Billboard Magazine reports: Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy have added a new, very modern chapter to their storied relationship: The Muppets faced off in a rap battle on Wednesday’s episode of TNT’s Drop the Mic, with some help from their friends Pepé the King Prawn and Beaker, respectively. In the battle hosted by veteran MC Method Man, Kermit begins …

Via press release: Today, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a law requiring Boards of Education to include instruction, and adopt instructional materials, that accurately portray political, economic, and social contributions of persons with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. This law would require that LGBTQ Americans, as well as Americans with disabilities, are included and recognized for …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump claimed Thursday that his top intelligence officials were “misquoted” and “taken out of context” when they publicly broke with some of his core foreign policy views during congressional testimony earlier this week. CIA Director Gina Haspel and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats on Tuesday shared assessments that were at odds with Trump’s talking points …

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports: Like many judicial candidates, state appeals court Judge Brian Hagedorn isn’t eager to discuss his positions on some of the most controversial issues of the day. But that wasn’t always the case. Hagedorn, who is running for the state Supreme Court, wrote a blog beginning in 2005 in which he addressed readers as “fellow soldiers in …

CNN reports: Senate investigators have obtained new information showing Donald Trump Jr.’s mysterious phone calls ahead of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting were not with his father, three sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN. Records provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee show the calls were between Trump Jr. and two of his business associates, the sources said, and …

The Associated Press reports: Arkansas’ highest court says a city can’t enforce an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, saying it’s already ruled the measure violates a state law aimed at preventing local protections for LGBT people. The state Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a Washington County judge’s decision to allow Fayetteville to continue enforcing its …

Law & Crime reports: A federal judge just dismissed the lawsuit filed by former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page against the Democratic National Committee, the law firm Perkins Coie, and Perkins Coie lawyers Marc Elias and Michael Sussman. The judge made it crystal clear that the lawsuit showed absolutely no reason for being filed with his court in the first …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump on Thursday called the attack of “Empire” star Jussie Smollett “horrible,” condemning the assault committed by individuals whom the actor alleged referenced the president’s campaign slogan as they attacked him. “It doesn’t get worse, as far as I’m concerned,” Trump said of the attack during an Oval Office exchange with the White House press pool …

“Wait until it is discovered that homosexuality is genetic, and wait until prospective parents could be told that their child might be gay at birth. You know who’s going to do the fastest 180 from pro-choice to pro-life? The entire homosexual community is going to become pro-life overnight. I’m just telling you, you start cheapening life this way, and then …

Jared Holt reports at Right Wing Watch: Jerome Corsi and one of his lawyers are threatening to sue The Gateway Pundit, an outlet that had been overwhelmingly supportive of Corsi before he began cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Larry Klayman, the departed founder of Judicial Watch who is representing Corsi as …

CNN reports: Information the Justice Department collected from Roger Stone’s iCloud accounts, email accounts and on computer hardware “span several years,” special counsel Robert Mueller said Thursday. Mueller wants to place a protective order that would lock down the confidentiality of evidence collected against Stone, as the prosecutors begin sharing the documents with his legal team. Stone’s attorneys have consented …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump is considering Herman Cain for a seat on the Federal Reserve board, a Bloomberg reporter said on Twitter. Cain made his fortune as pizza executive before making a bid to be the Republican candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Mitt Romney ultimately won that nomination, but lost the election to former President Barack Obama. …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump‘s former pastor seems skeptical of his public affection for bible study in recent years, calling it out as inauthentic. After the President lauded a Fox & Friends segment he saw about the option of ‘Bible Literacy classes’ being introduced to state schools, Pastor David Lewicki slammed his former churchgoer’s “hypocrisy” on Twitter earlier this week …

Houston’s OutSmart Magazine reports: A Drag Queen Storytime protester allegedly trespassed in the Freed-Montrose Library this weekend after previously being banned from the premises. James “Doc” Greene Sr., who was issued a trespassing warning last month by the Houston Public Library (HPL) stating he could no longer visit its Montrose location, was detained, disarmed, and escorted out by police on …

The Washington Post reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will unveil a plan Thursday to dramatically expand the federal estate tax on the wealthy, including a new 77 percent rate on billionaires’ estates, as leading Democratic politicians push new taxes on the richest Americans to combat inequality. Sanders’s bill, the “For the 99.8% Act,” would tax the estates of the 0.2 …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump interviewed Heidi Cruz – wife of Texan senator Ted Cruz – for World Bank president but is not now considering giving her the job, people familiar with the matter have said. Treasury Undersecretary David Malpass remains the clear frontrunner for the job, but Mr Trump has continued to consider others, including Ms Cruz and prominent …

The Orlando Weekly reports: Although Gay Days has been celebrated at the Disney parks for decades, ever since the first one in 1991 (right here in Orlando!), Disneyland Paris has just made history by becoming the first to organize an official LGBTQ Pride event, finally acknowledging openly that pink money pays their bills, too. Magical Pride happens June 1, 2019, …

Variety reports: The Chicago Police Department has released two images from surveillance video of “potential persons of interest” in the alleged attack of “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett. Smollett’s music manager also confirmed that he was on the phone with the actor at the time he was attacked in Chicago early on Tuesday morning, and that he heard some of what …

The Daily Beast reports: A former NRA president hoped to win access to Vladimir Putin on a trip to Moscow, according to an email from one of the trip’s organizers. That organizer, Republican operative Paul Erickson, also said the trip could have “enormous diplomatic consequences.” The email, sent in November 2015 and reviewed by The Daily Beast, came just months …

The Hill reports: Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO who has floated an independent run at the White House, deleted a tweet Wednesday in which he praised a column that insulted other 2020 contenders. In the now-deleted tweet, Schultz linked to a piece that called Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) “shrill” and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) “Fauxcahontas,” a reference to her …