Top Items:


Exclusive: Dozens of Clinton emails were classified from the start, U.S. rules suggest — For months, the U.S. State Department has stood behind its former boss Hillary Clinton as she has repeatedly said she did not send or receive classified information on her unsecured, private email account, a practice the government forbids.
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A View From the Clinton Scandal Nonsense Mill — There's no question that the Clinton email ‘scandal’ has become a major issue for Hillary Clinton's campaign. Not that it should necessarily but it has. It's the focus of negative press stories that appear clearly to have at least helped pull down her favorability numbers nationwide.
Discussion:
New York Times and The Daily Caller


GOP insiders to Trump: Enough already — Seven out of 10 early-state Republicans want the Donald to move on from his immigration plan and his tough talk about ending birthright citizenship. — Politico Illustration—Getty — Donald Trump may have the whole Republican field talking about immigration …
Discussion:
Jay Bookman and Daily Kos
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Inside the GOP field's new strategies to ride out the Trump tornado … The 2016 Republican primary has turned into a puzzle about how to deal with Donald Trump. — The new dynamic has come into focus this week as Trump's opponents debut strategies for engaging the white-hot front-runner whom they believe …
Discussion:
National Review, Daily Kos, Booman Tribune, Politico and Los Angeles Times


Trump calls O'Malley a ‘disgusting, little, weak, pathetic baby’
Discussion:
Business Insider

Cruz: Jeb is ‘confused’ about my citizenship
Discussion:
ABC News, OnPolitics, Business Insider and The Week


Trump Goes Off At ABC Reporter Over Questions On Term ‘Anchor Babies’ — Donald Trump lashed out at ABC reporter Tom Llamas on Thursday after the network aired segments critical of the presidential candidate's use of the term “anchor babies” to describe the children of undocumented immigrants.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, The Hill and ABC News
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Why “Anchor Baby” Is Offensive—and a Distortion of Truth
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, Guardian, Talking Points Memo, CBS News, BREITBART.COM and Washington Post


Hundreds of feds paid for Ashley Madison memberships at work — Hundreds of government workers accessed and paid membership fees for the affair-focused website Ashley Madison using their federal Internet connection, The Associated Press reports. — The officials included several assistant U.S. attorneys …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice and Krebs on Security
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Louisiana GOPer: I Used Ashley Madison For ‘Opposition Research’
Discussion:
AMERICAblog News, Washington Post and The Week

Debt Is Good — Rand Paul said something funny the other day. No, really — although of course it wasn't intentional. On his Twitter account he decried the irresponsibility of American fiscal policy, declaring, “The last time the United States was debt free was 1835.”
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and The Mahablog


Man killed by St. Louis police died from gunshot in the back — ST. LOUIS • An autopsy on Mansur Ball-Bey, whose death from police gunfire this week stirred protests, showed that he died from a single wound in the back, police officials said. — Chief Sam Dotson said the wound's …
Discussion:
Slantpoint, Guardian, Daily Mail and FOX2now.com


Carly Fiorina did a 4-minute riff on climate change. Everything she said was wrong. — Katie Couric recently interviewed Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, and the subject of climate change came up. They discussed it for over four minutes, likely marking the longest …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly


Search warrant served at home of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons — (CNN)A search warrant was served at the Los Angeles home of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, but the rocker and his family are not considered suspects, authorities said. — The division that handles online crimes against children executed …
Discussion:
NBC News, LAist, Mediaite, BizPac Review and UPROXX
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P5+1 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — This September, we will face one of the most serious global security decisions in our history. It is a decision that I have taken my time to consider, knowing the stakes are too high to allow for anything but clear-headed and thoughtful analysis …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Daily Kos, CBS New York and Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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In Letter, Obama Tells Congress U.S. Will Still Press Iran
Discussion:
Reuters, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Defense One, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and The Week


Bakers Who Were Fined $135,000 for Gay Wedding Cake Refusal Deliver a Major Surprise — and a Powerful Message — to 10 Gay Rights Groups — Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweetcakes by Melissa, were ordered by Oregon state officials last month to pay $135,000 in damages after they declined …
Discussion:
John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Red Alert Politics


Slovakia to Welcome Christian Migrants but Reject Muslims; Insists Controversial Decision Is Not Discriminatory — The government of Slovakia has said it will take in struggling migrants from Syria and other countries under a European Union scheme to share the burden of 40,000 new arrivals to the continent …
Discussion:
John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Gateway Pundit
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Dr. Dre Apologizes to the 'Women I've Hurt' — For Dr. Dre, the self-proclaimed “first billionaire in hip-hop,” the movie “Straight Outta Compton” and its quasi-soundtrack, “Compton,” his first album in 16 years, were meant to be a victory lap. That biopic, about his hip-hop group, N.W.A. …


Are Republicans For Freedom Or White Identity Politics? — Now that we have had time to observe the Donald Trump phenomenon, there is enough evidence to make a clear assessment of what it represents. The rise of Trump is an epic expression of frustration with the American political system …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Hit & Run, Boston Magazine and Fox News


Jonathan Franzen ‘considered adopting Iraqi orphan to figure out young people’ — Novelist said the idea came to him as he felt he could not identify with ‘cynical and angry’ younger generation, but he was persuaded against it by his editor — In a setup that would not look out of place in fiction …
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Mediaite, Mashable, The Week and Business Insider

Democratic blues — Barack Obama will leave his party in its worst shape since the Great Depression—even if Hillary wins. — SHARES — As historians begin to assess Barack Obama's record as president, there's at least one legacy he'll leave that will indeed be historic—but not in the way he would have hoped.
Discussion:
Rush Limbaugh, The Week, Balloon Juice and Jay Bookman


Race, love, hate, and me: A distinctly American story — Me. 14 years old. Sophomore in high school — Over the past 72 hours I have been attacked with lies by the conservative media, lies that have been picked up by the traditional media and spread further.
Discussion:
BREITBART.COM, Guardian, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, BPI Campus, Althouse, Daily Mail, The Daily Caller, UPROXX, The Week, KFOR-TV, Raw Story, Mediaite, msnbc.com and Politico