memeorandum: U.S. Holiday Retail Sales Are Strongest in Years, Early Data Show (Sarah Nassauer/Wall Street Journal)

1:15 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: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Law & Crime, Gothamist, AOL, KTLA, IJR, Daily Kos, The Daily Beast, FOX31 Denver, Joe.My.God., POLITICUSUSA, The Week, Raw Story, 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 …

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 …

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, Talking Points Memo, Outside the Beltway, CNBC and The Week

David J. Lynch / Washington Post:
Economic growth is slowing all around the world

Discussion: Bloomberg

Wall Street Journal:
As Market Rout Continues, Trump Stands Firm on Fed, Border Wall

Discussion: Raw Story, Splinter, Washington Post and Reuters

Washington Post:
Trump vows not to reopen federal government until wall funding is secured

Discussion: Mother Jones, POLITICUSUSA and The Week

Daniel Strauss / Politico:

Brown seeks Obama meeting as he considers presidential run — Sen. Sherrod Brown hasn't decided whether he's running for president — but he's checking off a lot of the boxes that come along the way. — The Ohio Democrat is reaching out to fellow senators and party officials in early primary and caucus states.

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

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

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Shutdown standoff continues

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Political Wire

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: Splinter and The Week

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: Talking Points Memo

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

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

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 and Mediaite

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: Townhall, Hit & Run, New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Gateway Pundit, Hullabaloo, Splinter, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Bloomberg and FOX2now.com

Associated Press:
US says 2nd Guatemalan child dies in immigration custody

Discussion: ThinkProgress, NBC News, Washington Post and Mediaite

New York Times:
8-Year-Old Migrant Child From Guatemala Dies in U.S. Custody

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, CNBC, Balloon Juice and Department of Homeland …

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.

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: Joe.My.God., Talking Points Memo, IJR, Raw Story and Political Wire

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

Discussion: Daily Kos

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.

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: The Daily Beast, NPR, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller and Breitbart

Christian Whiton / Fox News:

After Mattis, Trump needs a very different kind of defense secretary — President Trump's decision to replace Defense Secretary James Mattis on Jan. 1 - rather than allowing him to stay on the job until Feb. 28, as the retired Marine general requested when he resigned Thursday - was the right move.

Discussion: Test Feed Using Fields

Rebecca Kheel / The Hill:
Mattis works from Pentagon on Christmas, tells troops: ‘You hold the line’

Discussion: Townhall, Mediaite, Breitbart, The Seattle Times, Joe.My.God., The Daily Caller and IJR

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

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.

Gabby Orr / Politico:

The campaign to confirm a diplomatic novice to America's top U.N. post — Less than two years ago, Heather Nauert was conducting interviews on “Fox & Friends.” Now, she's preparing to navigate the world's raging geopolitical issues as one of America's top diplomats.