Top Items:

GOP seat lead shrinks as Biden approval ticks up — CBS News Battleground Tracker poll — Republicans head into the fall still in position to gain enough House seats for a majority, but a tumultuous summer has made their advantage appear a little smaller today — with a trend so far pointing toward narrow gains instead of a wave.
Discussion:
The Hill

Assessing Trump's Claim of ‘Executive Privilege’ on FBI Access to MAL Docs — The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and former President Donald Trump are locked in a long running dispute over records taken from the White House in January 2021.
Discussion:
Townhall
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Judge Signals Intent to Appoint Special Master in Mar-a-Lago Search
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, CNN, Washington Post and Mercury News

WaPo Bombshell: Trump Took Boxes of Material on Trips Around the World for ‘No Reason’ — There are a couple of salient facts that many people do not know regarding the problem with Trump keeping Top-Secret/SCI files. They paint a very sinister picture. — First, these boxes at issue …
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Duke volleyball game in Utah moved after racist abuse hurled at Black player — Duke University women's volleyball match on Saturday was moved to an alternate location in Provo, Utah, after racial slurs were hurled at a Black player from the crowd during Friday's match with BYU, school officials said.
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BYU bans fan, relocates volleyball match after racist incident — A volleyball match was relocated and a spectator was banned from Brigham Young sporting venues after a Black player on Duke's team became the target of racial slurs during a game Friday at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah.
Discussion:
Raw Story and Associated Press

Latest Covid Boosters Are Set to Roll Out Before Human Testing Is Completed — The FDA and vaccine makers say they are confident that shots targeting Omicron subvariants will work safely — Covid Variants Keep Getting More Infectious. Here's Why. — Skip Ad — in 15 — YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times
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‘The US could lose the right to vote within months’: Top official warns on threat to democracy — Jena Griswold urges Americans to pay attention to crucial but often overlooked races for secretary of state — Colorado's secretary of state, Jena Griswold, is warning anyone who will listen …
Discussion:
Alternet.org

They were some of the last journalists at their papers. Then came the layoffs. — The latest cutbacks at Gannett come amid an industry-wide trend of shrinking newspaper newsrooms. — The only full-time news reporter at the Daily Jeffersonian kept busy until recently.

US sends two warships through Taiwan Strait, in first transit since Pelosi trip — China fires missiles towards Taiwan strait in drill after Pelosi visit — Two United States Navy warships have entered the Taiwan Strait in what is the first US naval transit in the waterway since US-China tensions spiked …
Discussion:
Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet, Washington Examiner, New York Times, Politico, Reuters, The Guardian, Fox News, Trends Journal, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, WTOP News, Florida Politics, The Hill and TASS

Fox News Fired Me After I Said Biden Won. That Wasn't the Worst of It. — My first meeting in Roger Ailes' boardroom of doom was on Election Day 2010. — At the time, I was the network's new political editor. Republicans were poised to deliver a serious walloping to President Barack Obama …

Democrats hammer Republicans over Social Security as conservative candidates grab the ‘third rail’ — WASHINGTON — When Blake Masters was running for the Republican nomination for Senate in Arizona, he floated what he called a “fresh and innovative” idea. — “Maybe we should privatize Social Security.

EU set to suspend visa travel agreement with Russia — Plan to freeze 2007 deal will make it harder and more expensive for Russians to get Schengen-area documents — EU foreign ministers are this week set to back a suspension of the bloc's visa facilitation agreement with Moscow in an effort …
Discussion:
Politico, The Guardian and Radio Free Europe/Radio …

A once-bullish GOP now sees a smaller House majority in its future, presenting a challenge to McCarthy — Democrats closing the enthusiasm gap but the midterms will still be an “uphill battle” — House Republicans are starting to grow pessimistic about their chances of winning a massive majority …
Discussion:
Raw Story

Justice Alito's Crusade Against a Secular America Isn't Over — He's had win after win—including overturning Roe v. Wade—yet seems more and more aggrieved. What drives his anger? … Some baby boomers were permanently shaped by their participation in the countercultural protests …
Discussion:
Althouse

What's With All the Fluff About a New Civil War, Anyway? — BOZEMAN, Mont. — The idea was to be permanently chastened by the Civil War, that the relief of emancipation and reunification would always be tempered by the shock of 600,000 corpses. And yet “civil war” has lately become …

Democrats see the once unthinkable: A narrow path to keeping the House — While Democrats acknowledge they still face major hurdles, there has been an unmistakable mood shift, according to interviews with candidates, strategists and officials — Democrats are voicing growing confidence …
Discussion:
CNN, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Digby's Hullabaloo, Washington Examiner and Raw Story
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1 big thing: Vaccines' new fall season … - Why it matters: Although COVID and its risks have become a routine part of life for most Americans, the virus is still killing around 400 Americans a day. … The shots are expected to become available soon after — likely the week of Sept. 5 …