Judge halts mother-daughter deportation, threatens to hold Sessions in contempt  —  This is a developing story.  It will be updated.  —  A federal judge in Washington halted an apparent deportation in progress Thursday and threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt …

Laura Ingraham's Anti-Immigrant Rant Was So Racist It Was Endorsed by Ex-KKK Leader David Duke … Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham's Wednesday night monologue about immigrants destroying America was so racist it got the endorsement of David Duke, the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

APNewsBreak: Kobach's lead in Kansas race falls to 91 votes  —  TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's lead over Gov. Jeff Colyer in the Republican primary has shrunk to only 91 votes after election officials discovered a mistake in the listing for one county's results in the state's tally of votes.

Melania Trump's Parents Become U.S. Citizens as Lawyer Acknowledges ‘Chain Migration’  —  Melania Trump's parents were briskly sworn in as citizens of the United States in New York on Thursday.  —  Viktor and Amalija Knavs, formerly of Slovenia, wore suits and sunglasses as they entered 26 Federal Plaza …

Mueller request signals Gates may still be cooperating  —  Frustrated Manafort emailed Gates: WTF?  —  Alexandria, Virginia (CNN)A court filing from special counsel Robert Mueller signals that Rick Gates may be assisting the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election beyond the case against Paul Manafort.

Twitter says Infowars hasn't ‘violated our rules.’ It looks like that's not the case  —  Why Facebook,YouTube and Apple are removing InfoWars content  —  Twitter's vice president for trust and safety, Del Harvey, told employees in an email on Wednesday that if far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones …

NY Times Writer Apologizes for ‘Inappropriate’ Tweet About New Colleague Sarah Jeong  —  “I just deleted my earlier tweet about this column,” says Elizabeth Williamson after sparking outrage  —  New York Times features writer Elizabeth Williamson apologized for and deleted a tweet on Thursday …

The ‘Red Wave’ Illusion  —  Evidence builds of major GOP losses in November.  —  Republicans on present trend are poised in November to lose their majority in the House of Representatives and a slew of governorships.  That's the clear message from Tuesday's election contests and a growing body of evidence.

U.S. Officials Scrambled Behind the Scenes to Shield NATO Deal From Trump  —  John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, pushed NATO ambassadors to finish a critical policy document before the alliance's summit meeting last month so the president could not reject it.  —  August 9, 2018

Puerto Rico concedes Hurricane Maria deaths more than 1,400  —  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico has conceded that Hurricane Maria killed more than 1,400 people on the island last year and not just the 64 in the official death toll.  —  The government acknowledged the higher death toll …

GOP Rep. Chris Collins used campaign funds to pay legal bills for insider-trading investigations  — Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., used campaign funds to pay legal bills while he faced investigation for alleged insider trading for more than a year.  — A federal criminal investigation culminated …

Should the U.S. Air Force Bomb Forest Fires?  —  It sounds ridiculous, but it's an idea that's grounded in physics.  —  Earlier this summer, the Swedish Air Force dropped a laser-guided bomb on a forest fire to help suppress the flames.  Now there's a proposal for the United States to do the same …

Arkansas cop fired after telling 2 Black men they 'don't belong' in town  —  An Arkansas police officer has been fired after he was recorded telling former town residents, two Black men, that they “don't belong in my city.”  —  In the video that went viral, England police officer Michael Moore tells …

Donald Trump's Nightmare Isn't Robert Mueller  —  Judging from the unhinged tone of his tweets—which is nothing new, but still perhaps the best barometer of our 45th president's mood on any given day—Donald Trump is worried about his future.  He should be, as the Special Counsel investigation …

Kaine leads Stewart by 23 points in poll from VCU's Wilder school  —  Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., led GOP rival Corey Stewart by 23 percentage points in a July poll of likely voters released Wednesday.  —  Kaine had 49 percent to 26 percent for Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors …

Tesla board plans to meet with advisors next week to ramp up going-private talks, likely to ask Musk to recuse himself from process  — The Tesla board is taking Elon Musk's offer to take the company private at $420-per-share seriously and may tell Musk to recuse himself, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Demography of the Alt-Right … Divorce does seem to increase the likelihood a respondent will believe whites suffer discrimination and the likelihood that a white person will agree with all three of the basic premises of white identity politics.  —  Higher incomes are associated …

In leaked audio, Devin Nunes makes strong case for Democratic Congress  —  Last night, Rachel Maddow reported on leaked audio of Rep. Devin Nunes, who is perhaps President Trump's staunchest bodyguard against accountability on Capitol Hill, in which he candidly revealed that Republicans hope …

Florida House candidate caught on video stealing rival's fliers  —  ST. PETE BEACH — The tussle between two Republicans vying for a chance to capture the House District 69 seat has taken an unpleasant turn.  —  Raymond Blacklidge filed a report with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office …

Hope Hicks getting sucked back into Trump's orbit  —  Hope Hicks had no intention of traveling on Air Force One when she arrived at President Donald Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club to hang out with White House friends including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

Dismantling Republican Faux-Patriotism  —  One of the more common tropes in modern American politics is the claim that the Republican Party has a monopoly on patriotism.  —  A flag flying in front of a home or a “Support Our Troops” bumper sticker is often assumed to signify the right-wing political affiliation of its owner.

Ruble Tumbles as U.S. Sets Out New Sanctions on Russia  —  MOSCOW — Russia's currency fell on Thursday to its lowest dollar value in nearly two years, jarred by new American sanctions imposed in response to a nerve-agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain.

Rudy's Mueller demand: No questions on Flynn, Comey  —  With his constant commentating and public negotiating, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani is setting up unmeetable expectations for special counsel Robert Mueller — a kind of insurance policy with the president's base.