- Breaking! NBC News has fired Matt Lauer, the highest paid news anchor in the U.S., for inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace [Axios].
- A Senate panel approved the GOP tax reform plan on a straight party-line vote, which clears the way for the package to move to a vote in the full Senate [Washington Post].
- A new national poll shows growing opposition toward the GOP tax reform plans, with 58% opposed to the package, which is up from 52% who were against the tax package last week [Politico].
- The odds of a government shutdown are rising dramatically after Democratic leaders in Congress bailed on a meeting with President Trump after he sent out a tweet saying he did not “see a deal” on a spending bill [ABC News].
- North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test appears to show that country can now hit all of the continental U.S. [Washington Post].
- A federal judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration in the fight over who is legally in charge of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [ABC News].
- Conservatives are growing increasingly frustrated with Attorney General Jeff Sessions‘s reluctance to open an investigation into Hillary Clinton [The Hill].
- The Congressional Black Caucus is pressing Michigan Democrat John Conyers to retire following numerous allegations of sexual misconduct [Politico].
- A new national poll shows Democrats are far more likely to believe allegations of sexual misconduct against public figures than do Republicans [Politico].
- President Donald Trump is telling people he thinks the “Access Hollywood” tape, which captured him bragging about sexually assaulting women, is a fake [New York Times].
- Boring but important: The Supreme Court is considering whether police must get a warrant to obtain cellphone data about the past locations of criminal suspects [Reuters].
- A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Congress is pushing a bill to make “revenge porn” illegal [Politico].
- CNN is boycotting the annual White House Christmas party due to President Trump’s repeatedly calling the network “fake news” [Politico].
- Bitcoin has doubled its value over the past three months. That rise has been fueled by traditional investors who are taking a new interest in the cryptocurrency [Recode].
- Sen. Rand Paul says politics may have been a motivating factor why his neighbor attacked him earlier this month [Washington Times].
- A new report says automation may wipe out 1/3 of America’s workforce by the year 2030 [Axios].
- Purchases made from mobile devices on Cyber Monday crossed the $2 billion mark this year [Recode].
On this day in history:
- 1777 – San Jose, California, is founded as Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe by Jose Joaquin Moraga.
- 1864 – Sand Creek massacre: Colorado volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington massacre at least 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho tribe members.
- 1877 – Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph for the first time.
- 1929 – Admiral Richard Byrd leads the first expedition to fly over the South Pole.
- 1963 – President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
