Top Items:
Jennifer Rubin / The Contrarian:
The Year Texas Might Turn Blue — The stars are aligning for Democrats — Democrats may have gotten the race in Texas they have been pining for since 1993, when the last Democrat held a U.S. Senate seat. Rising Democratic star and state representative James Talarico …
Discussion:
Axios, Washington Post, CNN, IVN, NBC News, Crooked Media, Washington Examiner, DNYUZ, Fox News, New York Magazine, Mediaite, KHOU-TV, The Texas Tribune and The Independent
RELATED:
NBC News:
GOP Sen. Steve Daines of Montana says he won't seek re-election — The two-term senator endorsed Kurt Alme, the U.S. attorney for Montana, as his successor. — Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., announced Wednesday that he will not seek a third term, making him the latest Republican in Congress to head for the exit this year.
Discussion:
Politico, The Downballot, The Hill, New York Times, KECI, Daily Montanan, The Gateway Pundit, KRTV-TV, Breitbart, Roll Call, DNYUZ, RedState, Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, Newsweek, NewsMax.com, Bloomberg, Fox News, Montana Free Press, Townhall, CBS News, Axios, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Flathead Beacon, Washington Examiner, Talking Points Memo, Semafor, Associated Press and WTOP News
Politico:
'We're in it': Democrats won't rule out giving Trump more money for Middle East war … To pass any new military funding measure through the Senate, the support of at least seven Democrats will be needed to overcome the filibuster. It's far from certain the votes are there. — “Good luck.
Discussion:
Semafor, Mediaite, Foreign Policy, Washington Times, CT Mirror, Al Jazeera, Slate, The Hill and NewsMax.com
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
Buried in the cascade of news this week, Sadie Gurman and Caitlin Ostroff of the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that 47,635 files are missing from the Epstein files documents that the Justice Department has made public. A spokesperson for the Justice Department told the reporters that the files were …
Discussion:
New York Times, CNN, New Republic, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Blaze Media, Axios, NewsMax.com, Democracy Docket and Associated Press
Ben Kamisar / NBC News:
Poll: Majority of voters disapprove of how Trump has handled Iran — Most independents say the U.S. shouldn't have taken military action, along with a slice of Republicans, according to a national NBC News poll. — ADD NBC NEWS TO GOOGLE — A majority of registered voters disapprove …
Discussion:
Jewish Insider, NewsMax.com, The Independent, Iran War Dispatches …, The Daily Signal, The Hill, Raw Story, Axios and The Daily Caller
Ramón Ramirez / New York Times:
James Talarico Says ‘New Politics Is Being Born’ After Texas Primary Win
Discussion:
WAGA-TV, Twin Cities, WTOP News and Washington Examiner
The Atlantic:
Trump Is Expected to Endorse Cornyn
Trump Is Expected to Endorse Cornyn
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, New York Times, NewsMax.com, Bloomberg, DNYUZ, Good Politics/Bad Politics, New Republic, ABC News, The Gateway Pundit, PoliticusUSA, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Independent, FOX 7 Austin, NOTUS, HotAir, Forbes, Slate, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, Semafor, Washington Post, The Texas Observer, New York Magazine, Axios, CNN, Newsweek, The Bulwark, WTOP News, Decision Desk HQ, Silver Bulletin, Mediaite, The Texas Tribune and Salon
David Lindsey / Axios:
How fired-up Texas Dems gave Talarico a jolt toward November
How fired-up Texas Dems gave Talarico a jolt toward November
Discussion:
PinkNews, Townhall, Los Angeles Times, Capital B News, DNYUZ, Newsweek, New York Daily News, Grabien, NPR, Deseret News, American Thinker, WWL-TV and Houston Public Media
Chris Stein / The Guardian:
Senate votes down resolution to prevent Trump from continuing war with Iran
Senate votes down resolution to prevent Trump from continuing war with Iran
Connor O'Brien / Politico:
Senate rejects bid to scale back Iran war
Senate rejects bid to scale back Iran war
Discussion:
NBC News, Breaking Defense, GV Wire, NewsMax.com, Straight Arrow News and Bloomberg
Julia Mueller / The Hill:
Crockett concedes to Talarico, says Texas ‘primed to turn blue’
Crockett concedes to Talarico, says Texas ‘primed to turn blue’
Discussion:
Politico, Off Message, DNYUZ, New York Times, New York Post, GV Wire, The American Conservative, Newsweek, TheGrio, Joe.My.God., FOX 7 Austin, Associated Press, HuffPost, Mediaite, WTOP News and Bloomberg
David E. Sanger / New York Times:
Trump Follows His Gut. His National Security Advisers Try to Keep Up. — Decisions come fast, even if contradictions and inconsistencies abound. But without much of a process, there is little preparation for how things can go wrong. — Sitting beside Germany's chancellor in the Oval Office on Tuesday …
Discussion:
The Dispatch, Althouse and Fox News
RELATED:
Luke Broadwater / New York Times:
Trump Wants a Quick Victory in Iran. But the War May Be Costly.
Discussion:
NOTUS, Boston.com and Truthout
Janna Brancolini / The Daily Beast:
Trump-Approved CBS Boss Going Full ‘Propaganda-Palooza’
Trump-Approved CBS Boss Going Full ‘Propaganda-Palooza’
Discussion:
Zeteo
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
The Long March of Presidential Power That Led to War on Iran
The Long March of Presidential Power That Led to War on Iran
Discussion:
DNYUZ, The Dispatch, The Contrarian and Blue Virginia
New York Times:
Justice Dept., Under Pressure From Trump, Fails to Build Autopen Case Against Biden — Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Washington were unable to build a case, underscoring the department's increasing inability to follow through on the president's desire to indict his rivals.
