Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Iran Launches Surprise Missile Attack on U.S. Forces — Strikes came before the U.S. military confirmed joint attacks with Saudi forces on Iran-backed groups in Iraq — Iran launched a surprise ballistic-missile attack on American forces in Jordan, a U.S. official said …
RELATED:
Steff Chávez / Financial Times:
Trump vows to deliver ‘beating’ to Iran in retaliation for latest attack — Washington said Tehran launched ballistic missiles at US military installations in the Middle East — Donald Trump vowed to deliver a “beating” to Iran in retaliation for what he called a “surprise” attack aimed at US military targets in the Middle East.
Discussion:
France 24, BOE Report, Al Jazeera, CNBC, Reuters, Middle East Monitor and Legal Insurrection
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Iran launches missiles at U.S. base for first time since Trump paused strikes
Discussion:
CNBC, CBS News, Washington Times, Politico, NewsMax.com, Reuters, Daily Mail, The Hill, HuffPost, Washington Examiner, Human Events and Scripps News
NBC News:
Anthony Fauci invokes 5th Amendment right not to testify at Covid hearing, calls Sen. Rand Paul ‘unhinged’ — The former top health official said he would invoke his 5th Amendment right not to testify to avoid the possibility that Republicans might try to prosecute him for perjury.
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CNN:
Diary entries, a subpoena and an anticipated clash: Dr. Anthony Fauci and Rand Paul's long-running battle returns to the Hill
Discussion:
Fox News, Forbes, The Hill, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, STAT, Daily Mail, The Preamble, Washington Examiner, UPI, CBS News, The Federalist, NPR and One America News Network
Anna Betts / The Guardian:
Trump administration needs to stop ‘public harassment’ of Fauci and scientists, open letter says
Trump administration needs to stop ‘public harassment’ of Fauci and scientists, open letter says
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Fauci Invokes the Fifth Amendment, Refusing to Answer Senate Committee Questions
Fauci Invokes the Fifth Amendment, Refusing to Answer Senate Committee Questions
New York Times:
Ross Douthat Joins ‘60 Minutes’ as a Correspondent — Mr. Douthat, an opinion columnist at The New York Times, will join the CBS News program, along with several other journalists. — Ross Douthat, an opinion columnist at The New York Times, is leaving to join the CBS News program …
Discussion:
Variety, Reason, Poynter, Raw Story, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New Republic, The Hill, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and Status, more at Mediagazer »
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Oliver Darcy / Status:
Bari's New ‘60’ Slate … On Tuesday afternoon, I received an urgent tip on the encrypted-messaging app Signal: Ross Douthat, the conservative opinion columnist at The New York Times, was set to leave the newspaper and join “60 Minutes.” Initially, I was skeptical.
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Guardian, New York Post, Raw Story, Fox News, CBS News, Deseret News and The Daily Wire
Associated Press:
Senate confirms Jay Clayton as nation's intelligence director — The Senate has confirmed Jay Clayton to become head of the nation's intelligence agencies, putting a permanent director in place weeks after President Donald Trump sought to delay his nomination.
Discussion:
Straight Arrow, NewsMax.com, ABC News, Democracy Docket, Fox News, Federal News Network and Associated Press
RELATED:
Magdalena Del Valle / Bloomberg:
US Senate Confirms Clayton to Replace Pulte as Trump's Spy Chief
US Senate Confirms Clayton to Replace Pulte as Trump's Spy Chief
Discussion:
Breitbart, Joe.My.God., RedState, Roll Call, New York Post, Townhall, Raw Story, NOTUS, GovExec.com and The Hill
Dustin Volz / New York Times:
Senate Confirms Jay Clayton to Lead U.S. Intelligence Community
Senate Confirms Jay Clayton to Lead U.S. Intelligence Community
Discussion:
CNN, New York Sun, Daily Mail, All Rise News, Raw Story, HotAir, The Hill and UPI
Anna Wilde Mathews / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Administration to End Medicare Drug Plan Subsidy — Program that held down premiums not renewed for 2027, resulting in higher costs for some seniors — The Trump administration plans to end a subsidy program that helped hold down premiums for Medicare drug plans …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, New York Times, KFF, New Republic, Centers for Medicare …, Forbes, NewsMax.com, Newsweek, Joe.My.God., Democrats, PoliticusUSA and The Federalist
Stef W. Kight / Axios:
86 senators vote to move forward with Graham Russia sanctions bill — In a massive show of bipartisanship, 86 senators voted to move forward with a Russia and Iran sanctions bill that had been championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. … - The vote was 86-12.
