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The visit appears to be smoothing over an initially strange and tense relationship with President Emmanuel Macron, and possibly vaulting France ahead of Britain and Germany as a point of U.S. contact.

But Mr. Trumps domestic troubles accompanied him. In comments made to reporters on Air Force One en route to Paris, he said of Donald Trump Jr.: Hes a good boy. Hes a good kid. And he had a meeting, nothing happened with the meeting. In Paris, a video of Mr. Trump telling Brigitte Macron, the French presidents wife, that she was in such good shape and beautiful was widely spread online.

Comedians continue to riff on the Paris meeting. Heres our Best of Late Night roundup.

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3. Liu Xiaobo, Chinas most prominent political prisoner and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, died, still silenced and under guard at a government hospital.

Mr. Liu, who kept vigil on Tiananmen Square in 1989 to protect protesters from soldiers and initiated a prominent petition for democracy, had been jailed since being convicted in 2009 of inciting subversion. His fate reflects how human rights issues have receded in Western diplomacy with China.

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4. We had no documents, no nothing; we had left everything behind.

A family of refugees among the last to enter the country before President Trumps moratorium went into effect today told our reporter how they fled Congo in 2009 after a militia attacked them, and lived for years in a refugee camp in Malawi until finally making it to Arkansas.

For the next 120 days, only refugees who have a bona fide relationship with a close relative or entity in the United States will be eligible to enter.

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5. The Justice Department charged 412 people nationwide, including dozens of doctors, in schemes that collectively defrauded the government of about $1.3 billion. Nearly one-third were accused of opioid-related crimes.

Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50. Above, medics respond to an overdose. Our magazine looked at one small-town police officers war on drugs.

And we reviewed three new books that explore the opioid epidemic and how to help those afflicted by addiction.

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6. Sheldon Silver will have to be retried.

In a surprise move, an appellate court overturned the iconic Albany power brokers 2015 conviction for extensive corruption, which drew a 12-year sentence that he has not yet begun to serve.

The appellate court said that the judge had given erroneous instructions to the jury, citing a Supreme Court ruling last year involving the former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell that made it harder to convict public officials.

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7. The competition to lead Uber is robust, despite a year of scandals. Above, Ubers headquarters in San Francisco.

Heres a look at the hiring process, and some of the intriguing candidates. Yes, theyre inheriting Ubers entire toxic culture, an executive headhunter said. But theyre also getting thousands of employees who are hungry to change it.

Other workplaces are shifting into a new kind of disruptive model. Flash organizations, modeled on the film worlds temporary assemblies of freelancers, are finding their way into fields like software and pharmaceuticals.

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8. We enlisted our international photographer Adam Ferguson to help us expand our coverage of his native Australia.

He spent three months exploring its vast interior, and came back with portraits of remote, fascinating landscapes and the slow erosion of traditional ways of life for ranchers, miners even crocodile farmers. An Aboriginal community leader showed him how to suck the sweetness from honey ants.

The outback has become a kind of myth, he said in a Q. and A. after returning to his base in New York. And the point of the trip, for me, was to inquire what that myth has now become.

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9. Venus Williams is heading to her ninth Wimbledon final.

She upset Britains top female player, sixth-seeded Johanna Konta, in the semifinal. Williams, the 10th seed, will play No. 14 Garbie Muguruza of Spain on Saturday, her first finals appearance since 2009.

For the mens singles semifinals on Friday, Sam Querrey plays Marin Cilic, and Roger Federer faces Tomas Berdych.

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10. And the nominees are

Saturday Night Live and Westworld, above, led the pack with 22 nominations each for the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards. HBO received a total of 110 nominations, with a close second by Netflix with 91 nominations.

Our critics weighed in on whether Alec Baldwins portrayal of President Trump is worth a supporting actor nod and considered the snubs in a year of really good TV. The awards ceremony comes Sept. 17.

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11. Explore the arks of the apocalypse. Our magazine looks at how scientists around the world are building repositories of everything from seeds to ice to mammal milk in a race to preserve a natural order that is fast disappearing under the weight of human impact.

Take our quiz to find out the one climate solution thats more effective than others.

Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help.

Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.

And dont miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a.m. Sundays.

Want to look back? Heres last nights briefing.

What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes.com.

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Republican Party, Liu Xiaobo, Donald Trump: Your Thursday Evening Briefing - New York Times

Following the series of emails released by Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday, Rep. Bill Flores, who represents Texas's 17th Congressional District, said he thinks the President's best move is to remove all of his children from his administration, whether they hold an official position or not. "I'm going out on a limb here but I would say I think it would be in the President's best interest if he removed all of his children from the White House. Not only Donald Trump (Jr.), but Ivanka and Jared Kushner," Flores told CNN affiliate KBTX, which is based in Bryan, Texas, on Thursday morning.

Both Ivanka Trump and Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, serve as senior advisers to the President. Trump Jr. does not hold an official position.

Flores' comments follow revelations related to Trump Jr.'s email exchange about a meeting he arranged with Kushner, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and a Russian lawyer in order to discuss potentially damaging information against Hillary Clinton.

