memeorandum: Former director of U.S. cyber agency Chris Krebs not “necessarily surprised” by firing (CBS News)

12:15 PM ET, November 27, 2020

Top Items:

Live Updates: Iran's Top Nuclear Scientist Killed in Attack, State Media Say — The scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was seen as the force behind Iran's nuclear weapons program. News reports in Iran say he died after being attacked in a vehicle. — RIGHT NOW Iran's state media say doctors failed …

Discussion: Tasnim News Agency, CBS News, Forbes, Balloon Juice, Jihad Watch and UPI

Jon Gambrell / Associated Press:

Iran scientist linked to military nuclear program killed — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian scientist that Israel alleged led the Islamic Republic's military nuclear program until its disbanding in the early 2000s was killed in a targeted attack that saw gunmen use explosives …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Daily Beast, Middle East Eye, Cyprus Mail, Associated Press and WTOP

The Times of Israel:

Alleged head of Iran's nuclear weapons program is assassinated near Tehran — Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's car bombed and shot at; blaming ‘Zionists,’ adviser to Khamenei vows to ‘descend like lightning on killers’; scientist has been called ‘father of Iranian bomb’

Discussion: Bloomberg, Breitbart, NPR, Algemeiner.com, Mediaite, One America News Network, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, New York Post and Meduza.io

Washington Post:

Prominent Iranian nuclear scientist killed in attack outside Tehran — ISTANBUL — A prominent Iranian nuclear scientist was who was seen as a driving force behind Tehran's disbanded effort to build a nuclear weapon was killed Friday during an attack east of Tehran, according to Iran's foreign minister.

Rory Carroll / The Guardian:

‘Mini desk. Tiny hands. Small soul’: Trump mocked for giving speech at little table … Play Video — For a US president obsessed by size - his hands, his wealth, his crowds - Donald Trump made something of a bold U-turn on Thursday night by addressing the country from a desk seemingly designed for a leprechaun.

Discussion: Breitbart and WHYY

CNN:

'I'm the President of the United States!': Trump flips out on reporter - CNN Video — President Trump condemned a reporter after being asked if he would concede the election if the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Algemeiner.com, CBS Pittsburgh, Associated Press, Fox News, TheGrio, IJR, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Intellectualist

Nick Visser / HuffPost:

Unthankful Trump Refuses To Say If He Will Attend Biden Inauguration — “It's going to be a very hard thing to concede,” the president said in combative remarks between a bevy of falsehoods. — President Donald Trump refused on Thanksgiving to say if he will attend President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration …

Discussion: CNN, Business Insider, The Daily Beast and Toledo Blade

Josh Dawsey / Washington Post:
Trump commits to stepping down if electoral college votes for Biden

Discussion: Press Association, Fox News, The Week, New York Times, TheBlaze, CNN, Common Dreams, Alternet.org, Politico, NBC News, Raw Story, UPI and Bloomberg

Josephine Harvey / HuffPost:
Trump Flips Out At Reporter: 'Don't Ever Talk To The President That Way'

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Examiner, Conservative News Today, The Root, TheGrio, The Daily Caller, Althouse and Business Insider

Charlie Nash / Mediaite:
'Don't Ever Talk to the President That Way': Trump Snaps at ‘Lightweight’ Reporter During Wild Thanksgiving Press Conference

Discussion: mediaite.com, Townhall and Raw Story

Jill Colvin / Associated Press:
Angry Trump promises rally in battleground state of Georgia

Discussion: New York Post, The Daily Caller, Fox News, Breitbart, Al Jazeera, Washington Times, Election Law Blog, Portside, Digby's Hullabaloo and Politico

Reuters:
Donald Trump says he will leave White House if electoral college votes for Joe Biden

Discussion: The Guardian, Mediaite, Raw Story, Reuters, Deadline, Washington Times, Daily Kos and New York Post

Joseph Choi / The Hill:
Trump says he'll leave White House if Biden declared winner of Electoral College

Discussion: RedState, CNBC, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, TASS, Fortune, POLITICUSUSA, Associated Press and Washington Examiner

Karen Weise / New York Times:

Pushed by Pandemic, Amazon Goes on a Hiring Spree Without Equal — The company has added 427,300 employees in 10 months, bringing its global work force to more than 1.2 million. — SEATTLE — Amazon has embarked on an extraordinary hiring binge this year, vacuuming up an average of 1,400 …

Discussion: The Hill, New York Post, The Verge and Al Jazeera, more at Techmeme »

Will Wilkinson / New York Times:

Why Did So Many Americans Vote for Trump? — To the dismay of Democrats, the president's strategy of ignoring the pandemic mostly worked for Republicans. — President Trump's disastrous mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic probably cost him re-election.

Discussion: Associated Press, American Thinker and Wall Street Journal

Steven V. Mazie / Washington Post:

What a conservative majority on the court really means — Steven V. Mazie is the Supreme Court correspondent for the Economist and professor of political studies at Bard High School Early College in Manhattan. His most recent book is “American Justice 2015: The Dramatic Tenth Term of the Roberts Court.”

Reuters:
Cuomo calls U.S. Supreme Court's religious gatherings ruling ‘irrelevant’

Discussion: Business Insider, Cyprus Mail, CNN, Algemeiner.com and NBC 6 South Florida

New York Post:
Cuomo calls Supreme Court church ruling ‘irrelevant’ despite decision

Discussion: Conservative News Today, Breitbart, Wall Street Journal, LifeNews.com and New York Times

CBS News:

Former director of U.S. cyber agency Chris Krebs not “necessarily surprised” by firing — See the interview with the man President Trump ousted after he said the election was secure, Sunday night on 60 Minutes. — Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency …

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:

Trump officials move to relax rules on killing birds — Overhaul of the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act would not hold firms liable for ‘incidentally’ causing scores of bird deaths — The Trump administration published an analysis Friday finding that its rule easing companies' liability …

Discussion: Political Wire

Ken Dilanian / NBC News:

When he leaves office, can ex-President Trump be trusted with America's national security secrets? … WASHINGTON — When David Priess was a CIA officer, he traveled to Houston, he recalls, to brief former President George H.W. Bush on classified developments in the Middle East.

Discussion: Alternet.org

Vivian Salama / CNN:
Biden to face test over access to sensitive information as he inherits Trump's secret server

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, emptywheel, USA Today, Townhall, POLITICUSUSA, The National Interest, Al Jazeera, The Gateway Pundit and Politico

Allyson Waller / New York Times:

U.S. Border Agency Settles With 2 Americans Detained for Speaking Spanish — In a video of the 2018 incident in Havre, Mont., a Border Patrol agent is heard telling the two American women he detains that speaking Spanish in the small city is “very unheard-of.”

Byron Tau / Wall Street Journal:

Next Step in Government Data Tracking is the Internet of Things — U.S. Air Force experiments with monitoring peripherals—from autos to fitness trackers — WASHINGTON—U. S. government agencies from the military to law enforcement have been buying up mobile-phone data from the private sector …

Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:

‘Tokenized’: Inside Black Workers' Struggles at the King of Crypto Start-Ups — Coinbase, the most valuable U.S. cryptocurrency company, has faced many internal complaints about discriminatory treatment. — SAN FRANCISCO — One by one, they left. Some quit. Others were fired. All were Black.

more at Techmeme »

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Oh, Brother! Tears for Trump — No arguments — or turkey — this Thanksgiving. Just a cocktail. … ROCKVILLE, Md. — The mercurial presidency of Donald Trump apparently is over. Historians, 20 or 30 years hence, will be the impartial arbiters of his accomplishments …

Discussion: CNN, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post