Via Mediaite: White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway dismissed the reports of an administration shakeup, saying that President Trump likes having a diversity of opinion and not just a bunch of “yes-men” surrounding him. There are reports this week that Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner have been battling each other, and there’s one report today saying Bannon and Reince Priebus may …

Earlier this week Russia’s Ministry of Justice announced that it has banned an image of Vladimir Putin in heavy makeup, although they did not specify which of the countless such memes is the banned one. Some media outlets have characterized the move as banning the depiction of Putin as a “gay clown” – setting up last night’s bit from Stephen …

Yesterday the State Department called on Russia to investigate reports that Chechen police are rounding up and murdering gay men. Tonight the State Department has issued a second statement: We are increasingly concerned about the situation in the Republic of Chechnya, where there have been numerous credible reports indicating the detention of at least 100 men on the basis of …

Raw Story reports: Alex Jones and Roger Stone blamed “President” Jared Kushner for the Syrian airstrike ordered by his father-in-law, Donald Trump. The InfoWars founder hosted the political dirty trickster — who’s under investigation for possible ties to Russian intelligence — on his program Friday to discuss the military action. The conversation followed a conspiratorial trail that led from Syria …

USA Today reports: President Trump has nominated Tennessee state Sen. Mark Green to become secretary of the Army. The White House made the announcement Friday. Green is a former Army officer and West Point graduate who is popular among many Tea Party-aligned Republicans. His nomination still must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The secretary of the Army, which is …

NBC News reports: The National Security Council has presented President Trump with options to respond to North Korea’s nuclear program — including putting American nukes in South Korea or killing dictator Kim Jong-un, multiple top-ranking intelligence and military officials told NBC News. Both scenarios are part of an accelerated review of North Korea policy prepared in advance of President Donald …

The San Jose Mercury News reports: Twitter dropped its legal fight with the federal government Friday after U.S. Customs and Border Protection reversed course and withdrew a summons seeking to unmask the users of an account critical of the Trump administration. “Because the summons has now been withdrawn, Twitter voluntarily dismissed without prejudice all claims against defendant,” said to a …

Politico reports: Mitch McConnell said Friday that he has talked with Mitt Romney about running for the Utah Senate seat now held by Orrin Hatch. But the Senate majority leader made clear that Hatch would have his full support for any reelection bid. Hatch is leaving only the tiniest window to opt out of running for a new six-year term …

Newsweek reports: Russia deployed its most advanced Black Sea frigate Friday into the eastern Mediterranean, where U.S. Navy destroyers had launched an airstrike earlier that day against the Moscow-backed Syrian military. As Russian leadership condemned the U.S.’ first intentional attack on the military of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the country’s six-year conflict began, Russia’s Admiral Grigorovich frigate reportedly left …

The Omaha World Herald reports: The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision Friday ordering the state to pay nearly $174,000 in attorneys fees to those who successfully challenged a policy that denied the placement of foster children with same-sex couples. The high court rejected the appeal of Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, who said the same-sex couples who …

Via email from hate group leader Brian Brown: We did it! Thanks to you and so many NOM members and conservative activists across the country, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was able to muster the votes to change Senate rules to allow the Gorsuch confirmation to move forward, and Justice Gorsuch won a bipartisan majority. He now will join the …

Robert Philpot reviews: Although there were music videos before 1975, Queen’s clip that year for its now-classic “Bohemian Rhapsody” is seen as groundbreaking. That was before MTV, way before YouTube, and certainly before any of the five members of Pentatonix was born. But the Arlington-founded a cappella group — which released its latest EP, “PTX Vol. 4 — Classics” — …

“We were in a situation where the president of the United States on his own just issued a sheet of paper and said, overnight, every single public school in the country would have to have the girls’ bathrooms open to the boys and the boys’ bathrooms open to the girls, and the girls’ shower rooms would be open and accessible …

The Associated Press reports: Gov. Susana Martinez has signed legislation that would ban the use on minors of conversion therapy that seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The measure was among dozens signed by the Republican governor as the Friday deadline approached for her to act on legislation passed during the session that ended March 18. …

AL.com reports: At a hastily called news conference on the Capitol steps this morning, Gov. Robert Bentley questioned the motives of those he said have exposed embarrassing details of his personal life and urged them to stop. Bentley spoke publicly for the first time since the Ethics Commission found probable cause that he violated the ethics law and campaign finance …

The Hill reports: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Friday condemned President Trump’s missile strike in Syria, saying it puts Moscow and the U.S. “on the verge of a military clash.” “This military action is a clear indication of the US President’s extreme dependency on the opinion of the Washington establishment, the one that the new president strongly criticized in …

The Never Trump crowd at Reagan Battalion, who gained national headlines with their takedown of vile homocon Milo Yiannapoulos, has rushed out a video compilation of outraged reactions to Trump’s Syrian strike from his racist alt-right troll army. Watch below for anguished takes from David Duke, Mike Cernovich, InfoWars, Laura Ingraham, and more. The frog breakup. pic.twitter.com/Nc8mfMsEyE — The Reagan …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, was confirmed Friday after Republicans tore up the Senate’s voting rules over furious Democratic objections. The Senate voted to place Gorsuch on the nation’s highest court, a position that has been vacant since the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016. Democrats denounced the GOP’s use of what …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump was complimenting the wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping over steak dinner on Thursday as his military prepared to fire dozens of cruise missiles into Syria. Shortly after laughing with Xi in the ornate, candle-lit dining room of his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump made a televised address in front of a hastily assembled backdrop to say …

Yahoo News reports: They are the best of friends. But the bromance between Nigel Farage and President Donald Trump might be over after the UKIP MEP admitted he was worried by the decision to bomb Syria overnight. “I am very surprised by this,” said Farage. “I think a lot of Trump voters will be waking up this morning and scratching …