Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
White House Meeting Started With Sweets, but Quickly Turned Sour — Trump and congressional leaders remain at odds over border-wall funding; ‘Bye bye!’ — WASHINGTON—President Trump opened the latest face-to-face negotiations with lawmakers like he was comforting members of one of his golf clubs.
Discussion:
Washington Post
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Manu Raju / CNN:
Facing gridlock, GOP senators seek big immigration deal to end shutdown — (CNN) — Staring at a prolonged government shutdown, Republican senators are privately planning to court Democratic senators on an immigration deal that would give President Donald Trump money for his border wall …
Discussion:
illegal immigration …, The Right Scoop and TheBlaze
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Graham launches last-ditch push to end shutdown — Sen. Lindsey Graham is throwing a Hail Mary to reopen the government. — Graham brought together a half dozen Republican senators Wednesday afternoon in a last-ditch attempt to resolve the three-week stalemate before President Donald Trump deploys …
Discussion:
ABC News, Talking Points Memo, IJR, The Daily Caller and Joe.My.God.
Washington Post:
'He's a gut politician': Trump's go-to negotiating tactics not working in shutdown standoff
'He's a gut politician': Trump's go-to negotiating tactics not working in shutdown standoff
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller and RedState
New York Times:
Trump Storms Out of White House Meeting With Democrats on Shutdown
Trump Storms Out of White House Meeting With Democrats on Shutdown
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, Roll Call, CNN, Townhall, TheBlaze, Fox News Insider, KTLA, Contemptor and No More Mister Nice Blog
CNBC:
Trump calls meeting with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi a ‘total waste of time’ after he storms out
Trump calls meeting with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi a ‘total waste of time’ after he storms out
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Haley Britzky / Axios:
Democratic rebuttal had higher ratings than Trump's address
Democratic rebuttal had higher ratings than Trump's address
Discussion:
ABC News
Washington Post:
Shutdown impasse: 8 House Republicans break with Trump on shutdown strategy, back Democrats' plan …
Shutdown impasse: 8 House Republicans break with Trump on shutdown strategy, back Democrats' plan …
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Week, Axios, Conservative News Today and CNN
Joe Concha / The Hill:
Pelosi, Schumer response tops Trump speech in preliminary ratings
Pelosi, Schumer response tops Trump speech in preliminary ratings
Discussion:
Deadline
National Enquirer:
Married Amazon Boss Jeff Bezos Getting Divorce Over Fling With Movie Mogul's Wife — The ENQUIRER's blockbuster exclusive of world's richest couple's break-up! — The marriage of the world's richest couple is set to explode in all-out war — after billionaire Jeff Bezos was caught cheating …
Discussion:
The Guardian, more at Techmeme »
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Robert Frank / CNBC:
How much could Mackenzie Bezos get in a divorce? — Bezos announced in a tweet Wednesday that he and his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie, have “decided to divorce.” — Washington state, where the Bezoses live, is a community property state, meaning any wealth made during their marriage could be split equally between the two.
Discussion:
TheStreet, Page Six, The Daily Beast and TMZ.com
Heidi Przybyla / NBC News:
House Democrats now asking questions about Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — Mnuchin will give the House a classified briefing Thursday, after a request from the Democratic chairs of the main House investigative panels. — WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has agreed …
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Trump's one way out — DRIVING THE DAY — SHUTDOWN ... DAY 20 ... TRUMP'S ONLY WAY OUT ... THERE IS AN INCREASING RECOGNITION in the White House and among his most important allies on Capitol Hill that the only way for PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP to get movement …
Discussion:
Political Wire
Christal Hayes / USA Today:
Trump's team had over 100 contacts with Russian-linked operatives, report shows — WASHINGTON - Members of President Donald Trump's campaign and transition team had more than 100 contacts with Russian-linked operatives, according to a new report. — The milestone illustrates …
Discussion:
Washington Post
John R. Schindler / Observer:
Exclusive: Mueller Is Holding Top Secret Intelligence That Will Sink the Trump Presidency — Another day, another bombshell emanating from the Special Counsel investigation into President Donald Trump and his links to the Kremlin. We now have more proof that Robert Mueller really does …
Discussion:
RedState, Sputnik International, CNN, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo
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Ken Meyer / Mediaite:
New York Times Makes Major Correction to Report on Manafort and Russian Oligarch
New York Times Makes Major Correction to Report on Manafort and Russian Oligarch
Nomaan Merchant / Associated Press:
Texas landowners prepare wall fight; Trump to visit border — HIDALGO, Texas (AP) — As President Donald Trump travels to the border in Texas to make the case for his $5.7 billion wall, landowner Eloisa Cavazos says she knows firsthand how the project will play out if the White House gets its way.
Discussion:
Boing Boing
Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
A beefed-up White House legal team prepares aggressive defense of Trump's executive privilege as investigations loom large — A beefed-up White House legal team is gearing up to prevent President Trump's confidential discussions with top advisers from being disclosed to House Democratic investigators …
Discussion:
Politico, POLITICUSUSA, VICE News, Mother Jones, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Vox
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Alex Thompson / Politico:
Top Bernie Sanders 2016 adviser accused of forcibly kissing subordinate — On the final night of the Democratic National Convention in July of 2016, Bernie Sanders' staffers went out to a Mediterranean restaurant and hookah bar in Center City Philadelphia to celebrate and mourn the end of the campaign.
