Top Items:


Suspicious Package Addressed to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Contained Horse Manure: Officials — Multiple law enforcement sources tell NBC investigations that officers unwrapped the box to discover it was filled with manure — A Los Angeles Department bomb squad responded …
Discussion:
New York Times, Business Insider, Splinter and The Week
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A package for Steven Mnuchin caused a bomb scare. It turned out to be filled with horse manure. — A suspicious package that appeared Saturday night in the swanky Los Angeles neighborhood of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin prompted lengthy street closures and a sizable response by local …
Discussion:
CBS Los Angeles and CBS News


Gift-wrapped horse poop sends bomb squad to Steven Mnuchin's Bel Air mansion


HOW TRUMP AND THE NAZIS STOLE CHRISTMAS TO PROMOTE WHITE NATIONALISM — President Donald Trump wants Americans to think he re-invented Christmas. — “We can say merry Christmas again,” he has said on numerous occasions both during his campaign for president and his presidency.
Discussion:
RedState and The Daily Caller
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Black Turnout in Alabama Complicates Debate on Voting Laws — MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Even before a defiant Roy S. Moore stood at a lectern this month and refused to concede the Alabama Senate race, one political reality was clear: An extraordinary turnout among black voters had helped push Doug Jones …


‘Trump fears them’: Former officials defend FBI leaders swept up in the Trump-Russia firestorm — The FBI's top lawyer, James Baker, was abruptly reassigned within the bureau last week. — Though the move was not unexpected, national-security experts and former intelligence officials …
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and AOL
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In a pro-Trump town, they never stopped saying ‘Merry Christmas’ — LINDEN, Tenn. — In this rural Trump-supporting town, home to barely 1,000 people and at least 10 Christian churches, the word “holiday” doesn't seem to exist. — Outside the county courthouse there's an evergreen tree covered …


In Saudi Corruption Crackdown, Big Targets Are Going Free — The release suggests several high-profile suspects are agreeing to settlements — The Saudi government in recent days has released at least two dozen high-profile suspects held in a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption …
Discussion:
Axios
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American ISIS Suspect Held in Iraq Has Right to Lawyer, Judge Rules
Discussion:
Axios, NPR and Just Security


FBI investigates Russian-linked Cyprus bank accused of money laundering — Request for financial information may be connected to inquiries into possible conspiracy between Trump and Kremlin … The FBI has asked officials in Cyprus for financial information about a defunct bank that was used …
Discussion:
Raw Story


Democrats Leave Few Seats Unchallenged in Quest for House Control — WASHINGTON — Representative Pete Sessions, a veteran Republican, was re-elected to his affluent Dallas-area House seat in 2016 with 71 percent of the vote, the remaining 29 percent split between the Libertarian and Green Party candidates.

President Trump finishes out the year at Mar-a-Lago, tax reform accomplished — President Trump kicked off his holiday weekend at Mar-a-Lago Friday night at a dinner where he told friends, “You all just got a lot richer,” referencing the sweeping tax overhaul he signed into law hours earlier.
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Sanders: Middle-class tax cuts in GOP bill a ‘very good thing’ that should have been permanent … Sen. Bernie Sanders — (I-Vt.) on Sunday agreed the tax cuts for the middle class in the GOP tax bill are a “very good thing” — but added they should have been made permanent.
Discussion:
IJR, Mediaite, twitchy.com and The Daily Caller


Colorado's growing political divide leaves rural communities feeling forgotten and voiceless — A political transformation in Colorado is exacerbating the tension in elections and at the Capitol … ILIFF — Under a hard gray sky, Andrew Hernandez guides his combine through the cornfield …


The color purple: How millennials and Gen X after electing Doug Jones could change a red state — Beth Clayton believes that she saw her home state's political future in the exit polls from the Dec. 12 Senate election. And it's not an Alabama that anyone has known lately.


Flake on chaos of Trump campaign: ‘Was that campaign even capable of colluding with anybody?’ … Frequent Trump administration critic Sen. Jeff Flake — (R-Ariz.) on Sunday said he's unsure if the Trump campaign was “capable of colluding with anybody.” — “I mean, I look at that last campaign …
RELATED:

Flake: If Trump fired Mueller, it would be a ‘big problem’
Discussion:
Axios


At least 10,000 people died in Tiananmen Square massacre, secret British cable from the time alleged — Secret document suggested death toll was much higher than later reported, while claiming wounded students were bayoneted as they begged for their lives and the burnt remains of victims were ‘hosed down the drains’
Discussion:
Axios and The Daily Caller