Top Items:
Annie Karni / New York Times:
Trump Iraq Visit Is Called a Political Rally — WASHINGTON — During his surprise visit to American troops in Iraq and Germany this week, President Trump singled out red “Make America Great Again” caps in a sea of military fatigues, signed a “Trump 2020” patch and accused Representative Nancy Pelosi …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Politico, Los Angeles Times, CNN, The Week, AOL, twitchy.com, Breitbart, RedState, The Daily Caller, Conservative News Today and Townhall
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Trump's visit to Iraq prompts concerns about politicization of military — A day after President Trump's surprise visit to American forces in Iraq and Germany, questions persisted about whether he had jeopardized the political neutrality of the U.S. military by leveling partisan attacks and signing red …
Discussion:
Military.com, The Week, Conservative News Today, twitchy.com, Townhall, Splinter, The Daily Caller, WREG-TV and RedState
Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:
The horror! U.S. troops want America to be great
The horror! U.S. troops want America to be great
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Breitbart
John Bresnahan / Politico:
Dems' New Year's resolution: Stiff Trump on the wall and reopen the government — House Democrats — increasingly convinced they're winning the shutdown fight with President Donald Trump — are plotting ways to reopen the government while denying the president even a penny more for his border wall when they take power Jan. 3.
Discussion:
The Week, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Washington Post, Contemptor and CNN
RELATED:
Reuters:
More Americans blame Trump for government shutdown: Reuters/Ipsos poll — NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More Americans blame President Donald Trump than congressional Democrats for the partial U.S. government shutdown, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday found, as lawmakers returned …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Balloon Juice, POLITICUSUSA, The Week and Bloomberg
Rachael Bade / Politico:
Congress appears to give up on ending shutdown
Congress appears to give up on ending shutdown
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, The Week, New York Times, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, The Daily Signal, Vox and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »
KDFW:
Nation's oldest living veteran Richard Overton dies in Austin at age 112 — AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - The nation's oldest living veteran, Richard Overton, has died in a rehab facility in Austin, Texas. — He was 112 years old. — Family says Overton was admitted to the hospital last week with pneumonia.
Discussion:
Daily Wire, CNN and The Daily Caller
RELATED:
Katie Hall / Austin American-Statesman:
Richard Overton, nation's oldest man and WWII vet, dies at 112 — Austin resident Richard Overton, who was America's oldest man and oldest war veteran, died Thursday. Overton, who was honored for his military service and beloved for his propensity to enjoy his supercentenarian status …
Discussion:
The Week
Kevin Poulsen / The Daily Beast:
Special Counsel Robert Mueller Seized Russian Trolls' ‘Nude Selfies’ — The special counsel turned over reams of material from the email and social media accounts of accused Russian trolls. — Special Counsel Robert Mueller has collected at least three million pages of material from the email …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Conservative News Today, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Joe.My.God., Washington Times, Splinter and The Hill
Elizabeth Drew / New York Times:
The Inevitability of Impeachment — Even Republicans may be deciding that the president has become too great a burden to their party or too great a danger to the country. — Ms. Drew is a journalist based in Washington who covered Watergate. — An impeachment process against President Trump now seems inescapable.
Discussion:
Raw Story
NBC New York:
Blue Light Floods NYC Sky as Transformer Explodes in Queens — A transformer explosion in Queens sent an eerie blue light flooding into the nighttime sky over New York City Thursday night, startling residents. — Con Edison says a couple of transformers tripped offline at the substation …
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Report Puts Michael Cohen in Prague and Trump-Russia Collusion on the Table — In 2016, British investigator Christopher Steele collected a dossier of unverified intelligence tips related to Donald Trump's secret connections with Russia. Nobody outside (and, for all we know, inside) …
Discussion:
Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money
RELATED:
McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Cell signal puts Cohen outside Prague around time of purported Russian meeting
Cell signal puts Cohen outside Prague around time of purported Russian meeting
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Towleroad Gay News, Politico, Raw Story, The Week, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Breitbart, No More Mister Nice Blog, Viking Pundit, Joe.My.God., Power Line, Showbiz411, Dan Bongino, The Last Refuge, Booman Tribune, Splinter, Law & Crime, emptywheel, Washington Monthly, The Daily Caller, Contemptor, Daily Kos, Hill Reporter, CANNONFIRE, Mediaite, Axios, Mother Jones, Little Green Footballs, Balloon Juice, Talking Points Memo and Boing Boing
Max Fisher / New York Times:
Inside Facebook's Secret Rulebook for Global Political Speech — Under fire for stirring up distrust and violence, the social network has vowed to police its users. But leaked documents raise serious questions about its approach. — MENLO PARK, Calif. — In a glass conference room …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, RedState, The Daily Caller and Engadget, more at Mediagazer »
The Daily Caller:
If You Only Get Your News From CNN, You Have No Idea This Story Happened — A left-wing billionaire gave $100,000 towards an online misinformation campaign that mimicked Russian interference operations — but if you only get your news from CNN, then you have no idea that happened.
