Top Items:
Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:
Trump on Coming Debt Crisis: 'I Won't Be Here' When It Blows Up — The president thinks the balancing of the nation's books is going to, ultimately, be a future president's problem. — Since the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump's aides and advisers have tried to convince him of the importance of tackling the national debt.
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Week, POLITICUSUSA and Mediaite
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The Daily Beast:
Feds Target Butina's GOP Boyfriend as Foreign Agent — Paul Erickson served as accused Kremlin spy Maria Butina's guide as she penetrated the American conservative movement. Now he's under investigation as a Russian agent, too. — BETSY WOODRUFF, ERIN BANCO12.5.18 8:00 AM ET
Discussion:
Politico, POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story
Associated Press:
The Latest: Wisconsin Senate limits governor's power — MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Latest on Wisconsin Republican lawmakers moving to limit the powers of the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general (all times local): — The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate has passed …
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, Splinter, madison.com, Althouse and FiveThirtyEight
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Wisconsin Republicans weaken incoming Dem governor, AG — MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republicans passed sweeping legislation Wednesday that shifts power to the Republican-controlled Legislature and weakens the Democrat replacing Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
Igor Bobic / HuffPost:
Paul Ryan Silent On GOP Power Grab In Wisconsin — Republicans are subverting the will of the electorate in Wisconsin. The outgoing speaker of the House, a Wisconsin Republican, is staying mum. — WASHINGTON The extraordinary proposals aimed at reducing the power of incoming Gov. Tony Evers …
Discussion:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
NBC News:
Lame-duck Wisconsin Republicans vote to weaken incoming Democratic governor, attorney general
Lame-duck Wisconsin Republicans vote to weaken incoming Democratic governor, attorney general
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:
America's Two Political Parties Are Asymmetrical
America's Two Political Parties Are Asymmetrical
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, CNN, CBS Los Angeles, LifeZette, CNBC, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway and Breitbart
Mitch Smith / New York Times:
Wisconsin Republicans Approve Bills Stripping Power From Incoming Democratic Governor
Jamelle Bouie / Slate:
The Lame-Duck Power Grab
The Lame-Duck Power Grab
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Daily Caller News Foundation and Axios
Joe Concha / The Hill:
Chris Wallace: ‘A chill’ descended on front row upon Trump arrival at Bush funeral — Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said he was “struck” by the reception of President Trump and first lady Melania Trump upon their arrival at the funeral for George H.W. Bush on Wednesday, saying “a chill had descended” …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, IJR, Political Wire, The Week and twitchy.com
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Washington Post:
George W. Bush's touching eulogy for George H.W. Bush, annotated
George W. Bush's touching eulogy for George H.W. Bush, annotated
Discussion:
Political Wire
Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Alan Simpson cried while writing George H.W. Bush's eulogy — so he wouldn't cry while giving it
Cheyenne Haslett / ABC News:
Trump joins nation's presidents as funeral service for President George H.W. Bush begins
Trump joins nation's presidents as funeral service for President George H.W. Bush begins
Discussion:
BostonGlobe.com, Washington Post, Daily Mail, Breitbart, Politico, abc7ny.com and The Daily Caller
Cheyenne Haslett / ABC News:
George W. Bush eulogizes his father with laughter and tears: ‘A genuinely optimistic man’
George W. Bush eulogizes his father with laughter and tears: ‘A genuinely optimistic man’
Discussion:
CBS News, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, IJR, NBC News, twitchy.com, LifeZette, Washington Post, POLITICUSUSA and The Daily Caller
Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Mueller's Flynn Memo Should Worry Kushner and Trump — The former national security adviser provided information about interactions between the presidential transition team and Russian officials. — Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser who pleaded guilty …
Discussion:
Washington Post and Raw Story
RELATED:
Joe Concha / The Hill:
Meadows tells Hannity that Flynn report is ‘good news for President Trump’
Meadows tells Hannity that Flynn report is ‘good news for President Trump’
Discussion:
Washington Post, Lawfare, Shareblue Media and POLITICUSUSA
BuzzFeed News:
Inside The North Carolina Republican Vote Machine: Cash, Pills — And Ballots — BLADENBORO, North Carolina — The allegations that Republicans tampered with absentee ballots in a close North Carolina election represent the most serious federal election tampering case in years …
Discussion:
Washington Post, VICE News, Raw Story, WRAL-TV, The Charlotte Observer, ABC News, Above the Law, New York Times and Roll Call
RELATED:
The Charlotte Observer:
Hold a new election in NC's tainted 9th District — In the week since the state Board of Elections declined to certify the results of North Carolina's 9th Congressional District election, journalists and others have begun to fill in the details of a troubling case of apparent ballot fraud.
