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Thursday's New York Times has a report on how the highly suspicious dossier alleging that Donald Trump was compromised by Russian intelligence agents came into existence. Among the other interesting revelations was that the dubious opposition research report was put together by the research firm Fusion GPS: The story began in September 2015, when a wealthy Republican donor who strongly opposed Mr. Trump put up the money to hire a Washington research firm run by former journalists, Fusion GPS, to compile a dossier about the real estate magnate's past scandals and weaknesses, according to a person familiar with the effort....

When reading the series of charts containing a weird labyrinth of rather tenuous connections published in the March/April edition of Politico Magazine, it is hard not to channel Inspector Jacques Clouseau trying to connect the unrelated dots to make the case that was always far off the mark. The Politico dots on the series of seven elaborate charts are chock full of oligarchs, both Russian and Ukrainian, a beauty contest, a mixed martial artist, a dossier that no one has seen, a couple of Russian energy giants not to be confused with a regular Russian oil company, and, to top it off,...

Woo! Hoo! In the nine special state legislative elections since the biggest upset in political history last November the Democrats have made no net gains. Aren't you impressed by their fantastic performance? No? Then you are probably normal. Yet Politico takes this fact in their March 5 article by Gabriel Debenedetti and acts like it is some sort of great victory portending great things for the Democrats in the future.  You won't know whether to laugh or yawn while reading Politico going into desperate feel-good overdrive hyping the Democrats based on incredibly thin gruel:

No information in the body . This is HILARIOUS!! I can't stop laughing at the CNN reporter's reactions to not getting invited to the "gaggle". Especially at the 13 min. mark.

Shortly after President Donald Trump vowed to “do something” about the “cunning” media who he once again called “the enemy” of the American people, CNN announced on air it had been barred from today’s White House briefing. CNN reports New York Times, Los Angles Times, and Politico also were told they were not on the White House list, for today’s off-camera briefing. Breitbart, Fox News, Washington Times, and One America News Network were among those given entry, CNN reported. Today’s off-camera gaggle is distinct from the on-camera White House Press Briefing led by Press Secretary Sean Spicer, which is not...

President Donald Trump reportedly isn't adjusting well to life in the White House after his first month in office. That's according to Axios' Mike Allen's latest newsletter, in which he writes that a Trump adviser told him the president is experiencing "cabin fever" in the White House. Trump is reportedly experiencing headaches and frustration that he can't spend his evenings dining at restaurants like he could around Trump Tower in his old neighborhood in New York City. Trump's campaign-style rally in Melbourne, Florida, on Saturday — during which he castigated the news media and mentioned a nonexistent incident in Sweden...

C-SPAN released a survey Friday that asked historians to rank past presidents and former-President Obama was voted the country's 12th best, right behind Woodrow Wilson and in front of James Monroe. Historians were asked to essentially grade the presidents on items like “public persuasion” and “moral authority.” Politico reported that Obama rated high in the category of “equal justice for all,” but received low marks for his relationship with Congress.

"As I said some time ago, Democrats hope to impeach Trump if they take the House in 2018: https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/11/levin-mark-my-words-the-dems-are-plotting-right-now-to-impeach-trump And then there is this yesterday: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/hugh-hewitt-trump-constitution-234137 Regardless, I am certain the Democrat/media/Hollywood/academia goal is to drive Trump from office."

The Clintons are already plotting their comeback, a new report details. Hillary Clinton is looking for a path to return to the political fray, as both she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, examine how the former secretary of state suffered the most surprising, epic political defeat in recent memory, Politico reports. “Despite the grave disappointment, resilience is in the Clintons’ DNA. So, while I certainly don’t expect to see them trying to assert their authority, I think there will be natural and welcome opportunities for them to engage,” said Mack McLarty, Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff.

See also: Ben Smith and the Memory Hole. Buzzfeed editor Ben Smith has had a rough week. As the man who decided to publish the “secret dossier” about Donald Trump’s alleged hijinks in Moscow, he has suffered the ultimate indignity of having even MSNBC call him out for publishing fake news. Earlier he sent a note to Buzzfeed staff explaining his decision. “Our presumption is to be transparent in our journalism and to share what we have with our readers,” he wrote. “We have always erred on the side of publishing.” If true, Ben Smith has come a long way...

Eeek! Official Washington is being traumatized by the tweets of Donald Trump.Politico has chronicled the pearl clutching concern by the inside the beltway types over Trump's tweets. It seems Trump speaking directly to the people via Twitter is causing a crises among politicians and lobbyists who just don't know how to handle it as reflected in the article title, Trump’s Twitter feed traumatizes Washington.

