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5:40 PM ET, December 24, 2020

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Republicans raging at Trump are getting exactly what they deserve  —  House Republicans are in a fury with President Trump, now that he is threatening to blow up the carefully negotiated settlement that led to passage of the $900 billion economic rescue package.
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Families on brink of eviction, hunger describe nightmare Christmas as $900 billion relief bill hangs in limbo  —  About 14 million Americans will lose unemployment aid on Saturday after President Trump and Congress were unable to reach a deal.  —  Millions of Americans who are hours away …
Discussion: The Hill, CNN, IJR and Political Wire
Jeff Stein / Washington Post:
House Republicans block Democrats' effort to advance $2,000 stimulus checks pushed by Trump  —  The Christmas Eve move came as Trump has refused to sign a $900 billion economic relief package into law  —  House Republicans on Thursday blocked an effort by House Democrats to approve $2,000 stimulus payments for millions of Americans.
CNBC:
GOP blocks House Democrats' attempt to pass $2,000 stimulus checks
New York Times:
Answering Trump, Democrats Try and Fail to Jam $2,000 Payments Through House
CNN:
Frustrated Trump met with Pence before holiday break  —  Washington (CNN)Hours before President Donald Trump retweeted a message for his vice president to “act” in stopping the ratification of the Electoral College, he met for more than an hour in the Oval Office with Mike Pence …
RELATED:
Jacob Shamsian / Business Insider:
EXCLUSIVE: Dominion sends letters threatening defamation lawsuits to Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs, and other pro-Trump media figures  — Dominion Voting Systems has sent letters to Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News, warning of a defamation lawsuit.
Discussion: CNBC, CNN, HotAir and LifeZette
RELATED:
Matt Naham / Law & Crime:
Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems Sent 21 Retraction or Record Preservation Demand Letters This Week — Read Them All Here  —  Dominion Voting Systems has sent a slew of retraction and/or record preservation demand letters as it threatens defamation litigation against numerous parties …
Discussion: Forbes and Raw Story
William M. Arkin / Newsweek:
Exclusive: Donald Trump's Martial-Law Talk Has Military on Red Alert  —  Pentagon and Washington-area military leaders are on red alert, wary of what President Donald Trump might do in his remaining days in office.  Though far-fetched, ranking officers have discussed what they would do if the president declared martial law.
RELATED:
Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
Could Trump declare martial law to try to steal the election?  —  That and other efforts his allies are floating won't work, say legal and national security experts.  Here's why.  —  He's thought about it.  He's hosted political and legal outcasts at the White House to talk about it.
Tyler Olson / Fox News:
Jenna Ellis, Trump campaign legal adviser, pans calls for martial law
Discussion: Washington Post and Alternet.org
Donald G. McNeil Jr / New York Times:
How Much Herd Immunity Is Enough?  —  Scientists initially estimated that 60 to 70 percent of the population needed to acquire resistance to the coronavirus to banish it.  Now Dr. Anthony Fauci and others are quietly shifting that number upward.  —  At what point does a country achieve herd immunity?
Sarah Isgur / Washington Post:
We in the ‘shallow state’ thought we could help.  Instead, we obscured the reality of a Trump presidency.  —  Sarah Isgur was the director of the Office of Public Affairs at the Justice Department from 2017-2018.  —  As far as I know, no spokesperson for the Justice Department has ever …
Discussion: Mediaite and Alternet.org
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Jeffrey Rosen Takes Reins of a Justice Department Under Pressure
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Host of ‘The Daily’ Clouds ‘N.Y. Times’ Effort To Restore Trust After ‘Caliphate’  —  Toggle more options  —  Late last week, The New York Times issued one of its biggest mea culpas in years.  The nation's leading newspaper returned a Peabody award and a citation as a finalist …
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Trump squeezes Republicans with eye on 2022 primaries  —  President Donald Trump has instructed his top political advisers to begin monitoring potential 2022 GOP primary targets, as he lashes out at fellow Republicans whom he deems disloyal.  —  With less than a month until Trump leaves office …
Heather Stewart / The Guardian:
Boris Johnson says Brexit deal has settled UK's Europe question … Play Video  —  Boris Johnson claimed finally to have settled the vexed question of Britain's relationship with the European Union as he hailed on Christmas Eve what he called the “jumbo, Canada-style” Brexit deal.
