Top Items:
New York Times:
Number of U.S. Troop Deaths Suddenly Appears Lower on Pentagon Website — Three military officials and a Pentagon spokesman gave conflicting explanations for why the number of Americans killed in the Iran war had changed. — On Wednesday, the Pentagon reported on its casualties website …
Discussion:
MS NOW, The Bulwark, The Guardian, Daily Mail, New Republic, Joe.My.God., CNBC, Wonkette, Washington Examiner and Steady
RELATED:
William Vaillancourt / The Daily Beast:
Pentagon Pete Strips Fallen Heroes of Status as War Dead
Pentagon Pete Strips Fallen Heroes of Status as War Dead
Discussion:
The Independent and Raw Story
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
Poll: These Americans say they'd be disenfranchised by Trump's election law — Few Americans have heard a lot about the provisions of the SAVE Act. Support declines the more someone hears about it … The “SAVE America” Act, a bill in Congress championed by Donald Trump …
Discussion:
ABC News
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Lisa Needham / Public Notice:
MAGA's “pasta pass” talking point is height of gaslighting — PN is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 🥖 Subscribe to PN 🥖 — It looks like Republicans settled on a talking point about why the SAVE America Act is totally necessary …
Becky Bohrer / Associated Press:
Alaska sends 3,000 letters asking voters to verify their citizenship ahead of this year's elections
Discussion:
Washington Examiner
Nathan Lee / ABC News:
Trump-backed SAVE Act is newest effort to collect private voter information
Trump-backed SAVE Act is newest effort to collect private voter information
Discussion:
Newsweek
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Is Losing Patience Over an Iran War With No Clear End in Sight — President has grown skeptical of diplomacy and is in ‘revenge mode’ against Tehran, according to a senior administration official — WASHINGTON—President Trump was fed up. — During a recent meeting in the Oval Office …
Discussion:
Axios, HotAir, The Wrap, New Republic, Raw Story, Middle East Monitor, Foreign Policy, Truthout and Eschaton
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Paul Krugman:
Quagmire of the Vanities — Yesterday Donald Trump declared that the Iran war is going “better than anybody expected could be done.” He's delusional, of course. And his delusions are the reason the price of oil is back at around $100 a barrel, and — as I'll explain shortly — the effective price is much higher than that.
Discussion:
Politico, Associated Press, The Guardian, New York Times, Scripps News and Reuters
Evan Halper / Washington Post:
Why this gas price surge could be different
Why this gas price surge could be different
Discussion:
The Independent, Raw Story, abc7NY, 19FortyFive and Reuters
Politico:
‘A circular firing squad’: Senate GOP pushes back on Trump's tiff with Thune — President Donald Trump is escalating his war of words against Senate Majority Leader John Thune. He's still not likely to get what he wants. — Trump on Wednesday told rally-goers in Georgia to “call John Thune” …
Discussion:
MS NOW, The Hill, Raw Story, NOTUS, Washington Examiner, NewsMax.com, New York Times, The Independent, New York Sun, Fox News, PoliticusUSA and The Daily Wire
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New Republic:
Angry Trump Openly Urges GOP to Rig Midterms as Brutal Fox Poll Hits — Donald Trump exploded at Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Wednesday, taking the extraordinary step of demanding during a rally that Thune hurry up and railroad GOP holdouts to pass the horrific voter suppression bill known as the SAVE Act.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Washington Examiner and Politico
Robert A. Pape / Foreign Affairs:
Iran and the New Rules of Global Power — The Making and Unmaking of American Dominance — Robert A. Pape — On the night of January 17, 1991, television viewers around the world watched something they had never seen before. Against the backdrop of a black sky illuminated by antiaircraft fire …
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
US, Iran Exchange Strikes as Trump Mulls Wider Offensive
Discussion:
The Free Press, Straight Arrow, New Republic, CBS News, UPI, New York Post, NewsMax.com, The Guardian, Forbes, Al Jazeera, CNN, Reuters and New York Times
Filip Timotija / The Hill:
GOP hawks urge Trump to go big as he weighs ‘massive attack’ on Iran
GOP hawks urge Trump to go big as he weighs ‘massive attack’ on Iran
Discussion:
CNBC, NewsMax.com, Washington Examiner, The Guardian, Joe.My.God. and Axios
Chris Geidner / Law Dork:
Thursday was the worst day for DOJ. So far. — The degradation of the Justice Department in the second Trump administration is clear, is having immediate effects, and will have long-term effects. Just how degraded DOJ has become was on full display in the Southern District of New York on Thursday.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Courthouse News Service, emptywheel, UPI, NOTUS, All Rise News and Lawyers, Guns & Money
RELATED:
Michael Calderone / New York Magazine:
Trump Press Attacks Loom Over White House Correspondents' Dinner Do-over
Discussion:
Straight Arrow, Al Jazeera, Deadline, NOTUS, News Talk 105.9, The Contrarian, Poynter and NPR
Associated Press:
Government withdraws subpoenas of 3 reporters for The New York Times after admitting legal errors
Government withdraws subpoenas of 3 reporters for The New York Times after admitting legal errors
Discussion:
NPR, American Prospect, CNBC, CBS News, Poynter, ABC News, Fox News, The Bulwark, PoliticusUSA, CNN, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, MS NOW, Deadline, Washington Examiner, The Independent, The Guardian, The Wrap, NBC News, Bloomberg, Straight Arrow, The Hill, Axios, Raw Story, All Rise News, New Republic and Joe.My.God., more at Mediagazer »
Natasha Sarin / New York Times:
Trump's Tariff Runaround Defies the Courts and Common Sense — Effective tariff rates are going to change on Friday for the 45th time in the last 18 months — an average of once every 12 days. Rates will ratchet up yet again next month if President Trump's recently announced 50 percent levy on some Canadian goods goes into effect.
