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Tuesday Night Is a Bad Sign for GOP Chances in the House — On its face, Tuesday night seemed uneventful, or even good news for the Republican Party. Aside from a few primaries here and there, the main event was the House special election in Ohio's 12th Congressional District.
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RedState
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5 Takeaways From Tuesday's Election Results — Republicans had a brush with trouble in Ohio, where a result had still not been declared in a special election to fill a House vacancy. Elsewhere, an activist sweep on the left failed to materialize. — Suburbanites are more fired up than rural voters
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Washington Post, Washington Monthly, ABC News, Washington Free Beacon, Taylor Marsh, Power Line and The Daily Beast

The Ohio Results Point to Democratic Strength in 2018—and a Showdown in 2020
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America's Voice, BuzzFeed News, Mediaite and Daily Kos

POLITICO Playbook: Republicans' dueling political pictures
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New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Associated Press

Democratic Party's liberal insurgency hits a wall in Midwest primaries
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Politico, ThinkProgress, Shareblue Media, Breitbart, Althouse, The Week, Chicks On The Right, Hullabaloo, HuffPost, CNN and The Daily Beast

Ohio Special Election Results: 12th Congressional District
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Townhall, Power Line, The Week, Washington Post, Weekly Standard, Daily Mail, The Columbus Dispatch, Hot Air, Chicks On The Right, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, FiveThirtyEight, The Gateway Pundit, Hill Reporter, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos, Washington Free Beacon, Outside the Beltway, Shareblue Media, Jamie Dupree - AJC, Mediaite, ThinkProgress, Scared Monkeys, CBS News, Conservative News Today, CNBC, Instapundit, The Daily Beast, Fox News Insider, Talking Points Memo and CNN

Rashida Tlaib, With Primary Win, Is Poised to Become First Muslim Woman in Congress
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The American Mirror, ThinkProgress, The Daily Beast, Broadly, Splinter, MSNBC, The Daily Caller, Common Dreams, The Week and Conservative Review

Troy Balderson claims victory in Ohio special election
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Washington Post, NPR, WOSU Radio, ABC News, Breitbart, Roll Call and Politico


Trump's Lawyers Counter Mueller's Interview Offer, Seeking Narrower Scope — WASHINGTON — President Trump's lawyers rejected the special counsel's latest terms for an interview in the Russia investigation, countering on Wednesday with an offer that suggested a narrow path for answering questions, people familiar with the matter said.
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Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA and Chicago Sun-Times


New York GOP Rep. Chris Collins arrested over insider trading charges — Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., has been arrested on insider trading charges lodged by the Justice Department, law enforcement officials said Wednesday morning. — The indictment obtained from a federal grand jury …
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Congressman Chris Collins, Breitbart, twitchy.com, CBS New York, Splinter, Mediaite and The Daily Caller
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New York Congressman Chris Collins Is Charged With Insider Trading — Representative Chris Collins, a New York Republican who was one of President Trump's earliest and most vocal supporters, was charged with insider trading on Wednesday. He was accused of having sold his stock …
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Outside the Beltway, Jamie Dupree - AJC and Above the Law


GOP Rep. Chris Collins charged with securities fraud
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ABC News, U.S. Securities …, RedState, ThinkProgress and The Daily Beast


No law prevents Kris Kobach from overseeing the likely recount in his own race — No law requires Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to recuse himself from a recount in the governor's race, but legal and political experts say that he should to maintain trust in the election.
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Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Daily Kos, The Week, Raw Story, CNN and Washington Post
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'It's Fantastic!' Trump Warms to Rosenstein — Nearly fired by the president, the No. 2 Justice official—the man in charge of the Mueller probe—builds a rapport — Before President Trump headed to meet Vladimir Putin last month, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein requested a meeting in the Oval Office.
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Talking Points Memo and Political Wire
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Why it's time for Trump to play his ace in the hole — You return from a great vacation and POW — reality hits like a punch in the nose. And that's not counting the hassle of New York airports and traffic. — The pain begins when you remember that the hapless Jeff Sessions is still the attorney general of the United States.


