Top Items:
New York Times:
Russian 2016 Influence Operation Targeted African-Americans — The Russian influence campaign on social media in the 2016 election made an extraordinary effort to target African-Americans, used an array of tactics to try to suppress turnout among Democratic voters and unleashed a blizzard …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Wired, RedState, Vox, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hullabaloo, Shareblue Media, Raw Story, Washington Post, The Week, HuffPost, The Guardian, Conservative News Today, CBS San Francisco, Media Matters for America, Mashable, Balloon Juice, Shakesville, POLITICUSUSA, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos, Bangor Daily News, Mediaite and FOX2now.com, more at Mediagazer »
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Cindy Ma / The Computational Propaganda Project:
The IRA and Political Polarization in the United States — Russia's Internet Research Agency (IRA) launched an extended attack on the United States by using computational propaganda to misinform and polarize US voters. This report provides the first major analysis of this attack based …
Discussion:
Axios, Mother Jones, CNBC, POLITICUSUSA, Vox, The Atlantic, ABC News and NewsBusters
Ken Dilanian / NBC News:
Russia favored Trump, targeted African-Americans with election meddling, reports say
Russia favored Trump, targeted African-Americans with election meddling, reports say
Discussion:
Bloomberg, RedState, CNN, BuzzFeed News, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, Raw Story and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »
Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:
Napolitano Corrects Wall Street Journal on Fox Business: FBI Agents Did Not Entrap Mike Flynn — Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano dismissed claims that FBI agents “entrapped” former national security adviser Michael Flynn when they interviewed him at the start of the Trump administration.
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Andrew Desiderio / The Daily Beast:
Comey Blasts GOP, ‘Lying’ Trump: ‘At Some Point Someone Has to Stand Up’
Comey Blasts GOP, ‘Lying’ Trump: ‘At Some Point Someone Has to Stand Up’
Discussion:
ABC News
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
The ‘Michael Flynn is an innocent hero’ conspiracy theory suffers a major setback
The ‘Michael Flynn is an innocent hero’ conspiracy theory suffers a major setback
Rebecca Morin / Politico:
Comey bashes GOP after latest closed-door hearing on Capitol Hill
Comey bashes GOP after latest closed-door hearing on Capitol Hill
Discussion:
Townhall
Alan Dershowitz / The Hill:
Did Michael Flynn lie? Or did the FBI act improperly?
Did Michael Flynn lie? Or did the FBI act improperly?
Discussion:
The Last Refuge, Raw Story and Law & Crime
Gary Baum / Hollywood Reporter:
Woody Allen's Secret Teen Lover Speaks: Sex, Power and a Conflicted Muse Who Inspired ‘Manhattan’ — In 1976, 16-year-old model Babi Christina Engelhardt embarked on a hidden eight-year affair with the 41-year-old filmmaker that mirrors one of his most famous movies.
Discussion:
The Week, Mediaite, Daily Wire and East Bay Times
Lawrence S. Robbins / Politico:
How Trump Could Get Away With It — This weekend, President Donald Trump raged against Michael Cohen, calling his former lawyer and accuser a “rat” for cooperating with federal prosecutors. Cohen has accused Trump of directing him to make secret hush-money payments to two women …
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Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
Witches to Trump: Stop Calling the Mueller Investigation a ‘Witch Hunt’
Witches to Trump: Stop Calling the Mueller Investigation a ‘Witch Hunt’
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com and Breitbart
Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
How Donald Trump Got Caught in a Legal Vise
How Donald Trump Got Caught in a Legal Vise
Discussion:
Washington Post, New Republic and Daily Wire
New York Times:
CBS Says Leslie Moonves Will Not Receive $120 Million Severance — The CBS Corporation, battered by scandal and facing a leadership vacuum, said its former chief executive, Leslie Moonves, misled the company about multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and tried to hide evidence …
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Brian Stelter / CNN:
Ex-CBS chief Les Moonves will not get severance
Ex-CBS chief Les Moonves will not get severance
Discussion:
BuzzFeed News and Mediaite
Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:
Michael Flynn's business partner charged with illegally lobbying for Turkey — A business partner of Michael Flynn is being charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government and conspiracy for attempting to get Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen extradited from the United States.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, New York Times, Breitbart, Wonkette, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Shareblue Media, Shakesville, Daily Kos and HuffPost
RELATED:
Yair Rosenberg / Tablet Magazine:
The New York Times Just Published An Unqualified Recommendation For An Insanely Anti-Semitic Book — The book, recommended by author Alice Walker, repeatedly cites the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, dubs the Talmud “among the most appallingly racist documents on the planet,” and says Jews funded the Holocaust and control the KKK
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Algemeiner.com, twitchy.com, Washington Free Beacon and Instapundit
Alexis Levinson / BuzzFeed News:
Tulsi Gabbard Is Moving Toward An Unconventional Presidential Campaign. Her Fans See “Bernie 2.0.” — Tulsi Gabbard, a Democratic member of Congress from Hawaii, is known — insofar as she is known — for bucking her party. She criticized President Barack Obama's handling of ISIS.
