memeorandum: The Neverending, Mysterious Saga of Michael Flynn (Victor Davis Hanson/American Greatness)

8:25 PM ET, December 25, 2018

Top Items:

Nomaan Merchant / Associated Press:

US says 2nd Guatemalan child has died in immigration custody — HOUSTON (AP) — An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died in government custody in New Mexico early Tuesday, U.S. immigration authorities said, marking the second death of an immigrant child in detention this month.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Gateway Pundit, Law & Crime and Axios

Lenny Bernstein / Washington Post:

An 8-year-old migrant has died in U.S. custody on Christmas Day — An 8-year-old Guatemalan child detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection died early Tuesday at a hospital in New Mexico, the agency reported. — The unidentified child is the second border-crosser to die in government custody this month.

Discussion: RedState and CBS News

Eliott C. McLaughlin / CNN:

8-year-old Guatemalan boy dies in US custody on Christmas — (CNN)An 8-year-old Guatemalan boy died Christmas morning in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection, the agency said. — He is the second Guatemalan child to die in CBP custody this month.

Daniella Silva / NBC News:

Guatemalan boy, 8, dies in immigration custody after being diagnosed with a cold — The official cause of the child's death is still unknown and CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility will conduct a review. — An 8-year-old Guatemalan boy died of unknown causes in the custody …

Hannah Alani / Post and Courier:

Do a ‘marginal’ number of 7-year-olds believe in Santa? That's what Trump told a SC girl. — Collman Lloyd, 7, talks to President Donald Trump on Christmas Eve inside her Lexington kitchen. Trump asked Lloyd if she still believed in Santa. “Yes, sir,” she replied. Erica Lloyd/Provided

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

USA Today:

Government shutdown, day 4: Pelosi blames Trump for using ‘scare tactics’ over border wall — House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi accused President Donald Trump of using “scare tactics” to build support for his proposed U.S.-Mexican border wall, which she joked had been reduced from a giant …

Discussion: PBS NewsHour, Raw Story, Althouse and Townhall

Deirdre Shesgreen / USA Today:

President Trump tells 7-year-old child it's ‘marginal’ to still believe in Santa Claus — President Donald Trump and his wife Melania fielded children's telephone calls in the White House on Christmas Eve. In a tradition going back to 1955, kids phoned to locate Santa. (Dec. 25) — CONNECT

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, NPR and alicublog

David Nather / Axios:

Trump: “I can't tell you when” shutdown will end — In a short question and answer session with reporters this morning, President Trump said “I can't tell you when the government is going to reopen,” and that the partial government shutdown won't end until “we have a wall, a fence, whatever they'd like to call it.”

Discussion: Dallas Morning News, Breitbart and KTLA

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

‘I am all alone’: An isolated Trump unleashes a storm of Yuletide gloom — The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights — The Christmas Eve grievances billowing from the White House on Monday formed a heavy cloud of Yuletide gloom.

Discussion: ABC News, FOX31 Denver, Breitbart, CNN, Raw Story and Mediaite

Makini Brice / Reuters:
During gloomy Washington Christmas, Trump takes kids' Santa calls

Discussion: Boing Boing

Darlene Superville / Associated Press:
Trump offers holiday greetings to US troops

Discussion: Breitbart, Joe.My.God. and The Daily Beast

Burgess Everett / Politico: ‘Hunker down like a jackass’: Shutdown could drag on for weeks

Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner / NBC News:

Trump becomes first president since 2002 not to visit troops at Christmastime — Though he called military personnel on Tuesday, Trump did not visit a hospital or a military base. — On Christmas Day, President Donald Trump took part in a long-running practice of presidents …

Discussion: Political Wire and Raw Story

Jonah Goldberg / Los Angeles Times:

Why the Trump presidency will end poorly — As we celebrate Christmastime amid an unnecessary and indefinite government shutdown and the worst December for the stock market since 1931, I'm reminded once again of my longstanding prediction: The Trump presidency will end poorly because character is destiny.

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Mediaite and Raw Story

Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:

Trump is incompetent, impulsive and amoral. Heaven help us all. — The chaos all around us is what happens when the nation elects an incompetent, narcissistic, impulsive and amoral man as president. This Christmas, heaven help us all. — Much of the government is shut down over symbolic funding …

Discussion: Raw Story and The Atlantic

New York Times:

Christmas in Lebanon: 'Jesus Isn't Only for the Christians' — BEIRUT — The Iranian cultural attaché stepped up to the microphone on a stage flanked by banners bearing the faces of Iran's two foremost religious authorities: Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, and Ayatollah Khamenei, the current supreme leader.

Discussion: Breitbart and Townhall

Julián Aguilar / The Texas Tribune:

ICE dumps hundreds of migrants with nowhere to go at a bus station on eve of Christmas without warning shelters — Lawmakers and immigrant rights groups scramble after ICE releases hundreds of migrants without alerting local shelters. … EL PASO - Hundreds of asylum-seekers spent part …