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3:00 PM ET, December 2, 2020

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Mark Becker / The Bulwark:
My Call With Ron Johnson: He Knows Biden Won But Won't Admit It  —  The Wisconsin senator says it would be “political suicide.”  —  November 14, 8:37 a.m. my phone rings.  I do a double take on my caller ID and realize who is calling.  I take a deep breath and answer the phone.
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Biden: 'We're Going to Fight Like Hell by Investing in America First'  —  My talk with Joe Biden on his first few months, and his next four years.  —  President-elect Joe Biden was in a good mood as we talked on the phone Tuesday evening for an hour — he in Delaware and me in Bethesda, Md. He apologized, though, for being late.
RELATED:
NBC News:
Release of PPP loan recipients data reveals troubling patterns  —  Following months of litigation between the Small Business Administration and news organizations seeking data about who benefited from pandemic relief programs, the agency on Tuesday night released a sweeping dataset …
RELATED:
Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:
Confessions of a Clintonworld Exile  —  Doug Band worked alongside Bill Clinton every day for nearly two decades, first as a body man and then as one of the primary architects of his lucrative and often-fraught post-presidency.  Then came a seismic falling out with accusations of self-dealing and soap-opera-level psychodrama.
Discussion: New York Post, HotAir and Twitchy
RELATED:
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook PM: Why to be optimistic — and pessimistic — about Covid relief  —  HAPPY MIDWEEK.  OK — Here's why you should be a tad bit optimistic about the status of Covid relief negotiations: The two sides are talking, they are exchanging paper, and both sides say they want an agreement.
Discussion: Wall Street Journal
Michelle Roberts / BBC:
Covid-19: Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine judged safe for use in UK from next week  —  The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for mass vaccination.  —  Britain's medicines regulator, the MHRA, says the jab …
RELATED:
Roni Caryn Rabin / New York Times:   C.D.C. Shortens Quarantine Guidance and Warns Against Holiday Travel
Benjamin Mueller / New York Times:
U.K. Approves Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine, a First in the West
Zeke Miller / Associated Press:
GOP leader McDaniel to run for 3rd term with Trump's backing  —  Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, is launching her bid for a third two-year term heading the GOP's governing organization after the party's stronger-than-anticipated showing in November's election, even though President Donald Trump lost.
Discussion: Fox News, Axios and Political Wire
RELATED:
Tal Axelrod / The Hill:
Ronna McDaniel launches bid for third term as GOP chair
Discussion: Washington Examiner and Bloomberg
Melanie Zanona / Politico:
The GOP's electoral mischief  —  MO PROBLEMS — Scooplet: Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) has been telling colleagues and allies that he plans to challenge the Electoral College votes when Congress officially certifies Joe Biden's victory on Jan. 6, as long as a Senate Republican joins him in the long-shot effort, sources tell your Huddle host.
RELATED:
The Hill:   GOP chairman: Defense bill to include renaming Confederate bases, but not Section 230 repeal
Jamie Ross / The Daily Beast:
Roger Stone, Who Had His Ass Saved by Barr, Turns on ‘Deep State’ Attorney General  —  SNAKE PIT  —  Remember in February when Attorney General Bill Barr trashed his department's reputation to override the recommended prison term for Roger Stone and push for a much shorter sentence?
Discussion: Mediaite and Raw Story
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Axios:
Trump likely to announce 2024 bid, but GOP rivals say power will fade post-White House  —  President Trump is likely to announce he'll run again in 2024, perhaps before this term even ends, sources tell Axios.  —  Why it matters: Trump has already set in motion two important strategies …
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New York Times:
Presidential Transition Live Updates: Biden to Discuss Virus-Weakened Economy Amid Stalemate Over Aid  —  President-elect Joe Biden is set to meet virtually with small-business owners and workers hurt by the pandemic.  The Justice Department is investigating a potential bribery scheme for a Trump pardon.
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:   Trump Moves Forward With Changes to Federal Hiring, Firing
Jennifer Rodgers / The Daily Beast:
Here's How Rudy Giuliani's Push for a Preemptive Pardon Could Backfire  —  Imagine what the old Rudy Giuliani, United States Attorney, crime-buster and thorn in the side of organized crime, would think of the current iteration.  —  BEAST INSIDE … This is the last gasp of Donald Trump's administration …
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Katelyn Polantz / CNN:
Justice Department investigating potential presidential pardon bribery scheme, court records reveal
New York Times:
Trump Has Discussed With Advisers Pardons for His 3 Eldest Children and Giuliani
Jim Galloway / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
The Kelly Loeffler, Raphael Warnock runoff crosses a line  —  One of Kelly Loeffler's first public appearances as a U.S. senator came last January at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.  —  “I am so humbled to be here with you today in this sacred place …
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Judd Legum / Popular Information:
Before her scorched-earth attacks, Loeffler shared a pulpit with Warnock and praised his church
Discussion: Political Wire
Justice Namaste / Jezebel:
Hey Obama... Some People Actually Do Want to Defund the Police  —  During an interview on the Snapchat political show “Good Luck America” (because apparently that's a thing?), former President Barack Obama decided to stick his foot in his mouth once again by telling host Peter Hamby …
Discussion: The Hill, CBS News and Axios
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David Brennan / Newsweek:
Michael Flynn's Call for ‘Martial Law’ Comes Amid Violent Threats Over Trump Election Defeat  —  Former national security adviser Michael Flynn—controversially pardoned by President Donald Trump last week—on Tuesday retweeted a call for the White House to declare martial law and re-run last month's presidential election.
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Peter Montgomery / Right Wing Watch:
Pro-Trump Attorney Lin Wood and Pardoned Michael Flynn Call for Trump to Declare Martial Law
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
RNC blasts Politico over Michigan election story  —  Politico chief political correspondent Tim Alberta packed a lot into his sizzling Nov. 24 feature, “The Inside Story of Michigan's Fake Voter Fraud Scandal.”  There's a tight narration of the Trump campaign's destructive effort to undo the Michigan vote …
Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:
MAGA-ite in Manhattan?:  Ivanka Trump's political ambitions seek new home after the White House  —  Friends and former associates say they expect the first daughter to think about running for office, or at least get involved in some way in Republican politics.
New York Times:
2,596 Trades in One Term: Inside Senator Perdue's Stock Portfolio  —  The Georgia Republican's stock trades have far outpaced those of his Senate colleagues and have included a range of companies within his Senate committees' oversight, an analysis shows.  —  As a member of the Senate's …
Discussion: Washington Post, Politico and The Week
Jemima McEvoy / Forbes:
1 In Every 800 North Dakota Residents Now Dead From Covid  —  Just two weeks after joining the growing list of states where at least one in every 1,000 residents has died from coronavirus-linked causes, North Dakota's grim statistic has escalated: as of Tuesday, one in every 800 North Dakotans has been claimed by Covid-19.
FiveThirtyEight:
There Wasn't That Much Split-Ticket Voting In 2020  —  The narrative of the 2020 election is that Joe Biden did pretty well ... but down-ballot Democrats, not so much.  And while this is true if you look simply at the results — Republicans defended most of their vulnerable Senate seats …
Adam Kredo / Washington Free Beacon:
Omar and Tlaib Headline Anti-Israel Hatefest  —  Dem lawmakers join Hamas-tied anti-Semites at American Muslims for Palestine annual conference  —  Democratic representatives Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Betty McCollum (Minn.) headlined a conference this weekend run …
Discussion: Jacobin and Judicial Watch
Veronique de Rugy / National Review:
Walter Williams, R.I.P.  —  The great economist and freedom fighter Walter Williams has died.  This is an incredibly sad news.  Walter was a great communicator of ideas and a prolific, provocative and uncompromising writer.  He was the John M. Olin distinguished professor of economics at George Mason University.
Isabella Kwai / New York Times:
U.N. Reclassifies Cannabis as a Less Dangerous Drug  —  A United Nations commission voted to remove marijuana for medical use from a list of the most risky narcotics, such as heroin.  —  A United Nations commission voted on Wednesday to remove cannabis for medicinal purposes from a category …
RELATED:
Zack Budryk / The Hill:   United Nations commission votes to remove marijuana from list of most dangerous drugs
 
