memeorandum: Obama Watchdog in Congress Has New Target in Trump Era: Postal Reform (New York Times)

11:45 PM ET, January 9, 2017

Top Items:

Obama Watchdog in Congress Has New Target in Trump Era: Postal Reform — An Obama watchdog has changed his tune now that a Republican will be in the White House. — President-elect Donald J. Trump, after an intelligence report concluded that Russia tried to help him get elected, is going after ... Meryl Streep.

Diana Pearl / People.com:
D.C. Dress Shops Dispute Trump's Claim That They Are ‘Sold-Out’ for Inauguration: 'There's Never Been Less Demand'

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Post, Mediaite, AOL, New York Magazine, KTLA, The Week, The Guardian, Politico and IJR

NBC News:
Source: Jared Kushner to Serve as Trump Senior Adviser

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Caller, NPR, ThinkProgress, NBC News, Shareblue, BuzzFeed, Reuters, Hot Air, Balloon Juice and AOL, more at Mediagazer »

Caroline Cunningham / Washingtonian:
Actually, Mr. Trump, Washington's Dress Shops Are Not All Sold Out

Discussion: Daily Kos, BizPac Review, Raw Story, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Mashable, Scared Monkeys, East Bay Times, NPR, The Guardian and New York Times

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:

5 GOP Senators Propose Delay On O'Care Repeal To Work Out Replacement — After publicly airing some of their grievances with the GOP's current strategy of repealing Obamacare without a replacement plan, a handful of Republican senators put their concerns in legislative writing.

Discussion: Political Wire

Bloomberg:
Breakaway Senate Republicans Push to Delay Obamacare Repeal

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Post and Shareblue

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Rand Paul rolling out ObamaCare replacement this week

Discussion: RedState, Infowars and Talking Points Memo

Lauren Fox / Talking Points Memo:
A lead Republican in the fight to repeal Obamacare said Monday night …

Discussion: Politico, New York Magazine and The Atlantic

Laura Barron-Lopez / The Huffington Post:
Senate Democrats To Hold Late-Night Talkathon Against Obamacare Repeal

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, The Week and New York Magazine

Tom Hamburger / Washington Post:

Sessions failed to disclose oil interests as required, ethics experts say — Attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions did not disclose his ownership of oil interests on land in Alabama as required by federal ethics rules, according to an examination of state records and independent ethics lawyers who reviewed the documents.

Discussion: Daily Kos

The Guardian:

We were ethics lawyers for Bush and Obama. Trump's cabinet hearings must be delayed — The Senate plans to hold confirmation hearings before all nominees' financial disclosure reports and ethics agreements are finalized. That's a dangerous move — s the former White House ethics counsels …

Discussion: Shareblue and Raw Story

Kenneth Lipp / The Daily Beast:
Jeff Sessions Wanted to ‘Drop the Case’ Against KKK Lynching, Attorney Testified

Discussion: The Atlantic

Ashley Feinberg / Gizmodo:

Trump Just Dismissed the People in Charge of Maintaining Our Nuclear Arsenal — Between the Trump transition team's infighting, incompetence, and high-profile resignations, any decisions that signaled even a modicum of stability for the country would come as a relief at this point.

Discussion: Business Insider, Daily Kos, Sputnik International, Shakesville, The Week and Raw Story

Ryan Mac / Forbes:

A Troll Outside Trump Tower Is Helping To Pick Your Next Government — An internet troll, who was once called “the most hated man on the internet” and is banned from Twitter, is recommending candidates to serve in the Trump administration. — Charles “Chuck” Johnson …

Discussion: RedState, Little Green Footballs, New York Magazine, The Verge and Heat Street

Farah Stockman / New York Times:

Women's March on Washington Opens Contentious Dialogues About Race — Many thousands of women are expected to converge on the nation's capital for the Women's March on Washington the day after Donald J. Trump's inauguration. Jennifer Willis no longer plans to be one of them.

Discussion: Instapundit, Hot Air and Power Line

Liam Quinn / Daily Mail:

Shocked waitress is left a racist note by white couple who 'don't tip black people' even after they admitted she gave them ‘great service’ — A waitress who served a white couple at a Virginia restaurant was left a racist message instead of a tip. — The waitress, Kelly Carter …

Discussion: Sputnik International, AOL and alan.com

Mike Carter-Conneen / WJLA-TV:

Waitress undeterred by racist note left on bill at restaurant — There's outrage in Ashburn after a couple of customers left a local restaurant without tipping their waitress. Instead, they left her a racially-charged message on the bill. — “Great service don't tip black people.”

