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4:30 PM ET, December 31, 2020

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Peter Wehner / The Atlantic:
The Unbearable Weakness of Trump's Minions  —  Those hoping for a quick snapback to sanity for the Republican Party once Donald Trump is no longer president should temper those hopes.  —  The latest piece of evidence to suggest the enduring power of Trumpian unreality is yesterday's announcement …
RELATED:
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Josh Hawley reminds us that the GOP is the sedition party  —  The Republican Party yet again provides us with reason for its own demise.  The Post reports: “Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced Wednesday that he would object next week when Congress convenes to certify the electoral college vote …
Politico:
McConnell: House's $2,000 stimulus checks are ‘socialism for rich’  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dubbed the effort to increase direct payments to $2,000 “socialism for rich people,” eliciting an incredulous reaction from Sen. Bernie Sanders as the GOP Senate continued to decline to take up the matter on Thursday.
Washington Post:
Sen. Sasse calls effort to overturn electoral college vote a ‘dangerous ploy’
Burgess Everett / Politico:   Elizabeth Warren's next chapter
New York Times:
‘Covid, Covid, Covid’: In Trump's Final Chapter, a Failure to Rise to the Moment  —  As the U.S. confronted a new wave of infection and death through the summer and fall, the president's approach to the pandemic came down to a single question: What would it mean for him?
Discussion: Forbes, Mediaite and Raw Story
RELATED:
CNBC:
GOP Sen. Purdue quarantines over possible Covid exposure, days before Georgia election runoff  — Sen. David Perdue of Georgia is quarantining after contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19, his campaign said.  — The Republican Perdue, who tested negative for the coronavirus …
Hannah Miao / CNBC:
Often overlooked, Asian American Christian voters could be key in Georgia Senate runoffs
Discussion: The American Independent and Vox
Los Angeles Times:
Some healthcare workers refuse to take COVID-19 vaccine, even with priority access  —  They are front-line workers with top priority access to the COVID-19 vaccine, but they are refusing to take it.  —  At St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Tehama County, fewer than half …
Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Raw Story
RELATED:
Soumya Karlamangla / Los Angeles Times:
Bodies pile up, patient care falters as COVID-19 devastates L.A. County hospitals  —  Los Angeles County's healthcare system was buckling Wednesday under the unprecedented surge of COVID-19 patients, with bodies piling up at morgues and medical professionals resorting to increasingly desperate measures …
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Microsoft says Russians hacked its network, viewing source code  —  Russian government hackers engaged in a sweeping series of breaches of government and private-sector networks have been able to penetrate deeper into Microsoft's systems than previously known, gaining access …
Steve Inskeep / NPR:
Biden's Incoming Press Secretary: Briefings Won't Be A Platform For Right-Wing Spin  —  Toggle more options  —  President-elect Joe Biden's choice for White House press secretary says she will restore a tradition.  Unlike her immediate predecessors in the Trump administration …
Zeynep Tufekci / The Atlantic:
The Mutated Virus Is a Ticking Time Bomb  —  Editor's Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers.  Find the collection here.  —  A new variant of the coronavirus is spreading across the globe.  It was first identified in the United Kingdom …
Discussion: New York Times
RELATED:
Robert Burns / Associated Press:
US to move aircraft carrier out of Mideast amid Iran tension  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has decided to send home the only Navy aircraft carrier operating in the Middle East, a move that would reduce U.S. firepower in the region amid heightened tensions with Iran, officials said Thursday.
Discussion: Reuters
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Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:
Trump Fears That His Influence Is Waning  —  The president is plotting retribution.  Not just because he's mad about his election loss.  But because he wants to keep folks in line.  —  As his days in office come to a close, President Donald Trump has hinted to those close to him that he's worried …
Discussion: Raw Story
Mike Allen / Axios:
Biden asks nation for bell ringings, light shows to remember those lost to COVID  —  To set the tone for his inauguration the next day, President-elect Biden will lead a memorial to remember and honor lives lost to COVID-19, with church-bell ringings and light shows across the country on Tue., Jan. 19, at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Discussion: NBC News, CNN, New York Post and The Week
RELATED:
John Wagner / Washington Post:
Biden inaugural activities to include memorial service for covid victims
Wall Street Journal:
Trump's Embarrassing Electoral College Hustle  —  It is doomed to fail but would still set a destructive precedent.  —  By The Editorial Board  —  President Trump's last and worst shot at overturning the 2020 election will come on Jan. 6, as the new Congress meets in joint session to tally the votes from the Electoral College.