Discussion:
Politico, New York Times, New York Post, Deseret News, The Hill, Associated Press, Fox News, Washington Times, NOTUS, Scripps News, Joe.My.God., ABC News, CNBC, The Guardian, NewsMax.com and Bloomberg
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Politico:
Momentum shifts for Zelenskyy in Washington
Discussion:
NPR, Washington Examiner, The Daily Wire, The Hill, Al Jazeera and NewsMax.com
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Zelensky to Axios: Ukraine needs missile interceptors to head off winter disaster
Zelensky to Axios: Ukraine needs missile interceptors to head off winter disaster
Discussion:
Associated Press, CNN, Breaking Defense, NewsMax.com, Bloomberg and Al Jazeera
Wall Street Journal:
‘YOLO’ Republican Senator Plays Hardball With Trump — John Cornyn once tried to name a highway after the president. Now, he blocks Trump's nominees — WASHINGTON—Less than three months ago, John Cornyn was championing a bill to rename a highway after President Trump.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner
RELATED:
YouGov:
Trump's job approval hits record low, driven down by Gen X, white Americans, and Independents — Americans' approval of Donald Trump's job performance continues to decline, according to the July 25 - 27 Economist / YouGov Poll. 34% of U.S. adult citizens strongly or somewhat approve …
Discussion:
Newsweek, The Independent and The Hill
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Ariel Edwards-Levy / CNN:
CNN Poll: Americans doubt Trump is paying enough attention to the country's most important problems — A record-high 73% of US adults say that President Donald Trump hasn't paid enough attention to the country's most important problems, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds, with just 27% saying he's had the right priorities.
Discussion:
Louder With Crowder, The Hill, HuffPost and The Independent
Thomas Frank / Politico:
Trump overrode his own agencies to deny four Democratic disaster requests — President Donald Trump overruled his own agencies when he denied disaster aid for four Democratic-led states this month. — Emails between state and federal officials obtained by POLITICO along with more than 150 pages …
Discussion:
MS NOW and New Republic
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Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
Why Do We Tolerate Elon Musk's Racist Commentary? — “The Turner Diaries” is a work of white supremacist agitprop. It purports to be the diary of a neo-Nazi militant, Earl Turner, who is working to overthrow the United States government — or as the book calls it, “the System” — through a group called “the Organization.”
Discussion:
The New World
Abbie VanSickle / New York Times:
Trump Asks Supreme Court to Overturn $83.3 Million Award in Carroll Defamation Case — President Trump paid E. Jean Carroll more than $5 million from a 2023 lawsuit, but he is now asking the court to overturn a much larger award that a jury ordered him to pay in 2024 for defaming her.
Discussion:
SCOTUSblog, NBC News, Washington Post, Reuters, NewsMax.com, Bloomberg, CNBC and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Mark Price / The Charlotte Observer:
ICE agents target NC's Pisgah National Forest and make multiple arrests, feds say — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has extended its reach into North Carolina's wilderness areas to find people suspected of living in the country illegally. — On Sunday, multiple arrests …
Discussion:
American Greatness
Praveena Somasundaram / Washington Post:
Conservatives tout Biden tapes as proof of his decline. The audio is more nuanced. — Audio of Joe Biden's interviews with a ghostwriter in 2016 and 2017 show him referencing classified materials and occasionally struggling to recall details. — Summary
Discussion:
New York Post, Blaze Media, NewsMax.com, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, New York Times, The Federalist, Breitbart, One America News Network, Ace of Spades HQ, Scripps News, The Hill, RedState, TMZ.com, Associated Press, Fox News, The Daily Wire, CBS News, The Independent, New York Sun, BBC, The Guardian, The Oversight Project, The Post Millennial, Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Mail, Bloomberg and Townhall
MS NOW:
Comey asks judge to ‘86’ seashells case, alleges he was surveilled at Trump's direction — In his motion to dismiss charges that he threatened the president by posting a photo of seashells, the former FBI director claims that he had been surveilled by U.S. Secret Service.
