Top Items:
New York Times:
Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says — The Trump administration has been deliberating for months about what to do about a stunning intelligence assessment. — WASHINGTON — American intelligence officials have concluded …
Discussion:
New York Post, Mediaite, Alternet.org and Raw Story
Washington Post:
Live updates: Florida reports nearly 9,000 new coronavirus cases; Texas reverses course to stave off surge — The Washington Post is providing this important information about the coronavirus for free. For more free coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, sign up for our Coronavirus Updates newsletter …
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Alternet.org, Kaiser Health News, Raw Story, Fox News and Mediaite
RELATED:
Noah Higgins-Dunn / CNBC:
Texas rolls back its reopening a day after pausing plans, as coronavirus cases rise — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Friday that he will roll back some of the state's reopening as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to rise. — “As I said from the start …
Patrick Svitek / The Texas Tribune:
Gov. Greg Abbott orders Texas bars to close again and restaurants to reduce to 50% occupancy as coronavirus spreads
Gov. Greg Abbott orders Texas bars to close again and restaurants to reduce to 50% occupancy as coronavirus spreads
Discussion:
Office of the Texas Governor, Washington Post, Reason, Mediaite, Gothamist and Balloon Juice
Associated Press:
States retreat as confirmed virus cases hit all-time high
States retreat as confirmed virus cases hit all-time high
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, fox8.com, The American Independent and Defense One
David Lim / Politico:
Trump administration restores federal funding for Texas testing sites
Trump administration restores federal funding for Texas testing sites
Discussion:
The Hill
Emily Larsen / Washington Examiner:
Republican nightmare: Trump vote-by-mail demonizing driving down GOP participation — President Trump's extreme opposition to mail-in ballots is more likely hurting him and down-ballot Republicans than it is helping him. — Mounting evidence in voter registration data, a survey …
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics
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Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Supreme Court won't make Texas allow everyone to vote by absentee ballot — The Supreme Court declined Friday to force Texas officials to offer mail-in ballots to all voters in the state because of the threat of the coronavirus, not just those over 65. — The justices, without comment …
Discussion:
The Hill
Wall Street Journal:
The Trump Referendum — He still has no second term message beyond his own grievances. — By The Editorial Board — President Trump may soon need a new nickname for “Sleepy Joe” Biden. How does President-elect sound? On present trend that's exactly what Mr. Biden will be on Nov. 4 …
Discussion:
Fox News, Mediaite, Alternet.org, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Politico
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Domenico Montanaro / NPR:
Poll: Trump Disapproval Hits All-Time High And He Trails Biden By 8 — After weeks of protests against police brutality and racism, and amid a renewed spike in coronavirus cases, the number of voters disapproving of the job President Trump is doing is at an all-time high, a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds.
Discussion:
Fox News and Wall Street Journal
Amy Walter / The Cook Political Report:
Trump Is in a Deep Hole. Can He Dig Himself Out Before November?
Trump Is in a Deep Hole. Can He Dig Himself Out Before November?
Discussion:
Associated Press
Matina Stevis-Gridneff / New York Times:
E.U. Plans to Bar Most U.S. Travelers When Bloc Reopens — Europe will allow outsiders to begin entering again on July 1, but the U.S. and Russia are now among the nations considered too risky because they have not controlled the coronavirus outbreak. — BRUSSELS — The European Union …
Discussion:
Mediaite
James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: Trump's legal argument for throwing out all of the ACA is a nightmare for Senate Republicans — President Trump insists on the campaign trail that he wants to protect insurance coverage for people with preexisting conditions. His legal team just told the Supreme Court otherwise.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, IJR, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Strike Down Affordable Care Act
Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Strike Down Affordable Care Act
Discussion:
NPR, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, Blue Virginia, Daily Kos, SCOTUSblog, Marketplace, Slate, Vanity Fair, Vox, Mother Jones, National Review and Arizona Democratic Party
Jenna Portnoy / Washington Post:
D.C. statehood approved by U.S. House for first time in history — For the first time since the establishment of the District of Columbia 230 years ago, the House of Representatives voted to declare the city as the nation's 51st state, a legislative milestone that supporters say begins to right historic wrongs.
Discussion:
IJR
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Marisa Schultz / Fox News:
House approves DC statehood bill, GOP calls move Dem ‘power grab’
House approves DC statehood bill, GOP calls move Dem ‘power grab’
Discussion:
National Review, New York Post, New Republic and Washington Post
Barbara Sprunt / NPR:
House Vote Friday Would Make D.C. The 51st State. Trump And The Senate Say No
House Vote Friday Would Make D.C. The 51st State. Trump And The Senate Say No
Discussion:
Fox News, Iowa Starting Line, The Daily Caller, CNBC and Just The News
Caroline Randall Williams / New York Times:
You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument — The black people I come from were owned and raped by the white people I come from. Who dares to tell me to celebrate them? — Ms. Williams is a poet. — NASHVILLE — I have rape-colored skin.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
Pema Levy / Mother Jones:
Why Do These Trump Campaign Ads Link to Brad Parscale's Facebook Page? — For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones' newsletters. — The Trump campaign is running Facebook ads from a page for campaign manager Brad Parscale …
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Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:
Tom Cotton's Argument Against DC Statehood Is the Same One Racists Have Always Used
Tom Cotton's Argument Against DC Statehood Is the Same One Racists Have Always Used
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Hill and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Politico:
Coronavirus task force returns, but downplays new flareups as local ‘hot spots’ — The White House Coronavirus Task Force is back on camera — but it wants Americans to know that everything is under control. — The panel held a public briefing on Friday for the first time since late April …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Washington Post, Mother Jones and Breitbart
RELATED:
Joan E Greve / The Guardian:
Pence claims ‘remarkable progress’ as Covid-19 cases hit new record in US
Pence claims ‘remarkable progress’ as Covid-19 cases hit new record in US
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Michael Kranish / Washington Post:
Mary Trump once stood up to her uncle Donald. Now her book describes a ‘nightmare’ of family dysfunction. — Mary L. Trump was embroiled in a feud over her inheritance two decades ago when her uncle Donald Trump and his siblings punched back in classic style.
