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Trump shakes up campaign, demotes top adviser — Donald Trump, following weeks of gnawing agitation over his advisers' attempts to temper his style, moved late Tuesday to overhaul his struggling campaign by rebuffing those efforts and elevating two longtime associates who have encouraged his combative populism.
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AP Sources: Manafort tied to undisclosed foreign lobbying — WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's campaign chairman helped a pro-Russian governing party in Ukraine secretly route at least $2.2 million in payments to two prominent Washington lobbying firms in 2012, and did so in a way that effectively obscured …
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Politico, RedState, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, LawNewz, Towleroad, Mediaite, The Week, Hot Air, National Review and twitchy.com


Donald Trump, in Shake-Up, Hires Breitbart Executive for Top Campaign Post — LAS VEGAS — Donald J. Trump has shaken up his presidential campaign for the second time in two months, hiring a top executive from the conservative news site Breitbart News and promoting a senior adviser to a key …
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ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Independent Journal Review, CNNMoney, Raw Story, Associated Press, Hot Air, The American Spectator, BuzzFeed, Right Wing Watch, Pamela Geller, Political Insider blog, Mediaite, Boing Boing, Patterico's Pontifications, WayneDupree.com, Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, USA Today, Refinery29, Politico and RedState, more at Mediagazer »


Donald Trump Overhauls Campaign Team — Republican nominee adds two managers to help stem slide; Paul Manafort remains chairman — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is bringing two new managers to the top of his campaign in a bid to recover ground he has lost in recent weeks.

The Daily 202: What Trump's latest shakeup says about his flailing campaign — THE BIG IDEA: Shaking up his campaign once again, Donald Trump has decided to let Trump be Trump. — The Republican nominee knows he's losing. Congenitally unable to take personal responsibility …
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alan.com, RedState, Media Matters for America, Joe.My.God. and ABC News


Donald Trump just put a Breitbart executive in charge of his flailing campaign — Donald Trump is shaking up his flailing presidential campaign — and in a way that makes clear he's going “full Trump” in the election's final months. — On Wednesday morning, Trump announced …
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Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Mashable, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Talking Points Memo, The Week and twitchy.com


Trump to Air First TV Ads of General Election Campaign — As he continues to slip in the polls, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is poised to begin airing his first television ads of the general election starting Friday in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, according to a campaign adviser.


Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Humana Merger — Give us our merger or we'll quit Obamacare, the insurer told Justice Department officials in a July letter. — Senior National Correspondent, The Huffington Post — The big health care news this week came from Aetna …
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Washington Monthly, Townhall.com, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Vox, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, Politico, USA Today, Philly.com, Daily Kos, Mother Jones, Balloon Juice, Bloomberg, Business Insider, ACASignups.net, Raw Story, AOL, NPR, twitchy.com, CNNMoney, Raleigh News & Observer and The Hill
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Aetna decision exposes weaknesses in Obama's health-care law — Insurance giant Aetna's decision to stop offering much of its individual coverage through the Affordable Care Act is exposing a problem in President Obama's signature health-care law that could lead to another fraught political battle in Congress.


Aetna's Retreat From Obamacare Is More Than It Seems — Aetna is pulling out of 11 of the 15 states it serves on the Obamacare exchanges. Longtime readers of this column will be unsurprised at the reason: It's losing substantial amounts of money on its exchange policies.
Discussion:
The Week, Wall Street Journal, Instapundit, Daily Kos, ACASignups.net, New York Times, Balloon Juice, Vox and Daily Wire


Bill Clinton's misleading claim about ‘marked classified’ information in Hillary Clinton's emails — “The FBI director said, when he testified to Congress, he had to amend the previous day's statement, that she had never received any emails marked classified. They saw two little notes with a ‘C’ on it.
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Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon and NPR
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Clinton Could Have Cut Her Tax Bill in Half Under Trump's Plan
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The Week


