Top Items:
Washington Post:
Rubio is banned from China, but Beijing may have found a way around it — Chinese officials are using a different transliterated character for the secretary of state's name, perhaps to allow him to visit without lifting the 2020 ban. — Summary — Secretary of State Marco Rubio …
Discussion:
NBC News, Straight Arrow News, Al Jazeera, NewsMax.com, Raw Story, NOTUS, Reuters, New York Post, The Wire China, The Hill, Mediaite, Washington Examiner, RedState and The Guardian
RELATED:
Evelyn Cheng / CNBC:
Xi asks Trump if U.S. and China can avoid ‘Thucydides Trap’ at high-stakes summit … BEIJING — U.S. President Donald Trump met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday morning, kick-starting a high-stakes summit that is expected to cover trade, tariffs, Taiwan and Iran, and runs through Friday.
New York Times:
Live Updates: China's Xi Warns Trump on Taiwan at Beijing Summit
Discussion:
Associated Press, Politico, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Breitbart, The Guardian, The Independent, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Phillips's Newsletter, Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations, Focus Taiwan, Reuters, Just Jared, CBS News, Bloomberg, Althouse, Al Jazeera, Semafor, Grabien and NewsMax.com
fmprc.gov.cn:
President Xi Jinping Holds Talks with U.S. President Donald J. Trump
President Xi Jinping Holds Talks with U.S. President Donald J. Trump
Discussion:
CNBC, Semafor, One America News Network, Xinhua, Associated Press, Human Events, WALV-TV, The Independent and The Diplomat
Ana Swanson / New York Times:
‘Quite Brutal,’ ‘Not Friendly’: What People in China Say of Trump
‘Quite Brutal,’ ‘Not Friendly’: What People in China Say of Trump
Discussion:
Foreign Policy
Eduardo Medina / New York Times:
South Carolina Governor Plans Special Session to Redraw House Maps — Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, appears prepared to thrust the state into the nation's redistricting wars. — Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, a Republican, plans to call the state legislature back for a special session …
Discussion:
UPI, Post and Courier, Breitbart, The Guardian, CBS News, New York Sun, WXIA-TV, WIS-TV, MS NOW, WLTX-TV, New York Post, Fox Carolina, Greenville News, The Hill, NewsMax.com, Washington Examiner, Democracy Docket, Straight Arrow News, New Republic, Magnolia Tribune, Townhall and Politico
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Calen Razor / Politico:
‘Crush their souls’: Map losses spur Dem rage — Presented by IN TODAY'S EDITION: — Senate GOP cool on House's summer recon plan — Housing bill, SCORE Act to hit House floor — House war powers vote, take three — Democrats are ready to play hardball after a stunning series …
Discussion:
Axios, Punchbowl News and Washington Examiner
Alan Elrod / Liberal Currents:
Democrats Need to Realize What Time It Is: On Conjuncture, Revolution, and the Next American Republic
Politico:
‘Crush their souls’: Democrats ditch the niceties after GOP gains upper hand on redistricting
‘Crush their souls’: Democrats ditch the niceties after GOP gains upper hand on redistricting
Discussion:
HotAir, NewsMax.com, The Daily Wire and The Gateway Pundit
Will Sommer / The Bulwark:
The Right's Worst New Star Just Shot Someone — There's a truly villainous new livestreamer who's become a cause célèbre on the right—a guy so bad he makes Clavicular's videos about drug overdoses and the Israeli mafia look like an episode of Bluey.
Discussion:
Originally Reported …, New York Post, U.S. Home, ClarksvilleNow.com, WPLN News, TMZ.com, IJR, Raw Story and KEYT-TV
New York Times:
U.S. Set to Drop Charges Against Indian Billionaire Accused of Fraud — The decision came after a lawyer for the billionaire, Gautam Adani, repeated an offer to invest $10 billion in the American economy and create 15,000 jobs. — 5 MIN READ — In a City of Big Dreams, Many Young Adults See a Cloudy Future
Discussion:
Bloomberg and Forbes, more at Techmeme »
Bloomberg:
Kushner Disappoints Mideast Clients Who Spent Millions Seeking Sway — Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE backed Affinity Partners in hopes of gaining White House influence and investment returns. The US war with Iran that they opposed has shown the constraints of that approach.
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Fox News:
US Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks abruptly resigns, Fox News learns — U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks told Fox News on Thursday he is resigning, effective immediately. — “It's just time,” Banks told Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin. — “I feel like I got the ship back on course …
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Shir Perets / Jerusalem Post:
Israel to take legal action against ‘New York Times’ over claims of ‘dog rape’ of Palestinians — PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar instructed officials to prepare a defamation lawsuit against “one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published” on Israel.
