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Rep. Will Hurd: It's time to serve my country in a different way — There are many reasons why I love America. I have learned over my three terms in Congress, by representing people that voted for me, didn't vote for me or didn't vote at all, that America is better than the sum of its parts.
Discussion:
Townhall, Shareblue Media, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, National Review, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, The Hill, The Texas Tribune, Media Matters for America, Splinter, Roll Call, Politico, Off the Kuff, Inside Elections, The Guardian, UPI, Fox News, The Independent, NPR, Breitbart, New York Post, Patterico's Pontifications, The Daily Caller and Balloon Juice
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Texas Rep. Hurd, lone black Republican in House, won't seek reelection — Rep. Will Hurd, the lone black Republican in the House and the rare GOP lawmaker to criticize President Trump at times, will not seek reelection, he told The Washington Post. — Hurd's retirement is the third …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Political Wire, DCCC, Axios, Daily Kos, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite, POLITICUSUSA, CNN, The Week and Politico

Will Hurd and the Hollowing Out of the Republican Party
Discussion:
Splinter and CBS Dallas


'We're All Tired of Being Called Racists' — CINCINNATI—Donald Trump's supporters would like to be clear: They are tired of being called racists. — Leave it to the president's eldest son to set the tone. Last night at the 17,500-person-capacity U.S. Bank Arena downtown here …
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China threatens retaliation for Trump's planned tariff hike
Discussion:
Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal


A key police official recommends NYPD terminate the officer accused of fatally choking Eric Garner, a source says — New York (CNN)New York Police Department Officer Daniel Pantaleo should be terminated following his controversial involvement in the death of Eric Garner …
Discussion:
WPIX 11 New York
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Detailed Maps of the Donors Powering the 2020 Democratic Campaigns — Candidates with the most individual donors — Darker shades on the map indicate a greater share of estimated donors. — 1. Sanders — 2. Warren — 3. Buttigieg 4. Harris — 5. Biden — 6. O'Rourke
Discussion:
Bring Me The News and Washington Post
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First on NBC: Klobuchar meets donor threshold, clinching spot in next Dem debate
Discussion:
Fortune and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Worst Democratic Strategy Yet: Attack Obama's Legacy
Discussion:
CNN and Washington Post


John Ratcliffe, Trump's pick to lead U.S. intelligence claims he arrested 300 illegal immigrants in a single day. He didn't. — President Trump's choice to lead the nation's intelligence community often cites a massive roundup of immigrant workers at poultry plants in 2008 as a highlight of his career.
Discussion:
The Crime Report


White House Asks for List of Top Spies During Intelligence Shakeup — It's unclear what the White House will do with the list. People on it may be eligible to temporarily lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. — The Trump administration is taking inventory …
Discussion:
GovExec.com and Washington Post


Why go to the trouble of running for president to promote ideas that can't work? — “I DON'T understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can't do and shouldn't fight for,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) …
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Top State Department adviser fired over ‘abusive’ management style — A senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was fired this week over what officials described as her “abusive” management style, including making homophobic remarks and accusing people of having affairs, according to two people.
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Donald Trump doubts Russian meddling in 2020 election, disputing Robert Mueller — Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential elections and helped Donald Trump win. We look back at history and ask: Will they do it again? — CONNECT — WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast
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Trump to sanction Russia over chemical weapons use
Discussion:
One America News Network, New York Times, The National Interest and Meduza.io


Trump's Encouraging QAnon May Result in Violence—Just ask the FBI — Newly revealed FBI memo warns about conspiracy theories' causal connection to extremist violence — On Thursday, Yahoo! News published an exclusive story detailing a May 2019 FBI assessment that online conspiracy theories …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Yahoo News, The Gateway Pundit and The Guardian


Saoirse Kennedy Hill, Granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, Dies After Overdose — BOSTON — A granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy died on Thursday afternoon after suffering an apparent overdose at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., according to two people close to the family.
Discussion:
Townhall, Refinery29, Rolling Stone, New York Post, BostonGlobe.com, Boston Herald, Slate, The Daily Beast, The Week, WTVR-TV, CarlHigbie.com, The Guardian, ABC News, The Gateway Pundit, The Crime Report, TMZ.com and RADAR