Discussion:
Politico, Associated Press, CBS News, NBC News, Raw Story, Breitbart and Daily Mail
New York Times:
Domestic Abuse Allegations Rock an Ohio House Race — Representative Max Miller, a Republican, is facing accusations of abuse from his ex-wife in a bitter family feud that might put his otherwise safe seat in play. — A sordid, yearslong family drama involving two powerful Republican members …
Discussion:
Zeteo, Raw Story, Staff Stories, Newsweek and Rolling Stone
NewsMax.com:
News Details — Newsmax and Meta Enter AI Content Partnership — BOCA RATON, FL / ACCESS Newswire / July 28, 2026 / Newsmax Inc. (NYSE:NMAX) ("Newsmax" or the “Company") announced today that the Company has entered into an AI content partnership with Meta Platforms ("Meta").
emptywheel:
Todd Blanche Colluded with Italian Mafiosos ... and Also Rudy Guiliani ... to Indict Jim Comey — Jim Comey has filed his pretrial motions. The memoranda and backup for each are here (I'll add more of the exhibits to Fitzgerald's affidavit in a bit; his exhibit is a worthwhile place to start):
Discussion:
Civil Discourse …
Adam Edelman / NBC News:
Francesca Hong avoids attacks as Wisconsin Democrats meet for an amicable governor debate — Amid a volatile race that's seen the democratic socialist rise in the polls, Tuesday's debate largely focused on the policy agreements between the five candidates. — The five Democratic candidates …
Discussion:
The Hill, JSOnline, FOX6 News Milwaukee, WPR, Wisconsin Examiner, Newsweek, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and Urban Milwaukee
Liz Dye / Public Notice:
Harmeet Dhillon demonstrates danger of posting through it — This edition of PN is made possible by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 🫵 Subscribe to PN 🫵 … On October 3, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division …
CNBC:
Elon Musk's xAI sues Minnesota over law to ban ‘nudify’ apps … Elon Musk's xAI, now owned by SpaceX, sued Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to challenge a law that would ban so-called nudify apps in the state. — In their complaint, filed in a federal court in Minnesota on Monday …
Discussion:
MPR News, Gizmodo and Eschaton, more at Techmeme »
New York Times:
ICE Arrests Surge at Airports, Opening New Front in Deportation Drive — Federal agents are arresting spouses of Americans, tech workers and others whose visas have expired, including many who have active applications to stay in the country. — The Trump administration …
Discussion:
NOTUS, CNN, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, NewsMax.com and Washington Examiner
Adeel Hassan / New York Times:
A U.S. Citizen Deleted His Phone's Data. Now He Faces a Felony Charge. — Federal prosecutors charged a man returning to the United States with obstruction because he gave them a passcode that erased his smartphone during a customs search. — It sounds like something that James Bond would use …
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.
Hannah Fingerhut / Associated Press:
Obama endorses Iowa Democrat Turek for the US Senate in a video of them playing basketball — Iowa Democrat Josh Turek got an assist Wednesday from former President Barack Obama, who endorsed his bid to flip a Republican-held U.S. Senate seat in a video of the two shooting hoops.
New York Times:
Trump's Tariffs Are Sending Some Companies Back to China … Workers at factories in China and Thailand assembling and testing flashlights for sale to American customers.Videos by Lauren DeCicca and Qilai Shen — On a dusty piece of land south of Bangkok, a flashlight factory stands full of promise.
Discussion:
Bloomberg
Theodore Schleifer / New York Times:
Can Anyone Spare a Buck for Texas? — One of America's most competitive Senate races features a surprising dynamic: No Republicans are spending money yet. — By THEODORE SCHLEIFER — TIMESVIDEO


