On FOX NEWS SUNDAY

Source: The Guardian

Boris Johnson is “turbo-charging” preparations to leave the EU without a deal on 31 October as his government’s number one priority, according to several senior cabinet ministers.

The new prime minister sent out cabinet ministers for interviews across newspapers and broadcasters this weekend as part of a publicity blitz about the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.

Their message is that the UK will be heading for no deal unless EU leaders agree to replace the Irish backstop.

Michael Gove, the new Cabinet Office minister in charge of no-deal preparations, said the government was “operating on the assumption” that Britain would leave without a deal on 31 October and it was a “very real prospect” because EU leaders had so far not changed their minds about scrapping the backstop.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/28/boris-johnson-turbo-charging-no-deal-brexit-plans-say-ministers

Julian Castro and Marianne Williamson on FACE THE NATION

Tom Steyer on MEET THE PRESS

Andrew Yang on FOX NEWS SUNDAY

Bill De Blasio on THIS WEEK

Source: Politico

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post over its coverage of an interaction between a Kentucky high school student and a Native American activist on the National Mall, which gained national attention after the video went viral.

Judge William O. Bertelsman dismissed the suit, stating that the Post's coverage was protected as free speech and rejecting Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann's argument that the newspaper implied inaccurately that Sandmann had behaved in a menacing or violent way. The Post had quoted the activist, a veteran named Nathan Phillips, who said Sandmann stood in his way to get to the Lincoln Memorial in the Jan 19 incident.

Bertelsman wrote that though Phillips' claim may have been inaccurate, the Post had a right to publish it. The Post couldn't be sued for defamation simply if some of its reporting was inaccurate, he wrote, rather it had to both false and defamatory.

Bertelsman added that the Post did not report factually that Sandmann was acting in a criminally violent manner. He added that many of the statements that Sandmann alleged were defamatory were not actually about him but about the students as a whole

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/26/washington-post-covington-high-school-student-defamation-case-dismissed-1437881

Politico

Source: Politico

With all the infighting and intraparty intrigue in recent weeks — most recently over the prospect of impeaching the president — many Democrats in the states are beginning to worry the party is losing its grip on its message, potentially paving the way to Donald Trump’s reelection.

The anxiety reverberated far from Washington this week, as the nation’s governors gathered here for their annual summer meeting.

“Nationally, the focus has been on last week’s hearings and quote-unquote oversight, the question of impeachment, the effectiveness of Trump to make it about … the four [congresswomen who constitute the “squad”],” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday. “That’s been the zeitgeist, and so Trump being the master of deflection and distraction … it’s been hard for the Democrats to sort of hold that message.”

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak — the governor of an early primary state and a potential battleground in the general election — said that going into 2020, his constituents “want to look forward, and how are we going to make their lives better.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/27/democrat-governors-disconnect-2020-1437616

Patheos

Yesterday's match between Real Madrid (one of the world's best teams) and Madrid Atletico involved:
A 7-3 blowout by Atletico
Two tripping incidents resulting in penalty kicks
A 20-person fight on the field resulting in two red card ejections.

Not surprising, the referee say "the hell with it" at 90 minutes, and didn't bother to add any stoppage time.

Source: New York Times

Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist who leads the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, will keep his job, the institution said on Thursday. The museum has closed an investigation into sexual misconduct accusations against him.

“The museum’s investigation into allegations concerning Neil deGrasse Tyson is complete,” a museum spokeswoman said in a brief statement. “Based on the results of the investigation, Dr. Tyson remains an employee and director of the Hayden Planetarium. Because this is a confidential personnel matter, there will be no further statements by the museum.”

Dr. Tyson was accused of behaving inappropriately with two women in an article published in November on the website Patheos.

In one instance, Katelyn N. Allers, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, said she met Dr. Tyson in 2009 at a party after a gathering of the American Astronomical Society. He was examining her tattoo of the solar system, which stretches along her arm to her collarbone, and she said he followed the tattoo with his hand, putting it into her dress. He said he was looking for Pluto, she said.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/arts/design/neil-degrasse-tyson-keeps-job.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

Source: Wall Street Journal

President Trump’s summit diplomacy has raised hopes around the world: Is North Korea now willing to surrender its nuclear arsenal?

Analysts who pore over satellite images of the isolated country paint a different picture: North Korea’s scientists have ramped up production of long-range missiles and the fissile material used in nuclear weapons.

Shipping containers, trucks and crowds of people moving materials and instruments at North Korea’s key weapons facilities like the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center and the Sanum-dong missile production site, suggest North Korea has continued producing fissile material and intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to analysts Jenny Town, a fellow at the Stimson Center, a think tank specialized on security issues, and Jeffrey Lewis, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, a research center analyzing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Analysts at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency say North Korea’s scientists may have produced 12 nuclear weapons since the first Trump-Kim meeting in Singapore last year. In total, Pyongyang could currently possess between 20 and 60 nuclear bombs, according to estimates by various security analysts.

Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/while-trump-and-kim-talk-north-korea-appears-to-expand-its-nuclear-arsenal-11564059627