Politics

The Hill reports: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) defended President Trump’s use of an executive order on Thursday, after Republicans previously criticized former President Obama for overusing the tool to bypass Congress. “We’re creating something that is freedom. He’s not creating a new government program,” Paul told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “We’ve read the original law and we believe what the president …

CNN reports: California Democratic state Senate president Kevin de León intends to enter California’s 2018 Senate race against Sen. Dianne Feinstein, three sources with knowledge of his plans say. De León has begun calling labor leaders and elected officials to inform them of his plans, the sources said, and is expected to soon announce his campaign against Feinstein, a giant …

USA Today reports: Congressional ethics investigators have concluded there is “substantial reason to believe” Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y.. engaged in insider trading and either took or requested official actions to benefit a company in which he’s the largest shareholder, according to a report issued Thursday. Those may violations of House rules, standards of conduct and federal law, the report states. …

The Associated Press reports: It sounds sort of like a mass of crickets. But not quite. A high-pitched whine, but from what? It seems to undulate, even writhe. Listen closely: Some hear multiple, distinct tones colliding in a nails-on-the-chalkboard effect. The Associated Press has obtained a recording of what some U.S. Embassy workers heard in Havana, part of the series …

I wasn’t watching the screen so I missed this. The New York Daily News reports: President Trump had to be ushered back to sign his executive order peeling back parts of Obamacare, which he’s spent years bashing. The commander-in-chief began strolling out of the White House’s Roosevelt Room after delivering a full-throated rebuke of the Affordable Care Act. “Thank you …

The Hill reports: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will answer questions from reporters on Thursday afternoon after President Trump signed an executive order on health care. Trump’s order seeks to expand the ability of small businesses and other groups to band together to buy health insurance through what are known as association health plans. It also lifts limits …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump is trying to do with the stroke of a pen what Republicans in Congress could not — bring about the end of the Obamacare markets. Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday directing an overhaul of major federal regulations that would encourage the rise of a raft of cheap, loosely regulated health …

UNESCO’s mission statement: “Contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter.” The Associated Press reports: U.S. officials have told the Associated Press that the United States is pulling …

The Washington Examiner reports: Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., is questioning whether President Trump is still committed to preserving the First Amendment after he repeatedly floated retribution against the media for publishing stories he doesn’t like. “Mr. President: Words spoken by the President of the United States matter. Are you tonight recanting of the oath you took on January 20th to …

The Associated Press reports: Embracing a historic change, the Boy Scouts of America announced Wednesday plans to admit girls into the Cub Scouts starting next year and to establish a new program for older girls using the same curriculum as the Boy Scouts. Under the plan, Cub Scout dens — the smallest unit — will be single-gender, either all-boys or …

The Week reports:  President Trump skewered the free press on Wednesday, telling reporters that “it is frankly disgusting that the press is able to write whatever it wants to write.” The comments followed Trump’s tweets Wednesday morning, which reacted to an NBC News story that claimed the president had called for the nuclear arsenal to be increased “tenfold.” “With all …

The New York Times reports: The rapper Eminem struck out at President Trump in a video that played at the BET Hip Hop Awards on Tuesday, accusing the president of racism, hypocrisy, disrespect of military veterans and more in almost five minutes of furious freestyle rap. He also excoriated Mr. Trump for his responses to the recent violence in Charlottesville, …

Andy Humm reports at Gay City News: What should have been a celebration dedicating the raising of the Rainbow Flag at the Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village on October 11 at noon turned into another attack on LGBTQ people by the Trump administration in a week full of such attacks. The National Park Service’s Barbara Applebaum, who arranged the …

Politico reports: A new organization aiming to step up the legal pressure on President Donald Trump’s business empire is launching this week with the backing of several liberal icons, including the lawyer who scored the first big Supreme Court win for same-sex marriage and a TV producer best known for a hotly-disputed story about President George W. Bush’s National Guard …

The New York Times reports: The leader of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, said on Tuesday evening that his region had earned the right to independence from Spain, but he immediately suspended the process to allow for talks with the central government in Madrid. “I ask Parliament to suspend the declaration of independence so that in the coming weeks we can undertake …

The guy who once advocated that Missouri legalize anti-LGBT discrimination (even though no statewide protections currently exist) today announced his run for the US Senate. The Associated Press reports: Republican Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley has made it official: He’s running for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill in 2018. Hawley, a 37-year-old in his first year of …

The Guardian reports: Jimmy Carter has reportedly said he is willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a bid to defuse tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes, and bring “permanent peace” to the Korean peninsula. In an intervention that is likely to irritate Donald Trump, the 93-year-old former president told a South Korean academic that he was …

According to interviews with multiple insiders, whenever Trump comes up with another insane idea, staffers often distract him with other items until he forgets about his original plan. Politico reports: Trump would impulsively want to fire someone like attorney general Jeff Sessions, create a new wide–ranging policy with far–flung implications like increasing tariffs on Chinese steel imports or end a …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump on Tuesday pledged to take executive action on health care, saying he would go around Congress to provide new insurance options for Americans. Trump didn’t provide additional detail on what executive action he would take and the White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that …

The Miami New Times reports: This past Sunday, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross abruptly changed his tune on the NFL player protests. Ross, who’d previously supported players kneeling to raise awareness of police violence and racial inequality, told the Miami Herald‘s resident Kaepernick-basher, Armando Salguero, that since President Donald Trump had made the protests “about patriotism,” he now disagreed with …