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White House weighs booting Erdogan foe from U.S. to appease Turkey — “Once they realized it was a serious request, the career guys were furious,” a U.S. official said of request tied to Khashoggi killing. — WASHINGTON — The White House is looking for ways to remove an enemy …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, TheBlaze, Daily Kos, Hot Air, The Week, One America News Network, New Republic, CNBC, Politico, The Daily Caller, Political Wire and Washington Post
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Saudi Arabia seeks death penalty for five suspects in killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi

2 big new stories show the Trump administration's aversion to blaming Saudi royals for Khashoggi's death
Discussion:
U.S. Department … and The Week

Saudi prosecutor seeks death penalty for Khashoggi murder, says journalist was killed by sedative overdose
Discussion:
BuzzFeed News, HuffPost, TheBlaze and Mediaite

White House considers expelling Erdogan enemy to ease pressure on Saudis
Discussion:
One America News Network and The Week


Donald Trump Becomes Twitter Laughingstock Over ‘Envy Of The World’ Boast — “Take it from an outsider: we feel sorry for Americans.” — Donald Trump on Thursday sought to stifle media reports that his administration is engulfed “in chaos” and “in meltdown” by claiming that the U.S. under his presidency was “the envy of the world.”
Discussion:
Mediaite, ThinkProgress and Raw Story
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What Trump's Latest Outburst About Mueller Could Mean — With his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen meeting with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team this week, and with his son, Donald Trump Jr., speculating that he himself will soon be indicted, President Donald Trump apparently couldn't contain himself anymore.
Discussion:
Politico, Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA

Is a Storm Brewing? The Likely Reason Trump Chose Now to Trash the Mueller Probe All Over Again — President Donald Trump has once again lashed out against Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Russia investigation, sparking legal experts to speculate that another proverbial big shoe is about to drop.
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, ThinkProgress and Breitbart

Trump renews attacks on Mueller investigation after midterms
Discussion:
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Weekly Standard, Politico and Breitbart


Florida Dems planned to use altered forms to fix mail ballots across state after deadline — Senator Bill Nelson has called for a recount. Do the vote margins in his race against Rick Scott call for one? — CONNECT — TALLAHASSEE — A day after Florida's election left top state races …
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Broward County finishes machine recount with minutes to spare — With just minutes to go before the deadline, Broward County has finally finished recounting every vote. — Although the bulk of the recount was completed around 1 a.m. Thursday, staffers spent the rest of the day duplicating and counting just under 400 ballots.
Discussion:
Bloomberg


Man shouts ‘Heil Hitler, Heil Trump’ during intermission of Baltimore performance of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ — The audience reacts after a man interrupts the “Fiddler on the Roof” performance at the Hippodrome Theatre. (Video courtesy of Rich Scherr) — A man shouted a pro-Nazi …
Discussion:
CBS Baltimore, BuzzFeed News, AOL, Raw Story, Boing Boing, Balloon Juice, Law & Crime, VICE News, IJR, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and The Daily Caller


Democratic Rep. Fudge says she's ‘overwhelmed’ by support as she weighs speaker bid — Rep. Marcia L. Fudge said on Thursday that she has been “overwhelmed” by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker, becoming the first Democrat …
Discussion:
Townhall, CNN, Vox, KAJ-TV, Washington Free Beacon, Political Wire, ABC News, Plain Dealer and HuffPost
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Marcia Fudge, Toying With Speaker Run, Slams Nancy Pelosi
Discussion:
Fox News, ThinkProgress, Townhall, ABC News, Raw Story, Washington Free Beacon, IJR, Conservative News Today and Breitbart

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker
Discussion:
One America News Network, IJR and Breitbart


These charts show how Democrats represent the growing modern economy - and how Republicans are left behind — Among other results, this year's midterm elections affirmed this much: in Washington, the two parties now speak for dramatically different segments of the American economy.


Golden wins Maine's 2nd District race following historic ranked-choice count — Democrat Jared Golden won 50.5 percent of the vote versus 49.5 for incumbent Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin after the elections results were run through the ranked-choice tabulation software.
Discussion:
Kennebec Journal …, Politico, Roll Call, Washington Press, Hit & Run, The Week, Daily Kos and Political Wire
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Golden defeats Poliquin in contested 2nd District ranked-choice count
Discussion:
What's New and Daily Kos

Democrat Jared Golden beats GOP's Poliquin in Maine
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Booman Tribune and Bloomberg


Even Trump Can't Stop Mocking Sean Hannity's ‘Dumb’ Softball Questions — Trump craves friction to set off sparks and drama. Hannity's slobbering extinguishes them. — Donald Trump's close relationship—on air and off—with Sean Hannity hasn't stopped the president from mocking …
Discussion:
New Republic, Political Wire, Politico, Media Matters for America, No More Mister Nice Blog, Raw Story, Contemptor and Mediaite


