Top Items:
Marianne LeVine / Politico:
McConnell prepares to move forward on impeachment trial rules without Democrats — Senate Republican leaders are preparing to move forward on a set of impeachment trial rules without Democratic support. — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has locked down sufficient backing …
Discussion:
ABC News, Axios, Associated Press, Vox, Townhall, The Hill, UPI, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, Law & Crime, The Week, One America News Network, The Daily Beast, The Root, Raw Story and War Room
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Amanda Terkel / HuffPost:
Biden: Mitch McConnell Will Become ‘Mildly Cooperative’ With Democrats Post-Trump — The former vice president has also said Republicans will have an “epiphany” once Donald Trump leaves office. — Joe Biden believes that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ― …
Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
McConnell Says He Will Proceed on Impeachment Trial Without Witness Deal — The Senate majority leader said he had the votes to begin President Trump's trial without committing to calling witnesses or admitting new evidence, over Democrats' objections. — WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Blue Delaware, Bloomberg and POLITICUSUSA
Benjamin Wittes / The Atlantic:
Pelosi and McConnell Are Playing High-Stakes Poker — We are now entering the third week of the staring contest between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over when the House of Representatives will deliver its articles of impeachment to the Senate, and under what circumstances.
Discussion:
Redstate and No More Mister Nice Blog
Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Schumer vows to force votes on impeachment witnesses — Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that Democrats will force votes on witnesses at the start of the impeachment trial even as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has secured enough support to delay the decision until mid-trial.
Quint Forgey / Politico:
DNC says next debate will be rescheduled if it conflicts with impeachment trial — The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tom Perez, said on Tuesday that the party organization would reschedule next week's presidential primary debate in Iowa if the televised event conflicts …
Discussion:
Axios, The Hill, Breitbart and Outside the Beltway
Associated Press:
Stampede kills 32 at funeral for Iran general killed by US — TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A stampede erupted on Tuesday at a funeral procession for a top Iranian general killed in a U.S. airstrike last week, killing 32 people and injuring 190 others, state television reported.
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Chris Pleasance / Reuters:
Iran is considering 13 ‘revenge scenarios’ over the death of General Soleimani as top official vows to create ‘historic nightmare’ for the US — Iran is considering 13 ‘revenge scenarios’ in retaliation for the US airstrike that killed General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, a top official has said.
Discussion:
Daily Mail
Erin Cunningham / Washington Post:
Live updates: Iran prepares to bury Soleimani after deadly stampede
Live updates: Iran prepares to bury Soleimani after deadly stampede
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Week, Politico, CNN and The Moderate Voice
Adam Kredo / Washington Free Beacon:
Pompeo: Trump Admin Ready to Launch More Strikes on Iran
Pompeo: Trump Admin Ready to Launch More Strikes on Iran
Discussion:
middleeastmonitor.com
Wesley Morgan / Politico:
Defense secretary insists U.S. isn't withdrawing from Iraq after PM calls for timetable
Defense secretary insists U.S. isn't withdrawing from Iraq after PM calls for timetable
Discussion:
Washington Post and Raw Story
David Martosko / Daily Mail:
Iraq says unsigned U.S. troop-withdrawal letter sent by mistake COUNTS despite Arabic translation …
Iraq says unsigned U.S. troop-withdrawal letter sent by mistake COUNTS despite Arabic translation …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Scott Neuman / NPR:
Iran's Foreign Minister: U.S. Strike On Soleimani An Act Of Terrorism And War
Iran's Foreign Minister: U.S. Strike On Soleimani An Act Of Terrorism And War
Discussion:
CNN, Slate and Foreign Policy
CBS News:
Iran's military displaying “heightened state of readiness,” U.S. defense official says
Iran's military displaying “heightened state of readiness,” U.S. defense official says
Discussion:
Redstate, The American Independent and USA Today
Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:
‘Tweets, threats and tantrums’: Biden tears into Trump's handling of Iran crisis
‘Tweets, threats and tantrums’: Biden tears into Trump's handling of Iran crisis
Discussion:
Breitbart
New York Times:
