Trump Tells Aides He Has Decided to Remove Stephen Bannon  —  President Trump has told senior aides that he has decided to remove Stephen K. Bannon, the embattled White House chief strategist who helped Mr. Trump win the 2016 election, according to two administration officials briefed on the discussion.

I will dispense for now from discussion of the moral character of the president's Charlottesville statements.  Whether he intended to or not, what he communicated caused racists to rejoice, minorities to weep, and the vast heart of America to mourn.  His apologists strain to explain that he didn't mean what we heard.

Mother of Charlottesville Victim Heather Heyer Says She's Received Death Threats  —  A day after burying her daughter, the mother of a woman killed during Saturday's white nationalist rally in Charlottesville scoffed at President Donald Trump's claim that violence on “both sides” led to her daughter's death.

James Murdoch, Rebuking Trump, Pledges $1 Million to Anti-Defamation League  —  BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — James Murdoch, the chief executive of 21st Century Fox and the son of a frequent ally of President Trump's, condemned the president's performance after the violence in Charlottesville, Va. …

Members of White House presidential arts commission resigning to protest Trump's comments  —  The remaining members of a presidential arts and humanities panel resigned on Friday in yet another sign of growing national protest of President Trump's recent comments on the violence in Charlottesville.

Taney statue removed from Md. state house grounds overnight  —  Workers dismantled a 145-year-old statue of Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney outside the Maryland State House shortly after midnight Friday, the latest ripple effect from last weekend's deadly violence at a rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville.

ACLU Will No Longer Defend Hate Groups Protesting With Firearms  —  Executive director says violence and guns at Charlottesville rally spurred new stance  —  The American Civil Liberties Union, taking a tougher stance on armed protests, will no longer defend hate groups seeking to march with firearms …

The agonizing, 8-page memo on how to chauffeur a congressman  —  Empty his trash.  Always have hand sanitizer and gum at the ready.  And don't bother with “unnecessary conversation” — the congressman doesn't have time for your chitchat.  —  Demanding, high-maintenance bosses are notorious on Capitol Hill.

MSNBC Ranks as No. 1 Cable Network in Total Viewers for First Time Ever  —  MSNBC ranked as the number one network across all of cable in total viewers for the first time in its history, according to Nielsen data.  —  For Wednesday, Aug. 16, MSNBC averaged 1.52 million viewers for the total …

The Party of Trump  —  Column: America's new, combustible four-party system  —  On July 18, 2015, about a month into his long-shot campaign for president, Donald Trump famously attacked John McCain.  “He's not a war hero,” he said.  “He was a war hero because he was captured.

Seattle's mayor: Lenin statue needs to come down … SEATTLE — Seattle's mayor wants Fremont's privately owned Lenin statue taken down, likening it to Confederate monuments as a symbol of “hate, racism and violence.”  —  A day after a small group led by conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec called …

Inside Trump's Tortured Search for a Winning Strategy in Afghanistan  —  Can Trump close the deal in Afghanistan?  —  In mid-July, President Donald Trump sat down for a meeting with the head of an American chemical company that transformed his view of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.

‘Antifa’ Grows as Left-Wing Faction Set to, Literally, Fight the Far Right  —  OAKLAND, Calif. — Last weekend, when a 27-year-old bike messenger showed up at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., he came ready for battle.  He joined a human chain that stretched in front …

In One Tweet, Donald Trump Just Spread Fake History, Libeled a Hero, and Admired an Alleged War Crime  —  Just minutes ago the president of the United States - the man who just yesterday said, “When I make a statement, I like to be correct.  I want the facts” - fired out a tweet apparently …

Private prison industry sees boon under Trump administration  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  Washington (CNN)The private prison industry — one of the most controversial pieces of the US carceral state — has essentially recovered a year after the Obama administration sent a chill down its spine.

Op-Ed Speech in America is fast, cheap and out of control  —  Alex Jones from infowars.com speaks during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio on July 18, 2016.  (David Swanson / TNS)  —  The Internet and social media did not create white supremacist movements in the United States …

Art of the Deal Writer Says Trump Will Resign Before Year's End: Reminds Me of ‘Last Days of Nixon’  —  Author Tony Schwartz spent 18 months with Donald Trump putting together The Art of the Deal — Trump's best-selling book.  And having spent so much time with the man who is now President …

Evidence of a Toxic Environment for Women in Economics  —  A pathbreaking new study of online conversations among economists describes and quantifies a workplace culture that appears to amount to outright hostility toward women in parts of the economics profession.

Confederate flag ‘looking’ tiles to be changed in subway  —  NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - The MTA says it is going to “modify” tiles in a Manhattan subway station that people have complained look like Confederate Flags.  —  The pattern of tiles have been in the Times Square station for almost 100 years.

Armed Group Appears at Council to Oppose Statue's Removal  —  The ongoing controversy surrounding the proposed removal of the Confederate monument in Travis Park was at the center of Wednesday evening's citizens to be heard session in City Council Chambers.  —  As speakers addressed Council members …

Hollywood, Apple Said to Mull Rental Plan, Defying Theaters  —  Studios are said focused on project despite exhibitor pushback  —  Theater chains are said to seek 10 years of revenue split  —  Movie studios are considering whether to ignore the objections of cinema chains and forge ahead …

New Poll: Republicans support Trump view of Charlottesville  —  Watching media coverage, you'd think Trump is nearly alone in believing “both sides” share fault for the Charlottesville violence.  Turns out, most Republicans have his back.  SurveyMonkey findings, previewed first for Axios readers …