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 …

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 …

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.

Michael Avenatti in Iowa: 'I'm exploring a run for the presidency of the United States'  —  Michael Avenatti, 2020?  Stormy Daniels' lawyer says he could be the latest unlikely candidate to throw his hat into the ring.  Nathan Rousseau Smith has more.  Buzz60  —  CONNECT  —  Michael Avenatti has arrived in Iowa.

Manafort trial Day 8: A heated exchange, judge admits fault, Airbnb enters the spotlight  —  The federal judge overseeing the Paul Manafort trial took another shot at special counsel Robert Mueller's team Thursday afternoon, even after conceding earlier in the day that a criticism he leveled at prosecutors on Wednesday was erroneous.

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.

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 …

The Outrage Over Sarah Jeong  —  Let he who is without a bad tweet cast the first stone.  —  In March, a liberal furor erupted when The Atlantic magazine briefly hired Kevin Williamson, a conservative writer with National Review.  Several years earlier, Williamson had written a short tweet …

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 …

After Being Destroyed, Trump's Walk of Fame Star Multiplies  —  A crew laminated vinyl stars and placed them on blank squares in Hollywood.  —  Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — destroyed on several occasions by detractors who sometimes wield a pick-ax …

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 …

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.

New Russia sanctions over poisoning of former spy, daughter  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — New sanctions against Russia will be imposed later this month for illegally using a chemical weapon in an attempted assassination of a former spy and his daughter in Britain earlier this year, the United States said.

Revealed: details of exclusive Russian deal offered to Arron Banks in Brexit run-up  —  Leaked document lays out for first time deal proposed to Leave.EU backer, sparking new questions over Moscow's role  —  The full details of Russia's gold deal offer to Arron Banks ahead of the EU referendum …

‘Hitler was right’: KC area winner of Missouri House primary leaves trail of bigotry  —  On his Monday morning radio show, Steve West promotes fanatical conspiracies about “Jewish cabals” that are “harvesting baby parts” through Planned Parenthood, that torture and molest children and that run the Republican Party.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …