memeorandum: Collins lets McConnell slide on promise to shore up insurance markets in 2017 (Alexander Bolton/The Hill)

4:45 PM ET, December 20, 2017

Top Items:

Court tosses out one-vote victory in recount that had briefly ended a Republican majority in Virginia — A three- judge panel declined to certify the recount of a key House race today, saying that a questionable ballot should be counted in favor of the Republican and tying a race that Democrats …

Discussion: Virginian-Pilot, Washington Free Beacon, Raw Story, Shareblue Media, Hullabaloo, FiveThirtyEight, Shakesville, Vox, Mashable, ThinkProgress, Weekly Standard, Axios, New York Magazine, IJR and Lawyers, Guns & Money

CNN:

Democrats' 2018 advantage expands — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — WASHINGTON (CNN)Democrats' already wide advantage over Republicans in a hypothetical Congressional matchup has grown, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. At the same time, enthusiasm about voting next year …

Discussion: Washington Post, US News, Paste and The Daily Caller

Ryan Struyk / CNN:

Trump's approval rating just entered a league of its own — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's approval rating sank to a new low in CNN polling on Tuesday, earning the approval of just 35% of Americans less than a year into his first term.

Discussion: New York Times and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Hillary Clinton popularity hits all-time low, poll shows

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, The Daily Caller, IJR, Scared Monkeys, The Hill, RedState and Gallup

United States Senator Lamar Alexander:

Alexander, Collins Statement on Bills to Lower Health Insurance Premiums — WASHINGTON, December 20, 2017—United States Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) today jointly released the following statement: — “Rather than considering a broad year-end funding agreement …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Daily Kos and Politico

Gideon Resnick / The Daily Beast:

States' Christmas Letter to Kids: No Health Care for You … Kristy Kirkpatrick Johnson is a 32-year-old stay-at-home mom in Brewton, Alabama, with two small kids and an impending medical crisis. — Her son, Thomas, needs EpiPens for his nut allergies and they aren't cheap.

Discussion: Vox, Denver Post, Daily Kos, Washington Post and The Hill

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Collins lets McConnell slide on promise to shore up insurance markets in 2017

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Post and Daily Kos

Caitlin Owens / Axios:
Senate unlikely to address health care in this week's spending bill

Discussion: Politico and New York Magazine

Wall Street Journal:

Over Golf and an Airport Chat, Trump and GOP Hashed Out a Historic Tax Plan — Defeat of health-care bill hung over the tax legislation efforts, shaping the strategy used to pass it and mobilizing Republicans eager to show they could govern — Over rounds of golf at President Donald Trump's club …

Discussion: New York Magazine

Melanie Schmitz / ThinkProgress:

Paul Ryan was asked if Trump's accusers are liars. His response was abysmal. — During an interview with TODAY's Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan punted when asked about the official White House stance on President Trump's sexual harassment accusers.

Discussion: The Hill, HuffPost, Washington Post and Business Insider

Bernie Becker / Politico:
Confusion and chaos ahead as new tax rules take immediate effect

Discussion: Axios, Roll Call, Business Insider and Daily Kos

AT&T:

With Tax Reform, AT&T Plans to Increase U.S. Capital Spending $1 Billion and Provide $1,000 Special Bonus to more than 200,000 U.S. Employees — Today, Congress approved legislation representing the first comprehensive tax reform in a generation. The President is expected to sign the bill in the coming days.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Vox, Mother Jones, Washington Free Beacon, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit, AOL, The Daily Caller and CNBC

Anita Balakrishnan / CNBC:
AT&T is giving $1,000 bonuses to 200,000 employees after tax bill

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and Speaker.gov

Sydney Ember / New York Times:

Glenn Thrush, Suspended Times Reporter, to Resume Work but Won't Cover White House — The New York Times said on Wednesday that Glenn Thrush, one of the paper's most prominent political reporters, would remain suspended until late January and then be removed from the team covering the White House …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

Emily Steel / New York Times:

2 Women Who Settled With O'Reilly Over Sexual Harassment Sue for Defamation — Two women who reached sexual harassment settlements with Bill O'Reilly joined a defamation lawsuit against Mr. O'Reilly and Fox News on Wednesday, asserting that statements that he and the network made depicted them as liars …

Discussion: thecut and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Bruce Bartlett / USA Today:

After tax cuts, Republicans may suddenly find Trump is more trouble than he's worth — After months of debate, Congress has released a final tax reform bill. The bill eliminates some personal exemptions while increasing the standard deduction. — The GOP members of Congress had a brilliant plan …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and The Root

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:

The GOP's Tax Bill Kicks Puerto Rico When It's Down — The island is getting slapped with new taxes as it drowns in debt and tries to recover from a catastrophic hurricane. — WASHINGTON The hits just keep coming for Puerto Rico. — As the U.S. island struggles to climb …

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, Associated Press, Splinter and CNN

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Tax victory may be fleeting for Ryan and McConnell

Discussion: Raw Story and ABC News

Will Wilkinson / New York Times:

The Tax Bill Shows the G.O.P.'s Contempt for Democracy — The Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is notably generous to corporations, high earners, inheritors of large estates and the owners of private jets. Taken as a whole, the bill will add about $1.4 trillion to the deficit in the next decade …

New York Times:
Republican Tax Bill Passes Senate in 51-48 Vote

Stephen Galloway / Hollywood Reporter:

Tom Hanks Wouldn't Screen ‘The Post’ at the White House, Decries Attacks on First Amendment — “We have to decide when we take to the ramparts,” the Oscar-winner tells THR, noting that he would not attend a screening of his new film at the White House if invited.

