Top Items:
Eliana Johnson / Politico:
Exclusive: Trump's FEMA administrator under investigation over use of official cars — FEMA administrator Brock Long is the target of an ongoing Department of Homeland Security inspector general investigation into whether he misused government vehicles during his commutes to North Carolina from Washington …
Discussion:
CNN, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire and Washington Post
RELATED:
Josh Dawsey / Washington Post:
‘Never give an inch’: Trump keeps touting perceived failures as successes — An estimated 3,000 people died after the devastating Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico last year. Large swaths of the island were without power for months. FEMA was short thousands of workers and underestimated …
Discussion:
ABC News, New York Times, The Atlantic, ThinkProgress, Mediaite and Vox
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
President Trump has made more than 5,000 false or misleading claims
President Trump has made more than 5,000 false or misleading claims
Discussion:
The Hill, FiveThirtyEight, Axios and Politico
Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:
Kavanaugh offers details on Nationals tickets purchases that led to debt — Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh on Wednesday described in detail how he regularly bought Washington Nationals tickets and split the cost with friends — purchases the White House has said led Kavanaugh …
Discussion:
Fox News, SCOTUSblog, Politico and Washington Examiner
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Ryan Grim / The Intercept:
Dianne Feinstein Withholding Brett Kavanaugh Document From Fellow Judiciary Committee Democrats — Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have privately requested to view a Brett Kavanaugh-related document in possession of the panel's top Democrat, Dianne Feinstein …
Discussion:
Common Dreams
Burgess Everett / Politico:
New emails show Kavanaugh's involvement in controversial nomination
New emails show Kavanaugh's involvement in controversial nomination
Discussion:
National Review
Politico:
GOP senators: No Sessions replacement could get confirmed — The possible axing of Jeff Sessions is giving Republican senators a migraine. — Senate Republicans are in a jam when it comes to Jeff Sessions. — While resigned to President Donald Trump firing the attorney general …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Outside the Beltway and Raw Story
RELATED:
John Santucci / ABC News:
Manafort seeking plea deal with special counsel that would avoid cooperation ahead of second trial: Sources
Manafort seeking plea deal with special counsel that would avoid cooperation ahead of second trial: Sources
Discussion:
emptywheel, CANNONFIRE, CNBC, AOL, Law & Crime, Raw Story and Political Wire
Politico:
The one thing Trump can't sell: A booming economy — White House aides and other top Republicans are giving up on their efforts to keep the president on message to rescue the GOP this fall. — In an alternate universe, President Donald Trump would be heading into the midterms relentlessly touting …
Discussion:
Washington Post and The Atlantic
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Jennifer Surane / Bloomberg:
Trump Says ‘Nervous Mess’ Dimon Lacks Smarts for Presidency
Trump Says ‘Nervous Mess’ Dimon Lacks Smarts for Presidency
Discussion:
Political Wire
Rebecca Morin / Politico:
Trump fires back at Dimon: He doesn't have the ‘smarts’ to be president
Trump fires back at Dimon: He doesn't have the ‘smarts’ to be president
Discussion:
Associated Press, Reuters and CNBC
Caitlin Dickerson / New York Times:
Detention of Migrant Children Has Skyrocketed to Highest Levels Ever … Household incomes increased in 2017, the Census Bureau said, returning to roughly the levels before the recession. — President Trump is planning to pay Mexico $20 million to deport unauthorized immigrants there.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, CNBC, Bustle, POLITICUSUSA, Rio Grande Guardian, Splinter, CBS San Francisco, CBS Chicago, New Republic, Axios and thenewcivilrightsmovement.com
