Politics

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: A Republican lawmaker in the U.S. House has introduced legislation that appears to be aimed at barring U.S. embassies from flying the Pride flag in recognition of the LGBT community. With little fanfare last week, Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) quietly introduced the measure, which seeks to “prohibit the flying of any flag other …

ABC News reports: Pig prices are plunging – so, too, those of American soybeans. America’s heartland farmers, in states largely supportive of President Donald Trump, say they are starting to feel real financial pain from a tit-for-tat trade war Trump once promised will be “easy to win.” “We have loss of confidence in our products and we have loss of …

Politico reports: West Virginia’s secretary of state on Thursday denied Don Blankenship’s bid to appear on the Senate ballot as a third-party candidate, a victory for Republicans hoping to consolidate votes against Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in the general election. Secretary of State Mac Warner said Blankenship’s bid would violate the state’s “sore loser law” preventing a candidate who lost …

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports: House Freedom Caucus founder Jim Jordan – a conservative firebrand from Champaign County – announced Thursday that he’ll run for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. “Should the American people entrust us with the majority again in the 116th Congress, I plan to run for Speaker of the House to bring real change to …

Reuters reports: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday defended his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, and took a swipe at fellow Republicans in Congress who moved to impeach Rosenstein, who oversees the federal probe of Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election. “My deputy, Rod Rosenstein, is highly capable. I have the highest confidence in him,” Sessions said during an appearance …

Politico reports: Donald Trump Jr. and Vanessa Trump are closing in on a divorce agreement. The pair has worked out custody for their five children, a judge said Thursday, and they are nearing a financial agreement, according to a lawyer for Trump Jr., the oldest son of President Donald Trump. In a Manhattan courtroom, Judge Michael Katz commended the duo …

The Tallahassee Democrat reports: Calling it a “lopsided” burden on college students, a federal judge today told Florida that college and university campuses can be used as early voting sites in this year’s elections. In a scathing ruling, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker called the ban put in place by Secretary of State Ken Detzner [photo above] unconstitutional. He said …

The New York Post reports: A pair of hosts on one of New Jersey’s top radio stations have been bounced from the airwaves after they mocked the state’s attorney general — who is a Sikh-American — as “turban man” on the air, the station said early Thursday. “You know the new attorney general? I’m never going to know his name, …

The Hill reports: Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer was interrupted by a protester during a book signing in New York on Wednesday who called him a “garbage person.” “Hey Sean, you’re a real piece of garbage and I hope you look around and see all these empty seats,” a man shouted inside the Union Square Barnes and Noble …

Business Insider reports: President Donald Trump’s legal troubles with his former lawyer Michael Cohen took another, damaging twist on Thursday when Michael Avenatti, the attorney for porn star Stormy Daniels, alleged that multiple women had been paid off, and that Trump may even have covered up a pregnancy. Trump already stands accused of having paid off Daniels, and in tapes …

The Toledo Blade reports: A boat owned by the family of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was vandalized over the weekend while moored at a Huron dock, according to the Huron Police Department. The Seaquest was moored at the Huron Boat Basin, 330 Main St., according to a police report. The captain of the 163-foot yacht, worth a reported …

The Hill reports: A group of conservative House lawmakers on Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the top Department of Justice (DOJ) official overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The impeachment document makes a series of charges against Rosenstein, the latest sign of escalating efforts among conservatives to oust the DOJ’s No. 2 official. …

TMZ reports: The OG Donald Trump Walk of Fame Star vandal is coming to the rescue of the latest guy to take a pickax to Trump’s star by bailing him out of jail. You might recall, James Otis attacked Trump’s star in 2016 — also with a pickax — and we’ve learned he’s now stepping up to pay the $20k …

CNN reports: The White House took retaliatory action against Kaitlan Collins, a White House reporter for CNN, after Collins asked President Trump questions at an Oval Office photo op on Wednesday. Collins was representing all the television networks as the “pool reporter” in the room during the early afternoon meeting between Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The European Union delegation meeting with President Donald Trump Wednesday agreed to some concessions in an effort to avoid a trade war with the U.S., according to a European official in the room. The official said European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his top trade official Cecilia Malmström agreed to work with the U.S. administration …

The Fayette Advocate reports: In an exclusive investigation, the Advocate has obtained emails from a whistleblower from inside the Columbus Police Department that outline the arrest of Stormy Daniels earlier this month may have been pre-planned days before she ever arrived in town. A whistleblower from the City of Columbus contacted the Advocate with numerous emails between several high-ranking Columbus …

The New York Daily News reports: The ball is bugged. Several critics warned President Trump last week to be wary of a gift from Russian President Vladimir Putin after the pair met in Helsinki, Finland. And it appears their concern was justified — sort of. Markings on a soccer ball the Kremlin leader tossed to Trump indicate that it contains …

Just in from Quinnipiac Polling: With almost 2-1 backing from women, Democrats take a 51 – 39 percent lead in hypothetical races for the U.S. House of Representatives this year, according to a Quinnipiac University National Poll released today. Women back Democratic candidates 57 – 32 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University National Poll finds. Men are divided with 46 …

USA Today reports: Speaker Paul Ryan took a break from his GOP leadership duties on Wednesday to read a series of nasty (and funny) tweets aimed at his political character, his workout routine, and the fate of his animal-infested SUV. Ryan’s staff made the video ahead of a speech the speaker will give Wednesday morning to congressional interns. His remarks …

Axios reports: Advisers to President Trump say Joe Biden is the Democrat he most fears running against, and that Pennsylvania is the state he worries most about flipping against him. Trump’s calculation is based partly on how weak he sees other Democratic possibilities, including Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, and partly on who’s capable of appealing to his base of …