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6:20 PM ET, December 18, 2020

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 Top Items: 
Business Insider:
EXCLUSIVE: Jared Kushner helped create a Trump campaign shell company that secretly paid the president's family members and spent $617 million in reelection cash, a source tells Insider … - Jared Kushner approved the creation of a shell company that spent almost half of the Trump campaign's $1.26B war chest …
RELATED:
New York Times:
Trump's Future: Tons of Cash and Plenty of Options for Spending It  —  When President Trump departs the White House, he will have a huge pile of cash to fuel his future ambitions.  He can hold rallies, hire staff and even lay groundwork for a potential 2024 run.
Rachel Olding / The Daily Beast:
Kushner OK'd Trump Campaign Shell Company That Secretly Paid Inner Circle: Report  —  ENDLESS GRIFT  —  Jared Kushner approved the creation of a shell company that operated like a “campaign within a campaign” and secretly funneled millions of dollars in campaign cash to Trump family members, Business Insider reports.
New York Times:
Lara Trump served on the board of a company through which the Trump political operation spent more than $700 million.  —  Lara Trump, President Trump's daughter-in-law and a senior campaign adviser, served on the board of a limited liability company through which the Trump political operation …
Discussion: The Intellectualist
Axios:
Scoop: Pentagon halts Biden transition briefings  —  Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller ordered a Pentagon-wide halt to cooperation with the transition of President-elect Biden, shocking officials across the Defense Department, senior administration officials tell Axios.
RELATED:
David Folkenflik / NPR:
‘New York Times’ Retracts Core Of Hit Podcast Series ‘Caliphate’ On ISIS  —  Toggle more options  —  The New York Times has retracted the core of its hit 2018 podcast series Caliphate after an internal review found the paper failed to heed red flags indicating that the man it relied upon …
RELATED:
Rukmini Callimachi / New York Times:   ISIS Leader Paid Rival for Protection but Was Betrayed by His Own
Los Angeles Times:
The wealthy scramble for COVID-19 vaccines: ‘If I donate $25,000 ... would that help me?’  —  They're offering tens of thousands of dollars in cash, making their personal assistants pester doctors every day, and asking whether a five-figure donation to a hospital would help them jump the line.
Nina Totenberg / NPR:
Supreme Court Punts Census Case, Giving Trump An Iffy Chance To Alter Numbers  —  Toggle more options  —  The U.S. Supreme Court ducked a direct ruling Friday on whether President Trump can exclude undocumented immigrants from a key census count.  —  At issue in the case …
RELATED:
Lawrence Hurley / Reuters:
U.S. Supreme Court throws out challenge to Trump census immigrant plan
Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
William Barr: ‘One Standard of Justice’  —  The departing attorney general talks about John Durham, Robert Mueller, Hunter Biden, Mike Flynn and the flak he's taken from both parties.  —  The U.S. attorney general is meditating on one of his frustrations with the modern Justice Department …
Discussion: Washington Examiner and emptywheel
Peter Nicholas / The Atlantic:
Was It Worth It?  —  People who work for President Donald Trump typically meet one of two fates.  They fail to show the unthinking loyalty he demands and get fired.  Or, maybe worse, they don't get fired—they endure the tantrums and turmoil and survive another day, binding themselves …
Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite
Politico:
Disarray consumes Capitol ahead of critical deadline  —  Congress is going right up to the midnight shutdown deadline as leaders desperately try to clinch a $900 billion coronavirus aid package and keep the government open during a debilitating pandemic.  —  After meeting with Senate Majority …
RELATED:
Ken Gormley / Washington Post:
If Trump pardons himself, Biden should un-pardon him  —  Ken Gormley is an expert on the Constitution, the presidency and the pardon power.  He is president of Duquesne University.  —  If President Trump makes the ill-advised decision to try to pardon himself before he leaves the White House in January …
Tina Nguyen / Politico:
MAGA leaders call for the troops to keep Trump in office  —  An 1807 law invoked only in the most violent circumstances is now a rallying cry for the MAGA-ites most committed to the fantasy that Donald Trump will never leave office.  —  The law, the Insurrection Act, allows the president …
Jordain Carney / The Hill:
GOP senator blocks bill to provide $1,200 stimulus checks  —  GOP Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) on Friday blocked an effort to pass a second round of stimulus checks, arguing coronavirus relief needs to be targeted and raising concerns about the country's debt.  —  Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) …
Owen Churchill / South China Morning Post:
US senator blocks bill giving Hongkongers special refugee status  —  Cruz says China would exploit relaxed immigration standards to send spies to the US Under the bill, Hongkongers would be granted temporary protected status, joining citizens from 10 other countries including Syria …
The Daily Beast:
Inside the Ivanka-Melania War  —  Melania Trump's one-time confidant takes us deep into one of the White House's nastiest battles.  —  They're the two most important women in Donald Trump's life.  And they absolutely loathe one another.  —  Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, the former Melania Trump confidant …
Discussion: Raw Story
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
From BuzzFeed to Axios, Digital Media Players Prepare for Deal Frenzy  —  Big players explore acquiring rivals and going public through blank-check companies  —  Momentum is building toward consolidation in the digital media sector as big and small players alike look for potential combinations.
Axios:
Trump expected to issue wave of pre-Christmas pardons today  —  President Trump plans to issue a wave of pardons today, moving to expedite acts of clemency before Christmas, according to a source with direct knowledge and advocates who have been briefed on the plans.
Eoin Higgins / The Appeal:
Bodycam Video Shows ‘Mob Mentality’ Of Boston Police Who Responded To George Floyd Protests, Lawyer Says  —  THESE COPS LIED IN COURT.  BUT SINCE THE D.A. ISN'T KEEPING A BRADY LIST, THEY COULD TESTIFY AGAIN  —  By Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg  —  ADVOCATES CALL ON BIDEN TO CHANGE THE NARRATIVE ON IMMIGRATION AND THEN CHANGE POLICY
RELATED:
Federal Register:
AGENCY:  —  Food and Drug Administration, HHS.  —  ACTION:  —  Proposed rule.  —  SUMMARY:  —  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) proposes to revoke the standard of identity and the standard of quality for frozen cherry pie.  This action, in part, responds to a citizen petition submitted …
Alexander Sammon / American Prospect:
The Establishment Strikes Back  —  Henry Cuellar and centrist Democrats mutiny against progressives in a key committee fight.  —  AOC in August during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing  —  Committee assignments are one of the least eye-catching parts of politics …
Stephanie McNeal / BuzzFeed News:
The Couple Accused Of Trying To Kidnap A Mom Influencer's Kids Have Been Completely Cleared By Police  —  Police in the Northern California city of Petaluma said Thursday night that they found no evidence of a crime after investigating allegations by a mom influencer that a couple tried to kidnap her kids in a local craft store.
Discussion: Raw Story and Jezebel
Politico:
Democrats in Georgia: ‘Trump is helping our case.’  —  President Donald Trump has been waging war on Georgia Republicans the past month, spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories about the Senate runoffs — and Democrats are praying he keeps on talking.
Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed News:
The Next Tea Party Is Lurking Inside Trump's Election Results Denial  —  People actually believe Trump when he says he won the election.  What happens next isn't clear — but the president's increasingly radicalized supporters are already shaping the future of Republican politics.  —  Reporting From
Associated Press:
Myon Burrell enjoys 1st days of freedom after prison release  —  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — For nearly two decades, Myon Burrell had nothing but time.  —  Locked up for life at 16 for a high-profile murder he swore he had nothing to do with, he was stuck in a tiny cell without even a window to watch the seasons change.
Joe Walsh / Forbes:
White House Advisor Peter Navarro Releases Dubious Voter Fraud Report  —  White House trade advisor Peter Navarro is the latest Trump administration staffer to publicly back up the president's baseless voter fraud claims, publishing a report Thursday that claims widespread irregularities …
The American Mind:
“Anti-Racist” Education Is Neither  —  Well-meaning Americans are being suckered into an illiberal political cabal.  —  Days before the Fourth of July, the famed KIPP charter schools announced they'd be abandoning their longtime slogan: “Work Hard, Be Nice.”
Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:
The Top 10 Worst Trump-Enabling Takes of 2020  —  As we bid a not-so-fond farewell to 2020, here's a look back at some of the political lowlights.  —  As we close out the year, it's tempting but futile to compile a list of President Trump's worst lies.  But reprinting all of his tweets …
Discussion: Alternet.org and Raw Story
 
