Top Items:
Jennifer E. Duffy / The Cook Political Report:
Senate: 11 Days Out; NJ Moves to Toss Up — With November 6 just 11 days away, it seems that the overall Senate playing field won't change much, although it appears that some of the races in Toss Up are getting even tighter, if that's possible. — That said, it is getting more difficult to see a path to the majority for Democrats.
Discussion:
Axios
NBC News:
New questions raised about Avenatti claims regarding Kavanaugh — “I do not like that he twisted my words,” one woman says of lawyer Michael Avenatti. — When Sen. Chuck Grassley referred attorney Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the Justice Department for criminal investigation Thursday …
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Molly Ball / TIME:
Why Michael Avenatti Thinks Only a White Man Can Beat Trump
Why Michael Avenatti Thinks Only a White Man Can Beat Trump
Discussion:
RedState, National Review, The Daily Caller, Sputnik International, RT, TheBlaze, Politico, Breitbart, Spectator USA, New Republic, Hit & Run and The Week
Tal Kopan / San Francisco Chronicle:
Trump administration considers travel ban-like order for Mexican border — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is considering an executive action that could use travel ban-like authority to block certain asylum seekers at the Mexican border, sources familiar with the discussions said Thursday.
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New York Times:
Trump Considers Closing Southern Border to Migrants
Trump Considers Closing Southern Border to Migrants
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA, Breitbart, Raw Story, The Week, Texas Monthly, Splinter, Politico, Washington Post, Joe.My.God. and Althouse
Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
White House weighs executive actions to block migrant caravan at the border
White House weighs executive actions to block migrant caravan at the border
Discussion:
ABC News, Talking Points Memo, HuffPost, Power Line, LifeZette, Boing Boing and wabe.org
David J. Lynch / Washington Post:
U.S. economy grew at annual rate of 3.5 percent in 2018's third quarter — The U.S. economy slowed in the third quarter to a still-strong 3.5 percent annual growth rate, the Commerce Department said in its final assessment of economic health before the November congressional elections.
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Bloomberg:
U.S. GDP Grows Above-Forecast 3.5% on Consumption, Inventories — Nonresidential business investment rises least since 2016 — Boost from inventories more than offsets drag from trade — The U.S. economy expanded at a 3.5 percent pace in the third quarter as consumers opened their wallets …
Priya Mathew / Washington Post:
Newt Gingrich: 'We'll see whether or not the Kavanaugh fight was worth it' — Megyn Kelly's rocky two years at NBC — Saudi Arabia concedes Khashoggi's murder was premeditated — Numerous pipe bombs sent to prominent critics of President Trump — CNN's New York offices evacuated after reports of a suspicious device
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, CNN, HuffPost, Hullabaloo and New Republic
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
F-Bombs and Real Bombs — Our problem isn't “incivility.” It's right-wing violence. — On Wednesday night, after bombs were sent to a number of Donald Trump's most prominent enemies, he held a rally in Mosinee, Wis. A president with even a pretense to statesmanship would have canceled it …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
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Kevin Roose / New York Times:
‘False Flag’ Theory on Pipe Bombs Zooms From Right-Wing Fringe to Mainstream
‘False Flag’ Theory on Pipe Bombs Zooms From Right-Wing Fringe to Mainstream
Discussion:
CNN, HuffPost, Vox and BuzzFeed News
Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Vladimir Putin invited to Washington in early 2019: John Bolton — Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to visit Washington, D.C. in early 2019, according to President Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton. — Bolton, who spoke at a press conference in Georgia Friday morning …
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Margarita Antidze / Reuters:
Trump advisor Bolton says U.S. has invited Putin to Washington
Trump advisor Bolton says U.S. has invited Putin to Washington
Discussion:
The Week
Lee Smith / RealClearInvestigations:
DOJ Ties a Trump FISA Release to Obstruction — In court filings last week the Department of Justice deployed what could be the nuclear option in its latest effort to prevent President Trump from declassifying information regarding FISA warrants used to spy on his campaign aide Carter Page …
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Trump fears Florida wipeout — The president is mounting an 11th-hour effort to head off high-profile losses for governor and Senate in his adopted home state. — The White House is planning a political rescue mission in Florida, fearing a wipeout in a key swing state next month …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and Florida Politics
Robert Moore / KVIA-TV:
Record early voting in El Paso driven by young, irregular voters — EL PASO, Texas - El Paso is shattering early voting records this year because infrequent voters are flocking to the polls, analysis of county election data shows. Younger voters are also coming out in much larger numbers than in previous midterm elections.
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Ross Ramsey / The Texas Tribune:
Ted Cruz leads Beto O'Rourke by 6 in Texas Senate race, UT/TT poll finds
Ted Cruz leads Beto O'Rourke by 6 in Texas Senate race, UT/TT poll finds
Discussion:
Joe.My.God. and The Week
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Why was MBS so afraid of Jamal Khashoggi? — Why was Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman so afraid of Jamal Khashoggi that he reportedly gave orders this past summer to bring the Post contributing columnist back to Saudi Arabia? — We'll still be left with that question after the Saudi …
Discussion:
LewRockwell, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Declan Walsh / New York Times:
The Tragedy of Saudi Arabia's War … Declan Walsh and Tyler Hicks reported from Hajjah and other areas of northern Yemen this month. Our editors explain why The Times has decided to publish such unsettling images. — CHEST HEAVING AND EYES FLUTTERING, the 3-year-old boy lay silently …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
Kirsten Powers / USA Today:
Megyn Kelly was making racist comments long before ‘blackface.’ NBC hired her anyway. — Megyn Kelly is reportedly on her way out of the Today Show and maybe NBC. Her past racial demagoguery should have disqualified her in the first place. — CONNECT — “Megyn Kelly said something really racist …
Discussion:
The Atlantic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air, NPR, Daily Mail, HuffPost, Mediaite and TransGriot, more at Mediagazer »
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Matt Lewis / The Daily Beast:
Let's Be Honest: The Rage Is Partly the Media's Fault — Is Trump irresponsible? Of course he is. But he's not the only one. It's not Trump who programs and hypes all these crazy media frenzies. — Matt Lewis By Matt Lewis — In the wake of being targeted by mail bomb attempts …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, KRTV-TV and Daily Wire
Mikhail Gorbachev / New York Times:
A New Nuclear Arms Race Has Begun — President Trump says he plans to withdraw from a nonproliferation treaty that I signed with Ronald Reagan. It's just the latest victim in the militarization of world affairs. — Mr. Gorbachev is the former president of the Soviet Union.