Allum Bokhari / Breitbart:
LEAKED VIDEO: Google Leadership's Dismayed Reaction to Trump Election — A video recorded by Google shortly after the 2016 presidential election reveals an atmosphere of panic and dismay amongst the tech giant's leadership, coupled with a determination to thwart both the Trump agenda …
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
2018 Senate Forecast — FiveThirtyEight's predictions for the 2018 Senate elections
Discussion:
Washington Press, ABC News and Florida Politics
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Republicans Are Favorites In The Senate, But Democrats Have Two Paths To An Upset
Dana Blanton / Fox News:
Fox News Poll: Republican challenger ahead in North Dakota Senate race
Fox News Poll: Republican challenger ahead in North Dakota Senate race
Discussion:
Politico
E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Brett Kavanaugh — and Susan Collins — better watch these seeds of a grass-roots revolt — Exceptional dangers require exceptional and sometimes unusual responses. — This was the spirit animating the volunteers at a phone bank here Tuesday night. They were asking citizens to urge …
Discussion:
Common Dreams, HuffPost and Washington Free Beacon
RELATED:
Richard L. Hasen / Slate:
Susan Collins Complains of “Bribery” After Nonbillionaires Try to Influence Her Kavanaugh Vote
Susan Collins Complains of “Bribery” After Nonbillionaires Try to Influence Her Kavanaugh Vote
Discussion:
USA Today, Kennebec Journal …, The Daily Beast and Daily Kos
Brett Samuels / The Hill:
GOP senators condemn ‘vulgar’ messages directed at Collins over Kavanaugh
GOP senators condemn ‘vulgar’ messages directed at Collins over Kavanaugh
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Media Matters for America, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, IJR and Mashable
New York Post:
Mailer linking Nixon to anti-Semitism was approved by top Cuomo aides … The slimy mailer that sought to link Cynthia Nixon to anti-Semitism was drafted and approved by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's closest advisors, including former top aide Larry Schwartz, sources told The Post Wednesday.
Discussion:
NY State of Politics, The Daily Beast, Splinter, The Daily Caller, Gothamist, Washington Free Beacon and Boing Boing
RELATED:
Jesse McKinley / New York Times:
Former Cuomo Aide Drafted Language for Inflammatory Anti-Semitism Flier
Former Cuomo Aide Drafted Language for Inflammatory Anti-Semitism Flier
Discussion:
CNN and NY State of Politics
James B. Stewart / New York Times:
Threats and Deception: Why CBS's Board Turned Against Leslie Moonves — Why CBS's Board Turned Against Leslie Moonves … Top CBS News Producer Is Ousted After Misconduct Allegations … CRACKDOWN ON VAPING — Youth E-Cigarette Use Reaches ‘Epidemic Proportion,’ F.D.A. Finds
William Saletan / Slate:
The Weekly Standard's Kavanaugh Fact Check Was Correct — Can journalists on the right honestly fact-check journalists on the left? That question erupted this week in a fight over Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearings. The fight, as promised, has exposed media bias.
Discussion:
RedState, Vox, Washington Times, NewsBusters and New Republic
Ricochet:
Norm MacDonald, #MeToo, and the Fatal Flaw in the New Morality — Jon Gabriel, Ed. — Twitter is a cesspool. As if we needed more evidence, legendary comedian and acclaimed author Norm MacDonald was targeted for saying words to a reporter that a microscopic minority of humorless scolds didn't care for.
Discussion:
New York Post, Page Six, Washington Post, Vox, RedState and Instapundit, more at Mediagazer »
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
A newspaper diminished by cutbacks prepares to cover another monster storm — The last time a hurricane took direct aim at North Carolina, back in 1999, the Raleigh News & Observer mobilized most of the 250 people in its newsroom to cover the storm and its aftermath.
