Top Items:
New York Times:
Trump Considering Full Withdrawal of U.S. Troops From Syria — WASHINGTON — President Trump is considering pulling 2,000 United States ground troops out of Syria in a move that would seek to describe the four-year American-led war against the Islamic State as largely won, officials said Wednesday.
Discussion:
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Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Trump undermines his entire national security team on Syria — On Monday, the U.S. special representative for Syria engagement publicly pledged that the U.S. commitment to Syria would not waiver. The very next day, Trump reportedly decided to rapidly withdraw all U.S. troops there.
Discussion:
Axios, New York Times, Breitbart, CNN, NBC News, Hit & Run and Balloon Juice
Washington Post:
Trump snubs Corker, as critics and allies alike lambaste Syria decision — President Trump on Wednesday delivered a parting snub to one of his biggest congressional critics, as even his Republican allies laid into administration officials for the White House's surprise announcement …
Discussion:
Al Jazeera, Mediaite, Political Wire and Politico
Dion Nissenbaum / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Military Preparing for a Full Withdrawal of Its Forces From Northeastern Syria
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Washington Post, CNN, Bloomberg, NBC News, Axios, Politico, Washington Free Beacon, Hit & Run, ThinkProgress, Vox, Raw Story, Splinter, Jihad Watch, The Week, Breitbart, The Defense Post, The Mahablog, FOX2now.com, Task & Purpose, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The American Conservative, RedState, Mediaite, Townhall, Daily Wire, Military Times, Talking Points Memo and Mother Jones, more at Mediagazer »
TASS:
US troops' withdrawal from Syria to create prospects for political solution, says diplomat
Discussion:
Breaking Defense
Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:
BREAKING: John McCain Associate Gave Dossier To BuzzFeed — A longtime associate of late Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain provided a copy of the infamous Steele dossier to BuzzFeed News, according to an explosive court filing released Wednesday. — David Kramer, a former State Department official …
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The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »
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Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:
BuzzFeed News Has Won A Lawsuit Over Its Decision To Publish The Trump Dossier
Discussion:
Townhall
emptywheel:
In Defense of Emmet Sullivan: Van Grack Suggested Mueller Did Review Whether Flynn's Behavior Amounted to Treason — I'd like to defend Judge Emmet Sullivan's intemperate mentions of unregistered foreign agents and treason in the Mike Flynn sentencing hearing yesterday.
Discussion:
National Review, CANNONFIRE, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story and The Atlantic
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Washington Post:
We were FBI agents. We want to know why Flynn lied to the bureau. — He could have been covering his tracks — or hiding something worse. — Tuesday's sentencing hearing for Michael Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser, took an unexpected twist after his attempts to shift blame to the government backfired.
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Testimony From Decades Ago Indicates Knowledge of Campaign-Finance Laws — Legal experts say that could be critical if investigators pursue a case over hush-money payments to women in the 2016 campaign — Sworn statements by President Trump dating back several decades indicate …
Discussion:
Law & Crime and Political Wire
Washington Post:
Mueller seeks Roger Stone's testimony to House intelligence panel, suggesting special counsel is near end of probe of Trump adviser — Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III asked the House Intelligence Committee on Friday for an official transcript of Trump adviser Roger Stone's testimony …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Townhall, POLITICUSUSA, Political Wire, Law & Crime, The Week, Mediaite and Shareblue Media
Joe Simonson / The Daily Caller:
The New York Times Had Special Access To Facebook Data Without Users' Knowledge — The New York Times was one of the companies that had access to private user data from Facebook, a key point brushed over in a report released by the paper. — While the Tuesday bombshell focused …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, New York Times, The Atlantic and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »
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Brian X. Chen / New York Times:
How to Delete Facebook — Lost faith in Facebook after data leakages …
Discussion:
9to5Mac, FOX2now.com and The Daily Caller
Washington Post:
D.C. attorney general sues Facebook over alleged privacy violations from Cambridge Analytica scandal
Discussion:
Facebook, KXLF-TV, Mother Jones, Breitbart, DCist, Big Think, Engadget, Hill Reporter, East Bay Times, ThinkProgress, New Republic, The Week, Investor's Business Daily and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »
Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed News:
Apps Are Revealing Your Private Information To Facebook And You Probably Don't Know It
Discussion:
Mashable, Engadget, NewsBusters, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »
Anna Massoglia / OpenSecrets.org:
Trump 2020 campaign used a shell company to pay ad buyers at the center of alleged illegal coordination scheme with NRA — The Trump campaign funneled money to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA by routing funds through a secretive LLC …
David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:
South Carolina GOP could scrap 2020 primary to protect Trump — The South Carolina Republican Party could cancel its marquee presidential nominating contest in 2020 in a move to protect President Trump from any primary challengers. — Drew McKissick, chairman of the South Carolina GOP …
Discussion:
New Republic, Hot Air, Hullabaloo, Splinter, Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, CNN, Hill Reporter, IJR and Politico
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Spiegel Online:
Answers to the Most Important Questions — In recent years, DER SPIEGEL published just under 60 articles by reporter and editor Claas Relotius. He has now admitted that, in several instances, he either invented stories or distorted facts. — What happened?
