memeorandum: Trump's sons involved in interviewing, vetting Cabinet candidates (Tal Kopan/CNN)

3:10 PM ET, December 15, 2016

Top Items:

Tina Nguyen / Vanity Fair:

Trump Grill Could Be the Worst Restaurant in America — And it reveals everything you need to know about our next president. — Halfway through a recent late lunch at the Trump Grill—the clubby steakhouse in the lobby of Trump Tower that has recently become famous through …

Discussion: RedState, New York Post, ThinkProgress, NPR, alan.com, Washington Post, grubstreet, Politico, Business Insider, Daily Kos, Jezebel, TheBlaze, Mediaite, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Caller and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Trump Questions Russia's Election Meddling on Twitter — Inaccurately — President-elect Donald J. Trump was back on Twitter on Thursday morning, questioning Russia's involvement in the election; targeting an old nemesis, the magazine editor Graydon Carter; and defending his business interests.

Discussion: Guns.com, New Century Times, Politico, alan.com and Deadline, more at Mediagazer »

Adam Mosseri / Facebook:

News Feed FYI: Addressing Hoaxes and Fake News — A few weeks ago we previewed some of the things we're working on to address the issue of fake news and hoaxes. We're committed to doing our part and today we'd like to share some updates we're testing and starting to roll out.

Poynter:

International Fact-Checking Network fact-checkers' code of principles — The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter is committed to promoting excellence in fact-checking. We believe nonpartisan and transparent fact-checking can be a powerful instrument of accountability journalism …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Politico, BuzzFeed and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

Daily Kos:

STATE AND COUNTY BOARDS OF ELECTIONS — Under current state law, the governor's party controls the state board of elections with a three-to-two majority, and it also controls all 100 county elections boards with a two-to-one majority. After Republicans took power in 2013 with McCrory's victory …

Discussion: The Atlantic

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:

North Carolina G.O.P. Moves to Curb Power of New Democratic Governor — RALEIGH, N.C. — Republicans in the North Carolina legislature on Wednesday took the highly unusual step of moving to strip power from the incoming Democratic governor after a bitter election that extended years of fierce ideological battles in the state.

Discussion: RedState, ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, NBC News and The Week

Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:
North Carolina Republicans' Legislative Coup Is an Attack on Democracy

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and News, Indy Week

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:

Fake news is a convenient scapegoat, but the big 2016 problem was the real news — You can't blame Macedonian teens for disastrously email-centric coverage. — Speaking in early December at a ceremony to honor Harry Reid's retirement from the US Senate, Hillary Clinton took aim at a target …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, BuzzFeed, Media Matters for America, rubber hose, Political Wire, American Greatness and Eschaton, more at Mediagazer »

Stephen Miller / Heat Street:

What Yasmin Seweid's Pretty Little Lies Reveal About ‘Fake News’ Media Hypocrisy — Since Donald Trump's election night victory and at the direction of Hillary Clinton campaign operatives, social media users have been scolded and warned over the scourge of “fake news” from supposedly respected …

Discussion: RedState, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Jezebel, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Gothamist, Power Line and New York Times

Rocco Parascandola / New York Daily News:
Muslim college student who claimed Trump supporters attacked her on the subway under arrest for making story up

Discussion: USA Today, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, twitchy.com, BizPac Review, Gothamist, Heat Street, Louder With Crowder, The Daily Signal, Hit & Run, Scared Monkeys, Liberty Unyielding, Washington Free Beacon, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, CBS New York, AOL and DNAinfo New York

Brian Ross / ABC News:

Officials: Master Spy Vladimir Putin Now Directly Linked to US Hacking

Discussion: abc7.com, Associated Press and The Atlantic

NBC News:

U.S. Officials: Putin Personally Involved in U.S. Election Hack — Vladimir Putin personally involved in US election hack, intelligence officials say 2:36 — U.S. intelligence officials now believe with “a high level of confidence” that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved …

Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Ex-British ambassador who is now a WikiLeaks operative claims Russia did NOT provide Clinton emails - they were handed over to him at a D.C. park by an intermediary for ‘disgusted’ Democratic whistleblowers — Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and associate of Julian Assange …

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News Insider, Washington Times, Washington's Blog, Katehon think tank …, Independent Journal Review, Hot Air, twitchy.com, War on the Rocks, Coffee House and Hullabaloo

Will Doran / Raleigh News & Observer:

Roy Cooper to legislature: Go home — Responding to the General Assembly's effort to limit his power before he takes office Jan. 1, Gov.-elect Roy Cooper said it's time for lawmakers to go home. — “Major changes in the way state government operates should be done deliberately …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Business Insider and Talking Points Memo

Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Cooper threatens to sue over North Carolina GOP ‘power grab’

Discussion: Raleigh News & Observer, Daily Kos, Washington Post and Hullabaloo

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
In Last-Minute Power Grab, NC GOPers Push To Curb Dem Guv's Authority

