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1:00 PM ET, December 23, 2020

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
A President Unhappy, Unleashed and Unpredictable  —  President Trump remains the most powerful man in the world, but powerless to achieve what he most wants: to avoid leaving office as a loser.  —  With four weeks left in President Trump's term, he is at perhaps his most unleashed — and …
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New York Times:
Trump Pardons Two Russia Inquiry Figures and Blackwater Guards  —  The pre-Christmas wave of 20 pardons and commutations are not likely to be the last before Mr. Trump leaves office on Jan. 20.  —  In an audacious pre-Christmas round of pardons, President Trump granted clemency on Tuesday …
Washington Post:
Trump calls on Congress to approve $2,000 stimulus checks, hinting that he might not sign economic relief bill into law without changes  —  The president has still not signed the measure even though it passed Monday night.  He called the measure “a disgrace.”
Axios:
Trump unleashes signature chaos with stimulus threat and wave of controversial pardons  —  Advisers to President Trump tell Axios three forces drove last night's twin bombshells — a slew of pardons for his allies, and a last-hour attack on the $900 billion stimulus bill as a “disgrace.”
Washington Post:
Republicans plunge into open battle over attempts to overturn Trump's loss to Biden  —  The GOP is plunging into open warfare over President-elect Joe Biden's election victory — with President Trump taunting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a passive-aggressive email blast …
The White House:
Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grants of Clemency  —  Today, President Donald J. Trump granted Full Pardons to 15 individuals and commuted part or all of the sentences of an additional 5 individuals.  —  Alfonso Costa — President Trump granted a full pardon to Alfonso Costa, a dentist from Pittsburgh.
Washington Post:
Trump grants clemency to 20 people, including three former GOP members of Congress and two men convicted in the Russia probe
New York Times:
Trump Demands Changes to Coronavirus Relief Bill, Calling It a ‘Disgrace’
Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:
What happened to Maria Bartiromo?  The Trump election fraud story has the TV news biz asking  —  When a public company makes news, a chief executive can expect a text or call from Maria Bartiromo.  —  The veteran business journalist, now an anchor at Fox News, made her bones by getting sit-downs …
RELATED:
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Fox News management failures invited legal threat from Smartmatic  —  Leadership at Fox News Media knows that Lou Dobbs has a thing for conspiracy theories.  During his time at CNN, for instance, the well-known cable-news host fanned the racist smear that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States.
Politico:
Trump White House staffers receive conflicting messages about their departure  —  Conflicting internal memos created confusion inside the White House on Wednesday about when staffers in the Executive Office of the President should begin preparing to leave work ahead of the transition next month.
Tom Knowles / The Times:
Octopuses are ocean thugs that punch fish  —  Despite its extraordinary intelligence, the life of an octopus is a solitary one.  So perhaps it is no wonder that the mighty brained cephalopod engages in a little thuggery to relieve the boredom.  —  Scientists have discovered that, on occasions …
Zach Abolverdi / USA Today:
Florida's Keyontae Johnson diagnosed with heart inflammation that has been associated with COVID-19  —  GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida forward Keyontae Johnson, who collapsed on the court during a game Dec. 12 at Florida State, has been diagnosed with a heart inflammation that may be related to an earlier infection for COVID-19.
Discussion: The Daily Caller
Marc Ambinder / The Daily Beast:
Sources: Secret Service Has No Plan if Trump Refuses to Go  —  But they do have procedures for handling trespassers.  —  If there are any checklists or plans, procedures or guidelines for the Secret Service to follow in the event of an autogolpe—a Latin American-style crisis …
Kadia Goba / Axios:
Scoop: Pistol-packing freshmen prompt Congress gun review  —  Several incoming House freshmen have inquired about carrying guns into the Capitol, leading a board overseeing congressional security to rethink a regulation banning members from packing heat under the dome, a House aide with direct knowledge of the board review told Axios.
Patrick Lohmann / Syracuse Post-Standard:
Brindisi-Tenney race narrows even more: 3 to 5 votes separate candidates  —  OSWEGO, N.Y. — The incredibly close race for the 22nd Congressional District got even closer Tuesday, as about 90 new votes from a bundle of about 2,500 affidavit ballots from Oneida County were counted.
Bradford Betz / Fox News:
Warnock's wife told officer that her husband is ‘a great actor’ after domestic dispute  —  Medical officials did not find visible signs of injury on his wife's foot and Warnock was never charged with a crime.  —  Ossoff, Warnock would embrace ‘far-left liberal policies’ in Senate: Alyssa Farah
RELATED:
Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Warnock's ex-wife calls him ‘great actor’ in police footage of dispute's aftermath
The Daily Beast:
White Supremacists Discussed Shooting Up Power Grids, Forming ‘Fascist Society’: FBI  —  Federal agents were tracking a group earlier this year that discussed a violent mission to “wreak havoc” if Trump lost the election, according to mistakenly unsealed court docs.
Discussion: Associated Press and New York Post
Eddie Scarry / Washington Examiner:
Biden's coronavirus health adviser is a prop  —  If President-elect Joe Biden is paying his coronavirus adviser anything, he should try getting a refund.  Michael Osterholm doesn't seem to know much more about the pandemic than the average cable news anchor, and that kind of knowledge is basically free of charge.
Anneken Tappe / CNN:
Another 803,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week  —  New York (CNN Business)Claims for unemployment benefits fell across most categories in Wednesday's Labor Department report.  Still the job market recovery has stalled while more than 20 million Americans need aid to make ends meet.
Discussion: WKRN-TV, New York Times and KTVZ-TV
RELATED:
Amara Omeokwe / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Jobless Claims Retreat From Three-Month High
Discussion: The Daily Caller
New York Times:
Pfizer Nears Deal With Trump Administration to Provide More Vaccine Doses  —  The company could provide at least tens of millions of additional doses of a coronavirus vaccine under an agreement that would give it better access to the supplies it needs to expand manufacturing.
RELATED:
Detroit News:
Sanctions sought against lawyers who pushed to overturn Michigan's election  —  Lansing — Attorney General Dana Nessel said she plans to seek sanctions against lawyers who filed lawsuits against the state's election results with claims that featured “intentional misrepresentations.”
Discussion: Election Law Blog
Maura Forrest / Politico:
How 2020 changed Justin Trudeau, and didn't  —  PROGRAMMING NOTE: Corridors will not publish from Thursday, Dec. 24 to Friday, Jan. 1.  We'll be back on our normal schedule on Wednesday, Jan. 6.  —  At the very beginning of this interminable year, Justin Trudeau grew a beard.
Roman Chiarello / Fox News:
Rep. Jody Hice slams ‘inexcusable’ coronavirus relief bill, calls for reopening of economy  —  Hice says $2,000 checks are not a replacement for a stable income  —  Rep. Jody Hice accuses Alex Padilla of ‘probably illegal’ activity as secretary of state  —  Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga. …
Josh Kraushaar / National Journal:
The case for a Chris Christie comeback  —  The former New Jersey governor has the perfect political résumé to bridge the party's divides in a post-Trump world.  —  Talk to enough mainstream Republican operatives , who are already brainstorming for the type of presidential nominee …
Derek Robertson / Politico:
Flint Has Clean Water Now.  Why Won't People Drink It?  —  In a city synonymous for half a decade with disaster, something remarkable happened in February 2019.  A team of researchers reported that Flint's homes—even the ones at the highest risk for undrinkable, lead-poisoned tap water …
Roger Sollenberger / Salon:
Jared Kushner signed off on secret payments to top campaign officials, source says  —  Source tells Salon that dubious shell-company arrangements to pay top officials were approved by Kushner and Trump  —  Top White House adviser Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law …
Discussion: The Intellectualist
 