Discussion:
HotAir, Algemeiner.com, The Times of Israel, Jewish Insider and Fox News, more at Mediagazer »
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New Republic:
Trump Iran Tirade Visibly Rattles GOPers as Leaks Expose New Blunders — The fallout continues from Donald Trump's startling rant admitting that he isn't concerned with how the Iran war is impacting Americans' finances. On Wednesday, JD Vance, Mike Johnson, and numerous other Republicans struggled …
Discussion:
DCCC, Reuters, Washington Examiner, Grabien, NewsMax.com, HuffPost and CBS News
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Washington Post:
White House planned to start Triumphal Arch work under unrelated contract — The unusual move would allow the administration to bypass a public bidding process, relying on a deal for engineering services already underway at the White House. — Summary — The Trump administration planned …
Discussion:
Staff Stories and Raw Story
Nicholas Grossman / Arc Digital:
Proof the New York Times is Biased in Trump's Favor — President Donald Trump is on an official U.S. state visit to China, and he brought American business leaders in pursuit of deals. One is Trump's biggest campaign donor Elon Musk, which is very corrupt.
Discussion:
New York Times and MS NOW
Christian Paz / Vox:
A year of Trump is backfiring on the religious right — This weekend, an array of Christian religious leaders and government officials are scheduled to gather at the National Mall in Washington, DC. They'll convene to pray, yes, but this rally — organized as part of the White House-backed …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Pew Research Center, RNS, The Forward, People For and Washington Post
Matthew Kupfer / Democracy Docket:
FBI went to home of Milwaukee election official as Trump targets 2020 results — A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent visited the home of Milwaukee County's elections director earlier this week in an attempt to question her, the county clerk has said.
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate adopts measure to suspend senators' pay during future shutdowns — The Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) to suspend senators' pay during future government shutdowns, a new rule that could give lawmakers in the upper chamber …
RELATED:
Paul Krugman:
Why Did Trump Take Elon Musk to China? — Corruption pervades everything this administration does — What's good for Elon Musk is not necessarily good for America. In fact, it may go the other way around. So why did Donald Trump take Musk and a bunch of other top executives to China with him?
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling / New Republic:
Democratic Lawmaker, 83, Has Been Missing for a Month — Representative Frederica Wilson has yet to explain why she hasn't voted on a single issue since April 17. — The Florida Democrat has been missing in action for weeks, according to her documented voting record.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and BizPac Review
CNN:
Exclusive: Acting AG Todd Blanche was told last year to recuse from Justice Department matters involving Trump — Donald Trump Federal agencies Trump legal cases People in entertainment — It was less than two weeks after Todd Blanche took on his role of deputy attorney general in March 2025 …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Mediaite and E&E News
Mia Cathell / Washington Examiner:
Healthcare company CEO convicted of $1 billion Medicare fraud conspiracy — A federal jury in Florida has convicted the founder of a healthcare software company for defrauding Medicare and other federal healthcare benefit programs out of more than $1 billion.
Discussion:
US Department of Justice, CBS News, The Daily Caller and WLT Report
Rob Flaherty / The Bulwark:
Here's What I Told the DNC Autopsy — YOU MAY HAVE HEARD about the Democratic National Committee “autopsy”—the post-election report commissioned by the DNC in 2025 to examine what went wrong in the 2024 campaign. — And you may have heard that it was never released to the public.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money and Sacramento Bee
Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
Inside Jack Schlossberg's Chaotic Campaign to Revive Camelot — Erratic behavior and staff turnover have colored Mr. Schlossberg's bid for a House seat in New York, raising questions about his readiness for office. — Reviving a political dynasty is best not left to chance.
Paul Krugman:
A Failing, Flailing President Supplicates Xi — One of Donald Trump's signature claims is that Joe Biden made America a “laughing stock”, and that he has made us great again and respected around the world. — Yet this is the opposite of the truth. As a result of Trump's petulant …
Discussion:
Telegraph, BizPac Review, New York Times and MS NOW
Zach Montague / New York Times:
Appeals Court Appears Skeptical of Trump Orders Targeting Law Firms — A three-judge panel showed few signs of siding with the president on his efforts to compel law firms to work for the administration or face threats. — A federal appeals court on Thursday appeared skeptical …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Hill and Reuters
Em Luetkemeyer / NOTUS:
Alleged Embezzler Is Overseeing Rep. Andy Ogles' Legal Defense Fund — Fund trustee James Appel faces charges of stealing from a political committee and a community group to help refinance his yacht. — Copy — The manager for Republican Rep. Andy Ogles' legal defense fund, James Appel …
Discussion:
Staff Stories
Hannah Allam / ProPublica:
Counterterrorism Czar's Blueprint Targets Leftists, Ignores Far-Right Violence and Heaps Praise on Trump — For a year, White House counterterrorism czar Sebastian Gorka promoted the national strategy he was drafting, saying he was pouring his “life's work” into a “massive” …
Discussion:
Techdirt, Straight Arrow News, Digby's Hullabaloo and The Atlantic

