Top Items:
Abha Bhattarai / Washington Post:
U.S. economy shrinks 1.4 percent in first three months of the year, raising fears of recession — The pullback is a stark reversal from massive growth in 2021. — The U.S. economy unexpectedly shrank at a 1.4 percent annualized rate in the first three months of 2022 after more than a year of rapid growth …
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Jeff Cox / CNBC:
U.S. GDP fell at a 1.4% pace to start the year as pandemic recovery takes a hit — Gross domestic product in the U.S. declined at a 1.4% pace in the first quarter, below analyst expectations of a 1% gain. — Declines in fixed investment, defense spending and the trade imbalance weighed on growth.
Discussion:
MarketWatch and WTOP News
Olivia Rockeman / Bloomberg:
U.S. Economy Posts Surprise Contraction, Belying Solid Consumer Picture — The U.S. economy unexpectedly shrank last quarter for the first time since 2020 as the trade deficit ballooned, adding to political headaches for President Joe Biden but unlikely to sway the Federal Reserve …
Zachary Halaschak / Washington Examiner:
Anxious Fed set for historic measure to try to curb inflation
Anxious Fed set for historic measure to try to curb inflation
Discussion:
Associated Press, New York Times and MarketWatch
James D. Walsh / New York Magazine:
'You Can't Pin Him Down' — Kara Swisher knows Elon Musk and says judging him by tweets alone is a mistake. — Elon Musk, the richest human on earth, purchased Twitter for $44 billion this week, promising to refine the product while loosening its guidelines in the name of “free speech.”
Discussion:
Insider, Bloomberg, I Might Be Wrong, nationalinterest.org and Fortune
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Reuters:
Breakingviews: Elon Musk probably won't buy Twitter — Four years ago, Elon Musk vowed to set up a peanut brittle company to take on Warren Buffett's iconic U.S. confectioner See's Candies. Then he changed his mind. It wouldn't be surprising if Musk's $44 billion deal to buy social network Twitter went the same way.
Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:
Elon Musk Isn't Buying Twitter to Defend Free Speech
Elon Musk Isn't Buying Twitter to Defend Free Speech
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Big League Politics, New York Times, TheBlaze, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Chills and Wired
Jared Yates Sexton / Dispatches From A …:
When The Deal Goes Bad
When The Deal Goes Bad
Discussion:
Jonathan's Newsletter and The Daily Caller
Scott Nover / Quartz:
Elon Musk already broke his agreement with Twitter
Elon Musk already broke his agreement with Twitter
Discussion:
Very Serious, Dirt, robertspencer.org, The Federalist, Agence France-Presse, Electrek, Bloomberg, Issues & Insights, Newsbusters, Against the Grain and Engadget
Rolling Stone:
Tucker Carlson Pushed Trump to Endorse J.D. Vance With ‘Disgusting’ Sexual Innuendo — Exclusive: In a critical GOP Senate primary in Ohio, Trump's support was swayed in part by a Fox News host spreading rumors about another man's sex habits — In the days before Donald Trump endorsed J.D. Vance …
Discussion:
The Bulwark, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Mediaite and Associated Press
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Burgess Everett / Politico:
It's Trump vs. Cruz in Ohio and Pa. Senate races — As Republican primary voters get closer to the polls, it's beginning to feel like mid-2016 again: Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are on opposing sides. — The former president's late backing of J.D. Vance in Ohio and Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania …
Discussion:
The Philadelphia Inquirer, Monmouth University …, Fox News, HotAir and The Daily Caller
Reuters:
Trump allies breach U.S. voting systems in search of 2020 fraud ‘evidence’ — Chasing proof of vote-rigging conspiracy theories, Republican officials and activists in eight U.S. locales have plotted to gain illegal access to balloting systems, undermining the security of elections they claim to protect.
Associated Press:
Biden seeks new powers to use oligarchs' assets for Ukraine — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is asking Congress on Thursday for new powers to seize and repurpose the assets of Russian oligarchs as part of a new funding request to aid Ukraine in its defense against Russia's invasion.
Discussion:
NBC News, The Hill, CNN, The Guardian, Insider, WKBN-TV, UPI and NBC 6 South Florida
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Bryan Pietsch / Washington Post:
Biden seeks to send proceeds from Russian oligarchs' confiscated assets to Ukraine
Biden seeks to send proceeds from Russian oligarchs' confiscated assets to Ukraine
Discussion:
The White House, Representative Tom Malinowski, Bloomberg and NBC News
Catie Edmondson / New York Times:
House Passes Bill Urging Biden to Sell Seized Russian Yachts to Aid Ukraine
House Passes Bill Urging Biden to Sell Seized Russian Yachts to Aid Ukraine
Discussion:
HuffPost, Japan Times, Washington Times and Roll Call
Washington Post:
How McCarthy sought to contain the damage from leaked Jan. 6 audio — Most Republicans have rallied around their leader after a week of harried efforts that resulted in more statements of praise than criticism from fellow lawmakers — and a clear nod of approval from Trump
Discussion:
The Bulwark, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Verdict, NBC News, WTOP News, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Times, Daily Kos, Rolling Stone, Forbes and ABC News
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Sam Brodey / The Daily Beast:
Inside Kevin McCarthy's Tortured Battle to Be House Speaker
Inside Kevin McCarthy's Tortured Battle to Be House Speaker
Discussion:
Insider, Washington Post and Raw Story
Rozina Sabur / Sydney Morning Herald:
‘Enormous impact’: US intelligence prevented the fall of Kyiv — Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size — Washington: America helped foil Moscow's efforts to take Kyiv and repelled its advances elsewhere by sharing such detailed intelligence that Ukraine knew exactly …
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Simon Shuster / TIME:
Inside Zelensky's World — The nights are the hardest, when he lies there on his cot, the whine of the air-raid sirens in his ears and his phone still buzzing beside him. Its screen makes his face look like a ghost in the dark, his eyes scanning messages he didn't have a chance to read during the day.
Mike Allen / Axios:
Scoop: Former Manhattan prosecutor blasts Trump and Barr in new book — Geoffrey Berman, who was fired by President Trump as the top Manhattan federal prosecutor, will be out Sept. 13 with a memoir, “Holding the Line,” that charges Trump with trying to undermine the office's integrity.
The Economist:
How deep does the rot in the Russian army go? — The fiasco in Ukraine could be a reflection of either a bad strategy or a poor fighting force — THE JOB of organising NATO's biggest military exercise since the cold war kept Admiral James Foggo, then the commander of American naval forces …
Discussion:
New York Times, PBS NewsHour, Aearnur's Newsletter and WTOP News
Jill Lawrence / USA Today:
Will the America we love survive the 2022 election? Only if Democrats play hardball. — The GOP is not a normal party anymore. A state senator, a best-selling author and Elizabeth Warren show Democrats how to win. — It's astonishing to watch Republicans throwing public education …
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Opinion CBS News commentator Mick Mulvaney has a new credibility problem — Now that CBS News is paying former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to provide on-air commentary, here's a question its anchors could pose to him: Do you believe the things you write?
Discussion:
Common Dreams
Ally Mutnick / Politico:
McCarthy-aligned super PAC plans $125M ad buy to win the House — House Republicans' main super PAC is booking $125 million in TV ad reservations in roughly 50 media markets across the country — a massive down payment on the party's bid to wrest back the majority this fall.
George F. Will / Washington Post:
Opinion Amend the Constitution to bar senators from the presidency — To conserve the reverence it needs and deserves, the Constitution should be amended rarely and reluctantly. There is, however, an amendment that would instantly improve the legislative and executive branches.
Discussion:
HuffPost and Cafe Hayek
Matthew Yglesias / Slow Boring:
Some boring takes on the French election — Once again, taking popular positions on high-profile issues matters — Using the results of a foreign election to argue that all your domestic political hangups are correct is a huge hack move. — And yet, I really do think the most recent …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
Jose Pagliery / The Daily Beast:
Judge Says Real Estate Giant Broke Rules for Trump — Judge Arthur Engoron has already determined that one of the largest real estate firms in the world broke its own rules to help the Trump Organization. — A New York judge has determined that Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world's …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Daniel Greenfield / Front Page Magazine:
Dr. Birx is Back With the Worst Timed Memoir in History — “I had to make sure Africa was prepared.” — Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
ESPN Anchor Sage Steele Sues Network, Alleging Violation of Free-Speech Rights — Lawsuit centers on Ms. Steele's comments about Covid-19, ex-President Obama in a podcast interview last year — ESPN anchor Sage Steele sued the network and its parent, Walt Disney Co. …
Discussion:
New Jersey Online, The Daily Caller and Sports Illustrated, more at Mediagazer »
Colin J. Carlson / Nature:
Climate change increases cross-species viral transmission risk — orcid.org/0000-0001-6960-8434 1,2 na1, - Gregory F. Albery 1,3 na1, - Cory Merow 4, - Christopher H. Trisos — orcid.org/0000-0002-5854-1489 5, - Casey M. Zipfel — orcid.org/0000-0002-7903-6318 1, - Evan A. Eskew
Discussion:
New York Times, Grist, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Francis Sedgemore, Associated Press, The Verge and STAT
Molly Beck / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
With no evidence, Rebecca Kleefisch, Wisconsin candidate for governor, says 2020 election was ‘rigged’ — MADISON - Republican candidate for governor Rebecca Kleefisch is escalating her criticism of how the last presidential election was carried out in Wisconsin, calling it a “rigged” …
Tom Joyce / Washington Examiner:
Planned Parenthood's latest hire shows media's pro-abortion bias — Planned Parenthood recently added a former member of the legacy media to its payroll. — In an unsurprising move, former CBS reporter Kate Smith, whom conservatives long suspected had a bias in favor of abortion …
Discussion:
The Federalist, BizPac Review, Instapundit and Newsbusters
David Rothkopf / The Daily Beast:
Putin Must Be Stopped Once and for All — The U.S. and allies are now seeking a sweeping strategic defeat for Russia. … Defending Ukraine is not enough. Defeating Russia on the battlefield is not enough. We must ensure—using every means available at our disposal …
Discussion:
Boston.com, Defense News, The American Spectator, The Dispatch, nationalinterest.org, HotAir, John's Newsletter and The Guardian
Ellie Kaufman / CNN:
First on CNN: US left behind $7 billion of military equipment in Afghanistan after 2021 withdrawal, Pentagon report says — Washington (CNN)Approximately $7 billion of military equipment the US transferred to the Afghan government over the course of 16 years was left behind in Afghanistan …
Discussion:
Insider, The Daily Caller, HotAir and Forbes
Claudia Grisales / NPR:
Two Democratic progressives plot new ways to fight back against Republican gains — Republicans are threatening to take over the House of Representatives in this year's midterm elections. More than 30 House Democrats are heading for the exits. And progressives have seen several major legislative proposals stall out.
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA
Frances Haugen / New York Times:
I Blew the Whistle on Facebook. Europe Just Showed Us the Next Step. — Elon Musk's deal to take Twitter private, which has spurred questions about power, censorship and safety for the future of the platform, happened just days after the European Union reached a landmark agreement to make social media less toxic for users.