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, Samizdata and National Post, more at Mediagazer »
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NBC News:
United States added to list of most dangerous countries for journalists for first time — At least 63 professional journalists were killed doing their jobs in 2018, a 15 percent increase over last year, Reporters Without Borders said. — PARIS — The murder of the Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi …
Discussion:
The Hill, National Review, twitchy.com, TIME, Fortune, Breitbart and The Daily Caller
Derek Hunter / The Daily Caller:
Coulter Unloads: ‘A Joke Presidency’ That ‘Scammed The American People’ With Promises Of A Wall — On today's podcast we cover a lot of ground. Bestselling author Ann Coulter talks about the apparent walk-back of President Donald Trump's demand for $5 billion to build the border wall …
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Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Trump sensitive to criticism about so-far failed border wall promise
Discussion:
Hot Air
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
New secret filing in case of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen placed in NY federal court vault — A document that is sealed from public view was placed in a New York federal court vault in a criminal case against President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Jeff Cox / CNBC:
Fed hikes rate, lowers 2019 projection to 2 increases — Central bank officials now forecast two hikes next year, down from three rate raises previously projected. — However, the Fed continued to include in its statement that further ‘gradual’ rate hikes would be appropriate.
Discussion:
Board of Governors … and The Week
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Heather Long / Washington Post:
Federal Reserve cuts its outlook for U.S. economy; stocks plunge
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The Week
ClickHole:
Legal Bombshell: Mueller Flipped Trump's Confidant's Lawyer's Friend's Associate Gorpman (Who Could Testify Against Bleemer!) And It's Not Even Lunchtime — The day's just getting started, and the Trump house of cards is already crumbling. This morning, Special Counsel Robert Mueller dropped …
Discussion:
The Week
Eliza Dushku / BostonGlobe.com:
I worked at CBS. I didn't want to be sexually harassed. I was fired — The narrative propagated by CBS, actor Michael Weatherly, and writer-producer Glenn Gordon Caron is deceptive and in no way fits with how they treated me on the set of the television show “Bull” and retaliated …
Discussion:
KXLF-TV, East Bay Times, Deadline, AOL and IndieWire, more at Mediagazer »
Eliana Johnson / Politico:
‘It got a little heated’: GOP infighting almost killed criminal justice reform — Just hours before the Senate passed major reforms to the criminal justice system, Mike Lee and Tom Cotton were still bickering. — At a private party lunch, the two young Republican senators argued one last time …
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Pete Kasperowicz / Washington Examiner:
Jeff Flake strikes out: Senate blocks his third push to protect Robert Mueller
Discussion:
Axios
New York Times:
Illinois Attorney General Says Catholic Church Withheld Names of at Least 500 Accused Priests — A scathing report by the Illinois attorney general accused the Roman Catholic Church in the state of failing the victims of clergy sexual abuse by neglecting to investigate their allegations …
Discussion:
The Week
Albert Burneko / The Concourse:
Visionary Brain Genius Elon Musk Has Invented The World's Worst And Most Expensive Subway — If you are anything like me, many times you have been riding the subway and have had the thought, “What is wrong with this dang subway is that it is not exponentially more expensive and slower than this.”
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Breitbart and Capitol Fax.com
Carrie Levine / Center for Public Integrity:
Wilbur Ross said he divested a stock holding — but he didn't — Failure to dump BankUnited shares is the latest inaccurate statement by Trump's Commerce secretary. — U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross twice submitted sworn statements to ethics officials saying he had divested stock …
Zach Baron / GQ:
The Fresno Bee and the War on Local News — Local newspapers like The Fresno Bee have long been an endangered institution in America, and that was before California Rep. Devin Nunes began waging a public campaign against his hometown paper. Zach Baron spent time with the reporters fighting …
Ime Archibong / Facebook:
Facts About Facebook's Messaging Partnerships — In the past day, we've been accused of disclosing people's private messages to partners without their knowledge. That's not true - and we wanted to provide more facts about our messaging partnerships. — We worked closely with four partners …
Discussion:
CBC News, CBS New York and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Why not indict the Trump Organization? — Legal scholars debate whether a sitting president can be indicted or only impeached. If the latter, it's not clear given the statutes of limitation on most crimes whether he could ever be prosecuted for certain crimes.
Helena Andrews-Dyer / Washington Post:
Barack Obama dons a Santa hat and hands out gifts in surprise visit to D.C. children's hospital — Watch out, Santa: Former president Barack Obama is coming for your sleigh. — With a fluffy red cap and a bulging bag slung over his shoulder, Obama delivered presents (and more than a few gasps) …
Adolfo Flores / BuzzFeed News:
A 5-Month-Old Girl Has Been Hospitalized With Pneumonia After Being Detained By Border Patrol — A five-month-old girl who traveled with the migrant caravan has been hospitalized with pneumonia after spending five days inside freezing cells operated by border authorities in California, her mother said.
Discussion:
Splinter
Rebecca Traister / The Cut:
The Imagined Threat of a Woman Who Governs Like a Man — On Tuesday, Politico posted a provocative, anonymously sourced piece claiming that New York congresswoman elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might be planning, in concert with Justice Democrats, to recruit a Democratic primary challenger …
Sarah D / Los Angeles Times:
Democrats' House takeover could mean big changes for California water policy … Among the changes ahead when Democrats take control of the House in January, add this one: The switch will upend the balance of power in California's water wars. — In the two years since Republicans' 2016 election triumphs …
Avery Miller / ABC News:
Sen. Jeff Merkley: Family on board for a 2020 presidential run and he won't defer to Sen. Bernie Sanders — Last election cycle, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, was the only one of Sen. Bernie Sanders' Senate colleagues to support his presidential primary campaign against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
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Political Wire
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