Top Items:
Mike Dorning / Yahoo News:
Trump Senate Impeachment Trial Finds Scant Precedent in History — (Bloomberg) — Bill Clinton's impeachment two decades ago set the modern template for President Donald Trump's upcoming trial in the Senate. But the process may be even more contentious this time given sharper tribal divisions in Washington.
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Sadie Gurman / Wall Street Journal:
Murkowski ‘Disturbed’ by McConnell's Senate Impeachment Strategy
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
McConnell flexes reelection muscle with $1B gift for Kentucky
Meg Cunningham / ABC News:
Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she's ‘disturbed’ by McConnell's comments on White House coordination
Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she's ‘disturbed’ by McConnell's comments on White House coordination
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Fox News, NPR, The Hill, Alternet.org and The Gateway Pundit
David Siders / Politico:
Democratic insiders: Bernie could win the nomination — Suddenly, Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign is being taken seriously. — For months the Vermont senator was written off by Democratic Party insiders as a candidate with a committed but ultimately narrow base who was too far left to win the primary.
Discussion:
Progress Pond
Maggie Fitzgerald / CNBC:
Trump stock market rally is far outpacing past US presidents — The S&P 500 has returned more than 50% since President Trump was elected, more than double the average market return of presidents three years into their term, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
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Jesse Pound / CNBC:
Global stock markets gained $17 trillion in value in 2019
James Arkin / Politico:
Democrats seize on anti-Obamacare ruling to steamroll GOP in 2020 — A court ruling last week putting the Affordable Care Act further in jeopardy may provide the opening Democrats have been waiting for to regain the upper hand on health care against Republicans in 2020.
Discussion:
Raw Story
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George F. Will / Washington Post:
Democrats' denial on health care may produce Trump's reelection — As this shabby year, and with it a dispiriting decade, sags to an end, there is an interesting symmetry. In 2010, passage of the Affordable Care Act signaled the nation's domestic policy preoccupation: health care.
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
U.S. Cybercom contemplates information warfare to counter Russian interference in 2020 election — Military cyber officials are developing information warfare tactics that could be deployed against senior Russian officials and oligarchs if Moscow tries to interfere in the 2020 U.S. elections …
Discussion:
New York Post, more at Techmeme »
Isabelle Khurshudyan / Greenwich Time:
Raids and conscription: Russian authorities crack down on Kremlin critics — MOSCOW - In Russian authorities' latest crackdown this week on Kremlin critics, opposition leader Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation office was raided Thursday, just days after one of his top aides …
The National:
Iraq president Barham Salih offers to step down amid protests — He says he would rather leave than back a pro-Iran prime minister rejected by the protest movement — Iraqi President Barham Salih has handed his resignation to parliament after refusing to endorse a nominee for the prime ministership …
Discussion:
Politico
Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:
The Year of Batshit Crazy at One America News, Trump's New Favorite Cable-News Channel — Trump in 2019 began attacking Fox News when its news side seemed insufficiently loyal to him. Such an opportunity presented itself for OAN to vie for the president's affections.
Bill Scher / Politico:
The 2019 Presidential Campaign Dropouts, Ranked — The 2020 Democratic primary field was stuffed with long-shot candidates convinced that a presidential campaign can only improve a politician's reputation. Even if you don't become president, a presidential campaign can help score a cable TV contract …
Jay Rosen / PressThink:
The Christmas Eve Confessions of Chuck Todd — That disinformation was going to overtake Republican politics was discoverable years before he says he discovered it. — 'Round midnight on Christmas eve, Rolling Stone posted a short interview with Chuck Todd, host of “the longest running show on television,” NBC's Meet the Press.
Patrick J. McDonnell / Los Angeles Times:
Seeing a Central American surge, Mexicans join the asylum line at the U.S. border — Emma Sánchez waited patiently in line at the foot of a bridge leading across the Rio Grande and into Texas, one of tens of thousands of people stuck on Mexico's northern border seeking political asylum in the United States.
Discussion:
Axios
Tamar Lapin / Page Six:
Ari Behn, Norwegian princess' ex and Kevin Spacey accuser, dead at 47 — Ari Behn, a former member of Norway's royal family who was one of Kevin Spacey's sexual assault accusers, died by suicide on Wednesday, his manager said. He was 47. — “It is with great sadness in our hearts …
Discussion:
The American Mirror and Joe.My.God.
Lauren Fruen / Daily Mail:
Now a new picture of the famed Wall of Sound producer — taken at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton on November 19 and exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com - shows him sporting a new look. — Spector looks to be in good spirits ahead of turning 79 on Thursday.
Discussion:
Althouse
Associated Press:
Israeli PM Netanyahu hustled off stage at campaign event amid rocket attack — The rockets were fired while the prime minister was appearing in the southern city of Ashkelon. — JERUSALEM — Israel said a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into its southern territory Wednesday …
Discussion:
One America News Network, Axios and middleeastmonitor.com
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