Top Items:
Joe Uchill / The Hill:
Assange lawyer: Manning commutation doesn't meet extradition offer's conditions — The attorney for Julian Assange said President Obama's commutation of Chelsea Manning's sentence does not meet the conditions of the WikiLeaks head's offer to be extradited to the United States if Manning were pardoned.
Discussion:
Politico, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, Washington Free Beacon, RedState, The Verge, Patterico's Pontifications, USA Today, Sputnik International, The Daily Caller, NBC News, Hot Air, Gizmodo, Raw Story, Associated Press, TheBlaze, Mediaite, Towleroad, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Wire, KTLA, emptywheel, twitchy.com, Joe.My.God., New York Magazine, ThinkProgress and Techdirt
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Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Earnest: GOP intellectually dishonest on Manning pardon — President Obama's top spokesman on Wednesday blasted Republicans who criticized his decision to commute the sentence of former Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning. — White House press secretary Josh Earnest said GOP lawmakers have put on …
Mike Allen / Axios:
Reality bites: Trump's wake-up call — NEW YORK — On Twitter and in public, Donald Trump remains an uncompromising mix of bluster and bombast. Behind the scenes, he's confronting, and in some cases succumbing (slightly) to, the hard truths of governing and leading a world that hangs on his every word.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, No More Mister Nice Blog, Occupy Democrats, The Mahablog, Taylor Marsh, Politicus USA, The Slot and The Week
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Tara Fowler / ABC News:
Trump on Intel Briefings: 'I'll Solve the Problems' — President-elect Donald Trump admitted that receiving intel briefings has shown him that the U.S. faces some formidable “enemies” but said he will “solve the problems.” — “I've had a lot of briefings that are very …
Discussion:
Axios and Talking Points Memo
Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
How Donald Trump came up with ‘Make America Great Again’ … “Make America Great Again.” — The four words that would help propel Donald Trump to the White House were an inspiration born years before, when hardly anyone but Trump himself could imagine him taking the oath of office as the 45th president of the United States.
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Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Donald Trump's new 2020 campaign slogan is very, well, Donald Trump — Donald Trump, who wasted no time after the 2012 presidential election to pick his slogan for 2016, isn't waiting much longer when it comes to his reelection slogan. — It's “Keep America Great!”
Discussion:
BizPac Review, CNBC, RedState, The Daily Caller and The Week
Matt Lewis / The Daily Beast:
Betsy DeVos Fight Demonstrates Donald Trump's Serious About Changing Washington — It's hard to grill something in just five minutes. But that didn't stop Democrats from trying. — Sen. Lamar Alexander's (R-TN) decision as chairman of the Senate education committee to limit senators …
Discussion:
Forbes, AR Squared, Hullabaloo, The Atlantic, RedState, Media Matters for America, Common Dreams, The Week and Eduwonk
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Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:
The Betsy DeVos Hearing Was an Insult to Democracy
The Betsy DeVos Hearing Was an Insult to Democracy
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
Tom McKay / Mic:
Trump Ed pick Betsy DeVos cites danger of “grizzlies” as reason to allow guns in schools
Trump Ed pick Betsy DeVos cites danger of “grizzlies” as reason to allow guns in schools
Discussion:
Raw Story, Washington Post, The Nation, Daily Kos, Mother Jones and The Slot
Eliza Shapiro / Politico:
De Blasio: Don't ‘overstate the threat’ DeVos poses to city
De Blasio: Don't ‘overstate the threat’ DeVos poses to city
Discussion:
RedState
Valerie Strauss / Washington Post:
Betsy DeVos apparently ‘confused’ about federal law protecting students with disabilities
Betsy DeVos apparently ‘confused’ about federal law protecting students with disabilities
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Above the Law
Tegna / KHOU-TV:
President Bush moved to ICU; Mrs. Bush also hospitalized — Former President George H.W. Bush has been at Houston Methodist Hospital for treatment of pneumonia. Mrs. Bush has also been admitted to the hospital due to “fatigue and coughing”. … HOUSTON - Former President George H.W. Bush …
Discussion:
Associated Press, WRBL-TV, CBS New York and The Slot
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Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
George H.W. Bush to Trump: Doctor says going to inauguration could ‘put me six feet under’
George H.W. Bush to Trump: Doctor says going to inauguration could ‘put me six feet under’
Discussion:
ABC News
New York Times:
