Top Items:
J. David Goodman / New York Times:
Democratic Upset in Deep Red Texas District Rattles Republicans — A Democrat won a state legislative special election in a district that President Trump carried by 17 percentage points, unnerving Republicans in Texas and beyond. — In an upset that rattled Republicans in Texas and beyond …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, NewsMax.com, Fox News and The Texas Tribune
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Owen Auston-Babcock / NBC News:
Democrat Christian Menefee wins special election for vacant, deep-blue House seat in Texas — Menefee will serve the remainder of the term won in 2024 by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died almost a year ago. — Listen to this article with a free account
Discussion:
HuffPost, New York Times, NewsMax.com, Fox News, Associated Press, Axios, Washington Post, Lone Star Left, The Hill, Politico, Roll Call, CNN and The Texas Tribune
John Hanna / Associated Press:
Democrat Taylor Rehmet wins a reliably Republican Texas state Senate seat, stunning GOP — Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a special election for the Texas state Senate on Saturday, flipping a reliably Republican district that President Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024.
David Nir / The Downballot:
Texas Democrats score landslide upset in race Trump badly wanted to win
Discussion:
KERA News, Raw Story, The Hill and Washington Examiner
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
Blue wave watch: Democrat flips Trump +17 Texas Senate seat in 32-point swing
Blue wave watch: Democrat flips Trump +17 Texas Senate seat in 32-point swing
Discussion:
Good Politics/Bad Politics and Political Wire
Wall Street Journal:
‘Spy Sheikh’ Bought Secret Stake in Trump Company — $500 million investment for 49% of World Liberty came months before U.A.E. won access to tightly guarded American AI chips — Four days before Donald Trump's inauguration last year, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal secretly signed …
Discussion:
Raw Story, more at Techmeme »
Madison Fernandez / Politico:
Immigration takes center stage in New Jersey special election … The attacks come as voters across the country — especially Democrats — express concern about ICE's tactics and federal agents killing two U.S. citizens amid protests against the administration's immigration efforts.
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Elora Mukherjee / New York Times:
Liam Ramos Is Just One of Hundreds of Children at This Detention Center. Release Them All. — The arrest and detention of Liam Conejo Ramos, the Minnesota 5-year-old in a blue bunny hat and a Spider-Man backpack, has drawn the attention — and the ire — of the nation.
Discussion:
Washington Post and WAGA-TV
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Annie Gowen / Washington Post:
Thousands of new ICE watchers hit the streets after two killings — Minnesotans outraged by the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti have signed up in large numbers to monitor and protest ICE with other activists. — MINNEAPOLIS — Jordan's parents didn't want her to become an ICE watcher.
Discussion:
The Guardian
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Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:
Mayors look at Minneapolis with concern and wonder: Is my city next? — Interviews with a dozen from both parties show dissatisfaction with the Trump administration's immigration crackdowns and dismay with the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents.
Lulu Garcia-Navarro / New York Times:
‘A Terrifying Line Is Being Crossed’: Mayor Jacob Frey on the Turmoil in Minneapolis
‘A Terrifying Line Is Being Crossed’: Mayor Jacob Frey on the Turmoil in Minneapolis
Discussion:
The Guardian, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Truthout and Raw Story
Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
They Said They Weren't Close to Epstein. New Documents Show Otherwise. — Materials released by the Justice Department revealed that leading business and political figures had enduring relationships with the disgraced financier. — They said they didn't really know Jeffrey Epstein that well.
Discussion:
HuffPost, NBC News, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Wall Street Journal and Fortune
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Nicholas Riccardi / Associated Press:
What a swing House district in Colorado shows about Republicans' immigration fallout in the midterms — Like many Donald Trump voters, Miranda Niedermeier is not opposed to immigration enforcement. She was heartened by initial moves from the Republican president in his second term that she saw …
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Wall Street Journal:
Trump Jokes About Suing Warsh if He Doesn't Lower Interest Rates — President later says he didn't extract any concessions from the Fed nominee — President Trump joked during a speech Saturday night that he would sue Kevin Warsh, his nominee to chair the Federal Reserve, if he didn't lower interest rates.
Discussion:
New York Post, New York Times, Drezner's World, Al Jazeera, NewsNation and The Atlantic
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Meg Anderson / NPR:
Minnesota citizens detained by ICE are left rattled, even weeks later — It's a video many saw on social media soon after it happened: Officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, dragging a woman out of her car and forcing her to the ground. — The woman in the video is Aliya Rahman …
Amanda Chu / Politico:
RFK Jr. is now a wellness guru for Republicans in Washington … Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has turned GOP policy orthodoxy on its head with his attacks on food and pharma. — He's also turning Republicans into advocates of eating more vegetables, drinking raw milk and eschewing pharmaceuticals.
Axios:
Black philanthropy races to save history as Trump cuts support — Private nonprofits and Black philanthropists are stepping in to save endangered Black history touchstones as the Trump administration orders agencies to scrub or rewrite “equity-related” public history.
Kurt Streeter / New York Times:
How Alex Pretti's Death Became a National Tipping Point — Several factors converged to force a remarkable shift in the federal government's aggressive efforts in Minnesota. — Renee Good was killed on Jan. 7. Alex Pretti on Jan. 24. Federal agents killed both of them …
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted on social media this morning: — “Plenty of countries in history have experimented with importing a foreign labor class. The West is the first and only civilization to import a foreign labor class that is granted full political rights, including welfare & the right to vote.
Salvador Rizzo / Washington Post:
DOJ misconduct complaint against D.C. federal judge dismissed — The unusual complaint against Chief Judge James Boasberg, tossed out for lack of evidence, illustrated how Trump officials have ramped up attacks against federal judges. — A judicial misconduct complaint …
Discussion:
Reuters
Vox:
Trump is trying to shape a new world order. Here's what it looks like. — It's no secret that President Donald Trump has global aspirations — despite his promises of focusing on “America First.” The past few weeks have seen US action in Venezuela; threats to Greenland, Europe, and Iran …
Discussion:
RealClearPolitics
Ezra Klein / New York Times:
The White House Is the Crisis — Last February I wrote an essay about the Trump administration's strategy of “muzzle velocity.” Muzzle velocity, in its literal sense, describes the ferocious speed of a bullet at the moment it exits the front end of a gun.
Nathan Heller / New Yorker:
Gavin Newsom Is Playing the Long Game — California's governor has been touted as the Democrats' best shot in 2028. But first he'll need to convince voters that he's not just a slick establishment politician. — At a union hall in San Diego last November, Gavin Newsom—the tall …
Wesley J. Smith / National Review:
‘Detransitioner’ Wins $2 Million Medical-Malpractice Lawsuit — The first gender “detransitioner” medical-malpractice case to go to trial resulted in a $2 million dollar verdict against the medical professionals who approved a double mastectomy for the plaintiff, Fox Varian, in 2019 when she was only 16.
Discussion:
Tane Harre, JONATHAN TURLEY and Townhall
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Stacy Robinson / The Epoch Times:
Jury Finds Doctors Liable for Malpractice in Gender Surgery Lawsuit
Jury Finds Doctors Liable for Malpractice in Gender Surgery Lawsuit
Discussion:
HotAir, Blaze Media, New York Post, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Post Millennial and twitchy.com


