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2:35 PM ET, December 19, 2020

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Trump Discussed Naming Campaign Lawyer as Special Counsel on Election Fraud  —  In a meeting at the White House on Friday, the president weighed appointing Sidney Powell, who promoted conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, to probe voter fraud.  —  President Trump on Friday …
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Russia is behind the broad, ongoing cyber spy campaign against the U.S. government and private sector, Pompeo says  —  Russia is behind the massive, ongoing cyber spy campaign against the federal government and private sector, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday …
RELATED:
Frank Bajak / Associated Press:
Pompeo says Russia ‘pretty clearly’ behind cyberattack on US  —  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Russia was “pretty clearly” behind the gravest cyberattack against the United States on record, the first administration official to publicly tie the Kremlin to the widespread intrusion …
Michael R. Pompeo / United States Department of State:
Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Mark Levin of The Mark Levin Show  —  QUESTION: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Merry Christmas to you, sir.  —  SECRETARY POMPEO: Merry Christmas to you as well, Mark.  It's great to be with you.  —  QUESTION: It's always a pleasure.
Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:
Pompeo: Russia ‘pretty clearly’ behind massive cyberattack
New York Times:
U.K. Imposes Harsher Lockdown on London, Citing New Version of Virus  —  Scientists in Britain say the new variant is spreading faster than previous ones, but does not appear to make people sicker.  —  LONDON — Alarmed by a what he called a faster-spreading variant of the coronavirus …
Discussion: Bloomberg
Washington Post:
Even as Trump vows to keep fighting, his aides are quietly starting to move on  —  Vice President Pence has begun looking for a new home in the Washington suburbs, and he's planning a valedictory foreign trip to begin the day Congress counts the electoral college votes.
Brian Bakst / MPR News:
Minn. Sen. Jerry Relph dies of COVID-19 complications  —  Brian Bakst and Kirsti MarohnSt.  —  Jerry Relph, a first-term state senator from St. Cloud, died Friday of complications of COVID-19, his family and the Senate majority leader confirmed.  —  “Jerry dedicated his life to service …
Wall Street Journal:
Amid Vaccine Rollout and Historic Hack, Trump Remains Focused on Reversing Election  —  The president has been largely out of sight, paying little public attention to any events other than his efforts to overturn Joe Biden's victory  —  WASHINGTON—In a week that began with the Electoral …
Raw Story:
BUSTED?  Why the numbers behind Mitch McConnell's re-election don't add up  —  On a Thursday in August in Louisville, months before the 2020 election, a parade of cars filled with Kentucky Teamster representatives and labor groups, showed their fury at Mitch McConnell's constant blocking of critical COVID aid.
Discussion: HotAir
Jennifer Hansler / CNN:
US plans to shutter remaining consulates in Russia  —  (CNN)The Trump administration has informed lawmakers of its plan to shutter its two remaining consulates in Russia.  —  In a notification dated December 10, the US State Department told Congress it intends to close the consulate …
RELATED:
Matthew Lee / Associated Press:
US says it is shuttering last 2 consulates in Russia
Discussion: ABC News, Axios, The Hill and CNN
Molly Jong-Fast / Vogue:
No, This Pandemic Is Not Over.  Please Don't Act Like It Is.  —  The other night, I made my stepmother cry.  I've never done that before, but this time I felt as if I had to.  My brother had told me about my father and stepmother's holiday plan, which included staying with relatives …
Discussion: Mother Jones and IJR
Alexi McCammond / Axios:
Scoop: Lance Bottoms rejected Biden's SBA offer  —  Joe Biden implored Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to accept a job heading the Small Business Administration earlier this week, a lesser position she rejected after he characterized it as “only the first step” for her during his presidency …
John S Gardner / The Guardian:
From A Very Stable Genius to After Trump: 2020 in US politics books … A long time ago, in 1883, a future president (Woodrow Wilson, a subject of this year's reckonings) studied political science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, in a classroom in which was inscribed the slogan …
Ashok Selvam / Eater Chicago:
Stephanie Izard Apologizes For a Poorly Received Representation of a Korean Dish  —  A photo posted Thursday using Izard's social media handle showed a “bibimbap” without any cultural context, igniting a conversation on cultural appropriation  —  A fellow Chicago chef is once again accusing …
New York Times:
No ‘Negative’ News: How China Censored the Coronavirus  —  Thousands of internal directives and reports reveal how Chinese officials stage-managed what appeared online in the early days of the outbreak.  —  阅读.体中 文.閱讀.體 中文.
Frank Bajak / Associated Press:
Hacked networks will need to be burned ‘down to the ground’  —  It's going to take months to kick elite hackers widely believed to be Russian out of the U.S. government networks they have been quietly rifling through since as far back as March in Washington's worst cyberespionage failure on record.
Discussion: Vox, abc7NY and Reuters
Steven Sloan / Associated Press:
Analysis: For Republicans, profanity is suddenly scandalous  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The definition of a scandal changes quickly in Washington.  —  Over the course of four years, the nation's capital has careened from crisis to crisis.  There was the travel ban, the investigation …
RELATED:
Auguste Meyrat / The American Mind:
Keep Texas Red  —  Here's how.  —  Texas is still a red state, but the it's not the Republican stronghold it used to be.  Whereas Republican candidates earned well over 60% of votes in states like Oklahoma and Alabama in 2020, they earned a little over 50% in Texas—a result more resembling Florida than anything else.
Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Lou Dobbs Airs Stunning Fact-Check of His Own Election Conspiracies After Company Threatens Legal Action  —  Fox Business host Lou Dobbs has recently taken to raising questions about voting machine companies, which have been cast as complicit in the supposed grand conspiracy to steal the 2020 election from President Donald Trump.
Eric Lipton / New York Times:
In Last Rush, Trump Grants Mining and Energy Firms Access to Public Lands  —  The outgoing administration is pushing through approval of corporate projects over the opposition of environmental groups and tribal communities.  —  WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is rushing to approve …
Discussion: Political Wire
Mark Niesse / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Turnout in Georgia US Senate runoff approaches presidential levels  —  Almost as many Georgians have voted in the U.S. Senate runoffs as at the same point before the presidential election, a huge turnout that reflects the high stakes of the race.  —  Over 1.1 million people had voted through Thursday …
RELATED:
US Food and Drug Administration:
FDA Takes Additional Action in Fight Against COVID-19 By Issuing Emergency Use Authorization for Second COVID-19 Vaccine  —  Action Follows Thorough Evaluation of Available Safety, Effectiveness, and Manufacturing Quality Information by FDA Career Scientists, Input from Independent Experts
RELATED:
Berkeley Lovelace Jr / CNBC:
FDA approves second Covid vaccine for emergency use as it clears Moderna's for U.S. distribution
 
