Top Items:
Keith Griffith / Associated Press:
MAGA turns on Mitch: Trump allies including Michael Flynn slam the GOP Senate majority leader for ‘caving to the mob and China’ for recognizing Biden as president-elect — Trump loyalists were furious after McConnell congratulated Biden on Tuesday — Top allies accused Senate majority leader of selling out the party's leader
RELATED:
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Journalists, it's time for a cold-turkey breakup with Trump — Long before he glided down that golden escalator at Trump Tower in 2015 to announce his presidential candidacy, Donald Trump was an object of media fascination. He could never actually become president, of course …
Grace Segers / CBS News:
McConnell says “we're getting closer and closer” to deal on COVID relief
McConnell says “we're getting closer and closer” to deal on COVID relief
Discussion:
Bloomberg
Politico:
Why Biden thinks the GOP fever could break (really)
Why Biden thinks the GOP fever could break (really)
Discussion:
Washington Post, New York Times, Bearing Arms, abc7NY, IJR, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, CBS News and The Week
Stephen Collinson / CNN:
McConnell sets stage for new face-off with Biden after delivering blow to Trump's election fantasy
McConnell sets stage for new face-off with Biden after delivering blow to Trump's election fantasy
Burgess Everett / Politico:
How McConnell and the GOP let Trump down gently
How McConnell and the GOP let Trump down gently
Discussion:
Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Conservative News Today, Issues & Insights, The Week, Mediaite, New York Times and KIFI-TV
Alayna Treene / Axios:
Scoop: McConnell alerted White House before congratulating Biden
Scoop: McConnell alerted White House before congratulating Biden
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Mediaite, Holy Bullies …, POLITICUSUSA, TASS and The Guardian
Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
Defying Trump, McConnell Seeks to Squelch Bid to Overturn the Election
Defying Trump, McConnell Seeks to Squelch Bid to Overturn the Election
Discussion:
Townhall, Washington Post, Washington Times, David Harris Jr., One America News Network, POLITICUSUSA and TheBlaze
Bloomberg:
MacKenzie Scott Gives Away $4.2 Billion in Four Months — World's 18th-richest person announced contributions on Medium — Scott's total gifts this year are close to $6 billion — MacKenzie Scott is giving away her fortune at an unprecedented pace, donating more than $4 billion …
RELATED:
MacKenzie Scott / Medium:
384 Ways to Help — Emily Dickinson lived much of her life isolated in a single room …
384 Ways to Help — Emily Dickinson lived much of her life isolated in a single room …
Discussion:
CNBC, New York Times, New York Post, CBS News, WTOP, NewsOne, Common Dreams, Vox, El Paso Matters, Orange County Register, The Wrap, GeekWire and The Hill
ABC13:
Alleged crusade to stop voter fraud lands former HPD captain in handcuffs — HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A former Houston Police Department Captain was arrested and charged for running a man off the road and pointing a gun at his head in an attempt to prove claims of a massive voter fraud scheme …
RELATED:
Erin Douglas / The Texas Tribune:
Former Houston police captain accused of violent attempt to prove election conspiracy was hired by GOP activist's group — Mark Aguirre is accused of running a man off the road and threatening him at gunpoint. The ex-cop was hired as a private investigator by a group whose CEO is GOP activist Steven Hotze.
Discussion:
NPR, WTOP and New York Post
Michael Stratford / Politico:
DeVos urges career staff to ‘be the resistance’ as Biden takes over — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged career employees at the Education Department on Tuesday to “be the resistance” when the Biden administration comes into power next month, according to a recording of her remarks obtained by POLITICO.
Discussion:
The Hill, The Week, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, New York Magazine, Washington Examiner and Washington Times
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Trump asking about special prosecutor for Hunter Biden — Washington (AP) — President Donald Trump is considering pushing to have a special counsel appointed to advance a federal tax investigation into the son of President-elect Joe Biden, setting up a potential showdown with incoming acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen.
RELATED:
NBC News:
White House counsel's office warned Trump not to fire Chris Wray — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has come so close to firing FBI Director Christopher Wray in recent months that the White House counsel's office has warned him not to do so because it could put him in potential legal jeopardy …
Joyce Vance / MSNBC:
Barr's escape hatch isn't enough to shake Trump's stigma
Barr's escape hatch isn't enough to shake Trump's stigma
Discussion:
USA Today, CNN, New Republic, Raw Story, COURIER, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Real America's Voice
John Hudson / Washington Post:
Hundreds of invitees skip Mike Pompeo's indoor holiday party at State Department — Only a tiny fraction of the more than 900 guests invited to an indoor holiday party hosted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife Susan showed up on Tuesday following an outcry from public health officials …
Discussion:
The Week and Political Wire
Vincent Marshall / Dodge City Daily Globe:
Mayor Warshaw resigns effective immediately — On Tuesday, Dec. 15, Dodge City Mayor Joyce Warshaw officially resigned from her position effective immediately. — “I understand people are under a lot of pressure from various things that are happening around society like the pandemic …
Discussion:
Forbes, Axios and Political Wire
RELATED:
Associated Press:
‘I do not feel safe’: Kansas GOP mayor resigns after threats over backing mask mandate — A Republican mayor in western Kansas announced in a letter to city officials and on social media Tuesday that she is resigning, effective immediately, because of threats she has received after she publicly supported a mask mandate.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Washington Post:
The U.S. government spent billions on a system for detecting hacks. The Russians outsmarted it. — When Russian hackers first slipped their digital Trojan horses into federal government computer systems, probably sometime in the spring, they sat dormant for days, doing nothing but hiding.