Discussion:
Common Dreams, Raw Story and Lawfare
Catie Keck / Gizmodo:
Stop Using Blowtorches to Kill Spiders in Your House — While this should seemingly go without saying, it turns out that “kill it with fire” is not a great idea when it comes to ridding your home of pests. Nonetheless, there is no shortage of failed cases of people attempting to kill spiders …
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, AOL and Mashable
Anadolu Ajansı Güncel Haberler:
Defaming Prophet Muhammed not free expression: ECHR — Such defamation could stir up prejudice and risk religious peace, says European Court of Human Rights — STRASBOURG — Defaming the Prophet Muhammed “goes beyond the permissible limits of an objective debate” and …
Roxana Hegeman / Associated Press:
New voters get notices listing wrong Dodge City polling site — WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — After moving Dodge City's sole polling site outside city limits, county election officials sent newly registered voters an official certificate of registration that listed the wrong place to cast a ballot …
Louisa Loveluck / Washington Post:
Japanese reporter returns home after three-year ‘hell’ in Syrian militant custody — BEIRUT — A Japanese journalist held hostage for more than three years in Syria returned home Thursday, ending an ordeal that he described as a personal “hell.” — Jumpei Yasuda, 44, was kidnapped …
Julia Marsh / New York Post:
Trump used charity money to buy his own portrait because no one else would: lawyers … Donald Trump had no choice but to blow $10,000 in charity money on a giant painting of himself — because no one else wanted it, his lawyers claimed in court Thursday. — Trump picked up the infamous painting …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Shareblue Media, Bloomberg, HuffPost, Washington Post and Raw Story
Justin Fox / Bloomberg:
Housing Is Tanking in the Northeast. Guess Why. — Losing big deductions for state and local property taxes is having the expected effect. — Sales of new single-family houses were down 13.2 percent in September from a year earlier, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.
New York Times:
Man Who Killed 2 at Kroger Tried to Enter Black Church Before Attack, Police Say — A gunman who killed two people at a Kroger supermarket in Jeffersontown, Ky., on Wednesday tried to enter a predominantly black church minutes before the attack, the police said on Thursday.
Discussion:
WDRB 41 Louisville News, KTVQ-TV, Raw Story and AOL
The Daily Beast:
D.C.-Based Russian Media Venture Boasts that Indicted Kremlin Operative Is Its CFO — USA Really, which has pledged to wage an ‘information war,’ claims that Elena Khusyaynova is a top executive. — When federal authorities allege a massive, foreign-government-backed campaign …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Scott Stedman:
Simona Mangiante has been reported to ICE, sources close to George Papadopoulos say — Simona Mangiante, the wife of convicted ex-Trump adviser George Papadopoulos, has been reported to federal immigration authorities by those close to Papadopoulos, per 2 sources with knowledge of the situation …
Kate Ashton / Reuters:
Eggs with benefits: Sydney's same-sex penguins become parents — SYDNEY (Reuters) - Two male penguins entrusted with the care of a fostered egg have welcomed a tiny sub-Antarctic Gentoo chick into the world, Sydney's Sea Life Aquarium said on Friday. — The pair, Magic and Sphen …
Scott Shuchart / Washington Post:
Careless cruelty — Civil servants said separating families was illegal. The administration ignored us. — The meeting was way overdue, and it wasn't going well. — It was May 21. The Department of Homeland Security, where I worked as a senior adviser in the Office for Civil Rights …
Caitlyn Jenner / Washington Post:
I thought Trump would help the LGBTQ community. I was wrong. — Caitlyn Jenner is a transgender rights advocate and author. — These past two years under President Trump have given me the opportunity to reflect on a lot of topics that have come up in the LGBTQ community and in our nation.
Discussion:
CNN, KTLA, Towleroad Gay News, PinkNews, Deadline, New York Times, AOL, Advocate, Joe.My.God., TMZ.com, The Week and Political Wire
John Avlon / CNN:
Here's how many times Trump attacked pipe bomb targets — Stelter: Trump on Twitter is a Fox News host — John Avlon is a CNN senior political analyst and anchor. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN. — (CNN)Words matter.
Discussion:
WPIX 11 New York, Business Insider and KTVQ-TV
Ronald Radosh / The Daily Beast:
Association With Extremist David Horowitz Catches Up With Ron DeSantis — Just about everything that Horowitz—whose group the would-be Senator says “tells the American people the truth”—has said in recent years is unbalanced or worse. — Ronald Radosh — Improbably, Florida's heated …
Discussion:
Breitbart
Michael Warren / Weekly Standard:
The Truth About Georgia's Voter-Registration Kerfuffle — The voter-suppression rap on Georgia's Brian Kemp is unfair. — Brian Kemp, the Republican candidate for governor of Georgia and two-term secretary of state, is a husband and father of three, his ads never fail to emphasize.