Top Items:
Washington Post:
'You're a bunch of dopes and babies': Inside Trump's stunning tirade against generals — There is no more sacred room for military officers than 2E924 of the Pentagon, a windowless and secure vault where the Joint Chiefs of Staff meet regularly to wrestle with classified matters.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, CNN, The Root, Task & Purpose, VICE, Little Green Footballs, Althouse, Balloon Juice, Raw Story, Eschaton and Contemptor
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Josh Wingrove / Bloomberg:
White House Considers Changes to Law Banning Overseas Bribes — Kudlow says administration has heard complaints from companies — Book says Trump clashed with Tillerson over bribery law — President Donald Trump's administration is weighing whether to seek changes to a 1977 law …
Leo Shane III / Military Times:
Trump blasted top military generals as ‘a bunch of dopes and babies’ according to new book — President Donald Trump blasted top military officials as “losers” and “a bunch of dopes and babies” for a lack of success in the recent wars during a tense meeting early in his presidency that set …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Political Wire and Raw Story
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Hannity previews Trump's final defense: So what if he's guilty? — It has long been obvious that Republicans would ultimately converge on this final defense of President Trump: Even if he did everything he's been accused of doing, and perhaps a lot more that we don't know about, it's absolutely fine!
Discussion:
Digby's Hullabaloo, Political Wire, NBC News, Raw Story, Fox News and HuffPost
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Washington Post:
Impeachment trial live updates: Trump expands legal team to include Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr and others — With his Senate trial to begin in earnest next week, President Trump has added some high-profile lawyers to his legal team, including Harvard emeritus law professor Alan Dershowitz …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, MSNBC, Raw Story, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Fox News, The Crime Report and Althouse
CNN:
Trump expected to add Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz to impeachment defense team — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump plans to add three seasoned lawyers to his impeachment legal defense team, people familiar with the matter said, including Kenneth Starr, the hard-charging prosecutor whose work led …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Daily Beast, Associated Press, Redstate, Power Line, New York Post, CNBC, VICE, Above the Law, Breitbart and The Daily Caller
NBC News:
Trump impeachment defense team expected to include Ken Starr, Alan Dershowitz
Trump impeachment defense team expected to include Ken Starr, Alan Dershowitz
Discussion:
CNN, The American Independent, Talking Points Memo, Slate, PJ Media Home and The Week
Politico:
Trump finally gets his TV-ready lawyers — thanks to impeachment
Trump finally gets his TV-ready lawyers — thanks to impeachment
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, Common Dreams, Daily Kos, UPI, Twitchy and Contemptor
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Trump impeachment team includes Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz
Trump impeachment team includes Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz
Discussion:
The Federalist, Townhall, National Review, Raw Story, Boston Herald, Roll Call and Florida Politics
Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Trump Legal Team to Add Starr and Dershowitz for Senate Trial
Trump Legal Team to Add Starr and Dershowitz for Senate Trial
Discussion:
Politico, Law & Crime and Fox News
Matthew Lee / Associated Press:
Pompeo breaks silence on alleged threats to envoy in Ukraine — WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday broke nearly 72 hours of silence over alleged surveillance and threats to the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, saying he believed the allegations would prove to be wrong …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and CNN
New York Times:
Joe Biden: Former vice president of the United States — The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. — This interview was conducted by the editorial board of The New York Times …
Discussion:
Politico, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon and East Bay Times, more at Mediagazer »
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Makena Kelly / The Verge:
Joe Biden wants to revoke Section 230
Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:
Meghan McCain: McSally 'Didn't Earn' the Senate Seat She Inherited From My Dad — “She didn't win that seat. I think that's important.” — The View's Meghan McCain took some shots at Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) on Friday after the lawmaker personally insulted a CNN reporter …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, CNN, Twitchy and Contemptor
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Sister Toldjah / Redstate:
‘Liberal Hacks’: Ted Cruz Dropkicks Chris Cuomo After His Nasty Attack Against Martha McSally
‘Liberal Hacks’: Ted Cruz Dropkicks Chris Cuomo After His Nasty Attack Against Martha McSally
David Harsanyi / New York Post:
CNN's bias is now beyond laughable
David Siders / Politico:
Democrats stop betting on a Biden implosion — DES MOINES — It took more than a year, but the Democratic presidential primary is finally coming to terms with the fact that Joe Biden isn't going to collapse before the first votes are cast. — If anything, the landscape is tilting more in his favor.
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Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:
Trump accuses Dems of using impeachment trial to hurt Sanders campaign
Trump accuses Dems of using impeachment trial to hurt Sanders campaign
Discussion:
The Hill
Variety:
Disney Drops Fox Name, Will Rebrand as 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures — The mouse has officially killed the fox. — In a move at once unsurprising and highly symbolic, the Walt Disney Company is dropping the “Fox” brand from the 21st Century Fox assets it acquired last March, Variety has learned.
