Top Items:
New York Times:
Trump's Pardon of Flynn Signals Prospect of a Wave in His Final Weeks in Office — Political allies and associates are starting to press for clemency as the president also considers extending his criminal justice overhaul by commuting lengthy sentences for other offenders.
Discussion:
Pew Research Center, The Daily Beast, The Mahablog, Slate, Mediaite and Political Wire
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Trump wages war on our country and the rule of law one last time — In a move no less appalling for it being no surprise, President Trump has pardoned Michael Flynn, his disgraced former national security adviser. Add him to the rogue's gallery — among them Joe Arpaio, Dinesh D'Souza …
Discussion:
American Interregnum, NBC Los Angeles and Reuters
Politico:
Trump pardons former national security adviser Flynn — Outgoing President Donald Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn on Wednesday for lying to FBI agents investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. — “It is my Great Honor to announce …
Rosalind Helderman / Washington Post:
Trump pardons former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI — President Trump on Wednesday announced he had pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, ending a three-year legal saga that saw Flynn seek to withdraw a guilty plea …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Associated Press, NBC News, ABC News, USA Today, Business Insider, BuzzFeed News, Commentary Magazine, Fox News, Mediaite, Forbes, Law & Crime, Power Line, Washington Times, CNBC, Talking Points Memo, TheGrio, The American Independent, UPI, Lucianne RSS Syndicate, HotAir, Daily Kos, National Review, Raw Story, Axios and POLITICUSUSA
Matthew Brown / USA Today:
Biden says he won't order an investigation of Trump, president's legal troubles remain
Biden says he won't order an investigation of Trump, president's legal troubles remain
Discussion:
CNN, Newsbusters, LGBTQ Nation and The Nation
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Trump Pardons Michael Flynn, Ending Case His Justice Dept. Sought to Shut Down
Trump Pardons Michael Flynn, Ending Case His Justice Dept. Sought to Shut Down
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Washington Examiner, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Axios, CNN, HotAir, Common Dreams, Los Angeles Times and WITF
New York Times:
Stock Trades by Senator Perdue Said to Have Prompted Justice Dept. Inquiry — Investigators focused on a sale of at least $1 million of stock in Cardlytics, a financial firm whose board the senator once sat on. They closed the case this summer without charges.
Discussion:
Reuters, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Law & Crime, Forbes, Raw Story, Townhall and The Daily Beast
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Associated Press:
With US in COVID-19 panic, Sen. Perdue saw stock opportunity — WASHINGTON (AP) — As the ravages of the novel coronavirus forced millions of people out of work, shuttered businesses and shrank the value of retirement accounts, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged to a three-year low.
Discussion:
Mediaite and The Intellectualist
Sam Brodey / The Daily Beast:
Sen. Perdue Insisted He Had No Input At All On Stock Buys. New Evidence Shows He Did.
Sen. Perdue Insisted He Had No Input At All On Stock Buys. New Evidence Shows He Did.
Discussion:
Raw Story and Mother Jones
CNBC:
Trump lawyer details far-fetched strategy to reverse Pennsylvania win for Biden — A lawyer for President Donald Trump's campaign revealed that the campaign could be relying on pulling off a complicated — and possibly unprecedented — legal and legislative trick shot to undo President …
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Erik Larson / Bloomberg:
Pennsylvania Slams Judge's ‘Overreach’ in Certification Ruling
Pennsylvania Slams Judge's ‘Overreach’ in Certification Ruling
Discussion:
Washington Post, Fox News, Townhall and WITF
Kim Wehle / The Bulwark:
Trump's Embarrassingly Bad Legal Case in Pennsylvania
Trump's Embarrassingly Bad Legal Case in Pennsylvania
Discussion:
Bulwark+, Raw Story and Los Angeles Times
Ivan Pentchoukov / theepochtimes.com:
Judge Blocks Certification of Pennsylvania Election Results
Judge Blocks Certification of Pennsylvania Election Results
Discussion:
Breitbart, Big League Politics, The Gateway Pundit, LifeNews.com, CBS News and TheBlaze
Brad Raffensperger / USA Today:
Georgia secretary of state: My family voted for Trump. He threw us under the bus anyway. — I have fought to uphold the integrity of elections in Georgia. It doesn't matter if the attacks come from the guy I voted for or not. — The past few weeks have been difficult for the voters of the Peach State.
