Top Items:
Michael Brice-Saddler / Washington Post:
Chris Christie rips Kushner's dad: ‘One of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted’ — Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie took several shots at White House senior adviser Jared Kushner in his new book “Let Me Finish,” alleging that in an act of spite …
Discussion:
CNN, New York Times, Joe.My.God., Political Wire, Raw Story and Mediaite
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Jordain Carney / The Hill:
No GOP appetite for a second shutdown — Senate Republicans are signaling they will do just about anything to prevent a second shutdown after the White House was widely seen as badly losing the political fight over the closure that ended with President Trump's retreat on Friday.
Discussion:
Daily Kos and Political Wire
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Big border deal fades before talks even begin — Congressional negotiators haven't even held their first meeting to avert another shutdown, but the prospect of a big deal on border security and immigration is essentially dead. — When President Donald Trump caved in on the 35-day shutdown fight last week …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Washington Post and Political Wire
Reuters:
Exclusive: Foxconn reconsidering plans to make LCD panels at Wisconsin plant — (Reuters) - Foxconn Technology Group is reconsidering plans to make advanced liquid crystal display panels at a $10 billion Wisconsin campus, and said it intends to hire mostly engineers and researchers rather …
Discussion:
9to5Mac and Political Wire, more at Techmeme »
Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:
Cliff Sims Is Proud to Have Served Trump — In August, 2016, Cliff Sims, the C.E.O. of an Alabama-based conservative news site, joined the Trump campaign. He then followed Trump to the White House, where he worked as the special assistant to the President and as the director …
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Patrick Ryan / USA Today:
Steve Bannon says in revealing doc that he did 'the Lord's work' in Trump White House — Steve Bannon is back. Announcing the launch of his pro-Trump documentary and political group. Veuer's Nick Cardona has that story. — CONNECT — PARK CITY, Utah - Remember Steve Bannon?
Discussion:
Mediaite, Joe.My.God., Hollywood Reporter and Raw Story
The Daily Beast:
Mueller Witness' Team Gamed Out Russian Meddling ... in 2015 — One former analyst at the Wikistrat consulting firm called it “disturbing.” — Days after Donald Trump rode down an escalator at Trump Tower and announced he'd run for president, a little-known consulting firm with links …
Discussion:
The New Civil Rights Movement
CNN:
Kamala Harris is open to compromise on private insurers' role during ‘Medicare for all’ push — Kamala Harris backs ‘Medicare-for-all’ plan — (CNN)By stating she would eliminate private insurers as a necessary part of implementing “Medicare-for-all,” California Sen. Kamala Harris during …
Discussion:
Breitbart, Conservative News Today, Daily Wire, Washington Free Beacon, The Resurgent, HuffPost and Louder With Crowder
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David Leonhardt / New York Times:
The Medicare-for-All trap — Most issues will strongly favor the Democrats in 2020. Taking away people's health insurance is an exception. — A couple of weeks ago, one of the country's most respected health care pollsters — Kaiser Family Foundation — conducted a survey on “Medicare for All.”
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, HuffPost and Breitbart
John Wagner / Washington Post:
Trump digs in on border-wall funds as congressional negotiators prepare to convene — President Trump warned Wednesday that congressional negotiators would be “wasting their time” if they do not discuss his demand for a U.S.-Mexico border wall that led to a 35-day partial government shutdown that ended last week with a temporary truce.
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Steven Shepard / Politico:
Poll: Voters oppose another shutdown, emergency declaration
Poll: Voters oppose another shutdown, emergency declaration
Discussion:
Political Wire, Polls, Splinter, Washington Post and Daily Kos
Axios:
Livid liberals try to bully Schultz out of 2020 — Furious Democrats hope to pound Starbucks chairman emeritus Howard Schultz into an early departure from his exploration of an independent 2020 bid. — The state of play: These Democrats want to prevent the coffee king from siphoning anti-Trump votes …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Mediaite, twitchy.com and Bloomberg
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Holly Otterbein / Politico:
Howard Schultz slammed by coffee mate
Howard Schultz slammed by coffee mate
Discussion:
The Intercept, Breitbart, Raw Story and Washington Post
Tim Burke / The Daily Beast:
The Starbucks Music Store Under Howard Schultz Was Painfully White
The Starbucks Music Store Under Howard Schultz Was Painfully White
Discussion:
Business Insider, RedState and twitchy.com
Alex Thompson / Politico:
Tulsi Gabbard campaign in disarray — Tulsi Gabbard's presidential campaign hasn't officially launched yet but it's already melting down. — Two-and-a-half weeks after the Hawaii Democrat told CNN she had decided to run for the White House—an announcement that even her own staff didn't know was coming …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Week, Joe.My.God. and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Billy House / Bloomberg:
GOP Lawmaker Tells Ocasio-Cortez Congress Isn't Just ‘Eating Bonbons’ — Leading House conservative addresses New York Democrat — Two lawmakers mix it up at first meeting of Oversight panel — A leading House conservative backer of President Donald Trump decided …
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Ben Schreckinger / Politico:
Why Trump's superfans dig Ocasio-Cortez
Ashley / Chicks On The Right:
Chuck Schumer Wants A LITERAL LOSER To Deliver The Democratic SOTU Response — ShareTweetSubscribe to the Chicks! — Email address: — Leave this field empty if you're human: — WATCH: Chuck Schumer Wants A LITERAL LOSER To Deliver The Democratic SOTU Response — I'm sorry, but...what?
