Top Items:
New York Times:
Trump Friend Asked ICE to Detain the Mother of His Child — Last year, Paolo Zampolli, the former modeling agent who famously introduced Donald and Melania Trump, asked the administration for a favor. — Megan Twohey — Zampolli was in a custody battle with his Brazilian ex-girlfriend over their son.
New Republic:
Transcript: Trump War Takes Dark Turn as Leaks Unnerve Dems: “Madness” — The following is a lightly edited transcript of the March 20 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here. — Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.
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Matt Gertz / Media Matters for America:
Prime-time Fox shows gave less than a minute of airtime to the Pentagon's $200 billion Iran funding request — RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ROB SAVILLO, HARRISON RAY & TYLER MONROE — Fox News isn't bothering to sell the staggering cost of the ill-conceived war President Donald Trump launched against Iran.
Ryan Cooper / American Prospect:
Ol' Donny Trump Has Really Stepped in It This Time — If there is a core feature of the phenomenon of Donald Trump, it's impunity. This has less to do with Trump's personal intelligence or ability than with luck—in the early 2000s, his largely fake business empire was on the verge of collapse …
Discussion:
Agence France-Presse
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Molly Taft / Wired:
Iran War Puts Global Energy Markets on the Brink of a Worst-Case Scenario — “This will be so, so, so, so, so bad,” one analyst says. — The war in Iran reached a new extreme this week, as both Israel and Iran launched strikes on oil and gas production and export facilities.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Lawyers, Guns & Money, NewsMax.com and Washington Post
Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
Trump Is Getting Drilled, Baby, Drilled — There has always been a chasm between the actual MAGA voters and the MAGA intelligentsia that purports to speak for them, but it has rarely been as visible as it is this week. Many of the leading lights of the literate right have been pulling their hair out …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Military and Veteran …, WDEF-TV, Modern Diplomacy, gCaptain and NewsMax.com
Falyn Stempler / AOL:
FEMA disaster chief claims he is able to teleport: ‘I landed in a ditch by a baptist church’ — Resurfaced comments made by Gregg Phillips, the head of FEMA's Office of Response and Recovery, have sparked concern about the new leader's competency and mental state.
Discussion:
El País, Eschaton, Associated Press and Election Law Blog
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CNN:
A top FEMA official has history of violent rhetoric and said he once teleported to Waffle House — Federal agencies Fighting disinformation Election security Media — As millions of Americans braced for a series of brutal storms this winter, the senior official in charge …
Discussion:
Mediaite
Nikki McCann Ramirez / Rolling Stone:
Top Disaster Response Official Claims He Teleported to a Waffle House — FEMA's Gregg Phillips says he has experienced multiple “scary” episodes of sudden teleportation — Far-right activist turned high-ranking FEMA official Gregg Phillips has a problem.
Discussion:
CNN
Joshua Keating / Vox:
Here's how Iran could become a “forever war” — The Trump administration's end goals for the war in Iran, never particularly well-defined to begin with, appear to be narrowing. — While President Donald Trump once spoke ambitiously about regime change and insisted that he should play …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Washington Examiner, Washington Times and The Atlantic
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Dan De Luce / NBC News:
U.S. intelligence chiefs' testimony is out of sync with Trump's talking points
Discussion:
NewsMax.com and Vanity Fair
Axios:
Trump mulls risky Kharg Island takeover to force Iran to open strait — The Trump administration is considering plans to occupy or blockade Iran's Kharg Island to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, four sources with knowledge of the issue tell Axios. … In the meantime, global energy prices are surging.
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, Townhall, New York Times, HotAir, Wide World of News, NewsMax.com, Politico, The Hill and NPR
New York Times:
U.S. Prosecutors Investigate Colombia's President, a Onetime Trump Foe — The Justice Department is examining whether President Gustavo Petro of Colombia has ties to drug traffickers. — President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, who has had a volatile relationship with President Trump …
Discussion:
GZERO, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, The National Pulse, WTOP News, Raw Story and New Republic
Emily Goodin / New York Post:
Trump brags he's in better health than the Navy football team — and even got a doctor's opinion — President Trump on Friday argued he's healthier than the Navy championship football team and got his former White House doctor to agree. — The president welcomed Navy midshipmen …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner
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Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Google Search is now using AI to replace headlines — We're seeing Verge headlines rewritten by Google AI. … Since roughly the turn of the millennium, Google Search has been the bedrock of the web. People loved Google's trustworthy “10 blue links” search experience and its unspoken promise …
Discussion:
Breitbart, more at Mediagazer »
Politico:
Putin offers to stop sharing intel with Iran if US cuts off Ukraine — Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to the U.S. under which the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence information with Iran, such as the precise coordinates of U.S. military assets in the Middle East, if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intel about Russia.
Discussion:
The Kyiv Independent and Semafor
Tim Balk / New York Times:
In Reversal, Trump Restores Support for House Republican Who Opposed Tariffs — President Trump reinstated his endorsement of Representative Jeff Hurd of Colorado, just weeks after pulling it back. — President Trump on Friday reversed himself and re-endorsed Representative Jeff Hurd …
Discussion:
Raw Story and American Thinker
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Caroline Vakil / The Hill:
Trump convinces GOP primary challenger to drop bid for Colorado House seat
Discussion:
NOTUS, Politico, Washington Examiner, Washington Times and Colorado Politics
Wall Street Journal:
U.S. War Planes and Helicopters Kick Off Battle to Reopen Hormuz — Effort takes on new urgency nearly three weeks into the war with Iran as oil prices soar
Discussion:
Euronews, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Semafor
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Eric Schmitt / New York Times:
U.S. Military Ramps Up to Clear Strait of Hormuz
Discussion:
Air & Space Forces Magazine and New York Post
Andrew Solender / Axios:
“He needs to go”: Dems rage over Fetterman's DHS vote — Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is under heavy fire from fellow Democrats for casting the deciding vote to advance Sen. Markwayne Mullin's (R-Okla.) nomination for DHS Secretary, with some openly calling for his ouster.
