memeorandum: Unnamed Pentagon officials blast use of anonymous sources (Paul Szoldra/Task & Purpose)

7:05 PM ET, December 5, 2020

Top Items:

Trump calls Georgia governor to pressure him for help overturning Biden's win in the state — President Trump called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) on Saturday morning to urge him to persuade the state legislature to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state and asked the governor …

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Trump's Final Days of Rage and Denial — The last act of the Trump presidency has taken on the stormy elements of a drama more common to history or literature than a modern White House. — WASHINGTON — Over the past week, President Trump posted or reposted more than 130 messages …

Discussion: NBC10 Philadelphia, CNN, Raw Story, New Yorker, KVIA-TV and Outside the Beltway

Washington Post:

Just 27 congressional Republicans acknowledge Biden's win, Washington Post survey finds — Just 27 congressional Republicans acknowledge Joe Biden's win over President Trump a month after the former vice president's clear victory of more than 7 million votes nationally and a convincing electoral-vote margin …

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Faith shaken in system, Trump's Georgia supporters consider skipping U.S. Senate runoffs — Aimee Nobile is a former Democrat who “saw the light” and became a die-hard Donald Trump supporter. She attends conservative rallies, promotes Republican causes to friends, blows up Joe Biden and other Democrats on social media.

Discussion: Fox News, WJXT-TV, Breitbart, New York Post, KVIA-TV, Daily Kos, Washington Times, Raw Story, Al Jazeera and wabe.org

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Why Kemp won't attend Trump's Georgia rally on Saturday — Gov. Brian Kemp's office said Saturday he won't appear at President Donald Trump's rally in Valdosta following the death of a young aide he considered a member of his family.The governor's office said the Republican would not attend …

Discussion: USA Today, New York Post, Raw Story, Business Insider and The Hill

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Kemp again refuses Trump's demand to overturn election — VALDOSTA - During a lengthy Saturday morning call, Gov. Brian Kemp again refused a demand from President Donald Trump to summon state lawmakers to the Capitol for a special session to illegally overturn the November election result, according to two senior GOP officials.

Discussion: The New Neo, Daily Kos, Lucianne and POLITICUSUSA

Kristen Holmes / CNN:
Trump pressured Georgia governor in call to help overturn Biden's win in state

Discussion: Business Insider, Raw Story, KVIA-TV and New York Post

Eli Yokley / Morning Consult:
Trump's Attacks on Georgia Take a Toll on Brian Kemp

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Hill and Conservative News Today

Maya King / Politico:
How Georgia's Senate race pits the Old South against the New South

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Raw Story

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
All the focus is on Georgia — and who will vote and who will not

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, CBS News, Raw Story, ABC7, Forbes, One America News Network, Fox News and The Week

Violet Ikonomova / Deadline Detroit:

Giuliani's Michigan Witness Mellissa Carone Harassed, Sent Sex Videos To Boyfriend's Ex — Two years before she'd become the breakout star of the clown show Rudy Giuliani brought to Lansing this week, Mellissa Carone was sending her then-boyfriend's ex-wife graphic videos of the two of them having sex.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and The Intellectualist

Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost:

Rudy Giuliani's ‘Voter Fraud’ Witness Accused Of Framing Woman For Stealing Sex Videos — Mellissa Carone, aka Mellissa Wright, was until recently on probation after reaching a plea deal in a case in which she made false allegations. — A Donald Trump supporter who gave bizarre …

Paul Szoldra / Task & Purpose:

Unnamed Pentagon officials blast use of anonymous sources … Senior defense officials on Saturday declined to go on the record yet sharply criticized the use of anonymous sources in reports that the Pentagon was slow-rolling Biden-Harris transition efforts.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Examiner, Washington Post, The Hill and Raw Story

NBC News:
Trump loyalist Kash Patel blocking some Pentagon officials from helping Biden transition

Discussion: USA Today, Raw Story, HotAir and Business Insider

NBC10 Philadelphia:

COVID-19 May Cause Erectile Dysfunction — Although COVID-19 treatments have improved and a vaccine is on the way, even a mild case of the virus can cause long-term complications — including the possibility of erectile dysfunction. Infectious disease expert Dr. Dena Grayson joined LX News …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Melanie Zanona / Politico:

'We've lost our moral authority': Kinzinger unwilling to back off Trump — Rep. Adam Kinzinger is sticking around next Congress — and the Illinois Republican isn't done sticking it to Donald Trump. — Kinzinger, fresh off a re-election victory in his conservative district nestled between Chicago …

Discussion: The Hill and Daily Kos

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post: GOP Rep. Kinzinger wages a lonely fight against Trump's falsehoods and right-wing disinformation

New York Times:

Report Points to Microwave ‘Attack’ as Likely Source of Mystery Illnesses That Hit Diplomats and Spies — A government-commissioned report provides the most definitive explanation yet for “Havana syndrome,” which struck scores of American employees, first in Cuba and then in China, Russia and other countries.

