Top Items:


Bibi Netanyahu Makes Trump His Chump — For those of you confused over the latest fight between President Obama and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel, let me make it simple: Barack Obama and John Kerry admire and want to preserve Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in the Land of Israel.
Discussion:
alan.com, Taylor Marsh, Tikun Olam, No More Mister Nice Blog and US Department of State
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Schumer: Kerry ‘emboldened extremists on both sides’ — Incoming Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer — (D-N.Y.) said Secretary of State John Kerry — inflamed tensions between the Israelis and Palestinians with his Wednesday speech. — Kerry fiercely criticized the Israeli government …
Discussion:
Washington Times, Outside the Beltway, TheBlaze, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, Haaretz and New York Times

White House On Defense After Being Exposed as Architect of Anti-Israel U.N. Action
Discussion:
Hot Air, Israel Matzav and RedState

Julie Bishop backs Israel rather than the US over UN resolution
Discussion:
The Times of Israel


Is Israel Abandoning a Two-State Solution?
Discussion:
Vox, New York Magazine, The Times of Israel, Politico, Liberal Values and Josh Blackman's Blog

How the U.S. came to abstain on a U.N. resolution condemning Israeli settlements
Discussion:
Jezebel, Haaretz, Associated Press and Hot Air

Kerry's Blunt Words for Israel Denounced by Lawmakers in Both Parties
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Mahablog, Independent Journal Review, Common Dreams, Political Wire, NPR and New York Magazine

What's really bugging Trump about Obama — Donald Trump can't decide whether he thinks the transition of power is going well or not. — But he knows he doesn't like how much attention Barack Obama is getting and is also bothered by what Trump and his closest advisers see as an active effort …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, New York Magazine and Mother Jones
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Sean Spicer On The New Administration And The Press
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Law News

Spicer: President Trump won't be beholden to traditional media practices
Discussion:
Breitbart and The Week, more at Mediagazer »


Milo Yiannopoulos Strikes $250K Book Deal (Exclusive) — “They said banning me from Twitter would finish me off. Just as I predicted, the opposite has happened,” says Yiannopoulos. — Milo Yiannopoulos has parlayed his ban from Twitter — and some controversial appearances on college campuses …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Verge, Mediaite, New York Magazine and The Week, more at Mediagazer »
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GOP Readies Swift Obamacare Repeal With No Replacement in Place — Senate will start in early January to repeal health-care law — Republicans split over how long to delay replacement plan — The first major act of the unified Republican government in 2017 will be a vote in Congress to begin tearing down Obamacare.
Discussion:
Business Insider, AOL, alan.com, Politicus USA and Project Syndicate RSS-Feed
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Obamacare Didn't Fail Because It's Timid
Discussion:
New York Magazine and Instapundit


Debbie Reynolds, ‘Singin’ in the Rain' Star and Carrie Fisher's Mother, Dies at 84 — Debbie Reynolds, the Oscar-nominated singer-actress who was the mother of late actress Carrie Fisher, has died at Cedars-Sinai hospital. She was 84. — “She wanted to be with Carrie,” her son Todd Fisher told Variety.
Discussion:
TMZ.com, TheBlaze, Atlanta Black Star, Independent Journal Review, Page Six, NBC News, Washington Post, Refinery29, AOL, New York Magazine, The Root, Mediaite and Althouse
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Open Society Needs Defending — Open societies are in crisis, and various forms of closed societies - from fascist dictatorships to mafia states - are on the rise. Because elected leaders failed to meet voters' legitimate expectations and aspirations, electorates have become disenchanted …
Discussion:
RedState, CNBC, Vox Popoli and Infowars
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George Soros: Trump a ‘would-be dictator’
Discussion:
alan.com, Raw Story and Zero Hedge


A Preview of Obama's Post-Presidency — He's grumbling about Fox News and talk radio while feigning that he isn't partisan. — In two interviews over the holidays, President Obama signaled how he's likely to conduct himself once out of office: whiny, self-justifying and bursting with excuses.
Discussion:
Power Line
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Don't Disappear Next Year, Obama
Discussion:
neo-neocon, CBS Philly, Talking Points Memo, Slate, WTVR-TV, CNBC, Mediaite and Washington Post

Report: 8 years of Obama vacations cost $85 million
Discussion:
MichelleMalkin.com


Donald Trump Considers Moving VA Toward Privatization — Some veterans' advocates oppose moves to privatize Department of Veterans Affairs — President-elect Donald Trump is considering moving the Department of Veterans Affairs toward privatization, a transition team official said Wednesday …
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications and The Daily Caller
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Trump Weighs Letting Veterans Opt Out of V.A. Medical Care
Discussion:
Vox, Hot Air and Politicus USA

The good that could come from a Trump presidency — Gloom is a terrible way to ring out the old, and despair is of no help in trying to imagine the new. — So let us consider what good might come from the political situation in which we will find ourselves in 2017.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Daily Kos


DC private schools giving Kellyanne Conway the brush-off — MORE FROM: — Kellyanne Conway is worried establishment elites in Washington, DC, are so prejudiced against President-elect Trump that she won't be able to get her kids into private school in the nation's capital.
Discussion:
The Resurgent, AOL, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review and Raw Story


Americans — especially but not exclusively Trump voters — believe crazy, wrong things — Many Americans believe a lot of dumb, crazy, destructive, provably wrong stuff. Lately this is especially (though not exclusively) true of Donald Trump voters, according to a new survey.
Discussion:
emptywheel, New York Daily News, Mediaite, DCist and The Daily Caller


DMV licensed 800,000 undocumented immigrants under 2-year-old law — On the day that California officials implemented a controversial law that allows undocumented residents to obtain driver's licenses, DMV offices throughout the state were packed with immigrants looking to take advantage of the opportunity.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller


US military could carry out first execution in over 50 years — (CNN)A former US Army soldier who has been on death row since 1988 for raping and murdering several women could now face execution after a judge denied his bid for another stay of execution. — Judge J. Thomas Marten …
Discussion:
The Week

What counties that flipped from Romney to Clinton have in common — A new analysis of housing prices reveals one way Hillary Clinton's and Donald Trump's supporters have been living in two economies. One has benefited from lucrative but erratic progress in global markets …
Discussion:
Political Insider blog


Obama under pressure to prove Russian interference in election — The Obama administration is under intense pressure to release evidence confirming Russian interference in the presidential election before leaving office. — The administration up until now has provided little documentation …