Discussion:
Washington Post, ABC News, twitchy.com, The Week, Talking Points Memo, WSOC-TV, NPR, Religion News Service, HuffPost, BuzzFeed News, Politico and Raw Story
Harry Enten / CNN:
Why the case for election fraud in North Carolina is strong
Why the case for election fraud in North Carolina is strong
Discussion:
The Guardian, Washington Post and Daily Kos
Washington Post:
‘We are in trouble.’ Global carbon emissions reached a new record high in 2018. — As nations assemble in Poland for climate talks, the figures suggest there is no clear end in sight to the growth of humanity's contribution to climate change. — Global emissions of carbon dioxide have reached …
Discussion:
The Week
RELATED:
Kendra Pierre-Louis / New York Times:
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rise Like a ‘Speeding Freight Train’ in 2018
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rise Like a ‘Speeding Freight Train’ in 2018
Discussion:
The Guardian, New Republic, CNN and Nature
Associated Press:
Prosecutors ramp up foreign lobbying probe in New York — WASHINGTON (AP) — Spinning off from the special counsel's Russia probe, prosecutors are ramping up their investigation into foreign lobbying by two major Washington firms that did work for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort …
Ryan Broderick / BuzzFeed News:
Here's How Facebook's Local News Algorithm Change Led To The Worst Riots Paris Has Seen In 50 Years — The Yellow Jackets movement is what happens when you point Facebook's traffic hose at France's small towns. The question now is: How do you turn it off?
Discussion:
Shakesville and twitchy.com
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Why We Miss the WASPs — Their more meritocratic, diverse and secular successors rule us neither as wisely nor as well. — The nostalgia flowing since the passing of George H.W. Bush has many wellsprings: admiration for the World War II generation and its dying breed of warrior-politicians …
Discussion:
New Republic, The Week, Splinter, Balloon Juice, Mediaite and No More Mister Nice Blog
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Sessions hints he's done with politics — The deposed attorney general says he's not missing the Senate, amid speculation that he might mount a bid for his old job. — Jeff Sessions doesn't sound eager to run for his old Senate seat in 2020. — The former attorney general and Alabama senator …
Discussion:
Political Wire
Adam Satariano / New York Times:
Facebook Gave Some Companies Special Access to Users' Data, Documents Show — LONDON — Emails and other internal Facebook documents released by a British parliamentary committee on Wednesday show how the social media giant gave favored companies like Airbnb, Lyft and Netflix special access to users' data.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Engadget and Sputnik International, more at Techmeme »
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Zachary Cohen / CNN:
New satellite images reveal activity at unidentified North Korean missile base — Washington (CNN)New satellite images obtained exclusively by CNN reveal North Korea has significantly expanded a key long-range missile base located in the mountainous interior of the country …
Discussion:
Axios and New York Times
Kate Aronoff / The Intercept:
With a Green New Deal, Here's What the World Could Look Like for the Next Generation — It's the spring of 2043, and Gina is graduating college with the rest of her class. She had a relatively stable childhood. Her parents availed themselves of some of the year of paid family leave they were entitled to …
Discussion:
Gothamist and Streetsblog USA
RELATED:
Robinson Meyer / The Atlantic:
The Democratic Party Wants to Make Climate Policy Exciting
The Democratic Party Wants to Make Climate Policy Exciting
Discussion:
Common Dreams
Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
A Conservative Magazine May Pay a Price for Being Unfriendly to Trump — The Weekly Standard didn't go along, and now its future is in danger. — Other conservative magazines, websites and news empires have thrived since President Trump took office by cheering him on or, at least, playing down his faults.
Discussion:
New Republic, Politico, twitchy.com and Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »
ARLnow.com:
DEVELOPING: Large Crowd Reported at Clarendon Cheesecake Factory Amid Free Cheesecake Promotion — (Updated at 2:15 p.m.) Arlington County police and medics have responded to Clarendon after a promotion for free cheesecake got out of control. — Police were called to the area …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Week, CBS Pittsburgh, CBS Los Angeles, Las Vegas Review-Journal and CBS New York
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
“Everyone's for Sale”: A Generation of Digital-Media Darlings Prepares for a Frigid Winter — Vice, Vox, and BuzzFeed, among other companies that once heralded the dawn of a new media age, are now grappling with decidedly old-media problems. — It was around this time last year that things …
Discussion:
CNN and Hit & Run, more at Mediagazer »
Daniel Victor / New York Times:
Rudy Giuliani Says Twitter Sabotaged His Tweet. Actually, He Did It Himself. — To Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor who is one of President Trump's lawyers, it was an example of how low Twitter would stoop to carry out its anti-Trump agenda. — It was, decidedly, no such thing.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Engadget, Motherboard, KTLA, The Verge, Common Dreams, Vox, IJR, ThinkProgress, Splinter, The Guardian and Mother Jones
Middle East Eye:
Sean Penn turns up in Istanbul to film documentary on Jamal Khashoggi — American actor and director set to meet with Turkish officials and murdered journalist's fiancee for a documentary — US director and actor Sean Penn outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul (Screengrab)
Elena Popina / Bloomberg:
It's the Worst Time to Make Money in Markets Since 1972 — Not a single of 8 main asset classes is up at least 5% in 2018 — There was bull market somewhere in 2008, 1974 routs, NDR says — Market statisticians are falling over each other in 2018 to describe the pain being felt across asset classes.
T.A. Frank / Vanity Fair:
Jeffrey Epstein and the Decline of the American Experiment — Epstein's enablers weren't a handful of Palm Beach rogues. Instead, the higher up the chain you went, the more sympathetic to Epstein the players seem to become. How did our smart set get this bad? — Maybe a good secretary of labor is just hard to find.