Eli Rosenberg / Washington Post:
Trump bragged to service members in Iraq about a 10 percent raise they haven't been given — Speaking to members of the military during his surprise trip overseas this week, President Trump spoke about the raises they received. — “You haven't gotten one in more than 10 years — more than 10 years,” he said Wednesday.
Discussion:
Military Times, Mother Jones, IJR and Daily Kos
Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:
Fox News Hits Trump for Turning Troop Visit Into ‘Campaign Rally’ — ‘Military men and women, I believe, deserve way more respect than that,’ Fox News' Julie Banderas said Thursday. — Matt Wilstein — The hits keep coming from Fox News to President Trump.
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.
Anne Applebaum / Washington Post:
Has the GOP retreated into a world of make-believe? The shutdown debate will tell us. — I know it's a tiresome discussion. I know that most people would rather not be having it. I also know that the government shutdown is an appalling hardship for hundreds of thousands of government workers …
Paul Berger / Wall Street Journal:
New York City Traffic Deaths Set to Hit 100-Year Low — City officials credit traffic initiatives for reducing road deaths, on pace to fall for fifth consecutive year — The number of annual traffic fatalities in New York City is on course to fall beneath 200 for the first time in a century, transportation officials say.
Thomas Lifson / American Thinker:
With identical tweets, Schumer and Pelosi reveal themselves as mouthpieces for the same propaganda puppet master — I have long wondered about who writes the talking points that keep Democrats reading from the same script. That person - or more likely, persons - evidently issues instructions …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Raw Story and The New Civil Rights Movement
Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Welcome to the world of President Rand Paul — President's Trump's foreign policy follows no firm ideology but is often a combination of his long-held personal views and the influence of whoever currently has his ear. These days, Trump is listening more than ever to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) …
Discussion:
BuzzFeed News
Maria Sacchetti / Washington Post:
Father whose son died in custody knew bringing him would ease entry into U.S. — Word spread through the impoverished village in the western highlands of Guatemala: Migrants traveling with a child are likely to make it past the Border Patrol and into the United States.
Discussion:
HuffPost
Walter Morris / WSVN-TV:
Lauderhill man brings loaded assault rifle into store over dispute on cigarette price — LAUDERHILL, FLA. (WSVN) - Cameras were rolling when a Lauderhill man brought a loaded assault rifle into a convenience store over a dispute about the price of cigarettes.
Joel Shannon / USA Today:
Agency: Government workers could do painting or carpentry work to help pay rent during shutdown — The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has offered federal workers affected by the partial government shutdown a guide for negotiating with creditors, landlords and mortgage companies while their income is cut off.
Discussion:
CBS Boston, Roll Call and Hill Reporter
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
The Justice Department deserves better than these guys — Justice Department employees and ordinary Americans concerned about the preservation of our constitutional system have a quandary: Stay with the devil they know at the Justice Department or go with the devil they don't.
Discussion:
New York Times and The Week
Ben Hubbard / New York Times:
Saudi King Shakes Up Cabinet, Keeping Power in Son's Hands — BEIRUT, Lebanon — King Salman of Saudi Arabia shook up the kingdom's cabinet on Thursday, naming new ministers and security chiefs but keeping the levers of power firmly in the hands of his son and designated heir, Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal
RELATED:
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Air Force One spotted in Sheffield: how UK enthusiast revealed Trump's Iraq trip — Alan Meloy photographed distinctive plane in skies over Yorkshire on Boxing Day — When Donald Trump flew to Iraq on Christmas Day for a top secret visit, the US government took every precaution to avoid the news leaking out.
Discussion:
Newsweek
Eric Holthaus / Grist:
What the stock market crash means for the climate … Let's talk about the stock market. Pretty terrifying, huh? The big Christmas Eve dip plunged the U.S. markets into “bear” territory — with declines of over 20 percent in the past three months alone. The day after Christmas followed …
Discussion:
twitchy.com
Ashe Schow / Daily Wire:
Mizzou Official Claims Tall Men Asking Out Short Women Could Constitute Sexual Misconduct — Getting up the courage to ask someone out on a date can already be nerve-racking, but now that college campuses have completely gone off the deep end, that fear will be intensified.
CNN:
Silicon Valley will be a target from left, right and center in 2019 — The best and worst tech moments of 2018 — Joshua A. Geltzer, formerly senior director for counterterrorism and deputy legal adviser at the National Security Council, is executive director and visiting professor of law …