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9:30 PM ET, December 20, 2020

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Stephanie Clifford / Elle:
The Journalist and the Pharma Bro  —  Why did Christie Smythe upend her life and stability for Martin Shkreli, one of the least-liked men in the world?  —  Almost every weekday for six years, Christie Smythe took the F train from Park Slope downtown to her desk at Brooklyn's federal court …
Jeff Stein / Washington Post:
White House secures ‘three martini lunch’ tax deduction in draft of coronavirus relief package  —  President Trump has long seized on the tax break as a way to revive the restaurant industry.  But economists have panned it as ineffective and largely benefitting the wealthy.
Discussion: Political Wire and Mother Jones
Peter Wehner / The Atlantic:
Trump Is Losing His Mind  —  Donald Trump's descent into madness continues.  —  The latest manifestation of this is a report in The New York Times that the president is weighing appointing the conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell, who for a time worked on his legal team, to be special counsel …
RELATED:
Max Boot / Washington Post:
Trump saved the worst for last  —  Presidents usually experience a poll bump after they leave office.  George W. Bush, for example, nearly doubled his popularity rating between 2009 and 2018.  If there is any justice in the world (admittedly a big if), that won't happen with Donald Trump.
Harry Enten / CNN:
How voters rank Trump a historically bad president  —  (CNN)Poll of the week: A new Fox News poll finds that 42% of voters say history will remember President Donald Trump as one of the worst presidents ever.  —  An additional 8% say he will be remembered as below average …
Associated Press:
Birx travels, family visits highlight pandemic safety perils  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — As COVID-19 cases skyrocketed before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, warned Americans to “be vigilant” and limit celebrations to “your immediate household.”
RELATED:
Arya Hodjat / The Daily Beast:
Dr. Birx Took Family Trip to Delaware After Thanksgiving, Despite Her Own COVID Advice
Discussion: Instapundit
Donald J. Trump for President:
Trump Campaign taking Constitutional fight to Supreme Court  —  President Trump's campaign today issued the following statement:  —  “Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., President Trump's campaign committee, today filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the US.
RELATED:
Mica Soellner / Washington Examiner:
Trump campaign independently filing with Supreme Court over election results  —  The Trump campaign issued its first independent filing with the Supreme Court on Sunday, in hopes of reversing actions taken by Pennsylvania's high court.  —  The campaign aims to reverse three Pennsylvania Supreme Court cases …
Patrick Marley / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Shirley Abrahamson, longest-serving member of Wisconsin Supreme Court, dies at 87  —  MADISON - Shirley Abrahamson crashed through barriers for women, but her son was only dimly aware of it as he was growing up.  —  Daniel Abrahamson was about 12 when his mother became the first woman to serve on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1976.
Erica Newland / New York Times:
'I'm Haunted by What I Did' as a Lawyer in the Trump Justice Department  —  No matter our intentions, lawyers like me were complicit.  We owe the country our honesty about what we saw — and should do in the future.  —  Ms. Newland worked in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department from 2016-18.
Washington Post:
Details emerge on $600 stimulus checks, jobless benefits as Congress rushes to finalize deal  —  House leadership tells lawmakers to prepare to be ready to vote as early as Sunday, but there are still details that need to be worked out, according to people familiar with the conversations.
RELATED:
Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:
The Coronavirus Is Mutating.  What Does That Mean for Us?  —  Officials in Britain and South Africa claim new variants are more easily transmitted.  There's a lot more to the story, scientists say.  —  Just as vaccines begin to offer hope for a path out of the pandemic …
Discussion: Gothamist and HotAir
The Citizen Lab:
Journalists Hacked with Suspected NSO Group iMessage ‘Zero-Click’ Exploit  —  Summary & Key Findings  — In July and August 2020, government operatives used NSO Group's Pegasus spyware to hack 36 personal phones belonging to journalists, producers, anchors, and executives at Al Jazeera.
RELATED:
Lara Jakes / New York Times:   Trump Incentives for Signing Peace Accords With Israel Could Be at Risk
The Guardian:
Dozens of Al Jazeera journalists allegedly hacked using Israeli firm's spyware
Washington Post:
Ex-cop hits truck thinking it held 750,000 fraudulent ballots, police say.  It held air conditioning parts.  —  David Lopez-Zuniga, an air-conditioner installer, had just left his mobile home for his typical predawn commute when he noticed an SUV's headlights closely trailing his small cargo truck.