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Jason Samenow / Washington Post:
Hurricane Florence grows larger as it bears down on Carolinas with ‘life-threatening’ fury
Hurricane Florence grows larger as it bears down on Carolinas with ‘life-threatening’ fury
Discussion:
Common Dreams, FiveThirtyEight, Raw Story, Grist, CNN, CBS Chicago, Rewire.News, The Atlantic, HuffPost, Daily Kos, Vox and Washington Monthly
RT:
'We're not agents': UK's suspects in Skripal case talk exclusively with RT's editor-in-chief (VIDEO) — WATCH BELOW PARTS 1 & 2 OF THE INTERVIEW THE THIRD PART OF THE VIDEO TO FOLLOW SOON. — The two men reached out to RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, as they wanted to tell their story.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Politico, One America News Network, 444 and The Daily Beast
Andrea Drusch / Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
Meet the ‘new’ Texas Democrats fueling Beto O'Rourke's race — FORT WORTH — Beto O'Rourke is awakening a grassroots movement in Texas — one that's led by gray-haired, once-loyal Democrats who are aggressively working to end decades of their own political dormancy in Texas.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
RELATED:
Joseph Hudak / Rolling Stone:
Willie Nelson Will Headline a Rally for Beto O'Rourke
Yoni Appelbaum / The Atlantic:
Americans Aren't Practicing Democracy Anymore — democracy is a most unnatural act. People have no innate democratic instinct; we are not born yearning to set aside our own desires in favor of the majority's. Democracy is, instead, an acquired habit. — Like most habits …
CNN:
Mueller circles Roger Stone — Special counsel Robert Mueller appears to be zeroing in on Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump who briefly served on Trump's presidential campaign. So far, prosecutors have secured testimony from at least nine Stone associates, including some who were subpoenaed.
New York Times:
U.S. Plans to Pay Mexico to Deport Unauthorized Immigrants There — WASHINGTON — President Trump has promised for years that Mexico would pay for a vast border wall, a demand that country has steadfastly refused. Now, in the Trump administration's campaign to stop illegal immigration, the United States plans instead to pay Mexico.
David French / National Review:
Why I Changed the Way I Write about Police Shootings — Here's the truth: Most cops are good, and too many bad cops go free. — Yesterday I wrote a piece that's gone viral — an extended denunciation of a terrible police shooting in Texas. A white officer went to black man's apartment, apparently thinking it was her own.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute
Rachel Feintzeig / Wall Street Journal:
Tax Change Helps Executives Afford Pricier Planes — Jet sales soar as business owners take advantage of new tax write-off — The recent changes to the tax code are giving business executives a new perk: the opportunity to deduct the entirety of a corporate-jet purchase.
Discussion:
Political Wire and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
New York Times:
Rhode Island Primary Election Results — What to watch: Gov. Gina Raimondo faces a challenge in the Democratic primary from Matt Brown, a former Rhode Island secretary of state who has positioned himself to her left. Mr. Brown has collected support from an eclectic mix of activist groups …
Mike Allen / Axios:
Trump's historic gift to media — Aboard Air Force One recently, an aide was showing President Trump detailed data, complete with graphics and fine print. Usually the president prefers top lines and the big picture. This time, he was going deeper. The topic of the commander-in-chief's attention …
Bloomberg:
Betsy DeVos Loses Student Loan Lawsuit Brought by 19 States — Judge says department's postponment of rule was improper — Hearing on remedies in case scheduled for Friday in Washington — U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos lost a lawsuit brought by 19 states and the District of Columbia …
Sara Carter / Sara A. Carter:
Damning New Strzok Text to Page: “The Times is Angry With Us About the WP Scoop” — Strzok's latest text message seems to contradict what his attorney said earlier this week — A series of text messages released Wednesday reveal that former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok was in contact …
Discussion:
Power Line, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Washington Post and The Daily Signal
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Rand Paul ramps up his alliance with Trump — on some of his most controversial moves, going against the prevailing sentiment of the libertarian movement with which he and his father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), have long been identified. — Some of the most libertarian-leaning members of Congress, such as Sens. Jeff Flake
Discussion:
Political Wire
Niraj Chokshi / New York Times:
N.R.A. Show Puts Thomas the Tank Engine in K.K.K. Hood to Criticize Diversity Move — Even by the standards of today's political culture, it was a startling image: the talking trains from the children's television show “Thomas & Friends,” wearing Ku Klux Klan hoods.
Michael Finch / Sacramento Bee:
California's poverty rate is still the highest in the nation, despite state efforts — Newly released federal estimates show California's poverty rate remained the highest in the nation, despite a modest fall, and the state's falling uninsured rate slowed for the first time since before Medicaid expansion.
Discussion:
Washington Post and Florida Politics
Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:
U.S. Has Highest Share of Foreign-Born Since 1910, With More Coming From Asia — WASHINGTON — The foreign-born population in the United States has reached its highest share since 1910, according to government data released Thursday, and the new arrivals are more likely to come from Asia …