Top Items:
CNN:
Pentagon memo says object shot down over Canada was a ‘small, metallic balloon’ — The unidentified flying object shot down in Canadian airspace on Saturday appeared to be a “small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it,” according to a Pentagon memo sent to lawmakers on Monday and obtained by CNN.
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Luis Martinez / ABC News:
Significant portion of Chinese balloon payload recovered, US official says — A crane lifted the portion from waters off South Carolina. — In this photo a large balloon drifts above the Atlantic Ocean, Feb. 4, 2023, just off the coast of South Carolina. — A crane ship on the scene where a
Discussion:
6abc
Rebecca Shabad / NBC News:
White House announces interagency team to address objects in sky — WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is forming an interagency group with the goal of addressing the recent spate of objects in the skies above North America, the White House announced Monday.
Al Weaver / The Hill:
McConnell demands answers on unidentified objects shot down: ‘What in the world is going on?’
McConnell demands answers on unidentified objects shot down: ‘What in the world is going on?’
Discussion:
Washington Times and NBC News
Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Biden escalates fight over Social Security and Medicare, frustrating Republicans — WASHINGTON — After President Joe Biden pummeled Republicans on Social Security and Medicare during his State of the Union address, drawing shouts of outrage from the party, Republican leaders urged …
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The G.O.P.'s Long War Against Medicare and Social Security — Politically, the most crucial moment in President Biden's State of the Union address was his declaration that “some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years.” Why did he say that?
Discussion:
Politico
Politico:
Judge orders partial release of Georgia grand jury report on possible 2020 election crimes — A judge in Georgia has ordered public release on Thursday of a special grand jury's report that focuses on whether former President Donald Trump broke state law by pressuring local officials to change the 2020 presidential election results.
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Greg Walters / VICE:
Trump Grand Jury Says Witnesses May Have Lied Under Oath — A special purpose grand jury in Georgia that probed the former president's attempts to reverse his election defeat heard from 75 witnesses. And it's got concerns. — The special purpose grand jury that investigated former …
Discussion:
Alternet.org, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Raw Story, Georgia Public Broadcasting, Cyprus Mail, Fox News, UPI, CNN, NBC News, CBS News, Washington Times, National Review, USA Today, New York Post, Washington Examiner, Law & Crime, New York Daily News, Just The News, Talking Points Memo and Election Law Blog
Donna St. George / Washington Post:
Teen girls ‘engulfed’ in violence and trauma, CDC finds — Teen girls across the United States are “engulfed in a growing wave of violence and trauma,” according to federal researchers who released data Monday showing increases in rape and sexual violence, as well as record levels of feeling sad or hopeless.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, CBS News, Fortune, Associated Press, The 74, Common Dreams, The Post Millennial, The Daily Caller, HotAir, STAT and Raw Story
Divya Kumar / Miami Herald:
Politically connected interim president of New College gets $699,000 salary plus perks — The newly remade board of trustees at New College of Florida voted Monday to give the Sarasota school's interim President Richard Corcoran a pay bump of nearly $400,000 over his predecessor.
CNN:
Biden fires Architect of the Capitol after calls for his resignation — President Joe Biden fired the Architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton's on Monday following allegations that he misused government resources and was not physically present on the Capitol grounds during the January 6 …
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Emily Brooks / The Hill:
McCarthy calls for resignation of Architect of Capitol
McCarthy calls for resignation of Architect of Capitol
Discussion:
ABC News, USA Today, New York Times, Associated Press, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, CBS News, Insider, Breitbart, Roll Call, NPR, Politico, One America News Network, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, New York Post, National Review, Mediaite, Max's Substack, Breaking911, PoliticusUSA and Committee on House …
Washington Post:
Russians abandon wartime Russia in historic exodus — YEREVAN, Armenia — As Russian troops stormed into Ukraine last February, sending millions of Ukrainians fleeing for their lives, thousands of other Russians raced to pack their bags and leave home, fearing the Kremlin would shut the borders and impose martial law.