Discussion: Axios, Paste, Washington Post, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:

Breitbart went all out for Roy Moore. Now its top editor says he was a ‘weak candidate’ — Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow was in his home office last Tuesday night running the front page of the far-right website when he learned that Judge Roy Moore would not be elected as the next senator from Alabama.

Discussion: Mediaite, Axios, The Daily Beast, Splinter and Washington Post

U.S. Department of the Treasury:

Treasury Targets Individuals Involved in the Sergei Magnitsky Case and Other Gross Violations of Human Rights in Russia — A total of 49 individuals have been designated under the Magnitsky Act — WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) …

Discussion: Axios

U.S. Department of the Treasury:
Resource Center

Discussion: Metro Weekly

Fox News:

McCabe draws blank on Democrats' funding of Trump dossier, new subpoenas planned — EXCLUSIVE: Congressional investigators tell Fox News that Tuesday's seven-hour interrogation of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe contained numerous conflicts with the testimony of previous witnesses …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Rebecca Davis O'Brien / Wall Street Journal:

USA Gymnastics Reached Settlement Over Abuse Claims With Gold Medalist McKayla Maroney — Settlement brings into sharp relief the potential exposure USA Gymnastics faces — Olympic gold-medal-winning gymnast McKayla Maroney signed a confidential $1.25 million settlement agreement …

Discussion: SI.com, ThinkProgress, Los Angeles Times, Lansing State Journal, New York Times, NPR, The Ringer and ESPN

German Lopez / Vox:

Cornel West's attacks on Ta-Nehisi Coates, explained — Coates is the latest target in West's war against Obama. — A public feud between two of America's top black intellectuals has led one of them to abandon Twitter. — Cornel West, author of the well-known Race Matters …

Discussion: Salon, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Stranger … and bradford-delong.com

Associated Press:

Author of online hit ‘Cat Person’ has 7-figure book deal — NEW YORK — The author of the online sensation “Cat Person” has a seven-figure book deal. — Scout Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Kristen Roupenian's debut story collection …

Discussion: Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Steve Buchiere / Finger Lakes Times:

Rare hate crime alleged in Lyons — LYONS — Acting Wayne County District Attorney Chris Bokelman said his office hasn't prosecuted many hate crimes since it was instituted several years ago. — “It doesn't get enforced a lot up here,” he said Tuesday. — That is changing.

Discussion: The Root and Raw Story

David Corn / Mother Jones:

Donald Trump's Holiday Gift to America: A Fundamental Crisis — In a commencement speech years ago, author David Foster Wallace told this story: Two young fish are swimming along, and they pass an older fish swimming the other way. The older fish says, “Morning, boys, how's the water?”

Hamed Aleaziz / San Francisco Chronicle:

A dream deported: Parents who built lives in U.S. separated from children — Maria Mendoza-Sanchez raised four children in Oakland, built a nursing career and bought a home. Then came the election — and the most agonizing decision of her life. — Maria Mendoza-Sanchez raised four children in Oakland …

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog

Caitlyn Hitt / New York Daily News:

Meryl Streep #SheKnew posters pop up in Los Angeles amid backlash over Harvey Weinstein comments — A street artist is calling Meryl Streep on her bluff. — Posters showing the “The Post” actress standing with disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein have been popping up across Los Angeles, Twitter posts indicate.

Discussion: USA Today and Althouse

Sasha Lekach / Mashable:

‘Misinformer of the Year’ award goes to Mark Zuckerberg — Rupert Murdoch, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck. — Those are some of the big media figures Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is joining with this year's dubious distinction of “Misinformer of the Year.”

Discussion: The Atlantic

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

Mar-a-Lago hikes New Year's Eve party ticket prices — Partying with President Donald Trump on New Year's Eve is getting more expensive. — Ticket prices for the annual Dec. 31 bash at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in South Florida are going up to $600 for dues-paying members and $750 for their guests …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Palm Beach Post

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

‘Racist’ trees separating a black neighborhood from a golf course will come down — PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Palm Springs will remove a row of trees blocking a historically African-American neighborhood from a city-owned golf course. — At an informal meeting with neighborhood residents Sunday …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Esquire:

On the Front Lines of the GOP's Civil War — In 2016, a group of Republicans broke ranks with their party to try to stop Donald Trump from winning the presidency. Now they're rallying once more to keep him from destroying the country. Sam Tanenhaus reports on the Never Trumpers.

Discussion: New York Magazine and Media Matters for America