Top Items:


GOP considers cancelling August recess to salvage agenda — Alarmed by the stalemate on healthcare reform, lack of progress on tax reform and appropriations bills that are far behind schedule, Republican lawmakers across Congress are increasingly willing to consider cancelling the month-long August recess.
Discussion:
ABC News, Vox, Infowars, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, IJR, Axios and The Week
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Democrats to halt Senate business over Obamacare repeal — Democrats will grind Senate business to a halt in a protest against Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare. — Beginning Monday night, Democrats will start objecting to all unanimous consent requests in the Senate, according to a Democratic aide.
Discussion:
Axios, Shakesville and Daily Kos


House Republicans to Send McConnell a Letter Demanding Conservative Provisions in Senate Health Bill — The conservative Republican Study Committee is preparing to send a letter of demands to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this week as he finalizes the upper chamber's version of the bill to replace Obamacare.

Dems threaten to gum up Senate over ‘secret’ ObamaCare bill
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Daily Kos

The Daily 202: Congressional shooting clouds final days of Georgia special election — THE BIG IDEA: — JOHNS CREEK, Ga.—When Republican congressional candidate Karen Handel went table to table greeting patrons at Marlow's Tavern on Friday night, almost everyone asked her about the letters.
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Why The Georgia Special Election Matters — The “takes” you'll read about the special election in Georgia's 6th Congressional District on Tuesday night are probably going to be dumb. A close outcome in either direction would be consistent with what we know about the political environment.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Politico and The Week


The 15 Best-Educated Districts in the U.S., and Why It Matters in the Georgia Race
Discussion:
Hullabaloo

Ad uses Scalise shooting against Ossoff in Georgia
Discussion:
Political Insider blog, The Daily Caller, Bipartisan Report and Political Wire

How a Referendum on Trump Became Most Expensive House Race Ever
Discussion:
Townhall.com, CNBC and Political Wire


Supreme Court to hear potentially landmark case on partisan gerrymandering — The Supreme Court declared Monday that it will consider whether gerrymandered election maps favoring one political party over another violate the Constitution, a potentially fundamental change in the way American elections are conducted.
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Supreme Court unanimously reaffirms: There is no ‘hate speech’ exception to the First Amendment — From today's opinion by Justice Samuel Alito (for four justices) in Matal v. Tam, the “Slants” case: … Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote separately, also for four justices, but on this point the opinions agreed:
Discussion:
Daily Wire

Justices to Hear Major Challenge to Partisan Gerrymandering
Discussion:
Vox, The Atlantic, ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway and Mother Jones

Justices Strike Down Law Banning Disparaging Trademarks
Discussion:
Althouse

Supreme Court sides with The Slants, rules ban on offensive names is unconstitutional
Discussion:
The Slants, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Lid

Supreme Court: Rejecting trademarks that ‘disparage’ others violates the First Amendment
Discussion:
Politico, ThinkProgress, NPR and Fusion


Megyn Kelly's Alex Jones interview got lots of attention, but not many viewers — Jones vs. Kelly: Battle between new and old media — Megyn Kelly's much talked about interview with Alex Jones got plenty of attention for Kelly and NBC, both good and bad, but not many viewers.
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Megyn Kelly's Alex Jones interview a ratings flop — Megyn Kelly's controversial interview with Alex Jones ended up a distant third in the network ratings race during its first half hour on Sunday night. — According to early Nielsen data, the first 30 minutes NBC's “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly” …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Free Beacon and Infowars



Officials: 17-year-old Muslim girl assaulted and killed after leaving Virginia mosque — Police found remains Sunday thought to be those of a missing Virginia teenager who they say was assaulted and disappeared overnight after leaving a mosque in the Sterling area, and a 22-year-old man …
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A Muslim Teen Was Kidnapped And Murdered Outside A Virginia Mosque
Discussion:
Refinery29 and Fairfax County Police …

Man Charged with Assaulting and Killing a 17-Year-Old Girl
Discussion:
WTVR-TV, New York Times, KTLA and The Guardian


GOP Data Firm Accidentally Leaks Personal Details of Nearly 200 Million American Voters — Political data gathered on more than 198 million US citizens was exposed this month after a marketing firm contracted by the Republican National Committee stored internal documents on a publicly accessible Amazon server.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
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198 million Americans hit by “largest ever” voter records leak
Discussion:
Mashable and The Daily Caller

Data on 198M voters exposed by RNC contractor
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Week and Washington Free Beacon

Coalition Defends Partner Forces from Syrian Fighter Jet Attack — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: — SOUTHWEST ASIA — At approximately 4:30 p.m. Syria time, June 18, Pro-Syrian regime forces attacked the Syrian Democratic Forces-held town of Ja'Din, South of Tabqah, wounding a number of SDF fighters and driving the SDF from the town.
Discussion:
New York Times, CNN, Hit & Run, FDD's Long War Journal, Just Security and The Guardian
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Russia to treat US jets in Syria as ‘targets’ after America guns down first regime warplane
Discussion:
Reuters, CNN, Daily Wire, ThinkProgress and John Hawkins' Right Wing News


Mother with knife killed by police was pregnant and had mental-health issues, family says — Seattle police on Sunday shot and killed a 30-year-old old woman who had called officers to report an attempted burglary and then displayed a knife, SPD said. Police took three children from the home …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Guardian, AOL, New York's PIX11, Daily Kos, New York Magazine and The Root


We need a Robert Mueller resignation or a second special counsel — The only way to avoid a tainted investigation or a political explosion is another counsel to investigate possible obstruction of justice. — Special Counsel Robert Mueller has a problem: He has a disqualifying conflict of interest regarding a large part of his work.
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys
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Mueller team lawyer brings witness-flipping expertise to Trump probes
Discussion:
Politicus USA and The Daily Caller


The Trump Administration Has A New Plan For Dealing With Russia — A classified document by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson lays out a new path for Russia and the US. But does the president, weighed down by scandal and investigation, support it? — As the White House fends off accusations …


New Study Shows What Really Happened in the 2016 Election — The Democracy Fund Voter Study Group has a new survey of the electorate that explodes many of the myths that we believe about American politics. Lee Drutman has a fascinating report delving into the data.


Senate GOP considers deeper Medicaid cuts than House bill — A leading option in the Senate's ObamaCare repeal debate is to make even deeper cuts to Medicaid spending than the bill passed by the House, according to lobbyists and aides. — The proposal would start out the growth rate …
Discussion:
Axios and Balloon Juice


Energy Secretary Rick Perry says CO2 is not the main driver of climate change — Energy Secretary Rick Perry says he does not believe CO2 emissions from human activity are the primary driver of climate change. — That view is at odds with the conclusions of the Environmental Protection Agency …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Political Wire, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Gizmodo and The Week