Discussion:
Michael-In-Norfolk
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Simon van Zuylen-Wood / New York Magazine:
What Was Kyrie Irving Thinking? … Last fall, September 11 fell on a Sunday, and Kyrie Irving spent much of it at home in West Orange, New Jersey, playing video games. It was rainy and quiet, and his life was uncharacteristically lacking in drama. Irving had won an epic standoff …
Discussion:
The Forward
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Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:
Report: Kanye's Anti-Semitic Rhetoric Led to Assaults, Vandalism
Report: Kanye's Anti-Semitic Rhetoric Led to Assaults, Vandalism
Discussion:
The Forward, Mercury News, New York Daily News, The Hollywood Reporter, AllHipHop, New York Post, Associated Press, Raw Story, Vanity Fair and The Hill
CNN:
Kevin McCarthy leans on ‘five families’ as House GOP plots debt-limit tactics — The White House and Senate Democrats have calculated that Speaker Kevin McCarthy won't have enough votes to raise the national borrowing limit and will end up caving to their demands to avoid a first-ever debt default …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The Hill, Raw Story, USA Today and ABC News
Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
Russian Prisoners of War in Ukraine Recount ‘Gigantic’ Losses — Poorly trained Russian soldiers captured by Ukraine describe being used as cannon fodder by commanders throwing waves of bodies into an assault. — LVIV, Ukraine — Creeping forward along a tree line late at night toward …
Discussion:
HotAir and Metro.co.uk
New York Times:
Netanyahu's Judicial Overhaul Sparks Huge Protests in Israel — As Benjamin Netanyahu's government pressed ahead with plans to limit judicial influence, Israelis thronged to unusually large rallies. — Reporting from Jerusalem — A battle over the future of Israel's judiciary …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Guardian, PBS NewsHour, Haaretz, Fox News, UPI, Raw Story and Associated Press
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
The Hunter Biden laptop and claims of ‘Russian disinfo’ — DONALD TRUMP: “It's the laptop from hell ...” … — exchange during the final presidential debate, Oct. 22, 2020 … — exchange on 60 Minutes, Oct. 25, 2020 — About a month before the 2020 presidential election …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Twitchy, Ace of Spades HQ, IJR and Insider
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Reporter's dismissal exposes political pressures on West Virginia Public Broadcasting — Late last fall, West Virginia Public Broadcasting's Amelia Ferrell Knisely reported one story after another about allegations that people with disabilities were abused in facilities run by the state.
Katherine Fung / Newsweek:
Pete Buttigieg Ignores Ohio Train Derailment in Transportation Celebration — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stayed hush on the massive train derailment that occurred in Ohio earlier this month as he celebrated the Biden administration's infrastructure investments on Monday.
Jose Pagliery / The Daily Beast:
Steve Bannon Ran Up Huge Legal Bills and Stiffed His Lawyers — It's not that Steve Bannon doesn't have the money. But for some reason, he hasn't been willing to pay his lawyers. … Steve Bannon—the nativist American media personality who's backed by a Chinese billionaire …
Discussion:
Washington Press and Alternet.org
Lev Parnas / TIME:
How My Work For Trump and Giuliani Sought to Make Ukraine Defenseless — The other day I watched some street interviews in Moscow. The first person said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was justified because Ukrainian government officials were Nazis. The second said that the invasion …
Washington Post:
They clicked once. Then came the dark prisons. — On Feb. 27, 2022, Danuta Perednya, a 21-year old university student, reposted a message on the social media app Telegram criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for the war in Ukraine.
Discussion:
Alternet.org and Raw Story
New York Times:
George Santos and the Case of the Missing $365,000 — Representative George Santos's failure to account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in spending is part of a pattern of irregularities in the way his campaign handled its finances. — Representative George Santos has spent …
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Daily Beast, Washington Examiner, New York Daily News and Election Law Blog
The Nation:
Robbing From the Poor to Educate the Rich — The bait of school vouchers—and the switch to strangling public education. — The assault on public education currently unfolding in state legislatures across the United States stands to annually transfer tens of billions of dollars …
Discussion:
Kansas Reflector and One America News Network
Justin Rohrlich / The Daily Beast:
Arkansas Cop Caught in Viral Arrest Video Now Accused of Deleting Evidence — Deputy Levi White “performed a factory reset” on his department-issued iPhone 11, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by The Daily Beast. … An Arkansas cop accused last summer of viciously beating a handcuffed man …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Safe-district Democrats got more liberal. All Republicans got more conservative. — In theory, it should have been Rep.-elect Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) who was cozying up to Rep.-elect Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as he was trying to secure the votes necessary to be elected House Speaker last month.
Reuters:
United States tells citizens: Leave Russia immediately — The United States has told its citizens to leave Russia immediately due to the war in Ukraine and the risk of arbitrary arrest or harassment by Russian law enforcement agencies. — “U.S. citizens residing or travelling in Russia …
Jon Ostrower / The Air Current:
United dive after Maui departure adds to list of industry close calls — Sign up to receive updates on our latest scoops, insight and analysis on the business of flying. — Purchase a PDF copy of this article … A United Airlines Boeing 777-20 came within around 800 feet of impacting …
Bloomberg:
Remote Work Is Costing Manhattan More Than $12 Billion a Year … New York City is bustling with office workers again, at least on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. It's a different mood on Fridays and Mondays, when subway cars empty out, Sweetgreen salad lines thin and, come happy hour, there are plenty of seats at the bar.
Discussion:
Sara Causey's Substack, New York Post, Gothamist and NBC New York
Jessica Valenti / Abortion, Every Day:
Abortion, Every Day (2.13.22) — TN's biggest anti-choice group says hemorrhaging isn't an ‘objective’ medical reason for abortion — Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. — Daily audio updates & commentary on abortion in the United States. … In the states...
Discussion:
Tennessee Lookout
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
An inauspicious start to House GOP hearings — Shortly before the House, newly under Republican control, launched its first big hearings of 2023, a Washington Post-ABC News poll suggested the American people were quite skeptical of them. It showed the public felt by 56-36 percent …
Discussion:
Just The News and National Review