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12:35 AM ET, December 25, 2020

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Jon Swaine / Washington Post:
Sidney Powell's secret intelligence contractor witness is a pro-Trump podcaster  —  As she asked the U.S. Supreme Court this month to overturn President Trump's election loss, the attorney Sidney Powell cited testimony from a secret witness presented as a former intelligence contractor …
David Martosko / Newsweek:
Sidney Powell Wants to Fight for Donald Trump—But His Aides Won't Let Her, She Says  —  President Donald J. Trump says he wants a lawyer to probe “election theft,” but the president's leading candidate, Sidney Powell, says she has been barred from the White House by the president's own chief of staff.
Discussion: The Hill and The Gateway Pundit
RELATED:
Matt Naham / Law & Crime:
Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems Sent 21 Retraction or Record Preservation Demand Letters This Week — Read Them All Here  —  Dominion Voting Systems has sent a slew of retraction and/or record preservation demand letters as it threatens defamation litigation against numerous parties …
Discussion: Forbes and Raw Story
Washington Post:
Families on brink of eviction, hunger describe nightmare Christmas as $900 billion relief bill hangs in limbo  —  About 14 million Americans will lose unemployment aid on Saturday after President Trump and Congress were unable to reach a deal.  —  Millions of Americans who are hours away …
Discussion: CNN, Raw Story, IJR, The Hill and Political Wire
CNN:
Frustrated Trump met with Pence before holiday break  —  Washington (CNN)Hours before President Donald Trump retweeted a message for his vice president to “act” in stopping the ratification of the Electoral College, he met for more than an hour in the Oval Office with Mike Pence …
New York Times:
Answering Trump, Democrats Try and Fail to Jam $2,000 Payments Through House  —  In a brief bit of political theater, the House majority leader opened the House for business to ask for unanimous consent to accede to President Trump's request for larger checks.
RELATED:
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Republicans raging at Trump are getting exactly what they deserve  —  House Republicans are in a fury with President Trump, now that he is threatening to blow up the carefully negotiated settlement that led to passage of the $900 billion economic rescue package.
Jeff Stein / Washington Post:
House Republicans block Democrats' effort to advance $2,000 stimulus checks pushed by Trump
Billy House / Bloomberg:
Pelosi Sets New Vote as GOP Foils Move on Trump's $2,000 Checks
CNBC:
GOP blocks House Democrats' attempt to pass $2,000 stimulus checks
CNN:
FBI team leader: How I know the Blackwater defendants didn't deserve a pardon from Trump  —  Thomas O'Connor served for 23 years as an FBI special agent before retiring in 2019.  The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.  View more opinion at CNN.
RELATED:
Samya Kullab / Associated Press:   Relative of Blackwater victim in Iraq says pardons ‘unfair’
Gabor Rona / Just Security:
Can a Pardon Be a War Crime?: When Pardons Themselves Violate the Laws of War
Discussion: Towleroad Gay News
Laurel Wamsley / NPR:
Shock And Dismay After Trump Pardons Blackwater Guards Who Killed 14 Iraqi Civilians
Sarah Isgur / Washington Post:
We in the ‘shallow state’ thought we could help.  Instead, we obscured the reality of a Trump presidency.  —  Sarah Isgur was the director of the Office of Public Affairs at the Justice Department from 2017-2018.  —  As far as I know, no spokesperson for the Justice Department has ever …
Discussion: Mediaite and Alternet.org
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Trump wields pardon power as political weapon, rewarding loyalists and undermining prosecutors
Adam Klasfeld / Law & Crime:
Here Are the Questionable Trump Pardons That You Did Not Hear About Last Night
Discussion: Talking Points Memo
Ashton Pittman / Mississippi Free Press:
Republican Mississippi Senator: Trump's Pardons ‘Smack of Cronyism and Political Favors’  —  Sen. Brice Wiggins, a prominent Republican member of the Mississippi Senate from Pascagoula, broke ranks with most members of his party in the state last night as he criticized President Donald Trump's ongoing pardon spree.
Discussion: Raw Story
RELATED:
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Trump squeezes Republicans with eye on 2022 primaries  —  President Donald Trump has instructed his top political advisers to begin monitoring potential 2022 GOP primary targets, as he lashes out at fellow Republicans whom he deems disloyal.  —  With less than a month until Trump leaves office …
Orlando Sentinel:
DeSantis spokesman Piccolo deletes his Twitter account after tweet about COVID-19 victims  —  Fred Piccolo, spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis, deactivated his Twitter account Wednesday after he tweeted in the middle of night that photos of each dead COVID-19 victim should be balanced with 99 photos of people who survive the disease.
Discussion: Florida Politics
William M. Arkin / Newsweek:
Exclusive: Donald Trump's Martial-Law Talk Has Military on Red Alert  —  Pentagon and Washington-area military leaders are on red alert, wary of what President Donald Trump might do in his remaining days in office.  Though far-fetched, ranking officers have discussed what they would do if the president declared martial law.
RELATED:
Tyler Olson / Fox News:
Jenna Ellis, Trump campaign legal adviser, pans calls for martial law
Discussion: Washington Post and Alternet.org
Bill Allison / Bloomberg:
Democrat Ossoff's Fundraising Tops $106 Million In Georgia Senate Race  — Two-month haul triple what Democrat had raised previously  — Grassroots donors rally around Ossoff, giving $49.6 million  —  Democrat Jon Ossoff's bid for a Georgia Senate seat raised $106.8 million over the last two months …
RELATED:
Mark Niesse / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Judge dismisses GOP lawsuit to limit Georgia ballot drop box hours  —  A Fulton County judge dismissed a Republican Party lawsuit Thursday that tried to close absentee ballot drop boxes after normal business hours.  —  Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams' ruling allows voters …
Discussion: The Hill
Donald G. McNeil Jr / New York Times:
How Much Herd Immunity Is Enough?  —  Scientists initially estimated that 60 to 70 percent of the population needed to acquire resistance to the coronavirus to banish it.  Now Dr. Anthony Fauci and others are quietly shifting that number upward.  —  At what point does a country achieve herd immunity?
Jacob Bogage / Washington Post:
USPS and civil rights groups reach deal to fast-track ballots in Georgia runoff elections  —  The Postal Service agrees to treat ballots as express mail and take other steps to expedite delivery ahead of the Jan. 5 vote, avoiding a court fight  —  Civil rights groups and the U.S. Postal Service struck …
Discussion: Business Insider, CNN, The Hill and Forbes
Washington Post:
As Biden zeroes in on attorney general pick, some worry one contender is too moderate on criminal justice issues  —  As President-elect Joe Biden seeks an attorney general who can restore public faith in the Justice Department as an independent law enforcement institution while boosting internal morale …
Hunter Walker / Yahoo News:
Jared Kushner played a key role in White House pardon ‘free for all’  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump's son-in-law and top advisor, Jared Kushner, has played a key role in managing the avalanche of clemency requests that have come into the White House as the administration nears its end next month, according to multiple sources.
Discussion: Gothamist and The Guardian
Washington Post:
Pence under pressure as the final step nears in formalizing Biden's win  —  Vice President Pence urged an audience of conservative youth activists earlier this week to “stay in the fight,” as they chanted “Four more years” and “Stop the steal” to trumpet their embrace of the groundless notion …
Discussion: The Pipeline
Reuters:
Iran says U.S. approved its funds transfer to buy COVID vaccines  —  DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran has won U.S. approval to transfer funds for coronavirus vaccines from overseas, the central bank chief said on Thursday, as its daily death toll fell to a three-month low.
Elizabeth Neumann / Fox News:
Trump harmed national security by cutting refugee admissions to US — Biden will admit more  —  Opening our nation to such a small number of refugees betrays our values as a nation of immigrants  —  Texas becomes first state to close door on new refugees  —  The United States has all but vacated …
William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
“If they don't like having me in the building, they can leave ... but I'm not going to leave”  —  My re-appearance on The Daily Signal Podcast looking back and forward at the ‘cancel culture’ directed at me: “right now it's a little bit quiet, but I think it's probably a little bit of calm before the next storm.”
 
