Top Items:
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Scoop: Tucker Carlson sought Putin interview at time of spying claim — Tucker Carlson was talking to U.S.-based Kremlin intermediaries about setting up an interview with Vladimir Putin shortly before the Fox News host accused the National Security Agency of spying on him, sources familiar with the conversations tell Axios.
Discussion:
Raw Story, emptywheel, The Hill, New York Post, RedState, The Federalist, Fox News, Washington Examiner, Deadline, Insider, The Daily Caller, Ace of Spades HQ, National Review, The Wrap, Mediaite, Fox Business, HotAir, Townhall, The Gateway Pundit, POLITICUSUSA, TheBlaze, YouTube and Power Line, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Jordan Davidson / The Federalist:
Check Out All The Blue Check Morons Who Swore The Corrupt Intel Community Would Never Spy On Tucker Carlson — Instead of questioning or expressing outrage at the NSA, blue checkmarks banded together to write Carlson off as a right-wing conspiracy theorist.
Discussion:
Fox News, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and The Hill
Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:
Trump's Social Media Lawsuits Are Full Of Arguments Courts Have Repeatedly Rejected — WASHINGTON — Former president Donald Trump's latest attempt at getting back on mainstream social media platforms came in the form of lawsuits on Wednesday against Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube …
Discussion:
Reason, NBC News, Raw Story, Crooks and Liars and WSVN-TV, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
Trump's latest ridiculous lawsuit shows how small he has become — For someone who filed thousands of lawsuits during his career in business, former president Donald Trump has been rather quiet on the legal front since he left office — particularly if you don't count the criminal charges …
Discussion:
Vox, One America News Network, Vanity Fair, The Register, Mother Jones, Newsbusters, Raw Story and YouTube
Washington Post:
Trump files class action lawsuits targeting Facebook, Google and Twitter over ‘censorship’ of conservatives
Trump files class action lawsuits targeting Facebook, Google and Twitter over ‘censorship’ of conservatives
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Raw Story, USA Today, Associated Press, Common Dreams, TechCrunch, The Western Journal, New York Times, Gizmodo, Fox News, Law & Crime, NPR, TheBlaze, Al Jazeera, The Verge, CNBC, Human Events and UPI, more at Techmeme »
Emily Singer / The American Independent:
Virginia GOP gubernatorial nominee admits to hiding extreme abortion views to win election — Glenn Youngkin said he won't talk publicly about some of his more severe positions on abortion because that 'won't win my independent votes that I have to get.' — Virginia's Republican nominee …
Discussion:
HuffPost, Political Wire and Blue Virginia
Molly Ball / TIME:
Breakfast with J.D. Vance, Anti-Trump Author Turned Pro-Trump Candidate — “I'm not just a flip-flopper, I'm a flip-flop-flipper on Trump,” J.D. Vance says with a laugh, slicing into a half-stack of breakfast pancakes. The Hillbilly Elegy author and newly minted Republican Senate candidate …
Washington Post:
Conservative groups mount opposition to increase in IRS budget, threatening White House infrastructure plan — The new funding is supposed to be a cornerstone of a bipartisan deal negotiated by the White House and moderate senators — Conservative political groups are mobilizing …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:
Rudy Giuliani suspended from practicing law in D.C. court — The D.C. Court of Appeals has temporarily barred Rudolph W. Giuliani from practicing law, following a similar decision in New York. — A committee of judges in New York determined last month that Giuliani was unfit to keep practicing law …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, USA Today, ABC News, CBS News, One America News Network, Politico, Forbes and New York Magazine
RELATED:
Katelyn Polantz / CNN:
Rudy Giuliani suspended from practicing law in Washington, DC — (CNN)Rudy Giuliani's law license has been suspended in Washington, DC, after he temporarily lost his license in New York for pushing election lies and that state court system looks further into his case.
Discussion:
CNBC, UPI and Mercury News
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
The Chilling Message of Trump's Embrace of Ashli Babbitt Martyrdom January 6 is now a heroic uprising for the movement. — Last Thursday, Donald Trump announced a new theme, with all his customary blunt-force subtlety. “Who shot Ashli Babbitt?,” he wrote on his official pseudo-presidential stationery.