Discussion:
Fox News, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Raw Story, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Daily Caller, IJR, Reason, The Hill, Mediaite, POLITICUSUSA and Eschaton
KUSA-TV:
After warnings to avoid travel, Denver Mayor Hancock flies to visit family for Thanksgiving — Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has told people to avoid travel in order to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, which is at record levels in the city. — DENVER — Denver Mayor Michael Hancock boarded …
Discussion:
TheDenverChannel.com, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, New York Post, Denver Post, The Western Journal, The Hill, Associated Press, TheBlaze, Fox News, Townhall, Reason, HotAir, RedState, Breitbart, Lucianne RSS Syndicate, (We) Are The News, Sara A. Carter, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CBS Denver, Mediaite, National Review, OutKick and Twitchy
Isaac Arnsdorf / ProPublica:
Trump Races to Weaken Environmental and Worker Protections, and Implement Other Last-Minute Policies, Before Jan. 20 — The Trump administration is rushing to approve dozens of eleventh-hour policy changes. Among them: The Justice Department is fast-tracking a rule that could reintroduce firing squads …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, NBC News, The Moderate Voice, Raw Story, Business Insider, The Intellectualist and NPR
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Washington Post:
NRA reports alleged misspending by current and former executives to IRS — After years of denying allegations of lax financial oversight, the National Rifle Association has made a stunning declaration in a new tax filing: Current and former executives used the nonprofit group's money for personal benefit and enrichment.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Law & Crime, The Trace, The Intellectualist and Political Wire
Brian Stelter / CNN:
Fox News staffers thought Newsmax was a joke. But they're not laughing anymore — New York (CNN Business)Fox News is taking action to stave off newfound competition from Newsmax TV. — Producers on some Fox programs have been told to monitor Newsmax's guest bookings and throw some sand …
Discussion:
Business Insider and Politico, more at Mediagazer »
Politico:
Brian Deese likely pick for top White House economic post — President-elect Joe Biden is leaning towards naming former senior Obama administration official and current investment executive Brian Deese his top economic adviser in the White House, although pushback from the progressive wing …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner
RELATED:
New York Times:
C.I.A. Officer Is Killed in Somalia — The officer's combat death came as President Trump considers pulling back on American operations in the region. — WASHINGTON — A veteran C.I.A. officer was killed in combat in Somalia in recent days, according to current and former U.S. officials …
Discussion:
CNN and Foreign Affairs
Alyssa Fowers / Washington Post:
A growing number of Americans are going hungry — Graphics reporter focusing on data visualization and analysis — It was 5 a.m., not a hint of sun in the Houston sky, as Randy Young and his mom pulled into the line for a free Thanksgiving meal. They were three hours early.
Discussion:
Common Dreams, Forbes, The Week and The Hill
Alana Satlin / NBC News:
Trump calls into Pennsylvania hearing, rambles about voter fraud on speakerphone … President Donald Trump on Wednesday phoned into a Pennsylvania state Senate hearing where his legal team was appearing as part of their shriveling legal battle against the election results.
Discussion:
C-SPAN.org, Associated Press, Greensburg Tribune-Review, The Hill, Politico, Townhall, Al Jazeera, The Daily Beast, Big League Politics, Slate, IJR, National Review, Fox News, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, MSNBC, Mock Paper Scissors, Mediaite, New York Post, Election Law Blog, Forbes, Political Wire, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth and Bloomberg
Armin Rosen / Tablet Magazine:
Who Really Runs The Drudge Report? — The Drudge Report has become a conformist shadow of its formerly bratty, oppositional self. Why?
