Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The government that Trump admires: “Russian election officials on Monday formally barred Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running for president, prompting calls from him for a boycott of next year’s vote The Central Election Commission decided unanimously that the anti-corruption crusader isn’t eligible to run.”
* Military enlistment: “For the first time, the Pentagon has outlined specific details about how transgender individuals will be processed into the military, allowing them to join according to their ‘preferred’ gender, rather than their sex at birth.”
* ISIS: “The first official propaganda video from Islamic State-affiliated fighters in Somalia was released late Monday, according to a group that monitors extremist organizations. The SITE Intelligence Group said the inaugural video posted online urged Islamic State group supporters to take advantage of people’s ‘drunkenness’ over the holiday season to ‘hunt down’ and attack what it called non-believers.”
* This broke late Friday night: “Federal prosecutors in New York are examining a $285 million loan that Deutsche Bank AG made one month before election day last year to the real-estate company run by the family of Jared Kushner, according to a person familiar with the matter.”
* Muslim ban: “President Trump’s third attempt at implementing his travel ban — issued via a September proclamation — again violates federal law, a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled on Friday.”
* An effort worth keeping an eye on: “A bipartisan coalition of Senate lawmakers introduced legislation on Thursday meant to strengthen U.S. election cybersecurity following Russian election interference.” * In case you were wondering about Congress’ schedule: “House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s office announced Friday that the House will not kick off work for the second session of the 115th Congress until Monday, Jan. 8, with a customary 6:30 p.m. vote series. That means under the planned schedule there will be just eight legislative days for the House before the next government funding standoff.” *Before the news broke that Rupert Murdoch had agreed to sell parts of Fox to the Walt Disney Company, Donald Trump personally called him “to get his assurance that the Fox News Channel … would not be affected.” Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