Discussion:
NPR, Asia Times, Newsweek, NewsMax.com, Christian Science Monitor and Washington Post
RELATED:
Ana Swanson / New York Times:
Trump Administration Imposed New Tariffs of Around 10% on Over 80 Nations
Discussion:
HotAir, Reuters, CNBC, Reason, Executive Functions, SCOTUSblog, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, CBS News and Bloomberg
Associated Press:
Trump imposes double-digit tariffs on dozens of countries as his 10% levies are set to expire Friday
Trump imposes double-digit tariffs on dozens of countries as his 10% levies are set to expire Friday
Discussion:
Bloomberg, New York Times, Townhall, The Hill, CNN, Washington Post, CBS News, DeLong's Grasping …, The Guardian, New Republic, Axios, Straight Arrow, NBC News, NPR, The Dispatch, nltimes.nl, Reuters, Al Jazeera, The Maine Wire, Forbes, HuffPost, News Talk 105.9, Semafor, UPI, Washington Times, New York Post, RTÉ, SABC News, Joe.My.God., United States Trade …, NOTUS, Business Insider, Washington Examiner, Greek City Times, Heatmap News and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Emily Davies / New York Times:
How a Grieving Trump Decided to Back Lindsey Graham's Sister for Senate — The president initially backed a little-known congressman. Then he talked to Gov. Henry McMaster and Ms. Graham herself. — The morning after Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina died, President Trump floated …
Discussion:
New York Magazine and Joe.My.God.
RELATED:
Alex Isenstadt / Axios:
Republicans skeptical Darline Graham can win a full Senate term … As Graham's temporary replacement, she's a symbol of the political brand he built over more than two decades in the Senate. … - South Carolina's rapidly approaching Aug. 11 primary has become a test of whether those advantages …
Discussion:
NewsMax.com
Status:
Vega Breaks Her Silence … On Thursday evening, Cecilia Vega, the first Latina correspondent on “60 Minutes” who was inexplicably fired by CBS News boss Bari Weiss, took the stage in New Orleans at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Conference & Expo.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Raw Story, The Wrap and Lawyers, Guns & Money, more at Mediagazer »
Washington Post:
CDC expands largest known U.S. cyclospora outbreak to 9 states — The newly linked states — Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania — join Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. — Summary — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked four additional states …
Discussion:
CBS News, The Guardian and Los Angeles Times
RELATED:
Jessie Blaeser / Politico:
Poll: Republicans' gas price problem is even worse than it seems — Gas prices are high. Americans think they're even higher. — Three in five Americans believe gas prices in their area have risen by more than they actually have, according to an analysis of new results from The POLITICO Poll.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner and New York Times
Natalie Allison / Washington Post:
Knives are out for Vance in the GOP. His allies say it's a coordinated ‘op.’ — The vice president has faced a barrage of attacks recently that are unusual for their intensity and how early in the political calendar they are taking place. — Summary — As JD Vance prepares …
Discussion:
NewsMax.com, Wall Street Journal, No More Mister Nice Blog and Raw Story
Nick Corasaniti / New York Times:
Democrats Prepare for Possible Election Clashes With Federal Government — Top officials overseeing state elections and law enforcement are stepping up plans to prepare for what they worry could be interference in the midterms. — Democratic state officials are ramping up their preparations …
Ariella Noveck / Washington Examiner:
The Mamdani Left isn't governing — it's clout-chasing — There was a time when politicians sought headlines because they had accomplished something. Today, too many seek headlines simply to become the story. — America has entered the age of performative politics, where performance too often eclipses public service.
Majid Rafizadeh / Washington Examiner:
The hanging of an Iranian activist exposes a regime at the end of its rope — Iran's judiciary announced on Wednesday that it had executed 26-year-old Mehdi Khanaki, a law graduate accused of active participation in the nationwide January 2026 uprising and membership in what the authorities described as a “terrorist group.”
Associated Press:
Laura Loomer meets Zelenskyy in Ukraine after her major reversal on the war — Laura Loomer, an ardent ally of President Donald Trump with a reputation for incendiary social media commentary, sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday after a dramatic turnaround …
Discussion:
The Hill, The Guardian, Financial Times, The Independent, Semafor and Al Jazeera
NOTUS:
Democrats Lock Back In on Maine — Maine Democrats are on track to select a new Senate candidate later this week. Their likely pick? A former state lawmaker who lost the party's recent gubernatorial primary, has no federal political experience and has only three months to assemble a campaign against a 30-year Republican incumbent.
Discussion:
ABC News, Talking Points Memo, HuffPost, American Prospect, Raw Story and NPI's Cascadia Advocate
Philip Marcelo / Associated Press:
Next stop, Trump Station? Administration wants to rename New York's Penn Station — Will President Donald Trump 's name grace one of the most famous — and sometimes maligned — landmarks in his hometown of New York City? The Republican administration this week urged leading U.S. Senators …
Discussion:
New York Daily News, New Republic, New York Post, Raw Story, Gothamist and The Independent
Rachel Louise Snyder / New York Times:
I Visited the Evidence of Epstein's Crimes — The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room recently came to Washington. The pop-up exhibition displays 3,437 bound volumes of 800 pages each — representing the Epstein files that have been released so far.

