memeorandum: Ferocious wildfires rage across Southern California as new fire breaks out in Los Angeles (Washington Post)

2:00 PM ET, December 6, 2017

Top Items:

Heather Caygle / Politico:

Another woman says Franken tried to forcibly kiss her — A former Democratic congressional aide said Al Franken tried to forcibly kiss her after a taping of his radio show in 2006, three years before he became a U.S. senator. — The aide, whose name POLITICO is withholding to protect her identity …

Kirsten Gillibrand:

Senator Franken Should Step Aside — I have been shocked and disappointed to learn over the last few weeks that a colleague I am fond of personally has engaged in behavior towards women that is unacceptable. I consider Senator Franken to be a friend and have enjoyed working with him in the Senate …

Discussion: Vox, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, New York Times, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Kos, WCCO | CBS Minnesota, IJR, Political Wire, Washington Times, New York Magazine and Balloon Juice

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
More than a dozen Dem senators call on Franken to resign

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Axios, Jamie Dupree - AJC, Lawyers, Guns & Money, IJR, Raw Story, NTK Network, The Daily Caller, The Week, twitchy.com and Mediaite

Maegan Vazquez / CNN:

Bannon on Romney: ‘You hid behind your religion’ to avoid Vietnam — Bannon hits Romney for avoiding Vietnam — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)Steve Bannon bashed Mitt Romney Tuesday night for, as he put it, hiding behind his religion to avoid getting drafted into the Vietnam War.

Discussion: RedState, Hot Air, The Daily Beast, fox13now.com and Shareblue Media

Washington Examiner:

Court records suggest Roy Moore dated wife while she was still married — Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore's account of when he began dating his wife Kayla would place the start of their courtship before her divorce from her first husband, according to court documents.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Mediaite, AOL, Bloomberg and Joe.My.God.

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:

Trump Has Privately Decided the Sexual-Assault Allegations Against Roy Moore Are Bunk … President Donald Trump has privately told confidants over the past week that he firmly believes Roy Moore's innocence and feels no hesitation at all about endorsing the embattled Alabama Senate candidate …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Shakesville, The White House, Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Caller, Political Wire, Politico and The Week

Joe Concha / The Hill:
NYT's Bret Stephens says he can never vote Republican again

Discussion: Political Wire

New York Times:
Trump's Endorsement of Roy Moore Points Up a G.O.P. Problem: Chaos

Julia Manchester / The Hill:
Conway defends Trump's Moore endorsement: ‘The president has tremendous moral standards’

Discussion: Politico, CBS News, The Week, The Daily Caller, CNN, IJR, Talking Points Memo and ThinkProgress

Associated Press:
The Latest: Moore campaign complains about super PAC ad

Discussion: Politico

NBC News:
Here's how Trump, Moore and Bannon have transformed the GOP

Discussion: Raw Story, CNBC and Washington Post

New York Times:

Flynn Said Russian Sanctions Would be ‘Ripped Up,’ Whistle-Blower Says — WASHINGTON — Michael T. Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser, told a former business associate that economic sanctions against Russia would be “ripped up” as one of the Trump administration's first acts …

Discussion: Axios, Political Wire and Foreign Policy

New York Times:

Read the Letter That Cummings Sent on Flynn Whistle-Blower — Representative Elijiah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, wrote a letter on Wednesday to Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina and the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee …

Paul Sperry / New York Post:

Double-crossing FBI agent must be held accountable — FBI investigator Peter Strzok not only let Hillary Clinton off the hook, he may have used Democratic Party opposition research as an excuse to spy on Trump campaign advisers. — Strzok became such a political liability …

Discussion: Power Line and Fox News

Brian Faler / Politico:

‘Holy crap’: Experts find tax plan riddled with glitches — Republicans' tax-rewrite plans are riddled with bugs, loopholes and other potential problems that could plague lawmakers long after their legislation is signed into law. — Some of the provisions could be easily gamed, tax lawyers say.

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Week and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

Stephen Collinson / CNN:

Trump's Jerusalem decision promises upheaval — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's fragile political standing among American voters may be about to cause dangerous reverberations in the Middle East, even provoking the Pope to express concern.

