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12:50 PM ET, December 18, 2014

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Politico:
Obama libre  —  The last five weeks of the president's year were better than almost all the rest.  —  If President Barack Obama's year ended in November, it would have been one of the worst of his presidency.  —  Good thing he had the last five weeks.  —  Story Continued Below
Discussion: Weekly Standard
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Obama gives the Castro regime in Cuba an undeserved bailout  —  IN RECENT months, the outlook for the Castro regime in Cuba was growing steadily darker.  The modest reforms it adopted in recent years to improve abysmal economic conditions had stalled, due to the regime's refusal to allow Cubans greater freedoms.
Rich Lowry / Politico:
The Castros Finally Hit the Jackpot  —  Even if you oppose the isolation of Cuba, this is not a good trade.  —  Candidate Barack Obama said that, as president, he would talk to anti-American dictators without precondition.  He didn't mention that he would also give them historic policy concessions without precondition.
Discussion: National Review
Lauren French / Politico:
How Republicans could stop Obama's Cuba play  —  Hill Republicans started making a to-do list immediately.  —  President Barack Obama's plan to normalize relations with Cuba has hit a familiar roadblock: Republicans on Capitol Hill.  —  Just hours after Obama announced that a prisoner swap …
Steve Benen / msnbc.com:
Republicans hardly unanimous on new Cuba policy  —  We've grown accustomed to some clear divisions among Republicans on foreign policy, with the Dick Cheney wing of the GOP aggressively at odds with the Rand Paul wing.  It's not exactly a 50-50 split - the former contingent is vastly larger than the latter …
Dan Roberts / Guardian:
US-Cuba deal: a marriage 18 months in the making, blessed by Pope Francis  —  Nothing about the past year and a half, from the secret talks in Canada to the public handshake at Nelson Mandela's funeral, happened by accident  —  If ever there was a lingering illusion that Barack Obama might have …
Discussion: Althouse
Peter Schroeder / The Hill:
Can Obama lift Cuba embargo alone?
Discussion: Instapundit and Daily Kos
miamiherald:   A roll of the dice on Cuba
Associated Press:
Obama reignites political debate over Cuba
Discussion: ABC News and Associated Press
New York Times:
U.S. Said to Find North Korea Ordered Cyberattack on Sony  —  WASHINGTON — American officials have concluded that North Korea ordered the attacks on Sony Pictures's computers, a determination reached as the studio decided Wednesday to cancel the release of a movie comedy about the assassination …
RELATED:
Erik Hayden / Hollywood Reporter:
Texas Theater to Show ‘Team America’ In Place of ‘The Interview’  —  After Sony canceled the release of the North Korea assassination comedy The Interview, a Texas theater said it would swap the film with Paramount's 2004 film Team America: World Police for one free screening.
USA Today:
Official: North Korea behind Sony hack
Discussion: TMZ.com and National Review
NY Daily News:
Terrorists 1, Hollywood 0  —  Sony Pictures buckles to faceless …
Discussion: Balloon Juice
Mike Fleming / Deadline:
North Korea-Based Thriller With Gore Verbinski And Steve Carell Canceled
Ted Bridis / Associated Press:
Sony emails show a studio ripe for hacking
Dennis Romero / LA Weekly:
Killing The Interview Opens Studios to Terrorist Manipulation
Associated Press:
AP source: North Korea linked to Sony hacking
Robert Schmidt / Bloomberg Politics:
Lawrence Summers' $28 Million Payday, Courtesy of Elizabeth Warren  —  Senator Elizabeth Warren famously declared “there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own.”  —  That truism presumably includes President Barack Obama's former economic chief Lawrence Summers …
Discussion: Booman Tribune
CNN:
Officials: Boko Haram kidnaps 185 women and children, kills 32 people  —  Kano, Nigeria (CNN) — Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped at least 185 women and children, and killed 32 people in a raid in northeastern Nigeria this week, local officials and residents said.
RELATED:
Lanre Ola / Reuters:
Suspected Boko Haram gunmen kidnap 100 women, children in Nigeria
Discussion: Gawker and Shakesville
USA Today:
Putin: West wants to put Russian bear ‘on a chain’  —  The collapse in Russia's rouble slows for a while, but fears of how the crisis will hit not only Moscow but its trade partners are deepening.  As Ciara Lee reports, the repercussions could be felt far and wide.  Video provided by Reuters Newslook
Discussion: kyivpost.com
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Russian President Vladimir Putin Seeks to Reassure on Economy
Discussion: kyivpost.com
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Obama's Had a Helluva Good Month Since the Midterms  —  So how have things been going for our bored, exhausted, and disengaged president?  He's been acting pretty enthusiastic, energized, and absorbed with his job, I'd say.  Let us count the things he's done since the November 4th midterm elections:
Noah Rothman / Hot Air:
It's official: GOP will have biggest House majority since before the New Deal  —  On Wednesday, the Associated Press called the outstanding race for congress in Arizona's 2nd Congressional district.  Rep. Ron Barber (D-AZ), a former aide to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and her successor in office …
Discussion: Ed Driscoll
RELATED:
Peter Wehner / Commentary Magazine:
The GOP's Resurging Public Image
Joe Arnold / WHAS-TV:
Grimes pledges legal challenge if Paul attempts simultaneous races  —  Alison Lundergan Grimes says she will challenge Senator Rand Paul if he tries to get on the ballot for both Senate re-election and president  —  FRANKFORT, Ky. (WHAS11) — Six weeks after she lost her own bid for the U-S Senate …
Nick Hanauer / The Hill:
Give Americans the overtime pay they've earned  —  Progressives are angry at the president for caving in to Republicans on the CRomnibus budget bill, and rightly so—the rollback of post-Great Recession regulations on financial derivatives is simply inexcusable.
Discussion: Hullabaloo
Megan Murphy / Financial Times:
Jeb Bush's web of interests face scrutiny as he ‘explores’ presidential bid  —  When Jeb Bush announced on Tuesday that he would “actively explore” a 2016 presidential bid, he jumped to the front of a long queue of Republican contenders that had been waiting to see whether the former Florida governor would enter the fray.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Marc Ambinder / The Week:
What the media gets wrong about Jeb Bush
Discussion: Political Wire and National Review
Elise Viebeck / The Hill:
ObamaCare fines loom for uninsured
Discussion: RedState and Josh Blackman's Blog
Harold Meyerson / Washington Post:
Harold Meyerson: Democrats need Elizabeth Warren's brand of populism
Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
A year of transformation for The New York Times
The Hill:
Historically unproductive Congress ends
 Earlier Items: 
Tim Alberta / National Journal:
Return of the Kingmaker: Jim DeMint Is Getting Back in the Game
Daily Mail:
Time to lay off the doughnuts! Study reveals cops are the most obese workers in America
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Did Ted Cruz really bungle the lame-duck session for Republicans?
Discussion: The Huffington Post
Sarah Wheaton / Politico:
Vermont bails on single-payer health care
Nick Anderson / Washington Post:
Johns Hopkins mistakenly says ‘yes’ to hundreds of rejected applicants
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
A deep dive into Paramount's sale to Skydance; sources: Skydance may integrate Pluto into Paramount+, and CBS head George Cheeks is expected to be head of TV

Bloomberg:
A look at the challenges facing Crunchyroll, as current and ex-staffers say its management is out of touch, amid Disney and Netflix's expansion into anime

Ankush Khardori / Politico:
Trump may erode press protections but the ABC case is not evidence of that as the decision to settle appears reasonable given Stephanopoulos' imprecise remarks

 
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