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
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Tamar Hallerman / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Abrams to deliver Dems' State of the Union response
Abrams to deliver Dems' State of the Union response
Discussion:
Washington Post, Senate Democratic Leadership and The Gateway Pundit
Ryan Crocker / Washington Post:
I was ambassador to Afghanistan. This deal is a surrender. — Ryan Crocker is diplomat in residence at Princeton University and a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon. — January 2002. I arrive in Kabul to reopen the U.S. Embassy. Destruction is everywhere.
Discussion:
Politico
Kayla Tausche / CNBC:
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is charging a whopping $200,000 per speaking gig — Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is currently quoting $200,000 and the use of a private jet for domestic speaking engagements, according to five people with knowledge of the arrangement.
Peter Baker / New York Times:
A Growing Chorus of Republican Critics for Trump's Foreign Policy — WASHINGTON — They think pulling out of Syria and Afghanistan would be a debacle. They think North Korea cannot be trusted. They think the Islamic State is still a threat to America. They think Russia is bad and NATO is good.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Week, The Daily Caller, Just Security, Shareblue Media, Daily Kos and Mother Jones
Michael Harriot / The Root:
Exclusive: Clemson's Black Players Refused to Accept Donald Trump's Invitation to the McCookout — When Filet-O-Fish aficionado Donald Trump invited the Clemson Tigers to enjoy the White House's first Presidential Value Meal, most of Clemson's national championship football team members jumped …
Discussion:
theGrio, Raw Story, Breitbart and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times
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Financial Times:
Trump sat down with Putin at G20 without US note-taker — Donald Trump sat down with Vladimir Putin for several minutes of conversation at the end of an evening event at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires in November, with no translator or note-taker from the US side to record the dialogue between the leaders …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Shareblue Media, Daily Kos and Mediaite
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Arizona Republic:
Phoenix restaurant says this is a photo of coal miners. But I see offensive blackface — Opinion: Who determines what's offensive? A photo in a downtown Phoenix restaurant raises this key question. — CONNECT — A few weeks ago, I attended a holiday party at a downtown Phoenix restaurant.
Discussion:
Instapundit, Front Page Magazine and The Resurgent
McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Democrats are calling on the same donors, but few are ready to spend — The Democrats plotting presidential campaigns have relied on a lot of the same people to fund their political careers. So far, those whales aren't ready to pick a 2020 favorite. — According to a McClatchy analysis …
Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:
Lisa Murkowski Revives Bill Targeting Missing And Murdered Native Women — Indigenous women are disappearing and being killed. Savanna's Act would help to bring them some justice. — WASHINGTON Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) reintroduced legislation on Monday to help law enforcement respond …
Reuters:
Special Report: Inside the UAE's secret hacking team of U.S. mercenaries — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two weeks after leaving her position as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. National Security Agency in 2014, Lori Stroud was in the Middle East working as a hacker for an Arab monarchy.
Chris Willman / Variety:
Peter Jackson Signs On to Make New Beatles Film Out of Unseen ‘Let It Be’ Footage — Sir Peter, meet Sir Paul, and Mother Mary. “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker Peter Jackson has come aboard a project that Paul McCartney had previously hinted was in the works: a new Beatles documentary using …
Discussion:
East Bay Times
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them — Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook has been secretly paying people to install a “Facebook Research” VPN that lets the company suck in all of a user's phone and web activity, similar to Facebook's Onavo Protect app …
Discussion:
Recode, The Verge, The Week, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo, VentureBeat and Mashable, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
A Bad Judges Deal — The White House may make concessions to Feinstein and Harris.
Discussion:
National Review, The Resurgent, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Power Line
Washington Post:
Trump's company plans to expand check of employees' legal status following report that it hired undocumented workers for years — President Trump's company plans to institute E-Verify, a federal program that allows employers to check whether new hires are legally eligible to work in the United States …
Discussion:
New York Times and Axios
Stephanie Sugars / Committee to Protect Journalists:
From fake news to enemy of the people: An anatomy of Trump's tweets — Since announcing his candidacy in the 2016 presidential elections to the end of his second year in office, U.S. President Donald Trump has sent 1,339 tweets about the media that were critical, insinuating, condemning, or threatening.
Sophie Lewis / CBS News:
Illinois police “arrest” Elsa for bringing polar vortex — Let her go! An Illinois police department has placed Elsa — the Queen of Arendell from the Disney movie “Frozen” — under arrest Tuesday for bringing frigid cold temperatures to the Midwest. For the first time in forever, Elsa is being punished for her crimes.
Melissa Korn / Wall Street Journal:
Oberlin, University of Chicago and Other Elite Colleges Extend Application Deadlines — Elite colleges including Oberlin, George Washington University and the University of Chicago have extended their application deadlines in an effort to boost enrollment, a sign of the growing pressure many schools face to fill incoming classes.
Anne Applebaum / Washington Post:
Venezuela is how ‘illiberal democracy’ ends — For absolute proof that the ideological language of the 20th century is insufficient to describe the political realities of the 21st century, look no further than the international alliances that have formed around Venezuela.