Top Items:


The Hillary Clinton email story is out of control — JUDGING BY the amount of time NBC's Matt Lauer spent pressing Hillary Clinton on her emails during Wednesday's national security presidential forum, one would think that her homebrew server was one of the most important issues facing the country this election.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, The Week, Balloon Juice, CNN and Hillary Clinton Speeches
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A Debate Disaster Waiting to Happen — There was not much of a contest in Wednesday night's forum with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Mrs. Clinton answered the questions of the moderator, Matt Lauer, in coherent sentences, often with specific details. Mr. Trump alternated between …


Democrats rally around Clinton and paint Trump as unfit for office — On Thursday, the full force of the Democratic Party, including President Obama, rallied around Hillary Clinton, saying that rival Donald Trump is unfit for office. — On the Republican side, there was no such unity …
Discussion:
Politico, Political Wire, Informed Comment and New York Magazine


Behind scenes, NBC execs concede Matt Lauer forum performance was “disaster”

Ok, I Admit It: I'm a Lauer Truther
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, The Stranger …, The Atlantic and Vox


Iraq, Hillary and baseball: Donald Trump talks to Larry King (RT EXCLUSIVE) … Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump tells RT's Larry King that he doesn't dislike Hillary Clinton, but that she's not the person to make America great again - and that their televised duel Wednesday was more fun than baseball.
Discussion:
Political Wire, The Hill, Washington Times and Business Insider
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Things just got very, very heated between Rudy Giuliani and Chris Matthews — Rudy Giuliani is the highest-profile Donald Trump supporter to publicly raise questions about Hillary Clinton's health. While Trump himself relies more on innuendo, the former New York mayor prefers to be more direct.
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE and The Resurgent


Trump attacks U.S. foreign policy, political press corps on state-owned Russian television network — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump criticized U.S. foreign policy and the American political press corps Thursday during an interview on RT America, a state-owned Russian television network.
Discussion:
RT, New Century Times and Instapundit, more at Mediagazer »


Donald Trump's Campaign Stands By Embrace of Putin — WASHINGTON — Donald J. Trump's campaign on Thursday reaffirmed its extraordinary embrace of Russia's president, Vladimir V. Putin, signaling a preference for the leadership of an authoritarian adversary over that of America's own president …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Politico, The Week and Washington Free Beacon

Giuliani: ‘Trump believes now that Obama was born in the U.S.’ — Donald Trump is ready to accept that President Barack Obama was born in the United States, his campaign surrogate Rudy Giuliani said on Thursday. — On MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, the former New York mayor was pressed …
Discussion:
Political Wire

Compelled to Act — We're committing $20M to help Democrats in the 2016 election — Cari and I have dedicated our lives to figuring out how to do the most good we can with the resources we've been given. Until now, those efforts have not included making endorsements or contributions in presidential elections.
Discussion:
CNN, Politico, The Week and Business Insider
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Super-PAC Telegraphs Battleground Strategy to Clinton Campaign — A conservation super-PAC's press release contains a kind of coded message about voters they're targeting to other organization on the left—like the Democratic nominee's campaign. — The League of Conservation Voters' super-PAC …


What Really Happened at Donald Trump's Intelligence Briefing — What ‘body language’ is Trump talking about? — As U.S. officials cast doubt on Donald Trump's claim he read the “body language” of intelligence officials at a recent briefing, NBC News has learned exclusive details …
RELATED:

Clinton Slams Trump But Blabbed About Briefing in 2008
Discussion:
CNBC, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Washington Post, Washington Free Beacon and Balloon Juice


Donald Trump offers nine explanations of his Iraq War stance in 13 minutes — Most of Trump's explanations for his position on the war in 2002 and 2003 were dishonest, contradictory or both. — WASHINGTON—Donald Trump supported the invasion of Iraq. This is a matter of public record.
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Donald Trump: How I'd Run the Country (Better)
Discussion:
Politico, CNN, ABC News, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Little Green Footballs, Vox, Political Wire and Guardian