Don't Tilt Scales Against Trump, Facebook Executive Warns — In an internal memo, Andrew Bosworth said he “desperately” wanted the president to lose. But, he said, the company should avoid hurting Mr. Trump's campaign. — SAN FRANCISCO — Since the 2016 election, when Russian trolls …
Discussion:
Boz, Mercury News and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
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New York Times:
Lord of the Rings, 2020 and Stuffed Oreos: Read the Andrew Bosworth Memo — On Dec. 30, Andrew Bosworth, a longtime Facebook executive and confidant of Mark Zuckerberg, wrote a long memo on the company's internal network. — In the post, titled “Thoughts for 2020,” Mr. Bosworth …
Discussion:
National Review, BuzzFeed News, Axios, The Week, Raw Story and The Verge
Miami Herald:
New incident at Mar-a-Lago under ‘criminal investigation’ by Secret Service — Palm Beach police say they are conducting an “open and active criminal investigation” at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump's South Florida estate, following an unspecified incident Monday night.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Trump to drop $10 million on Super Bowl ad — President Donald Trump's reelection campaign is planning to drop $10 million to advertise during the Super Bowl, the start of a massive election-year spending spree that will intensify over the coming months, according to four people briefed on the plans.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Axios and The Hill
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Nick Corasaniti / New York Times:
Bloomberg Takes On Trump With a $10 Million Super Bowl Ad — Michael R. Bloomberg's presidential campaign has secured a 60-second advertising spot to be aired nationally during the game on Feb. 2, campaign officials said. — Michael R. Bloomberg's presidential campaign has secured …
The Daily Beast:
Trump's Fox News Pals Are Picking New Iran Targets On-Air — Trump listened to Pete Hegseth on pardoning alleged and convicted war criminals. Will he listen to the ‘Fox & Friends’ host and others when it comes to bombing Iran? — In the wake of the U.S. airstrike that took …
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Ben Gittleson / ABC News:
President Trump wavers on threat to hit Iranian cultural sites
President Trump wavers on threat to hit Iranian cultural sites
Discussion:
Associated Press, Raw Story and FiveThirtyEight
Lauren Artino / WXIX-TV:
CNN settles lawsuit with Nick Sandmann — COVINGTON, Ky. (FOX19) - CNN agreed Tuesday to settle a lawsuit with Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann. — The amount of the settlement was not made public during a hearing at the federal courthouse in Covington, Kentucky.
Discussion:
PJ Media Home, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NB Blog, The Daily Caller, The Hill and Twitchy
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Prosecutors recommend Michael Flynn serve up to 6 months in prison — Federal prosecutors recommended in a sentencing memo Tuesday that President Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn receive a sentence of zero to six months in prison, arguing that he should not receive credit …
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Bloomberg:
Trump Inaugural Committee Donor to Plead Guilty to Obstruction — Zuberi back-dated check to donor, deleted emails, U.S. says — Lawyer says Zuberi will plead guilty for a second time — A fundraiser for President Donald Trump will plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation …
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Bridget Phetasy / Quillette:
Ricky Gervais, Man of the People — In a room filled with self-absorbed narcissists, one brave, slightly less self-absorbed narcissist had the balls to speak truth to power—and his name is Ricky Gervais. — If courage had a face, it would be a slightly overweight, pasty British multi-millionaire drinking a pint.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Daily Mail, americandigest.org, Spectator USA and Hollywood Reporter
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
The Nightmare Stage of Trump's Rule Is Here — Unstable and impeached, the president pushes the U.S. toward war with Iran. — There are no more adults in the room. — After three harrowing years, we've reached the point many of us feared from the moment Donald Trump was elected.
Discussion:
Politico, Raw Story, Washington Post, Defense One, KTLA, Bangor Daily News and Los Angeles Times
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David Leonhardt / New York Times:
No One Believes Trump
Jaime Joyce / TIME:
How to Talk to Your Kids About the Situation With Iran — On Jan. 3, the U.S. military carried out a drone attack in Iraq. The attack killed Qasem Soleimani, a top military leader from Iran. The action comes after increased tensions between the U.S. and Iran, and has fueled anxiety about what might happen as a result.