 
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 More Items: 
Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Biden's promises to give Jamal Khashoggi justice will be tested soon
Discussion: Raw Story and New York Post
Joseph Simonson / Washington Examiner:
Questions raised over when Eric Swalwell knew about Chinese spy suspect Fang Fang
Alexander Nazaryan / Yahoo News:
The coronavirus closed schools. Our diseased politics is keeping them closed.
Discussion: Washington Examiner
Alice Miranda Ollstein / Politico:
Biden to receive coronavirus vaccine in public on Monday
 Earlier Items: 
Henry Ergas / New York Post:
Obama trafficked in anti-Semitic tropes — lefty media didn't notice
Axios:
Scoop: Democrats try to tuck Pentagon waiver into spending bill
Discussion: Politico and Breitbart
Laura Hayes / Washington City Paper:
D.C. to End Indoor Dining at 10 p.m. on Dec. 23
Archie Bland / The Guardian:
Rupert Murdoch receives dose of Covid vaccine in UK
Stephen Kruiser / pjmedia.com:
The Morning Briefing: If Lockdowns Work Why Is California a Global COVID-19 Hotspot?
Eliza Goren / Washington Post:
The Washington Post asked readers to describe 2020 in one word or phrase. Here's what they said.
David Brooks / New York Times:
Mark Shields and the Best of American Liberalism
 

 
From Techmeme:

Forbes:
AI startup founders and VCs hope that a Trump administration will lead to lighter regulations and the return of real acquisitions, not “contorted” ones

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
Pocketpair says Nintendo and Pokémon Company are seeking ~$65K in damages in their lawsuit and lists the three patents the studio is accused of infringing

Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:
Apple has added a High Power performance mode, previously reserved for its Max chips, to the M4 Pro in both the Mac mini and in the new MacBook Pro

 
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