Trump: I Would've Captured Osama Bin Laden Before 9/11 Attacks
Discussion:
Salon, New Century Times, alan.com, Fox News Insider, Towleroad and The Week

'We're the Only Plane in the Sky' — Nearly every American above a certain age remembers precisely where they were on September 11, 2001. But for a tiny handful of people, those memories touch American presidential history. Shortly after the attacks began, the most powerful man in the world …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and The Week

Hill Republicans: Clinton investigations won't stop if she wins — Top GOP lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol are vowing that their investigations of Hillary Clinton will continue even if she wins the White House in November. — Indeed, the FBI wrapped up its investigation …
Discussion:
Political Wire
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5,300 Wells Fargo employees fired for creating over 2 million phony accounts — Everyone hates paying bank fees. But imagine paying fees on a ghost account you didn't even sign up for. — That's exactly what happened to Wells Fargo customers nationwide.
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight, USA Today, The Week, Techdirt, U.S. Uncut, The Atlantic and The Resurgent
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Wells Fargo Fined $185 Million for Fraudulently Opening Accounts
Discussion:
Bloomberg, naked capitalism, The Verge, The Daily Caller, KTLA, Mother Jones, LawNewz and The Week


Seahawks Considering National Anthem Protest As A Team — In the fourth week of the preseason, two other NFL players joined Colin Kaepernick in sitting out the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner”: his 49ers teammate Eric Reid, and Seahawks CB Jeremy Lane.
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Seahawks players may expand national anthem protest Sunday vs Dolphins
Discussion:
Washington Post, Townhall.com, The Federalist, Florida Politics and TheBlaze.com

Hillary's Health Concerns Serious, Say Most Doctors Polled by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) — Concerns about Hillary Clinton's health are “serious—could be disqualifying for the position of President of the U.S.,” say nearly 71% of 250 physicians responding …

GOP insiders: Maybe Trump can win — Once resigned to a November defeat, swing state Republicans are increasingly optimistic about Donald Trump's chances now that the GOP presidential nominee has closed a once-yawning deficit in the polls against Hillary Clinton.


Inside the collapse of Trump's D.C. policy shop — The Trump campaign built a large policy shop in Washington that has now largely melted away because of neglect, mismanagement and promises of pay that were never honored. Many of the team's former members say the campaign leadership never took …
Discussion:
RedState, Politico, The Resurgent, Ying Ma, Raw Story, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and The New Civil Rights Movement


Poll: Half of Americans disapprove of ObamaCare — About half of Americans disapprove of ObamaCare, a slight uptick since November of last year, according to a new Gallup poll released Thursday. — Fifty-one percent said they disapprove of ObamaCare, while 44 percent said they support the health law.
Discussion:
Gallup and Washington Free Beacon

Statement on why AP deletes Clinton tweet — The Associated Press today is deleting a 2-week-old tweet about Hillary Clinton's meetings as Cabinet secretary after concluding the tweet fell short of AP standards by omitting essential context.


Sunday voting, additional early voting sites and hours restored in some counties despite GOP opposition — RALEIGH — Noting the watchful eye of a federal court, the State Board of Elections voted to restore Sunday early voting hours in several counties that had offered the option - popular among African-American voters - in 2012.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Charlotte Observer, Daily Kos and ThinkProgress


Bill Clinton: “If You're A White Southerner,” You Know What ‘Make America Great Again’ Really Means — Former President Bill Clinton stumps for his wife in Orlando, FL. He says that Donald Trump's promise to “Make America Great Again” is a racist codeword.
Discussion:
Independent Journal Review


Turkey suspends over 11,000 teachers for suspected terror links — Istanbul (CNN)Turkey has suspended thousands of teachers over alleged links to a militant Kurdish group, according to sources and state-run news agency Anadolu. — At least 11,285 schoolteachers across the country …
Discussion:
The Week and Instapundit