Discussion: KTLA, fox13now.com, Just Security, Washington Free Beacon, Business Insider and ThinkProgress

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Trump's Israel-Palestine policy is at war with itself

Discussion: New Republic, New York Times, 89.3 KPCC, The Daily Caller, NPR, New York Magazine, Al Jazeera English and Outside the Beltway

CNN:
White House: Jerusalem embassy move a ‘recognition of reality’

Financial Times:
Pope joins voices warning Trump against Jerusalem decision

Discussion: Media Matters for America and Shareblue Media

Philip Pullella / Reuters:
Respect ‘status quo’ of Jerusalem, says Pope in response to Trump move

Discussion: bizpacreview.com, RedState and The Daily Caller

Eun Kyung Kim / TODAY.com:

The Silence Breakers are TIME's 2017 Person of the Year — TIME has named The Silence Breakers, the individuals who set off a national reckoning over the prevalence of sexual harassment, as its 2017 Person of the Year. — The magazine's editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal revealed …

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox, IJR, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, FOX31 Denver, 89.3 KPCC, NPR, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon, Joe.My.God., VICE, WFLA-TV and The Daily Caller

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Time picks women who sparked ‘#MeToo’ movement as ‘Person of the Year’

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ABC News, New York Times, RedState, TVNewser, AOL, Common Dreams, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Washington Post

Los Angeles Times:

Several homes burning in Bel-Air as fire closes the 405 Freeway and forces evacuations — Several homes in Los Angeles' Bel-Air neighborhood were burning Wednesday morning as a wind-driven wildfire prompted a full closure of the 405 Freeway as well as mandatory evacuations in an area of multimillion-dollar homes.

Discussion: Business Insider, NBC News and Mashable

Washington Post:
Ferocious wildfires rage across Southern California as new fire breaks out in Los Angeles

Discussion: Gizmodo, robertscribbler and Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times:
Ventura County wildfire rages over 50,000 acres, reaches Pacific Ocean as it jumps 101 Freeway

Discussion: NPR, The Daily Caller, KTLA, CNN, Washington Post, Mashable, Joe.My.God. and The Week

Josh Lederman / Associated Press:

Doctors identify brain abnormalities in Cuba attack patients — WASHINGTON (AP) — Doctors treating the U.S. Embassy victims of mysterious, invisible attacks in Cuba have discovered brain abnormalities as they search for clues to explain the hearing, vision, balance and memory damage, The Associated Press has learned.

Discussion: IJR, The Daily Caller, New York Times, AOL, The Week and Shakesville

Kimberly Kindy / Washington Post:

Conyers faced mounting sexual misconduct allegations as he weighed his future — As Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) this week weighed calls for his resignation from a Michigan hospital bed, more women were coming forward with accounts of sexual misconduct by the lawmaker.

Discussion: Axios, bizpacreview.com, IJR, Washington Free Beacon, twitchy.com and Instapundit

Julia Manchester / The Hill:
Accuser: Conyers brought up Chandra Levy when I turned down his advances

Discussion: The Daily Caller

New York Times:

Weinstein's Complicity Machine — HARVEY WEINSTEIN BUILT his complicity machine out of the witting, the unwitting and those in between. He commanded enablers, silencers and spies, warning others who discovered his secrets to say nothing. He courted those who could provide the money …

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Trump says government shutdown ‘could happen’ — President Trump said Wednesday a government shutdown could happen and argued that Democrats should shoulder the blame if Congress fails to pass a funding bill. — “It could happen,” Trump said when asked about the chances of a shutdown.

Discussion: RedState

Steven Shepard / Politico:
Poll: Voters warn against government shutdown

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Magazine and Political Wire

Noah Bookbinder / USA Today:

Firing Mueller would be hard for Trump — and Congress should make it impossible — The widening gap between reality and Trump's expectations increases the odds he will try to stop the Russia probe. For many reasons, he'd likely fail. — White House attorney Ty Cobb has reportedly built …

CREW:
Why Trump Can't Easily Remove Mueller—and What Happens If He Tries

Discussion: ACS Blog

Phil Van Stockum / Politico:

I Saw the Kate Steinle Murder Trial Up Close. The Jury Didn't Botch It. — I was an alternate juror in the Kate Steinle murder trial in San Francisco. I didn't get a vote, but I saw all of the evidence and the jury instructions, and I discussed the verdict with the jury after it was delivered.

Discussion: abc7news.com

CNNMoney:

How a joke, and Mike Cernovich, got Sam Seder booted from MSNBC — In 2009, Sam Seder told a vulgar joke on Twitter that would eventually cost him a job he didn't yet have — and make him a target of a movement that didn't yet exist. — MSNBC said Monday that it will not renew Seder's contract …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and TVNewser

Diana Falzone / Fox News:

Corey Feldman's 1993 audio files naming alleged sexual predators found by Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office — Has Corey Feldman been vindicated? — The former child actor claimed in October that he had given the names of sexual predators in Hollywood to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office …

Discussion: RedState, AOL, IJR and Raw Story