Top Items:


As Facebook Raised a Privacy Wall, It Carved an Opening for Tech Giants — Internal documents show that the social network gave Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify and others far greater access to people's data than it has disclosed. — For years, Facebook gave some of the world's largest technology companies …
Discussion:
Facebook, Al Jazeera, CBS New York, KXLF-TV, Breitbart, Engadget, The Week, RAPPLER, The Verge, Mashable and New Republic, more at Mediagazer »
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Walt Mossberg, Veteran Technology Journalist, Quits Facebook
Discussion:
Breitbart and Walt Mossberg


Trump signed letter of intent for Trump Tower Moscow project despite Giuliani insisting he didn't — Giuliani changes Trump Tower Moscow timelines — (CNN)A newly obtained document shows President Donald Trump signed a letter of intent to move forward with negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Russia …
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CNN: Trump signed letter of intent to build Trump Tower in Moscow — On Tuesday night, CNN's Chris Cuomo obtained a letter of intent signed by now-President Trump to move forward with a Trump Tower in Moscow. — Why it matters: As Cuomo notes, the signed letter doesn't have direct legal implications or suggest obvious wrongdoing.


POLITICO Playbook: White House on the sidelines in spending fight — DRIVING THE DAY — HEADS UP ... THE FEDERAL RESERVE will announce whether it will continue to hike rates today at 2:30 p.m. — PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has urged the Fed to lay off another hike, but the FT puts it this way …
Discussion:
Breitbart, Right Wing Watch and Hullabaloo


Note to Michael Flynn: Federal Court Is Not Twitter — Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn on Tuesday got an unpleasant lesson on the difference between politically effective arguments and legally astute ones. Backed by an array of well-wishers including President Trump …
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Michael Flynn's Lawyers Appear to Have Badly Miscalculated — Lawyers for retired General Michael Flynn had every reason to celebrate. They managed to get their client—who lobbied against U.S. interests while serving as a top Donald Trump-campaign surrogate; tried to undermine …
Discussion:
TalkLeft


'I'm not hiding my disgust, my disdain': Veteran judge upends hopes of Trump allies as he spotlights Flynn's misdeeds
Discussion:
The Guardian and The American Spectator

Judge's accusations mar Michael Flynn sentencing hearing
Discussion:
Instapundit


Court orders company to comply with special counsel subpoena in mystery grand jury appeal — (CNN)Four days after attorneys secretly argued over a grand jury subpoena suspected to be related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election …
Discussion:
KXLF-TV
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Mueller appears victorious in mystery subpoena dispute — The ruling offers the intriguing detail that the entity fighting the Mueller subpoena is a foreign-owned company, not a specific individual, as many had speculated. — A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered a mystery corporation owned …

Washington's Mystery Witness Turns Out to Be a Corporation, Not a Person — WASHINGTON — A mystery witness fighting a secret fight over a sealed subpoena with a prosecutor who may be Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating the Trump-Russia affair, turns out to be a corporation owned …
Discussion:
The Guardian and Lawfare

READ: Appeals Court Upholds Grand Jury Subpoena In Secret Mueller-Linked Case
Discussion:
Townhall


Senate overwhelmingly backs overhaul of criminal justice system — The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a sweeping overhaul of the criminal justice system, after a remarkable political shift from Republicans who voted in large numbers to save money by reducing prison sentences …
Discussion:
Associated Press, NPR, The Guardian and Wall Street Journal
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Senate Passes Bipartisan Criminal Justice Bill — WASHINGTON — The Senate overwhelmingly approved on Tuesday the most substantial changes in a generation to the tough-on-crime prison and sentencing laws that ballooned the federal prison population and created a criminal justice system …

Senate approves Trump-backed criminal justice overhaul
Discussion:
KTLA, FOX6Now.com and The Week


Ousted NPR news chief, ex-Fox News execs team up on new site — One was ousted from NPR amid allegations of sexual harassment. The other left Fox News shortly after writing a column widely panned as racist and anti-gay. Now they've been recruited to help launch a digital news startup …


Hacked European Cables Reveal a World of Anxiety About Trump, Russia and Iran — WASHINGTON — Hackers infiltrated the European Union's diplomatic communications network for years, downloading thousands of cables that reveal concerns about an unpredictable Trump administration and struggles …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, CNN, Raw Story and EURACTIV.com


