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10:15 AM ET, December 24, 2020

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 Top Items: 
Tim Miller / The Bulwark:
The Treasonous Pardon of Paul Manafort  —  Trump, Russia, and the swamp won.  America lost.  —  For four years we've been force-fed the preposterous dual notions that Donald Trump intended to “drain the swamp” and that any suggestion his campaign colluded with Russia in its interference in the 2016 election was a media hoax.
Discussion: Raw Story and FOX 5 San Diego
RELATED:
New York Times:
Trump Gives Clemency to More Allies, Including Manafort, Stone and Charles Kushner  —  It was the second wave of pardons and commutations by the president in two days, showing his willingness to use his power aggressively on behalf of loyalists.  —  President Trump doled out clemency …
Franklin Foer / The Atlantic:
The Triumph of Kleptocracy  —  Paul Manafort came of age in New Britain, Connecticut.  His father, the garrulous mayor of that decaying factory town, taught him how to cobble together an electoral coalition, passing down the tricks of the trade that became the basis for the son's lucrative career as a political consultant.
CNN:
Trump issues 26 new pardons, including ones for Stone, Manafort and Charles Kushner  —  Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening announced 26 new pardons, including ones for longtime ally Roger Stone, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner's father, Charles.
The White House:
Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grants of Clemency  —  Today, President Donald J. Trump granted Full Pardons to 26 individuals and commuted part or all of the sentences of an additional 3 individuals.  —  James Kassouf — President Trump granted a full pardon to James Kassouf.
Emma Austin / Courier-Journal:
President Trump grants pardon for Louisville activist Christopher 2X
Discussion: Reason
Kevin Liptak / CNN:
Analysis: Trump is more erratic than ever with final days in sight
Discussion: Raw Story and KTVZ-TV
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:   Trump Completes Russiagate Cover-up by Pardoning Paul Manafort
Rep. Steve Cohen / The Hill:
Stopping the abuse of the pardon power  —  How much more corruption do we have to endure before we see Donald Trump's term end on Jan. 20?  Trump's most recent grants of clemency add to his pattern of self-serving publicity stunts and pervert a power designed for mercy …
RELATED:
Noah Bookbinder / USA Today:
The craven corruption of Trump's pardons: Separate justice system for friends and allies
Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Roll Call
Clarence Williams / Washington Post:   Trump pardons former Prince George's County police officer
Jeff Stein / Washington Post:
House Republicans block Democrats' effort to advance $2,000 stimulus checks pushed by Trump  —  The Christmas Eve move came as Trump has refused to sign a $900 billion economic relief package into law  —  House Republicans on Thursday blocked an effort by House Democrats to approve $2,000 stimulus payments for millions of Americans.
RELATED:
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Republicans just voted to defund the police
Politico:
‘Complete clusterf—’: Trump leaves Washington in limbo
Reuters:
Millions of U.S. vaccine doses sit on ice, putting 2020 goal in doubt  —  (Reuters) -Millions of COVID-19 vaccines are sitting unused in U.S. hospitals and elsewhere a week into the massive inoculation campaign, putting the government's target for 20 million vaccinations this month in doubt.
Discussion: The Hill
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Jeffrey Rosen Takes Reins of a Justice Department Under Pressure  —  Acting attorney general is expected to face continuing demands from President Trump regarding election  —  Jeffrey Rosen, now acting attorney general, inherits the reins of a Justice Department under pressure from President Trump …
RELATED:
Sarah Isgur / Washington Post:   We in the ‘shallow state’ thought we could help. Instead, we obscured the reality of a Trump presidency.
Brooke Singman / Fox News:
DOJ officials in ‘ongoing discussions’ about Hunter Biden special counsel, some say it's ‘warranted’: sources
Discussion: Washington Examiner
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Oops!  Trump stomps all over David Perdue's dishonest TV messaging  —  As we have noted, a great many Republican ads in the Georgia runoffs feature endless fearmongering about phantom threats — scary non-white socialists, defunded police departments, Antifa mobs destroying property.
RELATED:
USA Today:
Exclusive: As Trump leaves office, 50% of Americans see him as a ‘failed’ president  —  Susan Page Sarah ElbeshbishiUSA TODAY  —  President Donald Trump leaves the White House next month with the country more sharply divided than when he moved in and amid caustic assessments of his record in office …
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?
John Eligon / New York Times:
Black Doctor Dies of Covid-19 After Complaining of Racist Treatment  —  “He made me feel like a drug addict,” Dr. Susan Moore said, accusing a white doctor of downplaying her complaints of pain and suggesting she should be discharged.  —  Lying in a hospital bed with an oxygen tube hugging her nostrils …
