Politico reports: President Donald Trump once again on Tuesday blamed Democrats in the Senate for the slow pace of confirmation of his nominees, accusing the minority party of engaging in obstruction even though its votes are not needed in order for the president’s picks for key government jobs to win approval. “The Senate Democrats have only confirmed 48 of 197 …

NBC News reports: The Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. during the presidential campaign denied in an exclusive interview with NBC News that she had any connection to the Kremlin and insists she met with President Donald Trump’s son to press her client’s interest in the Magnitsky Act — not to hand over information about Hillary Clinton’s campaign. …

The Hill reports: Tech companies and activists will be mobilizing supporters of the net neutrality rules on Wednesday for an online “day of action.” Many websites that have signed up for the demonstration will show their support for net neutrality by displaying “alerts,” warning the public about how the internet could change if the rules are rolled back. The protest …

Reuters reports: Donald Trump Jr. has hired a lawyer to represent him in Russia-related investigations, his office and the lawyer said on Monday, as Republicans voiced concern about a meeting between the U.S. president’s son and a Russian. Trump Jr. hired New York lawyer Alan Futerfas, who specializes in criminal defense. Futerfas would not say when he was retained or …

In a lengthy excerpt from his coming book, Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency, Joshua Green unveils this tidbit: Although Trump didn’t dwell on policy details, Bannon pitched in there, too. When Trump came under fire because his campaign hadn’t produced a single policy paper, Bannon arranged for Nunberg and Ann Coulter, the conservative …

“It must be so frustrating for Democrats not to have any low hanging fruit. They’re grasping now. They’re really grasping. She is there in a capacity of someone who has run a very successful corporation and her items are selling by the way, hot online.” – Fox News panelist Harris Faulkner, defending Ivanka Trump taking her father’s seat at the …

Raw Story reports: Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) thinks it’s time for Donald Trump Jr. to talk with the Senate Intelligence Committee. Collins told Bloomberg reporter Steven Dennis on Monday that she wanted Trump Jr. to talk with the Senate Intel Committee about his interactions with a Russian lawyer who promised him dirt on former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The …

The Intercept reports: Not long before a major crisis ripped through the Middle East, pitting the United States and a bloc of Gulf countries against Qatar, Jared Kushner’s real estate company had unsuccessfully sought a critical half-billion-dollar investment from one of the richest and most influential men in the tiny nation, according to three well-placed sources with knowledge of the …

NPR reports: Scientists are about to get an up-close and personal look at the planet Jupiter’s most famous landmark, the Great Red Spot. NASA’s Juno spacecraft will be directly over the spot shortly after 10 p.m. ET Monday, July 10, about 5,600 miles above the gas giant’s cloud tops. That’s closer than any spacecraft has been before. The spot is …

Reuters reports: The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday said it had filed a lawsuit against U.S. President Donald Trump’s election commission, saying it had failed to follow federal law governing public access and transparency for such advisory groups. The ACLU said in a statement that the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity had already held its first meeting without …

The BBC reports: A Conservative MP has been suspended from the party after it emerged she used a racist expression during a public discussion about Brexit. Anne Marie Morris, the MP for Newton Abbott, used the phrase at an event in London to describe the prospect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal. She told the BBC: “The …

From the Catholic news site Tablet: The Church of England has passed a motion on welcoming transgender people at their General Synod. Members of Synod, meeting in York from 7 – 10 July, supported a call for the House of Bishops to consider preparing nationally commended liturgical materials to mark a person’s gender transition. The motion also recognises the “need …

The New York Post reports: Snortable chocolate is so dangerous that its health effects must be investigated by the feds, Sen. Charles Schumer is urging. Coco Loko — a raw cacao powder infused with a “special energy blend” — is marketed like a drug and should be closely regulated, Schumer demanded in a letter to the Food and Drug Administration …

The Hill reports: A campaign committee has formally filed to draft actor and former WWE wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for president. “Run the Rock 2020,” the name of the official organization, was filed on behalf of Johnson with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Sunday, according to FEC records. Johnson has long joked about a White House bid, playing …

Gay Star News reports: A rugby player proposed to his boyfriend in an adorable moment at Pride in London this weekend. The London-based Kings Cross Steelers are a regular fixture in the parade every year since it was founded in 1995. But during a mock line-out, Fernando Ferreira got up and walked over to the barricade where his boyfriend, Greg …

The New York Daily News reports: More John 3:16, less Glock-22. Florida’s Turnpike was the site of an unholy showdown last week when a North Carolina priest allegedly leveled his handgun at two people in another vehicle in a road rage incident. Rather than turn the other cheek, William Rian Adams, the rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Fletcher, N.C., …

The Washington Post reports: In an interview, Spicer denounced Acosta in some of the harshest terms a press secretary has used — at least in public — to refer to a reporter. “If Jim Acosta reported on Jim Acosta the way he reports on us, he’d say he hasn’t been very honest,” Spicer said. “I think he’s gone well beyond …

Via Breitbart: Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Alabama, is threatening to shut the government down in the U.S. Senate if his colleagues do not fund President Donald J. Trump’s planned border wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Mo Brooks, one of three major candidates in the race to succeed now Attorney General Jeff …

The Washington Post reports: The Kremlin on Monday said it was unaware of a 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer purported to have information that could potentially damage Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. President Trump’s eldest son said Sunday that Natalia Veselnitskaya, who represents business executives close to the Russian government had approached him in June 2016, …

The Hill reports: A new analysis of health insurers’ financial data finds that ObamaCare markets are “stabilizing” and insurers are regaining profitability. The study from the Kaiser Family Foundation contrasts with Republican arguments that ObamaCare markets are in a “death spiral” and “collapsing,” frequently cited as showing why the law needs to be repealed. “Early results from 2017 suggest the …