Politico:
Biden leans toward Tom Donilon as CIA chief — President-elect Joe Biden is leaning toward naming former Obama administration national security adviser Tom Donilon as his CIA director, two people familiar with the situation said. — The choice for the spymaster role is one of the toughest facing Biden …
Glenn Rifkin / New York Times:
Honestie Hodges, Whose Handcuffing Changed Police Policy, Is Dead at 14 — Honestie's handcuffing by the police in Grand Rapids, Mich., caused a national uproar and led to a new law enforcement policy on dealing with youths. Honestie died of Covid-19.
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Root, The Hill, Simple Justice, WOOD-TV, New York Post and TheGrio
Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:
Huge court win lets Trump present ballot evidence, could overturn Nevada result — In its first court victory, a Nevada judge has agreed to let the Trump campaign present its evidence that fraud and illegalities plagued the state's election, enough to reverse Joe Biden's win and set an example for other state challenges.
Discussion:
The Right Scoop, LifeNews.com, Townhall and WayneDupree.com
Dan Avery / NBC News:
Starbucks barista says she was fired for refusing to wear Pride shirt — A New Jersey woman has filed suit against Starbucks, claiming she was wrongfully terminated for refusing to wear an official company Pride T-shirt that she says violated her religious beliefs.
Discussion:
LGBTQ Nation and The Daily Caller
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Scoop: Israeli military prepares for possibility Trump will strike Iran — The Israel Defense Forces have in recent weeks been instructed to prepare for the possibility that the U.S. will conduct a military strike against Iran before President Trump leaves office, senior Israeli officials tell me.
CNBC:
Joe Biden considers Roger Ferguson to lead National Economic Council, Gary Gensler for Deputy Treasury Secretary — President-elect Joe Biden is considering TIAA CEO Roger Ferguson to be his National Economic Council director. — Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman Gary Gensler …
Washington Post:
Trump, Carson tout covid-19 treatments as lifesavers. But regular people find them harder to get. — The day after being discharged from the hospital last month, President Trump enthusiastically endorsed a new antibody cocktail, saying it had been a “cure” for his covid-19.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Mark Davis / Townhall:
Transition Yes, Concession No — The wheels of transition are beginning to turn as the machinery of President Trump's election challenges are grinding to an eventual halt. So is a concession speech in the cards? Don't bet on it. And there are solid arguments against it.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Business Insider, CNBC, New York Times, Slate, GovExec.com, KCLO-TV and Mediaite
Joe Hagan / Vanity Fair:
“How Many of These People Are Just Batshit Crazy?”: CNN's Jake Tapper on Politics and Media in the Trump Era — The network's chief Washington correspondent sees a world in which Trump's power diminishes, but may not disappear completely. The real question, though, is how America contends …
Amanda Mull / The Atlantic:
The Logic of Pandemic Restrictions Is Falling Apart — Two weeks ago, I staged a reluctant intervention via Instagram direct message. The subject was a longtime friend, Josh, who had been sharing photos of himself and his fiancé occasionally dining indoors at restaurants since New York City …
New York Times:
The New York Times is available to high school students and teachers across the United States — free. — Free digital access continues — The mission of The New York Times — to seek the truth and help people understand the world — is critically important in this moment of upheaval.
Discussion:
The Hill
Bonnie Kristian / The Week:
Our parents warned us the internet would break our brains. It broke theirs instead. — My college dorm was the first place I had reliable home internet access, and that was in part because my mom shared all the late 1990s and early 2000s parenting fears about the internet breaking our brains.
Discussion:
New York Times, more at Techmeme »
Foreign Policy:
Pentagon Purges Leading Advisors From Defense Policy Board — It's unclear why the Trump administration waited until its final months to shake up the influential group of outside experts advising top Pentagon leaders. — Several members of the top federal advisory committee to the U.S. Department …
Sarah Chaney Cambon / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Unemployment Claims Rose to 778,000 Last Week — Worker filings for jobless benefits are down sharply from a peak of nearly seven million in late March — Jobless claims rose for the second straight week, to 778,000, a sign the nationwide surge in virus cases was starting to weigh on the labor-market recovery.
Discussion:
CNBC, The Daily Caller and The Week