Last night hate group leader Tony Perkins issued a lengthy raging attack on anybody who dares to even casually observe the supreme irony in Steve Scalise having had his life saved by a married black lesbian. He writes: If there was hope that the Left would tone down its rhetoric after last Wednesday’s shooting, they’ve been quickly dashed. Thanks to …

The Atlantic reports: Instead of canceling them entirely, the White House has appeared to embrace a different strategy: simply downgrading them bit by bit, from “briefings” to “gaggles,” and from on-camera to off-camera. Guidance for the briefings have begun to include a note that audio from them cannot be used. Additionally, though Trump has held short press conferences when foreign …

The clips may not be work-friendly. Playbill reports: Broadway Bares: Strip U, the 27th edition of the annual burlesque-style fundraiser in New York, earned $1,568,114, a jump from last year’s $1,482,724 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, but slightly down from 2015’s record-breaking total of $1,598,501. Attendees watched 181 of the hottest male and female dancers in New York City—joined by …

The Guardian reports: A Russian law that bans gay “propaganda” encourages homophobia and discrimination, the European court of human rights has ruled, in a sharply worded rebuke to the Kremlin. Three Russian gay rights activists brought the case against the 2013 federal statute, widely known as the “gay propaganda” law, after they were arrested between 2009-12 for protesting against local …

This morning Politico published a longread interview with Jill Stein. An excerpt: Had a few thousand votes in key Midwestern states gone to Hillary Clinton instead of Jill Stein, many on the left believe, America might be having a very different conversation today. Instead, Democrats are still fuming about the role the Green Party nominee may have played in electing …

The Minneapolis CBS affiliate reports: Minneapolis mayoral candidate Tom Hoch is hitting the airwaves this week with an attention-grabbing television ad. The unusual ad introduces Hoch to Minneapolis voters in a humorous way, highlighting his same-sex marriage. Hoch’s husband is featured introducing him to voters. The Hoch for Mayor ad is a twist on a typical political storyline: the affectionate, …

Politico reports: White House press secretary Sean Spicer is leading a search for his own replacement at the briefing room podium as part of a larger plan to shake up the White House communications operations, according to two people with knowledge of the effort. Last week, Spicer and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus reached out to Fox News …

Somebody is very worried: President Trump on Monday called out Democrat Jon Ossoff for living outside of the sixth Congressional district in Georgia where he is running for a House seat. Trump’s criticism of Ossoff comes on the eve of the closely watched special election in Georgia to fill the seat vacated by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. …

The International Business Times reports: If Donald Trump were impeached, as some Democrats would like, Mike Pence “would be worse” for domestic policy than the current president, U.S. Sen. Al Franken told International Business Times. But the vice president would be less dangerous on foreign policy, said Franken. “Pence ran the transition and some of the very worst nominees, I …

The right wing Daily Caller reports: CNN’s Jim Acosta is incredibly frustrated with the communications team in Trump’s White House, arguing on Monday that the non-answers, off-camera briefings, and stonewalling does a disservice to the American people. On Monday, press secretary Sean Spicer opted to hold a press gaggle off-camera with no audio, leaving correspondents to work only with transcripts. …

The New York Daily News reports: Conversion therapy that aims to turn gay people straight would be banned in New York under a new bill in the City Council. The proposal — sponsored by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, and being fast-tracked to a hearing Monday — would make it illegal for anyone to charge a fee to perform therapy to …

The Hill reports: The top White House spokesman on Monday did not directly answer a question about whether President Trump supports Rod Rosenstein amid speculation that the deputy attorney general may have to recuse himself from overseeing an investigation into Russian election meddling. “The president has confidence in everyone who serves in this administration,” press secretary Sean Spicer said when …

The Texas Tribune reports: The “bathroom bill” that preoccupied the Texas Legislature for the first half of the year is important to only 44 percent of the state’s voters — and “very important” to only 26 percent, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. During the regular session, lawmakers considered but did not pass legislation that would regulate …

CNBC reports: With the government still using floppy disks and checking for Y2K compliance, the private sector’s creativity will help move the Trump administration past the turn of the century, according to Jared Kushner. Major technology executives met with Kushner on Monday to gather ideas for modernizing the government. Kushner, who is also President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, helps lead the …

Australia’s Daily Telegraph reports: As a coach on The Voice, Boy George is encouraging his artists to find a new meaning when covering iconic pop songs and it seems the Culture Club front man has been taking his own advice. The ’80s pop icon has rerecorded the Village People classic YMCA in order to shine a light on issues important …

Hemant Mehta writes at The Friendly Atheist: Remember in the Bible when Noah battled a dinosaur in an arena? Answers in Genesis does. Or at least they have no problem promoting it in a book about how “God shapes [Noah] into the man who eventually saves humanity’s future.” I would tell you this is a work of fiction… but isn’t …

The New York Daily News reports: Chaffetz is checked out. With less than two weeks left before his early exit from Congress, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) trashed President Trump and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a no-holds-barred interview. Chaffetz — an ardent Obama critic who withdrew his Trump endorsement weeks before the 2016 election — said he thinks the …

Politico reports: When President Donald Trump wrote online last week that “I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director,” it was not an admission that he is indeed being investigated, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said Monday morning, but instead a Twitter-shortened reaction to media coverage of ongoing probes into his 2016 campaign. Conway’s insistence Monday morning that …

Right wing bloviator Erick Erickson writes: There is only a one way street and the crowd that demands tolerance only wants tolerance for themselves. All others must be silenced. The political left is becoming the American ISIS. But let’s not excuse the right. Increasingly, there are those on the right who think they have to behave exactly as the left …

The Moscow Times reports: A religious leader for Russia’s Old Believers has called on Russian men to stop shaving to “protect themselves from homosexuality.” Metropolitan Kornily, Primate of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church (RPSC), said that men with beards were less likely “corrupted” by same-sex relationships. “God set down certain rules. The Lord created everyone with a beard. No …