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, Shareblue Media, Raw Story and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Washington Post:
New report on Russian disinformation, prepared for the Senate, shows the operation's scale and sweep — The report, a draft of which was obtained by The Washington Post, is the first to study the millions of posts provided by major technology firms to the Senate Intelligence Committee
Ken Dilanian / NBC News:
Russia favored Trump, targeted African-Americans with election meddling, reports say — The Russians set up 30 Facebook pages targeting the black community, the researchers found, and 10 YouTube channels that posted 571 videos related to police violence against African-Americans.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »
James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: Russian efforts to manipulate African Americans show sophistication of disinformation campaign
David McCabe / Axios:
Senate-commissioned reports show scale of Russian misinformation campaign
Senate-commissioned reports show scale of Russian misinformation campaign
Discussion:
Politico
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:
Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, HuffPost and Political Wire
RELATED:
U.S. Department of Justice:
Two Men Charged with Conspiracy and Acting as Agents of a Foreign Government — An indictment was unsealed today charging Bijan Rafiekian, aka Bijan Kian, 66, of San Juan Capistrano, California, and Kamil Ekim Alptekin, 41, of Istanbul, and a Turkish national, with conspiracy …
Discussion:
Law & Crime
New York Times:
Former Michael Flynn Business Associates Indicted in Turkey Lobbying Case — WASHINGTON — Two former business associates of Michael T. Flynn, President Trump's first national security adviser, have been indicted as part of a federal investigation into Turkey's secret 2016 lobbying campaign …
Associated Press:
Prosecutors charge 2 involved in Flynn's Turkish lobbying — Two men involved in a Turkish lobbying campaign led by former National Security adviser Michael Flynn have been charged with illegally lobbying in a case related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Discussion:
Politico
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.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Axios:
Suddenly everyone is defending the Affordable Care Act — Now that federal Judge Reed O'Connor has ruled the entire Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional — since Congress zeroed out the penalty tied to the mandate to buy health insurance — the health care law once again has to show it has an extra life in its back pocket.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Politico, USA Today, Washington Post, Breitbart and One America News Network
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Texas ObamaCare Blunder — A judge's ruling will be overturned and could backfire on Republicans. — By The Editorial Board — No one opposes ObamaCare more than we do, and Democrats are now confirming that it was designed as a way-station to government-run health care.
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:
Bloomberg, Mediaite, Hot Air, Axios and New Republic
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:
Talking Points Memo and Raw Story
Adam Wren / Indianapolis Monthly:
Pete Buttigieg Has His Eye On The Prize — Can South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg work the angles to become a dark-horse presidential contender in 2020? — To know Pete Buttigieg is to watch him play a skill crane game, the joystick-guided, mechanical claw-driven pastime found in video arcades …
RELATED:
Jeff Parrott South Bend / South Bend Tribune:
Pete Buttigieg will not seek a third term as South Bend mayor
Pete Buttigieg will not seek a third term as South Bend mayor
Discussion:
Political Wire
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.
Aya Batrawy / Associated Press:
Saudi Arabia rejects US Senate's ‘interference’ in kingdom — RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia issued an unusually strong rebuke of the U.S. Senate on Monday, rejecting a bipartisan resolution that put the blame for the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi squarely …
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA
RELATED:
Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:
Michael Cohen Adviser Deals Major Blow To The Steele Dossier — Michael Cohen did not visit Prague during the 2016 campaign, as the Steele dossier alleges, according to the former Trump lawyer's adviser. — Lanny Davis vehemently denied the dossier's allegations that Cohen visited Prague to arrange payments to Russian hackers.
RELATED:
Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
Witches to Trump: Stop Calling the Mueller Investigation a ‘Witch Hunt’ — The witch community is tired of the president invoking the worst moment in their history to serve his political needs. — It may, on the surface, seem like a harmless way to trivialize Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation …
Laura Barrón-López / Politico:
House Dems eye quick action on guns in new Congress — House Democrats are planning to move several high-profile bills to combat gun violence soon after they take power in January, underscoring their belief that the political landscape has shifted dramatically on an issue that's plagued American society for decades.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Reid J. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:
California Upends 2020 Democratic Primary Calendar — By moving its presidential primary to early March, California will force candidates to address West Coast issues — When Iowa Democrats hold their February 2020 presidential caucuses, millions of Californians will already have their primary ballots.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Sam Stein / The Daily Beast:
Trump Previously Lined the Pockets of His Democrat Defender Mark Penn — The former Clinton strategist, who has railed against the Mueller probe, said it was minor work and notes that it happened three decades ago. — Nearly three decades before he was elected President of the United States …
Discussion:
Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »
Martin Crutsinger / Associated Press:
After the Fed's likely rate hike this week, all bets are off — WASHINGTON (AP) — Having raised interest rates with steady regularity in recent months, the Federal Reserve may embrace a new message this week: Flexibility. — On Wednesday, the Fed is set to announce its fourth rate hike of the year.
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
I Have Seen the Future of a Republican Party That Is No Longer Insane — This week, the Niskanen Center, a libertarian-leaning Washington think tank, held a conference on the future of the Republican Party, called “Starting Over: The Center-Right After Trump.”
Karol Markowicz / New York Post:
Soaring suicides are another sign of our toxic social disconnect — Americans are dying — earlier than they have been and often at their own hands. — According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2017 tally, there has been a dramatic rise in the numbers of US deaths by suicide and drug overdose.
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications
Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:
Coons: Trump sounds ‘more like a mob boss than president’ with Cohen attacks — President Donald Trump's use of the word “rat” to attack his former personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen is more evocative of a “mob boss” than of a president, a Democratic senator said Monday.
Discussion:
Political Wire
Walter Dellinger / Washington Post:
Should we be able to indict a sitting president? Consider Spiro Agnew. — Walter Dellinger was head of the Office of Legal Counsel from 1993 to 1996 and acting U.S. solicitor general from 1996 to 1997. — What does the nation do if it turns out that a president of the United States …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Jake Sherman / Politico:
It's Boehner's turn: Inside D.C. memoir on the way — The next big political memoir isn't coming from inside the Trump White House. But it is likely to offer eye-popping tales from inside another important D.C. institution. — Former House Speaker John Boehner is at work on a memoir …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo