The New York Times reports: A House Democratic effort on Tuesday to formally denounce comments by President Trump devolved into a partisan brawl on the House floor as Republicans tried and failed to stop Speaker Nancy Pelosi from calling the president a racist. Mr. Trump on Tuesday denied that his tweets suggesting that four minority congresswomen leave the country were …

Talking Points Memo reports: The ACLU has won its legal war with the Trump administration over a census citizenship question, but it’s not backing down from its demand that certain administration officials be sanctioned for allegedly false testimony in the case. In a court filing Tuesday evening, the ACLU alleged that top Trump administration officials in the Justice Department and …

TMZ reports: The short guy who lost his shit in the New York bagel shop last week is putting his viral fame to good use … by getting in the ring and beating the crap outta other “celebs.” Chris Morgan just inked a deal Monday with fighting promoter Damon Feldman — who’s arranged for Chris to put on some boxing …

From today’s Team Trump 2020 fundraising email: This is absurd – Coastal Elites are turning their “nonpartisan” platforms into liberal soapboxes. They’re simultaneously pushing BIG GOVERNMENT SOCIALIST agendas while silencing conservative American Patriots. What they’re doing isn’t right. In fact, it’s downright UN-AMERICAN. That’s why on July 11th, President Trump held the first ever Presidential Social Media Summit to meet …

Mediaite reports: Republican operative Jason Miller, the former communications chief for the Trump campaign and transition team, said he hired numerous prostitutes and visited “hand job” massage parlors as recently as a few months ago in a new videotaped deposition. Miller made the admission while testifying on May 30 in Washington D.C. in connection to his lawsuit against the digital …

Albany’s NBC News affiliate reports: The smoking age in New York state is going from 18 to 21. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation on Tuesday to raise the age to buy both tobacco and e-cigarettes. It takes effect in 120 days. Sixteen states have approved raising the smoking age to 21, though in some the changes won’t take effect until …

Bloomberg Law reports: A federal judge in New York on Tuesday signed an order permanently blocking the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, days after President Trump gave up on his efforts to get such a question on next year’s census. New York and immigrant advocacy groups successfully sued to block the question. But even …

CNN reports: Ikea is shutting down its only furniture factory in the United States. The Swedish company will end production this December at its plant in Danville, Virginia. Operations will move to Europe, where the company says it can cut costs. “We made every effort to improve and maintain the competitiveness of this plant, but unfortunately the right cost conditions …

“There are no more good TV shows on like Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Virginian, Andy Griffith, I Love Lucy. We don’t have those shows anymore. We’re too interested in homosexual activities. We’re too interested in seeing how this family’s finding a way to mess on this family or to see how people are trying to date on TV, or having wife-swapping …

Peter Montgomery reports at Right Wing Watch: Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver appeared on conservative Christian radio show Crosstalk last week to continue the Religious Right’s dishonest drumbeat against a non-binding resolution passed by the California General Assembly that calls on religious and other leaders to promote equitable and compassionate treatment of LGBTQ people in the state. But Staver went even …

NBC News reports: White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Tuesday responded to questions about President Donald Trump’s attacks on four congresswomen of color by asking a reporter about his heritage. Andrew Feinberg, a White House reporter for Breakfast Media, a website about politics and technology, asked Conway, “If the president was not telling these four congresswomen to return to their …

CNBC reports: A federal judge on Tuesday banned Republican operative Roger Stone from posting anything at all on major social media platforms after ruling that the longtime confidant of President Donald Trump violated an already strict gag order in his criminal case. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson walked through a litany of Stone’s recent posts from his Instagram …

Morning Consult reports: Former Vice President Joe Biden holds a double-digit lead in the Democratic presidential primary, followed by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), according to a new poll. The results from Morning Consult’s weekly survey released Monday are almost unchanged from the previous poll. Biden is the top choice for 32 percent of …

I’m calling this the quarterly reminder even though I keep forgetting to actually post it quarterly and not just when there’s a kerfuffle that needs immediate attention. But I’ll do better as I’ve now set a quarterly alert in my phone for the next year. Commenting Rules Even the most idle and “jokey” threats of physical harm to any person …

IndieWire reports: After months – literal, honest-to-God months – of campaigning, the nominations for the 71st Emmy Awards are here. HBO leads the way with 137 total nominations; Netflix is second with 117; the final season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” received a record-setting 32 nominations. Lead Actor Limited Series or Movie Mahershala Ali, “True Detective” Benicio del Toro, “Escape …

“What the president is doing is — we are tired — sick and tired — of many people in this country. Forget these four. They represent a dark underbelly of people in this country of people who are not respecting our troops, are not giving them the resources and the respect that they deserve. They voted against the military aid. …

The Hill reports: Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served President Trump’s White House communications director, said on Tuesday that the president’s attack on progressive congresswomen of color was “racist and unacceptable.” Scaramucci in a tweet called out Trump after the president suggested on Sunday that the group of lawmakers “go back” where they came from. Trump’s tweets were thought to be …

South Carolina’s Post & Courier reports: Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina congressman ousted from office after President Donald Trump urged voters to reject him, is considering a run for president. Sanford, in an exclusive interview Tuesday with The Post and Courier, confirmed he will take the next month to formulate whether he will mount a potential run against Trump …

Raw Story reports: President Donald Trump begged House Republicans not to join Democrats in condemning him for racist tweets against four congresswomen — and stepped up his attacks on the first-year lawmakers. House Democrats plan to vote Tuesday on a formal condemnation of the president for repeatedly telling the quartet of lawmakers to go back to their home countries, although …

The New York Times reports: The Justice Department will not bring federal charges against a New York City police officer in the death of Eric Garner, ending a yearslong inquiry into a case that sharply divided officials and prompted national protests over excessive force by the police, according to three people briefed on the decision. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn intend …