Top Items:
Erica Orden / CNN:
Exclusive: Mueller refers foreign agent inquiries to New York prosecutors — Trump assails Mueller ‘conflicts’ though evidence scant — (CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller has referred a collection of cases to New York federal prosecutors concerning whether several high-profile American lobbyists …
Discussion:
Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit and Front Page Magazine
New York Times:
Facebook Has Identified Ongoing Political Influence Campaign — WASHINGTON — Facebook is preparing to announce that it has identified a coordinated political influence campaign, with dozens of inauthentic accounts and pages that are believed to be engaging in political activity ahead …
Discussion:
New Republic, Raw Story, The Guardian, VICE News, JustOneMinute, Shakesville, Boing Boing, Daily Wire, ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, Political Wire, Axios and rbc.ru, more at Mediagazer »
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Facebook:
Removing Bad Actors on Facebook — Today we removed 32 Pages and accounts from Facebook and Instagram because they were involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior. This kind of behavior is not allowed on Facebook because we don't want people or organizations creating networks of accounts …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Power Line, CNNMoney, Politico, The Daily Caller, HuffPost, The Atlantic, CNBC, Breitbart, CNN, Hit & Run, Splinter, NewsBusters, Refinery29, Gizmodo, Mashable, VICE News, The Gateway Pundit, Motherboard, Axios, New Republic, Vox, National Review, Mother Jones, NPR, twitchy.com, Townhall, Engadget, ABC News, GeekWire, The Verge, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »
NBC News:
Facebook's new foreign influence report excluded most divisive rhetoric — Facebook released only some of the pages and content publicly, declining to release the depth some pages went to stoke racial tension. — On Tuesday morning, the political and tech worlds were startled to learn …
Discussion:
Associated Press and The Daily Beast
BuzzFeed News:
Russian “Agent” And A GOP Operator Left A Trail Of Cash, Documents Reveal — A $45,000 payment to an undisclosed law firm. A cash withdrawal for $14,000. Almost $90,000 sent to or from a Russian bank. These and other bank transactions totaling nearly $300,000, none of which have been made public …
Discussion:
McClatchy Washington Bureau and The Gateway Pundit
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Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:
Accused Russian Spy Maria Butina Told American CEO: Send Cash to Moscow … Maria Butina, the accused Russian operative, didn't just allegedly cultivate the NRA on behalf of the Kremlin. The 29-year-old Russian national also braced one of America's best-known businessmen …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Washington Post:
Paul Manafort trial: A jury has been selected — Paul Manafort, President Trump's onetime campaign chairman, is on trial in federal court in Alexandria on bank and tax fraud charges. Prosecutors allege he failed to pay taxes on millions he made from his work for a Russia-friendly Ukrainian political party …
Discussion:
Vox, CNN, The Week, The Daily Caller and Observer
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Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost:
At Paul Manafort Trial, Defense Puts The Blame On Mueller Witness Rick Gates — The first trial of Trump's former campaign chairman is now underway in Virginia. — ALEXANDRIA, Va. An attorney for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort told jurors during opening arguments in his tax …
Discussion:
emptywheel, Vox and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »
CNN:
Prosecutors' opening statement: ‘Paul Manafort lied’
Prosecutors' opening statement: ‘Paul Manafort lied’
Discussion:
The Root, The Gateway Pundit, KTLA, Politico and CNBC
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Why it matters: What's at stake in the Manafort trial
Why it matters: What's at stake in the Manafort trial
Discussion:
Spectator USA, Politico, ABC News, Vox and Lawfare
Benjamin Wittes / Lawfare:
The Justice Department Finds ‘No Responsive Records’ to Support a Trump Speech — President Donald Trump delivering an address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on February 28, 2017 (Source: Wikimedia/Office of the Speaker) — “According to data provided by the Department of Justice …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and POLITICUSUSA
Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:
“Don McGahn Hates Rudy with Intensity of 1,000 Burning Suns”: Is Trump Ready to Cook Giuliani? — Inside the West Wing, Giuliani's recent wacko media appearances have attracted the wrong kind of notice. “Trump thinks he's saying too much,” one Republican close to the White House told me.
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Rebecca Ballhaus / Wall Street Journal:
John Kelly Tells White House Staff Trump Asked Him To Stay in Post Through 2020 — The White House chief of staff said he agreed to the president's request — WASHINGTON—White House chief of staff John Kelly told staff on Monday that President Trump had asked him to remain in his post through …
Annie Karni / Politico:
‘Everyone talked with Woodward’: Trump White House braces for new book — Unlike previous administrations, this White House had no process for making officials available to the legendary reporter. — Bob Woodward, the legendary Washington Post journalist, was sitting on the couch …
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Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
John Kelly intends to remain as Trump's chief of staff through 2020 reelection bid
John Kelly intends to remain as Trump's chief of staff through 2020 reelection bid
Discussion:
The Hill, Politico, ABC News, CNN, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, New Republic and Associated Press
David French / National Review:
A Federal Judge Launches a Futile, Unconstitutional Effort to Block Blueprints for 3D-Printed Guns — If there's a hall of fame for futile, symbolic, and ultimately unconstitutional federal court orders, the temporary restraining order just issued in Seattle blocking Defense Distributed …
Discussion:
The Hill, Associated Press and Axios
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Associated Press:
US says driving would be riskier if fuel standards tougher — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration says people would drive more and be exposed to increased risk if their cars get better gas mileage, an argument intended to justify freezing Obama-era toughening of fuel standards.
