Top Items:
Ben Dooley / New York Times:
‘Flying Object’ Struck Tanker in Gulf of Oman, Operator Says, Not a Mine — TOKYO — One of the tankers that were attacked in the Gulf of Oman was struck by a flying object, the ship's Japanese operator said on Friday, disputing at least part of the account of United States officials who had blamed Iran for the attack.
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Trita Parsi / NBC News:
Trump blames Iran for the tanker attacks. But let's be skeptical of his administration's pro-war bluster. — The speed in which the U.S. government officially blamed Iran should give us pause, given our own history in the region. — The Trump administration was quick to point fingers …
Discussion:
New York Times, Defense One, NPR and Washington Post
Bret Stephens / New York Times:
The Pirates of Tehran — If Iran won't change its behavior, we should sink its navy. — On April 14, 1988, the U.S.S. Samuel B. Roberts, a frigate, hit an Iranian naval mine while sailing in the Persian Gulf. The explosion injured 10 of her crew and nearly sank the ship.
Discussion:
Chicago Boyz
Barbie Latza Nadeau / The Daily Beast:
Japanese Tanker Owner Says U.S. Is Wrong About Gulf Attack — Yutaka Katada, the owner of one of the stricken fuel tankers crippled in explosions in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, says the U.S. is wrong about the way the attack was carried out. Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo on Friday …
Discussion:
Slate, The Daily Beast, Washington Press, Shakesville, CNN, Bloomberg, American Military News and Patterico's Pontifications
Elliot Hannon / Slate:
Pentagon Releases Footage Appearing to Show Iran Removing Unexploded Mine From Tanker After Alleged Attack
Pentagon Releases Footage Appearing to Show Iran Removing Unexploded Mine From Tanker After Alleged Attack
Discussion:
Roll Call, Associated Press and CBS News
Zogby Analytics:
The Zogby Poll®: Biden has big leads in key battleground states; Sanders in distant second, while Warren makes gains in OH, WI, SC, and AZ … Zogby Analytics® conducted online surveys of likely Democratic primary voters in seven battleground states - Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.
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Dartunorro Clark / NBC News:
NBC announces lineup of Democrats for each of the two nights for first 2020 debate — To decide the match-ups, candidates' names were drawn manually at NBC News' headquarters in New York. — NBC News on Friday announced the lineups of Democratic presidential candidates who are appearing …
Discussion:
CNN, BuzzFeed News, Breitbart, KTVQ-TV, Vanity Fair, Patterico's Pontifications, ABC News, Townhall, Denver Post and Shakesville
New York Times:
The Democratic Debate Lineups Are Set. Here's What to Expect. — The first night will be Elizabeth Warren's to lose, while the second will be a four-way showdown between the rest of the top-tier candidates. — WASHINGTON — Two nights, four hours, so, so many candidates …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Nation, Daily Wire, Outside the Beltway, MinnPost, twitchy.com, CNN, Daily Kos and KBAO-TV
Gideon Resnick / The Daily Beast:
Here's Who Will and Won't Get to Face Joe Biden in the First 2020 Democratic Debate
Here's Who Will and Won't Get to Face Joe Biden in the First 2020 Democratic Debate
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
4 early takeaways from the Democratic debate lineups
4 early takeaways from the Democratic debate lineups
Discussion:
Associated Press and FiveThirtyEight
Katherine Faulders / ABC News:
President Trump's internal polling data from March showed him far behind Joe Biden in key battleground states — Data from President Donald Trump's first internal reelection campaign poll conducted in March, obtained exclusively by ABC News, showed him losing a matchup by wide margins …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Orlando Weekly, Fox News and The Week
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Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Trump's internal poll numbers are out. And both they and his team's response paint a bleak picture.
Trump's internal poll numbers are out. And both they and his team's response paint a bleak picture.
Discussion:
ABC News, No More Mister Nice Blog, Joe.My.God. and ThinkProgress
Todd Spangler / Detroit Free Press:
Donald Trump trails Joe Biden by double digits in new statewide Michigan poll
Donald Trump trails Joe Biden by double digits in new statewide Michigan poll
Discussion:
Breitbart, Joe.My.God., PJ Media Home, Mediaite, Fox News and LGBTQ Nation
HuffPost:
Sara Gideon, Maine's Democratic House Speaker, To Run Against Senator Susan Collins — The GOP senator faces intense backlash from state Democrats and abortion rights activists over her vote for Brett Kavanaugh. — Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon, a Democrat, is expected to formally announce …
Discussion:
Press Herald
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Sarah Sanders was the disdainful Queen of Gaslighting — When Sarah Sanders said Thursday that she hopes to be remembered for her transparency and honesty, the first impulse was to laugh. — But lying to citizens while being paid by them really isn't all that funny.
