WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, whose experience and stability were widely seen as a balance to an unpredictable president, resigned on Thursday in protest of President Trump’s decision to withdraw 2,000 American troops from Syria. Mr. Trump announced Mr. Mattis’s resignation in two tweets Thursday evening, and said the retired four-star Marine general turned Pentagon chief will leave at the end of February. Officials said Mr. Mattis went to the White House on Thursday afternoon in a last attempt to convince Mr. Trump to keep American troops in Syria, where they have been fighting the Islamic State. He was rebuffed, and told the president that he was resigning as a result. Hours later, the Pentagon released Mr. Mattis’s resignation letter, in which he implicitly criticized his commander in chief. Mr. Mattis said in the letter that he believes that the president deserves a defense secretary who is more in tune with his worldview. Read More Here: https://nyti.ms/2QLHXkv

Taylor Tara Radio

Friday Political Wrap: Trump's Tirade, Mattis Resigns & A Government Shutdown?

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan saw it coming. The veteran jurist presiding over Michael Flynn’s sentencing had seen the filing by President Trump’s former national security adviser alleging that he was essentially tricked into lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia. No doubt, he had seen Trump’s false claim that the FBI concluded that Flynn “didn’t lie,” yet “tremendous pressure” was being put on him. And Sullivan likely had seen all the chatter in the Fox News echo chamber about the alleged “perjury trap” special counsel Robert S. Mueller III had set for Flynn — an attempt to discredit the entire investigation. If the judge accepted the recommendation from prosecutors not to sentence Flynn to prison time because of his cooperation, Flynn would be free to leave the courthouse and hold a news conference claiming he had been set up. Read More Here: https://wapo.st/2QCu3RA

Mueller Marches On: MSNBC Legal Analyst Glenn Kirschner Joins Us.

A group of MSNBC political analysts feared President Donald Trump has become a “cornered badger” on political issues looming on the horizon. During a Sunday discussion about the “wall,” the panel recalled the president’s “pride” in shutting down the U.S. government to score his $5 billion. “So, what we’ve been hearing is rumors that maybe the president is going to accept to kick the can down the road and deal with the border wall funding in January,” claimed Victoria DeFrancesco, University of Texas professor. “The idea of a wall really isn’t necessary, in terms of quote/unquote fixing immigration. What’s needed is to rethink our asylum policy, how we can make it more efficient, how we did get more judges down there to hear the asylum cases, but the border wall is a waste of money. Trump knows it, but he also said he would do it. He’s going to have to find a way to wiggle out of it. If I were a betting woman, I would think he’ll kick it to January and keep kicking it down the road.” MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton noted that undocumented immigrants crossing the border is actually down, but “you wouldn’t know it from the hysteria” doled out by the president on Twitter. Democratic strategist Emily Tisch Sussman was in emphatic agreement. Read More Here: https://www.rawstory.com/2018/12/hes-thrashing-going-msnbc-analysts-blast-trump-tantrum-wall-funding/

Getting The Raw Story: Writer Sarah Burris is Our Guest

The guilty plea Thursday of a woman accused of infiltrating the National Rifle Association on behalf of the Russian government has thrust the powerful conservative group into an uncomfortable spotlight as the organization appears to be facing declining donations and signs its fearsome political influence may be waning. Russian gun rights activist Maria Butina pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of Russia, admitting that she worked for more than two years to forge relationships with conservative activists and leading Republicans in the United States. One of Butina’s main targets was the NRA — a group she identified in a 2015 memo as an organization that “had influence over” the Republican Party, according to court filings. Her relationships with the group, she wrote, could be used as the groundwork for an unofficial channel of communication to the next presidential administration. Read More Here: https://wapo.st/2LfFZmf

Friday Political Wrap: Cohen is Sentenced, Maria Butina Pleads Guilty & Adderall

Cathleen London, MD received her medical degree from Yale University and did her residency in Family Medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University. She received her undergraduate degree from Brown University and completed her pre-medical requirements at Stanford University. Prior to moving to Maine, she was an Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell School of Medicine in New York City for 5 years and before that had her own practice in Brookline, MA and was a Clinical Instructor for both Boston University and Tufts University schools of medicine. She has worked with Doctors for America serving as State Director. She is a member of PNHP. She currently owns and operates a medical practice in Milbridge, Maine where she treats over 1,000 patients. She has appeared on Fox News, MSNBC, HLN, NBC, local Fox, ABC as a medical contributor on numerous occasions and is currently the Women’s Delegate from Maine to the American Academy of Family Physicians. She is also on the Legislative Commission and Public Health Commission of the Maine Medical Association and serves on the Maine Democratic State Committee. Dr. London has two sons and four rescue dogs. She runs, bikes and swims in her free time.  Read More Here: https://www.doctorcatlondonforme.com/