Discussion:
The Week and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »
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Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Disney Drops Fox From 20th Century Name — The name change means consumers won't mistakenly connect the Disney-owned studio with Rupert Murdoch's polarizing Fox News. — LOS ANGELES — Sound the trumpets: 20th Century Fox, a name and klieg-lit logo that stretches back 85 years in Hollywood …
Kevin Baron / Defense One:
Eleven US Troops Were Injured in Jan. 8 Iran Missile Strike — The troops were medevaced this week to Germany and Kuwait to be treated for traumatic brain injury after experiencing concussion symptoms. — Nearly one dozen American troops were wounded in Iran's Jan. 8 missile attack on Iraq's al-Asad air base.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Task & Purpose, Politico, Raw Story, FOX31 Denver, PJ Media Home, UPI, The US Sun, The Week, CNN, Sputnik News, Radio Free Europe, JNS.org, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, fox8.com, Mediaite and New York Post
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Washington Post:
Black Americans deeply pessimistic about country under Trump, whom more than 8 in 10 describe as ‘a racist,’ Post-Ipsos poll finds — President Trump made a stark appeal to black Americans during the 2016 election when he asked, “What have you got to lose?”
Discussion:
The Hill, Raw Story, The American Independent and Axios
Joe Otterson / Variety:
Hillary Clinton Urges Dems to ‘Vote for the Person Most Likely to Win’ in 2020 — Hillary Clinton called for Americans to come to grips with “basic facts” of reality in an appearance at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Friday. — “We've got to somehow understand …
Tim Miller / The Bulwark:
The McSally Maneuver — At this point, the goal of impeachment is simply forcing Republican senators to admit the truth. — On Thursday, in the halls of Congress, Senator Martha McSally was asked a simple question by reporter Manu Raju: “Should the Senate consider new evidence as part of the impeachment trial?”
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, NBC News, Politico, CNSNews, CNN and POLITICUSUSA
FiveThirtyEight:
Trump May Be Even More Unpopular Than His Approval Rating Shows — Polls have consistently shown that President Trump is pretty unpopular, with only about 42 percent of the American public approving of the job he is doing as president. These numbers are much lower than what one might expect given the bustling economy.
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
William Barr Is Going After Trump's Enemies One by One — In May of 2016, shortly after Donald Trump had wrapped up his party's nomination, but when the notion he might win the presidency seemed remote at best, Benjamin Wittes wrote one of the very early essays attempting to analyze …
Discussion:
CNN, Raw Story, New York Times, Washington Post and JONATHAN TURLEY, more at Mediagazer »
Yaron Steinbuch / New York Post:
ISIS leader dubbed ‘Jabba the Jihadi’ captured in Iraq — He put the fat in fatwa. — A morbidly obese ISIS fanatic dubbed “Jabba the Jihadi” has been captured by Iraqi forces — who loaded him onto a flatbed truck because he couldn't fit in a police car.
Discussion:
Task & Purpose
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Bernie Sanders Fallacy — No, Virginia, there is no class war. — This is a golden age for “Theyism.” This is the belief that there is some malevolent, elite “they” out there and “they” are destroying life for the rest of us. — There is Donald Trump's culture-war Theyism …
Discussion:
BIG by Matt Stoller and No More Mister Nice Blog
CNN:
Exclusive: Evelyn Yang reveals she was sexually assaulted by her OB-GYN while pregnant — Washington (CNN)Evelyn Yang was reading letters that voters had sent to her husband, Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, and suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Discussion:
Gothamist, Politico, The Daily Caller, IJR, The Independent, NBC News, HuffPost, Fox News, New York Times, New York Post, Axios and The Daily Beast
BBC:
Brazil's culture minister fired after echoing Goebbels — Brazil's culture minister has been sacked after using parts of a speech by Nazi Germany's propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels in a video, sparking outrage. — In the clip posted on the ministry's Twitter page, Roberto Alvim detailed an award for “heroic” and “national” art.
Discussion:
New York Times, Bloomberg and Marginal REVOLUTION
Solomon Gustavo / Orlando Weekly:
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz accused of creating sex game with ‘points’ for sleeping with staff — In a Twitter clapback for the Capitol Hill ages, Florida state Rep. Chris Latvala accused Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz of designing a “game” with a point system for “sleeping with aides, interns, lobbyists, and married legislators.”
Discussion:
Fox News
NBC News:
History shows Chief Justice John Roberts could cast tie-breaking votes at Trump's impeachment trial — The chief justice has offered no clues about how he would approach the question of witnesses, but judges typically rule in favor of allowing relevant testimony.
Discussion:
MSNBC, New York Post and Los Angeles Times
Amy Walter / The Cook Political Report:
Checking in on Wisconsin — One of the hallmarks of the Trump presidency is that no matter how unpredictable and erratic he may be, opinions of him are incredibly stable. At this point in 2019, for example, the FiveThirtyEight tracker showed President Trump's job approval rating at 41percent …
YouTube:
We met Sen. Gardner at the airport to ask about Trump's Senate trial … We couldn't get a direct answer from Sen. Cory Gardner's (R-Colorado) office on whether he supports including witnesses in Pres. Donald Trump's Senate trial. So, when Gardner happened to end up on the same DC …
Gary Levin / USA Today:
HBO won't pursue second season of ‘Watchmen’ after creator bows out — PASADENA, Calif. - “Watchmen” won a loyal following and critical acclaim, as the superhero comics series was adapted into a politically relevant drama about race and the criminal justice system.
Discussion:
The Root, Mashable and Vanity Fair
Savannah Behrmann / USA Today:
Susan Collins surpasses Mitch McConnell as the most unpopular senator in a new poll — WASHINGTON - Republican Sen. Susan Collins has surpassed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as the most unpopular U.S. Senator, according to a new tracking poll. — The Maine Senator's net approval rating …
Discussion:
The Nation, Washington Post and Daily Kos