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3:00 PM ET, December 12, 2019

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Eric Holder / Washington Post:
William Barr is unfit to be attorney general  —  Eric H. Holder Jr., a Democrat, was U.S. attorney general from 2009 to 2015.  —  As a former U.S. attorney general, I am reluctant to publicly criticize my successors.  I respect the office and understand just how tough the job can be.
RELATED:
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Of course the FBI spied on the Trump campaign  —  The great debate about whether the FBI spied on the Trump campaign continues.  The question is why there is still any argument.  The newly-released report from Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz shows that by any definition the FBI did indeed spy.
Kate Irby / Fresno Bee:
Fact check: Was Devin Nunes ‘vindicated’ by report on FBI's Trump investigation?
Discussion: Raw Story
CNN:
FBI agents warn of ‘chilling effect’ from Trump and Barr attacks
Discussion: Redstate
Astead W. Herndon / New York Times:
Elizabeth Warren Draws Sharp Contrasts With Rivals in New Hampshire Speech  —  Ms. Warren, who has ramped up her criticism of her presidential opponents after months of avoiding conflict, issued another rebuke Thursday in a speech about the economy and corruption.
RELATED:
CNN:   Elizabeth Warren calls out the four B's: Buttigieg, Biden, Bloomberg and the billionaires
Rebecca Traister / The Cut:
Can You Spot the Fake? Hint: Look at the pundits.
Discussion: Washington Post
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
Why Is Everyone Sleeping on Joe Biden?
Discussion: Washington Post
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Report: Trump's Ukraine Extortion Scheme Was Financed by Russia  —  President Trump is facing impeachment primarily for abusing his power for political gain, extorting a foreign country to discredit his political rivals.  The secondary aspect of the plot is that the target of his extortion is hardly random.
RELATED:
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Nothing could be more conclusive proof of Trump's guilt  —  When you say someone has “no case,” it is usually meant figuratively, as in “they have a weak legal or factual position.”  In the case of President Trump, Senate Republicans are making it clear that he literally has no case, no defense.
Discussion: Bloomberg and New York Times
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Trump tightens grips on judges as McConnell wins 50th Circuit pick
Discussion: The Hill and UPI
David Smith / The Guardian:
Fox host lambasts Trump over ‘most sustained assault on press freedom in US history’  —  Chris Wallace, admired for breaking ranks with some in the conservative network, drew applause with most stinging critique yet  —  A leading host on Fox News, a conservative network notorious for its loyalty …
RELATED:
Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:   Fox's Chris Wallace: Trump is ‘Engaged in the Most Direct, Sustained Assault on Freedom of the Press in Our History’
Matthew Lee / Associated Press:
Senate confirms State Dept official as ambassador to Russia  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has a new ambassador to Russia after the Senate voted Thursday to confirm the No. 2 official at the State Department to the post.  —  Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan was confirmed by a 70-22 vote.
Discussion: The Hill
RELATED:
Deirdre Shesgreen / USA Today:
Senate recognizes Armenian genocide over objections of Trump and Turkish government
Discussion: Raw Story
Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Senate passes Armenian genocide resolution
Discussion: Associated Press and Axios
Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
Inside the jockeying to prosecute Donald Trump's impeachment  —  Behind the scenes, House Democrats battle to influence Speaker Nancy Pelosi's picks for the team that will take the case to the Senate.  —  WASHINGTON — In furtive conversations with senior colleagues on the House floor …
Discussion: ABC News and Breitbart
RELATED:
Melanie Zanona / Politico:
Republican lawmaker asks Lindsey Graham to ‘rethink’ Senate's impeachment strategy
Discussion: Instapundit
Sebastian Murdock / HuffPost:
Paul Watson Throws Alex Jones Under The Bus In Sandy Hook Case  —  “This Sandy Hook stuff is killing us,” the far-right Infowars editor said in a 2015 email.  —  Far-right personality and longtime Infowars editor Paul Joseph Watson warned Alex Jones to stop pushing the lie …
Wall Street Journal:
Giuliani's Partnership With Fraud Guarantee Revealed in Letter  —  A 2018 investor letter offers new clues about the work Rudy Giuliani was hired to do for Fraud Guarantee, a company founded by his now-indicted associates Lev Parnas and David Correia.  The letter has been handed over to the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan.
Discussion: Raw Story
Alexander Mallin / ABC News:
DOJ charges 10 former NFL players in alleged health care fraud scheme  —  The scheme involved over $3.9 million in false health care claims.  —  The Department of Justice announced charges Thursday against 10 former NFL players over an alleged scheme to defraud millions of dollars from the league's health care benefits program.
RELATED:
Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
The most depressing thing about Trump's attack on Greta Thunberg  —  Is there nothing too petty for this president?  —  Early Thursday morning, President Trump took to Twitter (where his current follower count is 67.5 million) to attack a 16-year-old girl with Asperger's syndrome and tell her to “work on her Anger Management problem.”
Discussion: The Bulwark, New York Times and Vox
RELATED:
Christine Stapleton / USA Today:
Mongolian ambassador visited Mar-a-Lago before Trump Jr. got coveted permit to hunt rare sheep  —  PALM BEACH, Fla. - About four months before Donald Trump Jr. went to Mongolia in August, where he reportedly managed to get a coveted permit to kill a threatened-species of sheep after he shot …
The Economist:
A plurality of Americans—but not of states—want Donald Trump impeached  —  The president continues to benefit from the constitution's pro-rural bias  —  Donald trump owes his presidency to America's quaint system of electing leaders.  Despite losing the popular vote …
Courier-Journal:
Bevin pardons include convicted killer whose brother hosted campaign fundraiser for him  —  The family of a man pardoned by Gov. Matt Bevin for a homicide and other crimes in a fatal 2014 Knox County home invasion raised $21,500 at a political fundraiser last year to retire debt from Bevin's 2015 gubernatorial campaign.
NBC News:
Pentagon watchdog plans to review award of $400M border wall contract to firm touted by Trump  —  Fisher Sand & Gravel has been publicly and privately endorsed to build the wall by members of the Trump administration, including the president himself.  —  WASHINGTON — The Defense Department's …
RELATED:
Elizabeth Findell / Wall Street Journal:   Construction of Texas Border Wall Stalls Over Fights With Landowners
Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:
Booker says he won't make stage at next week's Democratic primary debate  —  Presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker acknowledged Thursday he won't qualify for next week's Democratic nomination debate.  —  This would be the first primary debate that Booker, who made the stage at the first five debates, won't make.
RELATED:
New York Times:   Democrats Will Debate Four More Times in January and February
Tim Miller / The Bulwark:
If Trump Is a Unique Danger Why Aren't Democrats Acting Like It?  —  Crisis.  An existential threat to our democracy.  A mortal danger.  A White Supremacist.  Emergency  —  This is what President Trump's opponents on the left say they believe about the current administration.
Discussion: National Review and Raw Story
Mariko Paulson / Issues:
Senator Elizabeth Warren's Wealth Tax: Projected Budgetary and Economic Effects  —  Print to PDF Summary: Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM) projects that Senator Warren's proposed wealth tax, if implemented in 2021, would raise between $2.3 trillion (including macroeconomic effects) …
Anne Applebaum / The Atlantic:
The False Romance of Russia  —  Sherwood Eddy was a prominent American missionary as well as that now rare thing, a Christian socialist.  In the 1920s and '30s, he made more than a dozen trips to the Soviet Union.  He was not blind to the problems of the U.S.S.R., but he also found much to like.
Discussion: Raw Story
Katherine Clarke / Wall Street Journal:
Lachlan Murdoch Sets L.A. Record by Paying $150 Million for a Château-Style Mansion  —  Once listed for $350 million, the Bel-Air estate of late media tycoon A. Jerrold Perenchio is the second priciest home ever to have traded in the U.S.  —  Lachlan Murdoch, media executive and son …
Ed Mazza / HuffPost:
Pastor Who Says Jews Are Going To Hell Speaks At Trump's Hanukkah Party  —  Robert Jeffress has also made inflammatory comments about Muslims, Mormons and Hindus.  —  President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at tackling anti-Semitism on college campuses on Wednesday ― …
Discussion: MSNBC, Vanity Fair, ABC News and The Root
Associated Press:
UK voters choose a new government to resolve Brexit impasse  —  LONDON (AP) — Britons who have endured more than three years of wrangling over their country's messy divorce from the European Union cast ballots Thursday in an election billed as a way out of the Brexit stalemate in the deeply divided nation.
Wall Street Journal:
GOP Poll: Kobach Would Win Kansas Senate Primary, Unless Pompeo Jumps In  —  Internal Republican polling shows Kris Kobach trouncing the current GOP primary field for an open U.S. Senate seat Kansas, but losing by double digits to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, should he jump into the race.
Joe Roberts / Metro.co.uk:
‘Longest queues ever’ as people stand in line around the block to vote  —  It's been dubbed the most important election in a generation, and if the queues at polling stations this morning are anything to go by, that message has sunk in.  —  The polls have only been open for two hours …
Discussion: Power Line and Common Dreams
 