Challenging Susan Collins in 2020: Dr Cathleen London

When federal prosecutors recommended a substantial prison term for President Trump’s former lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, they linked Mr. Trump to the crimes Mr. Cohen had committed in connection with the 2016 presidential campaign. What the prosecutors did not say in Mr. Cohen’s sentencing memorandum filed on Friday, however, is that they have continued to scrutinize what other executives in the president’s family business may have known about those crimes, which involved hush-money payments to two women who had said they had affairs with Mr. Trump. After Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty in August to breaking campaign finance laws and other crimes — he will be sentenced on Wednesday — the federal prosecutors in Manhattan shifted their attention to what role, if any, Trump Organization executives played in the campaign finance violations, according to people briefed on the matter. Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s self-described fixer, has provided assistance in that inquiry, which is separate from the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Read More: https://nyti.ms/2L6QF6S

Trumplandia in Shambles & Shackles: With Special Guest Cheri Jacobus

Democrat Dan McCready withdrew his concession Thursday in a North Carolina congressional race that has been roiled by accusations of fraud. In an interview with TV station WSOC, McCready also called on Republican rival Mark Harris “to tell the American people exactly what he knew and when he knew it.” North Carolina election officials are investigating whether an operative working on behalf of Harris illegally collected incomplete ballots from voters in the state’s 9th District. The state probe has delayed the certification of Harris’s race, and state officials could decide to call for a new election. Harris and McCready are separated by 905 votes, according to unofficial returns. McCready had conceded defeat Nov. 7, about 24 hours after the polls had closed and long after Harris had declared victory. Read More Here: https://wapo.st/2KZPPIU

Friday Political Wrap: NC Congressional Fraud, Manafort, Cohen, & Mueller Time

Mueller is about to have his say -- in a big way (CNN)Throughout his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, special counsel Robert Mueller has imposed on his team an ironclad rule: nobody leaks and nobody speaks -- out of court, that is. But when it comes to official court filings -- indictments, plea agreements, sentencing memos -- Mueller has been loquacious and at times downright chatty, disclosing in compelling narrative fashion crucial details about his investigation and tantalizing clues about what might happen next. Read More Here: https://cnn.it/2KVR0Jc

Mueller & More with CNN’s Elie Honig

WASHINGTON — Just weeks after a bitterly fought election swept Democrats into power in Congress, a Republican president known for reaching across the aisle passed away. Leaders of both parties paid tribute to his civility and bipartisanship, saying the country could use more of that. And then within days of the burial, they went back to their partisan wars. That was December 2006 and the president was Gerald R. Ford, but Washington seems almost certain to be repeating history now that George Bush has died. The political system has hit pause to honor a president of another era for being everything it no longer is. The truce that essentially took effect over the weekend only underscores how much Washington and the nation have changed since Mr. Bush’s days. The kind of compromises that Mr. Bush cut with a Democratic Congress on deficits, taxes, civil rights and the environment during his four years in office seem almost impossible to imagine in the era of President Trump and the “resistance.” Read More Here: https://nyti.ms/2KRjmnS

The Week Ahead: President George Bush, Attacking The Fed, The Khashoggi Killing

Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, admitted in court on Thursday that he had engaged in negotiations to build a tower in Moscow for Mr. Trump well into the 2016 presidential campaign, far later than previously known. Mr. Cohen said he discussed the status of the project with Mr. Trump on more than three occasions and briefed Mr. Trump’s family members about it. He also admitted he agreed to travel to Russia for meetings on the project. The revelations, which came as Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the project, were a startling turn in the special counsel’s investigation of Mr. Trump and his inner circle. Mr. Trump is referred to as “Individual 1” in the court documents. Mr. Cohen’s guilty plea comes at a particularly perilous time for Mr. Trump, whose presidency has been threatened by Mr. Cohen’s statements to investigators. Read More Here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/nyregion/michael-cohen-trump-russia-mueller.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Friday Political Wrap: Cohen Pleads Guilty, Trump Cancels Meeting With Putin

As a BlogHer Voice of the Year and Women's Media Center Progressive Women's Voice of 2018, Adrienne Lawrence is a gamechanger.  The award-winning host and attorney appears across TV and digital platforms discussing legal issues, inciting thought-provoking conversations, and putting her stamp on the hot topics of the day.  Adrienne often speaks on issues impacting women in society and in the workplace, including sexual harassment. She contributes to the Ms. Magazine Blog as a writer and legal analyst, and has appeared on The Young Turks.  Also passionate about sports, Adrienne is the Madden NFL sideline reporter for EASports, where she shares intriguing stories about eSports' competitors and reaches millions of viewers via ESPN, Twitch, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. In the sports arena, you may have seen her on ESPN's SportsCenter, ESPN2 and ESPNRadio shows entertaining and informing audiences, or read her articles for ESPN.com, ESPNW and The Undefeated on issues arising at the intersection of sports and law. Read More Here: https://www.adriennejlawrence.com/

Host. Speaker. Attorney. Author in Progress. Adrienne Lawrence Joins Us

Global warming is now affecting the United States more than ever, and the risks of future disasters — from flooding along the coasts to crop failures in the Midwest — could pose a profound threat to Americans’ well-being. That’s the gist of Volume Two of the latest National Climate Assessment, a 1,656-page report issued on Friday that explores both the current and future impacts of climate change. The scientific report, which comes out every four years as mandated by Congress, was produced by 13 federal agencies and released by the Trump administration. This year’s report contains many of the same findings cited in the previous National Climate Assessment, published in 2014. Temperatures are still going up, and the odds of dangers such as wildfires in the West continue to increase. But reflecting some of the impacts that have been felt across the country in the past four years, some of the report’s emphasis has changed. Read More: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/23/climate/highlights-climate-assessment.html

Distilling The National Climate Assessment With Our Guest Elena Christopoulos

Twitter has sharply escalated its battle against fake and suspicious accounts, suspending more than 1 million a day in recent months, a major shift to lessen the flow of disinformation on the platform, according to data obtained by The Washington Post. The rate of account suspensions, which Twitter confirmed to The Post, has more than doubled since October, when the company revealed under congressional pressure how Russia used fake accounts to interfere in the U.S. presidential election. Twitter suspended more than 70 million accounts in May and June, and the pace has continued in July, according to the data. The aggressive removal of unwanted accounts may result in a rare decline in the number of monthly users in the second quarter, which ended June 30, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak. Twitter declined to comment on a possible decline in its user base. Twitter’s growing campaign against bots and trolls?—?coming despite the risk to the company’s user growth?—?is part of the continuing fallout from Russia’s disinformation offensive during the 2016 presidential campaign, when a St. Petersburg-based troll factory was able to use some of America’s most prominent technology platforms to deceive voters on a mass scale to exacerbate social and political tensions. The extent of account suspensions, which has not previously been reported, is one of several recent moves by Twitter to limit the influence of people it says are abusing its platform. The changes, which were the subject of internal debate, reflect a philosophical shift for Twitter. Its executives long resisted policing misbehavior more aggressively, for a time even referring to themselves as “the free speech wing of the free speech party.” Courtesy https://wapo.st/2LRpwDw

Best Of Taylor Tara Radio: Twitter Do's & Don'ts: Staying Sane On Social Media

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, in an unmistakable show of political strength Tuesday, cut a deal to sideline a potential challenger, won new confidence from her party’s resurgent left flank and earned high praise from her party’s most influential figure, former president Barack Obama. Together, the developments buoyed Pelosi as she fights to repel a small group of challengers inside the Democratic caucus who want to force a leadership shake-up after 16 years with the Californian at the helm. One of them was Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio), who left Washington last week planning to take the Thanksgiving holiday to ponder a run against Pelosi for speaker. But her dalliance ended Tuesday, when Fudge said she would support Pelosi after the minority leader agreed to make Fudge chairman of a resurrected subcommittee on elections and pledged that “the most loyal voting bloc in the Democratic Party, black women, will have a seat at the decision-making table.”

Ivanka’s Emails, Rep. Marcia L. Fudge Endorses Pelosi, & Thanksgiving

It’s been 30 years since American television viewers got their first look at? The Kids in the Hall. Now, a new authorized biography by Paul Myers, ?The Kids in the Hall: One Dumb Guy,?offers an inside look at the crossdressing sketch comedians, chronicling their early years in the Toronto comedy scene, their trailblazing?TV series and subsequent reunions on film and stage. After the troupe’s self-titled pilot premiered on HBO in October 1988, Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson — five winsome Canadian guys who shared a devilish sense of humor — began a five-season run on the premium cable channel and CBS from 1989 to 1994.

Two Dumb Guys: Talking Trump & Kids in the Hall with Paul Myers

Two of the biggest mouths on Twitter, writers Jason Taylor & Tara Dublin, lead a LIVE political roundtable discussion with call-in guests while interacting with fans online.