Top Items:
The White House:
Statement by President Joe Biden — Last night at my direction, U.S. military forces in the northwest Syria successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation to protect the American people and our Allies, and make the world a safer place. Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces …
Discussion:
Insider, The Daily Beast, The Daily Caller, Townhall, Тел … and Forbes
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Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Special Forces Raid Syrian Site in Search of Terrorist Leader — The operation was carried out in northwest Syria near the Turkish border — WASHINGTON—U.S. special operations forces carried out a combat operation to kill or capture a high-level terrorist in northwest Syria along the Turkish border …
Discussion:
U.S. Department of Defense, KRON4 and Outside the Beltway
Mike Brest / Washington Examiner:
US commandos kill ISIS leader, successor of al-Baghdadi, in Syria raid — The U.S. military killed the leader of ISIS in an early-morning operation in northwest Syria early Thursday morning, President Biden said. — Abu Ibrahim al Hahimi al Qurayshi, who took control of the terror group …
Discussion:
Syria Civil Defence, CBS News and National Review
Associated Press:
Biden: US raid in Syria killed top Islamic State leader — ATMEH, Syria (AP) — A U.S. special forces raid in northwestern Syria early Thursday killed the top leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, President Joe Biden said. — “Thanks to the skill and bravery …
Discussion:
CBS News, Breitbart, Al Jazeera, New York Times, Rolling Stone, KTLA, Los Angeles Times, WCTX-TV, WAVY-TV, Forbes, NBC4 Washington, Politico, Mediaite and Florida Politics
Associated Press:
US forces launch raid in Syria, civilians also reported dead — ATMEH, Syria (AP) — U.S. special forces carried out what the Pentagon said was a large-scale counterterrorism raid in northwestern Syria early Thursday. First responders at the scene reported 13 people were killed, including six children and four women.
Discussion:
France 24, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Breitbart, Twitchy, CBS News, Daily Herald, WTOP News and Common Dreams
Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:
CNN insider says network ‘needs to step up and fire Brian Stelter’ for not exposing Jeff Zucker affair: report — The network employee said Stelter's 'been sitting on his moral high horse doing Jeff's biddling' — Zucker's actions an ‘embarrassment’ for CNN: Kurtz
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Kayla Brantley / Daily Mail:
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Brian Stelter should start looking for another job.’ Attention turns to the CNN anchor following Jeff Zucker's ousting for his failure to report on the open secret affair while bashing other news networks — Insiders are calling for Brian Stelter to be fired after failing …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, RADAR, New York Post, Twitchy and The Guardian, more at Mediagazer »
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Jeff Zucker's legacy is defined by his promotion of Donald Trump — Many questions still swirl around Wednesday's startling announcement that, after nine years, Jeff Zucker's reign as CNN president was over. — Was his ouster really all about his failure to disclose to his corporate bosses …
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
CNN President Jeff Zucker Resigns, Citing Relationship With Colleague
CNN President Jeff Zucker Resigns, Citing Relationship With Colleague
Discussion:
Puck, Mediaite, KMMO, The Wrap, Instapundit, TVNewser, Newsbusters, KTLA and RADAR
Mike Fleming Jr / Deadline:
Unmasking Of Rudy Giuliani On Fox's ‘The Masked Singer’ Prompts Judges Ken Jeong & Robin Thicke To Walk Off In Protest — EXCLUSIVE, SPOILER ALERT: Rudy Giuliani was last week unmasked as an exiting costumed contestant in the taping of the first episode of Fox's popular prime time show The Masked Singer.
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Blake Montgomery / The Daily Beast:
Judges Walk Out After ‘The Masked Singer’ Reveals Rudy Giuliani
Judges Walk Out After ‘The Masked Singer’ Reveals Rudy Giuliani
Discussion:
Mediaite
Molly Minta / Mississippi Today:
Inside Mississippi's only class on critical race theory — As Republican lawmakers push to ban critical race theory, here's how the class changed the mind of one conservative Mississippian. — Brittany Murphree was born and raised in Rankin County, Mississippi, one of the most Republican counties …
Discussion:
Carl Beijer
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FiveThirtyEight:
Why Democrats Keep Losing Culture Wars — Virginia's new governor, Glenn Youngkin, kicked off his term with a political magic trick. In the first of nine executive orders issued on Jan. 15, the day he took office,1 he banned the teaching of “inherently divisive concepts, including critical race theory” in K-12 public schools.
Discussion:
ABC News and Blue Virginia
Edward Luce / Financial Times:
America is in Europe to stay — thanks to Putin — By threatening Ukraine's sovereignty, Moscow has achieved something Biden could not do on his own: unite the west — So much for America's shift from the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific. By demanding concessions that have shocked a divided …
Discussion:
Florida Politics
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Jazz Shaw / HotAir:
Putin to visit Xi Jinping to strengthen ties against the west
Putin to visit Xi Jinping to strengthen ties against the west
Discussion:
National Review, Politico, Associated Press, Japan Times and Bloomberg
Storer H. / Washington Monthly:
The Curious Timing of Putin's Aggression Toward Ukraine 
The Curious Timing of Putin's Aggression Toward Ukraine 
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Digby's Hullabaloo and The Daily Beast
Washington Post:
Memo circulated among Trump allies advocated using NSA data in attempt to prove stolen election — The proposal to seize and analyze “NSA unprocessed raw signals data” raises legal and ethical concerns that set it apart from other attempts that have come to light.
