Top Items:
Michael Sykes / Axios:
Trump floats season suspension for NFL players protesting anthem — President Trump took to Twitter Friday to call out the NFL on their national anthem policy. — The NFL National Anthem Debate is alive and well again - can't believe it! Isn't it in contract that players must stand at attention, hand on heart?
Discussion:
USA Today, CBS San Francisco, ESPN, POLITICUSUSA and One America News Network
New York Times:
Michael Cohen Secretly Taped Trump Discussing Payment to Playboy Model — WASHINGTON — President Trump's longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, secretly recorded a conversation with Mr. Trump two months before the presidential election in which they discussed payments to a former Playboy model …
Discussion:
ABC News, TheBlaze, Los Angeles Times, Vox, Breitbart, Mediaite, FOX News Radio, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Post, Raw Story, Bustle, Hot Air, CNN, Fox News Insider, Lawyers, Guns & Money, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, Law & Crime, The Daily Caller, Conservative News Today, CNBC, Outside the Beltway, Taylor Marsh, VICE News, Political Wire, The Week, Daily Kos, MSNBC, The Mahablog, Politico, The Daily Beast, ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo, Boing Boing, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, RT, Contemptor, What The Fuck …, Splinter, Mother Jones, Above the Law, The Root, Balloon Juice, The Moderate Voice, Common Dreams, WPIX 11 New York, KTLA, AOL, TheJournal.ie, PJ Media Home, The Hill, Axios, The Guardian and WGN-TV
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Wall Street Journal:
Michael Cohen Taped Conversation With Trump About Buying Rights to Playmate's Story — Conversation took place in September 2016, according to people familiar with the matter — Michael Cohen taped a conversation in person with Donald Trump in which the two men discussed buying the rights …
Discussion:
Breitbart, NBC News, Law & Crime and MSNBC
Washington Post:
In secret recording seized by FBI, Trump and Cohen discuss making payments for story of model who alleged affair with Trump — Federal investigators have an audio recording in which then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his personal attorney Michael Cohen discussed in the fall …
Discussion:
Business Insider, The Dworkin Report, Breitbart, Mediaite, The Atlantic, Bustle, CNN, POLITICUSUSA, Law & Crime, Lawyers, Guns & Money, CNBC, Shareblue Media, ThinkProgress, HuffPost, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, VICE News, Politico, Hot Air, Daily Kos and Joe.My.God., more at Mediagazer »
TMZ.com:
Manhattan Madam Kristin Davis — Subpoenaed by Robert Mueller — EXCLUSIVE — Kristin Davis, the Manhattan Madam who went to prison and was connected to former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, is being subpoenaed in the Robert Mueller investigation ... TMZ has learned.
Discussion:
RedState, Law & Crime, New York Daily News, The Gateway Pundit, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, CANNONFIRE, Mediaite, NY State of Politics and Political Wire
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Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:
'I Couldn't Stop Laughing. It's So Ridiculous.' A Surreal Week of Excuse-Making at the White House. — It's the end of the week in Washington, and there are some things that we know to be true: It's 83 degrees and partly cloudy, with 47 percent humidity. At 11:30 a.m., Donald Trump's …
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA
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Wall Street Journal:
Trump Digs In Against Criticism on Multiple Fronts — A hectic week that began with the controversial Putin summit ends with new tariff threats, public pressure on Fed — WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump ended a turbulent week by shrugging off criticism of his dealings with Russia …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate GOP attempts to wave Trump off second Putin summit
Senate GOP attempts to wave Trump off second Putin summit
Discussion:
Associated Press, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Townhall, Sarah Palin, Shareblue Media, Washington Monthly and IJR
Wall Street Journal:
Bad Debts, Fraud Claims Trail Boyfriend of Alleged Russian Agent — Paul Erickson, a smooth-talking U.S. political activist, was romantically involved with alleged Russian agent — They both had secrets. — Maria Butina worked clandestinely as an agent of the Russian government …
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Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
The entire Republican Party is becoming a Russian asset
The entire Republican Party is becoming a Russian asset
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, The Nation and The Daily Caller
Ben Shapiro / Daily Wire:
So, Here's A Giant List Of All The Dumb Stuff I've Ever Done (Don't Worry, I'll Keep Updating It) — This week, in the space of 24 hours, I went from a nice person with good intentions who differs politically from liberals but doesn't bend the truth to a racist, sexist, bigot homophobe …
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David French / National Review:
The Sliming of Ben Shapiro
The Sliming of Ben Shapiro
Discussion:
alicublog, Conservative Review, The Resurgent, The Daily Beast and Vox
Yaniv Kubovich / Haaretz:
Major Escalation in Gaza: Israel Launches Massive Attack After Hamas Snipers Fire at Troops
Major Escalation in Gaza: Israel Launches Massive Attack After Hamas Snipers Fire at Troops
Discussion:
New York Times, Common Dreams, NBC News, Townhall and CNN
Bethany Mandel / Ricochet:
How to Handle the Outrage Mob
How to Handle the Outrage Mob
Discussion:
The Federalist, RedState and twitchy.com
Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Why I Needed to Pull Back From Twitter — The viciousness, toxic partisan anger and intellectual dishonesty are at all-time highs. — WASHINGTON — I woke up last Sunday morning feeling anxiety in my chest as I checked the Twitter app on my phone, scrolling down to refresh, refresh, refresh.
