Top Items:
Kate Brannen / Just Security:
Exclusive: Unredacted Ukraine Documents Reveal Extent of Pentagon's Legal Concerns — “Clear direction from POTUS to continue to hold.” — This is what Michael Duffey, associate director of national security programs at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), told Elaine McCusker …
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Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
New coverup questions in Trump's Ukraine scandal — One of the GOP's chief talking points in its impeachment defense of President Trump has been this: The military aid to Ukraine was withheld, yes, but it was released without any quid pro quo being satisfied. Ipso facto, nothing to see here.
Discussion:
Alternet.org
CNN:
White House budget official told Pentagon that order to hold Ukraine aid came from Trump, national security site reports — Washington (CNN)In the face of warnings from the Pentagon that the hold on military aid to Ukraine could be illegal, an official from the Office of Management and Budget …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Susan Collins sounds like she's covering for Trump — In her never-ending quest to undermine her reputation as a straight-shooting, independent voice, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) continues to give Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) leeway to rig President Trump's impeachment trial.
Discussion:
The Hill, Law & Crime and Bloomberg
Anne Flaherty / ABC News:
Leaked emails on Ukraine aid freeze bolster case for witnesses at Senate trial: Schumer
Leaked emails on Ukraine aid freeze bolster case for witnesses at Senate trial: Schumer
Discussion:
NBC News, Washington Post, DNyuz and Law & Crime
Jason Leopold / BuzzFeed News:
Robert Mueller's Secret Memos, Part 3: The Documents The Justice Department Didn't Want Congress To See — BuzzFeed News sued the US government for the right to see all the work that Robert Mueller's team kept secret. Today we are publishing the third installment of the FBI's summaries of interviews with key witnesses.
Discussion:
CNN, Contemptor and Raw Story
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Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Trump Covering Up Scheme to Use Justice Department to Punish CNN
Trump Covering Up Scheme to Use Justice Department to Punish CNN
Discussion:
Vox, Hullabaloo, The Atlantic, Raw Story, BizPac Review and POLITICUSUSA
Robert Costa / Washington Post:
Ascendant Bernie Sanders turns his focus to Joe Biden as Iowa nears — DES MOINES — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — who has reignited his presidential campaign in the weeks since a heart attack put his political future in doubt — is now making a direct and sharpened case …
Discussion:
Fox News, Axios, DNyuz, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Mediaite, Daily Kos, The Week and Balloon Juice
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Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Democrats are the ones who stand to suffer by delaying the Senate impeachment trial
Democrats are the ones who stand to suffer by delaying the Senate impeachment trial
Discussion:
NBC News, Talking Points Memo and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
A deceptively edited video of Joe Biden signals what's coming — If you thought the 2016 election was awash in disinformation and lies, get ready: The 2020 election is going to make that affair look like a knitting session. — A video that was edited in a monumentally dishonest fashion …
Discussion:
Latest from Crooks and Liars, Quartz, Raw Story, Hullabaloo and The Gateway Pundit
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Katelyn Burns / Vox:
A deceptively edited video of Joe Biden illustrates a big problem in 2020
A deceptively edited video of Joe Biden illustrates a big problem in 2020
Discussion:
Mediaite and Mother Jones
Adam Kredo / Washington Free Beacon:
Manhattan DA Declines to Prosecute Anti-Semitic Attack as Hate Crime — Decision angers legal advocates, Jewish community officials — The Manhattan district attorney's office has declined to prosecute a recent anti-Semitic attack on a Jewish subway passenger as a hate crime, according to lawyers representing the victim.
Discussion:
WND and The Right Scoop
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NBC New York:
Anti-Semitism Grows in Jewish Communities in NYC Suburbs
Anti-Semitism Grows in Jewish Communities in NYC Suburbs
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon, National Review, Redstate, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Algemeiner.com and The Post Millennial
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks / Jewish Telegraphic Agency:
The keys to understanding American anti-Semitism — and fighting back
Ed Morrissey / HotAir:
Israeli Victim Attorneys: Manhattan DA Will Refuse To Charge Hate Crime Over Anti-Semitic Subway Attack
Israeli Victim Attorneys: Manhattan DA Will Refuse To Charge Hate Crime Over Anti-Semitic Subway Attack
Discussion:
The Lid and Jihad Watch
John DiStaso / WMUR:
Democrat Marianne Williamson lays off campaign staff nationally, including NH — Financial issues force spiritual author, lecturer to drastically scale back her unorthodox presidential campaign — MANCHESTER, N.H. — Marianne Williamson, who has been campaigning …
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Ed O'Keefe / CBS News:
Marianne Williamson lays off entire campaign staff
Kyle Mantyla / Right Wing Watch:
Liz Crokin Predicts That Tom Hanks Will Soon Be Arrested for Involvement in Occult Pedophilia — Last year, right-wing “journalist” and Trump-worshiping conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin publicly declared that if the mass arrests long promised by those promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory …
New York Times:
Julián Castro Ends Presidential Run: 'It Simply Isn't Our Time' — Mr. Castro, the former housing secretary and mayor of San Antonio, was the only Latino candidate in the race. He championed progressive policies but did not find his footing in polls.
Discussion:
Power Line, Politico, NPR, CNBC, HotAir, Breitbart, HuffPost, DNyuz, FiveThirtyEight, The Guardian, Common Dreams, Axios, Slate, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, The Week, The Root, UPI, Mediaite, Raw Story, Sara A. Carter and Disrn
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Wendy R. Sherman / USA Today:
Attack on US Embassy in Iraq shows Trump is failing. He walked into Iran's trap. — Trump's policies have been devastating to US interests. He should have stayed in the Iran nuclear deal and made full use of sanctions and diplomacy. — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo started having a tough 2020 only one day into the new year.
