Top Items:
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Trump turns on Pence, McConnell and White House counsel Cipollone in desperate final days — President Trump, in his final days, is turning bitterly on virtually every person around him, griping about anyone who refuses to indulge conspiracy theories or hopeless bids to overturn the election, several top officials tell Axios.
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Jonathan Swan / Axios:
“Sadly, Mitch forgot”: Trump trashes McConnell in astonishing email to GOP senators — President Trump lashed out at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday night for acknowledging Joe Biden won the election, sending a slide to Republican lawmakers taking credit for saving McConnell's career with a tweet and robocall.
Washington Post:
Trump assembles a ragtag crew of conspiracy-minded allies in flailing bid to reverse election loss — With his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud rejected by dozens of judges and GOP leaders, President Trump has turned to a ragtag group of conspiracy theorists, media-hungry lawyers …
Discussion:
Bark Bark Woof Woof, Reuters and One America News Network
CNN:
House conservatives strategize with Trump and Pence in push to challenge Biden's win — ‘Appalling’: Bolton reacts to Flynn's pitch for martial law — (CNN)Alabama GOP Rep. Mo Brooks and fellow House conservatives met privately on Monday with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence …
Stephen Collinson / CNN:
Trump threatens 30-day reign of destruction on the way out of office — Former CIA chief: Trump realizes Russia helped him so he gives them a pass — (CNN)Joe Biden will be president in 30 days. Until then, the question is how much damage can be done by a vengeful …
Discussion:
NBC News, The Nation, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, Fox News, HotAir and POLITICUSUSA
Melanie Zanona / Politico:
House Republicans meet with Trump to discuss overturning election results — President Donald Trump huddled with a group of congressional Republicans at the White House on Monday, where they strategized over a last-ditch effort to overturn the election results next month, according to several members who attended the meeting.
Jordain Carney / The Hill:
McConnell: Senate to return Dec. 29 for potential Trump veto override vote — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced early Tuesday morning that the Senate will return to Washington on Dec. 29 in order to respond to a potential veto from President Trump of a mammoth defense bill.
Discussion:
HotAir, National Review, Conservative News Today, Roll Call, American Thinker, Fox News, Bloomberg, The Week and New York Post
Scott Jennings / Courier-Journal:
Will McConnell and Biden friendship mean a calmer, more functional Washington?
Will McConnell and Biden friendship mean a calmer, more functional Washington?
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, Bloomberg and Washington Examiner
CNN:
Biden poised to nominate Connecticut education chief Miguel Cardona as education secretary — (CNN)President-elect Joe Biden is poised to nominate Connecticut education commissioner Miguel Cardona as his education secretary, two people familiar with the matter say, a decision …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Politico, USA Today, The CT Mirror, Forbes, New York Times, Chalkbeat, The Daily Caller and Axios
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Shay Khatiri / The Bulwark:
The Military Would Not Participate in a Coup. Trump Can't Understand Why. — Politicians from both parties have called on the armed forces to enforce election outcomes. The generals know better. — The president of the United States considered using the military to overturn an election, according to press reports.
Discussion:
Bangor Daily News, Crooks and Liars, CNN and The BRAD BLOG
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Barbara Starr / CNN:
Pentagon anxiety rises as officers wait for Trump's next unpredictable move
Pentagon anxiety rises as officers wait for Trump's next unpredictable move
Discussion:
Raw Story
NBC News:
Feds have discussed making a legal request for Giuliani's electronic communications, say two sources — WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors have discussed making a legal request for Rudy Giuliani's electronic communications, two sources familiar with the probe tell NBC News …
Discussion:
The Hill, Talking Points Memo, HotAir, Raw Story, New York Magazine, Alternet.org, The Week, Washington Examiner and Mediaite
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Washington Post:
Washington Football Team settled sexual misconduct claim against Daniel Snyder for $1.6 million — The Washington Football Team paid a female former employee $1.6 million as part of a confidential settlement in 2009, according to a copy of the agreement reviewed by The Washington Post.
Discussion:
Sports Illustrated and The Week
Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:
The Left's Most Naïve Cynics Have Turned on AOC — Jimmy Dore is undeniably good at swearing. A left-wing comedian turned pundit, Dore has earned himself a considerable YouTube following by giving expletive-laden expression to the rage that many American progressives feel when contemplating …
New York Times:
Treasury Department's Senior Leaders Were Targeted by Hacking — The disclosure was the first acknowledgment of a specific intrusion in the vast cyberattack. At the White House, national security leaders met to assess how to deal with the situation. — WASHINGTON — The Russian hackers …
Discussion:
Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Reason, Bloomberg, The Week, UPI, The Daily Caller, Associated Press, CNN, Politico, CNBC and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »
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Caitlin Yilek / CBS News:
“Dozens” of top Treasury email accounts hacked, senator says
Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:
The Full(est Possible) Story of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping Press Conference — On the afternoon of November 13, Mike Siravo was standing outside his family's landscaping business in Northeast Philadelphia, dressed in khakis and a company polo shirt, watching as strangers pulled up in nice cars …
Discussion:
The Last Refuge, The Daily Beast and Forbes
Stephanie Clifford / Elle:
Christie Smythe, 24 Hours Later — Stephanie Clifford follows up with the subject of the wildly viral — story, The Journalist and the Pharma Bro. — On Sunday night, Christie Smythe transformed from journalist to subject, when ELLE's — story — about Smythe's romance with “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli went live.
