Top Items:
Mark Landler / New York Times:
Planning Begins for Kim Jong-un Meeting Some Trump Aides Believe Will Never Happen — WASHINGTON — A day after President Trump accepted an invitation to meet Kim Jong-un of North Korea, the White House began planning on Friday a high-level diplomatic encounter so risky and seemingly far-fetched …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, HeraldScotland, Sputnik International, Al Jazeera English and The Diplomat
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Trump on Kim Talks: ‘Tell Him Yes’ — U.S. officials rush to assemble a diplomatic strategy with little precedent in American history — Inside the Oval Office late Thursday, President Donald Trump interrupted a trio of South Korean officials as they analyzed an offer to meet …
Evan Osnos / New Yorker:
Three Key Questions About Donald Trump's Summit with Kim Jong Un — On February 21st, 1972, President Richard Nixon arrived in Beijing to meet with Chairman Mao Zedong, ending twenty-five years of hostility between the United States and China. The preparations had been painstaking …
Discussion:
New York Times, New Republic, Vox and Talking Points Memo
Washington Post:
In Trump's decision on North Korea, the world glimpses a president who is his own diplomat, negotiator and strategist
In Trump's decision on North Korea, the world glimpses a president who is his own diplomat, negotiator and strategist
Discussion:
Foreign Policy, Politico, Mediaite, Boing Boing, ThinkProgress and FiveThirtyEight
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Damage control at White House to reverse Trump's stunning blunder
Damage control at White House to reverse Trump's stunning blunder
Discussion:
Booman Tribune, Weekly Standard and YouTube
Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media:
Trump makes a mess of North Korea talks hours after announcing them
Trump makes a mess of North Korea talks hours after announcing them
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Post, Bustle, Mother Jones, Breitbart, ABC News and New York Magazine
Brandon Carter / The Hill:
‘Morning Joe’ hosts on Trump-North Korea meeting: 'He can't even make a deal with a porn star'
‘Morning Joe’ hosts on Trump-North Korea meeting: 'He can't even make a deal with a porn star'
Discussion:
Axios, Politico, Associated Press, One America News Network, Breitbart, CNN and Washington Press
Washington Post:
In a personal letter, Trump invited Putin to the 2013 Miss Universe pageant … Donald Trump was so eager to have Vladimir Putin attend the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow that he wrote a personal letter to the Russian president inviting him to the event, according to multiple people familiar with the document.
Discussion:
The Hill, RedState, Bustle, Washington Press, Mediaite and Boing Boing
RELATED:
Alexander Smith / NBC News:
Putin on U.S. election interference: 'I couldn't care less' — Russian President Vladimir Putin has told NBC News that he “couldn't care less” if Russian citizens tried to interfere in the 2016 American presidential election because, he claims, they were not connected to the Kremlin.
Discussion:
CNBC, RT and Balloon Juice
Sam Dolnick / New York Times:
The Man Who Knew Too Little — The most ignorant man in America knows that Donald Trump is president — but that's about it. Living a liberal fantasy is complicated. — GLOUSTER, Ohio — At first, the experiment didn't have a name. — Right after the election, Erik Hagerman decided …
Discussion:
Althouse and CANNONFIRE
CNN:
Gunman and victims identified in deadly standoff at California veterans home — (CNN)A gunman and three female hostages were found dead at a military veterans home in Northern California on Friday evening, officials said, a grim end to a standoff that lasted nearly eight hours.
Discussion:
Axios, Los Angeles Times, The Savage Nation, KTLA, fox13now.com, fox8.com and FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV
RELATED:
Washington Post:
A top U.S. diplomat in Latin America leaves in protest, swelling an exodus … PANAMA CITY — In a farewell video, the U.S. ambassador to Panama, John Feeley, filmed a scene at a tin-roofed barbershop that sits in a graffiti-tagged neighborhood here under a clattering elevated highway.