Earth Sets a Temperature Record for the Third Straight Year — Marking another milestone for a changing planet, scientists reported on Wednesday that the Earth reached its highest temperature on record in 2016 — trouncing a record set only a year earlier, which beat one set in 2014.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Met Office, Business Insider, The Federalist, Outside the Beltway, Vox, Common Dreams, Associated Press, FiveThirtyEight, The Verge, Gothamist and Eschaton
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Chris Mooney / Washington Post:
U.S. scientists officially declare 2016 the hottest year on record. That makes three in a row. … In a powerful testament to the warming of the planet, two leading U.S. science agencies Wednesday jointly declared 2016 the hottest year on record, surpassing the previous record set just last year …
Discussion:
ABC News, data.giss.nasa.gov, Mother Jones, The Guardian, New York Magazine, The Week, Hit & Run, KTLA, NPR, KFOR-TV, Talking Points Memo and New York Times
Daniel Lippman / Politico:
Trump's D.C. hotel bans press during inauguration week — The Trump International Hotel in Washington is banning the media from its premises during inauguration week. — “Media is not allowed in this week in respect of the privacy of our guests,” Patricia Tang, the hotel's director of sales and marketing wrote in an email.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Towleroad and Media Matters for America, more at Mediagazer »
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New York Times:
Price: 'Nobody's Interested in Pulling the Rug Out' on Health Coverage — Right Now: President Obama is addressing the press corps for the last time from the White House. Follow our live coverage and analysis. — Representative Tom Price of Georgia, the nominee for health and human services secretary …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Political Wire, CNBC, NBC News and The Week
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McClatchy Washington Bureau:
FBI, 5 other agencies probe possible covert Kremlin aid to Trump — WASHINGTON — The FBI and five other law enforcement and intelligence agencies have collaborated for months in an investigation into Russian attempts to influence the November election, including whether money …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, Political Wire, Politicus USA, naked capitalism, Washington Post and TheBlaze
Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
‘Tell Me What Your Real Name Is’: Tucker Carlson Confronts Guest Over Hoax in Bonkers Interview — The video above contains quite possibly one of the most bizarre interviews you will ever watch. — Here's how Tucker Carlson began the interview: … Okay, let's back up a second.
Discussion:
The Federalist, Daily Wire, BizPac Review, The Gateway Pundit and The Week
RELATED:
Leah Barkoukis / Townhall.com:
Ads in Dozens of Cities Offer to Pay Protesters Up to $2,500 to Disrupt Trump Inauguration; UPDATE: It Was a Hoax
Ads in Dozens of Cities Offer to Pay Protesters Up to $2,500 to Disrupt Trump Inauguration; UPDATE: It Was a Hoax
Discussion:
Washington Post and The Slot
Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Trump Budget Nominee Did Not Pay Taxes for Employee — WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump's choice for White House budget director failed to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a household employee, he admitted in a statement to the Senate Budget Committee …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, RedState, Political Wire and Washington Times
Paul Blumenthal / The Huffington Post:
Tom Price Just Contradicted Trump Team's Defense Of His Questionable Stock Trades — Trump's pick for HHS secretary admitted he, not an independent financial adviser, chose to buy stock in a biotech firm. — Money in Politics Reporter, The Huffington Post
Discussion:
Political Wire, Business Insider, Daily Kos, New York Times, TheBlaze, The Week, CNBC, The Guardian, Hot Air, STAT and The Federalist
John Hudson / Foreign Policy:
Democratic Rep. Gabbard Makes Secret Trip to Syria — The Hawaii lawmaker, who has bucked both parties on the issue of Syria, met with government officials on a “fact finding” trip. — Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii has just departed war-torn Damascus following a trip her aides described as a …
Discussion:
Politico, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, Business Insider, The Week and Political Wire
Mark Landler / New York Times:
Trump National Security Team Gets a Slow Start — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has written 275 briefing papers for the incoming Trump administration: nearly 1,000 pages of classified material on North Korea's nuclear program, the military campaign against the Islamic State …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Politico
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Michael Crowley / Politico:
Is Trump ready for a national security crisis?
Is Trump ready for a national security crisis?
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
NBC News:
Democrats: Left in the Lurch — The curious decline and uncertain future of the Democratic Party — When President-elect Donald Trump replaces Barack Obama on January 20, the Democratic Party will find itself more removed from power than at almost any point since the party's creation.