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Washington Post:
Trump needs to find a diplomatic exit from the Middle East hole he dug for himself
Trump needs to find a diplomatic exit from the Middle East hole he dug for himself
Discussion:
Politico, National Review and The Investigative Project …
Ross Ibbetson / Daily Mail:
By ROSS IBBETSON FOR MAILONLINE
By ROSS IBBETSON FOR MAILONLINE
Discussion:
Jerusalem Post, The Federalist, Washington Times, New York Post and The Right Scoop
Jay Greene / Greenwich Time:
Amazon threatens to fire critics who are outspoken on its environmental policies — SEATTLE - Amazon has warned at least two employees who publicly criticized the company's environmental policies that they could be fired for future violations of its communications policy.
Ross LaJeunesse / Medium:
I Was Google's Head of International Relations. Here's Why I Left. — The company's motto used to be “Don't be evil.” Things have changed. — When I walked out the door on my last day as Google's Head of International Relations, I couldn't help but think of my first day at the company.
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Post, Yahoo News, DNyuz, Bangor Daily News, Breitbart, New York Post, Gizmodo, Mashable, The Daily Caller, TechCrunch, Mercury News, Press Herald, Engadget, The Week and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »
Robbie Meredith / BBC:
Hillary Clinton appointed chancellor of Queen's University, Belfast — Hillary Clinton is to be the new chancellor of Queen's University, Belfast (QUB). — She is the university's 11th chancellor and first woman to take up the post. — In a statement, Mrs Clinton said it was a “great privilege” to become the chancellor of QUB.
Bob Fredericks / New York Post:
Andrew McCabe said he lied to FBI about Wall Street Journal leak — Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe apologized for lying to agents who spent weeks investigating the source of a leak to the Wall Street Journal that actually came from him, new documents reveal.
Kaley Johnson / Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
Judge rules baby at Cook Children's can be taken off life support against family's wishes — A judge ruled Thursday that a 11-month-old baby can be taken off life support at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth against the family's wishes. — The family of Tinslee Lewis …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
Miriam Berger / Washington Post:
Australia's prime minister visited families devastated by the wildfires. It did not go well. — The fire mercilessly tore through Cobargo, a small town near the coast in southern New South Wales, on Monday night, burning down the main street and killing two people, a father and son, caught in its destructive path.
Discussion:
New York Times, CBS San Francisco, New York Post and Fox News
Emma Dumain / The State:
Trey Gowdy won't join Trump's legal team. 'He doesn't need another lawyer' — Amid confusion late last year regarding his status on President Donald Trump's legal team, former Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy said Thursday he has no plans to formally assist the White House in its effort to defend …
Tim Urban / Wait But Why:
It's 2020 and you're in the future — It's finally the 2020s. After 20 years of not being able to refer to the decade we're in, we're all finally free—in the clear for the next 80 years until 2100, at which point I assume AGI will have figured out what to call the two decades between 2100 and 2120.
Discussion:
Eschaton
Scott Bauer / Associated Press:
Conservatives seek immediate purge of voters in Wisconsin — FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2018 file photo, people vote at Jamestown Town Hall in Kieler, Wis. Conservatives are asking a judge to find the Wisconsin Elections Commission in contempt for not immediately purging more than 200,000 voters from the rolls.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Wisconsin Institute …, TheBlaze, The Hill and National Review
Dominic Cummings's Blog:
‘Two hands are a lot’ — we're hiring data scientists, project managers, policy experts, assorted weirdos... 'This is possibly the single largest design flaw contributing to the bad Nash equilibrium in which ... many governments are stuck. Every individual high-functioning competent person knows …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, The Guardian, Financial Times and Politico
Jennifer Hansler / CNN:
Bill Taylor departs post as top US diplomat in Ukraine — Hear what Bill Taylor said to the House during impeachment — Washington (CNN)Bill Taylor, who led the US embassy in Ukraine and served as a key witness in the House impeachment inquiry, has departed his post.
Fredrik deBoer:
let me explain all of Star Wars to you heathens — So in the typical way of the internet a sad situation recently played out which had the effect of making all sides look bad. The actor John Boyega, who wonderfully realized the main character in Attack the Block and has played the character …
John Bowden / The Hill:
Tulsi Gabbard draws crowd while surfing in New Hampshire — Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) drew a crowd in Hampton, N.H. on Wednesday as she joined a group of surfers in the frigid Atlantic Ocean. — The avid surfer and 2020 candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination told reporters …
Dean Obeidallah / The Daily Beast:
When Donald Trump Brags About the Economy, Here's What Democrats Should Say — Yes, the economic indicators are all good. But that doesn't mean people living on $50,000 are feeling secure. — Donald Trump loves to pat himself on the back for, as he puts it, the “greatest economy we've had in the history of our country.”
Discussion:
Breitbart
Alex Tanzi / Yahoo News:
Florida Poised to Surpass New York in Congressional Seats — (Bloomberg) — Florida is expected to control more seats in the U.S. Congress than New York after April's decennial census, according to a study by Election Data Services Inc. — New York and California are projected to each lose …
Scott Shackford / Reason:
Illinois Spent the Last Decade Losing Population and Learning Nothing — The 2010s will likely end up being a lost decade for Illinois. I mean that literally: According to U.S. census data, the state has lost population for six years in a row. — The Chicago Tribune reports that the state …