memeorandum: Worldwide, People Divided on Whether Life Today Is Better Than in the Past (Jacob Poushter/Pew Research Center)

1:15 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: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast, New York Times, Business Insider, Daily Kos, Mediaite, WCCO | CBS Minnesota, Political Wire, Washington Times, New York Magazine and Balloon Juice

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Seven female Dem senators call on Franken to resign

Discussion: Vox, Jamie Dupree - AJC, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com and The Week

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: Mediaite, AOL, Bloomberg and Joe.My.God.

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

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, The White House, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, No More Mister Nice Blog, Political Wire, Politico and The Week

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

Discussion: Politico

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 Real Clear Politics

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

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Post and CNBC

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: The Week and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

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: Vox, Talking Points Memo, IJR, Mediaite, KFOR-TV, FOX31 Denver, New York's PIX11, NPR, Washington Post, VICE, Washington Free Beacon, Joe.My.God., WFLA-TV and The Daily Caller

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

Discussion: ABC News, RedState, New York Times, Washington Post, TVNewser, Shareblue Media, bizpacreview.com, 89.3 KPCC and Politico

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 …

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: Mashable

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

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

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

Noah Bookbinder / USA Today: Firing Mueller would be hard for Trump — and Congress should make it impossible

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

Discussion: ACS Blog

Financial Times:

Pope joins voices warning Trump against Jerusalem decision … Sam Fleming in Washington, Erika Solomon in Beirut, James Politi in Rome and Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem — Foreign leaders warned Donald Trump that his plans to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Wednesday and relocate …

Discussion: CNN, Shareblue Media and Media Matters for America

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

Discussion: RedState and The Daily Caller

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

Jenna Lifhits / Weekly Standard:
Democrats Divided Ahead of Trump's Expected Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's Capital

Discussion: The Hill, RedState, The Daily Caller, IJR, Splinter, NTK Network, Business Insider, Reuters, BloombergQuint, Washington Free Beacon and Washington Monthly

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, The Week, AOL and Shakesville

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 …

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, IJR, Washington Free Beacon, Instapundit and twitchy.com

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

Discussion: The Daily Caller

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

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

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

Christopher Ingraham / Washington Post:

The richest 1 percent now owns more of the country's wealth than at any time in the past 50 years — The wealthiest 1 percent of American households own 40 percent of the country's wealth, according to a new paper by economist Edward N. Woolf. That share is higher than it has been at any point since …

Discussion: Discourse.net and Bloomberg

New York Times:

Consumer Bureau's New Leader Steers a Sudden Reversal — The defanging of a federal consumer watchdog agency began last week in a federal courthouse in San Francisco. — After a nearly three-year legal skirmish, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau appeared to have been victorious.

Discussion: BillMoyers.com