Discussion:
Spectator USA, The Daily Caller, Twitchy and Sara A. Carter
Alex Horton / Washington Post:
Russian trolls are targeting American veterans, and Trump's government isn't helping, group says — The Trump administration has for nearly two years ignored mounting evidence that Russian operatives and other foreign actors were deliberately targeting U.S. troops and veterans …
Steve Hayes / The Dispatch:
Anatomy of a Screw-Up: The Story Behind the Letter Withdrawing Our Troops — In a letter dated January 6, Brigadier Gen. William Seely III, the commanding general of Task Force Iraq, wrote to his Iraqi counterpart with big news: The United States military was preparing to leave Iraq.
Discussion:
Slate, Alternet.org, Raw Story, Reason, The Morning Dispatch and CNN
NBC News:
6.4 quake strikes Puerto Rico, killing at least 1 amid heavy seismic activity — “We've never been exposed to this kind of emergency in 102 years,"said the governor as the island grapples with ongoing aftershocks and assesses the damage. — A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Puerto Rico early Tuesday …
Discussion:
Associated Press, WPRI-TV, The Hill, Al Jazeera and UPI
Ashley Strickland / CNN:
Mysterious repeating fast radio burst traced to nearby galaxy — (CNN)Astronomers have traced the signal of an enigmatic repeating fast radio burst for only the second time — and it's in a spiral galaxy similar to our own, not so far away. — Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are millisecond-long bursts of radio waves in space.
Discussion:
ScienceAlert and UPI
Joshua Rhett Miller / New York Post:
Muslim religious leader in Texas charged with sex crimes against four children — A well-known Islamic religious leader in Texas has been busted for sexually assaulting four children — though authorities believe he's victimized others. — Mohamed Omar Ali, a 59-year-old Somali national …
Nathaniel Rakich / FiveThirtyEight:
Trump Is The Most Unpopular President Since Ford To Run For Reelection — Now that the 2020 election has gone from “next year” to “this year,” it's worth taking a step back and asking a question that we first posed in early 2017: How popular is Donald Trump?
Discussion:
Raw Story and Alternet.org
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
Ivanka Trump's CES keynote address sparks backlash — Some critics say there are women with more technical experience who are better qualified to speak at the annual technology conference — LAS VEGAS — Ivanka Trump may face an icy reception today at one of the world's largest technology conferences …
David Krayden / The Daily Caller:
Fox News's Tucker Carlson: In San Francisco, ‘Civilization Itself Is Coming Apart’ — Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson described San Francisco as a place where “civilization itself is coming apart.” — “The reality of that city we discovered when we spent …
Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Bernie Sanders can unify Democrats and beat Trump in 2020 — The first in a Vox series making the best case for each of the top Democratic contenders. … The case for Bernie Sanders is that he is the unity candidate. — The Vermont senator is unique in combining an authentic …
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Ball of Confusion — As noted below, in the broadest sense we know why President Trump ordered the assassination of Soleimani: it was an attempt to dominate a weaker power by dramatically escalating a simmering conflict. This squares with how states act and it squares with President Trump's personality.
Pete Buttigieg / YouTube:
Windshield … To stay connected with the campaign: — About Pete: — Pete Buttigieg is a husband, Afghanistan veteran, and the Mayor of his hometown, South Bend, Indiana. — Pete is running for president because this is a now or never moment for our nation.
Discussion:
CNN, The Daily Caller and The Hill
Heather Long / Washington Post:
Every American family basically pays an $8,000 ‘poll tax’ under the U.S. health system, top economists say — SAN DIEGO — America's sky-high health-care costs are so far above what people pay in other countries that they are the equivalent of a hefty tax, Princeton University economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton say.
Discussion:
Mother Jones and Common Dreams