Trump adviser 'can't guarantee' taxes won't go up for middle class  —  President Donald Trump's top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, said today that he can't guarantee that taxes won't go up for some middle-class families under the administration's sweeping tax overhaul.

Exclusive: Kushner didn't disclose personal email account to Senate intel committee  —  Washington (CNN)In his closed interview with the staff of the Senate intelligence committee, White House senior adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner did not share the existence of his personal email account …

Mark Cuban, Pitbull step up, but Trump administration making Puerto Rico evacuees pay  —  Evacuees on U.S.-government-coordinated transport must sign IOUs for the cost — and give up their passports as collateral  —  A billionaire business shark and a “worldwide” pop star have donated the use …

Russian Interference in 2016 US Election, Bots, & Misinformation  —  Earlier this summer we outlined some of our work to combat bots and networks of manipulation on Twitter.  Since then, we have received a number of questions about how malicious bots and misinformation networks on Twitter …

Elementary school librarian rejects books given by Melania Trump  —  A Cambridge, Mass., elementary school librarian said in a blog post this her school will not be keeping a collection of books from Melania Trump, though the school later denied her rejection of the gift.

Lindsey Graham on Obamacare Repeal: I Had No Idea What I Was Doing … Senate Democrats and their progressive allies spent the last week-and-a-half in a full-blown mobilization against an existential threat to the Affordable Care Act.  —  Now that it has fizzled out, the lead author of the measure …

Price says he'll repay taxpayers for his private jet travel  —  Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said he will write a personal check to the federal government for his costs of traveling on private jets and will permanently halt his use of charter flights.

Roy Moore Failed to Disclose Massive Amount of Income on His Senate Ethics Form … Roy Moore, the controversial Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Alabama, neglected to disclose as much as $150,000 in income to federal ethics officials, according to a Daily Beast review of public records.

The Supreme Court's legitimacy problem  —  Neil Gorsuch, the man who occupies a seat on the Supreme Court because Senate Republicans held it open until Donald Trump could fill it, is on a bit of a victory tour.  —  Last week, the staunchly conservative judge spoke at the University …

The Time Donald Trump Turned Away in Disgust While a Man Was Bleeding to Death in Front of Him … Howard Stern is the greatest celebrity interviewer alive, bar none.  He is possessed of an uncanny ability to induce self-revelation, stroking and feeding the ego until it swells up and bursts.

There Is No GOP Establishment or Base.  Just Massive Resistance.  —  In a new story at NBC News, Steve Kornacki says there is a new GOP uprising underway leading into the 2018 election.  It is a replay or the next stage of similar eruptions in 2010 and 2012 and to a lesser extent in 2014.

Rep. Steve Scalise breaks his silence on shooting  —  In his first interview since being shot and critically wounded, Rep. Steve Scalise describes the extent of his injuries and how surgeons put him back together  —  In his first interview since sustaining a life-threatening gunshot wound …

NFL ticket sales plummet 17.9%  —  The National Football League is feeling the impact of the “Trump Effect.”  —  Ticket sales since he called on team owners to fire players who take a knee to protest the National Anthem have cratered.  —  The online ticket reseller TickPick told Secrets …

Hugh Hefner Did Not Live the Good Life  —  Overnight, we learned of the death of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.  Hefner is the iconic figure who not only made pornography socially respectable (and even more lucrative), but also spent a life constructing a “playboy philosophy” …

Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars  —  Some, on the brink of homelessness, take desperate measures … here is nothing she would rather do than teach.  But after supplementing her career with tutoring and proofreading, the university lecturer decided …

Russia warns U.S. over treatment of its media outlets  —  Russia bought Black Lives Matter ad on Facebook  —  Russia is warning the United States: Back off our media.  —  The country's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova issued a warning Thursday that Russia would retaliate …

Tennessee Titans Player Has One-Word Message for Fans Upset About National Anthem Protests: ‘Bye’  —  For all the NFL's talk of “unity,” there are more than a handful of players, not to mention league commissioner Roger Goodell, who don't seem interested in respecting the values of Americans …

The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends”  —  When I was a child, I could spend all day at Shining Time Station, the fictive train depot with its own eponymous TV show, where Thomas the Tank Engine and all his plate-faced locomotive friends worked and lived.