Top Items:
Devlin Barrett / Washington Post:
Justice Dept. releases part of internal memo on not charging Trump in Russia probe — The Justice Department late Monday night released part of a key internal document used in 2019 to justify not charging President Donald Trump with obstruction, but also signaled it would fight a judge's effort to make the entire document public.
Discussion:
HotAir, CBS News, NBC News and Washington Times
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Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Biden Justice Department fights release of legal memo on prosecuting Trump — The Justice Department on Monday released more of a key legal memo concluding that former President Donald Trump did not commit obstruction of justice through his alleged attempts to thwart federal investigations …
Discussion:
USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Crooks and Liars, Bloomberg and Washington Examiner
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
McGahn Is Likely to Testify Next Week on Trump's Efforts to Obstruct Russia Inquiry — A delay is said to have stemmed from an initial threat by former President Donald J. Trump to intervene, but he apparently reversed course. — WASHINGTON — President Donald J. Trump's former White House counsel …
Discussion:
CNN, Insider, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth and Political Wire
Marshall Cohen / CNN:
Biden's DOJ appeals order to release full memo on why Trump wasn't charged with obstruction — (CNN)The Justice Department is partially appealing an order to publicly release a pivotal 2019 memo about whether then-President Donald Trump obstructed the Russia investigation.
Discussion:
Insider and BuzzFeed News
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Timeline: How the Wuhan lab-leak theory suddenly became credible — The source of the coronavirus that has left more than 3 million people dead around the world remains a mystery. But in recent months the idea that it emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) …
Discussion:
pjmedia.com, Twitchy, spectator.us and Fox News
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Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
How the Liberal Media Dismissed the Lab-Leak Theory and Smeared Its Supporters
How the Liberal Media Dismissed the Lab-Leak Theory and Smeared Its Supporters
Discussion:
American Greatness, National Review, Washington Examiner, Fox News, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, Twitchy, Summit News, Washington Post and Althouse
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Attacks on Jews Over Israel Are a Gift to the Right — Violence between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East is often accompanied by spikes in anti-Semitic activity in the United States, but what's happened over the last week or so has been different. — As Jonathan Greenblatt …
Discussion:
Responsible Statecraft, National Review, The National Interest and Washington Post
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Ayaan Hirsi Ali / UnHerd:
How influencers have legitimised anti-Semitism
How influencers have legitimised anti-Semitism
Discussion:
The Bulwark, New York Times, Axios, Jewish Journal and TheBlaze
Politico:
‘Time to move on’: Infrastructure talks near collapse — Washington's bipartisan infrastructure talks may soon look a lot like its cicada population: squashed after staggering around haplessly. — Senate Republicans negotiating with the White House sounded dour notes on Monday evening …
Discussion:
The Hill, MSN, Bangor Daily News, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Post and BizPac Review
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Washington Post:
Infrastructure talks hit a wall as Senate GOP and White House exchange blame — Republicans allege that Biden's aides reversed course — The prospects for a bipartisan infrastructure deal dimmed even further Monday, as Senate Republicans alleged that the White House had agreed to narrow …
Discussion:
NBC News, Outside the Beltway, Fox News, RedState, Roll Call, New York Post, Common Dreams and Insider
David McCabe / New York Times:
Florida, in a First, Will Fine Social Media Companies That Bar Candidates — The new law is a direct response to Facebook's and Twitter's suspensions of former President Donald J. Trump. — WASHINGTON — Florida on Monday became the first state to regulate how companies like Facebook …
Discussion:
Tampa Bay Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, spectator.us, Sun-Sentinel, TechCrunch, Florida Politics and Forbes, more at Mediagazer »
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Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:
What Joe Biden Expects of His Presidency — In his first interview after his inauguration, Biden explained what he got wrong about Trump—and what he still hoped to squeeze out of Republicans. — Joe Biden had been president for less than two weeks when he told me something he'd heard from a friend after the election.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Lawyers, Guns & Money and New York Times
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Jon Gambrell / Associated Press:
Mysterious air base being built on volcanic island off Yemen — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A mysterious air base is being built on a volcanic island off Yemen that sits in one of the world's crucial maritime chokepoints for both energy shipments and commercial cargo.
Discussion:
HotAir and Al Jazeera
Margaret Talev / Axios:
Axios-Ipsos poll: Re-emerging without trust — Americans are taking off their masks and re-engaging publicly at levels not seen since the start of the pandemic, with the most dramatic shifts in people over 50 and those who've been vaccinated, according to the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.
Tara Palmeri / Politico:
Suspicious package sent to Rand Paul's home — The FBI and Capitol Hill police are investigating a suspicious package containing white powder that was delivered to the home of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Monday, according to a senior adviser to the senator. — A large envelope arrived …
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Moderna, Inc.:
Moderna Announces TeenCOVE Study of its COVID-19 Vaccine in Adolescents Meets Primary Endpoint and Plans to Submit Data to Regulators in Early June — Primary endpoint of non-inferior immunogenicity versus the Phase 3 study adult comparator group was met — No cases of COVID-19 observed …
Discussion:
CBS News, The Verge, The Daily Caller, CBS Chicago, New York Times and Fox News
David Bauder / Associated Press:
AP says it is reviewing social media policies after firing — NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press said Monday that it is launching a review of its social media policies after questions were raised about last week's firing of one of its journalists who had expressed pro-Palestinian views.
