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TOP OF THE NEWS:

- President Trump News Conference (C-SPAN) "President Trump held a news conference to announce Alexander Acosta as his new labor secretary nominee following Andrew Puzder’s decision to withdraw from the process. Before taking questions, the president spoke at length about topics such as the first few weeks of his administration, jobs, his Supreme Court nominee, military spending, the margin of his Electoral College victory, and his proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He said he would introduce a new executive order the following week that would 'comprehensively protect our country.' He also criticized the media, saying 'the level of dishonesty' in the press 'is out of control.' Question topics included Michael Flynn’s resignation as national security adviser, leaks within his administration of classified information, and reported contacts between his advisers and Russia, which he called 'fake news.' Several times, he brought up his presidential contest with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."

- Fox News Anchor Shep Smith Rips Into Trump For "Crazy" Press Conference (BuzzFeed) "'It’s crazy what we are watching every day,' he [Smith] said. 'He [Trump] keeps repeating ridiculous throwaway lines that are not true at all…' Smith then said he is tired of Trump treating the press corps like 'fools' for asking questions. 'We have a right to know, we absolutely do,' he said, 'and that you call us fake news and put us down like children for asking these questions on behalf of the American people, it is inconsequential.' He added: 'The people deserve that answer, at the very least.'" and Fox host Shepard Smith slams president, Trump supporters call for his head (USA Today) "Fox News anchor Shepard Smith is under fire for criticizing President's Trump's treatment of CNN reporter Jim Acosta and his refusal to answer questions about his campaign's ties to Russia."

- Rush Limbaugh is exactly right about how Donald Trump can fix his problems (WaPo) "'Make tracks,' Limbaugh counsels Trump. 'Do it obviously.' That should be the most natural thing in the world for Trump, whose greatest gift is as a salesman and marketer of, well, himself. But he has lost his way. He'd do well to listen to Limbaugh on how to find it again."

- Limbaugh on Trump: 'This Was One of the Most Effective Press Conferences I Have Ever Seen' (Breitbart) "Don’t misunderstand. When I [Limbaugh] say effective, I’m talking about rallying people who voted for him to stay with him."

HEALTHCARE:

- Republican Health Proposal Would Redirect Money From Poor to Rich (NYT) "I wrote a few weeks ago about how all health policy decisions involve trade-offs, and it will be hard for President Trump to honor his promise of coverage that is 'far less expensive and far better' than Obamacare. This plan is a good illustration of those challenges. It’s a simpler, potentially cheaper plan than Obamacare. But it’s far less generous to the poor, and unlikely to provide the health insurance for 'everybody' that President Trump envisions."

- Republican Health Care Proposal Would Cover Fewer Low-Income Families (NPR) "Lawmakers who attended the meeting said the plan is to repeal the Affordable Care Act with a bill similar to one that passed in 2015 but was vetoed by President Obama. That proposal would have repealed all the taxes and subsidies associated with the health care law and would have killed the mandate for individuals to buy health insurance by getting rid of the tax penalty used to enforce it. The major difference between the two is that the Obamacare subsidies increase as premiums rise so that consumers are responsible for the same premium amount, which is tied to their income. The tax credits proposed by Ryan are not tied to income but rise as a person ages and insurance rates increase."

NEWS:

- White House Plans to Have Trump Ally Review Intelligence Agencies (NYT) "President Trump plans to assign a New York billionaire to lead a broad review of American intelligence agencies, according to administration officials... The possible role for Stephen A. Feinberg, a co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management, has met fierce resistance among intelligence officials already on edge because of the criticism the intelligence community has received from Mr. Trump during the campaign and since he became president." and Trump just escalated his war with the intelligence community — bigly (WaPo) "But it’s nonetheless important to pinpoint exactly what is noteworthy about what Trump is doing here. Trump is calling for an investigation into seemingly illegal leaking, but he’s doing more than this. He’s calling for an investigation into leakers and whistleblowers who are undermining Trump himself. Such investigations presumably could lead to prosecutions." and Trump downplays possibility of a New York billionaire reviewing U.S. spy agencies (WaPo)

- Ex-CIA Chief Tells Us What's Next After Michael Flynn (Ozy) "I do not think they [intelligence services] are feuding with him [Trump]; they are just doing their jobs. It may be that what they produce runs against the grain of his beliefs and is therefore displeasing to him — but we don’t really know that. Again Wednesday, he accused them of 'illegally' leaking — but we don’t know that the leaks came from intelligence services either. Indeed, most of the press stories refer merely to 'officials' — who could come from anywhere, including from inside the White House. In my personal experience, it is seldom the intelligence agencies that initiate leaks of their material. It is usually someone else with access to that material who sees some gain in making it public. I keep thinking that this will have to clear up eventually, probably when a real crisis shows the president how important intelligence can be to him. I’m thinking of my favorite inscription by a president on a photo of himself that hangs in the hallway at the CIA. It’s by Harry Truman and all he wrote was, 'To the CIA: A necessity to the president of the United States — from one who knows.' Sooner or later, President Trump will know the same thing."

TECHNOLOGY:

- A Computer to Rival the Brain (New Yorker) "Early in the history of artificial intelligence, researchers came up against what is referred to as Moravec’s paradox: tasks that seem laborious to us (arithmetic, for example) are easy for a computer, whereas those that seem easy to us (like picking out a friend’s voice in a noisy bar) have been the hardest for A.I. to master. Computers are often likened to brains, but they work in a manner foreign to biology. Now companies want to endow our personal devices with intelligence, to let our smartphones recognize our family members, anticipate our moods, and suggest adjustments to our medications. To do so, A.I. will need to move beyond algorithms run on supercomputers and become embodied in silico."

BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:

- NASA’s ‘space poop challenge’ is over, and it went boldly beyond the diaper (WaPo) "'There’s a turd floating through the air.' Nearly 50 years later the matter of space pooping is not completely solved. Enter the Space Poop Challenge..."

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