Top Items:
Nate Cohn / New York Times:
Trump's Electoral College Edge Could Grow in 2020, Rewarding Polarizing Campaign — Re-election looks plausible, with an even bigger loss in the national popular vote. — President Trump's approval ratings are under water in national polls. His position for re-election, on the other hand, might not be quite so bleak.
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David Wasserman / NBC News:
How Trump could lose by 5 million votes and still win in 2020 — Analysis: The nation's two most populous states, California and Texas, are at the heart of Democrats' geography problem. — In the wake of President Donald Trump's tweets suggesting several nonwhite progressive congresswomen …
Erin Banco / The Daily Beast:
George Nader, Witness in Mueller Probe, Hit With New Charges of Sex Trafficking — The key cooperator faces additional child-porn charges in a new indictment to be unsealed Friday. — George Nader, who was a key witness in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Axios, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite and Law & Crime
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Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Businessman who testified in Mueller probe indicted on child pornography charges
Businessman who testified in Mueller probe indicted on child pornography charges
Discussion:
Political Wire
Ted Hesson / Politico:
Trump officials pressing to slash refugee admissions to zero next year — The Trump administration is considering a virtual shutdown of refugee admissions next year — cutting the number to nearly zero — according to three people familiar with the plan. — During a key meeting …
Discussion:
CNN, ThinkProgress, Shareblue Media, Breitbart, KTLA, Niskanen Center, Common Dreams, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos and Splinter
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Weijia Jiang / CBS News:
Trump took heat from Melania and Ivanka over racist chants at rally — Washington — CBS News has learned President Trump took a lot of heat from his family over the racist chants at a campaign rally in North Carolina on Wednesday. He heard from first lady Melania Trump, his daughter Ivanka and Vice President Mike Pence.
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Des Bieler / Washington Post:
ESPN's Dan Le Batard rips President Trump, derides network's no-politics policy — “There's a racial division in this country that's being instigated by the president, and we here at ESPN haven't had the stomach for that fight.” — With those words, Dan Le Batard launched into an impassioned monologue Thursday.
Discussion:
NPR, Talking Points Memo, Deadspin, Breitbart, New York Post and The Daily Caller
Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
How the Ilhan Omar Marriage Smear Went From Fever Swamp to Trump — The curious journey of the unproven rumor that Omar married her brother to get him citizenship—from an obscure Somali diaspora forum to the president. — When Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that Rep. Ilhan Omar …
Alexi McCammond / Axios:
Scoop: John Delaney's staffers have asked him to drop out — On July 9, John Delaney's senior team sat him down and told him to drop out of the presidential race by mid-August, according to three sources close to the campaign. — Why it matters: He's been running for president for 721 days.
Discussion:
Vanity Fair, The Daily Caller, Splinter, The Week and Politico
Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Trump Can't Just Walk Away From ‘Send Her Back’ — There's a reason the president can't bring himself to condemn a bigoted chant. — Last Sunday, President Donald Trump suggested that four Democratic congresswomen of color, three of whom were born in the U.S., “go back” to their ancestors' countries.
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Cabot Phillips / Campus Reform:
VIDEO: Students say Obama immigration quote racist...when they think it's from Trump
VIDEO: Students say Obama immigration quote racist...when they think it's from Trump
Discussion:
Breitbart and Daily Wire
James Queally / Los Angeles Times:
LAPD informant infiltrated left-wing activists during Trump protests, records show — The Los Angeles Police Department ordered a confidential informant to monitor and record meetings held by a political group that staged protests against President Trump in 2017, a move that has drawn concern …
Jamie Ross / The Daily Beast:
Republican State Lawmaker: 'Owning Slaves Doesn't Make You Racist' — If you were writing a list of things that are and are not racist, slavery should probably be pretty close to the top of the “are” section. But not for a Republican state lawmaker from New Hampshire …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Fox News
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Gavrielle Jacobovitz / HuffPost:
New Hampshire Lawmaker: 'Owning Slaves Doesn't Make You Racist'
New Hampshire Lawmaker: 'Owning Slaves Doesn't Make You Racist'
Discussion:
USA Today, Slate and UnionLeader.com
Rafael Carranza / Arizona Republic:
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema pushes program to streamline removal of migrant families without valid asylum claims — TUCSON — Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is pushing for the implementation of a pilot program along the U.S.-Mexico border that aims to more quickly screen and remove migrant families without valid legal claims …
Discussion:
National Review and The Daily Caller
Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:
Labor fight roils Bernie Sanders campaign, as workers demand the $15 hourly pay the candidate has proposed for employees nationwide — Unionized campaign organizers working for Sen. Bernie Sanders's presidential effort are battling with its management, arguing that the compensation and treatment …
Jonathan Martin / New York Times:
Anxious Democratic Governors Urge 2020 Field Not to Veer Too Far Left — WASHINGTON — After claiming governorships from Republicans in seven states last year, including in crucial presidential battlegrounds like Wisconsin and Michigan, Democratic governors should have good reason to celebrate.
Discussion:
CNN, Politico, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller and Splinter
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
“I'm Winning”: Donald Trump's Calculated Racism — On Tuesday, President Trump convened his Cabinet in the White House. First to speak after a long, rambling, and inaccuracy-filled monologue by Trump himself was Ben Carson, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Congressional Republicans shame themselves with their silence on Trump's racism. — Days after President Donald Trump's racist declaration that four congresswomen of color — three of them American-born — should “go back” where they came from, the response from most members of the party of Lincoln continues to be ... nothing.
