The president is "not obstructing, he's fighting back." So said Sarah Huckabee Sanders following a series of tweets (what else) in which Trump called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions (who has recused himself) to end the special counsel investigation: "This is a terrible situation and Attorney 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!" (America is getting stained. But not by Bob Mueller.)

+ "In the black hole of conspiracy in which 'Q' has plunged its followers, Trump only feigned collusion to create a pretense for the hiring of special counsel Robert Mueller, who is actually working to expose the Democrats. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and George Soros are planning a coup - and traffic children in their spare time. J.P. Morgan, the American financier, sunk the Titanic." The constant lies and attacks on America's institutions serve as more than fodder for Fox News or the seeds of outrage for fans of reality. The behavior has open the portal through which some of the worst conspiracy theorists have migrated from internet message boards into the real world. We are Q: Conspiracy cult leaps from the internet to the crowd at Trump's MAGA tour.

+ GQ: The Cult of Trump Makes the Worst Conspiracy Theories Mainstream.

+ "This is the president whipping up hatred of the media in tweets and public appearances, watching it blossom into a reporter becoming a target of hate at one of his rallies, and then expressing his satisfaction with how his supporters are acting on his messages."

+ Pew: Trump's approval ratings so far are unusually stable.

"In the five years since Noah Pozner was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., death threats and online harassment have forced his parents, Veronique De La Rosa and Leonard Pozner, to relocate seven times. They now live in a high-security community hundreds of miles from where their 6-year-old is buried." The lunatics and liars like Alex Jones might just cause you some psychic frustration. But for the parents of Sandy Hook and others, it's a lot worse than that. The NYT: Alex Jones, Pursued Over Infowars Falsehoods, Faces a Legal Crossroads.

+ "Jones ... has used his media platform to call the mass shooting at an elementary school that killed 26 people a hoax and suggested a political cover-up took place by left-wing forces seeking to take advantage of the shooting to support their causes." Reuters: Conspiracy theorist Jones seeks dismissal of Sandy Hook defamation suit.

+ "Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down." That's how Donald Trump described Alex Jones. (Look, I know you're tired of the Trump news. And I know this stuff makes you sick. Believe me, I'd rather be making quirky remarks about entertaining articles. But this is a very real and increasingly dangerous problem. We can't just look away.)

"The inside story of what happened to immigrant children separated from their parents at the border. The film explores the impact of the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy, and how both Trump and Obama dealt with minors at the border." From Frontline: Separated: Children at the Border.

+ Carpool moms and dads volunteer to drive immigrant parents cross-country

"There is something deeply incongruous at the heart of the supposed 'techlash': It is not really making a huge dent in the tech giants' financial performance. Over the last two weeks, each of the five reported earnings that were brimming with mostly fantastic news for its investors. Amazon, which has long conditioned shareholders to expect a lot of growth but not much earnings, reported a record profit. Microsoft and Google's parent company, Alphabet, both handily beat Wall Street's projections. On Tuesday, so did Apple; if its price jumps as a result, it could become the first company to reach a market valuation of more than $1 trillion." Farhad Manjoo in the NYT: Big Tech Is as Strong as Ever. "Even after its stock crash, Facebook remains the fifth most valuable corporation in the American markets."

+ Apple approaches a trillion dollar marketcap after another stellar quarter. (When the world-ending apocalypse comes, the only survivors will be cockroaches and positive Apple quarterly reports.)

"Today, she arranges furtive visits with a small circle of friends, but otherwise stays mostly at home. When she moves through Amsterdam, she does so in secret, and sometimes in disguise: she has a collection of fake noses and teeth. Holleeder typically dresses in black, but if she suspects she's being followed she may duck into a bathroom and emerge in a wig and a red dress. Occasionally, she has posed as a man." The New Yorker: How a Notorious Gangster Was Exposed by His Own Sister. (Editor's note: I have three sisters...)

"It's the elimination of such regulations that has helped turn miners like Johnson more bullish about reentering the industry. 'We know you ‘get it' and you love America and coal miners,' Johnson wrote recently in a letter to the White House. 'Keep fighting for us and we will stand with you.'" Elaina Plott in The Atlantic: Hope and Change in an Alabama Coal Mine.

"Snap offers food aid to millions of eligible, low-income individuals and families, -- the majority of whom are white, and overwhelmingly have children. In food insecure households with children, 85% are headed by adults who work." CItyLab with some stats that might surprise you in this visual story about How the Other Half Eats.

How crazy are health care costs? Let's put it this way. A surgeon in North Carolina wanted to offer less expensive MRIs. But he couldn't. There's a law preventing him from doing so. Vox: This surgeon wants to offer cheap MRIs.

"It was mid-May when Albee Layer soared off a wave in Maui and did something exceptional, if not unprecedented, on a surfboard. He sped along the wave and then launched into the air, taking off facing away from the beach and turning back toward where he came from — known as an alley oop — rotating a little more than 360 degrees. He landed backward on the wave and then slid another 180 degrees to ride in facing forward." That was crazy. What might be crazier is the argument over what that trick should be called. NYT: When a Surfer Lands a Skateboard Trick, Who Gets to Name It?

"A converted storage room on the top floor of the Supreme Court building has become a place for justices and their clerks to get a run in—and a source of a great many tales." Sports Illustrated: The Highest Court in the Land.

+ The vest vending machine at San Francisco's airport is getting mocked, but it rings up $10,000 in sales every month. (Vesting is our favorite activity in San Francisco...)

+ Parents are hiring Fortnite coaches to improve play and help children level up. (Looking back, I wish my parents had worried a little less about my SAT scores and a little more about how shitty I was at Pong.)