Discussion:
Washington Post and Raw Story
RELATED:
Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
Trump says ‘there was no reason’ for officer to shoot rioter who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6
Trump says ‘there was no reason’ for officer to shoot rioter who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Insider, Gizmodo, IJR and Talking Points Memo
Yvonne Wingett Sanchez / Arizona Republic:
Secretary of State Katie Hobbs asks Attorney General Mark Brnovich to investigate possible election interference by Donald Trump, allies — Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs on Wednesday asked Attorney General Mark Brnovich to open a criminal investigation into possible efforts …
Simon Shuster / TIME:
Exclusive: Documents Reveal Erik Prince's $10 Billion Plan to Make Weapons and Create a Private Army in Ukraine — On the second night of his visit to Kyiv, Erik Prince had a dinner date on his agenda. A few of his Ukrainian associates had arranged to meet the American billionaire at the Vodka Grill that evening, Feb. 23, 2020.
Discussion:
Insider
Adam Klasfeld / Law & Crime:
Michigan Judge Refuses to Allow Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, and Other ‘Kraken’ Attorneys to Skip Sanctions Hearing — Mere hours after lawyers for the so-called “Kraken” litigation to overturn the 2020 presidential election asked to skip attending an upcoming sanctions hearing …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Ben Collins / NBC News:
QAnon' new ‘plan’? Run for school board — Drake Wuertz came to the school board meeting in Seminole County, Florida, in late June with a message familiar to those who had heard him speak at previous meetings: America's children are at risk of systemic abuse. — And the way to stop it is to run for local office.
Discussion:
Raw Story and Political Wire
RELATED:
David Gilbert / VICE:
Michael Flynn's Family: That QAnon Oath Video Is Just Our Family Motto
Michael Flynn's Family: That QAnon Oath Video Is Just Our Family Motto
Discussion:
Law & Crime, Gizmodo and Raw Story
Aidin Vaziri / San Francisco Chronicle:
California Capitol reinstates mask mandate after COVID outbreak — California has reinstated a mask mandate for all lawmakers and employees at the state Capitol regardless of vaccination status following an outbreak of nine COVID-19 cases there. — All nine people who contracted the coronavirus …
Discussion:
CBS San Francisco and HuffPost
Jenni Fink / Newsweek:
Marjorie Taylor Greene Shuts Down Idea That Trump Will be Reinstated in August, ‘Not True’ — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is still a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump but she's not in the camp of people who believe he'll return to office before fall.
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA and Mediaite
Libby Cathey / ABC News:
Biden taunts McConnell for ‘bragging’ about relief bill he voted against — McConnell has vowed to wage a “hell of a fight” on Biden's infrastructure plan. — President Joe Biden taunted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday for having acknowledged his home state of Kentucky …
Discussion:
The Hill, Politico, Breitbart, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Post, Insider, Second Nexus and Forbes
Daniela Galarza / Washington Post:
Stop calling food ‘exotic’ — “One of the nicest things about Afghan restaurants is that they appeal to even the most timid of diners,” Mark and Gail Barnett wrote in the May 16, 1993, edition of The Post. “Your visiting aunt from Spokane, Wash., can enjoy the adventure of an exotic cuisine …
CBS News:
FBI orders new look at autopsy of Black motorist Ronald Greene after release of graphic bodycam video — The FBI is taking the unusual step of ordering a new look at the autopsy of Black motorist Ronald Greene to consider evidence not provided after his 2019 death, including graphic body camera video …
Bonnie Kristian / The Week:
Election fraud is the GOP's new fundamentalism — False, but not fringe. — “Vote for us in this election because we lost the last election” might seem a strange campaign appeal, but it's a theme many Republican candidates have embraced for the 2022 midterms. — They wouldn't phrase it quite that way, of course.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars
Shawn Boburg / Washington Post:
From corporate America to conspiracy theory promotion: How a Minnesota man made a career out of anonymously amplifying dark plots — STILLWATER, Minn. — Sean G. Turnbull displays many of the hallmarks of a successful upper-middle-class family man, a former film producer and marketing manager …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Rep. Roger Williams / Washington Examiner:
Biden's border crisis looks even worse in person — There is no denying a crisis on our southern border exists, unless you're President Joe Biden and his border czar Vice President Kamala Harris. Only five months into 2021, Border Patrol experienced 929,868 encounters with illegal migrants crossing our southern border.
