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:
Orlando Sentinel, Gothamist and Mediaite
Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Harry Reid endorses Iran deal, boosts chances Congress won't block it — Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid gave a forceful endorsement Sunday to the nuclear deal with Iran, a key boost that provides continued momentum for preventing Congress from blocking President Obama's pact.
Discussion:
Politico, NPR, Fox News, Business Insider and Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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.
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.
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Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Scott Walker Completes The Journey Back To Not Repealing The 14th Amendment
Scott Walker Completes The Journey Back To Not Repealing The 14th Amendment
Discussion:
Washington Post and LiberalAmerica.org
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
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 Moderate Voice, The Hill, Booman Tribune, Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Business Insider
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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:
New York Times and No More Mister Nice Blog
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.
Leonard Pitts Jr / miamiherald:
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Why ‘Black lives matter’ resonates … This is a column about three words of moral cowardice: — “All lives matter.” — Those words have risen as a kind of counter to “Black lives matter,” the movement that coalesced in response to recent killings and woundings …
Discussion:
RedState
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 …
Discussion:
Associated Press
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:
Hot Air, Slantpoint, Washington Post, Washington Monthly and Slate
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, Hit & Run and RedState
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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:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Courier-Journal, Raw Story, Roll Call and The Huffington Post