News

NBC News reports: A mind-controlling parasite found in cat feces may give people the courage they need to become entrepreneurs, researchers reported Tuesday. They found that people who have been infected with the Toxoplasma gondii parasite are more likely to major in business and to have started their own businesses than non-infected people. The parasite, which makes rodents unafraid of …

Axios reports: Advisers to President Trump say Joe Biden is the Democrat he most fears running against, and that Pennsylvania is the state he worries most about flipping against him. Trump’s calculation is based partly on how weak he sees other Democratic possibilities, including Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, and partly on who’s capable of appealing to his base of …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was destroyed Wednesday morning by a man with a pickax that witnesses say he carried in a guitar case, police said. Officers were called around 3:30 a.m. to the star’s location on Hollywood Boulevard near Highland Avenue, where they found a small pile of rubble in place …

The Washington Post reports: A cache of documents released by the Commerce Department overnight provides further evidence that Secretary Wilbur Ross was pushing to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census far more actively, and much earlier, than his later sworn testimony indicated. The documents, released as part of a multistate lawsuit against the addition of the question, also …

NewJersey.com reports: In a move that will affect thousands of defendants and millions of residents, New Jersey’s attorney general has announced an immediate adjournment of all marijuana cases in municipal courts statewide until at least September. In a letter to prosecutors obtained exclusively by NJ Advance Media, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal wrote that he was asking “that all …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump’s daughter, is closing her namesake fashion brand, more than a year after she formally separated herself from the company and entered the White House as a senior adviser. Apparel sales at the brand, which Ms. Trump launched in its current form in 2014, soared in the year of the 2016 …

The Huffington Post has published a fascinating/horrifying deep dive into the violent, misogynistic world of so-called incels, men who say they are “involuntarily celibate” because women won’t have sex with them due to their looks. Here’s the opening: It’s late on a Friday, and hundreds of men are browsing the forum Lookism.net. A new member logs on and posts two …

Bloomberg reports: Last week, Airbnb Inc. was dealt one of its biggest blows in the company’s 10-year history. New York City council members voted to require the home-rental company to hand over the names and addresses of its hosts in the city. The officials have said they need the information to police Airbnb hosts that operate illegally and drive up …

USA Today reports: Ahead of a big trade meeting with European officials, President Donald Trump on Tuesday hailed tariffs as both a negotiating tactic and as punishment. The tweet came ahead of his Wednesday meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The two leaders plan to discuss U.S tariffs on aluminum and steel, and Trump’s threat to extend duties to …

Syracuse.com reports: Matt Roberts stood in a corner of the State Dining Room at the White House on Monday, showing samples of his company’s Liberty Tabletop stainless steel silverware, when Rep. Claudia Tenney rushed over with a spoon in her hand. Roberts, president of Sherrill Manufacturing, the Upstate New York firm that’s America’s last flatware maker, looked closely at the …

ABC News reports: Eric Holder is considering a 2020 presidential run. The former attorney general on Monday night told Stephen Colbert, “I’m thinking about it. What I’ve said,” he added, “is that I’d make a determination sometime early next year. My focus, really, now, is on 2018, the midterms and trying to make sure that Democrats take back the Senate, …

The Hill reports: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley kicked off a conservative conference of high school students on Monday by urging attendees to avoid inflammatory language in favor of demonstrating real leadership. “Raise your hand if you’ve ever posted anything online to quote-unquote ‘own the libs,’ ” Haley asked at the High School Leadership Summit at George …

Politico reports: Rand Paul is one of a handful of senators who’ll determine whether Brett Kavanaugh lands on the Supreme Court — and the Kentucky Republican has every intention of maximizing his leverage. Paul is again inviting fellow senators to play the will-he-or-won’t-he guessing game when it comes to his decision — expressing grave concerns about Kavanaugh’s approach to personal …

NBC News reports: The New York Daily News announced on Monday plans to eliminate half of its newsroom as part of a broader effort to refocus the newspaper. Daily News staff was notified of the cuts in an email sent by the company’s human resources department that also detailed a new direction for the paper, with an increased focus on …

The Times Of Israel reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday commended US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for their “strong stance” on Iran, after the American leader fired off an angry tweet threatening the Islamic Republic and his top diplomat compared Tehran’s leadership to a “mafia.” “I would like to praise the strong stance …

ABC News reports: Germany is calling for restraint amid escalating rhetoric between the leaders of Iran and the United States. Foreign Ministry spokesman Christofer Burger told reporters in Berlin on Monday: “We support dialogue and talks, and we call on all sides to exercise restraint and rhetorical disarmament.” President Donald Trump tweeted late Sunday that hostile threats from Iran could …

The Hill reports: A Georgia lawmaker is facing calls to resign after footage of him yelling racial slurs and exposing himself aired on Sacha Baron Cohen’s new show Sunday night. In the latest episode of “Who Is America?,” the comedian plays Israeli military expert Erran Morad, and enlists state Rep. Jason Spencer (R) to film an “anti-terrorism video.” In the …

The Hill reports: Eric Holder is poised to make a late-night TV appearance early next week as chatter swirls that he’s eyeing a 2020 White House run. The former attorney general will sit down with Stephen Colbert on CBS’s “The Late Show” on Monday, the network announced Friday. American Urban Radio Networks’ White House correspondent April Ryan had reported Friday …

TMZ reports: Kristin Davis, the Manhattan Madam who went to prison and was connected to former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, is being subpoenaed in the Robert Mueller investigation, TMZ has learned. Davis worked for former Trump aide Roger Stone for a decade, and had numerous interactions with Stone and Andrew Miller — who ran Davis’ campaign for Governor and …

From RNC chair Ronna Romney McDaniel’s prepared remarks to be delivered today at the Republican summer meeting in Austin, Texas: As RNC Chair, I travel the country. A lot. I see and hear from Americans across this great nation who are all thriving under the leadership of our President, Donald J. Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence. This Administration is …