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Trump calls on Kurds to aid U.S. effort in Iran, offers support — In outreach to Kurdish minority leaders in Iran and neighboring Iraq, the president offered U.S. support to insurgent efforts against Tehran. — The Trump administration, bracing for more U.S. casualties and considering whether …
Discussion:
Axios, Reuters, Financial Times, Associated Press, France 24, New York Sun, Asia Times, The National, The Atlantic, The Times of Israel, Jewish Insider, Al Jazeera, Wall Street Journal, Responsible Statecraft, The Free Press, Townhall, Breitbart, Middle East Monitor, Semafor, Mediaite, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Forbes
RELATED:
Claire Heddles / Miami Herald:
‘Nazi heaven’: Inside Miami campus Republicans' racist group chat — The secretary of Miami-Dade County's Republican Party started a group chat primarily for conservative students last fall — and within three weeks it was filled with racist slurs, someone wrote dozens of ways …
Discussion:
Joe.My.God. and Raw Story
Washington Post:
‘I did not vote for this’: Thousands of public comments slam Trump's ballroom … President Donald Trump has spent months touting his planned White House ballroom, but this week the public gets its first chance to formally offer him their thoughts. — The verdict: They don't like it.
Discussion:
Raw Story and Global News
RELATED:
Punchbowl News:
Trump mulls Noem firing … Even Speaker Mike Johnson speculated about the potential for a change at the top of DHS during a recent House Republican elected leadership retreat in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Trump dialed up some GOP senators after Noem testified in front of the Senate …
Discussion:
New York Post, New York Magazine, New Republic, Reason and The American Spectator
RELATED:
Ben Lefebvre / Politico:
Susie Wiles sounds the alarm on gas prices … Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other advisers focused on energy policy, including a council led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, “are getting screamed at to find some good news” on bringing down prices, the same executive said.
Discussion:
Associated Press, DNYUZ, Reuters, Raw Story, Washington Times and Human Events
Selena Simmons-Duffin / NPR:
In lawsuit, Minnesota accuses Trump administration of ‘weaponizing’ Medicaid funding — Minnesota filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration this week, saying the federal government has “weaponized Medicaid against Minnesota as political punishment.”
Discussion:
FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul
RELATED:
Paul Waldman / Public Notice:
Vance's “war on fraud” is a fraud
Marc Caputo / Axios:
Scoop: Trump officials broker massive U.S.-Venezuela gold deal … - The contract calls for 98% final gold content, the source said. — Trafigura will shepherd the gold to U.S. refineries under a separate arrangement with the U.S. government, that source said.
Discussion:
Townhall, Bloomberg, NewsNation, Al Jazeera, NewsMax.com, Modern Diplomacy and Fox Business
Chris Geidner / Law Dork:
Judge moves, cautiously, toward civil contempt in case over treatment of trans people in prison — U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth made clear on Wednesday morning that he had no problem holding Trump administration officials in contempt if needed. — “Once I issue an order …
Discussion:
FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul
Türkiye Today:
Iraq plunged into nationwide blackout as US tells citizens to leave immediately — Iraq's Ministry of Electricity announced a complete shutdown of the national power system on Wednesday, with every governorate in the country losing electricity after all transmission lines …
Financial Times:
Anthropic chief back in talks with Pentagon about AI deal — Dario Amodei holding discussions with deputy to Pete Hegseth to reach a compromise on military use of the technology — Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei is making a last-ditch attempt to strike a deal with the US defence department …
Discussion:
Axios, Engadget, The Verge, CBS News, TechCrunch, Semafor, Deseret News and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »
Aaron Pellish / Politico:
Tony Gonzales admits sexual relationship with former staff member who killed herself — Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales has admitted for the first time that he had a sexual relationship with his former staff member who killed herself last year. Gonzales, who faces a May runoff in the Republican primary …
Sam Meredith / CNBC:
Spain rejects White House claim it agreed to cooperate with U.S. forces amid Iran war … Spain has pushed back against the White House's claim that it agreed to cooperate militarily with Washington amid the conflict with Iran, doubling down on its anti-war stance despite the U.S. president's threat to sever trade ties.
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, Raw Story, El País, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, Forbes, NewsMax.com, WTOP News and The Independent
Christian Martinez / Reuters:
Pentagon identifies two soldiers killed in Iran war — The Pentagon on Wednesday identified two more soldiers who were killed in the war against Iran. — The two Army Reserve soldiers died on Sunday in a drone attack on a U.S. military facility in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait that also killed four other reservists.
Discussion:
Townhall, Breitbart, The Dispatch, One America News Network, DNYUZ, Radio Iowa, The Guardian, Washington Examiner, WWL-TV, MS NOW, NewsNation and The Independent
Stephanie Liebergen / Scripps News:
The number that moves markets every month just got a new formula. Here's what changed. — The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently changed how it analyzes raw data in its monthly jobs report, updating a formula known as the “birth-death model” starting in January.
Hailey Fuchs / Politico:
House rejects Nancy Mace's push for sexual harassment disclosure — The House effectively bottled up an attempt to force the release of sexual harassment claims against lawmakers after bipartisan leaders of the House Ethics Committee publicly condemned the effort led by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.).
Discussion:
House Committee on Ethics, Roll Call and Washington Examiner
Alex Isenstadt / Axios:
How a feud led a billionaire donor to oust Rep. Crenshaw — Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw owes his defeat in this week's Republican primary to a billionaire megadonor who was hellbent on ending Crenshaw's career, sources tell Axios. … - In this case, Marling's clout meant Crenshaw was the first House incumbent to be ousted in 2026.
Discussion:
Houston Chronicle, Daily Mail and Associated Press
