Monday, July 30
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U.S. diplomats
and commanders have made overtures to parties including the Taliban to engage
in peace talks in Afghanistan.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/impatient-trump-drives-u-s-push-peace-talks-afghanistan-n895636
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President
Donald TrumpÕs Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was
one of three Republican-appointed judges who, in 2012, voted unanimously to set
aside an order by the National Labor Relations Board that would have required
the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to bargain with
the United Auto Workers.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-30/kavanaugh-sided-with-trump-casino-in-2012-to-thwart-union-drive
Tuesday, July 31
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The Trump
administration is considering bypassing Congress to give an additional $100
billion tax break to the richest Americans by decreasing the capital gains tax.
NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/us/politics/trump-tax-cuts-rich.html
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Facebook executives
announced they have identified a campaign to influence the U.S. 2018 midterm
elections carried out by dozens of fake Facebook
accounts directed at divisive issues in the United States. The social media
organization spent the week briefing lawmakers on Capitol Hill. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/31/us/politics/facebook-political-campaign-midterms.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
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White House
Chief of Staff John Kelly said he has agreed to TrumpÕs request to stay on in
his job through the 2020 election.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-kelly-has-told-white-house-staff-trump-asked-him-to-stay-in-post-through-2020-1533053182
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Trump
suspended duty-free status for clothing imports from Rwanda over that countryÕs
decision to increase tariffs on imports of used clothing and shoes.
https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN1KL254-OZATP
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Judge Robert Lasnik of U.S. federal district court granted a temporary
nationwide injunction against Cody Wilson posting blueprints for 3-D plastic
guns on the internet. The next hearing is Aug. 10. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/31/us/politics/3d-guns-trump.html
Wednesday, Aug. 1
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The Washington
Post fact checker reported that Trump has made 4,228 false or misleading claims
to date. During his first year in office, Trump made 2,140 false or misleading
claims; in the past six months, he has nearly doubled that number. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/08/01/president-trump-has-made-4229-false-or-misleading-claims-in-558-days/?utm_term=.6d1ecdecaf04&wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1
á
Trump attacked
the Russian election influence probe, calling on Attorney General Jeff Session
to end it. The president wrote, ÒAttorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this
Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any
further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are
doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!Ó https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/26/us/politics/trump-tweets-mueller-obstruction.html
á
The
Treasury Department announced it is imposing sanctions on TurkeyÕs Minister of
Justice Abdulhamit Gul and
Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu
over the continued detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/treasury-department-imposes-sanctions-on-two-turkish-officials-over-detention-of-american-pastor/2018/08/01/f7705876-95b2-11e8-a679-b09212fb69c2_story.html?utm_term=.20252b822043
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The
Trump administration issued new rules to encourage more people to buy
inexpensive health insurance plans originally designed for short-term use and
banned by the Affordable Care Act.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-administration-widens-availability-of-skimpy-short-term-health-plans/2018/07/31/a5cf2bc2-94d2-11e8-810c-5fa705927d54_story.html?utm_term=.61a1867caddc&wpisrc=al_news__alert-hse--alert-national&wpmk=1
Thursday, Aug. 2
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The Trump
Administration proposed new rules that would significantly reduce the mileage
requirements for cars, increasing pollution, and setting up a fight with states
that have imposed higher mileage standards and stronger anti-pollutions rules,
especially California. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/climate/trump-auto-emissions-california.html?emc=edit_ca_20180803&nl=california-today&nlid=2958587920180803&te=1
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The U.S.-led
coalition fighting the Islamic State for the past four years is closing in on
the last pocket of more than 1,000 militants in eastern Syria and is expecting
the battle to be a tough one.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/01/u-s-led-coalition-set-to-launch-final-fight-against-isis-in-syria/?platform=hootsuite
Friday, Aug. 3
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The Labor
Department reported that unemployment for the lowest-skilled workers, those
without a high school diploma fell to its lowest point in July, 5.1 percent,
the lowest since the U.S. government began keeping unemployment statistics in
1992. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/business/economy/july-jobs-report-2018.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
á
Cynthia
Laporta, tax accountant for TrumpÕs former campaign
manager, Paul Manafort, , testified in his fraud
trial that she had agreed to alter tax and bank documents to help Manafort with his financial troubles in late 2015 and 2016,
even though she believed key financial records were false.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/us/politics/paul-manafort-fraud-trial.html?emc=edit_nn_20180805&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=8162136620180805&te=1
á
Judge John
Bates ruled that the Trump administration had failed to justify its termination
of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and that the
program must be restored. http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/400332-federal-judge-says-trump-must-fully-restore-daca?userid=280231
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China
announced Friday it will hit about $60 billion worth of U.S. exports with new
tariffs of between 5 and 25 percent targeting more than 5,200 individual types
of U.S. exports to China.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/03/china-will-retaliate-with-tariffs-760862?nname=playbook-pm&nid=0000015a-dd3e-d536-a37b-dd7fd8af0000&nrid=00000158-890d-dfd4-ad7b-c96fadf30001&nlid=964328
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U.S.
District Court Judge Dana Sabrow ruled that the
government has the Òsole burden and responsibilityÓ to locate hundreds of
deported and released migrant parents separated from their children at the
border. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/03/judge-trump-administration-locate-parents-separated-children-723070?nname=playbook&nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&nrid=00000158-890d-dfd4-ad7b-c96fadf30001&nlid=630318
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Maine
Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, one of 11 members of a commission formed by
Trump to investigate supposed voter fraud, issued a scathing rebuke of the
disbanded panel on Friday, saying that after examining over 8,000 documents, he
concluded the panel had been set up to try to validate TrumpÕs baseless claims
about fraudulent votes in the 2016 election.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/08/03/the-most-bizarre-thing-ive-ever-been-a-part-of-trump-panel-found-no-voter-fraud-ex-member-says/?utm_term=.7d28f36fab95&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1
Saturday, Aug. 4
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No news to
report.
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President
Trump said the now infamous meeting at Trump Tower between his top campaign
officials and Russians offering information on Hilary Clinton Òwas a meeting to
get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in
politics,Ó contradicting an earlier statement Trump dictated on behalf of his
son. https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/05/politics/trump-tweet-trump-tower-meeting/index.html