Top Items:
Washington Post:
Trump's commutation of Roger Stone's sentence is an unforgivable betrayal of his office — THERE ARE no doubt thousands of people in federal prison who deserved a presidential commutation more than Roger Stone. But after President Trump's intervention on Friday, Mr. Stone will serve none of his prison sentence.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Outside the Beltway, Alternet.org, IJR, The Hill, Bloomberg, Reason, Power Line, Balloon Juice, Mother Jones, Axios and The Crime Report
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New York Times:
Trump Commutes Sentence of Roger Stone in Case He Long Denounced — The president's friend had been convicted of impeding a congressional inquiry that threatened Mr. Trump. — WASHINGTON — President Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime friend Roger J. Stone Jr. on seven felony crimes on Friday …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, NPR, Rolling Stone, Crime & Consequences, The Root, Al Jazeera, Mediaite, CANNONFIRE, The Week and The Intellectualist
David Frum / The Atlantic:
Stone Walks Free in One of the Greatest Scandals in American History — Roger Stone's best trick was always his upper-class-twit wardrobe. He seemed such a farcical character, such a Klaxon-alarm-from-a-mile-away goofball—who could take him seriously? — Aldrich Ames, Robert Hanssen: They had tradecraft.
Discussion:
Mother Jones
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
The Filthy Air — Trump gives Roger Stone his Get Out of Jail Free card. — Of course Donald Trump would have preferred to wait until November 3 to commute Roger Stone's sentence. But Stone had let it be known that he might talk if he had to set foot in prison for even a short time.
Lawfare:
Trump's Aberrant Pardons and Commutations — Donald Trump's commutation yesterday of Roger Stone's sentence was his most controversial exercise of the pardon power to date. The Stone commutation fit a pattern: Almost all of the beneficiaries of Trump's pardons and commutations have had a personal …
The White House:
Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grant of Clemency for Roger Stone, Jr.
Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grant of Clemency for Roger Stone, Jr.
Discussion:
CNN, The Dispatch, Washington Post, Slate, New York Times, Daily Kos, WHDH-TV, Bloomberg, The Guardian, American Thinker, The Resurgent, The Gateway Pundit, The Sun, Vox and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Fox News:
Trump expected to commute Roger Stone sentence, days before prison term set to begin
Trump expected to commute Roger Stone sentence, days before prison term set to begin
Discussion:
Politico, POLITICUSUSA, The Hill, The Week, New York Post, Bloomberg, Disrn, The Daily Beast, The Daily Caller, Axios, Twitchy, Breitbart, Raw Story, The Western Journal, NBC News, Law & Crime, Redstate, The Gateway Pundit and TheBlaze
Politico:
Trump commutes prison sentence of longtime adviser Roger Stone
Trump commutes prison sentence of longtime adviser Roger Stone
Discussion:
Just Security, The Week, NBC News, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, Raw Story, BuzzFeed News, Sputnik News, The Western Journal and Breitbart
Jordan Libowitz / CREW:
CREW Statement on Roger Stone Commutation
Jeremy Kohler / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Portland Place couple who confronted protesters have a long history of not backing down — ST. LOUIS — When Black Lives Matter protesters marched up Kingshighway on June 28 and turned through an iron gate into the magnificent private street of Portland Place, they encountered a couple who have for years …
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Dom Calicchio / Fox News:
Missouri couple who defended home have rifle seized during police search: report — There was no immediate indication the McCloskeys were arrested or charged with a crime — Authorities in St. Louis executed a search warrant Friday evening at the home of Mark and Patricia McCloskey …
Discussion:
KSDK-TV, Twitchy, The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, The Hill, Townhall and The Federalist
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Tucker Carlson's top writer resigns after secretly posting racist and sexist remarks in online forum — New York (CNN Business)Editor's note: This article quotes racist, homophobic and sexist language, much of which has not been censored. — The top writer for Fox News host Tucker Carlson …
Discussion:
Contemptor, The Guardian, Alternet.org, Lawyers, Guns & Money, TVNewser, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite, The Wrap and Deadline, more at Mediagazer »
Andrew Feinberg / The Independent:
White House insiders are worried that ‘unhinged conspiracy theorists’ are being given more and more powerful roles at the Pentagon — 'It's like these individuals are living in a complete alternate reality,' one source told me, adding that the idea of such people still serving in government was ‘terrifying’
Discussion:
IJR and Talking Points Memo
David Rutz / Washington Free Beacon:
NBC Contributor Reveals He Never Had Coronavirus After Network Documented His Recovery — An NBC medical expert who was brought on air nearly a dozen times to detail his struggle with COVID-19 never had the virus, he revealed this week. — After believing he had the coronavirus in spite …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, The Federalist, Townhall, us20.forward-to-friend.com, Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit
Madeline Holcombe / CNN:
Expert warns the US is approaching ‘one of the most unstable times in the history of our country’ — (CNN)With rising Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations sending many states backward in their reopening plans, one health expert warns that if the US continues on its current path it will reach …
Politico:
Trump allies want Michael Flynn to stage a campaign trail comeback — Four years ago, Michael Flynn, an intelligence officer with a three-decade military career, became a MAGA star introducing Donald Trump at raucous campaign rallies. — Now, after a prolonged battle against what Trump's biggest supporters …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Political Wire, The Week and Los Angeles Times
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New York Times:
Reopening Schools Will Be a Huge Undertaking. It Must Be Done. — Officials need to think outside the school building. — The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.
