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 …
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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:
BuzzFeed News, Mother Jones, Washington Post, Bloomberg and Raw Story
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
It's high time for media to enter the No Kellyanne Zone — and stay there
It's high time for media to enter the No Kellyanne Zone — and stay there
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Axios, Mediaite and IJR
Cindy Ma / The Computational Propaganda Project:
The IRA and Political Polarization in the United States
The IRA and Political Polarization in the United States
Discussion:
Mother Jones, The Atlantic, ABC News, Vox and NewsBusters
David McCabe / Axios:
Senate-commissioned reports show scale of Russian misinformation campaign
Senate-commissioned reports show scale of Russian misinformation campaign
Discussion:
Politico
Donie O'Sullivan / CNN:
Russians sought to recruit ‘assets’ through social media, Senate told
Russians sought to recruit ‘assets’ through social media, Senate told
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Washington Post and CBS San Francisco, more at Mediagazer »
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, New York Times, 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 …
Discussion:
New Republic, Axios, emptywheel, CNN and Mediaite
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:
Townhall, Bloomberg, Breitbart, New York Times and Washington Free Beacon
RELATED:
Joel Ebert / The Tennessean:
Tennessee US Sen. Lamar Alexander will not seek re-election in 2020 — After roughly a quarter century in elected office, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander will retire. — The former Republican governor, who has served in the Senate since first being elected in 2002, said Monday that he will not seek a fourth term in the upper chamber.
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:
Instapundit
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
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, Axios and Hot Air
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:
Sam Stein / The Daily Beast:
Trump Previously Lined the Pockets of His Democrat Defender Mark Penn
Trump Previously Lined the Pockets of His Democrat Defender Mark Penn
Discussion:
Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »
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:
Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast and Splinter
John Harwood / CNBC:
Most Americans want action on climate change. Republicans are the exception: Poll — In a new NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll 66 percent of Americans now say they've seen enough evidence to justify action on climate change, up from 51 percent two decades ago.
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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.
Discussion:
Raw Story
RELATED:
Jason Zengerle / New York Times:
These Democrats Will Soon Have the Power to Investigate the White House. How Far Will They Go? — In two weeks, congressional Democrats will return to Washington with the authority to investigate a White House that is suspected of foreign collusion, conflicts of interest and mismanagement of the federal government.
RELATED:
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, Daily Wire and New Republic
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
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
Vivian Wang / New York Times:
Cuomo to Push Legalizing Recreational Marijuana in New York by Early 2019 — [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that he would push to legalize recreational marijuana next year, a move that could bring …
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Marina Fang / HuffPost:
Gov. Andrew Cuomo Calls For Legalization Of Recreational Marijuana In New York
Gov. Andrew Cuomo Calls For Legalization Of Recreational Marijuana In New York
Discussion:
Vox, Rochester Democrat … and Marijuana Moment
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 …
Discussion:
twitchy.com and Breitbart
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
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:
Daily Wire
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:
Breitbart, Splinter and Talking Points Memo