 
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 More Items: 
Carly Ortiz-Lytle / Washington Examiner:
President Trump and Melania praise inspiring ‘courage’ of the public amid pandemic
Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Fox News
Reuters:
Suspected Russian hackers used Microsoft vendors to breach customers
Breck Dumas / TheBlaze:
'I wasn't expected to be alive today': Rush Limbaugh delivers message of gratitude in final show of the year
Bloomberg:
Pompeo's Wife Tested Positive for Coronavirus as Cases Spiked
Discussion: Forbes, The Hill and Political Wire
 Earlier Items: 
The Daily Beast:
How These Comedians Turned MAGA Men Into Laughingstocks
Kurt Bardella / Los Angeles Times:
Op-Ed: It's never too late to become a Democrat
Steven Greenhouse / American Prospect:
Firing Workers on the Boss's Whim? New York Puts a Stop to That.
Joseph Goldstein / New York Times:
Hospital Workers Start to ‘Turn Against Each Other’ to Get Vaccine
Discussion: New York Post
HuffPost:
Trump Back At Mar-A-Lago, Raising Taxpayer Golf Tab To $151.5 Million
Discussion: Mediaite
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Host of ‘The Daily’ Clouds ‘N.Y. Times’ Effort To Restore Trust After ‘Caliphate’
 

 
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

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

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

 
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