Discussion:
Guacamoley and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »
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Annie Karni / New York Times:
White House Considers Restoring the Daily Briefing for the Next Press Secretary
White House Considers Restoring the Daily Briefing for the Next Press Secretary
Discussion:
Wonkette, On Point, Slate and Outside the Beltway
Alan Rappeport / New York Times:
See a Design of the Harriet Tubman $20 Bill That Mnuchin Delayed — WASHINGTON — Extensive work was well underway on a new $20 bill bearing the image of Harriet Tubman when Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced last month that the design of the note would be delayed for technical reasons …
Discussion:
Mercury News, Daily Kos, Splinter, Summit News, The Week, Mother Jones, KTVQ-TV and Talking Points Memo
Bloomberg:
Ivanka Trump Made $4 Million From President's D.C. Hotel — Husband Jared Kushner had at least $27 million in debt — Former adviser Cohn paid for Mulvaney's golf tournament fees — Ivanka Trump made $4 million from her investment in her father's Washington hotel last year …
Discussion:
Vanity Fair, VICE News, Joe.My.God., Hullabaloo, Mediaite, Shareblue Media, Daily Kos and Axios
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Rashaan Ayesh / Axios:
Justice Department backs Treasury on blocking Trump tax returns — The Department of Justice is backing the Department of Treasury's decision to not release President Trump's tax returns to Congress. — Why it matters: The DOJ is asserting the request for Trump's tax returns serves no …
Discussion:
Politico and One America News Network
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Alex Pappas / Fox News:
DOJ defends Mnuchin's refusal to hand over Trump's tax returns
DOJ defends Mnuchin's refusal to hand over Trump's tax returns
Discussion:
New York Times, Joe.My.God. and Big League Politics
Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:
ABC Stations Helped Trump Build a Campaign Email List on His Birthday — Some of the network's largest affiliates promoted on their websites a ‘birthday card’ for President Trump that is really just a list-building campaign. It's since been removed. — On Friday morning …
Discussion:
TVNewser, Media Matters for America, Politico, Palm Beach Post and abc7NY, more at Mediagazer »
Chauncey DeVega / Salon:
Yale psychiatrist Bandy Lee: Trump's mental health is now a “national and global emergency” — Dr. Bandy Lee convened experts to study the Mueller report. They conclude that Trump “can no longer see reality” — Robert Mueller's report is 448 pages long and took almost two years to complete.
Bloomberg:
BuzzFeed Staff Plan to Walk Out in Push to Get Union Recognized — Employees agreed to unionize in February after job cuts — Vox Media staff walkout earlier this month led to labor deal — BuzzFeed News employees are planning to stage a walkout Monday, according to people familiar …
Newsweek:
We know the real Donald Trump. America needs four more years | Opinion — No President in history has taken a bigger financial hit by occupying the Oval Office than Donald J. Trump. — The cost to him personally, and to his company in general, is astonishing and amounts to hundreds of millions …
Discussion:
twitchy.com
Maureen Groppe / Indianapolis Star:
Exclusive: Indiana Republican Susan Brooks will not seek re-election to Congress — WASHINGTON — Indiana Rep. Susan Brooks, one of only 13 Republican women in the House as well as the head of GOP recruitment for 2020, found someone she could not convince to run: herself.
Discussion:
USA Today, The Week, Townhall, UPI, Politico, Shareblue Media, ThinkProgress, Washington Times and Joe.My.God.
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Julia Arciga / The Daily Beast:
Alex Jones Offers $1M Reward After Alleged ‘Malware’ Attack That He Says Planted Child Porn on His Servers — The conspiracy theorist appeared to suggest someone tied to the Sandy Hook families framed him. “I am so sick of their filth and living off the dead kids of Sandy Hook,” he said.
Nikita Stewart / New York Times:
New York City Allocates $250,000 for Abortions, Challenging Conservative States — The money will go to a nonprofit fund that pays clinics for abortions performed on women who cannot pay, a third of whom live outside New York. — New York City will spend $250,000 to help poor women …
Discussion:
Axios, LifeNews.com, New York Post and WPIX 11 New York
Peter Jamison / Washington Post:
Trump still owes D.C. $7 million in inauguration costs as he plans July Fourth gala — President Trump's speech at the Lincoln Memorial on the Fourth of July is expected to drive up security costs for an annual event that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the nation's capital.
Discussion:
The Root, CNN, Daily Kos, Washington Times, Joe.My.God. and The Guardian
Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:
The Illiberal Right Throws a Tantrum — By the tail end of the Obama administration, the culture war seemed lost. The religious right sued for détente, having been swept up in one of the most rapid cultural shifts in generations. Gone were the decades of being able to count …
Discussion:
Reason, Eschaton and Acton Institute PowerBlog
Reveal:
Inside hate groups on Facebook, police officers trade racist memes, conspiracy theories and Islamophobia — Hundreds of active-duty and retired law enforcement officers from across the United States are members of Confederate, anti-Islam, misogynistic or anti-government militia groups on Facebook, a Reveal investigation has found.
Discussion:
Boing Boing, The Verge and Gizmodo
New York Times:
The Youngest Known Child Separated From His Family by the Trump Administration — Caitlin Dickerson is a Peabody award-winning national immigration reporter, who profiles the lives of immigrants, including those without legal status. Last year, Caitlin reported that the Trump administration …
Brandy Zadrozny / NBC News:
Fake science led a mom to feed bleach to her autistic sons — and police did nothing to stop her — A Kansas mother has posted videos about giving chlorine dioxide, which amounts to industrial bleach, to her sons. Authorities declined to intervene. — Laurel Austin documented her son Jeremy's …
Discussion:
The Stranger and Gizmodo
KCRW 89.9FM:
Early days in Iowa — Listen 50 min MORE — Joe Biden went back to Iowa for the first time in weeks and got into a very public fight with President Trump. Biden leads the polls there, but is his lead secure? And what's behind Elizabeth Warren's surge in the polls nationally and in Iowa?
Bloomberg:
Trump Delayed Pence's Tiananmen Square Speech in Hopes of Landing Xi Meeting — Administration debating how tough rescheduled speech should be — Trump says 'it doesn't matter' if he gets meeting with Xi — Vice President Mike Pence was set to deliver a speech criticizing China's …
Hub:
Vali Nasr to step down as dean of Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies … Hub staff report — Vali Nasr, a highly respected foreign policy expert, scholar, and adviser who has led Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies for the past seven years …