Top Items:
John McCormick / Wall Street Journal:
Meet the Democrat That Republicans Fear in Red-State America — Rob Sand's campaign for Iowa governor could offer template for others in his party — DES MOINES, Iowa—Rob Sand could almost pass for a Republican: He frequently quotes the Bible, owns two SIG Sauer handguns …
RELATED:
Brian Beutler / Off Message:
Gut Check Time For Democrats — Send this to your senators. — ∙ Paid — Every lengthy government shutdown in my lifetime has been a consequence of Republican extortion. — The structure and rules of our government all but demand that annual budgeting be a cooperative enterprise …
Public Notice:
Gavin Newsom's moment
Discussion:
Associated Press, CNN, CalMatters, New York Magazine and Semafor
Washington Post:
California kicks off sprint to redraw House districts for Democrats
California kicks off sprint to redraw House districts for Democrats
Discussion:
Sabato's Crystal Ball, NOTUS and American Prospect
Washington Post:
Democrats are returning to Texas, clearing way for GOP to draw new map
Democrats are returning to Texas, clearing way for GOP to draw new map
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal
Joey Cappelletti / Associated Press:
Where Trump is popular, Democrats look to a new crop of candidates to help win back the House
Where Trump is popular, Democrats look to a new crop of candidates to help win back the House
Discussion:
KXTV
Nick Reisman / Politico:
Why this swing seat House member is doubling down on Trump's megalaw
Why this swing seat House member is doubling down on Trump's megalaw
Discussion:
Semafor
Liz Crampton / Politico:
Texas Democrats have returned home, ending redistricting standoff
Texas Democrats have returned home, ending redistricting standoff
Discussion:
NBC News, The Hill, Daily Caller News Foundation and NewsMax.com
Axios:
Trump-Zelensky summit: The suit question, again — The White House asked Ukrainian officials if President Volodymyr Zelensky will wear a suit to his meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office on Monday, two sources with direct knowledge tell Axios.
RELATED:
Gideon Rachman / Financial Times:
Zelenskyy in the lion's den — European leaders need to get Trump off the dangerous path laid out for him by Putin — Memories of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's last disastrous trip to the Oval Office will hang over the Ukrainian president's visit to the White House on Monday.
Discussion:
Axios, New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, New York Post, The Hill, WTOP News, The Gateway Pundit, Fox News, NPR, Daily Mail, Semafor, The Daily Signal, NewsMax.com and Bloomberg
Erkki Forster / The Daily Beast:
Trump's Chaotic Truth Social Meltdown Hours Before High-Stakes Meeting — RAMPAGE — The president clearly had a lot to brain-dump before bedtime. — Donald Trump fired off a dizzying barrage of Truth Social posts on Sunday evening, raging at criticism over his summit with Vladimir Putin …
RELATED:
Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
Trump Wants Cop Violence in Your Feed
Discussion:
WyoFile, New York Times and Los Angeles Times
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
August 17, 2025 — On the heels of President Donald J. Trump's Friday meeting …
August 17, 2025 — On the heels of President Donald J. Trump's Friday meeting …
Discussion:
The Guardian and The Kyiv Independent
Politico:
Playbook: Zelenskyy's White House do-over
Playbook: Zelenskyy's White House do-over
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Breitbart, Raw Story, NBC News and Political Wire
Matthew Mpoke Bigg / New York Times:
Trump Says He Wants to Get Rid of Mail-In Ballots — President Trump has claimed mail voting was a source of fraud during the 2020 presidential election, although his former attorney general said his assertions of widespread fraud couldn't be proven. — President Trump said on Monday …
Discussion:
Reuters, Scripps News, Althouse and Daily Mail
RELATED:
Reuters:
Trump says he will sign order targeting mail-in ballots, voting machines ahead of 2026 elections — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would sign an executive order ahead of next year's midterm elections, saying he would lead “a movement” targeting mail-in balloting and voting machines across the country.
