Top Items:
Maeve Reston / Washington Post:
DeSantis cannonballs into America's deep blue states for war on ‘woke’ ahead of 2024 — The Florida governor has used his trips to highlight his state's accomplishments — citing statistics that sometimes mask far more complicated debates — LOS ANGELES — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has found …
Discussion:
Political Wire
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Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Ron DeSantis Usually Avoids the Press. For Murdoch, He'll Make an Exception. — The Florida governor granted a rare interview to The Times of London, one of several Murdoch media properties he's spoken with as he prepares a possible presidential bid. — Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida …
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Press, Insider, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Times, RADAR, Wide World of News, Mediaite, Raw Story and Alternet.org
Kyle Pope / Columbia Journalism Review:
Florida's Blueprint for America's Media — b — In a new book, Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, lays out the case that the future of America can be seen in his state. He says so right in the title: The Courage To Be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival.
Discussion:
The Florida Standard, more at Mediagazer »
Michael Schaffer / Politico:
Washington's Favorite Republican Is Making All the Right Moves
Washington's Favorite Republican Is Making All the Right Moves
Discussion:
SXSW and Political Wire
Axios:
Scoop: Trump's 5-part plan to attack DeSantis
Scoop: Trump's 5-part plan to attack DeSantis
Discussion:
HotAir, Alternet.org, RedState, The Guardian, New York Daily News, Raw Story, Mediaite, Washington Times and Just The News
NBC News:
Ron DeSantis sets $1 million goal for donor events as 2024 campaign nears
Ron DeSantis sets $1 million goal for donor events as 2024 campaign nears
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Fox News and Associated Press
Gary Fineout / Politico:
Die-hard Trump fans make it clear: They want DeSantis
Die-hard Trump fans make it clear: They want DeSantis
Discussion:
Raw Story and Des Moines Register
Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Democrats hit some snags on Biden judicial nominees after topping 100 new judges — Senate absences are causing issues. Some worry that the “blue slip” custom will prevent the party from hitting its targets. And a couple of Biden's judicial nominees are under fire.
Discussion:
Fox News
RELATED:
Politico:
Playbook: Dems seethe over Biden's crime reform betrayal
Playbook: Dems seethe over Biden's crime reform betrayal
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Fox News, Forbes, The Daily Caller, The Hill, HotAir, Breitbart, Liberty Nation, CNN, NBC News, ABC News, NPR, HuffPost, Bloomberg, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, Roll Call, Political Wire, Reuters, E&E, Washington Post, WTOP News, Politico, CBS News and Associated Press
Hans Nichols / Axios:
Scoop: Dems fear Biden FCC nominee Sohn won't be confirmed
Scoop: Dems fear Biden FCC nominee Sohn won't be confirmed
Discussion:
RedState
Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:
Why Are We Still Arguing About Masks? — All this time later, their utility is in doubt. — In the past few weeks, the conventional wisdom about COVID seems to have been upended. — Early in the pandemic, several mainstream news outlets dismissed theories that COVID came from a Chinese lab.
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Lindsay Beyerstein / The Editorial Board:
Lab can't leak what it never had — A “lab accident” is not a conspiracy. However, in 2023, all versions of the lab leak theory presuppose a conspiracy, writes Lindsay Beyerstein. … Proponents of the covid lab leak theory proclaimed themselves vindicated this week after the Wall Street Journal reported …
Discussion:
USA Today, Newsbusters, Talking Points Memo and DCReport.org
Matt Day / Bloomberg:
Amazon Pauses Construction on Second Headquarters in Virginia as It Cuts Jobs — Amazon.com Inc. is pausing construction on its sprawling second headquarters near Washington, a decision that coincides with the company's deepest ever job cuts and a reassessment of office needs to account for remote work.
Discussion:
Washington Post, ABC News, New York Times, Alternet.org, Financial Times, Forbes, Axios, WTOP News and NBC4 Washington, more at Techmeme »
Eric Lutz / Vanity Fair:
Walgreens Caves To Antiabortion Republicans — Including In States Where Abortion Remains Legal — Walgreens says they won't distribute abortion pills in states where Republican officials are opposed. — Abortion remains legal right now in states like Alaska, Iowa, Montana, and Kansas …
Discussion:
NBC News, Media Matters for America, One America News Network, Forbes, Raw Story and LifeNews.com
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The State:
SC woman charged after allegedly consuming abortion pills to end pregnancy
SC woman charged after allegedly consuming abortion pills to end pregnancy
Discussion:
VICE, Reuters, The Guardian, Hot Feminism, Jezebel, Pluribus News and PolitiFact
Alice Miranda Ollstein / Politico:
Walgreens won't distribute abortion pills in states where GOP AGs object
Walgreens won't distribute abortion pills in states where GOP AGs object
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Insider, Washington Examiner, Jezebel, The Daily Caller, Forbes, Alternet.org, LifeNews.com, National Review, Associated Press, CBS News and KXAN-TV
Michael Sainato / The Guardian:
Leaked audio reveals US rail workers were told to skip inspections as Ohio crash prompts scrutiny to industry — Exclusive: employee says manager told her to stop marking cars for repair, as Ohio derailment brings hard look at industry's record of blocking safety rules
Discussion:
New York Times, PennLive and Reuters
RELATED:
Cheri Jacobus / New York Daily News:
It's time to revoke Fox News' press credentials — The political media world has been rocked by the bombshell court filing by Dominion Voting Systems as part of their $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News. — Top executives from Rupert Murdoch on down, and on-air personalities …
Discussion:
TVNewser
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Alex Shephard / New Republic:
There's Never Been a Better Time to Take on Fox News — Fox News is not a news organization. This has long been apparent: It has functioned, more or less openly, as a propaganda arm of the Republican Party for years, but to a certain extent, the company was able to keep this reality somewhat veiled.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Raw Story, Plain Dealer and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »
CNN:
DeSantis appointee to new Disney oversight board suggested tap water could turn people gay — An appointee to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' new oversight board in control of Disney's special tax district called homosexuality “evil” last year and shared a baseless conspiracy theory that tap water could be making more people gay.
