memeorandum: 'It's nonstop': Georgia Senate battles rage far from Atlanta (Marc Caputo/Politico)

10:40 AM ET, December 17, 2020

Top Items:

Thomas P. Bossert / New York Times:

I Was the Homeland Security Adviser to Trump. We're Being Hacked. — The magnitude of this national security breach is hard to overstate. — Mr. Bossert was the homeland security adviser to President Trump and deputy homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush.

Discussion: CNN, GeekWire, No More Mister Nice Blog, Crooks and Liars and Raw Story, more at Techmeme »

CISA:
Joint Statement by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)

Discussion: The Sun and Slate

Politico:
How suspected Russian hackers outed their massive cyberattack

more at Techmeme »

Jennifer Horn / USA Today:

Texas lawsuit was the last straw. I'm leaving the Republican Party: Former NH GOP chair — The GOP has ransacked our Constitution and attempted a coup. The Republican Party of Lincoln is no more. I'm switching my registration to independent. — My mother spent a lifetime trying to teach me to stand for what is right.

Discussion: The Hill, Raw Story, New York Post and The Texas Tribune

Politico:

Never-Trump movement splinters as its villain heads for the exit — The defeat of Donald Trump might have been the easy part for never-Trump Republicans. Next up: taking on the more elusive target of Trumpism with their boogeyman gone from office. — More than a dozen leaders …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Conservative News Today, Bulwark+, Daily Kos, The Week and National Review

David Siders / Politico:

'Everything's great': GOP ditches election post-mortems — Democrats in Texas and New Hampshire are forming committees to examine the party's failings in last month's election. Less formal autopsies are underway in states across the country. — But the party that lost the presidential election isn't soul-searching at all.

Discussion: American Greatness, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and New York Times

Politico:

Pence prepares to oversee Trump's loss — and then leave town — On Jan. 6, Vice President Mike Pence will oversee final confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden's victory. — Then he'll likely skip town. — As vice president, Pence has the awkward but unavoidable duty of presiding …

Discussion: The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Week and Election Law Blog

Margaret Carlson / The Daily Beast:
Mike Pence's Mission Is Slavish Devotion Every Day Til Jan. 20

Discussion: Raw Story

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Scoop: Vice President Pence to receive televised vaccine shot

Discussion: The Week, Business Insider, BuzzFeed News, HotAir and Washington Examiner

Washington Post:

French President Macron tests positive for the coronavirus after showing symptoms — PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for the coronavirus, the country's presidential palace announced Thursday. — He was administered a test after he began to show symptoms associated with the virus.

Discussion: Axios and Business Insider

Sylvie Corbet / Associated Press: French President Macron tests positive for COVID-19

CNN:
Biden expected to get coronavirus vaccination early next week

Discussion: TheBlaze, The Hill, Business Insider, Politico, USA Today, Axios, MyNorthwest.com, POLITICUSUSA, UPI and New York Post

Alan Feuer / New York Times:

Dominion demands that Sidney Powell retract ‘baseless and false allegations’ about voting machines. — Dominion Voting Systems sent a blistering letter on Wednesday night to the right-wing lawyer Sidney Powell, demanding that she publicly retract her “wild, knowingly baseless and false accusations” …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

Kyle Smith / National Review:

Jill Biden's Doctorate Is Garbage Because Her Dissertation Is Garbage — Her dissertation is not an addition to the sum total of human knowledge. — You can tell someone is smarting from an inferiority complex when he insists on being addressed as “Dr.” on the basis of holding an academic doctorate rather than being a physician.

Discussion: Arizona Mirror

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:
Obsessed Tucker Carlson Calls Jill Biden ‘Illiterate’ and ‘Our National Shame’

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller and The Wrap

CNN:

Biden's search for an attorney general complicated by ‘competing questions’ — Washington (CNN)The deliberations among President-elect Joe Biden's tight circle of advisers about whom he should nominate as attorney general have emerged as some of the more complicated of the transition …

Discussion: New York Times, Issues & Insights, American Prospect, The Gateway Pundit, Mic and Washington Free Beacon

Newsweek: We Need a Special Counsel

Andrew Kerr / The Daily Caller: EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Biden Was Due To Receive ‘Significant’ Payments From Chinese Private Equity Firm Starting In 2019, Emails Show

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Mitch McConnell gives away the game: ‘Kelly and David are getting hammered’ — Pressure works. That's what we're learning from the news that congressional negotiators are moving toward a deal on an economic rescue package that includes stimulus checks for individuals.

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Beast, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Atlantic, The Sun, Raw Story, Business Insider and Reuters

E.J. Dionne / Washington Post:
Joe Biden may be tougher than the GOP expects

Discussion: The Hill, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bloomberg and IJR

Emily Cochrane / New York Times:
Staring Down Deadline, Congress Nears $900 Billion Stimulus Deal

Discussion: Michigan Advance, The American Independent, The Dispatch, Associated Press and Washington Post

Axios:

O'Malley Dillon's line that GOP are “f-ckers” worries some Biden aides — Some advisers close to President-elect Joe Biden are frustrated over a Glamour magazine interview in which incoming White House deputy chief of staff Jen O'Malley Dillon referred to Republicans on Capitol Hill as “f*ckers.”