"I do find issues with the meeting, that it's a meeting that should not have taken place," Flores said on KBTX. "I think he probably thought he was looking out for his father's best interests."

Flores later issued a statement praising the President as well as his family members' success in private businesses.

"Through no fault of their own, the presence of President Trump's adult children in the White House has caused some distractions from the work the Trump administration is doing on behalf of hardworking American families," Flores said in the statement. "Given the liberal media's unwavering scrutiny of the Trump administration, it may be beneficial for the president to do all he can to remove any distractions from the administration so that he can focus on our conservative agenda."

Flores comments are significant because he hails from the President's own party, but plenty of Democrats also are calling out Trump's children in the wake of the Trump Jr. revelations. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi argued Kushner should lose his access to sensitive information.

She emphasized, "I'm more concerned about them obeying the law. It's not outside the law for them to be there, I think," referring to Kushner holding a senior West Wing position. But on his previously undisclosed meetings with Russian officials, Pelosi said, "you lie on a disclosure form -- that's a crime. You do it multiple times, that's arrogant and a crime."

"The GOP must hold Kushner accountable for the false statements on his national security disclosure form and revoke -- his security clearance must be revoked immediately. You know that the numbers keep growing as to the false statements," Pelosi told reporters Thursday.

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment. Trump has defended his children several times this week, including Trump Jr. and Ivanka.

"My son is a wonderful young man. He took a meeting with a Russian lawyer, not a government lawyer, but a Russian lawyer," the President said alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Thursday. "It was a short meeting. It was a meeting that went very, very quickly, very fast."

In the House appropriations committee, Democrats also took aim at his son-in-law's security clearance.

Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was head of the Democratic National Committee when it was hacked during the 2016 campaign, proposed an amendment to a spending bill for the Justice Department that would revoke the security clearance of anyone working in the executive office of the President who was under federal criminal investigation.

Wasserman Schultz made clear that Kushner was the target of the measure.

"Revoking Jared Kushner's security clearance would send a clear signal to anyone who would consider aiding and abetting a foreign enemy state to affect the outcome of a US presidential election that they will not be entrusted with our nation's most sensitive information," she said.

Republicans accused Wasserman Schultz of a political stunt and the amendment failed on a 22-30 party-line vote.

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Texas Republican: President's best interest to remove Trump children from White House - CNN

Major websitessuch as Facebook, Google and Netflixare speaking uptodayto oppose an effort by Republican policymakers who areseeking to undothe government's net neutrality regulations thosefederalrules passed in 2015 aimed at making sure Internet providers like Verizon or AT&T can't manipulate what you cansee online.

But joining them is a curious corner of the Web: 4chan, the message-board site that's known for producing anavalanche of pro-Donald Trump memes during the 2016 presidential campaign thatmade the GOP nomineea viral sensation on social media and, many argue, helped usher him into the Oval Office. It's Trump's own telecom regulators who, now, are spearheading thevery repeal effort that so many websites areprotesting this week. And 4channers are irate about it.

Message boards across 4chan showed a special message to visitors Wednesday aimed at highlighting how the roll-back of the net neutrality rules could allowInternet providers to block access to the site, known for producing anavalanche of pro-Trump memes during the 2016 campaign that helped make theGOP nominee a viral sensation on social media.

"Join the Day of Action for Net Neutrality, or else we may all end up banned from 4chan," the bannerreads.

Asa community that exists almost entirely online, 4chan is dependent on its users being able to access the site anytime so it's no surprise to see its members defending net neutrality. But the irony is inescapable: A communitythat worked so tirelessly to overthrow the system by backing Trump is now fearing for its existencein the face of the chaosit helped create.

4chan users expressed alarm over the regulatory proposal by Ajit Pai, Trump's pick for Federal Communications Commission chair.

"I really just want to ban throttling and ban data caps," wrote one userWednedsay on 4chan's technology board, /g/, accusing Internet providers of trying to line their pockets.

Some speculated that those sounding the alarm over the net neutrality rules' looming repeal were secretly corporate lackeys, while others fired back that the consensus on 4chan hadalways been in favor of net neutrality.

Conversation quickly shifted to debate the finer points of broadband competition in the United States.

"If big providers throttle speeds on services like Netflix, wouldn't that just siphon customers away from these big providers towards other providers that don't throttle?" one user wrote.

"The customers can't go to anyone else," another replied, "because there's little competition in large swathes [sic] of geographic regions of the country."

Thetone Wednesday on 4chan's politics board, /pol/, sharply contrasted with the sentiment therethe day after Trump won the election. As my colleague Abby Ohlheiser reported at the time, 4chan users said they were "trembling out of excitement" after having "actually elected a meme as president."

Fast forward several months, and the posts on /pol/ now read like this.

"Hopefully /pol/ can be unanimous on this, and not disagree with it just to be ironic or edgy. Just this once," wrote another user, who added that as much as he or she hated "agreeing with liberal[s] they're right on this one.(((internet service providers))) will get way too much power if we let them."