Donald J. Trump / Trump's Truth:
Truth Details — I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also …
Nikki McCann Ramirez / Rolling Stone:
Trump Pledges Unconstitutional Order to Limit Mail-In Voting After Putin Chat
Trump Pledges Unconstitutional Order to Limit Mail-In Voting After Putin Chat
Discussion:
Raw Story, Politico, ABC News, The Parnas Perspective and Washington Examiner
Isabella Simonetti / Wall Street Journal:
MSNBC to Change Its Name—And Lose the Peacock Logo — The cable news network will adopt the new name MS NOW ahead of its spinoff from NBCUniversal — MSNBC is changing its name in its spinoff from Comcast's NBCUniversal. — The left-leaning cable network will rebrand as My Source News Opinion World …
RELATED:
Brian Stelter / CNN:
MSNBC is getting a new name as part of its split from NBC News — As the cable news channel MSNBC splits up with NBC News, it is also dropping the NBC from its name. — Later this year, the channel will become MS NOW, which stands for My Source for News, Opinion, and the World.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Variety, RedState, Adweek and Deadline, more at Mediagazer »
Laura Reiley / New York Times:
What My Daughter Told ChatGPT Before She Took Her Life What My Daughter Told ChatGPT Before She Took Her Life — Sophie's Google searches suggest that she was obsessed with autokabalesis, which means jumping off a high place. Autodefenestration, jumping out a window, is a subset of autokabalesis …
Rick Bright / New York Times:
America Is Giving Up a Lifesaving Medical Breakthrough: mRNA — In early 2020, when the first genetic sequence of the new coronavirus was posted online, scientists were ready. Within hours, they began designing a vaccine. Within weeks, clinical trials were underway.
Discussion:
Bloomberg
Corinne Ramey / Wall Street Journal:
Court Split Leaves Trump's Civil Fraud Appeal Stuck in Slow Lane — New York court typically moves fast but it has been nearly year since it heard president's arguments — The New York court weighing President Trump's appeal of a roughly $500 million civil-fraud judgment typically acts swiftly …
RELATED:
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
Ed Martin Confirms Ed Martin's Witch Hunt Against Elected Democrats
Ed Martin Confirms Ed Martin's Witch Hunt Against Elected Democrats
Discussion:
Raw Story and Washington Examiner
Rosie Thomas / 404 Media:
TikTok Shop Sells Viral GPS Trackers Marketed to Stalkers — TikTok Shop is selling GPS trackers marketed with viral videos that have voiceovers explicitly encouraging secretly tracking a romantic partner. Some of the videos have millions of views, and TikTok Shop's own metrics show …
Discussion:
The Verge
Diana Stancy / Fox News:
Rubio's State Department yanks more than 6K student visas due to assault, burglary, support for terrorism — Students who've publicly protested supporting Palestine have faced heightened scrutiny — EXCLUSIVE: The State Department has yanked more than 6,000 student visas in 2025 for overstays …
RELATED:
Sarah Basford Canales / The Guardian:
Israel's foreign minister revokes visas of Australian representatives to Palestinian Authority
Israel's foreign minister revokes visas of Australian representatives to Palestinian Authority
Discussion:
Reuters, The Times of Israel, israelhayom.com and Agence France-Presse
Max Tani / Semafor:
The left gets a new publication — The Scoop — A group of left-leaning writers and journalists are starting a new publication on Monday aimed at arguing in favor of what liberalism is for, rather than just what it's against. — Jerusalem Demsas left The Atlantic in recent weeks to launch The Argument …
Discussion:
The Argument, more at Mediagazer »
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
Why MAGA calls Trump “Daddy” — Yes, it's a weird sex thing. But it also reveals secret insecurities — The MAGA movement is determined to make politics as disgusting as possible, destroying democracy one juvenile 4chan meme at a time. It turns out that American fascism isn't just wrapped …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Whitney Curry Wimbish / American Prospect:
Tuberculosis Spawning in Crowded, Dirty ICE Detention Centers — Doctors and medical researchers expect more outbreaks of infectious disease as the Trump administration crams thousands more people into miserable conditions. — The ICE detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, seen on March 21, 2025
Discussion:
Christian Science Monitor
Corey Atad / Defector:
Selling Zohran — On a cool Sunday in November, a few days after Donald Trump's re-election, Zohran Mamdani stood on a street corner in Jamaica, Queens, holding up a hastily drawn cardboard sign that read “DID YOU VOTE?” on one side and “LET'S TALK ELECTION,” on the other.
Isabel Kershner / New York Times:
Protests Highlight Growing Discontent With Netanyahu and the Gaza War — Many Israelis feel that freeing the hostages cannot happen if the government refuses to come to terms with Hamas and pursues its policy of trying to eliminate the group militarily. — Protests that culminated …
Discussion:
CBS News, NewsMax.com, Haaretz, Jewish Insider, CNN, WBNS-TV, The Hill, New York Post, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse, Los Angeles Times and Semafor

