Top Items:
Jonathan Lemire / Politico:
The White House is freaked out that Putin's next big win could be in Paris — The White House has begun to harbor fears that Vladimir Putin could soon notch his biggest victory of Russia's invasion of Ukraine — in Paris. — There is growing concern within President Joe Biden's administration …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Politico and FiveThirtyEight, more at Mediagazer »
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Edward Luce / Financial Times:
Putin's Trojan horse inside the west — If Russia cannot dominate on the battlefield, its next best hope is for dramatic new evidence of western decay — This article is an on-site version of our Swamp Notes newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox every Monday and Friday
Discussion:
NDTV, THE JACKAL and The Guardian
Robert Legare / CBS News:
Proud Boys conspirator reaches plea deal in Jan. 6 case — The president of a North Carolina chapter of the far-right group the Proud Boys is expected to enter into a plea agreement Friday with prosecutors investigating the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, court records indicate.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Reuters, BuzzFeed News, The Hill, Politico, NPR, Queen City News and Raw Story
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Tom Jackman / Washington Post:
Proud Boys leader admits plan to storm Capitol, will testify against others … A North Carolina man who was one of the leaders of the far-right Proud Boys as they assaulted the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, pleaded guilty Friday to two felony counts with a minimum sentence of nearly six years in prison …
Hugo Lowell / The Guardian:
Capitol attack investigators zero in on far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys
Capitol attack investigators zero in on far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Raw Story and Work from home for justice
New York Times:
Live Updates: At Least 39 Killed in Strike on Train Station, Ukraine Says, as Thousands Flee From East — The station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk had been a main point of evacuation as the region braced for a scaling up of Russia's offensive. The European Union formally approved …
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, Associated Press, HotAir, Washington Free Beacon, Duly Noted, PastPresentFuture, CBS News, Common Dreams, UPI, TechCrunch, Укр …, Insider, Metro.co.uk, NBC New York, The Guardian, Associated Press, WHDH-TV, NBC News, NBC Los Angeles, USA Today and The Hill, more at Techmeme »
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Associated Press:
2 acquitted, jury hung on 2 more in Whitmer kidnap plot — GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A jury on Friday acquitted two men of all charges in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer but couldn't reach verdicts against the two alleged leaders, a stunning defeat for the government …
Discussion:
Associated Press, CNN, Twitchy and Forbes
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Trish Bendix / New York Times:
Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls the Police on Jimmy Kimmel — Kimmel said of Greene's angry tweets about a joke he made earlier this week: “She's a snowflake and a sociopath — a ‘snowciopath.’” … Marjorie Is the New Karen — Jimmy Kimmel struck a nerve with Marjorie Taylor Greene this week …
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CNN:
CNN Exclusive: ‘We control them all’: Donald Trump Jr. texted Meadows ideas for overturning 2020 election before it was called — Two days after the 2020 presidential election, as votes were still being tallied, Donald Trump's eldest son texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that …
Elena Schneider / Politico:
‘If we do this right ...’: The new Dem organizing strategy catching fire ahead of the midterms — A group of Democratic strategists is trying to spread a novel organizing tactic in this year's election. Technically, it's called “paid relational organizing,” but it boils down to this …
Discussion:
National Review and Truth and Consequences
Politico:
The Supreme Court question Republicans won't answer — Don't ask Chuck Grassley how he'd handle another Supreme Court nomination from President Joe Biden. — “Ask me that question on Nov. 9,” said Grassley, who's in line to run the Judiciary Committee if Republicans win back the Senate this fall.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Breitbart and New York Post
The White House:
Statement from the President on Delivery of Air Defense Systems to Ukraine — Since the outset of my administration, the United States has placed the highest priority on delivering critical military capabilities to Ukraine so it can defend itself against Russian aggression.
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Robert Muller / Reuters:
Slovakia sends its air defence system to Ukraine
Slovakia sends its air defence system to Ukraine
Discussion:
NPR, Politico, Anti-bellum, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Al Jazeera, UrduPoint News and Reuters
Eric Yoder / Washington Post:
White House tells agencies to delay vaccine mandate after court win — The White House told federal agencies Thursday to hold off on reinstating a coronavirus vaccination mandate for millions of employees, hours after an appeals court rejected an earlier injunction that had blocked the executive order.
Discussion:
Forbes, Reuters and New York Times
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Ed Morrissey / HotAir:
Hmmm: Federal appeals court upholds vaccine mandate on federal workers
Hmmm: Federal appeals court upholds vaccine mandate on federal workers
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Human Events and The Hill
Joy Pullmann / The Federalist:
Cancel Your Disney Vacation And Go To Dollywood Instead — Dollywood turned out to be the perfect family getaway, with fresh, clean fun for every age and need. — Our family ended up at Dollywood recently by happenstance. We were visiting family in Tennessee.
