2 shot dead and 1 injured in Kenosha during protests; police looking for man armed with a long gun  —  Kenosha Police said early Wednesday morning that two people had been shot and killed and a third injured during protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake; authorities were looking for a man armed with a long gun.

CDC was pressured ‘from the top down’ to change coronavirus testing guidance, official says  —  (CNN)A sudden change in federal guidelines on coronavirus testing came this week as a result of pressure from the upper ranks of the Trump administration, a federal health official close to the process tells CNN.

Coronavirus concerns fall and Trump approval ticks higher in swing states, CNBC/Change Research poll finds  — Serious concerns about the coronavirus fell in six 2020 swing states, while approval of President Donald Trump's handling of Covid-19 rose, according to a new CNBC/Change Research poll.

Why the Fuck is the Secretary of State Talking, From Israel, at the Republican National Convention?  —  Violating norms, standards, ethical guidelines, rules, laws and common sense is nothing new for Pompeo, but his speech Tuesday night will break new ground.  —  BEAST INSIDE

POLITICO Playbook: ‘This is absolutely not how it works’  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  OK, SORRY ... WE KNOW the convention was Tuesday night, but this was too good to bury.  THE USPS is looking for a VP of government affairs and public policy.  It might be smart to poke around …

How Trump could pull off another upset  —  It feels like August of 2016 all over again.  Polls show Donald Trump losing big.  Pundits proclaim he can't win.  Reporters sneer at Trump voters on Twitter and cable.  —  Why it matters: There are several signs that should give the Trump-is-toast self-assured pause.

Lewd cheerleader videos, sexist rules: Ex-employees decry Washington's NFL team workplace  —  In “Beauties on the Beach,” the official video chronicling the making of the Washington NFL team's 2008 cheerleader swimsuit calendar, the women frolic in the sand, rave about their custom bikinis …

Yale Law Professor Jed Rubenfeld Has Been Suspended for Sexual Harassment  —  On Monday morning, members of the Yale Law School faculty received a terse message from their provost informing them that Professor Jed Rubenfeld “will leave his position as a member of the YLS faculty for a two-year period …

U.S. service members injured in Syria after skirmish with Russian forces  —  U.S. service members were injured after an altercation with Russian forces in northeast Syria this week, according to a draft military statement and a person familiar with the matter.

They tried to get Trump to care about right-wing terrorism.  He ignored them.  —  Elizabeth Neumann spent March 13 and 14 of 2019 at a conference in the picturesque Spanish port city of Málaga.  The topic: terrorism.  Western leaders were deeply worried about the dangers foreign …

The RNC Has Made a Compelling Case for America's Imminent Collapse  —  America has never been greater than it is today — or at greater risk of collapsing tomorrow.  —  This is the central message of the Republican National Convention through its first two nights.

‘I Moved on Her Very Heavily’: Part 1  —  In her 2019 memoir, What Do We Need Men For?, E. Jean Carroll accused Donald Trump of rape, in a Bergdorf's dressing room in the mid-1990s.  After the president denied ever meeting her and dismissed her story as a Democratic plot, she sued him for defamation.

Is The Electoral Map Changing?  —  We looked at how 16 battleground states have voted in the last five presidential elections to see how they might go in 2020  —  From one presidential election to the next, the battleground states that make — or break — the election remain largely the same.

Kellyanne Conway undermined the truth like no other Trump official.  And journalists enabled her.  —  Among the many appalling scenes in the many tell-all books written from an inside-the-Trump-administration perspective, one in particular spoke volumes about how Kellyanne Conway operates:

After Three Years Attacking L.G.B.T.Q. Rights, Trump Suddenly Tries Outreach  —  L.G.B.T.Q. advocates say the president has tried to divide their coalition by targeting transgender people in policy rollbacks.  —  The month of June was filled with big moments for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.