Paul Krugman:
Scenes from the Death of the Pax Americana — No real post today. I don't have it in me. Just a few scenes from the accelerating collapse in America's reputation and influence. — Item: The Danish Broadcasting Corporation, roughly speaking Denmark's equivalent of the BBC …
Discussion:
Bloomberg
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
House GOP leaders punt controversial FISA vote to April — House GOP leaders are punting a reauthorization vote for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that they had hoped to hold next week until mid-April, with a GOP hard-liner revolt over warrantless surveillance threatening to tank the legislation …
Discussion:
NOTUS and Washington Times
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
After yesterday's revelation that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is blocking the release of a memo related to a Drug Enforcement Agency investigation into sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and 14 co-conspirators, Attorney General Pam Bondi added more evidence to the idea that the DOJ is engaged …
Discussion:
Semafor, The Guardian, Scripps News, MS NOW, Mediaite, Grabien, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, KEYT-TV, New Republic and ABC News
Reuters:
US to deploy thousands of additional troops to the Middle East, officials say — The United States military is deploying thousands of additional Marines and sailors to the Middle East, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday. — The deployments of the USS Boxer, along …
Discussion:
The Hill, WNYW-TV, Washington Examiner, Washington Times, FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth, NewsMax.com and Straight Arrow News
Shifra Dayak / NOTUS:
The Trump Administration Is Turning the U.S. Census on Its Head — The changes could cloud the government's understanding of what the United States population looks like and the resources it needs. — Copy — The 2030 U.S. census is poised to look very different than the one released in 2020.
Sophie Brams / The Hill:
Judge: RFK Jr. overreached in push to restrict gender-affirming for minors — A federal judge in Oregon ruled on Thursday that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has overreached in his push to restrict gender-affirming care for minors, according to multiple outlets.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Washington Examiner, New York Times, Advocate, PinkNews, The Independent, Newsweek, LGBTQ Nation, Gay City News, MS NOW and Bloomberg Law
ProPublica:
As Trump Demands Voter Data, This Fiercely Independent Red State Says No — States were on notice from the U.S. Department of Justice that if they didn't fall in line, the federal government would force them into compliance. — It wasn't President Donald Trump's administration applying pressure.
Discussion:
US Department of Justice and USA Today
Stacy Cowley / New York Times:
Record Number of Student Loan Borrowers Are in Delinquency and Default — Recently released data from the Education Department showed that by the end of last year, 7.7 million borrowers had defaulted on $181 billion in federal student loans. — A record number of borrowers have fallen far behind …
Discussion:
GovExec.com, U.S. Department of Education, NewsMax.com, The Hill, Associated Press, Forbes, CT Mirror, ABC News, Washington Times, KVIA-TV, Federal News Network, NPR, WKZO, Bloomberg, The Daily Signal and IN DEBT
Washington Post:
CBS News will end radio service as Weiss struggles to right ship — The troubled network is eliminating its century-old CBS News Radio division and laying off more staff. — CBS News will end its nearly century-old radio service, CBS News Radio, and cut more jobs amid a rocky turnaround effort under …
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Thousands have swooned over this MAGA dream girl. She's made with AI. … The beautiful Army blonde Jessica Foster has posed with an F-22 Raptor fighter jet, donned camouflage in the desert and walked a tarmac with President Donald Trump on the first day of the strikes on Iran.
Discussion:
The Independent
NBC News:
U.S. strikes alleged drug boat in eastern Pacific Ocean, leaving 3 survivors — The attack on the alleged drug boat is believed to be the second such strike to be conducted during the ongoing war with Iran. — The U.S. military conducted another strike on an alleged drug boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean …
Discussion:
The Hill, Fox News and New York Times
Tom Schaller / Public Notice:
House Republicans are heading for the exits — PN is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 📜 Subscribe to PN 📜 — Earlier this month, four more Republicans announced their pending retirements from the House of Representatives: Darrell Issa …
Reuters:
Switzerland halts weapons exports to US due to Iran war, citing neutrality — Switzerland on Friday said it would not issue licences for companies to export weapons to the United States due to the ongoing attacks on Iran, citing the country's neutrality. — “The export of war materiel …
Discussion:
news.admin.ch, Truthout, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, New Republic and Middle East Monitor
ProPublica:
The Number of Families Being Held at Dilley Detention Center Has Plummeted — The number of parents and children booked into the country's only immigrant family detention center, in Dilley, Texas, plummeted in February by more than 75% compared with a month earlier, according to Immigration …
Discussion:
New York Times, Slate and HuffPost
Josephine Walker / Axios:
“Deliberate indifference”: U.S. targets Harvard in antisemitism suit — The Trump administration sued Harvard on Friday, alleging the school “turned a blind eye” to the harassment of Jewish and Israeli students on campus in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
Wall Street Journal:
Saudi Arabia Sees a Spike to $180 Oil if Energy Shock Persists Past April — Prices at such a level could trigger a recession or consumer changes that crush demand — Saudi Arabia's oil officials are working frantically to project how high oil prices might go if the Iran war and its disruption …
Discussion:
Economics Help and NewsMax.com
NPR:
An immigration court few have heard of is quietly shaping policy behind the scenes — The Trump administration has reshaped a lesser-known corner of the Justice Department to set immigration policy and escalate mass detentions and deportations. — An administrative court known as the Board …
Discussion:
CBS News
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