Top Items:


EXCLUSIVE: Nazi-Allied Group Claims Top Trump Aide Sebastian Gorka As Sworn Member — Sebastian Gorka, President Trump's top counter-terrorism adviser, is a formal member of a Hungarian far-right group that is listed by the U.S. State Department as having been “under the direction …
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Towleroad, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Times of Israel and Balloon Juice
RELATED:

Top Trump Adviser Sebastian Gorka Stonewalled When Asked If He Belongs To A Nazi-Allied Group — “Send a request to White House press,” Gorka told BuzzFeed News. — Sebastian Gorka, a top national security adviser to President Trump, stonewalled when BuzzFeed News asked about a report that he belongs to a Nazi-allied group.
Discussion:
Addicting Info, AOL, Death and Taxes and The FADER


Sebastian Gorka Denies Reported Affiliations with Vitézi Rend — Lord knows I've had my differences with The Forward before. I have them still, and often. They rarely unsettle me, if only because robust disagreements, especially on things that matter, are what we journalists should seek, not shun.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, ThinkProgress, Washington Post and The Week


Jewish organizations call for Sebastian Gorka's resignation for ties to far-right group — 716 Shares — Jewish organizations called for the resignation of Trump aide Sebastian Gorka, after reports that Gorka has ties to a far-right group in Hungary. — The Forward reported Thursday that Gorka …
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.


Dem lawmaker: Trump might've leaked classified information — The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee suggested Thursday President Trump disclosed classified information during a Fox News interview the night before. — “In his effort to once again blame Obama …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Occupy Democrats, Deadline and Politicus USA
RELATED:


Trump says he will submit evidence of wiretapping to House committee ‘very soon’ — President Trump discussed his tweeted accusation that President Obama ordered “wires” at Trump Tower tapped during last year's presidential campaign in an exclusive interview with Fox News' “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Wednesday.

Senate Intel leaders: No indication Trump Tower was tapped
Discussion:
Vox, Washington Post, ABC News, Daily Kos, Daily Wire, Hot Air and CNN


Trump to Tucker Carlson: “I know” counties that voted for me will lose under the Republican health plan
Discussion:
New York Magazine, ABC News and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Senate Intelligence Committee finds ‘no indications’ of wiretapping, wider surveillance at Trump Tower
Discussion:
Politico

Senate panel leaders: no evidence to Trump claim of Obama wiretap
Discussion:
Raw Story

CNN's Chalian: Trump ‘looked like a third-grader’ in Fox interview
Discussion:
Raw Story

Paul Ryan: ‘No such wiretap existed’
Discussion:
The Root, The Verge, The Week, Media Matters for America, New York Times and Vox


Trump federal budget 2018: Massive cuts to the arts, science and the poor — President Trump on Thursday will unveil a budget plan that calls for a sharp increase in military spending and stark cuts across much of the rest of the government including the elimination of dozens …
RELATED:

Trump's budget calls for seismic disruption in medical and science research — President Trump's budget calls for a seismic disruption in government-funded medical and scientific research. The cuts are deep and broad. — They also go beyond what many political observers expected.
Discussion:
The Federalist, NPR, Vox, Common Dreams and Daily Kos


Trump's Steep Cuts Face Rebuff in Congress Even With GOP Control
Discussion:
Politico and Refinery29

If you're a poor person in America, Trump's budget is not for you
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, USA Today, The Stranger …, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Daily Kos and Vox

A day in the life of a poor American under Trump's proposed budget
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Inside Higher Ed, Politico and Daily Kos


Mike Flynn Worked for Several Russian Companies, Was Paid More Than $50,000, Documents Show — Former Trump national security adviser had business connections with Russia beyond RT that hadn't been previously known — President Trump's former national security adviser, Mike Flynn …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Defense One, Mediaite and Axios
RELATED:

Trump adviser Flynn paid by multiple Russia-related entities, new records show — Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign as national security adviser amid controversy over his contacts with Russia's ambassador, collected nearly $68,000 in fees and expenses from Russia-related entities in 2015 …
Discussion:
ABC News, ThinkProgress, CNN and The Week