 
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 More Items: 
Pew Research Center:
Trusting the News Media in the Trump Era
The Guardian:
Why is this top Democrat absent from the fight against toxic pollution in Cancer Alley?
Holly Otterbein / Politico:
Liberal groups to spend $7 million to flip state houses
Discussion: Raw Story
Maryan Abdulkarim / Politico:
Finland is no feminist utopia
Amanda Connolly / globalnews.ca:
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is resigning
Lawrence Hurley / Reuters:
Trump poised for Supreme Court battle over financial records
 Earlier Items: 
Jake Sherman / Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Do Democrats have a Plan B?
New York Times:
An Inside Look at the Impeachment Case's Most Intriguing Moments
Michael Wines / New York Times:
In a Turnabout, Kentucky to Give Voting Rights to 100,000 Former Felons
John F. Harris / Politico:
What if Trump Weren't Nuts?
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Peter White / Deadline:
Fox and Hulu extend their content partnership, including in-season streaming rights for Fox's programming; sources: the deal is worth $1.5B over four years

Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
A Q&A with Chris Balfe, CEO of Red Seat Ventures, which has helped Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly set up their podcast and streaming businesses and sell ads

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A New York judge finds Sirius XM liable for a difficult subscription cancellation process; Sirius says it will appeal but abide by a new “click-to-cancel” rule

 
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