Discussion:
Althouse, Chalkbeat, The Daily Signal, Gizmodo, The Daily Caller, Politics K-12, Joanne Jacobs and The Moderate Voice
Allison Gordon / CNN:
Dozens of Mississippi lawmakers have coronavirus after weeks of refusing to wear masks — (CNN)If you've been in contact with your state lawmaker in Mississippi, you may want to get a coronavirus test. — About one in six state lawmakers have tested positive for the coronavirus …
Discussion:
Mediaite and HillReporter.com
NBC News:
Concern over turnout was factor in postponing Trump rally, GOP advisers say — WASHINGTON — Well before the call was made to postpone President Donald Trump's Saturday re-election rally in New Hampshire, the warning lights were flashing red: There were no signs of the typical throngs …
Jonathan Martin / New York Times:
Georgia. Ohio. Texas. Democrats Tell Biden to Go Big (He's Being Cautious). — This election, some Democrats argue, offers the party the provocative possibility of a new path to the presidency, even as others warn against overconfidence. — WASHINGTON — With President Trump's poll numbers sliding …
CNN:
‘You cannot fight the pandemic with lies’ — Angela Merkel knows how to insert a dagger — Analysis by Stephen Collinson with Caitlin Hu, CNN — This was excerpted from the July 10 edition of CNN's Meanwhile in America, the daily email about US politics for global readers.
Baltimore Sun:
Baltimore Police sergeant arrested, accused of kidnapping contractor and extorted him for a refund while on duty, county police say — A Baltimore Police Department homicide unit sergeant was ordered held without bail Friday after allegedly extorting, kidnapping and threatening to arrest …
Discussion:
Law & Crime
Michael Brice-Saddler / Washington Post:
Despite hopes that it would, summer weather has not stopped virus's spread in the U.S. — At a briefing in late April, President Trump and Vice President Pence promoted a laboratory study with promising results. It suggested that heat and humidity could be a factor in reducing transmission rates of the novel coronavirus.
Sonny Soleil / WTF Florida?:
Commissioner who Voted Against Masks in Critical Condition with COVID-19 — St. Augustine (WTFF) - St. Johns County Commissioner Paul Waldron caught the coronavirus and went into septic shock after voting against a motion to mandate masks for county employees last week.
Discussion:
Florida Politics
Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:
Trump confirms, in an interview, a U.S. cyberattack on Russia — This column is the second of two I'm writing based on my interview with President Trump on Wednesday. Read the first part here. — During an Oval Office interview with me this week, President Trump acknowledged for the first time that …
Discussion:
Fox News, New York Post, Lawfare and Brookings
Politico:
When Val Demings Stood by Police Officers Accused of Excessive Force — An 84-year-old World War II veteran named Daniel Daley broke his neck outside a Florida bar after being slammed to the ground by an Orlando police officer young enough to be his grandson. It happened in 2010, after Daley left his car in the wrong parking lot.
Alex Samuels / The Texas Tribune:
Gov. Greg Abbott warns if spread of COVID-19 doesn't slow, “the next step would have to be a lockdown” — Abbott has repeated that warning multiple times in local television interviews this week. — Copy link … With Texas continuing to break records for new coronavirus deaths …
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA and Eschaton
John Hinderaker / Power Line:
NY Times: Oops, Never Mind — Over the years, we have tracked a number of newspaper corrections (as often as not featuring the New York Times) where, if you match the belated correction against the original article, the conclusion is that the article was pointless and never should have been published.
Discussion:
New York Times
Kimberly Wehle / Politico:
Actually, the Supreme Court Just Gave Congress a Big Win — Trump might have won a short-term political battle. But Congress' subpoena power is clearer than it ever was. — In the immediate aftermath of Thursday's Supreme Court rulings on who has the right to access the president's financial records …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Kathryn Krawczyk / The Week:
Trump calls mail-in ballots ‘dishonest’ but says absentee ballots are ‘fine.’ They're the same thing. — President Trump's campaign against mail-in voting relies on a fundamental misunderstanding of what the process even is. — Even amid a global pandemic that makes it dangerous to gather …
Discussion:
CNN, CBS Boston and The Intellectualist
Washington Post:
Failing to renew VOA foreign staffers' visas would devastate one of its core functions — MICHAEL PACK, the alt-right filmmaker installed by President Trump to run U.S. foreign broadcasting operations, remains on course to dismantle the independent journalism that has been their calling card.
Rafael Bernal / The Hill:
Trump says he'll sign order with ‘road to citizenship’ for DACA recipients — President Trump said Friday he intends to sign an executive order on immigration within the next month that he said will include a “road to citizenship” for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Discussion:
The Resurgent, Redstate, Fox News, Rolling Stone, Politico and KLAS