Discussion: Raw Story
Isaac Arnsdorf / ProPublica:
Inside Trump and Barr's Last-Minute Killing Spree  —  Private executioners paid in cash.  Middle-of-the-night killings.  False or incomplete justifications.  ProPublica obtained court records showing how the outgoing administration is using its final days to execute the most federal prisoners since World War II.
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Host of ‘The Daily’ Clouds ‘N.Y. Times’ Effort To Restore Trust After ‘Caliphate’  —  Toggle more options  —  Late last week, The New York Times issued one of its biggest mea culpas in years.  The nation's leading newspaper returned a Peabody award and a citation as a finalist …
Discussion: Meduza.io and New York Times
Joe Concha / The Hill:
Joe Biden's continued ‘Russian misinformation’ defense of Hunter is conspiracy-level laughable  —  President-elect Joe Biden continued his campaign strategy of running from anything resembling a tough question from a reporter when attempting to leave the stage after another “press conference” …
Discussion: New York Times
Donald G. McNeil Jr / New York Times:
Covid-19 Latest Updates: Democrats' Bid to Call Trump's Stimulus Bluff Is Swiftly Rejected  —  Dr. Anthony S. Fauci is inching up percentages for community immunity.  Covid has come to the town where Christmas started.  Millions of Americans are traveling for the holidays.  Here's the latest on the pandemic.
Washington Post:
Trump administration pushes forward on $500 million weapons deal with Saudi Arabia  —  The Trump administration has formally notified Congress that it intends to sell nearly $500 million in precision bombs to Saudi Arabia, a transaction that is likely to fuel criticism from lawmakers who object …
Discussion: Raw Story
Paul Campos / New York Magazine:
Pence Should Remove Trump From Office on Sunday  —  In what are supposed to be the final days of his presidency, Donald Trump has been discussing invoking martial law to overturn the results of the 2020 election and seizing supposedly fraudulent voting machines that — according …
Washington Examiner:
The season of truth  —  Christmas is a celebration of many things, but most of all, of truth.  —  The Christ child was a threat to a violent and avaricious ancient world just as he is to a modern world drowning in lies.  The greatest lie of all is each person's belief in its own ability …
Holden Walter-warner / Daily Mail:
'I wasn't expected to be alive today': Emotional Rush Limbaugh thanks listeners for their support in his final broadcast of 2020 as he battles stage 4 lung cancer  — Rush Limbaugh has admitted he didn't think he'd even make it to October, as he battles terminal lung cancer
New York Times:
Brad Parscale Fell From Trump's Favor.  Now He's Plotting a Comeback.  —  Mr. Parscale, President Trump's former campaign manager, was angry after he was demoted last summer, and wanted out of politics.  That didn't last long.  He is starting a new political data company.  —  Brad Parscale was sounding upbeat.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Jerusalem Post:
Trump gives awards to top aides for Arab-Israeli deals
Discussion: Washington Examiner
Joel Achenbach / Washington Post:
Fauci's Christmas Eve: Turning 80 and fighting the pandemic
Perla Trevizo / The Texas Tribune:
The Trump administration awarded border wall contracts to build on land it doesn't own in Texas
Discussion: American Oversight
Robert Kuttner / American Prospect:
Biden's Cabinet: The Scorecard So Far
Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Trump is trashing the government on his way out. Biden is confident he can fix it.
Politico:
New cracks emerge among Democrats over Biden's Pentagon pick
Politico:
The secret Biden power broker
 Earlier Items: 
Maryam Rahmanian / Wall Street Journal:
One Iranian Woman's Year in the Shadow of U.S. Sanctions and Covid-19
Yascha Mounk / Persuasion:
Why I'm Losing Trust in the Institutions
Roger Sollenberger / Salon:
NY Attorney General subpoenas pro-Trump troll Jacob Wohl for voter suppression scheme
Jonah Goldberg / The Dispatch:
The Long March Back  —  A prudent, controlled burn of the GOP's dead weight would be wiser than an unmitigated act of arson.
Gerald F. Seib / Wall Street Journal:
Biden Declares Political Center Alive and Well
Discussion: The Guardian
Sarah Ellison / Washington Post:
What happened to Maria Bartiromo?
Business Insider:
EXCLUSIVE: A deputy to Eric Trump helped build a campaign shell company to protect the president from grift. …
Discussion: The Guardian
 

 
From Techmeme:

Alexandra S. Levine / Bloomberg:
Some TikTok staff and users see Trump as a possible savior from the ban; others question whether Trump even cares about the app now that the campaign is over

Financial Times:
Sources: TSMC told Chinese customers it would no longer manufacture AI chips at advanced process nodes of 7nm or smaller as of this coming Monday

MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Block reports Q3 revenue up 6% YoY to $5.98B, vs. $6.24B est., gross profit up 19% YoY to $2.25B, Cash App gross profit up 21% to $1.31B, and a $284M net income
 
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