memeorandum: Should the age of sexual consent be lowered? (Laurence H. Tribe/NBC News)

GOP senator held up Trump nominee, demanding to see border wall contracts after Army Corps panned construction firm he prefers — A Republican senator held up the confirmation of a White House budget official this week in an attempt to obtain sensitive information about border wall contracts he's …

Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:

The Reverend Bill Owens Stands Behind Trump — During the past several weeks, President Trump has been ramping up his racist and inflammatory attacks on nonwhite lawmakers and activists. After telling four lawmakers of color to “go back” to where they came from, he targeted Representative Elijah Cummings …

Discussion: Fox News

CNN:

Elizabeth Warren is running a brilliant campaign — David Axelrod, a senior CNN political commentator and host of “The Axe Files,” was senior adviser to President Barack Obama and chief strategist for the 2008 and 2012 Obama presidential campaigns. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

Discussion: Viking Pundit

Annie Linskey / Washington Post: Warren makes inroads into Sanders's world, one backer at a time

Becket Adams / Washington Examiner:
Why can't Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren be as realistic as the guy who promised to slow the rise of the oceans?

Discussion: Fox News, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon

New York Times:

Trump Fuels Racial Disharmony. Will It Motivate or Discourage Black Voters? — DETROIT — Mark Greer is a black Detroiter so outraged by President Trump's regular stream of invective toward people of color that he does his best to avoid exposure to him. — So when he clicked on a YouTube link …

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Trump prepares a push to woo black voters — President Donald Trump is looking to woo black voters — if he can make them forget about his tweets. — The Trump 2020 campaign has been quietly reaching out to prominent African Americans about joining its latest coalition, intended to boost Republican support in the black community.

Discussion: Mediaite and Outside the Beltway

Laurence H. Tribe / NBC News:

Should the age of sexual consent be lowered? — Consent laws exist for a reason. But that hasn't stopped lawyers and pundits from making demonstrably flawed arguments as “devil's advocates.” — The devil is a notoriously misleading advocate. Lawyers and pundits who revel in advancing arguments …

Robin Wright / New Yorker:

Iran's Foreign Minister Was Invited to Meet Trump in the Oval Office — Last month, amid a rapid-fire escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, received an unexpected invitation—to meet President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

Discussion: The Week and The National Interest

Hannah Natanson / Washington Post:

An elite D.C. girls' school thought its founding nuns taught slaves to read. Instead, they sold them off for as much as they could. — The cash-strapped nuns were desperate to sell their slaves. — It was the 1820s, and debt was piling up for Mother Agnes Brent, superior of the Georgetown Visitation Convent in Washington.

Akela Lacy / The Intercept:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Chief of Staff and Communications Director Will Depart Her Office — Two of Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez's top staffers are leaving her office. — Saikat Chakrabarti, her chief of staff, and Corbin Trent, her director of communications — who …

Discussion: New York Times, BizPac Review, RedState, Sara A. Carter, Fox News, The Hill, PJ Media Home, Breitbart, Politico, The National Interest, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, CNN, twitchy.com and Mediaite

Discussion: Tennessee Star, Patterico's Pontifications and RedState

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

McConnell's new posture toward Moscow — “Moscow Mitch” was red hot. — Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, on the Senate floor Monday, denounced critics (including me) who say his recent blocking of efforts to fortify defenses against another Russian attack on U.S. elections are aiding and abetting Vladimir Putin.

Discussion: Fox News and Associated Press

The Daily Beast:

Whistleblower Allegations Surfaced Just Before DNI Pick John Ratcliffe Withdrew — Trump blamed the media for his nominee's withdrawal, but it may have to do with his proximity to a company accused of being instrumental in reprisal against a whistleblower. — An email disclosing …

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Last Refuge, New York Times, Spectator USA and ThinkProgress

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / New York Times:

Deprived of Power, House Republicans Head for the Exits — WASHINGTON — Imagine being swept out of power in Congress and relegated to the role of spectator and naysayer as your political opponents dictate the terms of legislative debate. Add in the specter of a painful slog to re-election …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Vanity Fair and The Atlantic

Lee Moran / HuffPost:

