Bolton's Hawkish Syria Plan Backfired, Pushing Trump to Get Out  —  The national security adviser expanded U.S. goals in Syria to challenge Iran.  But Trump wasn't on board, senior officials say, and Turkey took an opportunity to push the U.S. out.  —  A fateful decision by national security …

Trump lashed out at Whitaker after explosive Cohen revelations  —  Cohen says he lied about project in Moscow  —  Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump has at least twice in the past few weeks vented to his acting attorney general, angered by federal prosecutors who referenced …

Supreme Court denies Trump administration request to immediately enforce new asylum rules  —  The Supreme Court on Friday denied the Trump administration's request that it be allowed to immediately enforce a new policy of denying asylum to those who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border …

'He takes no ownership — that's just Trump': President eschews responsibility for a shutdown he once craved  —  The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights  —  In 2014, Donald Trump sued to have his name taken off a pair of Atlantic City casinos that he built three decades earlier and had gone bankrupt.

Mick Mulvaney in 2015: Trump's views on border wall ‘simplistic,’ ‘absurd and almost childish’  —  (CNN)Incoming White House acting-chief of staff Mick Mulvaney once called President Donald Trump's views on a border wall and immigration “simplistic” and “absurd and almost childish.”

The budget breakdown of a 25-year-old who makes $100,000 a year and is excellent with money  —  Trevor Klee, he admits, is a “terrible employee.”  But he's great at working for himself — and at taking tests.  —  So the 25-year-old entrepreneur started a thriving business of his own.

What's Noticeably Missing from the Whitaker Nonrecusal Explanation  —  The Department of Justice issued a letter yesterday explaining why Matthew Whitaker has decided he won't recuse from superintending the Russia Investigation overseen by Special Counsel Robert Mueller …

Trump Discusses Firing Fed's Powell After Latest Rate Hike, Sources Say  — Advisers warn ousting Fed chairman would lead to market rout  — President's legal authority to remove Powell is unclear  —  President Donald Trump has discussed firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell …

How Russian Money Helped Save Trump's Business  —  After his financial disasters two decades ago, no U.S. bank would touch him.  Then foreign money began flowing in.  —  In the fall of 1992, after he cut a deal with U.S. banks to work off nearly a billion dollars in personal debt …

Bill Barr Just Argued Himself Out of a Job  —  His recent memo to President Trump seriously damages his credibility and raises questions about his fitness for the Justice Department's top position.  —  Mr. Hemel and Mr. Posner are professors of law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Billionaire megadonor Robert Mercer cuts back on support for GOP after being scrutinized for backing Trump  — Yet people close to Mercer say he's “disappeared” and he's no longer playing as big a role in supporting the Republican Party as he used to.  — “He's out,” said a former associate of Mercer.

Conservative Facts  —  The problem conservatism faces these days is that many of the loudest voices have decided to embrace the meanness while throwing away the facts. … D  —  ear Reader (including all you mole-rat monarchists),  —  One or two times a year I wake up in a Japanese family's living room …

As Markets Tumble, Tech Stocks Hit a Rare and Ominous Milestone  —  When it comes to the stock market, America's technology giants have become a harbinger of more pain to come.  —  If Facebook, Apple or Google looked shaky this year — as investors worried about growth, regulation or mismanagement — the rest of the market felt it.

Justice Alito, you owe President Obama an apology  —  The recent guilty plea by Maria Butina for her scheme to use Russian money to impact U.S. politics — including, potentially, part of the $30 million that the National Rifle Association spent to support President Trump's election …

GOP bill making it tougher to get proposals on ballot heads to Snyder  —  LANSING — Despite fierce opposition from Democrats and a wide variety of groups, Republicans in the Legislature gave final passage to a bill that will make it tougher to get enough signatures to get a proposal on the statewide ballot.

Glee in Russia Over Trump's Foreign Policy Largess  —  MOSCOW — A note of glee crept into Russian commentary and news coverage on Friday about the current turmoil in Washington around national security, with President Vladimir V. Putin seemingly checking off one item after another that he might have written on his wish list for Santa.

Michael Cohen discussed mysterious $1.8 million loan to pool boy that Jerry Falwell Jr and his wife befriended: report  —  Jerry Falwell Jr. confirmed that he loaned $1.8 million to a young pool attendant he and his wife had befriended while staying six years ago at a luxury hotel.

Build a Giant Escalator Over the Wall  —  $4,100 of $200.0M goal Raised by 223 people in 1 day  —  The wall is never going to be built but just in case it is we will build a series of giant escalators that are spaced out a half mile along the wall on either side and if that doesn't happen we'll …

Alice Walker, Answering Backlash, Praises Anti-Semitic Author as ‘Brave’  —  In a statement addressing the widespread outrage over her praise for a book with anti-Jewish overtones, the novelist Alice Walker called its author “brave enough to ask the questions others fear to ask” and denied that he was anti-Semitic.

Republicans are responsible for the Trump fiasco  —  Let's put aside for the moment the question of whether President Trump committed crimes in obtaining the presidency (conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws by hush-money payments or receipt of assistance from a foreign power) …