The U.S. is trying to find a discreet way to pay for Kim Jong Un's hotel during the summit  —  SINGAPORE — At an island resort off the coast of Singapore, U.S. event planners are working day and night with their North Korean counterparts to set up a summit designed to bring an end to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

A Courtside View of Scott Pruitt's Cozy Ties With a Billionaire Coal Baron  —  LEXINGTON, Ky. — It was one of the biggest games of the University of Kentucky basketball season, and Scott Pruitt had scored two of the best seats in the arena: a few feet from the action, in a section reserved …

Senate Republicans Are Newly Hopeful About the Midterms.  For Good Reason.  —  WASHINGTON — After a turbulent first year confronting friendly fire from President Trump, Senate Republicans are entering the summer before the midterm elections feeling more hopeful about retaining their narrow majority …

Trump allies gang up on Gowdy  —  The GOP lawmaker was once a conservative hero.  Now he's under fire on the right for balking at Trump's ‘spygate’ theory.  —  Rep. Trey Gowdy has been a pitbull investigator for Republicans for years.  Now, he's is in President Donald Trump's doghouse …

New internet accounts are Russian ops designed to sway U.S. voters, experts say  —  WASHINGTON  —  A new Russian influence operation has surfaced that mirrors some of the activity of an internet firm that the FBI says was deeply involved in efforts to sway the 2016 U.S. elections, a cybersecurity firm says.

Hate on Jordan Peterson all you want, but he's tapping into frustration that feminists shouldn't ignore  —  One of the most controversial public intellectuals today is an eccentric, primly dressed professor who writes about esoteric mythology, dispenses old-fashioned wisdom such as …

Herbert Hoover's Ghost  —  In 2014 I published a book called “America in Retreat,” with the subtitle, “The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder.”  Though an entire chapter is devoted to a critique of Tea Party foreign policy, it was mainly a lament about what I saw …

Breaking from GOP orthodoxy, Trump increasingly deciding winners and losers in the economy  —  President Trump is increasingly intervening in the economy, making decisions about corporate winners and losers in ways that Republicans for decades have insisted should be left to free markets — not the government.

ABC in Talks to Reboot ‘Roseanne’ Centered Around Sara Gilbert  —  “Roseanne” may be on the verge of rising from the dead with a second reboot, but this time centered around Sara Gilbert's character ... TMZ has learned.  —  Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ …

This Factory Was Ready to Expand.  Then Came the Trump Trade Wars.  —  WASHINGTON — Andy Marsh's New York factory is trapped in the Trump trade wars.  —  As Mr. Trump threatens tariffs on America's economic allies and its adversaries, many of the domestic businesses that the president …

U.S. in Early Talks for Potential Summit Between Trump and Putin  —  Meeting could ease tensions between two nations that have grown to Cold War proportions  —  The White House is planning for a possible summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin …

Some Younger Evangelicals Waver in Support for Israel  —  Generational split reflects concern over Palestinians, spurring outreach by some churches and groups  —  JERUSALEM—Growing up in evangelical Christian churches, Caleb Fitzpatrick learned quickly to be a steadfast supporter of Israel.

Did exactly 4,645 people die in Hurricane Maria?  Nope.  —  Few academic studies have received as much media coverage as a new report, published by the New England Journal of Medicine, that the death toll in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria was much higher than official estimates of 64.

Steel Tariffs Are Taxing Some American Companies  —  U.S. firms say some customers are opting to import finished goods rather than absorb price increases; ‘a nightmare for steel consumers’  —  New tariffs intended to bolster the American steel and aluminum industries are starting …

Bannon predicts government shutdown over border wall  —  Washington (CNN)Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon predicts there will be another government shutdown in the near future.  —  “I believe the government will actually shut down in the run-up to the election,” …

MSNBC Staff on Joy Reid: Enough Apologies, We Want Answers … MSNBC and Joy Reid on Friday both finally commented on the latest round of hateful old blog posts unearthed by various outlets.  They did not, however, address Reid's initial and unsubstantiated claim that the posts were fake.

