memeorandum: A Federalist Remembrance Of Bre Payton, Our Colleague And Friend (Ben Domenech/The Federalist)

5:50 PM ET, December 29, 2018

Top Items:

Simon Shuster / TIME:

Exclusive: Russian Ex-Spy Pressured Manafort Over Debts to an Oligarch — When the U.S. government put out its latest sanctions list on Dec. 19, the man named at the top did not seem especially important. Described in the document as a former Russian intelligence officer …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CANNONFIRE, Raw Story, Hill Reporter and Mediaite

CNN:

Trump issues executive order freezing federal workers' pay in 2019 — Federal workers brace for long shutdown — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump issued an executive order Friday freezing federal workers' pay for 2019, following through on a proposal he announced earlier in the year.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Mediaite, The Week and WREG-TV

Zachary Basu / Axios:

Trump signs order freezing federal worker pay hike — President Trump signed an executive order Friday eliminating a 2.1% pay raise for federal workers due to take effect in January, following through on a pledge he made in August, CNN reports. — The backdrop: In a letter …

Michael Brice-Saddler / Washington Post:
Letter suggesting furloughed workers do chores to cover rent was posted by accident, OPM says

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Boing Boing

Eric Yoder / Washington Post:
Trump orders pay freeze for federal workers

Discussion: Splinter and Daily Kos

New York Times:
A Week Into Government Shutdown, Ire Turns to Fear for Federal Workers

Discussion: NPR, ThinkProgress, The Guardian, Splinter, Washington Press, Raw Story, MyNorthwest.com, Daily Kos, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite

Roll Call:
White House to Freeze Pay for Federal Workers in 2019

Discussion: Raw Story, Joe.My.God. and ThinkProgress

Jennifer Shutt / Roll Call: Reversed Course: Coast Guard Will Now Get Final 2018 Paychecks

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

‘You Control Nothing’: House Republicans Brace for Life in the Minority — About two-thirds of Republicans returning to the House for the 116th Congress this week have never experienced the exquisite pain of being on the outs in an institution where the party in charge is totally in charge.

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Raw Story

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Did Trump blow the shutdown? — DRIVING THE DAY — DID TRUMP BLOW THIS SHUTDOWN? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP had an empty Washington and the captive attention of the media the last eight days. Why wasn't he on TV blasting Congress for inaction every single day?

more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

Trump's focus on pleasing his most ardent supporters raises questions about reelection strategy — President Trump's headstrong refusal to reopen the federal government without new border wall funding has set him on a risky and defiant path for 2019, relying on brazen brinkmanship to shore …

Discussion: Raw Story

Leon Panetta / Washington Post:

Five lessons that never seem to be learned from shutting down the government — Leon Panetta was budget director and White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton and defense secretary and CIA director under President Barack Obama. He served eight terms in Congress representing California.

Discussion: Mother Jones and Politico

Chris Sommerfeldt / New York Daily News:

New Jersey AG has obtained evidence of possible crimes at Trump's golf club — and Mueller, FBI are involved in probe — New Jersey prosecutors have collected evidence that supervisors at President Trump's Garden State golf club may have committed federal immigration crimes …

Discussion: Law & Crime, Washington Press, Hill Reporter and Joe.My.God.

Ben Domenech / The Federalist:

A Federalist Remembrance Of Bre Payton, Our Colleague And Friend — Bre Payton lived life as if she was always ready to leave it. And she did, too early for all of the rest of us, at the age of 26. — I hired Bre Payton right out of college. She was green. She was unknown. She had never done TV.

Discussion: Power Line and gofundme.com

Julie Kelly / American Greatness:

The Beauty of Bre Payton — It would have been easy to resent Bre Payton. — Blessed with rare natural beauty—she was even more stunning in person than she was in photos or on television—Bre seemed unaware or unaffected by her own physical gifts. I know this because when she sat next …

Discussion: The Federalist

Lisa De Pasquale:
Be More Like Bre — Bre Payton was an amazing writer, friend, and “big sister”

Discussion: The Daily Signal, Conservative News Today and Daily Wire

The Daily Beast:

Is the Michael Cohen ‘Prague’ Story True? — The reporters behind it are either the new Woodward and Bernstein—or the new Judith Miller. — Three weeks after 9/11, Vice President Dick Cheney was already trying to tie the horror to Iraq. He floated a bogus story that earlier in 2001 …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Conservative News Today, The Gateway Pundit and Spectator USA

Alexandra Clough / Palm Beach Post:

Will Trump show up for New Year's Eve party? — President Donald Trump has canceled plans to spend the New Year's holiday at Mar-a-Lago. A source who had planned to attend the Mar-a-Lago New Year's Eve party said Friday Palm Beach was abuzz with members and guests talking about their own plans …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

HuffPost: Trump's Dilemma: Go To Mar-a-Lago And Get Criticized? Or Disappoint Dues-Paying Members?

Associated Press:
Short on solutions, long on blame in 2nd shutdown weekend

Discussion: RedState and Vox

Katie Lobosco / CNN:

Trump pulled out of a massive trade deal. Now 11 countries are going ahead without the US — New York (CNN)A major 11-country agreement goes into effect Sunday, reshaping trade rules among economic powerhouses like Japan, Canada, Mexico and Australia — but the United States won't be a part of it.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

SBS News: US farmers ‘helpless’ as TPP boosts Aust

Washington Post:

McConnell at center of shutdown impasse but uncharacteristically disengaged — The federal government has been partially shut down for a week, and hundreds of thousands of workers are furloughed, but there's no sign of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the veteran dealmaker who's brokered …

Discussion: Raw Story

Clare Foran / CNN: Departing senators warn: There's a problem with the current state of politics

Associated Press:

2-year-old Yemeni boy whose mom sued US to see him has died — OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The 2-year-old son of a Yemeni woman who sued the Trump administration to let her into the country to be with the ailing boy has died, the Council on American-Islamic Relations announced.

Saphora Smith / NBC News:
Two-year-old whose Yemeni mother fought for U.S. visa to visit him dies in hospital

Discussion: USA Today and The Week

Marissa Papanek / KRCR-TV:

California organizers cancel Women's March due to ‘overwhelmingly white’ participants — A crowd fills Independence Avenue looking towards the U.S. Capitol and the stage, lower right, during the Women's March on Washington, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017 in Washington. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS — AA

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Law & Crime, Washington Times, Louder With Crowder and twitchy.com

Washington Post:

As long as Matthew Whitaker is in place, the Russia investigation is in danger — FOR MORE than a month, Americans did not know whether acting attorney general Matthew G. Whitaker had received the advice of Justice Department ethics experts on whether he should recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

New York Times:

Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Other Democrats Shift Into High Gear for 2020 — Senator Kamala Harris of California is eyeing Baltimore or Atlanta as a possible base of operations for her likely 2020 presidential bid and is close to bringing on a top aide to run her campaign.

Discussion: Vox, Althouse and Axios

Chris Buskirk / American Greatness:

It's Not That Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Knows Nothing . . . As tragedy struck an acquaintance this week, I was reminded today of the fleeting nature of life. The Psalmist begged God, “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!”