Top Items:
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:
Joe.My.God., Associated Press, The Week, Raw Story, Splinter, Washington Post and Bloomberg
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Wall Street Journal:
The Constant Spin Zone — How one publication reported Trump's trip to see troops in Iraq. — By The Editorial Board — President Trump and his wife Melania made a surprise visit to American soldiers in Iraq on Wednesday, and you would think that would be a straightforward event to write up.
Reuters:
Iraqi lawmakers criticize Trump visit as blow to Iraqi sovereignty — BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi political and militia leaders condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise visit to U.S. troops in Iraq on Wednesday as a violation of Iraq's sovereignty, and lawmakers said a meeting between Trump …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Hill Reporter and Townhall
Kimberly Dozier / The Daily Beast:
Trump Takes a War-Zone Victory Lap—and Trips
Trump Takes a War-Zone Victory Lap—and Trips
Discussion:
Conservative News Today, The Gateway Pundit and twitchy.com
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:
Politico
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NBC Universal:
MSNBC IS THE #1 CABLE NEWS NETWORK FOR WEEK OF DEC. 17, BEATING FOX NEWS FOR 1ST TIME IN 17 YEARS — MSNBC Dominates Cable News in Sales Day (M-F 6a-2a) with Total Viewers, Finishing #1 for the Week and Topping FOX News for 1st Time Since 2000; MSNBC Also Tops FOX News in A25-54 for 1st Time Since 2001
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:
Axios, The Week and Joe.My.God.
Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Stocks Set to Fall After Wall Street's Record Surge — Stocks in Japan rise sharply, but European equities broadly drift lower — U.S. stocks were poised to drop on Thursday after a record-breaking rally on Wall Street, as anxiety persists about slowing economic growth and uncertain policy out of Washington.
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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.
Jessica Menton / Wall Street Journal:
Dow Industrials Leap More Than 1,000 Points
Dow Industrials Leap More Than 1,000 Points
Discussion:
CNBC, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Townhall and Mediaite
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:
ABC News, Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit
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Cameron Easley / Morning Consult:
Trump's Popularity Revisits Low as Government Agencies Shut Down
Trump's Popularity Revisits Low as Government Agencies Shut Down
Discussion:
TheStreet, Raw Story, The Resurgent, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo
New York Times:
End of Government Shutdown May Depend on the Definition of ‘Wall’ — WASHINGTON — With a partial government shutdown stretching past Day 5, the impasse over funding a wall at the southwestern border has highlighted the debate over effective border security, with a breakthrough possibly hinging on a semantic argument: What is a wall?
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Week and Politico
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Michael Burke / The Hill:
Trump says he wants to visit border wall before State of the Union
Trump says he wants to visit border wall before State of the Union
Discussion:
Hit & Run and Political Wire
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:
The Week and Joe.My.God.
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Chris Smith / Vanity Fair:
“Democrats Don't Like to Be Told Who to Vote For”: Obama Has Flirted with Beto and Other Potential …
“Democrats Don't Like to Be Told Who to Vote For”: Obama Has Flirted with Beto and Other Potential …
Discussion:
Tennessee Star, Breitbart and The Week
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, Splinter, Daily Kos, POLITICUSUSA, Contemptor, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite
Carla Herreria / HuffPost:
Homeland Security Chief Faults Parents, ‘Open Border’ Supporters In Migrant Kids' Deaths — Kirstjen Nielsen ordered an overhaul of medical screening procedures at the Mexican border after Felipe Gómez Alonzo, 8, died on Christmas Eve. — Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Axios and Los Angeles Times
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.
politics.myajc:
‘Deportation bus’ candidate reports to jail following indictment — State senator and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Michael Williams turned himself into Hall County jail Wednesday, days after news broke that he had been indicted on charges that included insurance fraud.
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Michael Walsh / American Greatness:
Sweet Shutdown, Roll On — It never seems to occur to the Democrats, currently bellyaching about the largely phantom “government shutdown,” that the last people Donald Trump cares about offending are the army of Democrat-voting bureaucrats who will be the only folks inconvenienced by Senator Charles Schumer's latest temper tantrum.
Gillian Flaccus / Associated Press:
Legal marijuana industry had banner year in 2018 — The last year was a 12-month champagne toast for the legal marijuana industry as the global market exploded and cannabis pushed its way further into the financial and cultural mainstream. — Liberal California became the largest legal U.S. marketplace …
Associated Press:
AP Exclusive: Migrant teen tent city staying open into 2019 — The Trump administration said Wednesday it will keep open through early 2019 a tent city in Texas that now holds more than 2,000 migrant teenagers, and also will increase the number of beds at another temporary detention center for children in Florida.
Bret Stephens / New York Times:
Donald Trump Is Bad for Israel — As usual, the president makes his predecessors look better. — Suppose you're the type of smart conservative reluctantly inclined to give Donald Trump a pass for his boorish behavior and ideological heresies because you like the way the economy …
Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:
Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Knights of Columbus? — Recently, Sen. Mazie Hirono claimed that Democrats have a hard time connecting with voters because they (Democrats) are so “smart” and “know so much.” If Democrats are smart and knowledgeable, you can't prove it by Hirono.
Discussion:
National Review, American Thinker and Real Clear Politics
Patrick Radden Keefe / New Yorker:
How Mark Burnett Resurrected Donald Trump as an Icon of American Success — With “The Apprentice,” the TV producer mythologized Trump—then a floundering D-lister—as the ultimate titan, paving his way to the Presidency. — “Expedition: Robinson,” a Swedish reality-television program …
Jonathan Lemire / Associated Press:
Trump's presidency has changed Washington, defied convention — WASHINGTON (AP) — Mr. Trump went to Washington. And he changed it. — In his first two years in office, President Donald Trump has rewritten the rules of the presidency and the norms of the nation's capital …
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.
Discussion:
Associated Press