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As Trump's defense pick withdraws, he addresses violent domestic incidents — In the months that he has served as President Trump's acting secretary of defense, Patrick Shanahan has worked to keep domestic violence incidents within his family private. His wife was arrested after punching him in the face …
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FBI examining 2010 domestic fight involving acting defense secretary Shanahan; accounts differ on aggressor — Before he worked at the Pentagon, Patrick Shanahan spent over 30 years at Boeing. Now, he's the new acting secretary of defense. — CONNECT — WASHINGTON — The FBI …
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ThinkProgress, Vox, ABC News, Politico, OpenSecrets.org, TheBlaze, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, VICE, Financial Times, USNI News, Shareblue Media, Shakesville, American Military News, NPR, UPI, Political Wire, Newser, Yahoo News, New York Post and Splinter


Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan steps down, withdraws from Cabinet consideration — Shanahan, Trump said, “has decided not to go forward with his confirmation process so that he can devote more time to his family.” — Patrick Shanahan, the acting secretary of defense …
Discussion:
Breitbart, Townhall, Task & Purpose and The Daily Beast

Trump announces acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan will step down
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Politico, Wall Street Journal, Breaking Defense and New Republic


Our endorsement for president in 2020: Not Donald Trump | Editorial … Donald Trump is in Orlando to announce the kickoff of his re-election campaign. — We're here to announce our endorsement for president in 2020, or, at least, who we're not endorsing: Donald Trump.
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Vox, USA Today, Fox News, Politico, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, POLITICUSUSA, CNN, Big League Politics, Newser, CNBC, ABC News, Shareblue Media, Washington Times, UPI, Roll Call, Mediaite and Slate, more at Mediagazer »
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The Orlando Sentinel just issued an unprecedented 2020 endorsement ahead of Trump's kickoff rally
Discussion:
Politico and POLITICUSUSA

Inside Donald Trump's Florida obsession
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Orlando Sentinel, Shareblue Media, 10NEWS and LifeNews.com


Trump Plans to Live-Tweet Democratic Debate — President Trump's political advisers wanted to keep the president off of Twitter during the Democratic debates next week, arguing that there was an advantage in letting potential challengers attack one another without distraction. — Now, there's a new strategy.
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Biden/Sanders, Warren/O'Rourke to be center stage at first debate — The candidates with the highest polling averages will stand side-by-side at the NBC-sponsored face-off on June 26 and 27. — When the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates take the debate stage in downtown Miami next week …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Political Wire


The stage is set for the first Democratic debate. Here's a primer on Night 1 and 2.
Discussion:
New York Times

NEW SURVEY: Battleground States Up for Grabs
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Breitbart, Daily Wire, Washington Times and Axios


Exclusive: President Trump Calls Alleged Iranian Attack on Oil Tankers ‘Very Minor’ — Facing twin challenges in the Persian Gulf, President Donald Trump said in an interview with TIME Monday that he might take military action to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon …
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Don't Blame Trump for Iran's Aggression
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New York Sun and The American Conservative

Trump prepares to bypass Congress to take on Iran
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Fortune, Common Dreams, LobeLog, ABC News, Outside the Beltway, CBS News, No More Mister Nice Blog and CNN

Pentagon sending 1,000 more troops as tensions with Iran grow
Discussion:
Politico, New York Post and Talking Points Memo


“Crickets. They're Gone”: Why the Mercers, Trump's Biggest 2016 Backers, Have Bailed on Him — Robert Mercer is disillusioned. “Bob views all his political spending as a bad investment,” says a source close to Mercer. “This whole thing did not end up well for them,” says Sam Nunberg.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo


First on CNN: Controversial political appointee expected to be named Customs and Border Protection press secretary — Washington (CNN)Katharine Gorka, a political appointee at the Department of Homeland Security who has stirred controversy for her views on terrorism and her role …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo


Trump vows mass immigration arrests, removals of ‘millions of illegal aliens’ starting next week — President Trump said in a tweet Monday night that U.S. immigration agents are planning to make mass arrests starting “next week,” an apparent reference to a plan in preparation for months …
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Exclusive: Pompeo blocks inclusion of Saudis on U.S. child soldiers list - sources — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blocked the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on a U.S. list of countries that recruit child soldiers, dismissing his experts' findings that a Saudi-led coalition …
Discussion:
The American Conservative


White House Explored Legality of Demoting Fed Chairman Powell — White House counsel came to closely held conclusion on Powell — Fed spokeswoman says chairman can only be removed ‘for cause’ — The White House explored the legality of demoting Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in February …
Discussion:
Axios, One America News Network, Political Wire and The Guardian


Cities Start to Question an American Ideal: A House With a Yard on Every Lot — Townhomes, duplexes and apartments are effectively banned in many neighborhoods. Now some communities regret it. — Single-family zoning is practically gospel in America, embraced by homeowners and local governments …
Discussion:
Reason


