memeorandum: More than 4 million children endured lockdowns last school year, a groundbreaking Washington Post analysis found. (Washington Post)

3:15 PM ET, December 26, 2018

Top Items:

Did a Queens Podiatrist Help Donald Trump Avoid Vietnam? — In the fall of 1968, Donald J. Trump received a timely diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels that led to his medical exemption from the military during Vietnam. — For 50 years, the details of how the exemption came about …

Discussion: Quartz, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Hullabaloo, Law & Crime, Gothamist, AOL, Joe.My.God., POLITICUSUSA, The Week, KTLA, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, FOX31 Denver, IJR, Daily Kos, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times and Mediaite

New York Times:

Donald Trump's Selective Service Records — For many years, Donald J. Trump asserted that it was “ultimately” a high draft lottery number that kept him out of the Vietnam War, rather than a medical condition. But his Selective Service records, obtained from the National Archives, suggest otherwise.

Mark Maremont / Wall Street Journal:

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker Incorrectly Claims Academic All-American Honors — Claim from Whitaker's University of Iowa football days listed on résumé and government documents — Matthew Whitaker, the acting U.S. Attorney General, has incorrectly claimed …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, POLITICUSUSA, Joe.My.God., Contemptor and Mediaite

New York Times:

Trump Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq to See American Troops — WASHINGTON — President Trump visited American military forces in Iraq on Wednesday, a surprise trip and the first visit to troops stationed abroad in a combat zone by a commander in chief who has made withdrawing the United States from foreign wars a signature issue.

Discussion: RedState, Roll Call, NPR, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Guardian, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos and Townhall

Darlene Superville / Associated Press:

Trump in Iraq on first visit to troops in troubled region — AL-ASAD AIRBASE, Iraq (AP) — President Donald Trump made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Wednesday, leaving behind a partially shuttered U.S. government to greet American troops helping hold off extremists in a country where thousands of Americans died during the recent war.

Discussion: Task & Purpose

Benjamin Siegel / ABC News:
President Donald Trump makes surprise Christmas visit to troops in Iraq in first trip to combat zone

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Hill, CNBC, Joe.My.God. and The Gateway Pundit

Rebecca Morin / Politico:
Trump makes first trip to Iraq as president

Discussion: ABC News

Christian Whiton / Fox News:
After Mattis, Trump needs a very different kind of defense secretary

Discussion: Test Feed Using Fields

Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner / NBC News:
Trump becomes first president since 2002 not to visit troops at Christmastime

Discussion: Joe.My.God., The Gateway Pundit, Talking Points Memo, IJR, Daily Kos, Raw Story and Political Wire

Washington Post: Trump makes unannounced visit to Iraq a week after announcing a victory over the Islamic State

Amy Russo / HuffPost: Trump Ditches Tradition, Passing Up Christmas Visits To Troops

Jamelle Bouie / Slate:

The Path to the Presidency Could Be Harder for White Democrats in 2020 — Before Barack Obama's election in 2008, the relationship between white racial views and partisanship wasn't as clear-cut as one might think. Yes, Republicans won the large majority of white voters who believed black disadvantage …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Daniel Strauss / Politico:
Brown seeks Obama meeting as he considers presidential run

Discussion: Vanity Fair, The Daily Caller, Joe.My.God. and The Week

Astead W. Herndon / New York Times:
Black Voters, a Force in Democratic Politics, Are Ready to Make Themselves Heard

Discussion: Politico

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Federal workforce starts to feel pinch of prolonged shutdown — The partial government shutdown entered its fifth day Wednesday with no signs of a breakthrough and hundreds of thousands of federal workers about to feel the pinch of a protracted standoff. — President Donald Trump …

Discussion: ABC News, Associated Press, Talking Points Memo and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Darlene Superville / Associated Press:
Post-holiday, partial government shutdown to gain impact

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Joe.My.God., Axios, KTLA and The Week

David Edwards / Raw Story: C-SPAN caller: I support Trump's shutdown because 'it's getting us closer' to the second coming of Jesus

Daily Mail:

Ivanka Trump wears a summer dress and a bizarre full straw visor hat — Ivanka Trump rang in the holiday on Tuesday by heading out for a stroll near her family's Palm Beach, Florida estate on Christmas Day with husband Jared Kushner.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Bloomberg, Raw Story and Mediaite

Washington Post:

More than 4 million children endured lockdowns last school year, a groundbreaking Washington Post analysis found. The experience left many traumatized. — Locked behind their green classroom door, MaKenzie Woody and 25 other first-graders huddled in the darkness.

