memeorandum @ 12:05 PM ET, December 10, 2017

12:05 PM ET, December 10, 2017

Top Items:

Louis Nelson / Politico:

Shelby: My state of Alabama ‘deserves better’ than Moore — Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby said Sunday that his home state “deserves better” than to be represented by Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, the former chief justice of the state's Supreme Court who has been accused of sexual misconduct …

Amy Davidson Sorkin / New Yorker:

Donald Trump, Roy Moore, and the Degradation of the G.O.P. — In less than a year, the President, with help from the Alabama Senate candidate, has so damaged the Party that it may never recover. — When Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House spokeswoman, was explaining last week …

Maegan Vazquez / CNN:

Alabama Sen. Shelby: 'I couldn't vote for Roy Moore' — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)Sen. Richard Shelby says he wants a Republican elected to the Senate on Tuesday to represent Alabama, but that he didn't vote for GOP candidate Roy Moore in the special election.

Discussion: New York Times

Kim Chandler / Associated Press:

Most Alabama GOP leaders say they are voting for Roy Moore — MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Most Republican leaders in Alabama say they plan to vote for Roy Moore on Tuesday, despite sexual misconduct allegations against the former judge that have prompted others around the country to say he should never be allowed to join the U.S. Senate.

Discussion: New York Magazine

New York Times:
Alabama, Despite History of Unruly Politics, Has ‘Never Seen Anything Like This’

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico and Denver Post

Brian Lyman / The Montgomery Advertiser:
Days before election, Roy Moore disappears from campaign trail

Discussion: Raw Story

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Trump to cut robocall for Moore

Discussion: ABC News, The Daily Beast, ThinkProgress, RedState, KTLA and Axios

Washington Post:
Bitter Senate race tests Alabama's image in the country — and at home

Discussion: Politico and ABC News

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
In Alabama, no good outcomes for the Republican Party

Discussion: Politico and The Daily Beast

Doyle McManus / Los Angeles Times:

Op-Ed The campaign to delegitimize the Russia probe is well under way — Sean Hannity interviews Former White House strategist Steve Bannon on the set of Fox News Channel's Hannity in New York on Oct. 9. (Craig Ruttle / Associated Press) — Some of President Trump's biggest fans …

Discussion: Sputnik International

Gregg Jarrett / Fox News:

Robert Mueller and his politically biased team of prosecutors need to go — Special Counsel Robert Mueller has sabotaged his own investigation of Russian meddling into the 2016 election. He has only himself to blame for ruining what could have been a credible probe.

The Guardian:
A battle for public opinion: Trump goes to war over Mueller and Russia

Discussion: TVNewser, ThinkProgress and Outside the Beltway

Fox News:

Lindsey Vonn suffers back injury in World Cup race after Trump comments — American skiing star Lindsey Vonn has withdrawn from her Sunday events at the World Cup in Switzerland after suffering a back injury during a super-G race on Saturday. — The injury occurred two days …

Discussion: IJR, USA Today, Althouse and Raw Story

Taryn Tarrant-Cornish / Daily Express:

Horror as ‘20 masked men attack synagogue with petrol bombs’ — A SYNAGOGUE was attacked by around 20 masked men while hosting a youth party in Gothenburg, Sweden, local media have reported. — Police arrived at the scene, where Jewish students had taken refuge in the basement.

New York Times:
Protests in Lebanon Near U.S. Embassy After Trump's Jerusalem Decision

Discussion: CNN and The Daily Caller

Brooke Seipel / The Hill:
Burning objects thrown at synagogue in Sweden: reports

Discussion: Fox News, The Week, CNN, Raw Story and Voice of Europe

Emily Yoffe / Politico:

Why the #MeToo Moment Should Be Ready for a Backlash — In the final five years of his presidency Barack Obama's administration undertook a worthy and bold challenge: The elimination of sexual assault on campuses. In fact, Obama's team had a much more ambitious goal in mind.

Discussion: Refinery29

New York Times:

Under Trump, E.P.A. Has Slowed Actions Against Polluters, and Put Limits on Enforcement Officers — EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio — The highway billboard at the entrance to town still displays a giant campaign photograph of President Trump, who handily won the election across industrial Ohio.

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Roadkill on Capitol Hill — WASHINGTON — Alan Simpson was appalled by the injustice of it all. — Back in 1991, during the incendiary Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings, the salty Republican senator from Wyoming was very concerned at the idea that a woman would wait many years …

Damian Paletta / Washington Post:

As tax plan gained steam, GOP lost focus on the middle class — The GOP tax plan on the cusp of becoming law diverges wildly from the promises President Trump and top advisers said they would deliver for the middle class — an evolution that shows how traditional Republican orthodoxy swamped …

Discussion: Political Wire and AOL

Haley Britzky / Axios:

More women plan to run for Congress than ever before — As of December 7 there were 369 women running or planning to run for Congress in 2018, according to Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics, which would biggest group of women House candidates ever.

Discussion: Political Wire

Jack V. Date / ABC News:

Manafort and Gates discussed ‘press strategy’ after he left Trump's campaign, emails reveal — Newly unsealed court documents reveal August 2016 emails between former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his former deputy Rick Gates in the days after Manafort left the Trump campaign …

Discussion: Raw Story and Associated Press

Foreign Policy:

White House Names Trump Loyalist to Iran Policy Job at State Department — The Trump administration's pick for the Iran post will likely back a more aggressive stance. — The Trump administration plans to install a political appointee at the State Department to a key position managing policy …

Foreign Policy: U.S. Diplomat's Resignation Signals Wider Exodus From State Department