Bethany Barnes / Tampa Bay Times:
Federal agency knew Garda was “really bad” at safety.  It took little action.  —  Three more people have died since the Times revealed safety problems at the Florida-based armored truck company.  —  By the time Johnathon Lue burned alive in the back of a GardaWorld armored truck in May …
Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:
West Virginia clinic gave 42 people an antibody treatment instead of the coronavirus vaccine  —  Forty-two people in West Virginia received an antibody treatment rather than Moderna's coronavirus vaccine in an error Wednesday at a vaccination clinic hosted by a county health department.
Discussion: CNBC, The Hill and WV MetroNews
Nancy Cook / Bloomberg:
Trump Budget Chief Hampers Biden Transition With Ban on Meetings  — Agency director Russ Vought wants focus on last-minute rules  — Biden has complained OMB, Pentagon are hampering transition  —  President Donald Trump's budget office is blocking Joe Biden's transition team …
Billie Kanfer / Data For Progress:
Republicans Don't Know Anything About Their Party.  That's Very Bad for American Democracy.  —  By Ethan Winter  —  While the packaging of Republican Party politics has evolved since 2000, what remains unaltered is a bedrock commitment to regressive tax cuts, a sharp curtailment of worker power …
Marissa Lang / Washington Post:
Jan. 6 protests multiply as Trump continues to call supporters to Washington  —  Protests planned in support of President Trump on Jan. 6 are multiplying by the week.  —  Four seemingly competing rallies to demand that Congress overturn the results of the presidential election …
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Trump Appointee Seeks Lasting Control Over Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia  —  Michael Pack's stormy tenure over the federal agency that oversees government-funded broadcasters abroad — including Voice of America — appears to be coming to a close.  Yet President Trump's appointee …
Rodney Jefferson / Bloomberg:
Trump's Scottish Golf Course Loses More Money and Warns About Brexit  —  U.S. President Donald Trump's golf business in northeast Scotland extended losses and warned about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and Britain's departure from the European Union.
Jordan Davidson / The Federalist:
WANNABE ‘JEOPARDY!’  HOST KEN JENNINGS IS A BRETT KAVANAUGH RAPE TRUTHER WHO HATES REPUBLICANS  —  “Jeopardy!” champion Ken Jennings is attempting to backtrack on years of insults hurled at conservatives and others on his Twitter feed in what some have speculated is a bid for the popular game show's open host position.
Alex Yablon / New Republic:
This Year's Underground Sensation: Modern Monetary Theory  —  At the close of 2020, it's hard to think of another year in living memory that has forced such a radical rethinking of our politics and social life.  The Covid-19 pandemic will be remembered as a dire time in American life …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Noah Smith / Noahpinion:
Shots.  Into arms.  NOW.  —  The top priority in America right now is getting vaccines into arms as quickly as possible.
Jim Galloway / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Former U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss suffers ‘minor stroke’
Discussion: The Hill, WMAZ-TV and The Daily Caller
Suzanne Bartlett Hackenmiller / Des Moines Register:
Joni Ernst receiving vaccine so quickly rankles the health care providers she insulted
Jessica Goodheart / capitalandmain.com:
Perdue's Time as Dollar General CEO Marked by Charges of Wage Theft, Race and Sex Discrimination
Jay Heflin / Washington Examiner:
Trump's legacy: $8 trillion-plus in added debt in one term
 Earlier Items: 
Oliver Traldi / Arc Digital:
Nobody Reads  —  People who pretend to read as a status symbol are certainly obnoxious — but are they on to something?
Monica Hesse / Washington Post:
This terrible year taught me something about hope
Lauren Egan / NBC News:
Congresswoman-elect Salazar to miss swearing-in ceremony due to Covid diagnosis
Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Hill and CNN
Alex Hanna / Wired:
Timnit Gebru's Exit From Google Exposes a Crisis in AI
Jill Lawrence / USA Today:
A Republican in Joe Biden's Cabinet? The president-elect should just say no.
Discussion: CNN and Associated Press
John F. Harris / Politico:
2020 Shatters the Myth of American Exceptionalism
Dave Philipps / New York Times:
The Small Colorado Town Shrugged Off the Pandemic. Then Came the Coronavirus Variant.
Discussion: Denver Post
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Arasu Kannagi Basil / Reuters:
OpenAI and Reddit partner to bring Reddit content to ChatGPT and more via Reddit's Data API, bring new AI tools to Reddit, and make OpenAI a Reddit ad partner

Mia Sato / The Verge:
Memo: Gannett is adding AI-generated summaries to the top of some stories, with a disclaimer at the bottom; some USA Today stories already show the summaries

Steven Waldman / @stevenwaldman:
The California Senate Appropriations Committee approves a bill imposing fees on Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon to pay for local news through employment tax credits

 
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