Discussion:
The Wrap, more at Mediagazer »
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Ken Klippenstein / The Intercept:
AP, in Leaked Memos, Doing Damage Control With Staff: “You Will Have a Voice”
AP, in Leaked Memos, Doing Damage Control With Staff: “You Will Have a Voice”
Discussion:
Poynter, Jewish Journal, New York Post, spiked and Daily Kos
Jacob Magid / The Times of Israel:
Support for Israel among young US evangelical Christians drops sharply — survey — Since 2018, backing for Israel down from 75% to 33% now; nearly half of evangelicals aged 18-29 say they favor establishment of Palestinian state, voted for Biden over Trump
Washington Examiner:
We don't need a woke Fed — Racial equality is an incredibly important cause, but we don't understand what it has to do with the Federal Reserve. We suspect the Fed doesn't have a clue, either. — So it's a good thing Sen. Pat Toomey is asking it. — Congress created the Federal Reserve …
Dan Pfeiffer / The Message Box:
How Libs Can Stop Owning Themselves Online — The Right has mastered trolling as a political communications strategy and Dems have to stop falling for it — In the last few weeks, Senator Ted Cruz, no stranger to Twitter controversy, has — Retweeted a Russian propaganda video while calling the U.S. military “emasculated.”
Jason Easley / POLITICUSUSA:
Jen Psaki Smashes Peter Doocy As He Tries To Blame Biden For COVID Deaths — Video: … Doocy asked, “On the origins of covid, there is a new Wall Street Journal story that three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of urology were hospitalized with symptoms consistent with covid-19 and common seasonal illness of November 2019.
Bob Brigham / Raw Story:
Arrested insurrectionist visited Ted Cruz's house — and brought 11 molotov cocktails to Jan. 6 riot: report — Lonnie Coffman of Alabama will remain in a Washington, DC-area jail until his trial, I federal judge ruled on Monday. — “A north Alabama man facing multiple charges in connection …
Discussion:
The Montgomery Advertiser, Alabama Political Reporter and al.com
Matt Dixon / Politico:
How Matt Gaetz helped make Ron DeSantis — TALLAHASSEE — Just weeks after he took office as governor, Ron DeSantis held a press conference with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) that left Florida's political class befuddled. — Standing with Republicans DeSantis and Gaetz was a major Democratic donor …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Will Folks / FITSNews:
Nancy Mace's Challenger Holds ‘Mask-Burning’ Event — A Republican challenger to incumbent congresswoman Nancy Mace held a mask-burning bonfire over the weekend, calling the gathering a statement against oppression and tyranny. — “This is saying no to tyranny,” said Lynz Piper-Loomis …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Eli Rosenberg / Washington Post:
‘The final straw’: How the pandemic pushed restaurant workers over the edge — Jim Conway started working in restaurants in 1982, making $2.13 an hour, plus tips. — And though the world has changed significantly in the nearly 40 years since then, his hourly wage has not.
Dov Lieber / Wall Street Journal:
Blinken Spotlights Plight of Palestinians in Effort to Shore Up Israel-Hamas Truce — ‘We have to use the space created to address a larger set of underlying issues and challenges,’ says U.S. secretary of state — TEL AVIV—Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jerusalem on Tuesday …
Discussion:
KEYT-TV, Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera and Al-Monitor
Scmp / South China Morning Post:
WWE's Cena apologises to China after Taiwan country reference — John Cena says on Taiwanese TV that it would be ‘the first country to watch the film’ American quickly backtracked on Weibo, saying he made ‘one mistake’ after doing ‘a lot of interviews’ John Cena backtracks comments …
Discussion:
National Review, Bloomberg and CNN
Washington Post:
Rising Democratic star Val Demings wants to challenge Sen. Marco Rubio. Could she win? — Her network of Black women's civic organizations would give her a critical boost — Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) is reportedly planning to run for U.S. Senate against incumbent Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
Michelangelo Signorile / The Signorile Report:
January 6th just the beginning, as ‘second civil war’ is plotted — The threat of violence is escalating —against Democrats but also against any GOP dissenter, fearful of being “Mike Pence'd” … One of the ways in my job that I'm able to gauge what's happening on the right is by the exhaustive amount of email I get.
Discussion:
Raw Story
The Dispatch:
How the West Must Handle Lukashenko's Threat to the International Order — Designating the Belarusian dictator as a terrorist would be one step. But leaders must also pressure Vladimir Putin. — 2 hr ago — Alexander Lukashenko's 27 years in power in Belarus have been marked by murder, brutality, and repression.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, The Atlantic, CNBC and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »
Sarah Chemla / Jerusalem Post:
Actor Mark Ruffalo apologizes for suggesting Israel committed ‘genocide’ — “It's not accurate,” he said. “It's inflammatory, disrespectful & is being used to justify antisemitism here [in the US] & abroad.” — American actor Mark Ruffalo, a frequent critic of Israel …
Discussion:
Breitbart, Fox News, The Wrap and New York Post
Michael E. Kanell / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Labor shortages end when wages rise, say some local businesses — As his six restaurants started ramping up for a post-pandemic world, Brian Will was struggling to find employees, so he went with the classic economics response for hard-to-find things. — He paid more.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
Ross Williams / Georgia Recorder:
Judge blocks Georgia law that banned state business from Israel boycotters — A federal judge in Atlanta struck a major blow against a Georgia law that bans people who boycott Israel from entering into contracts with the state. — Judge Mark Cohen ruled that the University System …
Discussion:
JONATHAN TURLEY and Informed Comment
Juliet Macur / New York Times:
Simone Biles Dials Up the Difficulty, ‘Because I Can’ — The Olympic gold medalist's new vault is so dangerous that gymnastics, for now, limits the scoring rewards for trying it. Biles says that's unfair. — INDIANAPOLIS — Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history …
Discussion:
TheGrio, KEYT-TV, Fox News, Associated Press and Page Six