
Politico, Associated Press, POLITICUSUSA, The Times of Israel and FOX40
CNBC:
Biden administration slaps new sanctions on Russia for cyberattacks, election interference
Biden administration slaps new sanctions on Russia for cyberattacks, election interference
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, American Military News and Breitbart
The Daily Beast:
Matt Gaetz's Wingman Paid Dozens of Young Women—and a 17-Year-Old — VEN-UH-OH … Venmo payment records reveal a vast network of young women received money from Rep. Matt Gaetz's associate, the accused sex trafficker Joel Greenberg. — As new details emerge about Rep. Matt Gaetz's role …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, HotAir, HuffPost, The Week, Florida Politics, Raw Story, Insider, Fortune, The Wrap, Mic, The Intellectualist and IJR
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Benjamin Din / Politico:
Rep. Matt Gaetz announces ad buy to ‘fight back’ against CNN, allegations
Rep. Matt Gaetz announces ad buy to ‘fight back’ against CNN, allegations
Discussion:
The Hill, POLITICUSUSA, Forbes, Raw Story, Florida Politics, The Intellectualist and Law & Crime
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Biden Finally Got to Say No to the Generals — Critics be damned, the President is ending the Forever War waged by Bush, Obama, and Trump in Afghanistan. — On Wednesday, Joe Biden announced the close of the two-decade-long American war in Afghanistan, giving the U.S. military a deadline …
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Politico:
How Biden's team overrode the brass on Afghanistan
How Biden's team overrode the brass on Afghanistan
Discussion:
Washington Post, Defense One, Breitbart, Houston Public Media, Forbes, Summit News, Responsible Statecraft, Fox News, UPI, Associated Press, National Review, Slate and Mediaite
Kathy Frankovic / YouGov:
Decision to pause Johnson & Johnson vaccine causes public confidence in vaccine to sink — Economist/YouGov Poll Politics & current affairs — Fieldwork for the latest Economist/YouGov poll on vaccine safety perceptions was in the midst of being conducted when the Centers for Disease Control …
Discussion:
CBS News
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Miles Parks / NPR:
The Most Popular J&J Vaccine Story On Facebook? A Conspiracy Theorist Posted It — CNN. ABC News. The New York Times. Fox News. — Those are the publishers of four of the five most popular Facebook posts of articles about the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine this week.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Media Matters for America and HotAir, more at Mediagazer »
Benjamin Mueller / New York Times:
Western Warnings Tarnish Covid Vaccines the World Badly Needs
Western Warnings Tarnish Covid Vaccines the World Badly Needs
Discussion:
Marginal REVOLUTION and Kevin Drum
The Cook Political Report:
Introducing the 2021 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index — The Cook Political Report is pleased to introduce the post-2020 edition of the Partisan Voter Index (PVI) for all 50 states and 435 congressional districts. Although these district boundaries won't be in place …
Discussion:
Political Wire
Washington Post:
17 requests for backup in 78 minutes — A reconstruction shows how failures of planning and preparation left police at the Capitol severely disadvantaged on Jan. 6 — At 1:13 p.m. on Jan. 6, a D.C. police commander facing a swelling crowd of protesters on the west side of the U.S. Capitol …
Matt McKinney / Star Tribune:
Officer arrested, charged with second-degree manslaughter in killing of Daunte Wright — The charge carries maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. — TEXT SIZE — MORE — Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly A. Potter was arrested late Wednesday morning at the offices …
Discussion:
Minnesota Reformer, NPR, The Week, USA Today, Power Line, wabe.org, Washington Examiner, Talking Points Memo, UPI and Insider
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April Ryan / TheGrio:
Vice President Kamala Harris weighs in on gun vs. Taser debate in Daunte Wright shooting
Vice President Kamala Harris weighs in on gun vs. Taser debate in Daunte Wright shooting
Discussion:
Snopes.com
Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Warnock off to a fast fundraising start for 2022 Senate re-election race — U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock has hardly slowed his torrid fundraising pace since his narrow January runoff victory. — The Democrat's campaign said Thursday he raised more than $5.7 million from more than 101,000 …
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Jaclyn Peiser / Washington Post:
Accused Capitol rioter planned an escape to Switzerland, prosecutors said. Now he'll stay in jail. — When Jeffrey Sabol returned to his Colorado home after allegedly storming the U.S. Capitol and assaulting two police officers on Jan. 6, he fried his electronic devices in the microwave …
Robin Bravender / Insider:
We spoke with 21 of Matt Gaetz's high-school classmates. Some say they could have predicted the congressman's sex scandal. — Some of Matt Gaetz's former classmates spoke exclusively with Insider about his high school days. — Gaetz, now 38, had a reputation as a know-it-all who talked over his classmates and teachers.
CNN:
Biden starts to execute on policies Trump abandoned by crossing off another campaign promise — (CNN)President Joe Biden is carrying out some of Donald Trump's biggest campaign promises by leaving America's longest war, targeting economic aid at forgotten Americans and building an infrastructure plan that may actually happen.
Discussion:
NBC News, Associated Press, KDFX-TV and HuffPost
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Conor Finnegan / ABC News:
Blinken visits Afghanistan after Biden's withdrawal decision to press for diplomacy
Blinken visits Afghanistan after Biden's withdrawal decision to press for diplomacy
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, CBS News, Washington Post, Bloomberg, NBC News, CNN, NPR and The Federalist
Susan Page / Politico:
Inside Nancy Pelosi's War With AOC and the Squad — Adapted from Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power, to be published by Twelve Books on April 20. — “Nancy doesn't have much patience for people who don't know what they don't know.” — That was what a senior congressional …
Discussion:
National Review and IJR
Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal:
CDC Identifies Small Group of Covid-19 Infections Among Fully Vaccinated Patients — Incidence is rare, occurring in only 0.008% of cases and in line with expectations — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified a small cohort of approximately 5,800 cases …
Washington Free Beacon:
Kristen Clarke, Bigot and Liar — Having sworn to answer all questions truthfully, in an appearance Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division offered a series of answers that strained credulity and veered into outright falsehood.
Discussion:
National Review, C-SPAN.org, Daily Kos and Slate
Sarah Chaney Cambon / Wall Street Journal:
Jobless Claims Fell to a New Pandemic Low Last Week — Applications for unemployment benefits have declined this year but are still historically high — Unemployment claims declined to the lowest level since the pandemic struck last spring, adding to signs the U.S. economic revival is picking up speed.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
Philip Wegmann / Real Clear Politics:
Christie to GOP Study Group: Call Biden Out as ‘a Liar’ — Republicans are bloodied and beaten, and maybe just a little too bashful for their own good. At least, so says Chris Christie. — Knocked back on their heels and forced to answer for every outrageous thing Donald Trump did …
Discussion:
The Philadelphia Inquirer, Vox and Mediaite
CNN:
Biden resists raising refugee cap over political optics, sources say — (CNN)President Joe Biden has resisted signing off on raising the Trump-era refugee cap because of political optics, sources have told CNN. — The President's hesitation comes as the administration faces heat …
Discussion:
KDFX-TV