Discussion:
The Hill, New York Magazine and Raw Story
John F. Harris / Politico:
Take The Hint, John Roberts — It's Time For You To Retire, Too — “Judges are like umpires,” John Roberts famously said at his confirmation hearing as Chief Justice. “Umpires don't make the rules, they apply them ... They make sure everybody plays by the rules, but it is a limited role.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: What Eric Adams taught Joe Biden about the politics of crime — DRIVING THE DAY — BREAKING OVERNIGHT — via AP's Ghaith Alsayed, Lolita Baldor and Bassem Mroue: “U.S. special forces carried out what the Pentagon said was a large-scale counterterrorism raid in northwestern Syria early Thursday.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Washington Examiner, The Hill and GovExec.com
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New York Times:
Memos Show Roots of Trump's Focus on Jan. 6 and Alternate Electors — Just over two weeks after Election Day, lawyers working with the Trump campaign set out a rationale for creating alternate slates of electors as part of an effort to buy time to overturn the results.
Discussion:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Raw Story, Four Freedoms, Insider, Political Wire and National Zero
Adam Cancryn / Politico:
So long, Omicron: White House eyes next phase of pandemic — The White House is preparing to move on from Omicron. — Emboldened by falling case counts, the Biden administration is plotting a new phase of the pandemic response aimed at containing the coronavirus and conditioning Americans to live with it.
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Daniel Henninger / Wall Street Journal:
End the Covid Panic Now
Tom Tapp / Deadline:
L.A. Mayor Garcetti Says He Held His Breath For Maskless Photo With Magic Johnson — Los Angeles Mayor — and Biden Administration ambassadorial nominee — Eric Garcetti today defended his actions after maskless photos surfaced of him and Lakers great Magic Johnson, along …
Discussion:
Breitbart, The Right Scoop, HuffPost, ABC7, Twitchy, The Gateway Pundit, OutKick, Fox News, Washington Examiner and New York Post
Cayla Harris / Houston Chronicle:
National Butterfly Center on Texas border closing indefinitely after attacks from right-wing conspiracy theorists — The National Butterfly Center on the Texas border is closing “for the immediate future” after conspiracy-fueled attacks against the center on social media escalated in recent days.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, National Zero, Insider and Talking Points Memo
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
NORTH KOREA HACKED HIM. SO HE TOOK DOWN ITS INTERNET — Disappointed with the lack of US response to the Hermit Kingdom's attacks against US security researchers, one hacker took matters into his own hands. — For the past two weeks, observers of North Korea's strange and tightly restricted corner …
Discussion:
NK News, Rehacked Newsletter and Ace of Spades HQ, more at Techmeme »
Michael Graham / NH Journal:
Lewandowski's New Gig: Get Rid of Gov. Sununu — On the Howie Carr radio show Wednesday, Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski said his old boss has given him a new job: Get rid of Gov. Chris Sununu. — “When we spoke earlier in the day, you told me that [President Trump] assigned you a couple …
Discussion:
Boston Herald and Politico
Lachlan Markay / Axios:
How much 2022 candidates are paying after endorsements — Some big-name 2022 candidates are cutting checks to high-profile backers who endorsed their campaigns, records show. — Why it matters: Key endorsements are a known boon to campaigns battling for support, especially among ideologically committed primary voters.
James Kirchick / Tablet Magazine:
When the Pope Hits Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie, That's Ahmari — From neoconservatism to integralist cosplay to active worship of China and Russia, the ‘post-liberal’ right has had a giddy five years — I first met Sohrab Ahmari, one of the most influential and controversial writers …
Washington Post:
D.C. bar that broke vaccine rules closed for health violations — A D.C. bar that was feted by conservative media as it lost its liquor license for violating vaccine rules was closed by the city's health department Tuesday for food code violations. — The Big Board, located …
Discussion:
Washingtonian, Twitchy and Washington Examiner
Ben Steverman / Bloomberg:
Tax-Free Inheritances Fuel America's New $73 Trillion Gilded Age — Americans can expect to inherit $72.6 trillion over the next quarter century, more than twice as much as a decade ago, in the latest indication of how soaring markets are poised to bolster the next generation of the ultra-rich.
Michael Scherer / Washington Post:
Former Human Rights Campaign president alleges racial bias in his firing after Andrew M. Cuomo scandal — The former president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy group, sued the organization Thursday, contending that a pattern of racial discrimination led …
Rebecca Mansour / Breitbart:
Peter Schweizer's ‘Red-Handed’ Hits #1 on New York Times Bestseller List — Peter Schweizer's blockbuster new book Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, one week after its release by HarperCollins.
Insider:
3 more women say Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy filmed them without asking during sex … In November 2021, three young women came forward about sexual encounters they had with Barstool Sports' founder, Dave Portnoy. These women told Insider the experiences with Portnoy turned frightening …
Discussion:
Defector, Barstool Sports and New York Post