memeorandum: US says 2nd Guatemalan child has died in immigration custody (Nomaan Merchant/Associated Press)

3:40 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: Axios and Law & Crime

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

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, CTVNews and alicublog

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: Townhall, Breitbart, FOX31 Denver, Raw Story, CNN and Mediaite

Bloomberg:

Trump Says He's Confident in ‘Very Talented’ Mnuchin After Slide — President complains again about Fed interest-rate increases — President Donald Trump expressed confidence on Tuesday in Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who is struggling to contain his first real crisis but has failed …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Hill, Joe.My.God. and POLITICUSUSA

Darlene Superville / Associated Press:

Trump offers holiday greetings to US troops — President Donald Trump on Tuesday wished U.S. troops stationed around the country and the world a merry Christmas. — “I know it's a great sacrifice for you to be away from your families, but I want you to know that every American family …

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

Makini Brice / Reuters:

During gloomy Washington Christmas, Trump takes kids' Santa calls — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It was the night before Christmas, and U.S. President Donald Trump was on the phone with children, peppering them with questions about whether they were looking forward to the holiday.

Discussion: Boing Boing

Burgess Everett / Politico:

‘Hunker down like a jackass’: Shutdown could drag on for weeks — A large swath of the federal government is shut down — and so are negotiations to reopen it. — President Donald Trump's standoff with Democratic leaders over the border wall dragged into a third day on Monday …

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. and Raw Story

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 …

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, The Atlantic and New York Post

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: Townhall

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Time for G.O.P. to Threaten to Fire Trump — Republican leaders need to mount an intervention. — Up to now I have not favored removing President Trump from office. I felt strongly that it would be best for the country that he leave the way he came in, through the ballot box.

Discussion: Power Line and Raw Story

Simon Cullen / CNN:

Dutch church clocks up 1,400 hours to prevent family being deported — Non-stop service held to prevent deportation — (CNN)A non-stop church service in the Netherlands — aimed at stopping an Armenian family from being deported — has become so popular it has issued tickets for the Christmas period to control numbers.