'This Isn't a Game': Four Women Sue Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill for Sexual Harassment — The statehouse staffers say they want their alleged harasser to be held accountable after investigations found their claims to be ‘credible’ but went no further.
Discussion:
South Bend Tribune, Talking Points Memo and ThinkProgress


Boaty McBoatface makes major climate change discovery on maiden outing — Boaty McBoatface's maiden outing has made a major discovery about how climate change is causing rising sea levels. Scientists say that data collected from the yellow submarines's first expedition will help them build …


Democrats can turn immigration into a total loser for Donald Trump in 2020 — if they dare — Trump obsesses about immigration so voters will blame ‘the other’ while he enriches his friends. This is racism in the service of plutocracy. — CONNECT — When President Donald Trump kicks off …


McConnell's blockade of House legislation is about to face its toughest test — McConnell has been the immovable object: He's frustrated House Democrats by systematically blocking Senate votes so far on the lengthening list of bills they have passed, from gun control to additional protections …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
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Newtown parents score a win in growing fight against hoaxers — HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The father of a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre has won a defamation lawsuit against the authors of a book that claimed the shooting never happened — the latest victory for victims' relatives …


GOP senator ‘not sure why we need to’ protect our elections — Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) doesn't think it's a big deal that Trump admitted he'd collude with foreign governments in 2020. — Trump openly admitted just a few days ago that he'd illegally collude with foreign governments to win reelection in 2020.


Tony Robbins Punishes Followers By Making Them Drink Unidentified Brown Liquid “Designed To Have A Lasting Effect” — At high-pressure seminars, the self-help superstar punishes people who don't measure up by feeding them a “gross shot” of unidentified brown liquid. His lawyers denied the mixture contains laxatives.


Billionaire GOP donor and Trump supporter says he rejected Joe Biden's request for fundraising help in 2020 — KEY POINTS — Democratic front runner Joe Biden on Monday appealed to a billionaire Republican donor for fundraising help in his presidential campaign.
Discussion:
New York Post


Is the Religious Right Privileged? — The history of race and religion under liberalism is a tangle, not just a morality play. — Fair warning: This will be an entire column about a single paragraph. — The paragraph's author is Adam Serwer, a writer for The Atlantic …
Discussion:
alicublog and Washington Monthly


$1 billion for 20,000 Bay Area homes — As we work to build a more helpful Google, we know our responsibility to help starts at home. For us, that means being a good neighbor in the place where it all began over 20 years ago: the San Francisco Bay Area. — Today, Google is one of the Bay Area's largest employers.
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TechCrunch, Curbed SF, Bloomberg, CNBC, Mashable, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Verge, NPR, Mercury News, Engadget, San José Spotlight and ABC7, more at Techmeme »


Democratic Voters Don't Actually Understand ‘Medicare For All,’ New Report Says — They have some pretty important misconceptions, though the political implications aren't clear. — A new poll about “Medicare for All” should make you think twice before trusting polls on Medicare for All.
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The Henry J. Kaiser …, Bloomberg, Washington Post, CNN and Navigator


How 7.4 Tons of Venezuela's Gold Landed in Africa—and Vanished — Secret deliveries to a refinery in Uganda expose a global underground economy many suspect is helping Nicolás Maduro cling to power — ENTEBBE, Uganda—The government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is selling off his country's gold reserves.


A Top Immigration Official Appears To Be Warning Asylum Officers About Border Screenings — The newly appointed leader of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ken Cuccinelli, sent an email to staffers Tuesday in which he appeared to push asylum officers to stop allowing …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo


U.S. Women's Soccer Games Outearned Men's Games — The 2015 World Cup title was a catalyst to boost women's game revenues, which in recent years exceeded the men's — PARIS—In the three years after the U.S. women's soccer team won the 2015 World Cup, U.S. women's games generated …


Democrats can both impeach Trump and win 2020 | Opinion — By now, we are well past debating whether Donald Trump deserves to be impeached. His latest argument that he would again accept help from a foreign government to win in 2020 serves as a coda to the first half of the Mueller report …
Discussion:
Big League Politics


An Alaska teen is accused of killing her friend after a man she met online said he'd pay $9 million for videos of the murder — (CNN)Denali Brehmer began planning how to kill her “best friend” after a man she met online said he would pay her several million dollars for evidence of the killing, Alaska authorities say.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller


Dems to grill Hope Hicks on alleged Trump obstruction — House Democrats intend to question former White House communications director Hope Hicks on Wednesday about five specific incidents that special counsel Robert Mueller detailed as part of his investigation into whether President Donald Trump tried …


Bolton moves to promote loyalists at the National Security Council — Staff changes are coming to the National Security Council this summer as national security adviser John Bolton elevates some of the senior officials he brought on and bids farewell to some of the people he inherited from his predecessor.


John Cusack slammed for antisemitic retweet — After initial defense, actor deletes image and apologizes. — Actor John Cusack was widely criticized on Monday after tweeting an antisemitic image. — The actor - best known for Say Anything..., Being John Malkovich and High Fidelity …
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NB Blog, Israellycool, Algemeiner.com and Newser