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:
CANNONFIRE, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Hill Reporter and Mediaite
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, Hullabaloo, Joe.My.God., Washington Press and Hill Reporter
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
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Michael Brice-Saddler / Washington Post:
Letter suggesting furloughed workers do chores to cover rent was posted by accident, OPM says — The agency that oversees the government's civilian workforce is facing scrutiny after suggesting federal employees affected by the partial government shutdown barter with their landlords …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo and Boing Boing
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
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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
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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
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:
Consequence of Sound, POLITICUSUSA, Conservative News Today and The Gateway Pundit
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
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Beth Baumann / Townhall:
Congresswoman-Elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Top 7 Political Gaffes of 2018 — Congresswoman-Elect and Socialist darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the gift that keeps on giving. No, seriously. She says some of the most ridiculous things imaginable. — These are her top seven craziest political gaffes of 2018:
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Alexandra Alter / New York Times:
New Life for Old Classics, as Their Copyrights Run Out — Nearly a century ago, the publisher Alfred A. Knopf released a slim book of spiritual fables by an obscure Lebanese-American poet and painter named Kahlil Gibran. — Knopf had modest expectations, and printed around 1,500 copies.
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
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
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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.
Christopher Ingraham / Washington Post:
I ordered a box of crickets from the Internet and it went about as well as you'd expect — For Christmas this year, my family adopted a young bearded dragon lizard as a pet. — Our dragon, whom we named Holly, eats a lot, and the thing she loves to eat most is crickets (typically about 10 a day …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, twitchy.com and Mediaite
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
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Bob Davis / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. and China Fleshing Out Trade Deal — Trump administration wants to increase U.S. exports and ease Chinese regulations; president claims ‘big progress’ in talks — WASHINGTON—Chinese and U.S. negotiators are starting to flesh out a deal that could defuse trade tensions by boosting U.S. exports …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, CNBC and The Daily Caller
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.
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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, Louder With Crowder, Washington Times, Law & Crime and twitchy.com
Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:
Trump personally intervened to pay Coast Guard in shutdown — Concerned about U.S. Coast Guard forces losing a paycheck in the partial government shutdown, President Trump personally urged his team to find a solution that would allow the administration to make this week's $75 million payroll, according to officials.
Discussion:
All Hands and Task & Purpose
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