Discussion: The Root and Raw Story

Grace Watkins / Politico:

Trump Pick Monica Crowley Plagiarized Parts of Her Ph.D. Dissertation — Monica Crowley, President-Elect Donald J. Trump's pick for a top National Security Council job, plagiarized numerous passages in her Ph.D. dissertation, Politico Magazine has found. — An examination of the dissertation …

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite and Libraries Home

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

White House defends Meryl Streep's anti-Trump speech — President Obama's top spokesman on Monday defended actress Meryl Streep's Golden Globes speech that criticized President-elect Donald Trump — “She clearly was delivering a thoughtful, carefully considered message that she believes in deeply …

Discussion: Hot Air

Kristin Salaky / Talking Points Memo:
Changing His Tune? Trump Praised ‘Excellent’ Meryl Streep In 2015

Discussion: RedState, Us Weekly, Mediaite and Mashable

Robert Costa / Washington Post:

Trump advisers to begin tax talks with Speaker Ryan — One of the biggest Republican projects of the year — tax reform — will begin Monday evening at the Capitol, with several top advisers to President-elect Donald Trump scheduled to hold a lengthy meeting with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and his team …

Discussion: AOL

Andrew Rice / New York Magazine:
Jared Kushner's Rise to Unimaginable Power

Discussion: link.axios.com, New York Times, The Daily Caller, The Real Deal New York, CNBC, The Atlantic, The Gateway Pundit, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to join White House as senior adviser; no formal role for Ivanka Trump

Discussion: Mashable, TheBlaze, IJR and Washington Free Beacon

Peter Hockaday / San Francisco Chronicle:

Historic Pioneer Cabin Tree toppled in California storm — The historic Pioneer Cabin Tree, a former “drive-through” giant sequoia in Calaveras Big Trees State Park in Calaveras County, was felled in California's weekend storms. — The tree was hollowed out in the 1880s to allow tourists …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Pioneer Cabin tree …, ThinkProgress, New York Times, Gizmodo, WIS-TV, The Daily Caller, Associated Press, AOL, NPR and Althouse

CNN:

Kerry apologizes for State Department discrimination against LGBT employees — Fallout from UN resolution on Israel continues — (CNN)The State Department on Monday formally apologized for what it describes as decades of discrimination against LGBT employees and job applicants …

Discussion: New York Magazine and The Week

John Kerry / US Department of State:
Apology for Past Discrimination toward Employees and Applicants based on Sexual Orientation

Discussion: NPR, Washington Post, AOL, Talking Points Memo and Human Rights Campaign

Barack Obama / Science:

The irreversible momentum of clean energy — Private-sector incentives help drive decoupling of emissions and economic growth. — The release of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) due to human activity is increasing global average surface air temperatures …

Discussion: Politico, Gizmodo, Morning Consult, Hit & Run, JustOneMinute and Talking Points Memo

Oren Dorell / USA Today:

ExxonMobil and Iran did business under Secretary of State nominee Tillerson — The transactions included $53.2 million in sales to Iran over three years. — ExxonMobil did business with Iran, Syria and Sudan through a European subsidiary while President-elect Donald Trump's nominee …

Discussion: The Week, The Times of Israel, Hot Air and Mediaite

Cleve R. Wootson Jr / Washington Post:

A Dairy Queen owner unleashed a racist tirade against a customer. He no longer has a business. — The Dairy Queen owner shouting the n-word at Deianeira Ford told her he could say whatever he wanted at his fast-food restaurant — that any accusations and complaints she uttered would fall on deaf ears.

Discussion: TheBlaze, Mediaite and grubstreet

Military Times:

The Obama era is over. Here's how the military rates his legacy — President Barack Obama will step down after eight years as commander in chief with one of the most influential tenures leading the U.S. military, but not necessarily the political support of service members.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, TheBlaze, RedState and Business Insider

Sdesai / Washington Monthly:

U.S. Poverty Policy Is Outdated and Inefficient. Here's a Better Approach. — U.S. poverty policy is stuck in a rut. In 2015, 43 million people in America were living in poverty - more than the combined populations of Texas, Pennsylvania, and Nebraska and 11 million more than in 2000.

Discussion: Eschaton

Heather Caygle / Politico:

House member seeks police action against fellow lawmaker — Missouri Rep. Lacy Clay attempted to file a police report for theft against Rep. Duncan Hunter for removing a student painting without permission, but the request was denied by Capitol police, according to an email obtained by POLITICO.

Discussion: TheBlaze