Trump Tops Republican Pack By Wide Margin, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; But Dems Trump Trump In General Election  —  With 20 percent of Republican voters, Donald Trump is the clear leader in the crowded Republican presidential primary field, but he trails any of three leading …

Planned Parenthood VP Says Fetuses May Come Out Intact, Agrees Payments Specific to the Specimen  —  #PPSellsBabyParts PLANNED PARENTHOOD VP SAYS FETUSES MAY COME OUT INTACT, AGREES PAYMENTS SPECIFIC TO THE SPECIMEN  —  Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains VP & Medical Director Savita Ginde …

Many Republican Polls Are Measuring a Unicorn Electorate  —  Recent elections around the world have not been kind to pollsters.  In contests in Israel and Britain, and in a referendum in Scotland, pre-election polls all showed tight races that ended up being, well, not so tight.

MSNBC cancels three shows amid transition  —  MSNBC has formally decided to cancel three programs — “The Cycle,” “Now with Alex Wagner” and “The Ed Show” — as part of a larger effort to shift its daytime lineup away from opinion programming, network sources told the On Media blog on Thursday.

New Hampshire Voters Explain the Appeal of Donald Trump  —  A Bloomberg Politics focus group of Donald Trump supporters in the Granite State helps illuminate the billionaire's rise in the polls.  —  t writerknowles  —  Donald Trump is a brand, and his New Hampshire supporters are itching to buy it.

Donald Trump: Number one with Hispanics and expecting to win  —  POLITICKING WITH COTTON CANDY: The early caucus state of Iowa's famed annual state fair turns into a political showcase every fourth year as candidates in party primaries vie for the kind of attention a helicopter can easily deliver

Facts in Clinton's ‘secret’ emails came from five intelligence agencies  —  Revelations put Clinton in the cross-hairs of a broadening inquiry into whether she mishandled classified information  —  Officials reviewed five classified emails and determined that they included information from five intelligence agencies

AP Investigation: Olympic teams to swim, boat in Rio's filth  —  24 photos  —  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Athletes in next year's Summer Olympics here will be swimming and boating in waters so contaminated with human feces that they risk becoming violently ill and unable to compete in the games …

James Woods Sues Twitter User for $10 Million Over “Cocaine Addict” Accusation  —  The actor files a defamation lawsuit against an individual who replied to his tweets about Barack Obama and Caitlyn Jenner.  —  Incivility on social media seems to be a regular occurrence …

After Firedoglake  —  As many of you know, Firedoglake has been on hiatus for eight months while I recovered from hip replacement surgery.  During that time I've been contemplating what the next chapter should be for the website.  After some personal reflection, I have decided to pass …

Santa Cruz: Disturbing details emerge about suspect, how Maddy Middleton died  —  SANTA CRUZ — When they first got word that he was a murder suspect, those who watched 15-year-old Adrian Jerry “A.J."Gonzalez grow up before their eyes at the Tannery Arts Center held out hope.

‘What lion?’  Zimbabweans ask, amid global Cecil circus  —  As social media exploded with outrage this week at the killing of Cecil the lion, the untimely passing of the celebrated predator at the hands of an American dentist went largely unnoticed in the animal's native Zimbabwe.

Revised AP U.S. History Standards Will Emphasize American Exceptionalism  —  The company behind Advanced Placement courses for U.S. high school students will release a revision to the standards for AP U.S. history on Thursday morning, after significant pushback from conservatives who claimed …

Bernie Sanders Hosts a Nationwide House Party for Over 100,000 Would-Be Foot Soldiers  —  It had all the markings of a Washington house party: guests milling about, talk of politics and policy, a few custom cocktails and a crowd that would make a fire-code enforcer sweat.  —  Oh, and Senator Bernie Sanders.

Senate sends three-month highway bill to Obama  —  The Senate on Thursday approved an $8 billion extension of federal transportation funding, sending it to President Obama's desk with just one day to go before the nation's road and transit spending expires.  —  The bill, which extends …

What Obama doesn't want us to know on Gitmo closure  —  President Obama's top counter-terrorism aide, Deputy National Security Advisor Lisa Monaca, said this past weekend at the Aspen Security Conference that the White House is preparing for another push to close Guantanamo, including a plan to move detainees into the U.S. mainland.

Obama gives Dems hard sell on ‘odious’ Iran  —  President Obama gave a personal presentation on Wednesday outlining the merits of the nuclear deal with Iran, in the latest hands-on sales pitch to Congress.  —  The meeting, which went for around 30 minutes, was billed by the White House as a …

UBS Deal Shows Clinton's Complicated Ties  —  Donations to family foundation increased after secretary of state's involvement in tax case  —  A few weeks after Hillary Clinton was sworn in as secretary of state in early 2009, she was summoned to Geneva by her Swiss counterpart to discuss an urgent matter.

Maine House Speaker to file suit against LePage  —  The civil suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court, alleges LePage acted out of “personal rage, vindictiveness and partisan malice” when he threatened to pull a private school's funding.  —  Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves will file …

Federal Judge: I Will Haul The IRS Commissioner Into Court and Personally Hold Him in Contempt Over Lerner Emails  —  IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has been stonewalling Congress and the courts for more than a year over Lois Lerner's “missing” emails.  He's also ignored court orders …