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8:50 PM ET, December 19, 2018

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Trump Considering Full Withdrawal of U.S. Troops From Syria  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump is considering pulling 2,000 United States ground troops out of Syria in a move that would seek to describe the four-year American-led war against the Islamic State as largely won, officials said Wednesday.
RELATED:
Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Trump undermines his entire national security team on Syria  —  On Monday, the U.S. special representative for Syria engagement publicly pledged that the U.S. commitment to Syria would not waiver.  The very next day, Trump reportedly decided to rapidly withdraw all U.S. troops there.
Washington Post:
Trump snubs Corker, as critics and allies alike lambaste Syria decision  —  President Trump on Wednesday delivered a parting snub to one of his biggest congressional critics, as even his Republican allies laid into administration officials for the White House's surprise announcement …
Dion Nissenbaum / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Military Preparing for a Full Withdrawal of Its Forces From Northeastern Syria
TASS:
US troops' withdrawal from Syria to create prospects for political solution, says diplomat
Discussion: Breaking Defense
Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:
BREAKING: John McCain Associate Gave Dossier To BuzzFeed  —  A longtime associate of late Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain provided a copy of the infamous Steele dossier to BuzzFeed News, according to an explosive court filing released Wednesday.  —  David Kramer, a former State Department official …
RELATED:
Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:
BuzzFeed News Has Won A Lawsuit Over Its Decision To Publish The Trump Dossier
Discussion: Townhall
Haley Britzky / Axios:
Judge sides with BuzzFeed in defamation lawsuit over Steele Dossier
Discussion: Politico and Deadline
emptywheel:
In Defense of Emmet Sullivan: Van Grack Suggested Mueller Did Review Whether Flynn's Behavior Amounted to Treason  —  I'd like to defend Judge Emmet Sullivan's intemperate mentions of unregistered foreign agents and treason in the Mike Flynn sentencing hearing yesterday.
RELATED:
Washington Post:   We were FBI agents. We want to know why Flynn lied to the bureau.
Michael Ledeen / Wall Street Journal:   The Real Story of the Flynn Hearing
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Testimony From Decades Ago Indicates Knowledge of Campaign-Finance Laws  —  Legal experts say that could be critical if investigators pursue a case over hush-money payments to women in the 2016 campaign  —  Sworn statements by President Trump dating back several decades indicate …
Discussion: Law & Crime and Political Wire
Joe Simonson / The Daily Caller:
The New York Times Had Special Access To Facebook Data Without Users' Knowledge  —  The New York Times was one of the companies that had access to private user data from Facebook, a key point brushed over in a report released by the paper.  —  While the Tuesday bombshell focused …
RELATED:
Washington Post:
D.C. attorney general sues Facebook over alleged privacy violations from Cambridge Analytica scandal
Washington Post:
Mueller seeks Roger Stone's testimony to House intelligence panel, suggesting special counsel is near end of probe of Trump adviser  —  Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III asked the House Intelligence Committee on Friday for an official transcript of Trump adviser Roger Stone's testimony …
Anna Massoglia / OpenSecrets.org:
Trump 2020 campaign used a shell company to pay ad buyers at the center of alleged illegal coordination scheme with NRA  —  The Trump campaign funneled money to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA by routing funds through a secretive LLC …
David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:
South Carolina GOP could scrap 2020 primary to protect Trump  —  The South Carolina Republican Party could cancel its marquee presidential nominating contest in 2020 in a move to protect President Trump from any primary challengers.  —  Drew McKissick, chairman of the South Carolina GOP …
RELATED:
David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:   Iowa GOP to hold its 2020 presidential caucus, Republican challengers to Trump welcome
Spiegel Online:
Answers to the Most Important Questions  —  In recent years, DER SPIEGEL published just under 60 articles by reporter and editor Claas Relotius.  He has now admitted that, in several instances, he either invented stories or distorted facts.  —  What happened?
RELATED:
Michele Anderson:
Der Spiegel journalist messed with the wrong small town
NBC News:
United States added to list of most dangerous countries for journalists for first time  —  At least 63 professional journalists were killed doing their jobs in 2018, a 15 percent increase over last year, Reporters Without Borders said.  —  PARIS — The murder of the Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi …
RELATED:
Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Trump sensitive to criticism about so-far failed border wall promise
Discussion: Hot Air
Jeff Cox / CNBC:
Fed hikes rate, lowers 2019 projection to 2 increases  — Central bank officials now forecast two hikes next year, down from three rate raises previously projected.  — However, the Fed continued to include in its statement that further ‘gradual’ rate hikes would be appropriate.
RELATED:
Heather Long / Washington Post:
Federal Reserve cuts its outlook for U.S. economy; stocks plunge
Discussion: The Week
ClickHole:
Legal Bombshell: Mueller Flipped Trump's Confidant's Lawyer's Friend's Associate Gorpman (Who Could Testify Against Bleemer!)  And It's Not Even Lunchtime  —  The day's just getting started, and the Trump house of cards is already crumbling.  This morning, Special Counsel Robert Mueller dropped …
Discussion: The Week
Eliza Dushku / BostonGlobe.com:
I worked at CBS.  I didn't want to be sexually harassed.  I was fired  —  The narrative propagated by CBS, actor Michael Weatherly, and writer-producer Glenn Gordon Caron is deceptive and in no way fits with how they treated me on the set of the television show “Bull” and retaliated …
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
New secret filing in case of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen placed in NY federal court vault  — A document that is sealed from public view was placed in a New York federal court vault in a criminal case against President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Discussion: Raw Story and The Root
Eliana Johnson / Politico:
‘It got a little heated’: GOP infighting almost killed criminal justice reform  —  Just hours before the Senate passed major reforms to the criminal justice system, Mike Lee and Tom Cotton were still bickering.  —  At a private party lunch, the two young Republican senators argued one last time …
Discussion: Splinter, Raw Story and Vox
RELATED:
Pete Kasperowicz / Washington Examiner:
Jeff Flake strikes out: Senate blocks his third push to protect Robert Mueller
Discussion: Axios
New York Times:
Illinois Attorney General Says Catholic Church Withheld Names of at Least 500 Accused Priests  —  A scathing report by the Illinois attorney general accused the Roman Catholic Church in the state of failing the victims of clergy sexual abuse by neglecting to investigate their allegations …
Discussion: The Week
Albert Burneko / The Concourse:
Visionary Brain Genius Elon Musk Has Invented The World's Worst And Most Expensive Subway  —  If you are anything like me, many times you have been riding the subway and have had the thought, “What is wrong with this dang subway is that it is not exponentially more expensive and slower than this.”
Carrie Levine / Center for Public Integrity:
Wilbur Ross said he divested a stock holding — but he didn't  —  Failure to dump BankUnited shares is the latest inaccurate statement by Trump's Commerce secretary.  —  U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross twice submitted sworn statements to ethics officials saying he had divested stock …
Zach Baron / GQ:
The Fresno Bee and the War on Local News  —  Local newspapers like The Fresno Bee have long been an endangered institution in America, and that was before California Rep. Devin Nunes began waging a public campaign against his hometown paper.  Zach Baron spent time with the reporters fighting …
Ime Archibong / Facebook:
Facts About Facebook's Messaging Partnerships  —  In the past day, we've been accused of disclosing people's private messages to partners without their knowledge.  That's not true - and we wanted to provide more facts about our messaging partnerships.  —  We worked closely with four partners …
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Why not indict the Trump Organization?  —  Legal scholars debate whether a sitting president can be indicted or only impeached.  If the latter, it's not clear given the statutes of limitation on most crimes whether he could ever be prosecuted for certain crimes.
Helena Andrews-Dyer / Washington Post:
Barack Obama dons a Santa hat and hands out gifts in surprise visit to D.C. children's hospital  —  Watch out, Santa: Former president Barack Obama is coming for your sleigh.  —  With a fluffy red cap and a bulging bag slung over his shoulder, Obama delivered presents (and more than a few gasps) …
Adolfo Flores / BuzzFeed News:
A 5-Month-Old Girl Has Been Hospitalized With Pneumonia After Being Detained By Border Patrol  —  A five-month-old girl who traveled with the migrant caravan has been hospitalized with pneumonia after spending five days inside freezing cells operated by border authorities in California, her mother said.
Discussion: Splinter
New York Times:
Secret Experiment in Alabama Senate Race Imitated Russian Tactics  —  As Russia's online election machinations came to light last year, a group of Democratic tech experts decided to try out similarly deceptive tactics in the fiercely contested Alabama Senate race, according to people familiar with the effort and a report on its results.
Discussion: Daily Wire
Sarah D / Los Angeles Times:
Democrats' House takeover could mean big changes for California water policy … Among the changes ahead when Democrats take control of the House in January, add this one: The switch will upend the balance of power in California's water wars.  —  In the two years since Republicans' 2016 election triumphs …
Rebecca Traister / The Cut:
The Imagined Threat of a Woman Who Governs Like a Man  —  On Tuesday, Politico posted a provocative, anonymously sourced piece claiming that New York congresswoman elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might be planning, in concert with Justice Democrats, to recruit a Democratic primary challenger …
Discussion: The Wrap, IJR and Observer
 
