The Guardian reports: Donald Trump has said he believes Vladimir Putin spoke genuinely when the Russian president denied meddling in last year’s US election. “He said he didn’t meddle. He said he didn’t meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times. I just asked him again. He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. …

The Philly Voice reports: The beating of a gay couple three years ago in Center City, which resulted in the high-profile trial of defendant Kathryn Knott, settled a civil suit against their attackers this week. Andrew Haught and Zachary Hesse sought more than $500,000 against Knott, Kevin Harrigan and Philip Williams in an assault and battery lawsuit filed in May …

The Associated Press took aim at homocon site Gateway Pundit today in their weekly debunking of fake news. They write: NOT REAL: One Year Ago Hillary Clinton Became First Losing Presidential Candidate in 50 Years to Not Concede in Public Speech THE FACTS: Clinton gave a public concession speech the morning after Election Day, although she did not take the …

The New York Daily News reports: Breakfast at Tiffany’s turned into lunch for hundreds of hungry diners Friday as the famed boutique’s new café struggled to meet demand on its opening day. A crush of well-heeled customers greeted the opening of the 40-seat Blue Box Café, the first restaurant for the 180-year-old luxury jeweler on Fifth Ave. At 10 a.m., …

The Associated Press reports: A Marine Corps drill instructor was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for choking, punching or otherwise tormenting recruits, especially three Muslims — one of whom ultimately killed himself by leaping down a stairwell. A military jury handed out the punishment to Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Felix a day after convicting him of abusing more than …

The Daily Beast reports: A day after explosive allegations of sexual assault surfaced against Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore, the Republican Party’s senate campaign arm has severed financial ties with the embattled former state supreme court justice. A joint fundraising committee benefitting Moore and a handful of Republican Party organs filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Friday removing …

Buzzfeed News reports: Moore and Democrat Doug Jones are tied at 46% in the survey, which was conducted Thursday by Opinion Savvy and commissioned by Decision Desk HQ in the aftermath of a bombshell Washington Post report in which the accuser, now 53, went on record with her story. The results also suggested that a write-in campaign by another Republican …

The Colorado Times reports: A conservative rabbi speaking at Wednesday’s Religious Freedom rally on behalf of baker Jack Phillips called same-sex couples “an abomination” and justified discrimination against them by comparing them to space aliens who “aren’t human beings.” The rabbi is with the Coalition For Jewish Values. Here’s a bit of the transcript from his speech:  Let’s imagine E.T. …

The Washington Examiner reports: A federal judge in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a case Thursday which would have compelled the State Department and the U.S. archivist to continue searching for emails from Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state in which she used a private email server and address. The case, brought by Cause of …

Talking Points Memo reports: Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the role played by former national security adviser Michael Flynn in an alleged plot to forcibly remove a Muslim cleric living legally in the U.S. to Turkey in exchange for millions of dollars, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The alleged plot described by the Journal involves a direct quid …

CNN reports: Jerry Moore firmly denied the allegations against his brother and drew an analogy between his situation and the persecution of Jesus Christ, CNN’s Martin Savidge reported Friday in an interview with CNN’s John Berman. Moore also claimed that the Democratic Party was behind what he called “false allegations,” and that “these women are going to, as [Moore] put …

The Hill reports: Host Sean Hannity asked Mercedes Colwin, a manager partner of the law firm Gordon & Rees in New York, how common it is for women to make up harassment allegations for money or “political reasons.” “There are individuals that’ll come forward with these outrageous allegations,” Colwin replied. Hannity argued that those making allegations that are unfounded hurt …

Vanity Fair reports: For all the norms and traditions and basic standards of human behavior Donald Trump has broken in his 10 months as president, there is one pastime he couldn’t get away from. At the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, held this year in Vietnam, Trump donned an oversize, bright blue, traditional Vietnam shirt alongside his fellow world leaders …

CNN reports: When Senate leaders planned an event Thursday afternoon with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House economic guru Gary Cohn to tout the rollout of their tax plan, the words “Roy Moore underage girl” were not likely on their minds. But by the time the event happened, the allegations — first reported by The Washington Post — that …

The Cullman Times reports: State Rep. Ed Henry lashed out at Roy Moore’s accusers and Republicans who said the U.S. Senate candidate should back out of the special election in an interview Thursday evening with The Times. Henry said he believes legal action should be considered against Moore’s accusers, finding their story unbelievable. “If they believe this man is predatory, …

Religious News Service reports: “It comes down to a question who is more credible in the eyes of the voters — the candidate or the accuser,” said Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of evangelical Liberty University who has endorsed Trump and Moore, both Republicans. “The same thing happened to President Trump a few weeks before his election last year except …

Bloomberg reports: The Human Rights Campaign has taken the rare step of suspending Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s perfect score for LGBT corporate equality after two federal complaints alleged the world’s largest retailer hadn’t protected transgender employees from discrimination. Wal-Mart received its first-ever perfect score last year after it agreed to add new policies favorable to transgender workers. The suspension of the …

The Hill reports: Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has requested to be removed from Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore’s fundraising pitches after a Thursday report from the Washington Post detailed accusations of inappropriate sexual conduct between a 32-year-old Moore and a minor from decades ago. Moore released a fundraising pitch featuring Lee on Thursday just hours after the Washington Post …

ABC News reports: George Papadopoulos, the Trump foreign policy aide who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, initially misled agents out of what he claimed was loyalty to President Donald Trump, according to a person with direct knowledge of the investigation. Trump had publicly denied that there had been any contact between his campaign and Russian officials, and Papadopoulos …

The Guardian reports: Almost half of Australians believe service providers should have the right to refuse same-sex weddings on the basis of their religious views, a poll has found. The Lonergan Research poll of 971 people found that 49% believed that service providers who refused same-sex weddings based on their religious views should be protected by law, compared with 35% …