RELATED:
Financial Times:
UK and EU agree historic Brexit trade deal
Jon Swaine / Washington Post:
Sidney Powell's secret intelligence contractor witness is a pro-Trump podcaster  —  As she asked the U.S. Supreme Court this month to overturn President Trump's election loss, the attorney Sidney Powell cited testimony from a secret witness presented as a former intelligence contractor …
Bloomberg:
Pompeo's Wife Tested Positive for Coronavirus as Cases Spiked  — State Department had scheduled large holiday gatherings  — Pompeo said Dec. 16 he was going into quarantine for exposure  —  Secretary of State Michael Pompeo's wife tested positive for the coronavirus …
Discussion: The Hill
Tim Miller / The Bulwark:
The Treasonous Pardon of Paul Manafort  —  Trump, Russia, and the swamp won.  America lost.  —  For four years we've been force-fed the preposterous dual notions that Donald Trump intended to “drain the swamp” and that any suggestion his campaign colluded with Russia in its interference in the 2016 election was a media hoax.
RELATED:
Franklin Foer / The Atlantic:
The Triumph of Kleptocracy  —  Paul Manafort came of age in New Britain, Connecticut.
Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money
Adam Klasfeld / Law & Crime:
Here Are the Questionable Trump Pardons That You Did Not Hear About Last Night  —  In another White House administration, these pardons may have sparked political scandal, but outgoing President Donald Trump's shock-and-awe waves of clemency relegated them to local news and second-day leads.
Discussion: Talking Points Memo
David Brennan / Newsweek:
Kelly Loeffler Falls Behind Raphael Warnock in Georgia Senate Runoff Poll  —  Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler has slipped behind Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock in the latest poll for next month's runoff election, while the race between Sen. David Perdue and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff for the second seat remains on a knife-edge.
Joseph Goldstein / New York Times:
Hospital Workers Start to ‘Turn Against Each Other’ to Get Vaccine  —  “I am so disappointed and saddened that this happened,” a New York hospital executive wrote to his staff after workers who did not have priority cut the line for the vaccine.  —  At NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital …
Gabor Rona / Just Security:
Can a Pardon Be a War Crime?:  When Pardons Themselves Violate the Laws of War  —  Editor's note: Originally published on May 25, 2019; with an author's note published on Dec. 24, 2020.  —  Not all corrupt pardons are created equal.  Many of the ones being handed out by President Donald Trump …
Discussion: Towleroad Gay News and Law & Crime
USA Today:
Exclusive: As Trump leaves office, 50% of Americans see him as a ‘failed’ president  —  Susan Page Sarah ElbeshbishiUSA TODAY  —  President Donald Trump leaves the White House next month with the country more sharply divided than when he moved in and amid caustic assessments of his record in office …
Hunter Walker / Yahoo News:
Jared Kushner played a key role in White House pardon ‘free for all’  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump's son-in-law and top advisor, Jared Kushner, has played a key role in managing the avalanche of clemency requests that have come into the White House as the administration nears its end next month, according to multiple sources.
Discussion: The Guardian and Reason
HuffPost:
Trump Back At Mar-A-Lago, Raising Taxpayer Golf Tab To $151.5 Million  —  This marks Trump's 31st golf trip to his Palm Beach resort, which in total account for just over two-thirds of his golf-related travel and security costs.  —  Donald Trump has arrived at his Palm Beach, Florida …
Discussion: Mediaite
The Daily Beast:
How These Comedians Turned MAGA Men Into Laughingstocks  —  From Rudy's straying hand to Sarah Cooper's inner Donald, the joke was on Trumpworld this year.  —  Rudy Giuliani tried really hard this year soil himself: the hair-in-the-can, the Russian agent pal, the presser by the sex shop, the buckets of conspiracy drool.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo:
Governor Cuomo Grants Clemency to 21 Individuals  —  Clemency Granted to Individuals Demonstrating Remorse, Rehabilitation and Commitment to Their Communities  —  Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today granted clemency to 21 individuals who have demonstrated substantial evidence of remorse, rehabilitation and a commitment to the community.
Discussion: The Hill and Balloon Juice
 
 
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 More Items: 
Reuters:
Suspected Russian hackers used Microsoft vendors to breach customers
Mike Allen / Axios:
Biden says Russian-linked cyberattack started “last year”
Discussion: Forbes and The Daily Caller
Kurt Bardella / Los Angeles Times:
Op-Ed: It's never too late to become a Democrat
 Earlier Items: 
Steven Greenhouse / American Prospect:
Firing Workers on the Boss's Whim? New York Puts a Stop to That.
Tucker Carlson / Fox News:
The slow, painful death of California
Discussion: Breitbart
New York Times:
Brad Parscale Fell From Trump's Favor. Now He's Plotting a Comeback.
Donald G. McNeil Jr / New York Times:
Covid-19 Latest Updates: Democrats' Bid to Call Trump's Stimulus Bluff Is Swiftly Rejected
Discussion: Reason
Washington Post:
Trump administration pushes forward on $500 million weapons deal with Saudi Arabia
Discussion: Raw Story and Mock Paper Scissors