Here Are The Advertisers Boycotting Tucker Carlson's Show — The Fox News host is facing backlash after suggesting that immigrants make our country “poorer and dirtier and more divided” on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” — Fox News' Tucker Carlson is rapidly losing advertisers amid a controversy …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Contemptor, ThinkProgress, Media Matters for America, The Guardian and NBC News, more at Mediagazer »
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Advertisers Flee Tucker Carlson's Fox News Show After He Derides Immigrants
Discussion:
CNBC, CNN and The Daily Beast


Power Up: 'Cameras can't get in' is only reason Democrats say border patrol facility that held 7-year-old girl is still open — Happy Wednesday, Power People. We're en route from Texas back to Washington to close out the rest of the week. Comments, ideas, Christmas cookie recipes??
Discussion:
Daily Wire
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Another Migrant Girl Nearly Died After She Was Detained In New Mexico By The Border Patrol
Discussion:
Vox


Judiciary dismisses ‘serious’ misconduct complaints against Brett M. Kavanaugh — The judicial council reviewing dozens of misconduct claims against Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh has dismissed the complaints that coincided with his contentious nomination battle.
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Cleveland man alleges racial profiling after bank refuses to cash check, calls 911 — BROOKLYN, OH (WOIO) - A Cleveland man says he was racially profiled at a local branch when they called the cops on him for trying to cash a check. — Paul McCowns tells Cleveland 19 he went …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Hill Reporter and The Root
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The Trump Foundation Gets Put to Sleep — New York's attorney general dissolves the president's personal piggy bank, but a lawsuit against the faux charity alleging fraud continues. — The Trump Foundation, a tiny New York outfit masquerading as a philanthropy but operating, essentially …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, New York Times, NY State Attorney General, OpenSecrets.org, Raw Story and New Republic


“The Staff Is Fed Up He's Acting Like a Nut”: Trump's West Wing Braces for Christmas Madness, More Departures—And Mueller — Javanka blocked Bannon ally David Bossie for chief of staff—but bigger problems are looming. — Donald Trump plans to head to Mar-a-Lago for a 16 …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Hullabaloo and Wonkette


Fed's Powell under pressure over rate rises — Jay Powell will today wrap up the thorniest policy meeting of his chairmanship as the Federal Reserve faces a barrage of calls for easy money as the stock market slides in anticipation of soggy global economic growth.
Discussion:
Political Wire


Our pick of the decade's eight best young economists — They mostly want to change the world, not just fathom it — “The solution in Vietnam”, said William DePuy, an American general in 1966, “is more bombs, more shells, more napalm.” But where exactly to drop it all?
Discussion:
Marginal REVOLUTION

Poll: Democrat Leads GOP Governor in Kentucky — A new poll of next year's gubernatorial race in Kentucky shows Democrats in position to extend their nationwide winning streak beyond the 2018 midterms. — Aside from taking back the House majority, Democrats also gained seven governorships around the country.


Penny Marshall, who played feisty Laverne in ‘Laverne & Shirley’ before directing movies, dies at 75 — Penny Marshall, who costarred as a Milwaukee brewery worker in the top-rated 1970s and '80s sitcom “Laverne & Shirley” before becoming a director of hit movies such as “Big” and “A League of Their Own,” has died.
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, Page Six, The Week and The Daily Caller


The National Gallery of Identity Politics — Forget Monet or Hopper. The art museum's new director wants to tackle ‘gender equality,’ ‘social justice’ and ‘diversity.’ — 'Every thing is what it is and not another thing," observed the 18th-century British philosopher Joseph Butler.
Discussion:
Instapundit


Second woman claims billionaire perv Jeffrey Epstein ‘directed’ her to have sex with Alan Dershowitz — A second alleged trafficking victim of Jeffrey Epstein says the billionaire pedophile “directed” her to have sex with Alan Dershowitz — a claim the prominent attorney adamantly denies.


Mnuchin Backs Off Trump's Promise of 10% Middle-Class Tax Cut — Tax focus will be on technical fixes, Treasury secretary says — Trump floated idea of middle-class relief before elections — The Trump administration is setting aside a middle-class tax cut and planning to focus …
Discussion:
The Week, CNBC and Washington Post