Erick Erickson, It's Time to Get Out of Pete Buttigieg's Bedroom — Erick Erickson seems creepily focused on Pete Buttigieg's sexuality, and alleged hypocrisy. He would do better to take on Buttigieg's message about Christian behavior and ethics. — Erick Erickson really doesn't like …
Discussion:
PinkNews


POLITICO Playbook: A gutting few weeks for the GOP — DRIVING THE DAY — IF YOU ARE A HOUSE REPUBLICAN, this has been an absolutely gutting few weeks. And, truly, if someone is trying to spin you on how the political picture is not that bad for the House GOP right now — at this moment …


July was Earth's hottest month on record, beating or tying July 2016 — A sizzling Europe and warm Arctic helped propel the global average temperature to new heights. — July was Earth's hottest month ever recorded, “on a par with, and possibly marginally higher” than the previous warmest month …
Discussion:
Earther


Booker's claim that Democrats lost Michigan because of Russian and GOP suppression — “We lost the state of Michigan because everybody from Republicans to Russians were targeting the suppression of African American voters.” — These remarks jumped out at us during the second night of the debate …
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon
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‘Stay away from Barack’: Dems seethe over criticism of Obama
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Splinter, BizPac Review, PJ Media Home, USA Today, CBS News, Breitbart and Townhall


VIDEO: Punches thrown outside Trump rally in Cincinnati — Inside the rally, President Donald Trump slammed Democrats before crowd of thousands — CINCINNATI (FOX19) - President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence made their case for re-election before a crowd of thousands at U.S. Bank Arena Downtown Thursday night.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, VICE and First Draft


At rally, Trump seethes with elite contempt for Real Americans — The candidate for president was seething with disdain for a large swath of Real Americans. The candidate scoffed at their suffering. The candidate oozed with haughty superciliousness as he wrote off all those Americans as unworthy of concern or outreach.
Discussion:
Vox, Baltimore Sun, New York Times and Rolling Stone


Landmark US-Russia arms control treaty is dead — A landmark arms control treaty that President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed three decades ago is dead, prompting fears of a new global arms race. — The United States and Russia both walked away from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty on Friday.
Discussion:
Politico
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U.S. Employers Added 164,000 Jobs in July, Wages Picked Up — Unemployment rate holds at 3.7%, near lowest in half century — Results show solid labor market ahead of Trump tariff threat — U.S. employers kept adding workers at a healthy pace in July and wage gains picked up …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Gateway Pundit and twitchy.com
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Manhattan D.A. Subpoenas Trump Organization Over Stormy Daniels Hush Money — Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, is reviving an investigation into payments made to two women during the 2016 campaign. — State prosecutors in Manhattan subpoenaed President Trump's family business …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Axios, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Vanity Fair, WPIX 11 New York, The Gateway Pundit, KTLA and The Week


Conservatives Are Hiding Their ‘Loathing’ Behind Our Flag — The molten core of right-wing nationalism is the furious denial of America's unalterably multiracial, multicultural national character. — The Republican Party under Donald Trump has devolved into a populist cult of personality.


After a meeting with RBS lawyers, then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told the U.S. attorney in Boston not to pursue criminal charges. — DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Sutton said that the Barclays and RBS settlements held the banks accountable for serious misconduct, and that the penalties recovered …


The debaters eerily sounded like ‘America First’ Democrats — This week's Democratic presidential debates included little substantive discussion of foreign policy — even about an imminent troop-withdrawal agreement for Afghanistan — and most of the candidates seemed as eager to retreat from the world as President Trump.
Discussion:
The Hill
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Trump Makes 9/11 and Dad's Funeral All About Him — From his claims to first responders and his self-regarding Fred Trump eulogy to his bombastic Cincinnati rally, the narcissistic shtick is wearing thin. — President Donald Trump started the week with a Rose Garden ceremony …
Discussion:
HuffPost


Boris Johnson's party suffers defeat in UK special election — LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's governing Conservative Party has a lost a special election, leaving it with a wafer-thin working majority in Parliament of just one vote. — Jane Dodds of the opposition …