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Exasperated Democrats try to rein in Ocasio-Cortez — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is already making enemies in the House Democratic Caucus — and some of its members are mounting an operation to bring the anti-establishment, democratic socialist with 2.2 million Twitter followers into the fold.
Discussion:
CNN, Splinter, Common Dreams, Althouse and NTK Network
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Ocasio-Cortez's campaign fined by state for failing to carry workers' comp coverage … ALBANY - The campaign for new Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has made helping the working class and poor her top priority, was fined by the state for not carrying workers' compensation coverage for a month last year.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, Conservative News Today, Breitbart, IJR, Townhall and Daily Wire


Exclusive: Trump team should be allowed to ‘correct’ final Mueller report, says Giuliani — Rudy Giuliani says President Trump's legal team should be allowed to “correct” special counsel Robert Mueller's final report before Congress or the American people get the chance to read it.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., Political Wire, Mediaite, Lawfare, Vanity Fair, Hullabaloo, The Daily Caller and Daily Kos
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I worked in the Justice Department. I hope its lawyers won't give Trump an alibi. — Erica Newland is a counsel for the nonprofit group Protect Democracy and a former attorney adviser in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. — President Trump said Thursday that he will …


Trump could take billions from disaster areas to fund wall — Under the proposal, Trump could dip into money set aside to fund civil works projects all over the country including storm-damaged areas of Puerto Rico. — President Donald Trump has been briefed on a plan that would use …
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At White House, Empty Desks and Unpaid Bills as Trump Shows No Sign of Relenting — WASHINGTON — As the partial government shutdown took hold over the holidays, President Trump seemed to express wonder at being alone in the White House with little but the cheeriness of heavily armed guards …
Discussion:
CNN, The Week, Associated Press and TheBlaze


Trump administration lays groundwork to declare national emergency to build wall
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Common Dreams, Shakesville, National Review, The Week, Axios, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Sputnik International and Joe.My.God.

White House Considers Using Storm Aid Funds as a Way to Pay for the Border Wall
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, CNN and Politico

White House Looking Into Diverting Army Corps Funds to Build Wall
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Just Security, Washington Post and Political Wire

POLITICO Playbook: Shutdown drags toward 3 weeks, without an inch of progress
Discussion:
East Bay Times and CNN

‘Pay the workers, furlough Trump’: Federal workers rally at White House for end to shutdown
Discussion:
The Week, The Democrats, Jamie Dupree - AJC and The American Spectator


CNN requests KUSI for local view on the border, declines our reporter after finding out wall works — SAN DIEGO (KUSI) - Thursday morning, CNN called the KUSI Newsroom asking if one of our reporters could give them a local view of the debate surrounding the border wall and government shutdown.
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San Diego TV station: CNN declined our ‘local view’ because of reports on wall effectiveness
Discussion:
Observer

Trump plan would improve current border situation
Discussion:
Instapundit


Prosecutors Examining Ukrainians Who Flocked to Trump Inaugural — WASHINGTON — Hours after he was sworn in as America's 45th president, Donald J. Trump and his wife, Melania, swayed together to a rendition of the Frank Sinatra classic “My Way,” as hundreds of their wealthiest …
Discussion:
Power Line, Raw Story, Breitbart, emptywheel, CNBC and Talking Points Memo


The International Crisis of Donald Trump — While Washington melts down over the government shutdown, the worst-case scenario for the President's foreign policy has actually happened. — Congressional committees, like the priorities of the politicians who run them, change with the times.


Pompeo's Cairo speech panned as ‘tone-deaf,’ ‘hyper-partisan,’ ‘offensive’ — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to students at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 10, 2019. — WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's stridently partisan speech in Cairo today chiding …
Discussion:
Brookings, Sputnik International, Washington Press, Common Dreams, RT, ABC News and New York Times
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Pompeo's Speech vs. Trump's View of the World
Discussion:
Power Line, Bloomberg, Center for Security Policy and One America News Network


What Someone Needs to Explain to Trump About ‘National Emergencies’ — When the recently arrived White House counsel Pat Cipollone took up his post, he could have had no illusions that the president he served would make his professional life easy. Just weeks into the job …
Discussion:
New Republic
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US official says troop withdrawal from Syria has started — BAGHDAD (AP) — After days of back and forth over U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pullout American troops from Syria, a U.S. military official said Friday the process of withdrawal has begun, declining to comment on specific timetables or movements.
Discussion:
National Review, ABC News, Axios, VICE News and Wall Street Journal
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U.S. Troops Begin Syria Withdrawal, Amid Uncertainty Over Strategy
Discussion:
The Week, Joe.My.God., Test Feed Using Fields and Vox


