memeorandum: Georgia Democratic senator receives death threats after election hearing (Maya T. Prabhu/Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

8:25 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: Mediaite, NBC10 Philadelphia, CNN, Raw Story, KVIA-TV, New Yorker 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: WJXT-TV, KVIA-TV, Daily Kos, New York Post, Washington Times, Raw Story, Al Jazeera, Fox News, Breitbart 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, WTMJ, 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, WISC-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

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: New York Post, 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, The Hill, Raw Story and Washington Post

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

John Binder / Breitbart:

Exclusive: Georgia Sens. David Perdue, Kelly Loeffler Vow ‘Never’ to Support Amnesty for Illegal Aliens — Georgia Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue are vowing “never” to support amnesty for illegal aliens as they both face Democrat challenges in a January runoff election …

Discussion: Big League Politics

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

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

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

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 …

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: Foreign Policy, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Slate, Mother Jones and New York Post

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

Maya T. Prabhu / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Georgia Democratic senator receives death threats after election hearing — An Atlanta state senator has asked for police protection after people posting on conservative social media said she should be killed over her participation in hearings on Thursday about unsubstantiated claims …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

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

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

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 …

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: Big League Politics and Raw Story

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

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.