Discussion:
KIFI-TV, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Jordan Williams / The Hill:
Longtime GOP strategist Steve Schmidt announces he's registering Democrat — Longtime GOP strategist Steve Schmidt announced that he is registering as a Democrat after nearly 30 years with the Republican Party. — Schmidt made the announcement during an episode of the “Battleground” …
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA, RedState and The Intellectualist
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Mar-a-Lago neighbors to Trump: Spend your post-presidency elsewhere — Next-door neighbors of Mar-a-Lago, President Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Fla., that he has called his Winter White House, have a message for the outgoing commander in chief: We don't want you to be our neighbor.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Mediaite, Slate, The Week, New York Magazine and Raw Story
Hans Nichols / Axios:
Biden considering Republicans for Commerce secretary — President-elect Joe Biden is considering some well-known Republicans — think Meg Whitman types — for Commerce secretary as a way to signal to red-state Americans he understands their concerns and plans to address them.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and The American Conservative
Sun-Sentinel:
A mysterious gap in COVID-19 deaths appeared in Florida before the presidential election — An astonishing pattern has emerged in Florida's COVID death tally — one that suggests the state manipulated a backlog of unrecorded fatalities, presenting more favorable death counts in the days leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Raw Story and The Week
Rachel Sharp / Daily Mail:
San Francisco to rename Abraham Lincoln High School because former president did not demonstrate that ‘black lives mattered to him’ - as woke renaming committee also takes aim at Democrat senator Dianne Feinstein and Teddy Roosevelt — San Francisco Unified School District's renaming …
Discussion:
HotAir, Washington Free Beacon, The Western Journal, The College Fix, Big League Politics and Townhall
RELATED:
Jill Tucker / San Francisco Chronicle:
Abraham Lincoln was once a hero. In some S.F. education circles, he's now a bad guy
Abraham Lincoln was once a hero. In some S.F. education circles, he's now a bad guy
Discussion:
Joanne Jacobs, The Daily Caller and Breitbart
Marc Thiessen / Washington Post:
Giving Trump credit for the vaccine is the best way for Biden to unite the country — Joe Biden promised in his victory speech to “unite us here at home” and told Trump supporters that he wanted to “put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature [and] see each other again.”
Discussion:
USA Today and Spectator USA
Noah Weiland / New York Times:
‘Like a Hand Grasping’: Trump Appointees Describe the Crushing of the C.D.C. — Kyle McGowan, a former chief of staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and his deputy, Amanda Campbell, go public on the Trump administration's manipulation of the agency.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Andrew Desiderio / Politico:
Ron Johnson gambles his political future on Trump — President Donald Trump listens as Sen. Ron Johnson addresses the crowd during a campaign rally on Oct. 17, 2020, in Janesville, Wis. — Ron Johnson is linking himself to President Donald Trump's election challenge as tightly as possible …
Discussion:
Washington Post and Raw Story
Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:
How 2020 Shattered Shared Reality — Twenty years ago, the sociologist Robert Putnam in Bowling Alone used the decline of bowling leagues since the middle of the 20th century to symbolize America's declining social engagement. This year, he published a sequel of sorts, The Upswing …
Matthew Yglesias / Slow Boring:
17 theses on Pete Buttigieg and the Department of Transportation — Emergency blog post! — 3 hr ago — Trying something new, an emergency out-of-schedule post on Pete Buttigieg and the Department of Transportation! — I love transportation policy and know a fair amount about it.
Christian Middleton / Mississippi Free Press:
UM Fires History Professor Who Criticizes ‘Powerful, Racist Donors’ and ‘Carceral State’ — During a period of what University of Mississippi faculty are calling a time of increasing paranoia, the university is set to terminate a celebrated professor of history.
Troy Closson / New York Times:
Children Love Snow Days. The Pandemic May End Them Forever. — In New York City and elsewhere, classes will be held online no matter how bad storms are this year in a shift that makes some parents wistful. — “Snow day.” These two words have charmed New York children for generations …
Edward Luce / Financial Times:
Joe Biden should beware liberal identity politics — Winning back white blue collar votes is a less fraught route to victory — There is a fine line between championing diversity and embracing identity politics. In practice, it should be a bright red one.
Discussion:
National Review, The CT Mirror, UnHerd, Sun-Sentinel and WTOP
CNN:
How Qanon's lies are hijacking the national conversation — How Trump is fueling the alarming growth of QAnon — (CNN)It started with a Tweet from a QAnon supporter at 2:09 in the morning: #SubpoenaObama. — Though devoid of context, the cryptic message made sense to anyone in tune …
Discussion:
Media Matters for America
Hillel Italie / Associated Press:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren's book ‘Persist’ to come out in April — NEW YORK (AP) — Sen. Elizabeth Warren has a book coming out about six key experiences and perspectives. The title should be familiar to those who have followed the Massachusetts Democrat's career: “Persist.”
Phil Helsel / NBC News:
California orders thousands of body bags as Covid death toll grows … California has purchased thousands of body bags and has dozens of refrigerated storage units on standby as it prepares to deal with a growing death toll from Covid-19. — The orders for 5,000 body bags …
Discussion:
UPI
Washington Post:
Biden picks former EPA chief Gina McCarthy as White House climate czar — McCarthy heads the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has sued the Trump administration more than 100 times. — President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Gina McCarthy, who ran the Environmental Protection Agency …
Discussion:
BuzzFeed News, Bloomberg, The Hill, New York Times, NPR, Axios and The Week