Top Items:
Washington Post:
‘Havana syndrome’ not caused by energy weapon or foreign adversary, intelligence review finds — After a years-long assessment, five U.S. intelligence agencies conclude it is ‘very unlikely’ an enemy wielding a secret weapon was behind the mysterious ailment
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, HotAir, NBC News, CNN, Rolling Stone, CBS News, The Guardian and Semafor
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Nomaan Merchant / Associated Press:
Intel agencies: No sign adversaries behind ‘Havana syndrome’
Intel agencies: No sign adversaries behind ‘Havana syndrome’
Discussion:
New York Times and ABC News
Washington Post:
Showdown before the raid: FBI agents and prosecutors argued over Trump — An exclusive look at behind-the-scenes deliberations as both sides wrestled with a national security case that has potentially far-reaching political consequences — Months of disputes between Justice Department prosecutors …
Discussion:
The Independent, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, Alternet.org, 19FortyFive, Hackwhackers, Mediaite and emptywheel
Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
Schumer, Jeffries pressure Murdoch, Fox News over Trump's false election fraud claims — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are calling foul on Rupert Murdoch. — The top Democrats in Congress sent a letter to Murdoch, urging Fox News leadership …
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Judd Legum / Popular Information:
Murdoch, exposed — It's not a secret that Fox News is a political operation seeking to bolster the prospects of Republicans.
Murdoch, exposed — It's not a secret that Fox News is a political operation seeking to bolster the prospects of Republicans.
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, The Guardian, RADAR, Election Law Blog, Digby's Hullabaloo, Political Wire, CNN and Washington Post
Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Fox Leaders Wanted to Break From Trump but Struggled to Make It Happen
Fox Leaders Wanted to Break From Trump but Struggled to Make It Happen
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
The ‘trust’ Fox News seeks from its viewers isn't about truth
The ‘trust’ Fox News seeks from its viewers isn't about truth
Discussion:
Forbes, Raw Story and The Daily Beast
Berkeley Lovelace Jr / NBC News:
Drugmaker Eli Lilly caps the cost of insulin at $35 a month, bringing relief for millions — Eli Lilly will cap the out-of-pocket cost of its insulin at $35 a month, the drugmaker said Wednesday. The move, experts say, could prompt other insulin makers in the U.S. to follow suit.
Maggie Severns / Grid News:
Ron DeSantis is using a new breed of local right-wing media to make national news — These websites didn't exist five years ago. — The Florida Standard is a fledgling website, launching last July. It lists only five writers and editors on its site. But in January, it landed a blistering scoop …
Discussion:
The Nation
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Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
DeSantis Promises Florida Will Control Disney's Content … Last year, after Disney had the temerity to issue a statement opposing one of his prized legislative initiatives, Ron DeSantis punished the company by removing its self-governing status. (DeSantis justified the maneuver as a removal …
Discussion:
Law & Crime, Washington Post and Insider, more at Mediagazer »
Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
In an Epic Battle of Tanks, Russia Was Routed, Repeating Earlier Mistakes — A three-week fight in the town of Vuhledar in southern Ukraine produced what Ukrainian officials say was the biggest tank battle of the war so far, and a stinging setback for the Russians.
Discussion:
Morning Shots and StrategyPage
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Mithil Aggarwal / NBC News:
What could Chinese artillery and ammunition mean for Putin's war in Ukraine?
What could Chinese artillery and ammunition mean for Putin's war in Ukraine?
Discussion:
Defense One and The Daily Beast
Scott Macfarlane / CBS News:
Senior McCarthy aide, House Oversight chairman each met with mother of Jan. 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt — A senior staffer to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met this week with Micki Witthoeft, mother of Ashli Babbitt, the woman shot and killed by police as she breached a set of doors to the Speaker's Lobby on Jan. 6, 2021.
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The Hill:
McCarthy, GOP pump brakes on release of Jan. 6 footage to Tucker Carlson — House Republicans are pumping the brakes on the release of Jan. 6 surveillance footage they've offered to Fox News host Tucker Carlson and going on offense against Democrats who have spent the past week slamming the move.
Politico:
GOP urges no ‘burdensome regulations’ on freight rail, after derailment — Republicans on Capitol Hill have spent two weeks torching the Biden administration for what they call a slow response to the Ohio rail disaster — but on Tuesday, some GOP lawmakers urged their colleagues not to rush …
Discussion:
New York Times, CBS News, Brotherhood …, CNN and E&E
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Al Weaver / The Hill:
Vance pitches PPP for Ohio while other Republicans say to wait
Vance pitches PPP for Ohio while other Republicans say to wait
Discussion:
Washington Post, Washington Times and Washington Examiner
Yaron Steinbuch / New York Post:
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot blames election loss on racism, gender — Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot blamed racism and her gender for her landslide defeat in her re-election bid, as Chicagoans wary of the rising crime of her watch celebrated her fall from “political rock star to rock bottom.”
Discussion:
New York Times, WGN-TV, Chicago Tribune, National Review, Breitbart, Big League Politics, RedState, NBC Chicago, HotAir, Twitchy, ABC7, PinkNews, Fox News, IJR and Associated Press
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Fran Spielman / Chicago Sun-Times:
2023 Chicago Election: How Lori Lightfoot wound up a one-term mayor
2023 Chicago Election: How Lori Lightfoot wound up a one-term mayor
Discussion:
Politico, Chicago Tribune, New York Post, The Root, CBS News, New York Times, Fox News, PinkNews, Sputnik News, Financial Times, UPI, Bloomberg, Associated Press, National Review, HuffPost, NBC News and WTOP News
Rohan Goswami / CNBC:
China's CCP warns Elon Musk against sharing Wuhan lab leak report — Chinese state-run media warned Tesla CEO Elon Musk that he was risking his relationship with China after he retweeted about the U.S. government's “low-confidence” assessment that the Covid pandemic originated in a Wuhan laboratory.
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Jim Geraghty / National Review:
We Told You the Truth about Covid (and a Whole Lot More)
We Told You the Truth about Covid (and a Whole Lot More)
Discussion:
New York Post, Public and ABC News
Heidi Przybyla / Politico:
Dark money and special deals: How Leonard Leo and his friends benefited from his judicial activism — A network of political non-profits formed by judicial activist Leonard Leo moved at least $43 million to a new firm he is leading, raising questions about how his conservative legal movement is funded.
Discussion:
Alternet.org and Talking Points Memo
Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:
Ron DeSantis called a ‘tyrant’ as Trump supporters barred from book signing — Far-right activist Laura Loomer denounces Florida governor, who is expected to challenge ex-president for Republican nomination — Ron DeSantis is a “tyrant”, the far-right activist Laura Loomer said …
Discussion:
Mediaite, RADAR, Alternet.org, The Daily Beast, Big League Politics, The Gateway Pundit and Raw Story
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Ron DeSantis / Wall Street Journal:
Why I Stood Up to Disney — On Monday, I signed the law ending the Walt Disney Co.'s self-governing status over 43 square miles in central Florida, an area almost as big as Miami. Disney no longer has its own government. It has to live under the same laws as Universal Studios …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Florida's Voice, The Daily Caller and Deadline
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Scoop: Trump's former ambassador to Israel slams Bibi's judicial overhaul plan — Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman used a recent conservative conference in Tel Aviv to express concern and push back against the Netanyahu government's judicial overhaul plan, according to two people with direct knowledge of the issue.
Discussion:
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Gabriel Debenedetti / New York Magazine:
Biden's Translator — Kate Bedingfield explains the press to the president (and keeps the White House from leaking). — Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director, first tried to leave in July. She had started working for Joe Biden in 2015 and was looking forward to spending …
Discussion:
jihadwatch.org
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Maria Cramer / New York Times:
New York Will Pay Millions to Protesters Violently Corralled by Police — The police boxed in racial justice demonstrators in 2020, an anti-protest practice known as “kettling,” then hit them with batons and pepper spray. Hundreds will receive $21,500 each.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, WTOP News, Rolling Stone, Gothamist and Al Jazeera
Politico:
Trump ties GOP in knots over Medicare and Social Security — Donald Trump is driving a wedge through the GOP over one of American politics' thorniest issues: the future of Medicare and Social Security. — The former president's attacks on potential GOP primary opponents …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The Hill, Raw Story, CBS News, Political Wire, The Bulwark, Just The News and National Review
Thomas B. Edsall / New York Times:
This Is Trump's ‘Magic Trick’ — In his effort to outflank Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida — his most potent challenger-in-waiting for the Republican presidential nomination — Donald Trump goes only in one direction: hard right. — At the start of this year, Trump announced his education agenda …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Katrina Manson / Bloomberg:
The Satellite Hack Everyone Is Finally Talking About … Andreas Wickberg loves snowmobiling to the house he built in the icy reaches of Lapland, north of the Arctic Circle. Each month come spring, he and his wife relocate for a week or so to a “very, very isolated” spot about 335 miles northwest …
Matthew Yglesias / Slow Boring:
Why are young liberals so depressed? — There's a neglected dimension beyond gender in America's troubled youth — Fresh episode of Bad Takes is out today, all about the war on fake license plates. — Earlier this month the CDC released the results of its Youth Risk Behavior Survey of American teenagers.
Discussion:
Marginal REVOLUTION
Michael Levenson / New York Times:
Whiskey Fungus Fed by Jack Daniel's Encrusts a Tennessee Town — The dark growth, fed by alcohol vapors from barrels of aging Jack Daniel's whiskey, has coated homes, cars, patio furniture and road signs in a sooty crust, residents said. One woman is suing Lincoln County.
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Trump's enablers must face consequences, too — There's no doubt that Donald Trump was the instigator of the 2020 insurrection. But the former president's schemes never would have gotten far (or even off the ground) without the participation of right-wing media executives, lawyers and pliant state officials.
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Garland promises free rein for prosecutors probing Hunter Biden — Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged Wednesday that the U.S. Attorney pursuing a criminal probe of President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden has broad independence to pursue appropriate charges, including bringing a case outside …
Discussion:
Fox News, RedState, Breitbart, Washington Times, New York Post, CNN, Bloomberg, Townhall, Political Wire, Digby's Hullabaloo and Washington Examiner
Thomas Beaumont / Associated Press:
Trump planning first Iowa trip since announcing 2024 bid — 1 of 2 — Donald Trump is planning to visit Iowa in mid-March, a first foray to the leadoff caucus state since announcing his 2024 White House campaign. The former president hinted at an Iowa trip “very soon” …
Discussion:
Political Wire and Insider