The Birmingham News reports: Roy Moore’s campaign calls an ad run by a political action committee opposing him “patently false” and issued cease and desist letters demanding that TV stations stop running it. The PAC, called Highway 31, was formed to support the candidacy of Moore’s opponent, Doug Jones. The ad says, “Moore was actually banned from the Gadsden Mall …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump is pushing Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) to run for the U.S. Senate, according to White House advisers. Trump has told advisers that he plans to call LePage, who endorsed him in February 2016, and ask him to jump in against Sen. Angus King in 2018 and offer his endorsement. King is an independent …

The Daily Telegraph reports: Same-sex marriage faces its final test in Parliament this morning when politicians vote on final changes to the historic bill proposed by Tony Abbott. Labor predicts the bill can pass parliament as early as 2pm today — the final scheduled sitting day of the year — if no last-minute changes to the bill are made. But …

The Hill reports: James O’Keefe, the conservative activist who attempted to plant a false story in The Washington Post this month about GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, was presented Wednesday with an Impact Award handed to him by Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. O’Keefe accepted the award on behalf of his organization, Project Veritas, at an …

Via Mediaite: Uh, what the heck was going on with Trump’s speech pattern? He began seemingly slurring his words toward the end of his remarks. In particular at the very end, it was quite noticeable. Was he on drugs? Was he drunk on Big Macs? Tired? Did he just really miss Twitter? It looks like the answer is none of …

The Deseret News reports: Gov. Gary Herbert slammed Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to President Donald Trump, as a “Mormon bigot” Wednesday after Bannon accused Mitt Romney of hiding behind his LDS faith to avoid serving in Vietnam. The governor called it “a low blow because of politics” that was disappointing. “This smacks of good old-fashioned Mormon bigotry. I think …

The Associated Press reports: David Ermold will return to the Rowan County courthouse Wednesday, nearly two years after Clerk Kim Davis refused to give him a marriage license because he was gay. Only this time, he does not want a license. He wants Davis’ job. Ermold filed to run for county clerk on Wednesday, hoping to challenge the woman who …

Politico reports: House Democrats overwhelmingly joined Republicans on Wednesday to defeat an attempt to impeach President Donald Trump. But 58 Democrats supported the bid to consider impeachment over the objections of House Democratic leaders, who viewed the measure as a distraction in a Republican-controlled Congress. The motion to sideline the measure — killing the effort — was approved 364-58, with …

The New York Times reports: Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, told a former business associate that economic sanctions against Russia would be “ripped up” as one of the Trump administration’s first acts, according to an account by a whistle-blower made public on Wednesday. Mr. Flynn believed that ending the sanctions could allow a business project he …

The Daily Beast reports: NBC News reported Wednesday morning that the Los Angeles wildfires ravaging the area near Bel-Air have now begun to consume Rupert Murdoch’s property. “This is the $30-million house and vineyard property that is owned by Rupert Murdoch,” NBC Los Angeles reported on the latest victim of the 125-acre Skirball fire. “And it looks like it is …

The Associated Press reports: The White House says President Donald Trump will deliver remarks Wednesday outlining his decision on a potential move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the president is “pretty solid” in his thinking on the plan but won’t say what Trump will announce. Sanders says the president will make the …

Chicago Business reports: American democracy is fragile, and unless care is taken it could follow the path of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Mixed in with many softer comments, that was the somewhat jaw-dropping bottom line of Barack Obama last night as, in a Q&A session before the Economic Club of Chicago, the Chicagoan who used to be president dropped …

Politico reports: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) called for Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to resign in the wake of multiple sexual misconduct allegations against him. “While Senator Franken is entitled to have the Ethics Committee conclude its review, I believe it would be better for our country if he sent a clear message that any kind of mistreatment of women in …

NBC News reports: Wildfires continued to explode across Southern California on Wednesday as dry conditions and roaring winds turned the region into a tinderbox, forcing thousands to evacuate. The Thomas Fire, as the blaze has been dubbed, put approximately 50,000 residents under a mandatory evacuation and burned more than 55,000 acres in the Ventura County area with no containment after …

The Washington Examiner reports: Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore’s account of when he began dating his wife Kayla would place the start of their courtship before her divorce from her first husband, according to court documents. This comes as the Moore campaign’s defense of the retired judge against multiple allegations of sexual misconduct hinges on disputing minute details of …

Yesterday Propaganda Minister Kellyanne Conway appeared at Politico‘s Women Rule event where a woman in the audience demanded to know why she continues to defend Trump against the sexual assault allegations made by multiple women. Conway’s response to the woman was characteristically ugly. Shareblue has the transcript of the exchange: HECKLER: Kellyanne, your boss grabs women — PALMER: Excuse me, …

Reuters reports: A rare public spat in the technology industry escalated on Tuesday when Google said it would block its video streaming application YouTube from two Amazon.com Inc devices and criticized the online retailer for not selling Google hardware. The feud is the latest in Silicon Valley to put customers in the crossfire of major competitors. Amazon and Google, which …

The Hill reports: White House counselor Kellyanne Conway defended President Trump’s endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore on Wednesday, citing his high moral standards. “The president has tremendous moral standards. He has said, the White House has said, the allegations are troubling,” Conway told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day,” after Cuomo said, “the president seems to have no …

The Birmingham News reports: Silent, heads bowed and dressed in scarlet robes, a group of women stood Tuesday as a symbolic protest to Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. The protestors were costumed as the handmaids characters inspired by the 1985 novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which was made into a TV series on Hulu this year. The women stood along …

The Associated Press reports: Doctors treating the U.S. Embassy victims of mysterious, invisible attacks in Cuba have discovered brain abnormalities as they search for clues to explain the hearing, vision, balance and memory damage, The Associated Press has learned. It’s the most specific finding to date about physical damage, showing that whatever it was that harmed the Americans, it led …