A spokesperson for 4chan didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Even 4chan is opposing the Republican plan for net neutrality - Washington Post

Jul. 12, 2017 at 9:15 AM

When President Trump sent out a crude tweet about the appearance of MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski late last month, several GOP lawmakers, such as Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, criticized the comments on Twitter. But when much more significant news broke in recent days that Donald Trump Jr. once sought negative information about Hillary Clinton from sources tied to the Russian government Republicans in Congress responded very differently: with muted criticism and, wherever possible, outright silence.

Reporters have had to chase down congressional Republicans on Capitol Hill to ask questions about the controversy. Few Republican lawmakers have commented on social media. And when Republicans have chosen to answer questions about Trump Jr., they have avoided bashing the president himself by, in many cases, offering careful, measured statements that highlight the role of the special counsel and congressional committees investigating issues related to the Trump campaign and Russia.

That caution is significant because it is the Republican reaction and especially the congressional Republican reaction to Russia stories that really matters most. Numerous recent news stories have explored the legal implications of Trump Jr.s meeting with a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer and whether it could violate campaign finance rules or other laws. (The recent developments also ensnared Jared Kushner, the presidents senior adviser and son-in-law, who attended the meeting with Trump Jr.) But when it comes to President Trump, the Russia story is a political debate as much as a legal one. Its not clear whether a president can even be indicted for a crime, much less convicted. In many ways, Congress is the sole judge and jury of a president: It can impeach him, remove him from office or call for his resignation. And right now, Congress is led by Trumps party.

So it doesnt matter much that Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia thinks Trump Jr. may have committed perjury or even treason, or that former federal prosecutors are telling Politico that the Trump Jr. news is extremely damaging and shows an intent to collude with Russian government. What matters is what Republicans think. Heres what theyre saying so far:

A few Republicans were more critical, but they were the usual suspects, members of what is essentially a Trump-skeptic wing in the Senate. Arizona Sen. John McCain predicted, Therell be many more shoes that drop. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested that Trump campaign officials should not have taken the meeting. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, said that Trump Jr. should be interviewed by the committee. All three senators are longtime Trump critics who declined to back him during the 2016 campaign, but even their statements were hardly blistering.

Fox News, which dwarfs those publications in terms of audience and influence on the right, reacted differently, casting Trump Jr. as a victim. Sean Hannity, perhaps the most pro-Trump member of the national media, interviewed Trump Jr. on Tuesday evening and allowed him to repeatedly attack the press.

The vice president is working every day to advance the presidents agenda, Pences press secretary, Marc Lotter, said in a statement on Tuesday. He was not aware of the meeting. He is also not focused on stories about the campaign especially those pertaining to the time before he joined the campaign.

That might look like a defense of the president. But read the statement closely. It claims that the vice president did not know about the meeting and points out that the meeting occurred before Pence joined the ticket, which sounds like Pence suggesting that the Russia controversy does not involve him and drawing a line between himself and the presidents son, son-in-law and ultimately Trump himself. He does not defend Trump Jr. or Kushner at all.

But overall, the Republicans muted reaction should not be surprising. Even after the Watergate break-in, the resignations of some of Richard Nixons top aides and his dismissal of the attorney general and deputy attorney general, many in his party stood by him until his resignation. Presidential scandals have revealed a consistent pattern: Members of Congress largely back the president if hes a member of their party.

This doesnt mean Republicans will back Trump forever, particularly if the special counsel or the congressional committees unearth more unflattering evidence. And if Democrats win control of the House or the Senate in 2018, that will change the tenor of Congresss Russia debate.

But for now, Republicans are in charge, and they dont seem to be abandoning Trump yet.

Continued here:
Republicans Matter Most, And They Don't Seem To Care Much About Trump Jr. - FiveThirtyEight

Trump to Pat Robertson: Putin Would've Preferred 'President Hillary Clinton'

Cant-spell?: Dem Sen Uses Misspelled Poster to Bash GOP on Health Care

Greg Gutfeld reacted to MSNBC's Joe Scarborough's announcement that he is leaving the Republican Party.

Scarborough made the announcement on "The Late Show" on CBS.

In the 1990s, Scarborough represented the Florida panhandle for several terms in Congress before resigning.

Gutfeld called Scarborough a "weird Matt Perry" who "chases the spotlight until it dims, then he moves on."

He said Scarborough was "sanctimonious" by announcing his departure from a party that appeared to care little that he was a member.

Gutfeld said that "Morning Joke" Scarborough played both sides during the rise of President Trump.

"Joe indulged him, flattered him ... used him to get ratings," Gutfeld said. "When he saw Donald outgrew him, he imploded."

Since Trump's election, Scarborough has referred to Trump as a "goon" and the "greatest liar that has ever sat in the White House."

Jesse Watters pointed out that, with Scarborough's change of party ID, MSNBC no longer has the "talking point" that they employ a Republican host.

Watch the monologue above.

'You Specialize in Moral Outrage': Sparks Fly as Tucker Battles Romney Adviser on Russia Threat

Steyn: Putin Would Never Collude via a 'Ludicrous Azerbaijani Pop Star's Publicist'

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Gutfeld on 'Morning Joke' Leaving The Republican Party - Fox News Insider