Comedian John Melendez ‘hoax calls President Trump on Air Force One and chats with him about controversial family separation policy while pretending to be a New Jersey senator’  —  A voice sounding very much like that of President Donald Trump is heard in a phone call a comedian claims …

North Korea has increased nuclear production at secret sites, say U.S. officials  —  “Work is ongoing to deceive us on the number of facilities, the number of weapons, the number of missiles,” said one U.S. official  —  WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence agencies believe that North Korea …

The America We Thought We Knew Is Gone  —  Because countries are not people, it's tricky to translate whatever “loving one's country” means—it's quite abstract—into the language of heartbreak.  It sounds melodramatic.  What can heartbreak mean as a civic matter?  And yet it is what I feel.

‘Shaken’ Rosenstein Felt Used by White House in Comey Firing  —  WASHINGTON — In the days after the F.B.I. director James B. Comey was fired last year, the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, repeatedly expressed anger about how the White House used him to rationalize the firing …

U.S. assessing cost of keeping troops in Germany as Trump battles with Europe  —  The Pentagon is analyzing the cost and impact of a large-scale withdrawal or transfer of American troops stationed in Germany, amid growing tensions between President Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to people familiar with the work.

G.M. Says New Wave of Trump Tariffs Could Force U.S. Job Cuts  —  General Motors warned Friday that if President Trump pushed forward with another wave of tariffs, the move could backfire, leading to “less investment, fewer jobs and lower wages” for its employees.

'He'll be the next mass shooter': Newsroom gunman who killed five had stalked ex-classmate, got her fired and forced her to move state then began vendetta against the newspaper that exposed him  — Five people are dead after a gunman opened fire Maryland's Capital Gazette newsroom on Thursday

Obama: ‘You are right to be concerned’  —  In his first public comments in months, the former president talks about anger, regrets — and what the Republicans are doing right.  —  LOS ANGELES — Barack Obama's message to Democrats: Stop dreaming of him.  —  Speaking at a Democratic National …

Democratic Socialist Candidate's Primary Win Revoked After All Her Votes Forcibly Redistributed  —  NEW YORK, NY—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was elated when reports broke that she had won the Democratic primary for her district, defeating long-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley Tuesday.

Manafort assistant gave FBI access to storage locker: testimony  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - A personal assistant to Paul Manafort granted an FBI agent access to a storage locker in Virginia, allowing the government to secure evidence that President Donald Trump's former campaign manager …

U.S. Ambassador to Estonia Resigns in Disgust After Trump Anti-Europe Rants  —  James Melville is the latest in a string of career diplomat resignations over Trump's comments and policies.  —  The U.S. ambassador to Estonia, James D. Melville Jr., a career diplomat and member …

Russians Offered Business Deals to Brexit's Biggest Backer  —  LONDON — Arron Banks, a British financier who bankrolled the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, has long bragged about his “boozy six-hour lunch” with the Russian ambassador eight months before the vote.

Scoop: Trump's private threat to upend global trade  —  President Trump has repeatedly told top White House officials he wants to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization, a move that would throw global trade into wild disarray, people involved in the talks tell Axios.

12-year-old black kid gets cops called on him for cutting neighbors' grass  —  A 12-year-old black child had the police called on him simply for mowing the lawn as part of his summer business.  —  News 5 Cleveland reports that 12-year-old Reginald Fields was mowing the lawn of Lucille Holt …

They Played Dominoes Outside Their Apartment For Decades.  Then The White People Moved In And Police Started Showing Up.  —  “This used to be a bad neighborhood.”  Two areas of New York City that have recently gentrified have a corresponding high rate of quality-of-life complaints, which sometimes draw the police.

Exclusive: Trump appointee guts UN document on racism, says leaders don't have duty to condemn hate speech  —  Washington (CNN)A Trump administration appointee to the State Department tore into standard UN documents that condemn racism as a threat to democracy.

Comcast Blames Widespread Service Outage on Cut Fiber Line  —  The company, which has more than 29 million business and residential customers, said it was working to restore services  —  Cable giant Comcast Corp. CMCSA 0.55% is responding to a widespread outage Friday that has left customers without cable …

Death in a Hollywood Sex Dungeon: How a Top Agency Executive's “Mummification” Ritual Ended in Tragedy  —  For years, WME vp Skip Chasey has led an openly double life as a “master” in L.A.'s BDSM community.  But a role-playing encounter involving plastic wrap went horrifically wrong …

Man Arrested for Threatening to Murder Family of FCC Chairman  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A California man was arrested today in Los Angeles on charges of threatening to kill the family of Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, for Pai's role in repealing regulations relating to net neutrality.

We Get Voicemails  —  This week I wrote something that got widely circulated among angry right-wing people on the internet, which caused my personal contact information to be published online, which allowed me to hear voicemails from many new friends.  Let's listen to a few.

“This Guy Is Up to Eyeballs in Shit“: Bill Shine, Roger Ailes's Former Enforcer, Has Been Hired to Shake Up the West Wing.  But Might Hope Hicks Be Chief of Staff?  —  Pushed out of Fox partly for helping to enable sexual harassment, Shine imbibed his boss's view that the press was the enemy—the perfect fit for Trump's West Wing.

Trump's Pentagon Quietly Made A Change To The Stated Mission It's Had For Two Decades  —  For at least two decades, the Department of Defense has explicitly defined its mission on its website as providing “the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of our country.”

Trump hopes he and Putin will get along.  Russia experts worry they will.  —  When President Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin meet next month in Finland to discuss their differences, it is their similarities that may matter most.  —  Trump's professed interest in having a close relationship …

When the Government Won't Listen, We Must Refuse to Comply  —  Religious leaders have recently been in the news for speaking out against the Trump administration policy of family separation.  Catholic leaders have blasted the policy for traumatizing parents and terrorizing children.

‘I snookered them’: Illinois Nazi candidate creates GOP dumpster fire  —  Republicans fear blowback from Holocaust denier's run for Congress.  —  CHICAGO — Illinois Republicans botched four opportunities to stop an avowed Nazi from representing their party in a Chicago-area congressional district.

Federal judge blocks Kentucky's Medicaid work requirements  —  HHS did not adequately consider whether work requirements meet Medicaid's goal of providing health care to low-income Americans, a judge ruled.  —  A federal judge blocked Kentucky's Medicaid work requirements on Friday …