United States Senator Lamar Alexander:
Alexander Statement on 2020 Senate Election — NASHVILLE, Tenn., December 17, 2018 - United States Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement: — “I will not be a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate in 2020.
Discussion:
Politico, Breitbart, Raw Story, KXLF-TV, Daily Wire, New York Times, Bloomberg, Townhall and Washington Free Beacon
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Joel Ebert / The Tennessean:
Tennessee US Sen. Lamar Alexander will not seek re-election in 2020
Tennessee US Sen. Lamar Alexander will not seek re-election in 2020
Discussion:
HuffPost and Conservative Review
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
It's high time for media to enter the No Kellyanne Zone — and stay there — Lies are coming at the American public in torrents — raining down on them everywhere they turn. — A report prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee, and obtained by The Washington Post, made that breathtakingly clear over the weekend.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Axios, more at Mediagazer »
Natalie / DCist:
After Bloodbath, The National Zoo's Naked Mole-Rats Finally Choose Their Queen — At last, we've reached the conclusion of this scintillating drama: the National Zoo's naked mole-rat colony has chosen its queen. — In case you've been living under a rock, let us catch you up …
Bloomberg:
Trump Opposes Short-Term Funding to Avoid Shutdown, Source Says — President's demand for border wall is the sticking point — Partial shutdown set for Friday night without spending deal — President Donald Trump isn't inclined to support a one- or two-week stopgap spending measure …
Discussion:
Politico, Breitbart, The Daily Signal and Townhall
RELATED:
Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
Mick Mulvaney in October 2016: Trump would be disqualified from office in an ‘ordinary universe’ — (CNN)Incoming White House acting-chief of staff Mick Mulvaney once said Donald Trump's past words and actions would disqualify him from becoming president in an “ordinary universe.”
Discussion:
Contemptor and Mediaite
Luciano Guerra / Washington Post:
I voted for Trump. Now his wall may destroy my butterfly paradise. — The Republican party is abandoning the conservative principles I treasured. — Right now, in Mission, Tex., we don't worry about immigrants who crossed the border illegally or drug smugglers.
Glenn Greenwald / The Intercept:
A Texas Elementary School Speech Pathologist Refused to Sign a Pro-Israel Oath, Now Mandatory in Many States — so She Lost Her Job — A children's speech pathologist who has worked for the last nine years with developmentally disabled, autistic, and speech-impaired elementary school students in Austin …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo and Splinter
The Daily Beast:
‘Vice,’ the Dick Cheney Biopic, Might Be the Worst Movie of the Year — Filmmaker Adam McKay's political satire, starring an unrecognizable Christian Bale, is getting major awards buzz. But is it any good? Marlow Stern and Kevin Fallon break it down. — Kevin: One of the last major …
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
How Trump Made War on Angela Merkel and Europe — The German Chancellor and other European leaders have run out of patience with the President. — This past July, on the final day of the nato summit in Brussels, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, proposed a closed-door emergency meeting.
Discussion:
Politico
Associated Press:
US sportswear traced to factory in China's internment camps — HOTAN, China (AP) — Barbed wire and hundreds of cameras ring a massive compound of more than 30 dormitories, schools, warehouses and workshops in China's far west. Dozens of armed officers and a growling Doberman stand guard outside.
Todd May / New York Times:
Would Human Extinction Be a Tragedy? — Our species possesses inherent value, but we are devastating the earth and causing unimaginable animal suffering. — Mr. May is a professor of philosophy at Clemson University. — There are stirrings of discussion these days in philosophical circles about the prospect of human extinction.
Discussion:
Breitbart
Ali Velshi / MSNBC:
Russian disinformation during 2016 was worse than you thought — Two independent reports detail Russia's extensive use of social media to manipulate American voters. NBC's Ken Dilanian and former FBI Special Agent Clint Watts join Ali Velshi to talk about the Russian strategy.
Holly Otterbein / Politico:
Pennsylvania meltdown triggers Republican alarms — PHILADELPHIA — A GOP implosion in Pennsylvania has Republicans alarmed about President Donald Trump's reelection prospects in a state that proved essential to his 2016 victory. — The enfeebled state party — still reeling …
Discussion:
Raw Story and Talking Points Memo
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Giuliani stumbles into admitting Trump's hush money payments were probably illegal — One comment Rudolph W. Giuliani made Sunday has been getting short shrift. In one fell swoop, he offered a false legal argument that both watered down the Trump team's previous denials and — most important …
Discussion:
AOL
Garrett M. Graff / Wired:
A Complete Guide to All 17 (Known) Trump and Russia Investigations — WHILE POPULAR MEMORY today remembers Watergate as five DNC burglars leading inexorably to Richard Nixon's resignation two years later, history recalls that the case and special prosecutor's investigation at the time was much broader …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Mediaite, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, Hot Air and Axios
Cheryl Wischhover / Vox:
How spray-on hair does (and doesn't) work — In case Stephen Miller has you wondering. — On Sunday, White House senior adviser Stephen Miller appeared on Face the Nation. His contentious interview included the assertion that President Donald Trump was quite willing to shut down the government …
Discussion:
twitchy.com and CBS News