Discussion:
Shareblue Media
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VICE:
EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Are Pressuring Amazon to Sell Books on Gay Conversion Therapy — WASHINGTON — A group of House Republicans is urging their members to pressure Amazon to resume selling a set of controversial gay conversion therapy books, after the platform announced this month …
Discussion:
Metro Weekly and Queerty
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Defenders of a Racist President Use Jews as Human Shields — Trump's bigoted attack on four congresswomen of color has nothing to do with fighting anti-Semitism. — Sebastian Gorka, a onetime adviser to Donald Trump, wore a medal from the Vitezi Rend, a Hungarian group historically aligned with Nazism …
Discussion:
The Federalist
Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:
Trump's Base Isn't Enough — Buried beneath the blustery bravado of Donald Trump's openly racist attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of color were clear signs of electoral anxiety. — Trump insists he is producing great results for the country, especially on the economy.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
Ryan Maloney / HuffPost Canada:
Trudeau: ‘Send Her Back’ Chants At Trump Rally ‘Completely Unacceptable’ — European Council President Donald Tusk also said the remarks must be called out. — MONTREAL — European Council President Donald Tusk says he's happy that while he's been in Montreal, no one shouted “send him back.”
Discussion:
Bloomberg
Paulina Cachero / Yahoo:
Store clerk fired after telling customers to ‘go back to their country’ in viral video — In the midst of a national controversy about President Donald Trump's inflammatory tweets towards minority congresswomen, a store clerk at an Illinois convenience store has been fired after he was caught …
Discussion:
CNN and CBS Baltimore
Andrew Sullivan / New York Magazine:
Trump Is Betting That Indecency Can Win in America — In the deeply disturbing moments after Donald Trump invoked a three-minutes-of-hate session toward Congresswoman Ilhan Omar Wednesday night, and the crowd erupted with chants of “Send Her Back! Send Her Back!”, a protester yelled something inaudible, and caused a commotion.
Discussion:
The Intercept, The Week, Bloomberg and Summit News
Sam Stein / The Daily Beast:
Tulsi Gabbard Raised Negative $20 for Her House Campaign — The number raises questions about whether Gabbard will return to Congress should her presidential campaign come to an end. — As she runs for the Democratic nominee for president, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) also faces a primary challenge for her seat in the House.
Tucker Higgins / CNBC:
Pete Buttigieg hires former Goldman Sachs executive as national policy director — KEY POINTS — Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg has hired a former Goldman Sachs vice president and Google executive to run his policy shop, his campaign announced Thursday.
John Cassidy / New Yorker:
The Movement to Impeach Donald Trump Is Far from Over — On Wednesday afternoon, Representative Al Green, who since 2005 has represented Texas's Ninth Congressional District, stood on the floor of the House of Representatives and read from a resolution to impeach Donald Trump.
Discussion:
Bleeding Heartland, Politico, Bloomberg and Washington Examiner
Devoun Cetoute / Miami Herald:
Palm Beach sheriff opens internal affairs investigation into handling of Jeffrey Epstein — The Palm Beach Sheriff's Office has opened an internal affairs investigation into whether it properly handled the case of multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, the part-time Palm Beach resident accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls.
Discussion:
Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Washington Post
Stacy Cowley / New York Times:
Safe Deposit Boxes Aren't Safe — When Philip Poniz opened Box 105 at his local Wells Fargo, he discovered it was empty — and that he was totally unprotected by federal law. — In the early 1980s, when Philip Poniz moved to New Jersey from Colorado, he needed a well-protected place to stash his collection of rare watches.
Robin Opsahl / Des Moines Register:
Family Leader president endorses Steve King challenger in 4th District Republican primary — The president of The Family Leader, a prominent conservative Iowa organization, endorsed Rep. Steve King's primary opponent Thursday. — Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO for the evangelical group …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Politico
Jared Bernstein / Vox:
What economists have gotten wrong for decades — McDonald's restaurant employees rallied to demand a $15-per-hour wage in Los Angeles, California. For a long time, economists believed that the minimum wage would only hurt workers — a view that has since been debunked. David McNew/Getty Images
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Washington Examiner and Pacific Standard
U.S. Department of Justice:
American Citizen who became an ISIS Sniper and Trained Other ISIS Members in the Use of Weapons Charged with Providing Material Support to ISIS — Defendant Was Transferred to the United States from Custody of Syrian Democratic Forces — A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court …
U.S. Department of Justice:
Department Of Justice Announces the Release of 3,100 Inmates Under First Step Act, Publishes Risk And Needs Assessment System — The Department of Justice today announced three major developments related to the implementation of the First Step Act of 2018 (FSA):
Discussion:
The Federalist
Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
NBC News poll: Biden, Sanders and Warren lead 2020 field — The poll also shows President Donald Trump's approval rating has ticked upward in the past 10 months. — Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading the pack of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, with Sens. Bernie Sanders …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and twitchy.com
Joshua Eaton / ThinkProgress:
Catholics in Iowa went to church. Steve Bannon tracked their phones. — Steve Bannon and the conservative group CatholicVote used cell-phone location data for people who had been inside Roman Catholic churches in Dubuque, Iowa, in 2018 to target them with get-out-the-vote ads, ThinkProgress has learned.
Discussion:
The Verge
Jeffrey Young / HuffPost:
Biden Mimics GOP Fear-Mongering In His Attacks On ‘Medicare For All’ — “All the Medicare you have is gone,” the former vice president told an AARP audience of what would happen under a “Medicare for All” plan. — If some of former Vice President Joe Biden's talking points against “Medicare for All” sound familiar, they should.