Top Items:
Steve Eder / New York Times:
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, Hill Reporter, Splinter, Spectator USA, ABC News, Gothamist, Washington Post, Law & Crime, Little Green Footballs, Conservative News Today, Townhall, Hullabaloo, The Root, The Daily Beast, IJR, AOL, CNN, TMZ.com, FOX2now.com, POLITICUSUSA, The Week, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, FOX31 Denver, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite
RELATED:
New York Times:
Trump Makes Surprise Visit to American Troops in Iraq — President Trump visited American military forces on Wednesday in Iraq, making his first trip to troops stationed in a combat zone only days after announcing his intention to withdraw the United States from foreign wars in Syria and Afghanistan.
Discussion:
The Resurgent, AOL, BuzzFeed News, RedState, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NPR, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos and Townhall
Benjamin Siegel / ABC News:
President Donald Trump makes surprise Christmas visit to troops in Iraq in first trip to combat zone — President Donald Trump went to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq on his first visit to U.S. troops in the Middle East as president. — First lady Melania Trump joined him on the unscheduled Wednesday visit.
Discussion:
CNBC, twitchy.com, The Hill, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, Politico, Breitbart, Joe.My.God., One America News Network and The Root
Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
How Trump gave away his secret war zone trip — The tweets stopped and soon the jig was up. — President Donald Trump's trip to Iraq this week, his first to a war zone as president, was supposed to be a surprise. But the White House couldn't keep the sensitive trip a secret for long.
Discussion:
Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit
Darlene Superville / Associated Press:
Trump in Iraq on first visit to troops in troubled region
Trump in Iraq on first visit to troops in troubled region
Discussion:
Task & Purpose
The Daily Beast:
Trump to Troops in Iraq: 'We're No Longer the Suckers, Folks'
Trump to Troops in Iraq: 'We're No Longer the Suckers, Folks'
Discussion:
Townhall, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal
Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner / NBC News:
Trump becomes first president since 2002 not to visit troops at Christmastime
Trump becomes first president since 2002 not to visit troops at Christmastime
Discussion:
Power Line, Salon, Patterico's Pontifications, HuffPost, People.com, The Hill, Complex, The Gateway Pundit, Reuters, Breitbart, Joe.My.God., CNN, IJR, The Week, Daily Wire, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos and Raw Story
Wesley Morgan / Politico:
Trump makes first trip to Iraq as president
Trump makes first trip to Iraq as president
Discussion:
ABC News, One America News Network, Power Line, The Gateway Pundit and twitchy.com
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:
Political Wire, Splinter, Contemptor, POLITICUSUSA, Daily Kos, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite
RELATED:
Josh Kovensky / Talking Points Memo:
WSJ: Whitaker Fudged Academic Honors On Resume, Gov Documents — Acting Attorney General and former hot tub salesman Matthew Whitaker claimed he earned “All-American” academic honors during his University of Iowa football days on his resume and on government applications …
Brandon Kochkodin / Bloomberg:
Here Are Three Crazy Market Statistics on a Wild Day of Trading — To say that U.S. stocks trading has been odd this week seems like an understatement. — All three major U.S. indexes gained at least 4 percent on Wednesday. That's the first time that's happened since 2011.
RELATED:
CNBC:
Dow gives back 282-point gain as Wall Street's wild ride continues — Stocks rose sharply in volatile trading on Wednesday as surges in retail and energy shares helped Wall Street regain the steep losses suffered in the previous session. — The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 657 points higher …
Discussion:
CNN, Bloomberg, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, Daily Wire and The Daily Caller
Thomas Heath / Washington Post:
Dow Jones industrial average rises over 2 percent as U.S. stock markets try to recover …
Dow Jones industrial average rises over 2 percent as U.S. stock markets try to recover …
Discussion:
Townhall, Wall Street Journal and The Week
Jessica Menton / Wall Street Journal:
Dow Industrials Leap More Than 1,000 Points
Dow Industrials Leap More Than 1,000 Points
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Mediaite
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:
Associated Press, Splinter, Talking Points Memo, Breitbart and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times
RELATED:
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Trump lawyers, citing shutdown, ask court for delay in emoluments case
Trump lawyers, citing shutdown, ask court for delay in emoluments case
Discussion:
Raw Story
David Edwards / Raw Story:
C-SPAN caller: I support Trump's shutdown because 'it's getting us closer' to the second coming of Jesus
Annie Grayer / CNN:
Mark Meadows says Trump is still ‘very firm’ on the wall as shutdown drags on
Mark Meadows says Trump is still ‘very firm’ on the wall as shutdown drags on
Discussion:
Joe.My.God. and The Daily Signal
Garrett Ross / Politico:
Trump says he will do ‘whatever it takes’ to secure funding for border wall
Trump says he will do ‘whatever it takes’ to secure funding for border wall
Discussion:
Political Wire
Mariam Khan / ABC News:
Negotiations to end partial government shutdown at a standstill
Negotiations to end partial government shutdown at a standstill
Discussion:
Associated Press
James LaPorta / Newsweek:
Donald Trump Twitter Account Video Reveals Covert U.S. Navy SEAL Deployment During Iraq Visit — President Donald Trump and the White House communications team revealed that a U.S. Navy SEAL team was deployed to Iraq after the president secretly traveled to the region to meet …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:
MSNBC Beats Fox News in Weekly Cable News Ratings for First Time Since 2000 — MSNBC ended the week of Dec. 21st with the #1 cable news ratings on television, beating Fox News for the first time in 17 years. For the Monday through Friday leading up to the Christmas holiday …
Discussion:
NBC Universal
RELATED:
David Bauder / Associated Press:
Bad headlines for Trump also means ratings slump for Hannity
Bad headlines for Trump also means ratings slump for Hannity
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.
Max Read / New York Magazine:
How Much of the Internet Is Fake? Turns Out, a Lot of It, Actually. — In late November, the Justice Department unsealed indictments against eight people accused of fleecing advertisers of $36 million in two of the largest digital ad-fraud operations ever uncovered.
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
RELATED:
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:
Raw Story, Bloomberg, Hullabaloo, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo
Washington Post:
Internet billionaire Reid Hoffman apologizes for funding a group behind disinformation in Alabama race — Internet billionaire Reid Hoffman apologized on Wednesday for funding a group linked to a “highly disturbing” effort that spread disinformation during last year's Alabama special election …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, CNBC, The Verge, The Daily Caller and Axios, more at Techmeme »
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.
RELATED:
David Beavers / Politico:
Nielsen deflects blame for boy's death in Border Patrol custody
Nielsen deflects blame for boy's death in Border Patrol custody
Discussion:
The Guardian, CNN, The Daily Caller, Conservative News Today and Daily Wire
Adam Skolnick / New York Times:
Colin O'Brady Completes Crossing of Antarctica With Final 32-Hour Push — The final miles of a nearly two-month race across Antarctica — a lonely effort marked by long days, short nights and stunning endurance — ended Wednesday with a sprint to the finish.
USA Today:
USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll: What do Democrats want in 2020? Someone new - and Biden. But definitely not Hillary — Former Vice President Joe Biden hints at a 2020 run, saying he thinks he's “the most qualified person” in this Country to be president. Veuer's Justin Kircher has the story. — CONNECT
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.
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 and New York Times
Angie Leventis Lourgos / Chicago Tribune:
As national Women's March leaders face claims of anti-Semitism, Chicago group says it won't host January march, citing costs — Women's March Inc. co-President Tamika Mallory, shown in 2017, has praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on social media.
Discussion:
RedState, The Daily Caller, Townhall, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Daily Wire