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Behind closed doors, Republican lawmakers fret about how to repeal Obamacare — PHILADELPHIA — Republican lawmakers aired sharp concerns about their party's quick push to repeal the Affordable Care Act inside a closed-door meeting Thursday, according to a recording of the session obtained by The Washington Post.
Discussion:
Vox, Kaiser Health News, alan.com, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story, Axios, Daily Kos, Politicus USA, Liberal Values, The Gateway Pundit, The Week and NPR
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In private meeting, Pence vows ‘full evaluation of voting rolls’ over claims of fraud — In a private meeting with congressional Republicans this week, Vice President Pence vowed that the Trump administration would pursue a wide-ranging probe of voting rolls in the United States …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and The Guardian

Another Bogus Obamacare Argument From Donald Trump And Paul Ryan
Discussion:
The Week


Trump's First Week: Governing Without a Script — The new president seems to be running his administration much like he ran his company and campaign, eager to weigh in on every issue and willing to make last-minute calls — A directive to revive two controversial oil pipelines awaited …
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Trump and the Republicans Are on a Suicide Mission Together — And we'll all have to live with the fallout. — One of the things supposedly driving President Donald Trump to distraction, in what should be a celebratory first week in office, is that he isn't getting a honeymoon period from the media and the general public.
Discussion:
Washington Post and The Guardian

McConnell to Trump: Do not lift sanctions on Russia
Discussion:
ABC News and The Atlantic

McCain warns Trump he'll fight on lifting Russian sanctions
Discussion:
Politico, Hot Air and Washington Free Beacon

Brody File Exclusive: President Trump Says Persecuted Christians Will Be Given Priority As Refugees — In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, President Donald Trump says persecuted Christians will be given priority when it comes to applying for refugee status in the United States.
Discussion:
Reuters, The Guardian, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller and The Week
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Brody File Exclusive: President Trump Calls Mainstream Media The “Opposition Party.” — In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, President Donald Trump says the media in America is the, “opposition party.” “I think the media is the opposition party in many ways,” Trump tells me during our sit down interview at The White House.
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Post, The Daily Caller and Business Insider


Donald Trump's Mexico Tantrum — Less than a week into the job, President Trump on Thursday raised the specter of a trade war with America's third-largest partner, Mexico, as the White House warned that the United States could impose a 20 percent tariff on Mexican imports.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Week, Daily Kos, ABC News, Politico, FiveThirtyEight and Refinery29
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Mexico's Vicente Fox to Trump: We are ‘ready for the trade war’
Discussion:
ABC News, Mediaite and The Gateway Pundit

Trump: Telephone call with Mexican president was ‘very friendly’
Discussion:
ABC News and Associated Press

No Mention Of Jews In Trump Holocaust Statement Breaks With Tradition — President Donald Trump did not explicitly mention Jews in his Friday statement commemorating the millions exterminated by the Nazis, an omission that the Anti-Defamation League called “troubling” and out of step with past presidential statements.
Discussion:
Politico, ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, Washington Free Beacon, Raw Story, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Politicus USA
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Calexit backers can begin collecting signatures to qualify for 2018 ballot — Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment seeking California's secession from the U.S. can begin collecting voter signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot, the secretary of state's office said Thursday.
Discussion:
Political Wire, The Gateway Pundit and The American Mirror
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‘Calexit’ organizers can now start collecting signatures to get California secession on the ballot
Discussion:
American Renaissance and Hit & Run


No, the White House didn't Photoshop an image of the president's hand — Dana Schwartz, a writer for the New York Observer, claimed to have noticed something interesting about one of the photos displayed during President Trump's interview with ABC News that aired this week.
Discussion:
The Verge, Hot Air, Mediaite and Lawyers, Guns & Money


How Author Timothy Tyson Found the Woman at the Center of the Emmett Till Case — With a renewed cultural interest in the 1955 murder that catalyzed the 20th century civil rights movement, an interview with the author of a new book who tracked down the long-hidden woman at its center.


McConnell all but rules out filibuster change — (R-Ky.) on Friday all but ruled out the possibility of a change to the filibuster rule this year. — McConnell made his comment in an interview with The Hill one day after President Trump said he wants Senate Republicans to strip Democrats …


A viral Washington Post story about State Department resignations is very misleading — On Thursday morning, the Washington Post published a piece with an explosive headline: “The State Department's entire senior management team just resigned.” The piece alleged that Undersecretary …

The end of Sarah Palin is here … Remember how former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was going to use her political celebrity to build an army of like-minded politicians via her political action committee? — Yeah, not so much. — Michael Beckel of the Center for Public Integrity flagged for me this news …
Discussion:
Heat Street


President Trump Signs Executive Orders at Pentagon — President Trump today made his first trip to the Pentagon as commander in chief and signed two executive orders related to national security. — The first focused on what Trump described as a “great rebuilding” of the military …


Trump argument bolstered: Clinton received 800,000 votes from noncitizens, study finds — Hillary Clinton garnered more than 800,000 votes from noncitizens on Nov. 8, an approximation far short of President Trump's estimate of up to 5 million illegal voters but supportive of his charges of fraud.
Discussion:
Washington Post, New York Times, The Lid, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Free Beacon and Althouse


Huge shakeup at ‘Today’ to make way for Megyn Kelly — More On: — NBC is canceling the third hour of “Today” to make way for new star Megyn Kelly, sources exclusively confirm to Page Six. — We're told Kelly will take over either the 9 a.m. hour from Tamron Hall and Al Roker or will replace Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Mikhail Gorbachev: ‘It All Looks as if the World Is Preparing for War’ — Mikhail Gorbachev was the president of the Soviet Union and is the author of The New Russia. — The world today is overwhelmed with problems. Policymakers seem to be confused and at a loss.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Common Dreams, NBC News, AOL and The Week

Melania Trump wins round in libel suit over blogger's ‘escort’ claims — First lady Melania Trump prevailed Friday in the first round of a $150 million libel suit she filed against a Maryland blogger over a report he published last summer about claims that Trump worked as a “high-end escort.”
Discussion:
RedState, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »


Trump's authoritarian tendencies are revealed once again — Throughout the presidential campaign, Donald Trump attacked the media in personal, vicious terms. He threatened to “open up” libel laws. From time to time, he chose to ban one or another outlet from the press gaggle because he objected to its reporting.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, DCist, NPR, Mashable, CNN, The Week and New Republic