Top Items:
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Donald Trump Struts in His Own Pageant — Washington — SOME blondes have all the fun. — As Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush get more testy, Donald Trump gets more chesty. And more blond. — It's mind-boggling to contemplate a President Trump trying to make peace between North and South Korea …
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog and Althouse
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Katy O'Donnell / Politico:
Donald Trump attended big-donor fundraiser last month — Despite his prior pledge to self-fund his campaign, the billionaire businessman now appears to be embracing big donors. — Donald Trump has boldly touted his independence from big donors, in June proclaiming “I'm using my own money” …
Discussion:
Mediaite
Paul Sperry / New York Post:
Hillary's e-mail defense is ‘total BS’: former State Dept. officials — Former State Department security officials don't buy Hillary Clinton's latest alibi that she couldn't tell that government e-mails — which she improperly, if not illegally, kept for several years on an unsecured home server …
Discussion:
BizPac Review and Scared Monkeys
Amy Wallace / Wired:
Who Won Science Fiction's Hugo Awards, and Why It Matters — Since 1953, to be nominated for a Hugo Award, among the highest honors in science fiction and fantasy writing, has been a dream come true for authors who love time travel, extraterrestrials and tales of the imagined future.
David Atkins / Washington Monthly:
What Does Joe Biden Have to Lose by Jumping In to the Presidential Race? — It's the silly season of August, and political reporters can only write so many articles about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. So we get treated to the spectacle of a meeting between Vice President Joe Biden …
Discussion:
The Hill and Booman Tribune
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Mark Hensch / The Hill:
Deez Nuts endorses Sanders in Dem primary
Deez Nuts endorses Sanders in Dem primary
Discussion:
OnPolitics, Gawker, Raw Story, Mediaite and In These Times
Kevin D. Williamson / National Review:
National Fronts — Trump's rise is mirrored on the European right. — From Malmö comes the news that the Sweden Democrats, scrubbed-up neo-fascists who have forsaken the Roderick Spode uniforms, have become Sweden's most popular political party, commanding the allegiance of a quarter of Swedish voters.
Will Leitch / Bloomberg Business:
Trumpus Maximus Goes to Mobile — About two hours before gates opened for Donald Trump's out-of-nowhere, only vaguely explicable rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama, a gaggle of us journalists began to work the line. The line—already 1,500 deep two hours out—was a dream …
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
Kay Steiger / ThinkProgress:
Scott Walker Takes His Third Position On The Hottest Issue In The Republican Primary — Presidential candidate's Scott Walker's journey to find a position on birthright citizenship, enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, took another unexpected turn.
Naomi Martin / Dallas Morning News:
Surgeon who wrote of becoming killer is denied bail reduction — Long before he faced lawsuits and criminal charges, a North Texas neurosurgeon emailed one of his employees. — “I am ready to leave the love and kindness and goodness and patience that I mix with everything else that I am …
Amanda Marcotte / Los Angeles Times:
Op-Ed Abortion and the myth of ‘protecting’ women — It's been a month since the antiabortion group Center for Medical Progress released an undercover video purporting to prove that Planned Parenthood is illegally selling fetal parts. The charge was complete nonsense, and mainstream media sources quickly debunked it.
Guardian:
Migrants overwhelm security forces at Macedonia border — Riot police remain but fail to slow passage of migrants crossing from Greece on way through Balkans to western Europe — Hundreds of migrants have crossed unhindered from Greece into Macedonia after overwhelmed security forces appeared …
Discussion:
CNN, NPR, Hullabaloo and Observer
New York Times:
Why Donald Trump Won't Fold: Polls and People Speak — In the command centers of Republican presidential campaigns, aides have drawn comfort from the belief that Donald J. Trump's dominance in the polls is a political summer fling, like Herman Cain in 2011 — an unsustainable boomlet dependent …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Daniel Strauss / Politico:
Chris Christie fades into darkness — Sinking in the polls and struggling to gain traction in New Hampshire, the New Jersey governor could be relegated to the “kiddie table” debate next month. — He was supposed to be the brash, blunt New York-area candidate who told it like it is.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and The Hill
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Theodoric Meyer / Politico:
Kentucky GOP greenlights joint Senate, presidential run for Rand Paul — The Kentucky GOP's central committee voted Saturday to adopt a presidential caucus system next year, clearing the way Republican Sen. Rand Paul to run for president and reelection at the same time.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, RedState and Hit & Run
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David Weigel / Washington Post:
Rand Paul sells Kentucky GOP on presidential caucus
Rand Paul sells Kentucky GOP on presidential caucus
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air, Courier-Journal, Raw Story, Roll Call and The Huffington Post