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Inside Donald Trump's Meltdown — Donald Trump's sinking polls, unending attacks and public blunders have the GOP reconsidering its strategy for November — When Donald Trump mucks things up, the first person to let him know is usually Republican Party boss Reince Priebus.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, RedState, The New Civil Rights Movement, twitchy.com and The Week
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“I think we're doing well” — Donald Trump has had a difficult stretch, starting with convention drama in Cleveland and continuing through two rough weeks of damaging controversies. TIME interviewed him on Aug. 9, just hours before he seemed to suggest the only remedy to a Hillary Clinton …
Discussion:
Raw Story


As early voting looms, Donald Trump is running out of time — Voting in the presidential election begins in September, giving Republican Donald Trump less time to turn things around than supporters might assume. — Election Day is Nov. 8 — a full 88 days away.
Discussion:
The Week

Trump: Obama ‘is the founder of ISIS’ — Republican nominee Donald Trump said Wednesday night that President Barack Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, founded ISIL. — At a rally in Sunrise, Florida, Trump once again attacked the foreign policy of Obama and Clinton, saying their policies resulted in the creation of ISIL.
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The Note: Clinton to Take on Trump on the Economy
Discussion:
Independent Journal Review and Shakesville

Secret Service spoke to Trump campaign about 2nd Amendment comment
Discussion:
Salon, USA Today, Breitbart, Washington Post, Business Insider, RT, The Week, Mashable, Reuters, American Thinker, Balloon Juice, Raw Story, Infowars, RedState, twitchy.com, Vox, Daily Kos, The New Civil Rights Movement, Talking Points Memo, TMZ.com, BillMoyers.com, Tablet Magazine, CBS Philly, New Urban Legends, CNNMoney, Politicus USA, The Times of Israel, Mother Jones, ABC News, Politico, The Atlantic, Washington Times, Media Matters for America, Rush Limbaugh, ThinkProgress, Washington Free Beacon, The PolitiStick, Media Matters for America, Bloomberg, AOL, Little Green Footballs, The Hill and The National Memo

Donald Trump calls Obama the ‘founder of Isis’
Discussion:
Politico, CNN, RedState and Daily Wire

Donald Trump Calls Obama ‘Founder of ISIS’ and Says It Honors Him
Discussion:
Fox News, CNBC, Outside the Beltway, Gothamist and Daily Kos


Trump Hits Clinton on Mateen Father's Seating — as Disgraced Congressman Foley Sits Behind Him — SUNRISE, Florida — Donald Trump on Wednesday night admonished Hillary Clinton for having the father of the Orlando shooter seated behind her at a recent campaign rally. — “Wasn't it terrible?”
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Post On Politics and The American Mirror
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Former Florida Rep. Mark Foley sits behind Trump at rally
Discussion:
ABC News, Politico, Little Green Footballs, twitchy.com, Mediaite and The Gateway Pundit

Trump has potentially embarrassing supporter — Mark Foley — behind him at Sunrise rally
Discussion:
AOL, The Week and Washington Times

Disgraced ex-congressman sits behind Trump at rally
Discussion:
Sun-Sentinel, Washington Times and The New Civil Rights Movement

Survivors react to father of Pulse shooter at Clinton rally in Kissimmee
Discussion:
Daily Wire, ABC News, BizPac Review, NBC News, Scared Monkeys and twitchy.com


Hack of Democrats' Accounts Was Wider Than Believed, Officials Say — WASHINGTON — A Russian cyberattack that targeted Democratic politicians was bigger than it first appeared and breached the private email accounts of more than 100 party officials and groups, officials with knowledge of the case said Wednesday.
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DEA Rejects Attempt To Loosen Federal Restrictions On Marijuana — The Obama administration has denied a bid by two Democratic governors to reconsider how it treats marijuana under federal drug control laws, keeping the drug for now, at least, in the most restrictive category for U.S. law enforcement purposes.
Discussion:
Vox, Booman Tribune, Guardian and Pacific Standard
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Obama Administration Set to Remove Barrier to Marijuana Research
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, The Verge and Mother Jones

U.S. will affirm its prohibition on medical marijuana
Discussion:
Political Insider blog, Hit & Run and STAT


IS DONALD TRUMP REALLY BEING AUDITED BY THE IRS? — U.S. DONALD TRUMP TAXES 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN — Donald Trump has broken with a 40-year-old tradition of U.S. presidential candidates making public their tax returns because he claims to be under audit by the IRS …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, CNBC, Mediaite and Scripting News


Trump successfully baits media into hysteria. Again. — The anti-Trump media (another name for the mainstream media) have resumed their frenzied claims that Donald Trump is out to unleash indescribable horror in the American people. The current version of doom is that he is calling …


Too good to check: Sean Hannity's tale of a Trump rescue — “The Trump campaign has confirmed to Hannity.com that Mr. Trump did indeed send his plane to make two trips from North Carolina to Miami, Florida to transport over 200 Gulf War Marines back home.” — quote in article titled …
Discussion:
The Week


Arianna Huffington to Leave the Huffington Post — Huffington Post co-founder and editor-in-chief to focus on health-and-wellness startup Thrive Global — Arianna Huffington, who co-founded the Huffington Post 11 years ago and built it into one of the largest digital media outlets in the U.S. …

Is Trump Wrecking Both Parties? — On Aug. 7, Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at New America, a center-left Washington think tank, posted some of the findings from an Aug. 1 CNN survey on Twitter with a succinct comment: — In case you weren't convinced Democrats are becoming the cosmopolitan elite party.


More Old Than Young: A Population Plague Spreads Around the Globe — By 2030, 56 countries will have more people aged 65 and over than children under 15 — It's known as the historic reversal, and it appears irreversible: Places where the old outnumber kids.
Discussion:
Althouse


Gloom sets in for GOP — Gloom is setting in for GOP lawmakers and strategists who increasingly think Donald Trump — will lose the presidential race and their party will be left in the political wilderness. — “I'm not feeling great about the immediate future of the conservative movement right now …
Discussion:
Raw Story


Pentagon won't reveal how many troops are fighting ISIS — The Pentagon has declined to say how many U.S. troops are actually on the ground in Iraq and Syria more than two years after the first deployments to fight the Islamic State. — The military only shares the number of full-time troops deployed …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Foreign Policy and The Week


Trump: I want to do debates if there's a ‘fair moderator’ — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — on Wednesday said he “certainly” wants to take part in the presidential debates this fall, but wants to see a fair moderator. — “That's all I'm looking for,” he told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren.

The summer of TPP tour — With help from Megan Cassella, Alberto Mucci and Catherine Boudreau — THE SUMMER OF TPP TOUR: The Obama administration's TPP blitz continues this month with Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert Holleyman scheduled to visit Atlanta on Monday for a TPP event hosted by Atlanta's World Affairs Conference.
Discussion:
Seeing the Forest

Liberals Are Neidermeyer and That Team the Bad News Bears Played — Many fondly remembered movies from my youth simply don't hold up ("Bueller, Bueller"), but 1976's The Bad News Bears is still a masterpiece. And it speaks to our current cultural and political crisis.