Discussion: Axios, Splinter and The Week

Nicole Lafond / Talking Points Memo:

Huckabee Defends Trump: It's Not Like He's 'Boiling The Little Girl's Rabbit' — After President Trump was roasted for appearing to mock a 7-year-old girl for still believing in Santa Claus earlier this week, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) raised eyebrows when he took it upon himself to defend Trump …

Discussion: NPR, Daily Wire, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com and Balloon Juice

Olivia Messer / The Daily Beast:
Mike Huckabee Defends Trump on Santa Call: It's Not Like He's 'Boiling the Little Girl's Bunny'

Discussion: Contemptor, Mediaite and NPR

Audrey McNamara / The Daily Beast:

Russia Warns United States: Don't Interfere in Saudi Royal Succession — Russia has warned the U.S. against any attempts to influence Saudi Arabia's royal succession, and offered its official support to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The prince is under international pressure …

Discussion: Bloomberg

Department of Homeland Security:

CBP Shares Additional Information about Recent Passing of Guatemalan Child — An eight year-old Guatemalan national, previously apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, died shortly before midnight on December 24 at Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Discussion: Politico, Hit & Run, New York Times, Townhall, Hullabaloo, Splinter, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Beast, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Bloomberg, WREG-TV and Washington Post

New York Times:

President Trump's Retreat on the Environment Is Affecting Communities Across America — In California, where over a third of the nation's vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts are grown, farm workers are being sickened by a pesticide that the Obama administration tried to ban.

Margalit Fox / New York Times:

Larry Eisenberg, 99, Whose Limericks Were Very Well Read, Is Dead … Dr. Eisenberg, who died on Tuesday at 99, was for more than a decade one of the most prolific contributors of reader comments on nytimes.com — and, by extension, on the internet as a whole.

Sarah Lindemann-Komarova / The Nation:

Maria Butina and the Criminalization of Citizen Diplomacy — Prosecuting Butina endangers NGO activists in both Russia and the US. — 30-year-old, flame-haired Maria “Red Sparrow” Butina plead guilty this month to one act count of conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent.

Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:

Ruth Bader Ginsburg released from hospital after cancer surgery — Washington (CNN)Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday and is recuperating at home after undergoing surgery, according to a court spokesperson.

Discussion: ABC News, Vox, The Hill, Breitbart, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Townhall, BuzzFeed News, Daily Kos, The Week, Mediaite and CBS Baltimore

Charles Lane / Washington Post:

I thought fraud in reporting was done for. I was wrong. — Nearly 30 years ago, the Cold War's end opened Germany's border to the formerly Soviet-dominated east. Asylum seekers from poor and war-torn nations poured across it. A violent backlash from ultra-right-wing Germans ensued.

Discussion: RedState

CNN:

Trump's frustration with Mnuchin rising after failed attempt to calm markets, source says — (CNN)President Donald Trump's frustration with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is ratcheting up further after markets suffered their worst Christmas Eve drop ever following Mnuchin's attempts …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Outside the Beltway, CNBC and Washington Post

Ilya Arkhipov / Bloomberg:

Russia Considers Constitution Changes as Putin Faces Term Limits — Speaker of parliament suggests discussing amendments — Analysts see Kremlin effort to allow Putin to extend rule — The speaker of Russia's parliament raised the possibility of changing the constitution …

New York Times:

A Gutted I.R.S. Makes the Rich Richer — With enforcement enfeebled, as much as 20 percent of potential tax revenues go uncollected. — The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.