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Politico, Washington Post, RedState, Daily Kos, Fox News, The Hill, IJR, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon, HotAir, New York Magazine, Twitchy, Breitbart and Liberty Unyielding

CNN:
'It's turned crazy': Inside the scramble for Trump pardons

Discussion: Business Insider, The Sun, Pirate's Cove, Washington Examiner, RedState, The Week, New York Magazine, POLITICUSUSA, Bloomberg, Raw Story, National Review, Washington Post, HotAir and Political Wire

Lisa Bonos / Washington Post:

Pete Buttigieg is right. Airports are romantic. — In accepting his pending appointment to be the next U.S. transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg spoke about how travel, in his mind, “is synonymous with growth, with adventure — even love.” Then he went for a laugh line, adding …

Discussion: National Review, CNN and USA Today

Jonathan Capehart / Washington Post: Pete Buttigieg as transportation secretary is something Frank Kameny could have only dreamed of

Henry Grabar / Slate: Pete Buttigieg Doesn't Deserve to Be Transportation Secretary, but He Could Be Great at It

Marc Caputo / Politico:

'It's nonstop': Georgia Senate battles rage far from Atlanta — When Vice President Mike Pence touches down in Georgia Thursday to rally for GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, it won't be in the Atlanta metropolitan area, where the bulk of the state's population is concentrated.

Discussion: Washington Post and WTOP

Sabato's Crystal Ball:
Georgia Senate Runoffs: Breaking Down November, Looking to January

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, National Review, CBS News and New York Magazine

New York Times:

Alaska Health Worker Had a Serious Allergic Reaction After Pfizer's Vaccine — The person had no history of allergies. Two similar reactions happened last week in Britain. — WASHINGTON — A health care worker in Alaska had a serious allergic reaction after getting Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine …

Discussion: STAT, CNN, HotAir, CBS News, The Week, Meduza.io, Breitbart, Washington Post, The Western Journal, The Daily Caller, The Sun, Townhall and New York Post

Sarah Owermohle / Politico:
FDA says Pfizer vaccine vials hold extra doses, expanding supply

Discussion: HotAir, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, New York Times, NPR, New York Magazine, The Sun, New York Post, Axios, The Week, Forbes, Washington Examiner and UPI

Washington Post:

Interior Secretary Bernhardt tests positive for covid-19 — Two other top Interior officials contracted the virus last month — Interior Department Secretary David Bernhardt, 51, tested positive for covid-19 Wednesday, the department spokesman confirmed after an inquiry from The Post.

Discussion: CNN, NBC News, USA Today, The Hill, NBC4 Washington, The Week, Associated Press, Axios and New York Post

Michelle Ruiz / Vogue:

How Savannah Guthrie and Kristen Welker Won the 2020 Election Coverage — FIVE MINUTES before NBC called the 2020 election for Joe Biden, Kristen Welker was sprinting. After rising at 4 a.m. and coanchoring Weekend Today in New York, the White House correspondent darted into a car …

Neal Rothschild / Axios:

Trump states shut out COVID headlines as virus rages — States that voted for President Trump tend to have high coronavirus caseloads compared to how much COVID content they read online, while the opposite is true of states that voted for President-elect Biden, according to exclusive data …

Roger Sollenberger / Salon:

This hedge-fund billionaire is a huge fan of Sen. Kelly Loeffler — but why? — Finance mogul Ken Griffin gave big chunks of cash to Kelly Loeffler's PAC — and the timing is intriguing — On Oct. 9, billionaire Ken Griffin, the head of a multinational financial services company …

Justine Coleman / The Hill:

Trump cuts $200M in health care funds to California over abortions — President Trump's administration announced on Wednesday an upcoming cut of $200 million in federal Medicaid funding to California over the state's requirement for abortions to be covered under health care plans.

Discussion: HHS News Releases and Fox News

Christopher Bedford / The Federalist:

This Series Of Fact-Checks On America's Mission To Defeat COVID Exposes Media Hatred — Fact checks on the United States' COVID vaccine timeline expose how outlets like NBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post are willing to attack American aspirations to score political points.

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

We've finally identified the source of fraud in the 2020 election. It's Ron Johnson. — Finally, significant fraud has been identified in the 2020 election. It is being perpetrated by Sen. Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin. — President Trump lost the election. He lost the recounts.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Law & Crime, Vox, USA Today, New York Post, The Daily Signal, Washington Times, Associated Press, Florida Politics, NBC News, The Federalist, Crooks and Liars, ABC News, Los Angeles Times, NBC Boston and The Babylon Bee

Dave Michaels / Wall Street Journal:

Robinhood Financial to Pay $65 Million to Settle SEC Probe — The brokerage firm settles investigation over early failure to highlight deals with high-speed trading firms — WASHINGTON—Robinhood Financial LLC has agreed to pay $65 million to settle regulatory claims that it didn't sufficiently disclose …

Discussion: Forbes and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Washington Examiner:

Raphael Warnock's embrace of anti-Semite Farrakhan is disqualifying for Senate service — It was once said of a famously vulnerable Senate candidate that, with respect to the opposition research that could be used against her in a campaign, “there's a haystack of needles.”

Sarah Kliff / New York Times:

The Vaccines Are Supposed to Be Free. Surprise Bills Could Happen Anyway. — “It is the American health care system, so there are bound to be loopholes.” — When Americans receive a coronavirus vaccine, federal rules say they shouldn't have to pay anything out of pocket.