memeorandum: Bail reform causes a big drop - 100 inmates - in Syracuse jail. Reason might surprise you (Douglass Dowty/Syracuse Post-Standard)

10:10 PM ET, January 11, 2020

Top Items:

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:

How to dump Trump: Rick Wilson on Running Against the Devil — He was a Republican ad man but now he's a bestselling author out to bring down a president. He says Democrats must listen — Democratic voters should read Rick Wilson's new book, he says, and heed his advice about how to beat Donald Trump.

Discussion: Raw Story

Natasha Korecki / Politico:

Obama campaign guru: Trump would love to run against Bernie — Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager is warning that Democrats would struggle in a general election against Donald Trump if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. — In an interview with POLITICO, Jim Messina predicted that Trump …

Lisa Lerer / New York Times:

Michael Bloomberg Is Open to Spending $1 Billion to Defeat Trump — The Democratic presidential candidate said he would spend big even if the nominee was someone he had sharp differences with, like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. — SAN MARCOS, Texas — Michael R. Bloomberg on Saturday …

Discussion: Townhall

Washington Post:
Biden holds wide lead among black voters in Democratic presidential race, Post-Ipsos poll finds

Discussion: NBC News, Redstate, Associated Press, Ipsos, Slate, The Hill, Politico, Breitbart, The Week, ABC News, Mediaite, CNN, The Guardian and Axios

New York Times: Sanders and Biden Look for Dominance in Early States

Kate Sullivan / CNN:
Podium order announced for CNN/Des Moines Register Democratic presidential debate

Discussion: Mediaite

Arlette Saenz / CNN:
Jill Biden responds to Sanders attack on her husband: 'I don't like it that Democrats attack other Democrats'

Discussion: Townhall

Sarah Ferris / Politico:
Endangered Democrats sound the alarm on Bernie and Warren

Discussion: Salt Lake Tribune and New York Post

New York Times:

Furor in Iran and Abroad After Tehran Admits Downing Ukrainian Jetliner — Ukrainian officials suggest Iran would not have admitted responsibility if investigators from Ukraine had not found missile debris in the crash wreckage. — KYIV, Ukraine — Iran's stunning admission …

Discussion: CNN, NBC News, Breitbart, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, The Hill, Common Dreams and Redstate

GOV.UK:

Arrest of Ambassador to Iran: Foreign Secretary statement — The British Ambassador to Iran was briefly detained by Iranian authorities on 11 January. — Foreign & Commonwealth Office and The Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP — Following the brief detention of Her Majesty's Ambassador to Iran Rob Macaire …

Discussion: Tasnim News Agency, Bloomberg, HuffPost and RT Arabic

Dave Burke / Mirror.co.uk:
British ambassador Robert Macaire arrested in Iran accused of inciting protests

Discussion: Sky News and Breitbart

Agence France-Presse:

Queen, Prince Harry, senior royals set for crisis meeting — London (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II will host a showdown meeting with Prince Harry on Monday in an attempt to solve the crisis triggered by his bombshell announcement that he and wife Meghan were stepping back from the royal frontline.

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Gone With the Windsors — Will Harry and Meghan have to move into an English basement? — I never had much use for the queen. — Maybe it's the Irish in me. As Winston Churchill said: “We've always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English.” — Or maybe it's the American in me.

Discussion: Breitbart, Spectator USA and Macleans.ca

Dan Bilefsky / New York Times:
Could ‘Megxit’ Be a Royal Fairy Tale for Canada?