 
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 More Items: 
Bill Zeiser / RealClearPolicy:
Either the US Leads on Crypto, or China Will
Andrew Quilty / The Intercept:
A U.S.-Backed Militia That Kills Children May Be America's Exit Strategy From Its Longest War
David W. Brown / Wall Street Journal:
For NASA, It Should Be Mars or Bust
Bess Levin / Vanity Fair:
Ivanka Trump, Famed Public Health Expert, Screened CDC Guidance to Make Sure It Was Nice to Her Dad
Discussion: Washington Post
Ann Telnaes / Washington Post:
All the Republican rats … - Tom Toles recently retired.  See his archive of editorial cartoons.
John Grobler / OCCRP:
‘They Are Finishing the Trees’: Chinese Companies and Namibian Elites Make Millions Illegally Logging the Last Rosewoods
Aaron Mehta / Defense News:
Row explodes between Pentagon, Biden transition team
 Earlier Items: 
Washington Post:
Chinese dissidents say they're being harassed by a businessman with links to Steve Bannon
Jarrett Renshaw / Reuters:
Biden to introduce team tasked with ambitious climate agenda on Saturday
Discussion: CNN
Peter Hermann / Washington Post:
Proud Boys leader says he burned Black Lives Matter banner stolen from church during demonstrations in D.C.
Discussion: USA Today
The Daily Beast:
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Is Throwing Down Big Money to Fuel Pro-Trump Election Challenges
Discussion: TheGrio
Christine Hauser / New York Times:
8 Catholic Sisters Die of Covid-19 Within a Week at a Wisconsin Home
Discussion: Catholic Herald and New York Post
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

 
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