Manafort Trial Day 7: Gates wraps testimony, tensions flare — Rick Gates wrapped up his testimony against former boss Paul Manafort Wednesday without a dramatic courtroom showdown, but the defense got in an attention-grabbing parting shot at the government's star witness …
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ABC News
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Corey Stewart praised southern secession in 2017 campaign appearance — Senate candidate takes personal shot at Cuomo — (CNN)Corey Stewart, the Republican nominee for a US Senate seat for Virginia, praised in a speech last year Virginia's decision in 1861 to secede from the Union …
Discussion:
New Republic, Political Wire and Blue Virginia


Sen. Rand Paul says he delivered letter from Trump to Putin — Paul's trip to Moscow during the Senate's recess this week also included a meeting with former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev. — WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday that he was “honored” …
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Rand Paul delivers Putin letter from Trump
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CNBC, Washington Times and RT


The Shadow Rulers of the VA — Last February, shortly after Peter O'Rourke became chief of staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs, he received an email from Bruce Moskowitz with his input on a new mental health initiative for the VA. “Received,” O'Rourke replied.
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Politico, IJR, Shareblue Media, New Republic, Axios, Jezebel, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Wall Street Journal, Splinter, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, The Week and CNBC


Kansas Dems choose Sharice Davids to challenge Rep. Kevin Yoder for seat in Congress — Sharice Davids could make history in November after Kansas Democrats selected the Johnson County attorney as their nominee for a race that could help decide control of the U.S. House.
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Vox, Towleroad Gay News and Balloon Juice
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Donald Trump Talks About a War on the Press. Andrew Cuomo Is Waging One. … On July 19, Zack Fink, the Albany reporter for New York City's local cable news channel, NY1, asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo about the glaring lack of legitimate small donors to his reelection campaign.


We analyzed every QAnon post on Reddit. Here's who QAnon supporters actually are. — The QAnon subreddit, analyzed with data. — Late on a recent Thursday night, a Reddit user posted a comment in a forum (or subreddit) devoted to the game Magic: The Gathering about how the company …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice


Exclusive: Pompeo told North Korea to cut its nuclear arsenal by 60 to 70 percent — But North Korea has consistently rejected the secretary of state's proposal. — The Trump administration has presented North Korea with a formal timeline for starting the process of denuclearization — and Pyongyang has rejected it several times.
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Mother Jones, The American Conservative, CNN, Washington Free Beacon and Washington Post


Chief ‘extremely concerned’ after officer uses Taser on 11-year-old girl at Kroger — A Cincinnati police officer used a Taser to stun an 11-year-old girl suspected of stealing from a Kroger on Monday, according to police. — Police Chief Eliot Isaac has opened an investigation …
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Police use Taser on 11-year-old girl accused of stealing from supermarket
Discussion:
Raw Story


Trump's D.C. hotel, a clubhouse for his fans, may also be a 5-star conflict of interest — An NBC News analysis of FEC filings and social media shows GOP groups, foreign countries and federal agencies have spent big at the luxury hotel. — WASHINGTON — The Trump International Hotel …


Ohio Squeaker Shows GOP Has A Lot To Learn About Winning — Republicans and Trump supporters needed some good political news, and they got it Tuesday night in the special election for Ohio's 12th Congressional District. — Republican Troy Balderson's narrow, one-point win doesn't mean a “red wave” is swelling.
Discussion:
naked capitalism

Saudi Arabia Carries Out Rare Crucifixion for Murder, Theft — (Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia executed and crucified a Myanmar man in the holy city of Mecca on Wednesday in a rare form of punishment reserved for the most egregious crimes. — Elias Abulkalaam Jamaleddeen was accused of breaking …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
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Saudi Arabia sells off Canadian assets as dispute escalates
Discussion:
The Guardian and Sputnik International


At War: War Without End — War Without End — The Pentagon's failed campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan left a generation of soldiers with little to fight for but one another. — By C. J. CHIVERS — Listen to ‘The Daily’: Paul Ryan's Exit — As speaker of the House, the Republican lawmaker should be at the peak of his powers.
Discussion:
Axios


Alex Jones' Lawyer Seeks To Make Sandy Hook Parents' Home Addresses Public — “They're using an old, outdated law to intimidate these people and it's just sick,” said Mark Bankston, a lawyer for the parents. — When radio host Alex Jones published a video in 2017 titled “Sandy Hook Vampires Exposed …