Discussion:
New York Post, New York Times, The Sun and USA Today, more at Mediagazer »
Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times:
Harry Reid made Nevada a presidential battleground. Now he wants more — When Harry Reid met Joe Biden it was 1987. Reid was new to the Senate and had a favor to ask the Judiciary Committee chairman. — “There was a Nevada person that had been nominated to be a federal judge …
Nicholas Fondacaro / Newsbusters:
Uncontested CNN Guest: ‘There Was a Little Cheating’ to Reelect McConnell — Text to Speech — Disconnected from reality didn't begin to describe what occurred on CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront on Monday night. Retired Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson was his usual unhinged self when he proclaimed …
Tom Benning / Dallas Morning News:
Retiring Texas Republican, Rep. Mac Thornberry, chides GOP for ‘mindless sort of obedience’ to Trump — The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee said Congress ‘was created to be and meant to be a separate independent branch of government.’ — WASHINGTON — Clarendon …
Dana Mattioli / Wall Street Journal:
How Amazon Wins: By Steamrolling Rivals and Partners — CEO Jeff Bezos still runs the e-commerce giant with the drive of a startup trying to survive, and that strand of its corporate DNA is becoming a liability — Jeff Bezos built Amazon.com Inc. from his garage with an underdog's ambition to take on the establishment.
Jop de Vrieze / Science:
Suspicions grow that nanoparticles in Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine trigger rare allergic reactions — Science's COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Heising-Simons Foundation. — Severe allergy-like reactions in at least eight people who received the COVID-19 vaccine produced …
Discussion:
LiveScience and Washington Post
Vinny Vella / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
A Delaware County man charged with registering dead relatives to vote in presidential election — In the weeks leading up to the presidential election, Elizabeth Bartman and Elizabeth Weihman registered to vote as Republicans in Nether Providence Township, Delaware County officials said Monday.
Discussion:
The Hill, Business Insider, Your Content and Forbes
Washington Post:
Millions of Christmas presents may arrive late because of USPS package delays — Unprecedented package volume has paralyzed the agency, leading managers to divert vast shipments of mail across the country — Competing crises are slamming the U.S. Postal Service just days before Christmas …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and The Week
Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:
The enduring lessons of a New Deal writers project — In 1937, Sterling A. Brown, a poet and literature professor at Howard University, published a forthright essay charting the history of Black life in his hometown of Washington, DC—from the district's early status as the “very seat and center” …
Washington Post:
U.S. vs. Facebook: Inside the tech giant's behind-the-scenes campaign to battle back antitrust lawsuits — The company ramped up its lobbying, hired high-powered lawyers and launched a slew of internal initiatives as the government prepared to sue — and rebuffed its early entreaties to try to ward off the case
Drew Johnson / Washington Examiner:
The North Face is the new king of environmental hypocrisy — Environmental hypocrisy is nothing new when it comes to politicians and celebrities. Green extremist Al Gore is a hypocritical fraud who famously refuses to practice what he preaches. The former vice president's Nashville-area …
Discussion:
InsideSources
Newt Gingrich / Washington Times:
Why I will not accept Joe Biden as president — Unwillingness to accept election result grows out of a level of outrage unlike anything previously experienced — ANALYSIS/OPINION: — A smart friend of mine who is a moderate liberal asked why I was not recognizing Joe Biden's victory.
Discussion:
American Thinker
Peter Beinart / Jewish Currents:
How “Pro-Israel” Orthodoxy Keeps US Foreign Policymaking White — IN OCTOBER, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who is seeking re-election in Georgia, released an ad called “Birds of Prey” attacking her Democratic opponent, Raphael Warnock. The title refers to a sermon Warnock gave during protests …
Scott W. Atlas / Wall Street Journal:
A Pandemic of Misinformation — The media's politicization of Covid has proved deadly and puts Americans' freedoms at risk. — America has been paralyzed by death and fear for nearly a year, and the politicization of the pandemic has made things worse by adding misinformation and vitriol to the mix.
Discussion:
Cafe Hayek
American Greatness:
The Fauci Who Stole Christmas — The original grinch, as everyone knows, did not succeed in ruining Christmas—and neither should the Fauci. … The misery merchants of 2020, sadly, do not plan to take a much-needed Christmas break. To the contrary, they're closing out a joyless year with more gloom …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit
Washington Post:
Why Americans are numb to the staggering coronavirus death toll — Death is everywhere and yet nowhere in America during the worst stretch of the pandemic — When Todd Klindt buried his dad, he was stunned. Some of the mourners arrived not wearing masks — for the funeral of a man killed by the coronavirus.
Adam Klasfeld / Law & Crime:
President Trump's Post-Election Conduct and ‘Threats’ Violated the Ku Klux Klan Act, Civil Rights Groups Allege — Outgoing President Donald Trump's post-election campaign of “intimidation and coercion of election officials and volunteers” targets Black voters in violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act …
Discussion:
Raw Story