Discussion:
Shareblue Media
Laura Litvan / Bloomberg:
Collins Sides With GOP Leaders in Kavanaugh Documents Fight — While Democrats are crying foul after Republican leaders angled to limit disclosures of documents related to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's past work, one of the GOP senators whose vote may be pivotal to his confirmation says she's just fine with it.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Daily Wire and Political Wire
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Murray Waas / NYR Daily:
Flynn, Comey, and Mueller: What Trump Knew and When He Knew It — Previously undisclosed evidence in the possession of Special Counsel Robert Mueller—including highly confidential White House records and testimony by some of President Trump's own top aides—provides some of the strongest evidence …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Hill Reporter, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Post, Raw Story and Politico
Scott Bixby / The Daily Beast:
Watch: Top Trump Officials Refuse to Raise Hands to Defend Family Separation … Top Trump administration officials were asked in a Senate hearing on Tuesday to raise their hands if they thought that the “zero tolerance” immigration and family separation policies were good ideas.
Zoé Samudzi / Broadly:
What ‘Interracial’ Cuckold Porn Reveals About White Male Insecurity — The genre, in which a Black man has sex with a white man's wife, represents the ultimate threat to white manhood and racial purity. And it's loaded with racist undertones that have real-world implications.
Bloomberg:
U.S. Considers Higher Tariffs on $200 Billion in Chinese Imports — U.S. may now seek 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion in goods — Officials seeking ways to re-engage after talks stalled — The Trump administration will propose raising to 25 percent its planned 10 percent tariffs …
Discussion:
CNN, Axios, One America News Network and BloombergQuint
Bloomberg:
Here's How America Uses Its Land — There are many statistical measures that show how productive the U.S. is. Its economy is the largest in the world and grew at a rate of 4.1 percent last quarter, its fastest pace since 2014. The unemployment rate is near the lowest mark in a half century.
Discussion:
The Atlantic
Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:
Trump says Koch brothers are a ‘total joke’ — Koch Network distances from Trump divisiveness — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump railed Tuesday against billionaire conservative brothers Charles and David Koch, accusing them of being against key components of his populist agenda …
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNBC, National Review, New York Times, Vox and Bloomberg
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Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
Steve Bannon's fiery threat to candidates: 'You take Koch money, it's going to be toxic'
Steve Bannon's fiery threat to candidates: 'You take Koch money, it's going to be toxic'
Discussion:
Politico, Hit & Run, The Mahablog, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite and VICE News
Emilie Raguso / Berkeleyside:
Berkeley zoning board says latest 2701 Shattuck proposal is ‘still excessive’ — A proposal for a five-story, 57-unit building in South Berkeley has come back in its latest iteration after a failed attempt in 2013 to get city approval. — The project, at 2701 Shattuck Ave., at Derby Street …
Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed News:
Kushner Family Newspaper Cuts Ties With A Writer Who Attacked Kremlin Foes — The Kushner family-owned New York Observer has cut ties with a writer who has, since 2014, authored dozens of pro-Kremlin articles for the website, the most recent a story in April offering Russia's spin …
Discussion:
Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »
Jeffry Bartash / MarketWatch:
Worker pay and benefits climbing at fastest pace in 10 years, ECI finds — The numbers: American workers are finally reaping the benefits of the lowest unemployment rate and best jobs market in decades: Wages and benefits are rising at the fastest pace in a decade.
Discussion:
The Rush Limbaugh Show and Power Line
Miriam Jordan / New York Times:
A Migrant Boy Rejoins His Mother, but He's Not the Same — Parents reunited with young children are reporting mental health issues. One 5-year-old boy has started a new life with his mother in Philadelphia, but signs of trauma remain. — PHILADELPHIA — Before they were separated …
Discussion:
New Republic and Shareblue Media
Samantha Schmidt / Washington Post:
Trump administration must stop giving psychotropic drugs to migrant children without consent, judge rules — A federal judge on Monday found that U.S. government officials have been giving psychotropic medication to migrant children at a Texas facility without first seeking the consent …
Discussion:
Reveal, ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, Shadowproof, Splinter, The Week, Mediaite and Shakesville
Tana Ganeva / Raw Story:
WATCH: Safeway calls cops on black mother for giving food to the homeless because they thought she was a shoplifter — Altruism can now be added to the list of benign activities black people apparently can't engage in without being treated like criminals. — Sunnyvale, California resident …
Discussion:
CBS San Francisco and The Root
Duncan Campbell / ComputerWeekly.com:
Briton ran pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign that helped Trump deny Russian links — A British IT manager and former hacker from Darlington ran a disinformation campaign that duped former US intelligence agents and provided Donald Trump with manufactured “evidence” to deny that Russia interfered with the US election
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, New Republic and emptywheel
Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Will Democrats lurch to the left? Watch Michigan. — This state has long been known as an early indicator of emerging trends in politics — and for upending expectations. — In 2016, Michigan voters dealt Hillary Clinton two stunning upsets: first in the Democratic primary …
Discussion:
twitchy.com and Vox
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / The Guardian:
An open letter to the NFL's owners — To deny professional athletes the right to express dissent in a peaceful manner is a disgrace to the Constitution, the opposite of patriotism and shameful moral weakness — Dear NFL owners: — Whew! What a tumultuous year for your league.
Discussion:
Breitbart, East Bay Times, IJR, The Daily Caller and The Big Lead
Online NewsHour:
WATCH LIVE: ICE, Border Patrol testify at Senate hearing on family separations — The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. EDT today. Watch the immigration officials' remarks in the player above. — But a hearing scheduled for Tuesday on the topic may have a wider focus …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Associated Press and The Week
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
New York Times Names Cliff Levy as Its New Metro Editor — The New York Times said on Tuesday that Clifford J. Levy, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and a leader of the newsroom's digital initiatives, will be its next metropolitan editor. — Mr. Levy, 51, has served …