Discussion: Daily Mail and VICE

Jacque Talbot / Daily Express: Michelle and Barack Obama advising ‘friends’ Harry and Meghan on life outside Royal Family

CNN:

First on CNN: More than a dozen Saudi servicemen to be expelled from US after review of December shooting at Naval Air Station — (CNN)More than a dozen Saudi servicemen training at US military installations will be expelled from the United States after a review that followed the deadly shooting …

Andrew Simpson / Political Tribune:

Mother Of Marine Claimed Son Told Her Fox News Plays On Every TV On Base, Not Allowed To Change The Channel — This is horrifying. … After multiple reports emerged recently showing Donald Trump's popularity among members of the military falling precipitously, it was only a matter …

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Warns Iraq It Risks Losing Access to Key Bank Account If Troops Told to Leave — Loss of access to New York Fed account, where international oil sale revenue is kept, could creating cash crunch in Iraq's financial system — The Trump administration warned Iraq this week …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, CNBC, The Week, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, New York Post, Redstate and Washington Post

Associated Press:

Iran standoff shines spotlight on new Trump security adviser — The contrasts with O'Brien's predecessor along the way — in secret consultations at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, in the Oval Office and in basement deliberations in the White House Situation Room — could not have been more stark.

Richard Luscombe / The Guardian:
John Bolton impeachment testimony will be blocked, Donald Trump says

Discussion: Slate, PJ Media Home, Breitbart, CNN, Contemptor and Blue Delaware

Axios: Trump's national security adviser claims Iran more likely to negotiate now

Danica Coto / Associated Press:

Magnitude 5.9 shock again rocks quake-stunned Puerto Rico — SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A magnitude 5.9 quake shook Puerto Rico on Saturday, causing millions of dollars of damage along the island's southern coast, where previous recent quakes have toppled homes and schools.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Root

Stamford Advocate: Puerto Rico earthquake aftershocks again rattle coastline as residents deal with disaster after disaster

Douglass Dowty / Syracuse Post-Standard:

Bail reform causes a big drop - 100 inmates - in Syracuse jail. Reason might surprise you — Syracuse, NY — Onondaga County's jail population dropped by at least 100 inmates — a 20 percent decrease — as a result of the state's controversial bail reform law, according to a Syracuse.com |

Discussion: New York Post

Mike Allen / Axios:

Trump's new danger: Witnesses — President Trump and other Republicans allies sound confident about his impeachment trial, but some key Republican senators plan to push for witnesses, which could result in a new chance for Democrats to sway public opinion. — The big picture …

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:

Ex-DOJ Official Picked To Assist FISA Reform Was Ardent Defender Of FBI's Surveillance Of Carter Page — Former DOJ official David Kris was picked Friday to oversee the FBI's reforms of its surveillance procedures in the wake of a damning inspector general's report.

Discussion: Cernovich and Wall Street Journal

Hlr / Harvard Law Review:

Pack the Union: A Proposal to Admit New States for the Purpose of Amending the Constitution to Ensure Equal Representation — For most of the twenty-first century, the world's oldest surviving democracy has been led by a chief executive who received fewer votes than his opponent in an election for the position.1

Discussion: Balkinization

Thomas Urbain / Yahoo News:

American men let it all out at new support groups — Two co-founders of men's support group Evryman, Owen Marcus (R)) and Dan Doty — Sheffield (United States) (AFP) - In a chalet in the Massachusetts countryside, tears run down Lucas Krump's cheeks as he pours his heart out at one of a new kind …

Quartz:

These are the political ads Cambridge Analytica designed for you — The New Propaganda — What are the new weapons in the arsenal of influence? — Cambridge Analytica once bragged of its ability to target voters with ads based on their psychological traits in order to manipulate them better.

New York Times:

Seven Days in January: How the U.S. and Iran Approached the Brink of War — The story of that week, and the secret planning in the months preceding it, ranks as the most perilous chapter so far in President Trump's three years in office. — WASHINGTON — The plane was late and the kill team was worried.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and American Thinker

Alan M. Dershowitz / Gatestone Institute:

Yale Psychiatrist Issues Diagnosis of “Psychotic” for Defending Constitutional Rights — Dr. Bandy Lee is literally claiming that we are mentally ill and our views should be considered symptoms of our illness, rather than as legitimate ideas. — Publicly offering “professional opinions” …

Discussion: Raw Story and Breitbart

Claire Galofaro / Associated Press:

On the brink: Swing county tense as Trump tangles with Iran — MONROE, Mich. (AP) — He flipped anxiously between news stations, bracing for an announcement of bombs falling and troops boarding planes destined for the Middle East. It was a nightmare he hoped he would never see again.