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:
New York Post, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, Daily Kos, New York Magazine, Associated Press, The Week, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Splinter 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.
Discussion:
Althouse
Philip Issa / Associated Press:
Iraqi lawmakers demand US withdrawal after Trump visit — Iraqi lawmakers Thursday demanded U.S. forces leave the country in the wake of a surprise visit by President Donald Trump that politicians denounced as arrogant and a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. — Politicians from both blocs …
Kimberly Dozier / The Daily Beast:
Trump Takes a War-Zone Victory Lap—and Trips — The president used his first visit to Iraq to defend his decision to outsource the ISIS fight to a fickle ally. It wasn't a very convincing case. — This should have been a victory lap for a president hailed by the military for letting …
Discussion:
Conservative News Today, Joe.My.God. and Breitbart
Eli Okun / Politico:
Trump tries to steer shutdown focus to financial impact for Democrats — President Donald Trump seemingly added a new spin to his usual shutdown rhetoric Thursday, tweeting that its economic impact disproportionately falls on Democrats. — “Have the Democrats finally realized …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and ABC News
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Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
Trump claims without evidence that ‘most of the people not getting paid’ in partial government shutdown are Democrats — President Trump on Thursday claimed that “most of the people not getting paid” in the partial government shutdown are Democrats, days after he contended that many federal workers support …
Discussion:
Political Wire
Kate Irby / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
California Republicans fear even bigger trouble ahead for their wounded party — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., leaves the chamber after the Republican-led House approved funding for President Donald Trump's border wall in legislation that pushes the government closer …
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:
Associated Press, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Week, Politico and Wall Street Journal
Politico:
Federal workforce starts to feel pinch of prolonged shutdown
Federal workforce starts to feel pinch of prolonged shutdown
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, Vox, Splinter and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times
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:
Daily Wire, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Caller, TheStreet, Raw Story, Mediaite, The Resurgent and New York Times
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Michelle Obama Ends Hillary Clinton's Run as Most Admired — WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the first time in 17 years, a woman other than Hillary Clinton has been named by Americans as the woman they admire most. Former first lady Michelle Obama, who finished second to Clinton three times …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Talking Points Memo, CNN, IJR, Hill Reporter, FOX31 Denver and Mediaite
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Stef W. Kight / Axios:
Gallup: The Obamas are America's most admired man and woman — Michelle Obama unseated Hillary Clinton as the most admired woman in the U.S., claiming the title alongside her husband, former President Barack Obama, who has remained the most admired man for 11 straight years, according to Gallup's annual poll.
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.
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 …
John Solomon / The Hill:
Giuliani calls for Mueller to be investigated for destruction of FBI evidence — Rudy Giuliani has an unmistakable New Year's message for special counsel Robert Mueller: It is time for the chief investigator in the Russia case to be investigated in 2019. — In wide-ranging interviews …
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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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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Jessica Menton / Wall Street Journal:
Dow Industrials Leap More Than 1,000 Points
Dow Industrials Leap More Than 1,000 Points
Discussion:
Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CNBC, Townhall and Mediaite
Allan Smith / NBC News:
Probe of Trump's charity could crash ‘like a Mack Truck’ into his real estate empire — “There seems to be entanglements in terms of people and probably in terms of money,” said Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor and NBC News/MSNBC legal analyst. — The Trump Foundation …
Discussion:
Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA
Eli Watkins / CNN:
Troops bringing Trump hats to sign may violate military rule — Panelist: Trump's Iraq visit is ‘fleeting moment’ of calm — (CNN)President Donald Trump made his first visit to a war zone on Wednesday, receiving an enthusiastic reception from many US troops there — some of whom may have run afoul of military rules.
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Nicholas Fondacaro / NewsBusters:
CNN Decries U.S. Troops in Iraq Who Had Their MAGA Hats Signed by Trump
CNN Decries U.S. Troops in Iraq Who Had Their MAGA Hats Signed by Trump
Discussion:
Washington Times and Townhall
McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Cell signal puts Cohen outside Prague around time of purported Russian meeting — A mobile phone traced to President Donald Trump's former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen briefly sent signals ricocheting off cell towers in the Prague area in late summer 2016, at the height of the presidential campaign …
Elizabeth Wurtzel / The Cut:
Bastard Neither of my parents was exactly who I thought they were. — Life is just a shock to the system. — It turns out that the man I have spent 50 years believing to be my father is not my father. — My mother lied to me about who my father is. My father is Bob Adelman …
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 …
Patrick McGreevy / Los Angeles Times:
One year of legal pot sales and California doesn't have the bustling industry it expected. Here's why. … When Californians voted in 2016 to allow the sale of recreational marijuana, advocates of the move envisioned thousands of pot shops and cannabis farms obtaining state licenses …
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
Mitch Daniels / Washington Post:
Things really aren't that bad. But we like to think they are. — Mitch Daniels, a Post contributing columnist, is president of Purdue University and a former governor of Indiana. — Human nature being as it is, every decade or two someone has to write a book to set us straight and cheer us up.
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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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:
Talking Points Memo, Washington Post and Axios
The Daily Beast:
$800 Million in Taxpayer Money Went to Private Prisons Where Migrants Work for Pennies — Detention for migrants is big business—and a Daily Beast investigation reveals new details about just how lucrative it's become. — For $3 a day, Yesica works the graveyard shift in the kitchens …