Discussion:
Boston Herald
Ashish K. Jha / The Boston Globe:
Masking indoors in the age of the Delta variant — It's confusing. So who's right and how are Americans to navigate this? — The rise of the Delta variant of COVID-19 is causing concern and confusion about how best to avoid getting sick and spreading the disease.
Discussion:
Iowa Capital Dispatch and Los Angeles Times
Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
The Biden team welcomes a Saudi prince connected to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi — The Biden administration welcomed to Washington this week a Saudi prince who, as ambassador to the United States, played a key role in events leading to the murder of a U.S.-resident journalist, according to U.S. intelligence.
Discussion:
One America News Network, BizPac Review, Twitchy, The White House and WTOP
Commonwealth Fund:
Deaths and Hospitalizations Averted by Rapid U.S. Vaccination Rollout — The U.S. COVID-19 vaccination campaign has significantly curbed the virus's spread and national death toll, saving an estimated 279,000 lives and averting up to 1.25 million hospitalizations
CNN:
Federal judge blocks effort to invalidate parts of new Georgia voting law ahead of July runoffs — (CNN)A federal court judge on Wednesday denied a motion to stop the implementation of parts of Georgia's new voting law, ahead of state legislature runoff elections next week.
Discussion:
TheBlaze, New York Times, UPI, Washington Examiner, The Hill and Atlanta Journal-Constitution
RELATED:
Alexander Ward / Politico:
Biden's new Cold War with China will result in climate collapse, progressives warn — As a new Cold War takes shape between the U.S. and China, progressives fear the result will be a dramatically warming planet. — Over 40 progressive groups sent a letter to President Joe Biden and lawmakers …
Discussion:
Fox News
Yascha Mounk / The Atlantic:
We Might Have Reached Peak Populism — Feeling optimistic about the state of American politics is hard. The country is deeply polarized. Much of the debate consists of name-calling and demonization. Dissatisfied with a strategy of maximal obstructionism in Congress …
Beth LeBlanc / Detroit News:
Auditor general to review Michigan's COVID-related nursing home death data — The state auditor general will conduct a review to determine the accuracy of Michigan's data pertaining to COVID-related deaths at long-term care facilities. — Michigan Auditor General Doug Ringler estimated …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Fox News, Washington Free Beacon and Michigan Rising Action
Lara Seligman / Politico:
Sources: U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan complete ‘for all intents and purposes’ — The U.S. currently has roughly 600 troops in Afghanistan, most of whom are Marine Corps and Army personnel providing security at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. — A U.S. Army helicopter flies from Camp Shorab …
Discussion:
Task & Purpose and Washington Examiner
John Eligon / New York Times:
Jacob Zuma, Former South African President, Is Arrested — The Constitutional Court had found him guilty of contempt for failing to appear before a commission investigating corruption accusations that tainted a president once best known for fighting apartheid.
Discussion:
One America News Network, Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Political Wire
Todd J. Gillman / Dallas Morning News:
Ted Cruz, perennial favorite at CPAC, cites family commitment for skipping Dallas gathering — Trump headlines 3-day conservative conference. Cruz spoke at CPAC in Orlando four months ago, as he almost always does. — WASHINGTON - Sen. Ted Cruz, a reliable presence and recurring star …
Discussion:
The Hill
Michael Edison Hayden / Southern Poverty Law Center:
‘We Make Mistakes’: Twitter's Embrace of the Extreme Far Right — Twitter gave far-right extremists the platform they needed to plan an attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and the website, if it maintains its current approach, will likely enable politically motivated violence again in the future.