Source: Bloomberg News

Factories in New York state reported a sharp slowdown in business, sending a Federal Reserve index tumbling this month to a 19-month low and adding to signs U.S. economic growth is moderating.

The New York Fed’s Empire State manufacturing index fell 12.4 points to 10.9, according to a report Monday. That’s the lowest level since May 2017 and the biggest one-month decline since May 2016. The figure indicates business activity grew at a slower pace in December than in the prior month.

The gauge is the first of several regional Fed indexes to be reported this month, and may bolster the case for the central bank to be more cautious on interest-rate hikes in 2019 following an expected increase at this week’s meeting. Other gauges from the Philadelphia, Richmond, Kansas City and Dallas district banks will give more detail on factory activity around the U.S.

The Empire State survey showed weaker readings for new orders, shipments and unfilled orders, though the measure of employment jumped to 26.1, a record in data going back to 2001. That figure indicates “very strong growth in employment levels,” the New York Fed said.

Read more: Link to source

A private filling made it to the public by error, where prosecutors ask a judge to allow Maria Butina to go in and out of jail in order to participate in a grand jury.
🍿
No mention of the target in the Grand Jury.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/in-filing-intended-to-be-under-seal-us-prosecutors-ask-to-transport-maria-butina-possibly-to-testify-at-grand-jury/2018/12/14/6c3d22e2-ffe9-11e8-ad40-cdfd0e0dd65a_story.html

In this poll, Beto's strength is confirmed at 15% in third place.
Biden (the leader) and Sanders are closer to each other compared to CNN at 26 and 22% respectively.

?itok=AuZM-pmg×tamp=1544557008

https://www.emerson.edu/news-events/emerson-college-today/emerson-college-national-poll-trumps-disapproval-matches-all-time-low-americans-are-optimistic-about-new-year-despite-belt#.XBO62c9KhBz

Source: Newsweek

The Associated Press reports that former Vice President Joe Biden met with Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke to discuss the possibility of O'Rourke joining Biden for a 2020 presidential campaign. 

Sources spoke to the Associated Press under the condition of anonymity but said that two men have engaged in discussions about the election. 

The hope is, sources said, that Biden would be bolstered by a younger running mate as many have expressed concerns about his age. In elected in November 2020, Biden will be 77-years-old, which would make him the oldest president voted into office. Ronald Regan is the current oldest president, having been elected for his second term at 73. Donald Trump was elected at age 70.

Biden is reportedly going to decide in January or February if he will run for the Democratic nomination, and while the former VP is a favorite in some early polls, others have expressed doubts in relation to his age.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-beto-orourke-reportedly-met-discuss-potential-2020-presidential-1260164

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/14/politics/cnn-poll-2020-democrats-beto-orourke-rising/index.html

Source: Daily Caller

Jerome Corsi, the right-wing author ensnared in the special counsel’s probe, raised tens of thousands of dollars on his website and web show over the summer for an Alaskan man who claimed he needed experimental cancer surgery from an Israeli physician.

To help raise the funds, Corsi touted Dr. Eliat Mendelsohn, claiming the oncologist miraculously cured his relative’s stage-4 liver cancer. Corsi claimed on his website Mendelsohn would use similar techniques to try to cure Thomas Sickler, 33, of bladder cancer.

Sickler needed $25,000 for the surgery since his insurance wouldn’t cover the experimental procedure.

Corsi claims the effort was successful, telling The Daily Caller News Foundation he believes Sickler is healed.


Read more: https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/13/corsi-mueller-doctor-cancer/

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The rule against posting right wing links should be waived in this instance, since the Daily Caller has the exclusive story and it is critical of a right wing scammer who is suing Mueller.

Source: Washington Post

"A 7-year-old girl from Guatemala died of dehydration and shock in Border Patrol custody last week after crossing into the United States illegally with her father and a large group of migrants along a remote span of New Mexico desert, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Thursday.


The child’s death, which has not been previously reported, is likely to intensify scrutiny of detention conditions at Border Patrol stations and CBP facilities that are increasingly overwhelmed by large numbers of families with children seeking asylum in the United States.


According to CBP records, the girl and her father were taken into custody at around 10 p.m. on Dec. 6 south of Lordsburg, N.M., as part of a group of 163 people who approached U.S. agents to turn themselves in.
More than eight hours later, the child began having seizures at 6:25 a.m., CBP records show.

Emergency responders who arrived soon after measured her body temperature at 105.7 degrees, and according to a statement from CBP, she “reportedly had not eaten or consumed water for several days.”"
Read the rest of the story on The Washington Post: https://wapo.st/2GhITrT

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/7-year-old-migrant-girl-taken-into-border-patrol-custody-dies-of-dehydration-exhaustion/2018/12/13/8909e356-ff03-11e8-862a-b6a6f3ce8199_story.html

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Donald Trump is a murderer

Source: The Hill



Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) posed for a photo together in Washington, D.C., amid speculation that both politicians will launch White House bids.

Harris’s communications director, Lily Adams, tweeted the photo Wednesday afternoon, writing: “You just never know who you might run into in DC….”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/421174-biden-kamala-harris-pose-for-photo-together-in-dc-amid-2020-speculation

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🤔

If a conservative tells you that the embattled Macron is a liberal, refer him to this post on Macron's policies:

The policies in question include ending a wealth tax on the rich, cutting retirees' Social Security benefits, and a series of measures designed to reduce the power of unions. While it is possible that Macron has taken these steps because he really does believe that this is the best way to boost economic growth, it is also possible that he has taken these steps because he wants to give more money to rich people.

In this respect it is worth noting that Macron is a former investment banker. Therefore he is likely to be very rich and to have rich friends.

http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/nyt-says-protests-in-france-undermine-macron-s-efforts-to-give-more-money-to-the-rich

Since the internet became very huge, these are the candidates that would have won user polls in progressive message boards such as the Daily Kos and we can include Twitter more recently.
2003/2004: Howard Dean
2007/2008: Dennis Kucinich, then John Edwards, then Obama when it became evident be would win the primary.
2011/2012: (Nobody challenged Obama, so there was no online debate).
2016/2017: Bernie Sanders.

It is extremely likely that our next nominee will not be an electrifying online darling.
Thus, Joe Biden has a good chance. and or even Bernie Sanders, who is losing ground to Beto as a super Internet sensation, has a good chance according to my no-shiny-object theory.
There seems to be an extremely important group of Democrats who go to work, come home, and go online briefly to read the news (not to Tweet hashtags or part "diaries" in online forums).
These are the ones who will chose our next nominee.