 
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 More Items: 
Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:
CDC director: Winter could be ‘most difficult time in the public health history of this nation’
Discussion: Washington Examiner
Shaun Walker / The Guardian:
Hungary's rightwing rulers downplay MEP ‘gay orgy’ scandal amid hypocrisy accusations
Discussion: Politico, PinkNews and The Daily Caller
Wall Street Journal:
China Has One Powerful Friend Left in the U.S.: Wall Street
Damian Carrington / The Guardian:
No-kill, lab-grown meat to go on sale for first time
Discussion: TechCrunch and Marginal REVOLUTION
David Bauder / Associated Press:
Robert Mueller does rare interview in ‘Oath’ podcast
Discussion: NBC News and Fox News
Annie Karni / New York Times:
In a Fox News interview, Parscale blames Trump's lack of coronavirus empathy for his election loss.
Discussion: Conservative News Today and IJR
 Earlier Items: 
Robert Sanchez / 5280:
Why Did Palantir Technologies Move Its Headquarters From Silicon Valley to Denver?
Tyler O'Neil / pjmedia.com:
WHISTLEBLOWER: I Drove ‘Thousands of Ballots’ From New York to Pennsylvania
Discussion: Townhall and Power Line
Matthew Yglesias / Slow Boring:
The “racial wealth gap” is a class gap
New York Times:
Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow Are Sentenced to Prison Over Hong Kong Protest
 

 
From Techmeme:

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:
Anthropic's Claude 3 Opus surpassed OpenAI's GPT-4 for the first time on Chatbot Arena, a crowdsourced leaderboard used by AI researchers for LLM evaluations

Rebekah Valentine / IGN:
Take-Two acquires Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment from the Embracer Group for $460M in stock; the deal is expected to close by the end of June 2024

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Oregon's governor signs the first US right-to-repair law that bans manufacturers from using “parts pairing” to dictate what replacement components can be used

 
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