Mediaite reports: Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, hosts of the Country Music Association Awards, flouted the whims of CMA producers with a political opening song poking fun at President Donald Trump. After Underwood informed Paisley that CMA guidelines said the show would be a “politics free zone,” Paisley joked that he wouldn’t be able to perform such parody songs as …

The Hill reports: President Trump in China on Thursday blamed past administrations instead of Beijing for “unfair” trade practices, offering a starkly different tone from the rhetoric he used during his campaign. Trump said during an event in Beijing that he does not place blame on China for what he described as “one-sided and unfair” trade practices, noting he gives …

Just in from Monica Cole: TV Land continues to air the vile program “Teachers” on Tuesday evenings at 10:00 p.m. ET/9:00 p.m. CT with a TV-14 L rating, but the previews air much earlier in the evening when children are likely watching TV. The vulgar advertisements for “Teachers” are airing during shows such as the “Andy Griffith Show” and other …

The Desert Sun reports: For years — starting with the election of Ron Oden, an openly gay man, in 1995 and then the passage of a domestic partnership ordinance — LGBT voters and their allies had been making slow but steady progress at Palm Springs City Hall. Then in 2008, after the passage of a statewide initiative to ban same-sex …

Mashable reports: Well, this all feels chillingly familiar. Steven Spielberg’s The Post centers on a team of journalists working to expose the U.S. government for lying to the American people. But it’s not a story about our current situation – it’s about The Washington Post publishing the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s. Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks star as publisher …

The Hill reports: A key Democratic senator who attended Tuesday’s meeting on tax reform with Trump administration officials recounted to The Hill trying to get off the phone with President Trump. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and White House legislative affairs director Marc Short came ready to listen; the president – who joined by …

Talking Points Memo reports: Maine voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to become the first state in the nation to expand Medicaid by ballot initiative, approving the measure by a nearly 20-point margin. But Republican Gov. Paul LePage, a vehement opponent of Medicaid who has vetoed expansion bills five times since the Affordable Care Act became law, is threatening once again to …

The New York Times reports: The Justice Department has called on AT&T and Time Warner to sell Turner Broadcasting, the group of cable channels that includes CNN, as a potential requirement for approving the companies’ pending $85.4 billion deal, people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. The demands set up a potential battle over the fate of the long-in-the-works …

The Hill reports: President Trump congratulated his supporters on the Wednesday anniversary of his historic victory in the 2016 election, calling them “deplorables” in a nod to former Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. The anniversary tweet came attached to a photo of the president with key White House aides aboard Air Force One on Trump’s 13-day trip through Asia, including White …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration on Wednesday tightened the economic embargo on Cuba, restricting Americans from access to hotels, stores and other businesses tied to the Cuban military. A lengthy list of rules, which President Trump promised in June to punish the communist government in Havana, came just as Mr. Trump was visiting leaders of the communist …

The Associated Press reports: Former President Barack Obama, free of a job that forced him to move to Washington for eight years, showed up to a downtown Chicago courthouse for jury duty on Wednesday morning. Whether he will be selected to sit on a jury, and presumably be selected jury foreman, was not known. But if he is like other …

Media Matters reports: On Fox & Friends, one of the president’s favorite shows, co-host Steve Doocy took issue this morning with the idea that the election results were a “Trump rebuke,” saying of the Republican gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey, “Neither one of them really brought Donald Trump on board.” “It’s a wake-up call for establishment Republicans,” he …

Politico reports: Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Tuesday night his “memory has been refreshed” regarding his email exchange with Carter Page in which the former foreign policy adviser requested Lewandowski’s permission to travel to Moscow. Page, who testified last week before the House Oversight Committee as a part of their ongoing probe into Russian election meddling in 2016, …

Reuters reports: The Kentucky county clerk who drew worldwide attention for her refusal to issue marriage licenses to gay couples two years ago will run for re-election next year, her attorney said on Tuesday. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis will run to retain her seat in 2018 despite suggestions from some people that she run for a higher local or …

From the AFA’s OneNewsNow: A hate-filled killer is to blame for murdering innocent churchgoers in Texas, not the firearm he used, says the leader of a gun-rights organization. Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America says the now-dead gunman was a “hate-filled liberal atheist” who reminds him of the gunman who attempted to mass murder Republican congressmen on a Virginia …

Newsweek reports: With President Donald Trump out of the country, his son Donald Trump Jr. decided to urge people to vote Tuesday in the Virginia gubernatorial election. Except he completely messed it up, and, of course, Stephen Colbert had great fun at his expense. Colbert remarked: “Donald Jr. woke up this morning to urge people to get the vote out…but …

ABC News reports: Two longtime GOP lawmakers announced their retirements Tuesday from the House of Representatives, adding to the growing list of Republicans electing to leave Capitol Hill under the Trump administration rather than face voters in next year’s midterm elections. Twelve-term Rep. Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey declared in a statement that “our nation is now consumed by increasing …

The Associated Press reports: Former President Barack Obama is congratulating the two Democrats who won gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey. In a Wednesday morning tweet, Obama said: “This is what happens when the people vote.” Democrat Ralph Northam beat Republican Ed Gillespie in the race for Virginia governor. In New Jersey, Democrat Phil Murphy trounced Republican Lt. Gov. …

The Helena Independent Record reports: Wilmot Collins will be Helena’s new mayor, unseating incumbent Jim Smith in a close race Tuesday. Collins, 54, will be the city’s first new mayor in 16 years after running a long campaign based in progressive principles. “The people of Helena have spoken, and I am honored to be able to serve them,” Collins said …

The Hill reports: Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University and an ally of President Trump, said on Tuesday that the District of Columbia should “annex” Northern Virginia and return governance of the state “to Virginians. His argument appeared to hinge on federal employees who work in Washington while living in Virginia. Parts of Northern Virginia, including Fairfax County …