Google is labeling a Trump-supporting Republican state senator a “BIGOT”  —  Trudy Wade is a Republican state senator from North Carolina and an enthusiastic supporter of President Trump.  —  But if you search “Trudy Wade” on Google, the search giant displays an old photo in the “knowledge panel” …

Pedro Sánchez sworn in as Spain's prime minister  —  Spanish socialist leader Pedro Sánchez was sworn in as prime minister Saturday morning by King Felipe VI.  —  The new premier took the oath of office at a ceremony at the Zarzuela Palace on the outskirts of Madrid.

Donald Trump and the erosion of Democratic norms in America  —  For some, the president's efforts to undermine the justice department and the Mueller investigation represent a threat to democracy  —  Ask people with deep knowledge of the US justice department about the damage Donald Trump might …

The case for quarantining extremist ideas  —  When confronted with white supremacists, newspaper editors should consider ‘strategic silence’  —  George Lincoln Rockwell, the head of the American Nazi party, had a simple media strategy in the 1960s.  He wrote in his autobiography …

America's poor becoming more destitute under Trump: U.N. expert  —  GENEVA (Reuters) - Poverty in the United States is extensive and is deepening under the Trump administration whose policies seem aimed at removing the safety net from millions of poor, while rewarding the rich, a U.N. human rights investigator has found.

Exclusive: How a ‘nobody’ ex-con pushed Avenatti law firm into bankruptcy  —  Watch the exclusive report at 7 p.m. ET tonight on “Erin Burnett Out Front.”  —  Los Angeles (CNN)Even before he became famous as the fast-talking, trash-talking, in-your-face attorney representing Stormy Daniels …

Caravan Mother Who Is Seeking Asylum Says Immigration Agents Took Her Children  —  “The official said you have 10 minutes to say goodbye so I hugged them and they kept asking me why they were leaving me.  I couldn't tell them why.”  —  Reporting From Los Angeles

As Justice Dept. inspector general moves from Clinton email to Russia and Trump, he risks becoming a political weapon  —  Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz recently summoned an FBI agent important to the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election for an interview.

Pelosi Statement on May Jobs Report  —  San Francisco - Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after the Department of Labor reported that workers' wages increased just 0.3 percent in May:  —  “May's jobs report shows that strong employment numbers mean little to the families hit …

Schwarzenegger won't vote for leading GOP candidates for governor  —  Arnold Schwarzenegger, who once famously warned Republicans that they were “dying at the box office,” has decided not to support either of the leading GOP candidates for California governor, a spokesman said on Friday.

A society ripped apart by full-frontal incivility  —  Roseanne Barr and Samantha Bee require us to keep numerous truths in mind simultaneously, which may be more than we can handle in this tribal moment.  —  What Barr said was racist and unforgivable.  ABC was right to fire her.

'Are y'all serious?'  Jury gives 4 cents to family of black man killed by Florida cop  —  In 2014, two officers with the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office in Florida went to Gregory Vaughn Hill Jr.'s home for a noise complaint.  —  Hill, a 30-year-old black man, had been blasting …

The Party *Doesn't* Decide  —  Next week the all-important California primary takes place.  Most of the media attention, however, has not been on issues or candidates, but instead on the possible repercussions of the still relatively new top-two primary system.

Russian World-Cup Themed Water Bottle Ignites Objects, Media Reports  —  As Russian companies try to cash in on football-themed products ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, one popular water brand is literally trying to catch fire.  —  Just about everyone is trying to capitalize …

Embattled Chinese Telecom Giant ZTE Hired Trump Campaign Veteran … A day after President Donald Trump announced he would consider easing penalties against a controversial Chinese electronics company, that company enlisted a Trump campaign veteran to make its case in Washington.

Obama to headline DNC fundraiser  —  Former President Barack Obama will raise money for the Democratic National Committee at a Los Angeles fundraiser later this month, as he continues to edge into the midterm elections.  —  Billed as a gala dinner, the June 28 event will be Obama's first for the DNC this year.

Founding philosophy  —  A review of The Political Theory of the American Founding by Thomas G. West.  —  Convention requires me to disclose that I have known, admired, and learned from Thomas G. West for more than twenty years.  I also recently became his colleague as a scholar and lecturer at Hillsdale College.