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:
RedState, Wired, Shareblue Media, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, HuffPost, The Week, The Guardian, CBS San Francisco, Conservative News Today, Raw Story, Media Matters for America, Balloon Juice, Mashable, No More Mister Nice Blog, Shakesville, POLITICUSUSA, Daily Kos, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Bangor Daily News, FOX2now.com and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
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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:
CNN, BuzzFeed News, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Mother Jones, Bloomberg, Raw Story and Daily Kos
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:
CNBC, Mother Jones, Vox, POLITICUSUSA, The Atlantic, ABC News and NewsBusters
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, The Week, Wonkette, Shareblue Media, New York Times, Daily Kos, Breitbart, Shakesville and HuffPost
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U.S. Department of Justice:
Two Men Charged with Conspiracy and Acting as Agents of a Foreign Government
Two Men Charged with Conspiracy and Acting as Agents of a Foreign Government
Discussion:
The Last Refuge, CNN and Law & Crime
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, Daily Wire, Raw Story, Breitbart, New York Times, KXLF-TV and Washington Free Beacon
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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.
Discussion:
HuffPost and Conservative Review
Jessica Taylor / NPR:
Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, A Bipartisan Dealmaker, Will Retire In 2020
Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, A Bipartisan Dealmaker, Will Retire In 2020
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, The Week and Washington Times
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Lamar Alexander to exit polarized Senate: ‘I just wish it were easier’
Lamar Alexander to exit polarized Senate: ‘I just wish it were easier’
Discussion:
Vox and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
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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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
Discussion:
Raw Story, Salon and Talking Points Memo
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:
Algemeiner.com, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, Washington Free Beacon and Instapundit
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 and Daily Wire
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
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Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
How Donald Trump Got Caught in a Legal Vise
How Donald Trump Got Caught in a Legal Vise
Discussion:
New Republic, Washington Post and Daily Wire
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.
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:
The Atlantic, Townhall, Associated Press, USA Today, Breitbart, Politico, One America News Network and Washington Post
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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 and Splinter
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:
Talking Points Memo, Axios, Mediaite and IJR, more at Techmeme »
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.
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, Hullabaloo, Axios and Hot Air
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
John Stanton / BuzzFeed News:
Border Patrol Tells Congressional Delegation It Can't Meet With Agents Who Detained 7-Year-Old — LORDSBURG, NEW MEXICO — The Department of Homeland Security has told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that they will not be allowed to speak with Customs and Border Protection agents involved …
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
USA Today:
Americans' message to Washington on the looming shutdown: Don't — WASHINGTON — Americans have a clear message to Washington as the government hurtles toward a partial shutdown on Friday: Don't. — By a double-digit margin, 54 percent to 29 percent, those surveyed in a new USA TODAY …
Discussion:
Shareblue Media
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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.
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:
Political Wire and Talking Points Memo
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:
Townhall, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, Splinter and Talking Points Memo
Michael Brice-Saddler / Washington Post:
His fiancee was killed on a run in Logan Circle. He was left with the rest of his life. — On a chilly December morning, nearly three months after the runner's death, her makeshift memorial was still visible. — But things had changed. — The pairs of running shoes and dozens of bouquets …
Jay Wallis / KVUE-TV:
Muslim group challenging Texas' ‘No Boycott of Israel’ law — The Council on American-Islamic Relations is planning to hold a news conference Monday at noon. — AUSTIN — A Muslim group plans to issue a legal challenge to a Texas law Monday afternoon. — Texas became the 17th state to pass a …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and CAIR