Discussion:
The Guardian
Bryan Schott / Salt Lake Tribune:
Effort to change Utah's state flag narrowly passes Legislature after hours of debate — Gov. Spencer Cox now has three weeks to decide if he'll approve or veto the new state flag bill. — The bill to change Utah's state flag squeaked by on the House floor Thursday morning on a razor-thin 40-35 vote …
Meridith McGraw / Politico:
Trump calls for contest to create futuristic ‘Freedom Cities’ — Modern cities and flying cars might sound like the makings of an episode of the 1960s cartoon The Jetsons, where a fictionalized family flew around in Orbit City. — For former President Donald Trump, however …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Greg Walters / VICE:
Trump's Prosecution Primary Has Already Begun. It's Going to Be Wild. — Trump's legal threats are moving faster than the political calendar. — WASHINGTON, US — A strange and volatile early stage of the 2024 presidential race has already begun, where investigations in Atlanta …
Tom Boggioni / Raw Story:
Trump lawyers scramble to exclude Access Hollywood clip from rape trial — In a legal filing on Friday, attorneys for Donald Trump asked to exclude a video clip of the former president boasting that he could sexually assault women at will because he was famous from evidence in the trial related …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast
Wall Street Journal:
Common Sense Points to a Lab Leak — Denials from authorities seemed political all along, and public trust will take a long time to recover. Government finagling and misdirecting, especially in crises, are destructive to the long-term public good. And in the end they're always destructive to personal reputations.
Discussion:
National Review and HotAir
RELATED:
Jonathan M. Katz / The Racket:
There is no lab leak theory
There is no lab leak theory
Discussion:
HotAir, Alternet.org, Today's Edition Newsletter, Washington Examiner and Vanity Fair
John Ganz / Unpopular Front:
Both Worse — Understanding DeSantis and Trump — In the Monday New York Times, Damon Linker had a piece entitled “My Fellow Liberals Are Exaggerating the Dangers of Ron DeSantis.” In it, Linker contends that people on the left are hyperventilating about Florida governor Ron DeSantis …
Discussion:
Eyes on the Right
Ursula Perano / The Daily Beast:
Republicans Swore Biden Was Lying About Social Security Cuts. Now They're Questioning the Retirement Age. — Republicans were outraged when Joe Biden accused them of proposing Social Security cuts. Now a bipartisan group is talking about raising the retirement age.
Discussion:
Morningstar, Inc., Bangor Daily News, Raw Story, Washington Post, Politico, STUMP, The Hill and Fox News
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Christopher Mathias / HuffPost:
Exposed: Dallas Humber, Narrator Of Neo-Nazi ‘Terrorgram,’ Promoter Of Mass Shootings — Her propaganda canonized white supremacist murderers as “saints. She may have helped inspire a shooting at a gay bar. Now she's been unmasked. — On Oct. 12, 2022, Juraj Krajč …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Jacob Bogage / Washington Post:
The IRS braces for the unthinkable: A normal tax season — The tax agency has spent nearly $1 billion in new funding to improve service, and tax pros say the investment is already paying off — The Internal Revenue Service's massive — and controversial — funding boost has begun to reach …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Los Angeles Times, CBS News and WGN-TV
Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:
He Believes Hitler Went to Heaven — and Wants to Take Over the Lutheran Church — A nearly 2 million-member synod is fighting an attempt to turn its pews into a bastion for young fascists — ON ASH WEDNESDAY, the First Lutheran Church in Knoxville called the cops on a parishioner who was attempting to attend services.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Alex Thompson / Axios:
Scoop: Biden tried to hire Jon Meacham, his volunteer muse — President Biden has grown so close to his volunteer muse, Jon Meacham, that he tried to bring the presidential historian into the White House. … So a government gig doesn't appear to be in the cards — but the overture reflects their warm relationship.
Discussion:
Slate, Alternet.org and Twitchy
CREW:
Missing Jan. 6th texts due to Signal, personal phone use … The reason the government is missing text messages for Trump's acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf and acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli from the period around the January 6th attack on the Capitol could be due …
Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Michael Steele on Marjorie Taylor Greene: ‘Just shut the hell up’ — Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Steele unloaded on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Thursday, saying that the controversial firebrand congresswoman needs to '"just shut the hell up."
Discussion:
Alternet.org, HuffPost and Mediaite