Ryan Lochte: 'We were afraid we'd get in trouble' — RIO DE JANEIRO — Ryan Lochte told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday that he initially did not tell the U.S. Olympic Committee that he and three other American swimmers were victims of a robbery early Sunday morning “because we were afraid we'd get in trouble.”
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NBC News, Associated Press, The Big Lead and WGN-TV
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Saying Goodbye to John McLaughlin, TV's Original Tough Political Talker — A panelist remembers the political priest turned talk-show host who brought strong opinions to Sunday mornings. — If there were a Mount Olympus for talk-show hosts, John McLaughlin would be on it.
Discussion:
Independent Journal Review, Fox News and Politico
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John McLaughlin, TV Host Who Made Combat of Punditry, Dies at 89
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Washington Post and Outside the Beltway

Powerful NSA hacking tools have been revealed online — Some of the most powerful espionage tools created by the National Security Agency's elite group of hackers have been revealed in recent days, a development that could pose severe consequences for the spy agency's operations and the security of government and corporate computers.
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Forbes, Common Dreams, Motherboard, The Week, AOL and Risk Based Security
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NSA and the No Good, Very Bad Monday
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Motherboard, New York Times, Business Insider, Boing Boing, Forbes, Schneier on Security, Mother Jones and Defense One

Bluecut Fire (Wildfire) — There is imminent threat to public safety, rail traffic and structures in the Cajon Pass, Lytle Creek, Wrightwood, Oak Hills, and surrounding areas. Please follow the evacuation instructions, as this is a very quickly growing wildfire.
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InciWeb Incident Articles …, ABC News, Mashable, NBC News, New York Times, NPR and Guardian
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Giuliani: I want people to think Trump ‘has no organization’ — Donald Trump's campaign shakeup means nothing more than an expansion, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday, praising the Republican nominee's organization and recent on-message speeches. — “More people.
Discussion:
Associated Press


Trump's Stock Drops With Investors in Bloomberg National Poll — Those with money in market have less confidence in Republican — Clinton gains ground on question of who is best for portfolio — U.S. voters with investments in stocks and mutual funds have lost considerable confidence …
Discussion:
Political Wire and Talking Points Memo


Tim Kaine Once Said Cheating Politicians Should Resign—Including Bill Clinton — The Democratic vice presidential candidate is pretty much part of the Clinton family at this point. But in 2002, he said Bill Clinton should have stepped down in the wake of his affair with a White House intern.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite, Independent Journal Review, The Daily Caller and twitchy.com


Bin Laden's son urges overthrow of Saudi rulers — DUBAI, United Arabs Emirates: The son of Al-Qaeda's slain founder Osama bin Laden has urged Saudis to “overthrow” the kingdom's rulers in order to “free” themselves from US influence, SITE Intelligence Group reported Wednesday.
Discussion:
Infowars

Ex-Cruz spokesman: New Trump camp CEO ‘a little controversial’ — Donald Trump's new campaign CEO Stephen Bannon is “a little controversial,” Ted Cruz's former campaign spokesman Rick Tyler said Wednesday. — “You probably hear from a lot of people who have worked with Bannon that he's not the easiest person to get along with.

Trump: I don't trust U.S. intelligence information — Donald Trump offered a blunt explanation for why he wants retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn at his side as he gets his first classified briefing at FBI headquarters on Wednesday — he doesn't trust intelligence information coming from those currently in charge.
Discussion:
The Week


Latina Former Bush Treasurer Endorses Clinton, Blasts Trump — A top former Bush administration official has endorsed Hillary Clinton, warning that Donald Trump is a “perilous” threat to the country. — Rosario Marin, appointed as the first Mexican-born person to serve as United States Treasurer …
Discussion:
KABE-LP, Booman Tribune and alan.com

Appeals court rejects bid to end straight-ticket voting in Michigan — Procedures allowing Michigan voters to easily cast straight-ticket ballots look likely to remain in place for this fall's election after a federal appeals court refused to restore a law that would have ended the practice.


Teens accused of murdering man who helped them to remain behind bars after bond hearing — Michael Dupree-Tyler (left) and Deon Frasier — Two teenagers are accused of fatally shooting a man who stopped to help them get a vehicle out of a ditch late Monday in North Charleston.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and The Root

Russian Military Forces StagingNear Ukraine — The Pentagon has identified eight staging areas in Russia where large numbers of military forces appear to be preparing for incursions into Ukraine, according to U.S. defense officials. — As many as 40,000 Russian troops, including tanks …