memeorandum: CNN Exclusive: Whistleblower says US airports becoming unsafe as TSA relaxes security measures … (CNN)

2:25 PM ET, December 20, 2019

Top Items:

My Response to Christianity Today: — Christianity Today released an editorial stating that President Trump should be removed from office—and they invoked my father's name (I suppose to try to bring legitimacy to their statements), so I feel it is important for me to respond.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Breitbart, HuffPost, CNBC, BizPac Review, Althouse and The Daily Caller

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Trump's rage at Christianity Today gives away his scam — President Trump just erupted in a rage at the magazine Christianity Today over its scathing, moralistic call for his removal over the Ukraine scandal. In so doing, Trump shed light on his understanding of the oft-debated oddity …

Discussion: the way of improvement …, Los Angeles Times and Breitbart

Mark Galli / Christianity Today:

Trump Should Be Removed from Office — It's time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president's character was revealed for what it was. — In our founding documents, Billy Graham explains that Christianity Today will help evangelical Christians interpret the news in a manner that reflects their faith.

Jill Colvin / Associated Press:

Trump blasts Christian magazine that called for his removal — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is blasting a prominent Christian magazine that published an editorial arguing that he should be removed from office. — Trump tweeted Friday morning that the magazine, Christianity Today …

Discussion: DNyuz, Raw Story and the way of improvement …

Sarah Jones / New York Magazine:
No, Evangelicals Aren't Turning on Trump

Discussion: Breitbart and New York Times

Elizabeth Dias / New York Times:
Evangelical Magazine Christianity Today Calls for Trump's Removal

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post, National Review, Letters from an American, No More Mister Nice Blog, the way of improvement …, The Week, Townhall, Daily Kos, Breitbart, Taylor Marsh, IJR, The Resurgent, TheBlaze, Disrn and DNyuz

Peter Weber / The Week:
George Conway has a savage new nickname for post-impeachment Trump

Discussion: Politico, The Root, The Atlantic and Breitbart

John Bresnahan / Politico:

'I'm never afraid and I'm rarely surprised': Pelosi emboldened — Speaker Nancy Pelosi is heading into the holidays emboldened, finishing a tumultuous year back in the majority by both impeaching President Donald Trump and then muscling through the House his biggest legislative win on trade …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill, One America News Network, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Deseret News, The Week, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Talking Points Memo and Vox

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Crazy Won't Beat Trump — Impeachment looks like a victory for Democrats, but their lurch left will prove far more consequential. — The Democrats think they've just had a big triumph. The president's been impeached. But Republicans see themselves as gaining the upper hand.

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press and Florida Politics

Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
Pelosi invites Trump to deliver the State of the Union two days after impeaching him

Discussion: Politico, BizPac Review and DNyuz

Lisa Mascaro / Associated Press:
Pelosi: Power of gavel means Trump is ‘impeached forever’

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and HotAir

Noah Feldman / Bloomberg:
Trump Isn't Impeached Until the House Tells the Senate

Nicole Lafond / Talking Points Memo:
'I'm Never Afraid And I'm Rarely Surprised': Pelosi Brushes Off McConnell Snipe

Discussion: Politico

Scott Bixby / The Daily Beast:

The Shady History of Mayor Pete's Wine Cave—and the Ultra-Rich Couple That Owns It — $100,000 checks, plum ambassadorships, and a $102 million settlement. The cave has been an oasis for dollar-eyed Dems long before Elizabeth Warren made it instantly infamous.

Discussion: Slate, HuffPost, Washington Post and Press Watch

Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:
The brawl in the wine cave

Discussion: New York Times

John F. Harris / Politico:
Democrats Decide Not to Debate Dull

Discussion: The Hill, Vox and Associated Press

New York Times:
D.N.C. Increases Qualifications for January Debate

Discussion: CNN, Joe.My.God., Daily Kos, DNyuz, Raw Story and Slate

Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:
Amy Klobuchar Is Still Here

Discussion: Mother Jones

Ella Nilsen / Vox:
The Warren-Buttigieg wine cave controversy, explained

Discussion: The Atlantic, Washington Post, BuzzFeed News and Joe.My.God.

Antonia Farzan / Washington Post:

Kentucky's ex-governor pardoned a child rapist because the 9-year-old victim's hymen was intact — When the Louisville Courier-Journal revealed earlier this month that former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin (R) had pardoned a slew of violent criminals during his final weeks in office, he cited his belief in second chances.

