The Hill reports: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson doubled-down Monday on his description of slaves as immigrants, arguing that the label fits anyone who comes into a country from the outside – even “involuntary immigrants.” “I think people need to actually look up the word immigrant,” Carson said. “Whether you’re voluntary or involuntary, if you come from the …

The New York Daily News reports: Blaming Obama and tweeting false facts — it’s Tuesday morning on Twitter with President Trump. Trump in a tweet inaccurately blamed former President Obama for releasing “122 vicious prisoners” from Guantanamo Bay — something the previous President did not even come close to doing. In fact, U.S. intelligence data shows it is former President …

This morning GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz conceded that the GOP’s “Trumpcare” will result will result in less coverage for Americans. Mediaite reports: “Americans have choices and they’ve got to make a choice and so maybe rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and they want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest …

The Huffington Post reports: The American Civil Liberties Union will not be able to recoup legal fees it incurred in a lawsuit against Kim Davis, the county clerk in Kentucky who spent five days in jail after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a federal court has ruled. On Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward Atkins denied an ACLU …

From Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: Trumpcare doesn’t replace the Affordable Care Act, it forces millions of Americans to pay more for less care. This plan would cut and cap Medicaid, defund Planned Parenthood, and force Americans, particularly older Americans, to pay more out of pocket for their medical care all so insurance companies can pad their bottom line. It …

The Daily Beast reports: While speaking with his employees on Monday, Ben Carson made a baffling claim that seemingly likened slaves to immigrants. Calling the United States a “land of dreams and opportunity,” the newly confirmed housing and urban development secretary said, “There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder …

The Charlotte Observer reports: The Trump administration is taking steps to drop the federal government’s legal fight against House Bill 2. The Justice Department wrote in a motion last week that it needs time to rethink its 2016 request to halt North Carolina’s requirement that transgender people use restrooms in many public buildings corresponding to the sex on their birth …

White House press secretary Sean Spicer got bitchy with reporters today when they questioned Trump’s relentless attacks on the media and his baseless wiretapping claims. Today’s press gaggle was again held without cameras present, but PBS live-streamed the audio. Raw Story reports: “People start taking things as fact because a series of off-the-record and anonymous sources … We have started …

Mediaite reports: Media reports over the weekend that President Donald Trump was in a cranky mood seemed to be confirmed after CNN released dramatic video of an Oval Office argument between White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon and the president. Although Trump himself does not appear on the film, the footage shows Bannon in the Oval Office gesticulating forcefully. The …

Vulture reports: Warm up the lube, because Logo is gearing up for its latest reality-TV show offering, Fire Island, brought to you by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos’s production company Milojo. The series follows six friends (or, whatever) with active social-media accounts as they summer in the most libidinal place on earth. They’re led by Khasan, a backup dancer who …

The Week reports: Gold Star father Khizr Khan has canceled an upcoming speech in Toronto after being told that his “travel privileges are being reviewed,” CTV’s Rosa Hwang reports. Khan and his wife were born in Pakistan, but Khizr has been an American citizen for more than 30 years. The Khans famously accused President Trump of having “sacrificed nothing and …

Politico reports: Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said Monday he had not seen any evidence that the Obama administration wiretapped Trump Tower and the Trump administration would have evidence if this surveillance did occur. “I don’t think the FBI is the Obama team and I don’t think the men and women who are career prosecutors at DOJ belong to any …

Via press release: This morning, Family Research Council (FRC) welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court’s announcement that the court is vacating and remanding the case of Gloucester County School Board v. G.G to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. The announcement came after the Justice Department and Department of Education issued new guidance rescinding an Obama administration edict to force schools …

Peter Montgomery reports at Right Wing Watch: Dominionist Lou Engle, known for organizing large prayer rallies under the banner of “The Call,” is sounding an “urgent call” for a three-day fast to break the “unprecedented global summons of witchcraft to curse President Trump, his Cabinet and all of those aligned with a biblical worldview.” Jennifer LeClaire wrote about a globally …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump signed a revised executive order on Monday banning citizens from six Muslim-majority nations from traveling to the United States but removing Iraq from the list, after his controversial first attempt was blocked in the courts. The new order, which the White House said Trump had signed, keeps a 90-day ban on travel to the United …

From the Consumer Reports company blog: In our recent CR Consumer Voices survey, 65 percent of Americans told us they are either slightly or not at all confident that their personal data is private and not distributed without their knowledge. We think it’s unfair and unrealistic to expect consumers to constantly play defense when the products and services they use …

The Raleigh News & Observer reports: Protesters who damage property or block traffic could face tougher penalties under a criminal offense called “economic terrorism” proposed last week in North Carolina’s legislature. The bill from several N.C. House Republicans comes months after Charlotte faced weeks of protests following the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. While most of the protesters were …

The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would not hear a major case on transgender rights after all, acting after the Trump administration changed the federal government’s position on whether public schools had to allow transgender youths to use bathrooms that matched their gender identities. In a one-sentence order, the Supreme Court vacated an …

Last year GOP now-former Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva, who held official town hall meetings at an anti-gay megachurch and who ceremoniously gave the key to the city to God (who did not attend), was arrested on multiple charges including secretly recording a male teenager playing a game of strip poker in his bedroom at a summer camp. Silva beat those …

Pink News reports: The junior party in the ruling coalition in Germany has announced a new bid for same-sex marriage. The Social Democrats (SPD), the junior party in coalition with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats announced the new bid on Sunday. Accoring to Thomas Oppermann, the parliamentary leader for the SDP, the Green Party will also push for the move. Oppermann …