Another action-packed year has come and gone for this here website thingy, which in a few months will mark its 14th anniversary. I want to sincerely thank all of you, longtime JMGers and newbies alike, for coming along on the insane Trump-zaster that 2017 has been. As I mention in this post every year, aggregating breaking news is like a …

The Hill reports: A CNN host said in a Saturday broadcast that trees have been placed where the network’s cameras once filmed President Trump playing golf at his Florida golf club. “Yet today, CNN news cameras did not get any video of President Trump playing golf. And here’s why: where CNN cameras were once positioned, trees appear,” CNN host Ana …

Reuters reports: At his last public event of the year, an evening vespers service in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pontiff said that humanity had “wasted and wounded” the year “in many ways with works of death, with lies and injustices”. While war was the most obvious sign of “unrepentant and absurd pride”, many other transgressions had caused “human, social and …

Yahoo News reports: US President Donald Trump tweeted right to the end of the year Sunday, boasting of his accomplishments in his turbulent first year in office and throwing down the gauntlet for the US midterm elections. He highlighted his tax cut and a surging stock market in a series of New Year’s Eve tweets that seemed to set the …

The Weather Channel reports: Wind chills 50 to 60 degrees below zero have been recorded this weekend in North Dakota and northern Minnesota. The coldest wind chill observed so far is 58 degrees below zero in Hettinger, North Dakota, on Sunday morning. Several daily record lows were set Sunday morning, including Huron, South Dakota (minus 27 degrees), Bangor, Maine (minus …

Law & Crime reports: Former Milwaukee Sheriff and Trump Surrogate David Clarke had something to say after reports emerged that the FBI had executed a search warrant on his email address after receiving a complaint of his abuse of power. He tweeted out to his followers that he planned to take on the “FAKE NEWS” and “continue to poke them …

The New York Times reports: During a night of heavy drinking at an upscale London bar in May 2016, George Papadopoulos, a young foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, made a startling revelation to Australia’s top diplomat in Britain: Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton. About three weeks earlier, Mr. Papadopoulos had been told that Moscow had thousands …

Crain’s New York reports: President Donald Trump dropped his own New Year’s ball—in the form of a wrecking ball—with a late Friday afternoon announcement that effectively wipes out plans for perhaps the nation’s most crucial infrastructure project. The president officially scrapped his predecessor’s proposal to have the federal government underwrite half the cost of a multi-billion-dollar Amtrak tunnel connecting New …

ProPublica reports: The Justice Department is pushing for a question on citizenship to be added to the 2020 census, a move that observers say could depress participation by immigrants who fear that the government could use the information against them. That, in turn, could have potentially large ripple effects for everything the once-a-decade census determines — from how congressional seats …

The Hill reports: President Trump visited his private Florida golf course for the fifth straight day on Saturday, according to a White House pool report. Trump, who is staying at his Mar-a-Lago resort for the holidays, traveled to Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Saturday morning. Trump has said that his trip is a working vacation. …

Variety reports: The world of TV had a rough year in 2017, with the death of the beloved Mary Tyler Moore hitting hard. TV’s Batman, Adam West, Jim Nabors of “Gomer Pyle,” Della Reese of “Touched by an Angel” and “The Partridge Family’s” David Cassidy were among other TV notables who died this year. It was a sad year for …

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports: Long after federal prosecutors decided not to pursue criminal charges against then-Sheriff Dave A. Clarke Jr. over his treatment of a fellow airline passenger, an FBI agent’s request to search Clarke’s private gmail account was filed in federal court late Thursday. In a March 7 affidavit in support of a search warrant request, Special Agent Jennifer …

Newsweek reports: The Trump administration has abandoned its bid to prevent openly transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, the Pentagon announced late Friday night. In July, the Trump administration attempted to delay an Obama-era Department of Defense ruling allowing openly transgender Americans to enlist in the military from January 1. President Donald Trump tweeted last summer that the …

The Washington Post reports: When President Trump sat down with a reporter for a wide-ranging, 30-minute interview at his private golf club here Thursday, not a single aide or adviser was present at the table — and not a single aide or adviser knew about it in advance. As word trickled back to the White House, advisers worked to reach …

Breitbart this afternoon named its “top 6 LGBT icons of 2017.” Topping their list is Capitol Police Officer Crystal Griner, who is credited with helping stop the deadly attack on a Congressional baseball game. What Breitbart doesn’t mention, of course, is that Trump honored Griner with the Presidential Medal Of Valor just one day after his demand to ban transgender …

Politifact reports: President Donald Trump is known for boasting about his achievements. But is he correct that he’s enacted more legislation than any other president? At a West Palm Beach fire station on Dec. 27, Trump said, “You know, one of the things that people don’t understand — we have signed more legislation than anybody. We broke the record of …

The New York Times reports: It would have seemed unbelievable in 1990, when there were 2,245 killings in New York City, but as of Wednesday there have been just 286 in the city this year — the lowest since reliable records have been kept. In fact, crime has fallen in New York City in each of the major felony categories …

Talking Points Memo reports: After President Donald Trump tweeted mocking the science behind climate change and touting his decision to pull out of a global deal to combat planetary warming, the Weather Channel shot back. Tweeting out an article that carefully outlines the difference between weather and climate, the publication said that 2017 is still projected to be the warmest …

USA Today reports: Starting in January, Illinois will bar a rare criminal defense allowing the use of a victim’s sexual orientation as justification for violent crime, a ban gay rights advocates say they will attempt to replicate in about half a dozen states next year. Defense attorneys will no longer be able to mount the so-called “gay panic defense” in …

Mediaite reports: After President Donald Trump successfully saved Christmas, he triumphantly tweeted that he would be getting back to work the very next day, pulling up his bootstraps to make America great again “faster than anyone anticipated.” Imagine everyone’s surprise when he showed up at the golf course the very next day to play a “quick” round. Now, imagine everyone’s …