Discussion: NPR, The Week, Courier-Journal, Joe.My.God., The Appeal, Daily Kos, The Independent, The Crime Report and Raw Story

Courier-Journal:
Matt Bevin defends pardon of convicted child rapist in radio interview

Discussion: The American Independent, Slate, IJR, KRON4, The Guardian, The Slot, HuffPost, Vox, Terry Meiners, The Hill and Boing Boing

James Hohmann / Washington Post:

The Daily 202: What Adam Schiff hopes will come out during the Senate impeachment trial — THE BIG IDEA: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) wants to see the documents being concealed by the White House even more than he wants to hear from the list of current and former aides who followed President Trump's order …

Nancy Cook / Politico:
White House braces for Mulvaney's post-impeachment exit

Discussion: New York Post, Vanity Fair, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, National Review and The Hill

Anita Kumar / Politico:
‘Family feud’: Trump still grumbling about witness-free impeachment trial

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, Vanity Fair and The Daily Signal

Nicole Lafond / Talking Points Memo: Mick Mulvaney Expected To Leave White House After Senate Impeachment Trial

Jennifer E. Duffy / The Cook Political Report:

The Majority is in Play — A year into this election cycle, the overall Senate landscape generally looks much like I thought it would. The races that seemed likely to be the most competitive are, in fact, the most competitive today. And, if the race ratings don't quite reflect it yet …

Discussion: DSCC and Raw Story

The Seattle Times:

Washington Rep. Matt Shea engaged in domestic terrorism against U.S., says state House inquiry — OLYMPIA — State Rep. Matt Shea planned and participated in domestic terrorism against the United States, before and during the armed takeover at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge …

Discussion: The American Independent, Spokesman.com, WCBI-TV, The Week, Law & Crime, Hullabaloo, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, The Stranger, The Hill and Balloon Juice

Katie Shepherd / Washington Post:
A GOP state legislator helped plan an armed occupation in Oregon, investigators say, calling it ‘domestic terrorism’

Discussion: NPI's Cascadia Advocate, The Guardian and Crosscut

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

The Tyranny of the 63 Million — Impeachment didn't undermine democracy. It vindicated it. — When George W. Bush lost the popular vote to Al Gore in 2000 but became president anyway, he did so with almost 50.5 million votes. I didn't know that number until I looked it up …

Discussion: The Colorado Independent, The Week, Raw Story and National Review

New York Times:

Durham Is Scrutinizing Ex-C.I.A. Director's Role in Russian Interference Findings — The federal prosecutor investigating the origins of the Russia inquiry is examining testimony by the former C.I.A. director John Brennan and seeking his communications records.

Discussion: Power Line, Townhall, emptywheel, Fox News, BizPac Review, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, National Review, The Daily Caller, American Greatness, The Last Refuge, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit and Redstate

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: All you need to know about the debate

Discussion: The Federalist and NB Blog

Marisa Fernandez / Axios:

Who has qualified for the January Democratic debate — The Democratic National Committee announced Friday that it raised the bar to qualify for its January debate, requiring candidates to have at least 5% in four qualifying polls or 7% in two early-state polls — as well as 225,000 unique donors.

Discussion: Political Wire

Fernandeza / Democrats:
DNC Announces Details For Seventh Democratic Presidential Primary Debate

Discussion: The Hill and FiveThirtyEight

CNN:

CNN Exclusive: Whistleblower says US airports becoming unsafe as TSA relaxes security measures in favor of speeding up lines — Watch Rene Marsh's exclusive report on TSA security tonight at 5 p.m. ET on CNN's “The Situation Room” with Wolf Blitzer. — (CNN)A whistleblower …

Washington Post:

A major funder of the anti-vaccine movement has made millions selling natural health products — The nation's oldest anti-vaccine advocacy group often emphasizes that it is supported primarily by small donations and concerned parents, describing its founder as the leader of a “national, grass roots movement.”

New York Times:

How to Track President Trump — IF YOU OWN A MOBILE PHONE, its every move is logged and tracked by dozens of companies. No one is beyond the reach of this constant digital surveillance. Not even the president of the United States. — The Times Privacy Project obtained a dataset …

more at Techmeme »

Erin Banco / The Daily Beast:

Trump Pulled Plug on Pompeo's November Ukraine Trip Over Impeachment Heat — The secretary of state will visit Kyiv in January. But he was supposed to make a trip there in November—until the plans were abruptly canceled. — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to visit Ukraine …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, National Review and Raw Story

Twitter:

New disclosures to our archive of state-backed information operations — Transparency is at the heart of everything we do at Twitter. That's why we routinely disclose datasets of information operations we can reliably link to state actors. — These datasets live in our public archive …

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press and The Post Millennial

Natasha Clark / The Sun:

BREXIT BEGINS! Britain on way to Brexit as MPs FINALLY back Boris Johnson's deal just days before Christmas — BRITAIN is officially on its way to leaving the EU on January 31 today after MPs finally backed Boris Johnson's Brexit deal by a huge majority of 124.