RELATED:
NBC News:
Mississippi appears to have enough votes to change state flag, senior lawmaker says — Mississippi lawmakers who want to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state's flag appear to have enough votes in the state Legislature to make the change, a senior state lawmaker said Friday.
Discussion:
National Review, Rolling Stone, The Daily Caller and The Wrap
RELATED:
Stuart Stevens / The Bulwark:
My Confederate Past — Everyone who grew up in Mississippi …
New York Times:
Biden Is Getting a Lot of Advice on His V.P. Here's What Voters Think. — A large majority of voters say race should not be a factor in his decision, and none of the best-known candidates has emerged as a favorite. — Joseph R. Biden Jr. appears to face limited political pressure from voters …
RELATED:
Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:
Kamala Harris's Very Open Secret
Politico:
Senate panel demands testimony from ex-Obama officials in revived Biden probe — A Senate committee is re-engaging former Obama administration officials as part of an investigation targeting Joe Biden's son, demanding transcribed interviews and documents for the Republican-led probe.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Trump Retreats to His Hannity Bunker — Beaten by the pandemic and down in the polls, a President and his propagandist create an alternate reality. — June began poorly for President Trump, and it's ending worse. Despite his optimistic pronouncements about the coronavirus …
Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
Appeals court rules funding for Trump border wall construction ‘unlawful’ — The Trump administration does not have the authority to use military funding to pay for construction of a border wall, a federal appeals court panel ruled on Friday. — In a 2-1 ruling, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court …
Discussion:
One America News Network and The Hill
Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
Feds Point to Daily Caller Writer as Part of Abramoff Payola Scheme — Derek Hunter says he wasn't paid by the disgraced lobbyist to plug his bitcoin project. But the SEC cites his article, among others, in their complaint. — When federal prosecutors charged Jack Abramoff on Thursday …
Discussion:
Raw Story, New York Times and Politico
Richard Luscombe / The Guardian:
Florida governor under fire over claims state is ‘cooking the books’ on Covid-19 — Ron DeSantis angrily dismisses allegation from fired scientist that officials are massaging figures to hide true impact of coronavirus — Republican Florida governor Ron DeSantis's faltering response …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Sun-Sentinel and POLITICUSUSA
CREW:
The DOJ Decided Not to Prosecute Trump. It's Hiding the Reason Why. — The Department of Justice has confirmed the existence of a memo laying out its rationale for not bringing charges against President Trump, but it refuses to make its reasoning public. In response to ongoing litigation involving …
Discussion:
Alternet.org and Law & Crime
CNN:
Wrongly arrested Black man sues a Georgia city and police officers for excessive force and injury — Wrongly arrested Black man sues police and Georgia city — (CNN)A Black man who was slammed to the ground as he was wrongly arrested is suing the Georgia city of Valdosta …
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
America Didn't Give Up on Covid-19. Republicans Did. — Partisanship has crippled our response. — Earlier this year much of America went through hell as the nation struggled to deal with Covid-19. More than 120,000 Americans have now died; more than 20 million have lost their jobs.
Washington Post:
How Arizona ‘lost control of the epidemic’ — PHOENIX — A drive-up testing site equipped for several hundred people in West Phoenix was swarmed on Saturday by about 1,000 people, leaving some baking in their cars for hours. — A nearby testing station has already reached capacity for this weekend …
Discussion:
policylab.chop.edu, Daily Kos, CNN, Lawyers, Guns & Money and WGN-TV
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Unilever to Halt U.S. Ads on Facebook and Twitter for Rest of 2020 — The company cites hate speech and polarized politics as reasons for ad suspension — Consumer goods giant Unilever UL -.46% PLC said it will halt U.S. advertising on Facebook Inc. FB -6.95% and Twitter Inc. TWTR -6.98% …
Discussion:
Marketplace, New York Times, New York Post, The Verge, KFOR-TV and CNBC, more at Mediagazer »
Politico:
FEC losing quorum again after Caroline Hunter resigns — The Federal Election Commission is losing its short-lived quorum after Caroline Hunter, a longtime Republican commissioner of the FEC and former chair of the agency, is resigning, according to a resignation letter obtained by POLITICO.
Discussion:
Washington Post and The Daily Caller
Melissa Mahtani / CNN:
Bill Gates: US ‘not even close’ to doing enough to fight pandemic — (CNN)Microsoft founder Bill Gates said Thursday that the current coronavirus picture, both globally and in the US, is “more bleak” than he would have expected. — Speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta …
Discussion:
New York Post