Donald Trump and his doctor claim he’s 6-foot-3, but his New York driver’s license says he’s actually an inch shorter. A copy of Trump’s license, obtained by POLITICO through an open-records request, lists the president-elect at 6-foot-2.

Fear not for the future of investigative journalism. Rest assured that the folks at the Politico have poured significant journalistic resources into such efforts, delving into many all-important matters relating to Donald Trump and his new administration. Why, on Friday, its Darren Samuelsohn reported that Donald Trump's 2012 driver's license says he's 6'2" inches tall, while The Donald and one of his doctors say that he's 6'3". Perhaps the left expects an impeachment panel to convene over this shocking discrepancy during the first week after Trump is inaugurated, or maybe even an election do-over. One searches in vain for any...

Journalism has never been better, thanks to these last few decades of disruption. So why does it seem to matter so little? Reflections on the media in the age of Trump. For the last two decades, the rules of political reporting have been blown up. And I’ve cheered at every step along the way. Not for me the mourning over the dismantling of the old order, all those lamentations about the lost golden era of print newspapers thudding on doorsteps and the sage evening news anchors reporting back to the nation on their White House briefings. Because, let’s face it:...

Politico, hate,Late Wednesday afternoon, Politico fired, “effective immediately,” foreign policy contributor Julia Ioffe for a vulgar tweet suggesting that President-elect Donald Trump may be committing incest with daughter Ivanka. It came in light of reports the Trump daughter would occupy the First Lady’s office in her father’s White House, which Trump spokesmen denied.   The decision came just prior to her official departure to The Atlantic. Ioffe has since repeatedly apologized for her offensive statement and deleted the tweet in question.... In an e-mail obtained by The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple and others, Politico Editor-in-Chief John Harris and Editor Carrie Budoff...

UPDATE: Shortly after this report was published Politico contacted The Daily Caller to say: “This tweet is completely unacceptable and is an obvious violation of POLITICO standards. Julia Ioffe is no longer with the publication.” Ioffe is joining The Atlantic in January but this tweet accelerated the timeline of her departure from Politico “immediately,” according to a Politico source. Julia Ioffe, a former contributing writer for Politico Magazine who will be joining The Atlantic as a reporter in January, suggested Wednesday on Twitter that President-elect Donald Trump is having sex with his daughter Ivanka.

Denial, excuses, and deflection... As the boss wrote this morning, Democrats are mired in denial about the 2016 election. Since nothing is ever Hillary Clinton’s fault (she’s always the victim, don’t you know) they need someone or something to blame for her spectacular implosion. They’ve tried to pin it on racism, sexism, bigotry, homophobia, voter fraud, and the FBI, all to no avail. Nothing seems to stick. So now they seem to have settled on “Russian hackers.” The theory is that Russia hacked the DNC, revealed information about Hillary Clinton, and that swayed the public’s opinion. To put that argument...

Politico’s Glenn Thrush, who was exposed in WikiLeaks emails sending stories to Hillary Clinton staffers before publication, will be joining the New York Times to cover the White House, The Huffington Post reported Monday. “We’re thrilled that Glenn Thrush is joining The Times,” Elisabeth Bumiller, The New York Times’ Washington bureau chief, told The Huffington Post. “He’s a premier political journalist, a master of breaking news and long-form story telling and a stellar addition to our White House team.” While Bumiller described Thrush as a “premier political journalist,” in one email to Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta, Thrush chose...

Politico editor resigns after calling for 'baseball bat' attacks on white nationalist leader – and posting his home address on Facebook The national editor of Politico's weekly news magazine resigned his position on Tuesday after he came under fire for advocating baseball-bat attacks on a white supremacist leader – and publishing the address of the man's two homes. Michael Hirsh stepped down just hours after writing on Twitter that Americans should 'stop whining about Richard B. Spencer,' whom he called a 'Nazi,' and exercise your rights as decent Americans.' 'Here are his home addresses,' Hirsh added, providing one in Montana...

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to become his national security adviser, a source with knowledge of the matter has revealed. The source told NBC Wednesday evening that Trump had settled on Flynn, who was also being considered for the secretary of defense post. The Daily News could not independently confirm the report, and the Trump campaign did not immediately return a request for comment. Earlier in the evening, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said the President-elect had met with Flynn and added he would make a "fantastic addition" to the team. "He has been a companion...