In a report on a gathering of conservative national security experts at a gathering at a private Reagan Institute retreat in Beaver Creek, Colorado, the Washington Post reports that many of those attending who might provide counsel to Donald Trump are being iced out for the crime of opposing his election in 2016.  Read the rest of the story at Raw Story.

A Michigan couple is facing a mix of praise and pushback on social media for hosting a wedding themed after Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan ‘Make American Great Again.’  Read the rest of the story at Fox 5, New York.

Attorney General Bill Barr has ordered an investigation into whether the CIA was correct to determine that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to boost Donald Trump during the 2016 election. But that question has already been asked and answered at the CIA’s highest levels — by Mike Pompeo, a Trump loyalist, according to three people familiar with the matter.  Read the rest of the story at Politico.

Fox News’ Todd Starnes told Rep. Ilhan Omar and other immigrants who find America “just doesn’t meet their standards of living” to take a “one-way plane ticket back to whatever third world hellhole you came from.”  Read the rest of the story at Mediaite.

Politico’s Tim Alberta has a book coming out titled American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump, and it’s already making waves in Washington (details about Paul Ryan and the behind-the-scenes account of the Trump campaign when the Access Hollywood tape dropped).  Read the rest of the story at Mediaite.

Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein attempted to pay $350,000 last fall to two potential witnesses, federal prosecutors alleged in court on Friday.  Read the rest of the story at HuffPost.

Indicted Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is reportedly mailing letters filled with Islamophobic rhetoric about his Democratic opponent, Ammar Campa-Najjar, and two Muslim congresswomen to voters in his Southern California district.  Read the rest of the story at HuffPost.

Almost 400 migrant men were so severely packed into detention cages at a Texas border facility Friday that they could not lie down on the concrete floor at the same time to sleep, according to a report from a pool of reporters traveling with Vice President Mike Pence. There were no cots, mats or pillows for them to sleep on, and several men said that they had been in the cages, largely unwashed, for 40 days.  Read the rest of the story at HuffPost.

Despite public outcry, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) re-signed a proclamation Thursday declaring July 13 as Nathan Bedford Forrest Day in the state, honoring the Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and former Confederate general. To read the rest of the story, visit HuffPost!

President Donald Trump said Monday that this year’s Fourth of July celebration in the nation’s capital would feature military tanks. Read the story at NBC News.

Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren have made steep gains after the first Democratic presidential debate, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. shows, with former Vice President Joe Biden’s lead over the field shrinking to a narrow 5 points. Read the story at CNN.

Gaslighters/narcissists create an enemy and crisis, then “solve” that same crisis.  They then demand accolades after that crisis (that they created) has been resolved.  Why do they do this?  It creates support within their base.  And with 2020 elections right around the corner, Trump knows the importance of manufacturing an enemy and then portraying himself as the only person who could “conquer” this manufactured enemy. Read the story at Forbes.

Months after the public release of the Mueller Report, former special counsel Robert Mueller finally agreed to testify before the House Judiciary and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on July 17. Although Mueller’s testimony before Congress has been routinely called for by Democrats, President Donald Trump’s Republican allies in the House appear just as eager for Mueller’s testimony as it will provide them with an opportunity to discredit the former FBI director in front of the American public. Read the story at Law & Crime.

President Donald Trump is fuming that his various business organizations are still under scrutiny. Read the story at Mediaite.

A video encounter between Ivanka Trump and world leaders that went viral over the weekend has liberals and conservatives up in arms. Read the story at Mediaite.

California Senator Kamala Harris and Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren outclassed the competition at last week’s Democratic presidential debates by several country miles, according to a pair of new HuffPost/YouGov polls. Read the story at Mediaite.