Discussion:
CNN and Washington Post
Clare Lombardo / NPR:
Virginia Study Finds Increased School Bullying In Areas That Voted For Trump — After the 2016 presidential election, teachers around the country reported they were seeing increased name-calling and bullying in their classrooms. Now, research shows that those stories — at least in one state — are confirmed by student surveys.
Alan Blinder / New York Times:
Doug Jones Seeks Inquiry Into Misinformation Efforts in Alabama Senate Race — Senator Doug Jones, the Democrat who was an unwitting beneficiary of misinformation tactics during a special election in Alabama in 2017, asked the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday to investigate the episodes.
Discussion:
Political Wire and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Lawrence Wright / New Yorker:
A Memorial for Jamal Khashoggi — On Thursday, I will be joining the documentarian Alex Gibney and the former F.B.I. special agent Ali Soufan, along with lawmakers, journalists, human-rights advocates, and friends, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., to honor Jamal Khashoggi …
Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
You Should Meditate Every Day — Sure, it's become a wellness fad. But it's the best way I've found to keep digital monsters at bay. — Because I live in Northern California, where this sort of thing is required by local ordinance, I spent New Year's Day at a meditation center …
New York Times:
Trump Thinks He's His Own Best Messenger. Where Does That Leave Bill Shine? — WASHINGTON — At the beginning of the government shutdown, Bill Shine was about as far away from the capital as President Trump's most senior communications official could get.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Alexandra Desanctis / National Review:
Democratic Congresswoman Calls Out Fellow Democrats for ‘Religious Bigotry’ — Representative Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii, published an op-ed in The Hill yesterday, implicitly criticizing two of her fellow Democratic congresswomen for subjecting a judicial nominee to a religious test …
Discussion:
twitchy.com, RedState and Hawaii News Now
CNN:
Law firm that represented Russian interests part of mystery Mueller subpoena case — Supreme Court rules against mystery company — Washington (CNN)One law firm involved in a foreign government-owned company's challenge of a mysterious grand jury subpoena related to the Robert Mueller investigation …
Discussion:
Politico, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Washington Post
Sheila Kaplan / New York Times:
Government Shutdown Curtails F.D.A. Food Inspections — WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration has stopped routine food safety inspections of seafood, fruits, vegetables and many other foods at high risk of contamination because of the federal government's shutdown, Dr. Scott Gottlieb …
Discussion:
CBS Pittsburgh, FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV, KTLA and abc11.com
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Alexander Burns / New York Times:
Tom Steyer, Billionaire Impeachment Activist, Won't Run Against Trump — Tom Steyer, the California billionaire who has crusaded for President Trump's impeachment, said on Wednesday that he would not join the pack of Democrats running for president in 2020 and would instead redouble his efforts to topple Mr. Trump before the election.
Discussion:
RRH Elections, OpenSecrets.org, LifeNews.com, Washington Free Beacon, The Guardian, BuzzFeed News, Wall Street Journal, Joe.My.God., Axios and Splinter
Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:
Coast Guard families told they can have garage sales to cope with government shutdown — Employees of the U.S. Coast Guard who are facing a long U.S. government shutdown just received a suggestion: To get by without pay, consider holding a garage sale, babysitting or serving as a “mystery shopper.”
Discussion:
Task & Purpose, Washington Press, Raw Story, Boing Boing, Daily Kos and Joe.My.God.
Liam Stack / New York Times:
Pastor Who Praised Pulse Nightclub Gunman Resigns After Allegedly Paying for Sex — A Baptist minister in Texas who came to national attention in 2016 when he praised the gunman who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., resigned from his ministry last week after allegedly using drugs …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Raw Story
Lili Bayer / Politico:
In EU, it's watchdog vs. watchdog — One of the EU's fiercest watchdogs is under fire — from another EU watchdog. — The European Court of Auditors published a report on Thursday criticizing the European Commission and the bloc's anti-fraud agency, OLAF, for their handling of the fight against fraud in EU spending.
Discussion:
One America News Network
Casey Newton / The Verge:
People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds — And the finding holds true across party lines — Older Americans are disproportionately more likely to share fake news on Facebook, according to a new analysis by researchers at New York and Princeton Universities.
Discussion:
Splinter, Gizmodo and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »
Cathy Young / The Forward:
Sorry, Angela Davis Is No One's Human Rights Hero — The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Alabama museum and research center dedicated to the history of the Civil Rights Movement, has rescinded a prestigious award to activist, academic and Birmingham native Angela Davis …
Discussion:
Southern Jewish Life, Instapundit, New York Times and NPR
The Daily Beast:
Steve Bannon Angled for a Job Lobbying on Behalf of E-Cigarette Giant Juul — The offer was, ultimately, rebuffed. — Juul Labs, which hawks flavored e-cigarettes that teens love, recently drew a controversial suitor: ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Discussion:
Splinter