 
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 More Items: 
Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
A Massive Purge Is Underway at Alex Jones' Infowars
Gustavo Arellano / Los Angeles Times:
Column: The bittersweet victory of Alex Padilla, California's first Latino U.S. senator
Borzou Daragahi / The Independent:
Iran's Rouhani says ‘madman’ Trump will suffer similar grim fate as hanged Saddam Hussein
Discussion: The Daily Caller
Barbara Moens / Politico:
Donald Trump gives green light to EU-US lobster deal
Discussion: The White House
David Satter / Wall Street Journal:
Soviet Politics, American Style
Politico:
New DCCC chair draws diversity warning from colleagues as he names top staffer
 Earlier Items: 
Michael Goodwin / New York Post:
President Trump doesn't get the vaccine credit he deserves
Aaron Sibarium / Washington Free Beacon:
How the Centers for Disease Control Went Woke
Discussion: Power Line
Phil Helsel / NBC News:
U.S. reports more Covid deaths than ever before
Discussion: Balloon Juice, Axios and NPR
Wall Street Journal:
Hunter Biden's Family Name Aided Deals with Foreign Tycoons
Discussion: KTVZ-TV
Ben Collins / NBC News:
As Trump meets with QAnon influencers, the conspiracy theory's adherents beg for dictatorship
Discussion: Bulwark+ and Mock Paper Scissors
 

 
From Techmeme:

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Anthropic raised another $4B from Amazon, will make AWS its primary training partner, and is working with Annapurna Labs to develop new Trainium accelerators

Melissa Quinn / CBS News:
SCOTUS dismisses Meta's appeal of a lower court order reviving a shareholder lawsuit for allegedly misleading investors on the 2015 Cambridge Analytica scandal

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft releases the first beta preview of its Recall AI feature for Copilot+ PCs, including Click to Do, a feature similar to Google's Circle to Search

 
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