Discussion: Greensboro News & Record, Washington Monthly, The Progressive Pulse, News, Indy Week, ncleg.net, electionlawblog.org, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, Balloon Juice, Business Insider and Raleigh News & Observer

Daniel Halper / New York Post:

Celebrities beg electors to be ‘heroes’ and vote against Trump — More On: — Celebrities are teaming up to beg Republicans in the Electoral College to vote against President-elect Donald Trump, pledging their “respect” for potential “heroes.” — A slew of other has-been and B …

Discussion: YouTube, Independent Journal Review, twitchy.com, BizPac Review, Shot in the Dark and Politico

Mark Moore / New York Post:
Electors are being harassed, threatened in bid to stop Trump

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Law News

Blake Seitz / Washington Free Beacon:

The 7 Most Insane Andrew Sullivan Quotes About Obama From That New Republic Interview — In the days after the U.S. presidential election, the New Republic convened “five leading historians and political observers” to discuss President Obama's threatened legacy.

Discussion: The Federalist

BBC:

EgyptAir crash: Explosives found on victims, say investigators — Traces of explosives have been found on victims of the EgyptAir plane that crashed into the Mediterranean in May, Egyptian investigators say. — A criminal investigation would now begin into the crash of the Airbus A320, the civil aviation ministry said.

Discussion: New York Magazine

Jamie Schram / New York Post:
Traces of explosives found on bodies in EgyptAir crash

Discussion: Independent Journal Review and RedState

Harper Neidig / The Hill:

Critics bash Trump children's presence at tech meeting — 's adult children attended a Wednesday meeting the president-elect convened with top Silicon Valley executives, prompting backlash from critics with questions about conflicts of interests. — The meeting was meant as an olive branch …

Discussion: Business Insider and New York Times

Tal Kopan / CNN:
Trump's sons involved in interviewing, vetting Cabinet candidates

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Week, Morning Consult and The Hill

TMZ.com:

Scott Baio — Chili Pepper's Wife Physically Attacked Me Over Trump — Scott Baio has filed a police report claiming the wife of the Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer went nuts on him at a function with their elementary school kids ... physically attacking him over his support of Donald Trump.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, BizPac Review and Independent Journal Review

Indianapolis Star:

A 20-year toll: 368 gymnasts allege sexual exploitation — INDYSTAR INVESTIGATIONS REVEALED THAT CHILDREN WERE BEING ABUSED IN GYMNASTICS GYMS, BUT NO ONE KNEW HOW WIDESPREAD THE PROBLEM WAS. UNTIL NOW. — 11,600 — A 12-year-old gymnast molested by an Olympic coach during “therapy” sessions.

Discussion: The Guardian, Jezebel, ABC News, Mediaite and New York Magazine

The White House:

The 2017 Economic Report of the President — Summary: The 2017 Economic Report of the President reviews the economic record of the Obama Administration, focusing on how policies have promoted inclusive growth. — When he took office in early 2009, President Obama was faced with the daunting task …

Discussion: Equitable Growth

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Senate Dems rolling out bill to force Trump to shed conflicts of interest — A group of Senate Democrats will introduce legislation requiring President-elect Donald Trump — to divest any financial assets that pose a conflict of interest and place the money into a blind trust.

Discussion: RedState, Common Dreams, Hot Air and Washington Post

Jack McElroy / Knoxville News-Sentinel:

Story of Santa Claus with dying child can't be verified — Last Sunday, the News Sentinel published the story of a Campbell County Santa Claus actor, Eric Schmitt-Matzen, who said a terminally ill child had died in his arms. — Immediately, the story went viral.

Discussion: AOL, KFOR-TV, TheBlaze, BizPac Review, Gizmodo, Liberty Unyielding, Distractify, Jezebel, KXAN-TV and The Daily Caller

CBS News:

Do Americans think Donald Trump will be a good president? — With the inauguration a little over a month away, just over a third of Americans (34 percent) think President-elect Trump will be a good or very good president, and another 23 percent think he will be average.

Discussion: Washington Times and Political Wire

Pew Research Center:

Americans Name the 10 Most Significant Historic Events of Their Lifetimes — 9/11, Obama election and the tech revolution among those with greatest impact on the country — Shared experiences define what it means to be an American. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were such a unifying event for modern Americans.

Discussion: Washington Post

Katy Waldman / Slate:

Donald's Beautiful Dark Fascist Fantasy — What do Trump and Kanye have in common? Totalitarian aesthetics and disconnection from reality. — On Tuesday morning, Kanye West became the latest eminence to cross the marble floors of the Trump Tower lobby.

Discussion: Althouse, Mashable and Mediaite

Jennifer Calfas / The Hill:

Ivanka Trump to get office in WH space reserved for first lady: report — A spokesperson for President-elect Donald Trump — is pushing back on a report that Ivanka Trump will get an office in the space typically reserved for the first lady. — “This is false.