From the editorial board of the New York Times: The owners of the National Football League have concluded, with President Trump, that true patriotism is not about bravely standing up for democratic principle but about standing up, period. Rather than show a little backbone themselves and support the right of athletes to protest peacefully, the league capitulated to a president …

The Washington Post reports: North Korea claimed to have destroyed its nuclear testing site Thursday afternoon, setting off a series of explosions over several hours, apparently to collapse the underground tunnels in which it had detonated six nuclear bombs over the past 11 years. The fact that the Kim regime went ahead with the destruction of the Punggye-ri nuclear testing …

The New York Post reports: The Manhattan lawyer who was caught on video spewing racist remarks at Spanish-speaking workers threw a tantrum in the halls of justice Wednesday and accused other attorneys of “harassing” him. Aaron Schlossberg’s meltdown came in an eighth-floor hallway in Manhattan civil court, where he was singled out for his embarrassing tirade last Tuesday that’s since …

Via Mediaite: “The NFL has made a decision on something that means a lot to you and a lot of other Americans,” Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade asked. “What’s your reaction Mr. President?” “Well I think that’s good,” Trump said. “I don’t think people should be staying in locker rooms. But still I think it’s good.” “You have to …

Gallup reports: The percentage of American adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) increased to 4.5% in 2017, up from 4.1% in 2016 and 3.5% in 2012 when Gallup began tracking the measure. The latest estimate is based on over 340,000 interviews conducted as part of Gallup’s daily tracking in 2017. The expansion in the number of Americans …

The Los Angeles Times reports: The porn star who was paid hush money to stay silent about a sexual tryst she says she had with President Trump was honored with an official Stormy Daniels Day in West Hollywood and given a key to the city on Wednesday. “In these politically tumultuous times, Daniels has proven herself to be a profile …

“While we’re sticking to the facts and telling you what we know, President Trump has no constraints since he simply makes stuff up. He frequently lies and has a long and well documented conspiracy theories with no concrete evidence ever provided. For years he perpetuated the myth that Obama was not born in the United States, and that he saw …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump has branded his latest attempt to discredit the special counsel’s Russia investigation as “spygate,” part of a newly invigorated strategy embraced by his Republican colleagues to raise suspicions about the probe that has dogged his presidency since the start. Trump now is zeroing in on — and at times embellishing — reports that …

The Albuquerque Journal reports: Shortly after she was arrested on an aggravated drunken driving charge early Sunday, state Rep. Monica Youngblood told an Albuquerque officer through tears that she stands up for police when others criticize them. And she made it clear to the officer that she is a legislator — one who tries to help the police, she said. …

The Hill reports: More than half of Americans polled are not aware that special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has uncovered crimes, according to a new survey from Navigator Research. The poll found that 59 percent of those surveyed believe Mueller has not discovered any crimes, while 41 percent believe that he has. …

Newsday reports: Despite the NFL’s approval of a revised policy that requires players on the field to stand during the national anthem, Jets chairman Christopher Johnson told Newsday on Wednesday that his players are free to take a knee or perform some other protest without fear of repercussion from the team. “I do not like imposing any club-specific rules,” Johnson …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani switched gears Wednesday, saying that he would prefer the president grant an interview to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s office and that a decision would be made within “the next couple weeks.” “I guess I’d rather do the interview. It gets it over with it, it makes my client …

The New York Daily News reports: Gov. Cuomo, facing a tough primary challenge on the left from actress Cynthia Nixon, on Wednesday easily snared his party’s nomination for a third term at the state Democratic convention. With Cuomo winning more than 95% of the vote, Nixon failed to get anywhere near the 25% she needed to guarantee her a spot …

Mediaite reports: Trump outright condemned the FBI for embedding an informant to spy on his 2016 campaign in his morning tweetstorm, but he backtracked this afternoon to a more accusatory stance this afternoon by saying “I hope it’s not true, but it looks like it is.” Trump also made a big deal of showing off his fancy, new, totally uninspired …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, had his White House security clearance restored Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter said, after months of uncertainty stemming in part from his role in the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. Kushner was stripped of his interim clearance in February amid an overhaul of procedures governing …

ABC News reports: President Donald Trump will hold a roundtable discussion on Long Island on illegal immigration and gang violence that the White House is calling a “national call to action for legislative policy changes.” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley says the discussion with law enforcement and local leaders will focus on “immigration loopholes” that he said allows the violent …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump cannot block users on his Twitter feed, a New York federal judge ruled Wednesday. The judge, Naomi Reice Buchwald, ruled that Trump is violating the U.S. Constitution by preventing Americans from viewing his tweets. The suit was filed in July 2017 by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. “This case requires us to …

The BBC reports: Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, received a secret payment of at least $400,000 to fix talks between the Ukrainian president and President Trump, according to sources in Kiev close to those involved. The payment was arranged by intermediaries acting for Ukraine’s leader, Petro Poroshenko, the sources said, though Mr Cohen was not registered as a representative …

The Washington Post reports: NFL owners approved a new national anthem policy Wednesday that gives individual teams the authority to set their own anthem-related rules and permits players to remain in the locker room during the playing of the anthem, according to a person familiar with the deliberations. The new policy eliminates the current requirement from the league’s game operations …

The Associated Press reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday the Trump administration will not tolerate Russian interference in the 2018 congressional midterm elections. Pompeo told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the administration will take “appropriate countermeasures” to fight what he called “continued efforts” by Russia to meddle in November’s vote. He did not elaborate on the Russian …