Salvador Hernandez / BuzzFeed News:
The Veteran Who Launched A Multimillion-Dollar Effort To Build A Border Wall Has Agreed To Plead Guilty To Fraud Charges — Brian Kolfage, an Iraq War veteran who launched a multimillion-dollar crowdfunding effort to build a private border wall, has agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges …
CNN:
Actor Will Smith banned from attending Oscars for 10 years — (CNN)Will Smith will not be allowed to attend the Academy Awards for the next 10 years, as a result of his slapping comedian Chris Rock on stage during this year's Oscar ceremony, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences announced in a statement obtained by CNN.
Discussion:
Variety, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, NPR, The Hill, Washington Post, The Root, IndieWire, TMZ.com, Associated Press, WIVB-TV and IJR, more at Mediagazer »
Carla K. Johnson / Associated Press:
‘Get used to it’: Outbreaks give taste of living with virus — The U.S. is getting a first glimpse of what it's like to experience COVID-19 outbreaks during this new phase of living with the virus, and the roster of the newly infected is studded with stars.
New York Times:
F.B.I. Preparing to Investigate How Classified Material Went to Trump's Home — Federal authorities want to know more about how sensitive national security information came to be in 15 boxes of documents and mementos sent to Mar-a-Lago from the White House. — Give this article- - - Read in app
Discussion:
Washington Post, Daily Kos, The Status Kuo, Insider, Raw Story, NBC News, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Vanity Fair and RedState
Compact Mag:
Compact Fake Gay History — From Mariupol to Missouri, in real wars and culture wars, soldiers like to film themselves in battle. Twitter is awash with footage of Ukrainian and Russian troops showing off their tactical prowess and grisly exploits. US culture warriors do likewise.
Marc Elias / Democracy Docket:
We Can't Ignore Republican Attempts to Undermine Free and Fair Elections — There are no perfect elections, only fair ones. In any election there will be some citizens prevented from voting and legal votes not counted. It is a tragedy that is built into a system that relies on machines and people to do the best they can.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Molly Beck / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
On Steve Bannon podcast, Michael Gableman appeals to Trump supporters for help keeping the doors open on his Wisconsin election review — MADISON - The former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice overseeing a taxpayer-funded review of the 2020 election for Assembly Republicans is warning supporters …
Punchbowl News:
4/8/22 ☀️ Punchbowl News AM. … IN FACT, TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO ORDER IT FROM THEIR LOCAL BOOKSTORES. … “THE EXPERIENCE OF BEGGING FOR SUPPORT WAS WEARING ON HER. .. PELOSI WAS THE ONLY DEMOCRAT IN THE CHAMBER — THE ONLY DEMOCRAT ALIVE — WHO HAD ALREADY SERVED AS SPEAKER …
Discussion:
Insider, NBC News, The Intersection and Political Wire
The Economist:
Finland is hurtling towards NATO membership — The NATO-Russia border would double at a stroke — EVEN AS RUSSIAN troops were massing on Ukraine's borders in January, Sanna Marin, Finland's prime minister, insisted that it was “very unlikely” her country would join NATO during her time in office.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, ARY NEWS, The Hill, Daily Kos and Anti-bellum
David Wasserman / Cook Political Report:
TX-34 Special Election Gives GOP an Early South Texas Gift — Blue Dog Democrat Filemon Vela (TX-34) did his party no favors when he announced he would leave Congress early on March 31 to join the lobbying firm Akin Gump. Now, GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has used his authority to call an “emergency” …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Peter Thiel calls Warren Buffett a ‘sociopathic grandpa from Omaha’ and bitcoin's ‘enemy No. 1’ — At a bitcoin conference in Miami, venture investor Peter Thiel presented a slideshow that included criticisms of financial opinion leaders who he says are trying to stop the cryptocurrency.
Discussion:
Forbes, Breitbart, The Hill, BizPac Review, Mediaite, New York Post and MarketWatch
Sam Adler-Bell / New York Magazine:
Do Democrats Really Want Amazon's Workers to Win? — Seventy-nine years old and slouching toward a devastating midterm rebuke, President Joe Biden rarely appears to be enjoying his job these days. But some of the old spark was there Wednesday, when he addressed a gathering of building-trades unionists …
Roger Sollenberger / The Daily Beast:
Madison Cawthorn's GOP Colleagues Have a New Reason to Hate Him — Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) isn't exactly making friends in Congress these days. His new stance on raising money for the party isn't going to help. — Last year, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) pulled hundreds of thousands …
Discussion:
Raw Story