Top Items:
New York Times:
Hong Kong's Leader Is Set to Delay Extradition Bill Indefinitely — HONG KONG — On the defensive after days of huge street protests, Hong Kong's chief executive is preparing to indefinitely suspend her push to adopt a contentious extradition bill after consulting with her superiors in mainland China …
RELATED:
Politico:
Hong Kong extradition bill complicates an already tense US-China relationship — This story is being published as part of a content partnership with the South China Morning Post. It originally appeared on scmp.com on June 15, 2019. — The row between Beijing and Washington over Hong Kong …
Discussion:
South China Morning Post, One America News Network and Foreign Policy
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:
USA Today, Outside the Beltway, Chicago Boyz, Balloon Juice, LobeLog and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Cristina Maza / Newsweek:
Germany joins chorus casting doubt on Trump administration claim that Iran was behind attack on oil tankers — Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Friday cast doubt on evidence that the U.S. government claims is proof that Iran was behind an attack this week on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, CNBC, Reuters and Associated Press
Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:
Top Trump Census Official Communicated With GOP Operative About Citizenship Question — On May 30, the plaintiffs challenging the Trump administration's census citizenship question dropped a bombshell: A central portion of the Justice Department's rationale for the question was apparently written …
Discussion:
OpenSecrets.org
RELATED:
Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:
Even More Evidence Emerges Linking Deceased Consultant To Trump Census Push — Voting rights group say they have found even more evidence connecting a now-deceased GOP gerrymandering consultant to the Trump administration's push to add a citizenship question census.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress
New York Times:
U.S. Escalates Online Attacks on Russia's Power Grid — WASHINGTON — The United States is stepping up digital incursions into Russia's electric power grid in a warning to President Vladimir V. Putin and a demonstration of how the Trump administration is using new authorities to deploy cybertools …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, more at Techmeme »
Peter Baker / New York Times:
As Trump Accuses Iran, He Has One Problem: His Own Credibility — WASHINGTON — To President Trump, the question of culpability in the explosions that crippled two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman is no question at all. “It's probably got essentially Iran written all over it,” he declared on Friday.
Discussion:
Spectator USA, Reason and Newser
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Trump campaign zeroes in on a new threat: Elizabeth Warren — President Donald Trump's reelection machine is setting its sights on a new target, one it had left for dead just a few months ago: Elizabeth Warren. — With the Massachusetts senator rising in polls and driving a populist message …
Discussion:
Joe.My.God., No More Mister Nice Blog, The Week, National Review and The Daily Dot
RELATED:
Jonathan Greenberg / Washington Post:
Saving face — How Donald Trump silenced the people who could expose his business failures — How did Donald Trump, a self-serving promoter who lost billions of dollars for his investors, convince the world that he is a financial genius? It wasn't just by fabricating tales of his success.
Michael Balsamo / Associated Press:
Justice backs Mnuchin's refusal to turn over Trump's taxes — The Justice Department issued a legal opinion Friday finding that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was right to withhold President Donald Trump's tax returns from a House committee that subpoenaed them.
Discussion:
Press Herald
RELATED:
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, PJ Media Home, Big League Politics and The Daily Caller
Rashaan Ayesh / Axios:
Justice Department backs Treasury on blocking Trump tax returns
Justice Department backs Treasury on blocking Trump tax returns
Discussion:
Politico
NBC News:
Ivanka Trump made almost $4 million from Trump Washington hotel last year — The president's daughter is working as an unpaid adviser in the White House, but continuing to make millions from the family business. — Ivanka Trump pulled in almost $4 million in revenue last year from her stake …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Hullabaloo and Shareblue Media
RELATED:
Thomas Burr / Salt Lake Tribune:
Utah Rep. Chris Stewart says it would be ‘foolish’ for a candidate not to look at foreign intel against an opponent — Washington • Rep. Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said Friday that it would be “foolish” not to take information …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Roger Cohen / New York Times:
Richard Holbrooke and a Certain Idea of America — This is an Age of Pessimism. But America can still remake, redeem and rescue. — On July 6, 1939, a couple of months before the outbreak of World War II, a young Polish Jewish immigrant named Abraham Dan Golbraich went before a judge and changed his name to Dan A. Holbrooke.
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.
Discussion:
Conservative News Today and Joe.My.God.
Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:
Appeals Court Rebukes Brett Kavanaugh, Grants Abortion Access to Undocumented Minors — Justice Brett Kavanaugh's old court rebuked his anti-abortion jurisprudence on Friday, compelling the Trump administration to allow undocumented minors in federal custody to terminate their pregnancies.
Discussion:
CNN, Wall Street Journal and The Hill
RELATED:
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.
The Guardian:
UK rights advocate co-owns firm whose spyware is ‘used to target dissidents’ — Exclusive: Yana Peel co-owns NSO Group that licensed Pegasus software to authoritarian regimes — A leading human rights campaigner and head of a prestigious London art gallery is the co-owner …