Discussion: Buttermilk Sky
New York Times:
Frontline Workers and People Over 74 Should Get Shots Next, C.D.C. Panel Says  —  The recommendation was a compromise aimed at getting the coronavirus vaccine to the most vulnerable of two high-risk groups.  —  Striking a compromise between two high-risk population groups …
RELATED:
Denver Post:
What happened to the Colorado Republican Party?  —  Out of power in a changing state, the GOP is in soul-searching mode  —  The Jefferson County GOP began its annual assemblies in the 1990s by asking all elected Republicans in attendance to say a few words.
Ben Smith / New York Times:
The ‘Red Slime’ Lawsuit That Could Sink Right-Wing Media  —  Voting machine companies threaten “highly dangerous” cases against Fox, Newsmax and OAN, says Floyd Abrams.  —  Antonio Mugica was in Boca Raton when an American presidential election really melted down in 2000 …
New York Times:
A President Who Can't Put Aside Grudges, Even for Good News  —  The past week served as a preview of Mr. Trump's post-presidency: no leadership on debates within his party, but keen attention to waging personal vendettas and cultivating his supporters.  —  It was among the most consequential weeks …
Discussion: CNN, Digby's Hullabaloo and CBS News
RELATED:
Fadel Allassan / Axios:
Mitt Romney: GOP has “strayed” from core values
Discussion: Politico
Washington Post:
A frustrated Trump redoubles efforts to challenge election result  —  President Trump has intensified efforts to overturn the election, raising a series of radical measures in recent days, including military intervention, seizing voting machines and a 13th-hour appeal to the Supreme Court.
Juleanna Glover / USA Today:
Don't cut in line for the COVID vaccine.  Elites who do will be named and shamed.  —  The optics of the privileged jumping the COVID vaccine line ahead of essential workers will be terrible and should be damaging.  —  Concierge medical practices are fielding inquiries from their wealthy patients wondering …
Discussion: HotAir
Reid J. Epstein / New York Times:
A Conservative Justice in Wisconsin Says He Followed the Law, Not the Politics  —  Like officials in Arizona and Georgia, Justice Brian Hagedorn is a longtime Republican who is now under fire for ruling against President Trump's challenges to the election.  —  Justice Brian Hagedorn …
Discussion: Crooks and Liars
Amy Gardner / Washington Post:
How Trump drove the lie that the election was stolen, undermining voter trust in the outcome  —  Elena Parent, a Democratic state lawmaker from the Atlanta area, listened incredulously in a small hearing room in early December as a stream of witnesses spun fantastical tales of alleged election fraud …
David French / The Dispatch:
Why Do They Hate Us?  —  Race, Christian Nationalism, and White Evangelical Alienation from America  —  If there is any good to come from last weekend's Christian-nationalist “Jericho March,” and other bizarre, angry, and sometimes-violent right-wing attacks on the 2020 presidential election …
Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo
 
 
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 More Items: 
Michael Lee / Washington Examiner:
Seattle City Council member who supports defunding police calls officers to her home to report a crime
Discussion: RedState and Instapundit
E.J. Dionne / Washington Post:
How Biden can make us hate each other a little bit less
Cathy Park Hong / New York Times:
How Fake News Is Hatching in Immigrant Communities
Gabriel Debenedetti / New York Magazine:
A Biden Style of Government Is Emerging: Lowest Drama Possible
Daisuke Wakabayashi / New York Times:
The Antitrust Case Against Big Tech, Shaped by Tech Industry Exiles
PBS NewsHour:
Shields and Brooks celebrate a lifetime in American politics
Washington Post:
Major U.S. companies are lobbying in a scrum for early vaccine
Raphael Satter / Yahoo:
Biden chief of staff says hack response will go beyond ‘just sanctions’
Discussion: Reuters
 Earlier Items: 
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Scoop: Trump likely won't announce 2024 run before Jan. 20
Lingling Wei / Wall Street Journal:
Jack Ma Makes Ant Offer to Placate Chinese Regulators
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
There are flickers of hope for local journalism. So far, it's not nearly enough.
Eric Kleefeld / Media Matters for America:
Poll finds that Americans accept Joe Biden's win in the 2020 election — except for the Fox News viewers
Discussion: Fox News