Moscow paid $45,000 for Flynn's 2015 talk, documents show — RT, the Russian state-owned television network described by U.S. intelligence officials as “the Kremlin's principal international propaganda outlet,” paid $45,386 for former Defense Intelligence Agency Director Michael Flynn to fly …


Ex-President Obama Made ‘Surprise Visit’ to Hawaii, Just Days Before Judge Issued Travel Ban Ruling — Former president Barack Obama made a “surprise visit” to Oahu this week, just days ahead of a controversial ruling on President Trump's new travel ban executive order issued by a Hawaiian judge.
RELATED:


Trump's attacks on judges who don't agree with him might be alienating the judges who do
Discussion:
ABC News and New York Magazine

5 Problems With The Hawaii Judge Halting Trump's Travel Ban
Discussion:
Politico, Take Care Blog, Josh Blackman's Blog, Power Line, Lawfare, National Review, Instapundit, WAVY-TV and The Last Tradition


Chelsea Clinton announces new picture book, She Persisted — Count Chelsea Clinton among the many people whom Elizabeth Warren inspired when she refused to be silenced in the Senate. — Clinton, the daughter of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former U.S. President Bill Clinton …

Mulvaney justifies budget: We can't ask a coal miner to pay for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — As they fleshed out the budget blueprint released Thursday morning by the White House, Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney said officials from the administration …
Discussion:
Reuters, ABC News, CNBC, Washington Post, Vox, Common Dreams, Daily Kos, BillMoyers.com and The Week
RELATED:


NIH, DOE Office of Science face deep cuts in Trump's first budget
Discussion:
Vox, The Incidental Economist and Washington Post

Can Big Bird survive Trump?
Discussion:
Hot Air and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion


McDonald's tweets to Trump: ‘You are actually a disgusting excuse of a President’ — McDonald's' in a tweet on its corporate account called President Trump “a disgusting excuse of a President” on Thursday morning. — The tweet, which was briefly pinned to the top of the account before being deleted …
Discussion:
John Hawkins' Right Wing News, ABC News, Politico, BizPac Review, Althouse, Axios and CBS Philly

Secret Service Agents Under Investigation for Taking Photos of Donald Trump's Sleeping Grandson — A source with knowledge of the information tells Mother Jones that two Secret Service agents who were assigned to protect Donald Trump III, President Donald Trump's grandson, took selfies with the eight year old while he was sleeping.
Discussion:
IJR, TMZ.com, Mediaite, Death and Taxes, Washington Free Beacon and RedState

Why I'm Moving Home — COLUMBUS, Ohio — In recent months, I've frequently found myself in places hit hard by manufacturing job losses, speaking to people affected in various ways. Sometimes, the conversation turns to the conflict people feel between the love of their home and the desire to leave in search of better work.
Discussion:
Althouse


The Real Cost of Abolishing the National Endowment for the Arts — On Thursday morning, President Trump's proposal for the federal budget confirmed a fact long suspected: the proposed elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities …
Discussion:
NPR, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:

Stephen Bannon Is a Fan of a French Philosopher...Who Was an Anti-Semite and a Nazi Supporter — Stephen Bannon, President Donald Trump's chief strategist, recently spoke approvingly of the ideas of an anti-Semitic French intellectual who was sentenced to life in prison for cooperating with the Nazis during World War II.


Lack of Oxford Comma Costs Maine Company Millions in Overtime Dispute — A class-action lawsuit about overtime pay for truck drivers hinged entirely on a debate that has bitterly divided friends, families and foes: The dreaded — or totally necessary — Oxford comma, perhaps the most polarizing of punctuation marks.
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.


Humpback whales are organizing in huge numbers, and no one knows why — It flies in the face of typical humpback behavior — The world is ending and only the whales know. At least, that's one explanation. Humpback whales are normally pretty solitary—scientists used to call groups of 10 to 20 “large.”
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight and AOL


Debt ceiling returns, creating new headache for GOP — The legal limit on how much the United States government can borrow returns on Thursday, potentially setting up an intense political battle in Congress. — Lawmakers will have until sometime this autumn to raise the debt ceiling …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Political Wire