 
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 More Items: 
C.J. Ciaramella / Hit & Run:
Syracuse Cops Force Doctors to Probe a Man's Rectum for Drugs, Then Bill the Man For It
Avery Miller / ABC News:
Sen. Jeff Merkley: Family on board for a 2020 presidential run and he won't defer to Sen. Bernie Sanders
Discussion: Political Wire
Caleb Howe / Mediaite:
Eric Bolling Signs Long-Term Deal with Newly Formed Blaze Media
Laura Miller / Slate:
Why Alice Walker Got All That Space in the Times to Tout the Anti-Semitic Lizard People Guy
Rsadon / DCist:
D.C. Officially Hits 700,000 Residents For The First Time Since 1975
 Earlier Items: 
Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
President Trump is telling allies he wants Vice President Mike Pence to stay on the ticket in 2020
Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Political Wire
Francis Wilkinson / Bloomberg:
Trump Is Making Americans More Immigrant-Friendly
Karen K. Ho / Columbia Journalism Review:
Sinclair fires reporter as she battles cancer
Discussion: Wonkette and AOL
Bloomberg:
Markets Revolt as Steadfast Powell Downplays Recent Sell-Off
Seth Freed Wessler / New York Times:
Is Denaturalization the Next Front in the Trump Administration's War on Immigration?
Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
Federal judge strikes down Trump asylum rules for domestic and gang violence victims
New York Daily News:
Rudy Giuliani admits President Trump signed ‘bulls—t’ letter of intent for Moscow tower during 2016 campaign
 

 
From Techmeme:

New York Times:
A look at how Elon Musk uses X to support right-wing world leaders like Narendra Modi who could help secure advantages for his businesses

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has met with Hollywood talent representatives to propose a new performance-based compensation regime, as Amazon and Netflix work on similar plans

Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is finalizing a deal with OpenAI to use ChatGPT features in iOS 18; talks with Google to license Gemini are still ongoing

 
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