Trump-appointed judge upholds Mueller's indictment against Russian troll farm — CNN visits Russian ‘troll farm’ from indictment — (CNN)A federal judge on Thursday upheld a federal indictment against the Russian troll farm accused of meddling in the 2016 election, handing a victory to special counsel Robert Mueller.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and Political Wire
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The NRA Has Killed Free Coffee for Employees — The National Rifle Association is doing away with free coffee and water coolers for employees at its Fairfax, Virginia, headquarters — a cost-cutting move that has NRA insiders “freaking out,” The Trace has learned.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Shareblue Media and Splinter


Ocasio-Cortez gets in closed-door fight with veteran lawmaker over climate change — A fight broke out in a closed-door meeting of House Democrats over climate change as a powerful veteran lawmaker fought with freshman star Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members-elect over the creation of a special panel for the issue.
Discussion:
Political Wire
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Ocasio-Cortez's ‘Green New Deal’ becomes flash point for Pelosi
Discussion:
Breitbart, The Daily Caller and Grist


Full Transcript Of Trump's Oval Office Interview With The Daily Caller — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump sat for an exclusive Oval Office interview Wednesday with The Daily Caller's Saagar Enjeti and Benny Johnson for approximately 31 minutes. — The transcript is as follows:
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, CNN, New York Times, Vox, 24Ahead, VICE News, Daily Wire, New Republic, Splinter, ABC News, Conservative News Today, POLITICUSUSA and Politico


Trump's 2016 Showing Was the Most Important Factor in 2018 House Races — Not long after the November 2017 elections, I had lunch with David Petts, a Democratic pollster and longtime veteran of congressional campaigns. He remarked that the Republican gubernatorial candidates in Virginia …


Texas businessman challenges acting AG's legality — A Texas businessman facing a federal criminal case over distribution of substandard pet food ingredients is mounting a novel challenge to President Donald Trump's hotly debated appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general.
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A Blueprint for Content Governance and Enforcement — My focus in 2018 has been addressing the most important issues facing Facebook. As the year wraps up, I'm writing a series of notes about these challenges and the progress we've made. The first note was about Preparing for Elections and this is the second in the series.
Discussion:
KAJ-TV, The Verge, Mashable, Motherboard and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »
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Facebook will pass off content policy appeals to a new independent oversight body
Discussion:
NewsBusters, VentureBeat and The Verge


Taxpayers' cost for Trump Jr.'s business trip to India nearly $100K, documents show — Donald Trump Jr.'s lavish trip to India to sell his family's luxury condominium projects cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $100,000, documents obtained by The Washington Post show.
Discussion:
CNN, NY State of Politics, Axios and Jezebel


Brexit deal in crisis - live updates … Brexiters still don't have the numbers for a leadership challenge — The FT's Laura Hughes has spoken to a member from the European Research Group who says the number of letters from MPs calling for a leadership “have certainly gone up but reckon …
Discussion:
Common Dreams
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Two U.K. Cabinet Ministers, Including Chief Brexit Negotiator, Quit
Discussion:
Politico, Vox, New Republic and Outside the Beltway


Navy SEALs, Marines Charged With Green Beret Logan Melgar's Murder — The victim allegedly discovered SEALs in Mali were stealing money from an informant fund and soliciting prostitutes. — The military has formally charged two Navy SEALs and two special-forces Marines in one of the most grisly cases …


The Best Way To Save People From Suicide — Over the last few years, nobody, it seems, has been left untouched by suicide. We wanted to understand why that is. We also wanted to discover what could be done about it. That hopeful impulse motivates the story below, the first of two we're running on suicide.


I woke up after a good night's sleep. - Beto O'Rourke - Medium — I was concerned that I might slip, that the ground would be too slick, but it was wet and grainy enough that traction wasnt a problem.
Discussion:
The Guardian and Balloon Juice


Trump's Rages and the Case for Optimism — If Donald Trump were not so unbalanced, were he not exacting such immeasurable damage on the domestic welfare and the national security of the United States, you might find it in yourself to feel a tinge of sympathy for one so lost.
Discussion:
Vanity Fair


Republicans Walters and Kim adopt Trump tactic of charging vote fraud with no evidence of wrongdoing — Two Orange County Republicans facing the prospect of defeat in the Nov. 6 congressional election as final ballots are counted have adopted President Trump's tactic of making baseless allegations of vote fraud.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Associated Press


Why Amazon Gets Whatever It Wants — The 2018 American Institutional Confidence Poll, sponsored by Georgetown University and the Knight Foundation, asked Americans about 20 institutions in American life, from the military to the Executive branch of the federal government to Google to religion.
Discussion:
Mediaite and Wall Street Journal