RELATED:
Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media:
World watches as Tillerson admits he doesn't care about imploding State Dept — More than 60% of career diplomats have left in the past year, but Tillerson says he doesn't “lose a wink of sleep” over it. — One of America's top Latin American diplomats left the State Department this week …
Discussion:
CBS News
Politico:
Search for Hicks replacement turns into West Wing food fight — Various White House factions are backing different candidates for communications director, while Trump is soliciting advice from Hicks on potential successors. — President Donald Trump on Thursday evening poked his head …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Lawyers Seek Deal With Mueller to Speed End of Russia Probe — Legal team seek to use interview with president as leverage in negotiations — WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump's lawyers are seeking to negotiate a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller that uses an interview …
Discussion:
CNN, Politicus USA, Washington Press, Breitbart, Deadline, Chicks On The Right, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Trump administration studies seeking the death penalty for drug dealers — The Trump administration is studying new policy that could allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for drug dealers, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, a sign that the White House wants …
Ryan Browne / CNN:
Exclusive: Trump getting a parade but tanks won't roll down Pennsylvania avenue — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump will get his military parade, but it is unlikely to mirror the Paris Bastille Day event which inspired him as it will not involve any heavy military vehicles like tanks …
Discussion:
Politico, Raw Story, Political Wire, The Gateway Pundit, Hullabaloo, Washington Press, The Daily Caller, Boing Boing, VICE News, IJR, Washington Free Beacon, Axios and Mediaite
RELATED:
Marwa Eltagouri / Washington Post:
Trump will get the military parade he wanted — just not the tanks
Trump will get the military parade he wanted — just not the tanks
Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
I would've aborted a fetus with Down syndome. Women need that right. … There is a new push in antiabortion circles to pass state laws aimed at barring women from terminating their pregnancies after the fetus has been determined to have Down syndrome. These laws are unconstitutional, unenforceable — and wrong.
Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:
John Kelly Reportedly Stopped Trump's EPA Chief From Holding Public Debates Challenging Climate Change — White House chief of staff John Kelly stepped in to thwart an effort by Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to “stage public debates challenging climate change science,” according to the New York Times.
RELATED:
Tom Llamas / ABC News:
Michael Cohen dismisses claims of email as proof that Trump knew about payment to porn star to buy her silence — The lawyer for Stormy Daniels says emails show President Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen was using his Trump Organization email just days before the 2016 election …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Washington Press, Mediaite and New York Magazine
RELATED:
Lorraine Woellert / Politico:
Trump lawyer's payment to porn star draws comparisons to John Edwards case
Trump lawyer's payment to porn star draws comparisons to John Edwards case
Discussion:
Washington Post, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo
Bill Barrow / Associated Press:
Dems still wrestling over superdelegates - a 2016 issue — WASHINGTON (AP) — Bernie Sanders is back in the Senate minority. Hillary Clinton is selling books and playing with grandchildren. And the Democratic Party is still navigating the fallout from their bitter 2016 presidential nominating fight.
Discussion:
Axios
RELATED:
Brent Budowsky / The Hill:
A Sanders-Warren ticket could win big in 2020
A Sanders-Warren ticket could win big in 2020
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Cristina Alesci / CNN:
White House scolds Cabinet officials after embarrassing ethics reports — (CNN)The White House held private meetings with four Cabinet-level officials last month to scold them for embarrassing stories about questionable ethical behavior at their respective agencies, sources familiar with the sessions tell CNN.
Discussion:
Washington Press
Ben Mathis-Lilley / Slate:
Sweet Jesus, Will the NYT's Conservatives Ever Write About Anything but the “Intolerant Left” Ever Again? — David Brooks published a column in the New York Times on Friday complaining about the manner in which “[s]tudents across the country,” having become obsessed with “group identity,” …
Discussion:
Eschaton
Jason Horowitz / New York Times:
Steve Bannon Is Done Wrecking the American Establishment. Now He Wants to Destroy Europe's. — MILAN — Stephen K. Bannon leaned back in an armchair opposite a copy of a painting by an Italian old master and explained his modest efforts to build a vast network of European populists to demolish the Continent's political establishment.
Discussion:
Althouse