Hollywood Reporter:
James Gunn Fired as Director of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ — The move comes after controversial tweets from the filmmaker were resurfaced. — James Gunn is exiting Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. — The move comes after conservative personalities resurfaced old tweets Thursday …
Discussion:
USA Today, Polygon, Hot Air, IndieWire, Fox News, Variety, Breitbart, Deadline, The Verge, Meduza.io, The Gateway Pundit, The Ringer, CBS Pittsburgh, Observer, The Daily Caller, Vox, Gizmodo, Bustle, Mashable, news.avclub.com and Daily Wire
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Trey Williams / The Wrap:
Disney Drops James Gunn From ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Franchise After Offensive Tweets
Disney Drops James Gunn From ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Franchise After Offensive Tweets
Discussion:
Louder With Crowder, RT and The Daily Caller
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Four reasons we've reached a tipping point on Trump — As a preliminary matter, I'm delighted to be back from vacation and back in the United States. Easily forgotten during the coverage of the incompetent and intellectually corrupted officials who populate this administration are the honorable men …
Jeremy Shapiro / Foreign Policy:
Trump Is Coming Off as Putin's Poodle, But That Actually Undermines Russia's Main Goal — Trump isn't as useful to Putin as one might think. — The broad consensus among U.S. and Western commentators is that Vladimir Putin “owned” Donald Trump at the U.S.-Russia summit in Helsinki this week.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast and Townhall
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CNN:
GOP congressman said blacks have ‘entitlement mentality’ and view themselves as victims — GOP rep. defends prior comments on ‘slut’ women — (CNN)Republican Rep. Jason Lewis has a long history of racist rhetoric about African-Americans, pushing claims of a “racial war” …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Axios and Political Wire
BuzzFeed News:
Here Are The Victims Of The Missouri Duck Boat Accident — At least 17 people are dead after a tourist duck boat sank during a sudden storm Thursday near Branson, Missouri. — Nine members of an 11-person family group from Indianapolis, Indiana, aboard the vessel are among the victims, Gov. Mike Parsons said Friday.
Discussion:
FOX59, Springfield News-Leader and WREG-TV
David Lawder / Reuters:
Exclusive: U.S. open to lifting sanctions off aluminum giant Rusal - Mnuchin — SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury is open to removing Russian aluminum producer Rusal from a U.S. sanctions list, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday, adding the objective was “not to put Rusal out of business.”
Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:
Paramount Television President Amy Powell is fired over inappropriate comments — Paramount Television President Amy Powell has been fired after making inappropriate comments, the movie and TV studio's Chief Executive Jim Gianopulos told staff Thursday. — In a memo obtained by The Times …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, The Daily Caller and Hollywood Reporter
Caleb Ecarma / Mediaite:
NY Times Denies Reporter Broke Into Corey Stewart Staffer's Home: His Claim ‘Is Entirely False’ — GOP Senate nominee Corey Stewart claimed New York Times reporter Stephanie Saul broke into one of his staffer's homes for a story; the newspaper of record responded by calling the allegation “entirely false.”
Discussion:
The Daily Beast
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Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Ta-Nehisi Coates is leaving the Atlantic — Ta-Nehisi Coates is leaving his position as a national correspondent for the Atlantic, a publication where he has emerged as one of the country's top reporters and thinkers. He has not signed on with a competing publication.
Discussion:
New York Times, more at Mediagazer »
Erica Werner / Washington Post:
Senate Republicans drop bid to block Trump from helping Chinese telecom giant ZTE — Bowing to White House demands, Senate Republicans have backed off their attempt to reimpose U.S. sanctions on the Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE, a congressional source said Friday.
Discussion:
The Verge and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
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John Hendel / Politico:
Republicans soften ZTE ban in concession to Trump
Max Boot / Washington Post:
How I miss Obama — How I miss Barack Obama. — And I say that as someone who worked to defeat him: I was a foreign policy adviser to John McCain in 2008 and to Mitt Romney in 2012. I criticized Obama's “lead from behind” foreign policy that resulted in a premature pullout from Iraq and a failure to stop the slaughter in Syria.
Discussion:
twitchy.com, Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA
The Daily Beast:
Seb Gorka in Talks to Be Salem Radio's New Host, as Network Plots a ‘Coup’ Against Its Trump Critics … Salem Radio Network, a national right-wing news and talk radio operation that's home to prominent conservative voices such as Hugh Hewitt and Lou Dobbs, is looking to bring on Sebastian Gorka …
Yashar Ali / HuffPost:
Kimberly Guilfoyle Did Not Leave Fox News Voluntarily, Sources Say: Scoop — Sources have told HuffPost about the host's departure from the network. — Three sources tell HuffPost that longtime Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle did not leave the cable news network voluntarily.
Discussion:
AOL, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, Hot Air and Contemptor
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Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:
Fox News' Kimberly Guilfoyle leaving the network to hit campaign trail with Donald Trump Jr.
Fox News' Kimberly Guilfoyle leaving the network to hit campaign trail with Donald Trump Jr.
Discussion:
Mediaite, HuffPost, IJR, TVNewser, TheBlaze, Conservative News Today, Washington Times, Daily Wire, Splinter, RedState, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, AOL and Talking Points Memo
Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:
Whoopi Goldberg: Jeanine Pirro ‘Cursed’ Us Out in Front of ‘The View’ Audience … “Unless you were under a rock yesterday, you know all about Jeanine Pirro's appearance here on the show,” Whoopi Goldberg said Friday morning on The View, putting an extra bit of snark on the Fox News host's name.
Discussion:
Hot Air, IJR, Contemptor, Breitbart, Mediaite, Page Six and The Daily Beast