Top Items:
New York Times:
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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Daniel Victor / New York Times:
Walt Mossberg, Veteran Technology Journalist, Quits Facebook
Walt Mossberg, Veteran Technology Journalist, Quits Facebook
Discussion:
Breitbart and Walt Mossberg
Kate Sullivan / CNN:
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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Zachary Basu / Axios:
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:
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
Ken White / The Atlantic:
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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Natasha Bertrand / The Atlantic:
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
Washington Post:
'I'm not hiding my disgust, my disdain': Veteran judge upends hopes of Trump allies as he spotlights Flynn's misdeeds
'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
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Judge's accusations mar Michael Flynn sentencing hearing
Judge's accusations mar Michael Flynn sentencing hearing
Discussion:
Instapundit
Katelyn Polantz / CNN:
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
RELATED:
Politico:
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 …
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
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
Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:
READ: Appeals Court Upholds Grand Jury Subpoena In Secret Mueller-Linked Case
READ: Appeals Court Upholds Grand Jury Subpoena In Secret Mueller-Linked Case
Discussion:
Townhall
Washington Post:
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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Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
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 …
Marianne LeVine / Politico:
Senate approves Trump-backed criminal justice overhaul
Senate approves Trump-backed criminal justice overhaul
Discussion:
KTLA, FOX6Now.com and The Week
Jason Schwartz / Politico:
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 …
New York Times:
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
Jenna Amatulli / HuffPost:
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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Sapna Maheshwari / New York Times:
Advertisers Flee Tucker Carlson's Fox News Show After He Derides Immigrants
Advertisers Flee Tucker Carlson's Fox News Show After He Derides Immigrants
Discussion:
CNBC, CNN and The Daily Beast
Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:
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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John Stanton / BuzzFeed News:
Another Migrant Girl Nearly Died After She Was Detained In New Mexico By The Border Patrol
Another Migrant Girl Nearly Died After She Was Detained In New Mexico By The Border Patrol
Discussion:
Vox
Washington Post:
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.
RELATED:
Shannon Houser / Cleveland 19 News Cleveland, OH:
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
RELATED:
Michael Brice-Saddler / Washington Post:
A black man tried to cash his paycheck. The bank called the cops.
Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
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
Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:
“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
Financial Times:
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
The Economist:
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
Nathan L. Gonzales / Roll Call:
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.
Dennis McLellan / Los Angeles Times:
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
Roger Kimball / Wall Street Journal:
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
Stephen Rex Brown / New York Daily News:
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.
Laura Davison / Bloomberg:
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