Top Items:
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 …
Discussion:
Breitbart, Forbes, The Sun, Fortune, The Daily Caller, Mock Paper Scissors, Alternet.org, TalkLeft, Associated Press, Vox, IJR and Outside the Beltway
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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.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Los Angeles Times, KTVZ-TV, Washington Times, RedState, Raw Story, Deadline, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Bloomberg and POLITICUSUSA
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.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Power Line, Reason, The Texas Tribune, FOX 5 San Diego, WTOP and NBC Bay Area
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, FOX 5 San Diego and Associated Press
Emma Austin / Courier-Journal:
President Trump grants pardon for Louisville activist Christopher 2X — A prominent Louisville activist has been granted a full pardon by President Donald Trump, according to a press release from the White House. — Christopher 2X, who runs a nonprofit in Louisville dedicated …
Discussion:
Reason
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner — President Trump granted full pardons to 26 more people on Wednesday night, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, longtime associate Roger Stone and Charles Kushner, the father of Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, The Bulwark, Law & Crime, LifeZette, Fox News and Townhall
Politico:
Trump pardons Manafort, Stone, father of Jared Kushner
Discussion:
Fox News, Reuters, Business Insider, Washington Examiner and The Wrap
Politico:
‘Complete clusterf—’: Trump leaves Washington in limbo — President Donald Trump has once again thrown Washington into chaos, making uneven demands that have left lawmakers baffled and Americans coping with a global pandemic uncertain when they'll be getting long-promised financial help.
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Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Republicans just voted to defund the police — President Trump and Republicans campaigned in 2020 by scaring Americans into thinking Democrats would “defund the police” and unleash a crime spree. — This helped Republicans keep control of the Senate (for now) and grow their numbers in the House.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal
Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Trump is trashing the government on his way out. Biden is confident he can fix it.
John Nichols / The Nation:
Ebenezer McConnell — On the chance that the heartless majority leader is not confronted …
Washington Post:
Trump's last-minute outburst throws pandemic relief effort into chaos
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Texas Tribune, BuzzFeed News, HotAir, Reuters, Bloomberg, One America News Network, IJR, Mediaite, ABC News, Slate, WINK NEWS, NECN and New York Times
Susan Ferrechio / Washington Examiner:
Democrats dare GOP to block $2,000 stimulus checks in Christmas Eve vote
Discussion:
ABC News, Politico, Fox News, BuzzFeed News and Forbes
Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Giuliani told to preserve all records as lawyers for Dominion warn legal action is ‘imminent’ — (CNN)A defamation law firm representing Dominion Voting Systems has sent letters to White House counsel Pat Cipollone and President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani instructing …
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Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:
Voting machine company executive sues Trump allies for defamation
Discussion:
Law & Crime, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Forbes, Washington Examiner, Summit News and the way of improvement …
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
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 …
Discussion:
RedState, Crooks and Liars and Raw Story
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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.
Discussion:
The Hill and American Prospect
The Daily Beast:
‘This Is Just What Jared Does’: Kushner Bails on Trump's Mission to Destroy the 2020 Election — The president's son-in-law has developed a reputation in Trumpland for being conspicuously absent when things turn rocky. — As President Donald Trump tries to nullify the 2020 election …
Discussion:
Election Law Blog
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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 …
Business Insider:
EXCLUSIVE: A deputy to Eric Trump helped build a campaign shell company to protect the president from grift. But the secretive operation morphed into a mystery — even for top Trump campaign staffers. … - One of Eric Trump's top deputies played an important role overseeing …
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 …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook PM: No one knows how this ends — SO HOW DOES THIS END? That's a damn good question. — NO ONE KNOWS. Some say President DONALD TRUMP is in burn-it-down mode and is more than willing to veto the Covid relief/funding package, ending his presidency in a lengthy shutdown, with bluster and crisis.
Discussion:
Detroit News, New York Times, Conservative News Today, The Hill, Fortune, Washington Examiner, HotAir and COURIER
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Kadia Goba / Axios:
Scoop: Pistol-packing freshmen prompt Congress gun review
Discussion:
Digby's Hullabaloo, The Daily Caller, Mock Paper Scissors and Bulwark+
CNN:
Tensions intensify between Biden and Pentagon over stalled transition briefings — (CNN)President-elect Joe Biden's transition team on Wednesday disputed suggestions from Pentagon officials who questioned the accuracy of Biden's assertion a day earlier that the Department of Defense has refused …
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Reese Oxner / NPR:
Twitter Will Reset @POTUS Account To 0 Followers After Biden Transition
Discussion:
Al Jazeera, CBS San Francisco, Newsbusters, Deadline, UPI, New York Post and littlegreenfootballs.com, more at Techmeme »
Yascha Mounk / Persuasion:
Why I'm Losing Trust in the Institutions — The CDC came scarily close to adopting a plan that would, according to its own models, have killed thousands of Americans. — 1 hr ago — Who should be first in line to get the vaccine against Covid-19? — These kinds of decisions are never easy …
Politico:
New cracks emerge among Democrats over Biden's Pentagon pick — President-elect Joe Biden's historic choice for secretary of defense is running into hurdles on Capitol Hill, as key Democrats express concerns publicly and privately about whether installing a retired four-star general at the helm …
NBC New York:
Andrew Yang Files Paperwork to Run for New York City Mayor — Businessman and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang has filed paperwork to run for mayor of New York City, the city's Campaign Finance Board confirmed on Wednesday. — Yang's filing has the potential to immediately upend …
Discussion:
City & State NY, New York Post, Politico, Forbes, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, The Hill, The Verge and Fox News
Robert Kuttner / American Prospect:
Biden's Cabinet: The Scorecard So Far — The Biden administration's nominee for secretary of the interior, Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM), speaks at the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, December 19, 2020. — As Prospect readers know, we've worked since March to shed light on appointments …
David Sirota Andrew Perez / Jacobin:
Where in the World Is Kamala Harris? — Vice president-elect Kamala Harris made headlines earlier this year pushing $2,000 checks for all American. But suddenly, despite being desperately needed right now, she's nowhere to be found on the issue. — Our new issue, “Failure Is an Option,” is out now.
Discussion:
CBS Boston, Fox News and Alternet.org
David Tarrant / Dallas Morning News:
Fort Worth pastor who urged ‘faith over fear’ in the pandemic mourns parents who died of COVID complications — The pastor of 2nd Mile Church in north Fort Worth, where his parents were members, said he was surprised by the sudden surge in COVID cases in recent weeks in Tarrant County.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and WEB OF EVIL
Berkeley Lovelace Jr / CNBC:
The U.S. has vaccinated just 1 million people out of a goal of 20 million for December — The CDC said just 1,008,025 shots had been administered as of Wednesday at 9 a.m. ET. — That's roughly 19 million doses shy of earlier projections for December.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Washington Examiner, IJR and KTVZ-TV
Betsy Klein / CNN:
White House coronavirus task force no longer proactively sending reports to states — (CNN)The White House coronavirus task force has informed states that it will no longer proactively send its weekly state reports with tailored data and recommendations, according to multiple state officials.
Discussion:
Raw Story
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