Due to TSA absences, Miami airport will temporarily close one terminal early for 3 days — How does the government shutdown affect you? — (CNN)Miami International Airport will close a terminal early for three days because of a shortage of Transportation Security Administration screeners, airport spokesman Greg Chin said Thursday.
Discussion:
Daily Kos


How Steve King's Idiotic and Odious Words Help the Left Destroy Western Civilization — In his comments to the Times, King equated Western civilization, which belongs to all of us, with white people only. And that's just what the hard left wants people to think. — Matt Lewis
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Hit & Run, Shareblue Media and The Gateway Pundit
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Steve King couldn't be more wrong about ‘Western civilization’
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Post and Right Wing Watch


Chinese Huawei Executive Is Charged With Espionage in Poland — Detention follows a U.S. push to dissuade allies around the world from using Huawei gear — Polish authorities detained and charged a local sales director of Huawei Technologies Co., a Chinese national, with conducting high-level espionage …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Daily Caller and VICE News, more at Techmeme »
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Poland arrests Huawei, Orange executives on suspicion of spying
Discussion:
Associated Press and One America News Network


“I Felt Dirty”: Former Employees Of The Veteran Crowdfunding Trump's Wall Say He Pushed Fake News To Get Rich — “He never wanted the truth. It was all just for clicks, and the more inflammatory, the better,” a former employee said. “I felt dirty writing the stuff.”


APNewsBreak: US approved thousands of child bride requests — WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of requests by men to bring in child and adolescent brides to live in the United States were approved over the past decade, according to government data obtained by The Associated Press.


Now on Craigslist, Facebook: Household items from furloughed workers trying to make ends meet — A federal worker in Morgantown, W.Va., took to Facebook this week to sell welding tools, left behind by his deceased father-in-law. Another, a die-hard Star Wars fan in Woodbridge, Va. …
Discussion:
abc11.com, Balloon Juice, Shareblue Media, Splinter and Shakesville


Gillibrand Hires New Aide, Signaling Presidential Run Is Imminent — Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York has hired a communications director for an expected presidential campaign, a sign that she is all but certain to join the race against President Trump and that her entry may be imminent.
Discussion:
Politico, Talking Points Memo and CNN
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EXCLUSIVE: The Rock slams snowflakes as ‘looking for reasons to be offended’ — THE world's biggest movie star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has body slammed Britain's growing snowflake culture. — He “laid the smackdown” on PC softies in an exclusive chat with the Daily Star.
Discussion:
Townhall, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze and Mashable


Kamala Harris in the Senate — California senator gains prominence by grilling Trump officials, laying the groundwork for a likely 2020 presidential run — California senator gains prominence by grilling Trump officials, laying the groundwork for a likely 2020 presidential run


AT&T says it'll stop selling location data amid calls for federal investigation — AT&T said Thursday that it will stop selling its customers' location data to third-party service providers after a report this week said the information was winding up in the wrong hands.
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AT&T to Stop Selling Location Data to Third Parties After Motherboard Investigation
Discussion:
Gizmodo, BloombergQuint, CityLab and Engadget, more at Techmeme »


Farm Country Stood by Trump. But the Shutdown Is Pushing It to Breaking Point. — DENVER, Colo. — In Georgia, a pecan farmer lost out on his chance to buy his first orchard. The local Farm Service Agency office that would have processed his loan application was shut down.


Documents Show NRA and GOP Candidates Coordinated Ads in Key Senate Races — The National Rifle Association appears to have illegally coordinated its political advertising with Republican candidates in at least three recent high-profile Senate races, according to Federal Communications Commission records.
Discussion:
Mother Jones


Tarrant County GOP's vice-chairman survives recall vote over his religion — County party officials overwhelmingly rejected attempts to remove Shahid Shafi because he's Muslim. The 139-49 vote came after the state's top Republican officials denounced the failed move to oust the trauma surgeon.
Discussion:
Splinter, The Week, Dallas Morning News, The New Civil Rights Movement, Hit & Run and The Hill

Former Defense Executive to Be Named Deputy National Security Adviser — Charles Kupperman, a former Reagan administration official, fills the role previously held by Mira Ricardel — WASHINGTON—A former defense contracting executive and Reagan administration official will be named …


Will the Media Be Trump's Accomplice Again in 2020? — We have a second chance. Let's not blow it. — “Pocahontas” won't be lonely for long. — As other Democrats join Elizabeth Warren in the contest for the party's presidential nomination, President Trump will assign them their own nicknames …