Baltimore Sun Torches Donald Trump: ‘Dancing On Graves’ Of City's Dead — “This is the behavior of a jerk, a clod, a dolt, a schmuck.” — The Baltimore Sun's editorial board on Friday published yet another blistering opinion piece about President Donald Trump, in which it took him to task …

Discussion: Baltimore Sun, The Crime Report, Washington Post and New York Times

Eli Stokols / Los Angeles Times:

It's not just Baltimore; Trump is running against America's cities — He was born in Queens and lives on Fifth Avenue. His skyscrapers dot city skylines on several continents. But President Trump is increasingly intent on disparaging urban areas, depicting them as blighted and overrun …

Discussion: The Guardian, Baltimore Sun and USA Today

Discussion: Breitbart, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Rolling Stone, NPR, The Guardian, No More Mister Nice Blog, IJR and USA Today

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Excellence — A former dean of the Yale Law School sounds a warning. — Anyone who has followed the news from college campuses over the past few years knows they are experiencing forms of unrest unseen since the late 1960s. — Now, as then, campuses have become an arena for political combat.

Michael Brice-Saddler / Washington Post:

A reporter says the White House suspended his credentials in an ‘attempt to stifle the free press’ — Brian Karem, the chief White House correspondent for Playboy magazine, said Friday that his press pass is being suspended for 30 days in what he called an “anti-First Amendment move.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Townhall, more at Mediagazer »

Mensah M. Dean / Inquirer.com:

‘It was terrifying’: Black Chadds Ford couple left shaken by white Pa. trooper's alleged misconduct — Rodney and Angela Gillespie were excited when they returned July 1 to the United States, to the home they'd built in 2007 on a 2.7-acre parcel in a leafy section of upscale Chadds Ford.

The Economist:

The Amazon is approaching an irreversible tipping point — The results would be disastrous, for Brazil and for the world — The amazon basin, most of which sits within the borders of Brazil, contains 40% of the world's tropical forests and accounts for 10-15% of the biodiversity of Earth's continents.

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

Anti-Muslim Activist Laura Loomer to Run for Congress — Banned from every major social media network, Laura Loomer will almost certainly lose her challenge to Rep. Lois Frankel. — Anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer launched a congressional bid on Friday, setting herself up for almost certain defeat …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Christopher Caldwell / New York Times:

The Problem With Greta Thunberg's Climate Activism — Her radical approach is at odds with democracy. — Mr. Caldwell is the author of “Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West.” — Climate activists in Western Europe had already been radicalizing …

Lisa Friedman / New York Times:

Climate Could Be an Electoral Time Bomb, Republican Strategists Fear — WASHINGTON — When election time comes next year, Will Galloway, a student and Republican youth leader at Clemson University, will look for candidates who are strong on the mainstream conservative causes he cares about most …

Discussion: NB Blog and Washington Monthly

Washington Post:

Ohio's Hamilton County may test whether Trump's divisiveness will help or hurt him in 2020 — CINCINNATI — When President Trump railed against Baltimore and other diverse American cities as dangerous and “broken” during a campaign rally here this week, supporters cheered Trump's assessment.

Discussion: Politico

Nellie Bowles / New York Times:

Tulsi Gabbard Thinks We're Doomed — Or we will be if America doesn't leave the rest of the world alone. That's why the 38-year-old congresswoman from Hawaii is running for president. — STANDING ROCK, N.D. — Tulsi Gabbard is running for president of a country that she believes …

Discussion: Althouse and Vox, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

A smart way to keep Putin out of the next U.S. election — THERE IS a lot Congress could do to better protect U.S. elections, and a lot Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has not allowed lawmakers to achieve. Now, two senators are offering one more opportunity.

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Biden holds two-to-one lead over Sanders in post-debate poll — Former Vice President Joe Biden has a 2-to-1 lead nationally over the next closest Democratic presidential contender after the second round of debates, according to the latest Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Joseph Epstein / Wall Street Journal:

What Would We Do Without the Word ‘Racism’? — The term became pervasive only after discrimination was banned and blacks made significant progress. — If the country had a National Language Commission, and I were appointed commissioner, the first word I would put in cold storage …

Edward Alden / Foreign Policy:

Trump Hired Robert Lighthizer to Win a Trade War. He Lost. — The Trump administration's obsession with trade threats, tariffs, and bullying both allies and rivals into submission was based on an ambitious theory. It turned out to be a fallacy. — Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative …