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11:30 AM ET, December 18, 2014

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Politico:
Obama libre  —  The last five weeks of the president's year were better than almost all the rest.  —  If President Barack Obama's year ended in November, it would have been one of the worst of his presidency.  —  Good thing he had the last five weeks.  —  Story Continued Below
Discussion: Weekly Standard
RELATED:
Rich Lowry / Politico:
The Castros finally hit the jackpot  —  Even if you oppose the isolation of Cuba, this is not a good trade.  —  Candidate Barack Obama said that, as president, he would talk to anti-American dictators without precondition.  He didn't mention that he would also give them historic policy concessions without precondition.
Discussion: National Review
Lauren French / Politico:
How Republicans could stop Obama's Cuba play  —  Hill Republicans started making a to-do list immediately.  —  President Barack Obama's plan to normalize relations with Cuba has hit a familiar roadblock: Republicans on Capitol Hill.  —  Just hours after Obama announced that a prisoner swap …
Washington Post:
Obama gives the Castro regime in Cuba an undeserved bailout  —  IN RECENT months, the outlook for the Castro regime in Cuba was growing steadily darker.  The modest reforms it adopted in recent years to improve abysmal economic conditions had stalled, due to the regime's refusal to allow Cubans greater freedoms.
miamiherald:
A roll of the dice on Cuba  —  First things first: The release of Alan Gross, which this newspaper has called for practically from the moment he was detained five years ago, is indeed welcome news.  All Americans should all rejoice in his freedom.  “The best Hanukkah,” the overjoyed Mr. Gross told reporters.
Peter Schroeder / The Hill:
Can Obama lift Cuba embargo alone?
Associated Press:
Obama reignites political debate over Cuba
Discussion: ABC News and Associated Press
New York Times:
U.S. Said to Find North Korea Ordered Cyberattack on Sony  —  WASHINGTON — American officials have concluded that North Korea ordered the attacks on Sony Pictures's computers, a determination reached as the studio decided Wednesday to cancel the release of a movie comedy about the assassination …
RELATED:
Erik Hayden / Hollywood Reporter:
Texas Theater to Show ‘Team America’ In Place of ‘The Interview’  —  After Sony canceled the release of the North Korea assassination comedy The Interview, a Texas theater said it would swap the film with Paramount's 2004 film Team America: World Police for one free screening.
USA Today:
Official: North Korea behind Sony hack  —  Hackers who targeted Sony Pictures in a massive data breach are now threatening anyone who goes to see the new film ‘The Interview’ with a “9/11” style attack.  Carmike Cinemas is the first chain to cancel planned showings of the film in response.
Discussion: TMZ.com and National Review
NY Daily News:
Terrorists 1, Hollywood 0  —  Sony Pictures buckles to faceless …
Discussion: Balloon Juice
Mike Fleming / Deadline:
North Korea-Based Thriller With Gore Verbinski And Steve Carell Canceled
Ted Bridis / Associated Press:
Sony emails show a studio ripe for hacking
Reuters:
Sony cancels North Korea movie in apparent win for Pyongyang hackers
Associated Press:
AP source: North Korea linked to Sony hacking
NBC News:
N. Korean Hack on Sony Won't Go ‘Unanswered’: U.S. Official
Dennis Romero / LA Weekly:
Killing The Interview Opens Studios to Terrorist Manipulation
Robert Schmidt / Bloomberg Politics:
Lawrence Summers' $28 Million Payday, Courtesy of Elizabeth Warren  —  Senator Elizabeth Warren famously declared “there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own.”  —  That truism presumably includes President Barack Obama's former economic chief Lawrence Summers …
Discussion: Booman Tribune
USA Today:
Putin: West wants to put Russian bear ‘on a chain’  —  The collapse in Russia's rouble slows for a while, but fears of how the crisis will hit not only Moscow but its trade partners are deepening.  As Ciara Lee reports, the repercussions could be felt far and wide.  Video provided by Reuters Newslook
Discussion: kyivpost.com
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Russian President Vladimir Putin Seeks to Reassure on Economy  —  In Annual News Conference, Putin Says Economic Troubles Will Pass in Less Than Two Years; Strikes Harsh Tone on Tensions With West  —  MOSCOW—President Vladimir Putin sought to reassure Russians on Thursday …
Discussion: kyivpost.com
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Obama's Had a Helluva Good Month Since the Midterms  —  So how have things been going for our bored, exhausted, and disengaged president?  He's been acting pretty enthusiastic, energized, and absorbed with his job, I'd say.  Let us count the things he's done since the November 4th midterm elections:
Joe Arnold / WHAS-TV:
Grimes pledges legal challenge if Paul attempts simultaneous races  —  Alison Lundergan Grimes says she will challenge Senator Rand Paul if he tries to get on the ballot for both Senate re-election and president  —  FRANKFORT, Ky. (WHAS11) — Six weeks after she lost her own bid for the U-S Senate …
CNN:
Officials: Boko Haram kidnaps 185 women and children, kills 32 people  —  Kano, Nigeria (CNN) — Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped at least 185 women and children, and killed 32 people in a raid in northeastern Nigeria this week, local officials and residents said.
Megan Murphy / Financial Times:
Jeb Bush's web of interests face scrutiny as he ‘explores’ presidential bid  —  When Jeb Bush announced on Tuesday that he would “actively explore” a 2016 presidential bid, he jumped to the front of a long queue of Republican contenders that had been waiting to see whether the former Florida governor would enter the fray.
RELATED:
Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:   Jeb Bush Paid By Bank That Violated Cuba Sanctions
Nick Hanauer / The Hill:
Give Americans the overtime pay they've earned  —  Progressives are angry at the president for caving in to Republicans on the CRomnibus budget bill, and rightly so—the rollback of post-Great Recession regulations on financial derivatives is simply inexcusable.
Discussion: Hullabaloo
 
 
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 More Items: 
Harold Meyerson / Washington Post:
Harold Meyerson: Democrats need Elizabeth Warren's brand of populism
Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
A year of transformation for The New York Times
The Hill:
Historically unproductive Congress ends
Noah Rothman / Hot Air:
It's official: GOP will have biggest House majority since before the New Deal
Discussion: Ed Driscoll
Tim Alberta / National Journal:
Return of the Kingmaker: Jim DeMint Is Getting Back in the Game
Discussion: Political Wire
Daily Mail:
Time to lay off the doughnuts! Study reveals cops are the most obese workers in America
Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Executions, new death sentences continue to fall
 Earlier Items: 
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Did Ted Cruz really bungle the lame-duck session for Republicans?
Discussion: The Huffington Post
Josh Lederman / Associated Press:
Obama on Hanukkah says small acts can make miracles
Hadas Gold / Politico:
DCCC list-builds off Stephen Colbert
Sarah Wheaton / Politico:
Vermont bails on single-payer health care
Discussion: Hot Air and Viking Pundit
Nick Anderson / Washington Post:
Johns Hopkins mistakenly says ‘yes’ to hundreds of rejected applicants