NBC News:
‘Havana Syndrome’ likely caused by microwave energy, government study finds

Discussion: New York Post, Slate, Mother Jones and Foreign Policy

CNN:

New combative Ivanka Trump sparks questions about her future — (CNN)A more combative Ivanka Trump has emerged with little more than one month left in her role as adviser to President Donald Trump, as the first daughter makes a conscious effort to publicly push back on her critics.

Discussion: Raw Story

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

Why Do So Many Americans Think the Election Was Stolen? — Looking for the reasons behind a seemingly unreasonable belief. — There have been few surprises this past month in how Donald Trump has dealt with the reality of his electoral defeat. — Anyone familiar with his career …

Rick Hasen / Election Law Blog:

Trump's Continuing Failing Lawsuits as a Loss Leader, Grift, and Delegitimization Device — Three weeks ago, I and others in the election law field determined that Trump's path to use lawsuits to overturn the results of the election were dead. The campaign had uncovered no significant fraud …

Discussion: GNEWS and WISC-TV

Michael R. Pompeo / United States Department of State:

Termination of PRC-Funded Propaganda Programs — Today, the Department of State terminated five programs, disguised as “cultural exchanges,” with the People's Republic of China (PRC). These programs include the Policymakers Educational China Trip Program, the U.S.-China Friendship Program …

Discussion: CBS News, The Hill and Axios

Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:

We read the paper that forced Timnit Gebru out of Google. Here's what it says — The company's star ethics researcher highlighted the risks of large language models, which are key to Google's business. — hide — On the evening of Wednesday, December 2, Timnit Gebru …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Mashable, The Verge, KVIA-TV, Associated Press and Vox, more at Techmeme »

Griff Witte / Washington Post:

New Mexico shut down nearly everything to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed by covid. It wasn't enough. — The governor had been sounding the alarm for more than a month. But by mid-November, it was clear to Michelle Lujan Grisham that she would need to take extreme measures to head off the …

Discussion: Daily Kos

USA Today:

Arizona Legislature ‘cannot and will not’ overturn election, Republican House speaker says — Ryan Randazzo Jen Fifield Andrew OxfordArizona Republic — PHOENIX - Republican Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives Rusty Bowers said Friday that pleas from some GOP lawmakers to overturn …

Liliana Segura / The Intercept:

Trump Prepares to Kill Brandon Bernard Even as Jurors Say His Life Should Be Spared … On a Saturday morning in November, Gary McClung sat at a picnic table with his wife overlooking a field off the banks of the Duck River in Tennessee. It was sunny and mild. Local vendors sold produce under a pavilion.

Glenn Greenwald:

After the Deep State Sabotaged His Presidential Bid, Bernie Sanders Mocks Those Who Believe it Exists — Also ridiculing “rigged elections” and “fake news” — two other weapons used on him — the Vermont Senator's relationship to the Democratic Party descends from loyal support to abject subservience.

Discussion: Raw Story

Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:

Is ‘Natural Immunity’ From Covid Better Than a Vaccine? — And if you've already had Covid-19, do you still need a vaccine? Experts tackle questions about vaccine immunity. — On the heels of last month's news of stunning results from Pfizer's and Moderna's experimental Covid-19 vaccines …

Discussion: Observer

Sydney Trent / Washington Post:

CIA psychological profiler who labeled Trump ‘dangerous’ dies of covid-19 at 86 — As a pioneering psychological profiler for the Central Intelligence Agency and later as a consultant, Jerrold M. Post plumbed the lives, leadership styles and, at times, the mental illness of foreign heads around the globe.

Annie Grayer / CNN:

First shipments of coronavirus vaccine will fall short — (CNN)State health departments and governors' offices across the country are finally being told by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Operation Warp Speed how many doses of the coronavirus vaccine they will initially …

Rick Scott / Fox News:

Sen. Rick Scott: Trump's Florida election victory has important lesson for Republicans nationwide — Democrats want to control your life. Republicans want to give you a life — Fox News Flash top headlines for December 3 — President Trump's decisive election victory in my home state …

Discussion: Florida Politics