Top Items:
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.
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, HotAir, Newsweek, The Gateway Pundit, The Guardian, Associated Press and NECN
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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.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Forbes, WSPA-TV, CNBC, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, Blue Virginia, UPI and WABC
CNBC:
GOP blocks House Democrats' attempt to pass $2,000 stimulus checks — The Democrats moved to increase the size of the checks after President Trump threatened to oppose a more than $2 trillion pandemic aid and federal funding bill because it included $600 check to most Americans rather than $2,000.
HuffPost:
House Republicans Block $2,000 Coronavirus Stimulus Checks, Defying Trump — Trump demanded Congress increase direct payments in the COVID-19 relief bill from $600 to $2,000. Speaker Pelosi happily obliged. Republicans blocked it. — House Republicans defied President Donald Trump's wishes …
Discussion:
Washington Post, New York Times, NPR, Talking Points Memo, New York Post, NBC New York, WCCO | CBS Minnesota, Towleroad Gay News and Reuters
CNN:
Congressional GOP grapples with ‘unhinged’ Trump
Congressional GOP grapples with ‘unhinged’ Trump
Discussion:
Politico, Fox Business, National Memo, Bloomberg, The Gateway Pundit, The Dispatch, Raw Story, HotAir, KTVZ-TV and Vox
Billy House / Bloomberg:
Pelosi Sets New Vote as GOP Foils Move on Trump's $2,000 Checks
Pelosi Sets New Vote as GOP Foils Move on Trump's $2,000 Checks
Discussion:
Fox News, USA Today, CNN, UPI, Alternet.org, NBC New York, The Intellectualist, The Week and Business Insider
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, Hackwhackers, The Daily Beast, The Daily Caller, FOX 5 San Diego and WTOP
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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 …
Kevin Liptak / CNN:
Analysis: Trump is more erratic than ever with final days in sight
Analysis: Trump is more erratic than ever with final days in sight
Discussion:
Business Insider and Raw Story
Franklin Foer / The Atlantic:
The Triumph of Kleptocracy — Paul Manafort came of age in New Britain, Connecticut.
The Triumph of Kleptocracy — Paul Manafort came of age in New Britain, Connecticut.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
The White House:
Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grants of Clemency
Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grants of Clemency
Discussion:
CNN, The Week, Raw Story, Towleroad Gay News, USA Today, Business Insider, The Last Refuge, Power Line, The Texas Tribune, FOX 5 San Diego, Reason, HotAir and WTOP
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Trump Completes Russiagate Cover-up by Pardoning Paul Manafort
Trump Completes Russiagate Cover-up by Pardoning Paul Manafort
Discussion:
Axios
Emma Austin / Courier-Journal:
President Trump grants pardon for Louisville activist Christopher 2X
President Trump grants pardon for Louisville activist Christopher 2X
Discussion:
Reason
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:
Alternet.org
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Washington Post:
U.K. and E.U. announce a post-Brexit trade deal, smoothing Dec. 31 departure — LONDON — After seemingly endless negotiations, Britain and the European Union on Thursday announced they had struck a post-Brexit trade and security deal, which will reshape relations between the two allies …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Politico, Associated Press and Telegraph
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Wall Street Journal:
Brexit Trade Deal Is Reached Between U.K., European Union
Brexit Trade Deal Is Reached Between U.K., European Union
Discussion:
Bloomberg, CNN, Business Insider, CBS News, Agence France-Presse, UPI, KTVZ-TV, One America News Network, Spectator USA, NPR, The Atlantic, The Guardian, WGN-TV, Fortune, Japan Times, WTOP, Breitbart, The Sun and New York Post
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, more at Mediagazer »
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?
Discussion:
HotAir, Twitchy, Nuclear Diner and The Daily Caller
Clarence Williams / Washington Post:
Trump pardons former Prince George's County police officer — President Trump granted a pardon Wednesday to a former Prince George's County canine police officer who was convicted of a federal civil rights violation for releasing her police dog on an unarmed homeless man in 1995.
Discussion:
Bark Bark Woof Woof
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Rep. Steve Cohen / The Hill:
Stopping the abuse of the pardon power
Stopping the abuse of the pardon power
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Daily Beast and Mother Jones
Noah Bookbinder / USA Today:
The craven corruption of Trump's pardons: Separate justice system for friends and allies
The craven corruption of Trump's pardons: Separate justice system for friends and allies
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Roll Call
Joseph Goldstein / New York Times:
Hospital Workers Start to ‘Turn Against Each Other’ to Get Vaccine — “I am so disappointed and saddened that this happened,” a New York hospital executive wrote to his staff after workers who did not have priority cut the line for the vaccine. — At NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital …
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 …
Discussion:
The Hill, Wall Street Journal, Salon, The Guardian and Political Wire
HuffPost:
Trump Back At Mar-A-Lago, Raising Taxpayer Golf Tab To $151.5 Million — This marks Trump's 31st golf trip to his Palm Beach resort, which in total account for just over two-thirds of his golf-related travel and security costs. — Donald Trump has arrived at his Palm Beach, Florida …
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.
Discussion:
Alternet.org, The Intellectualist and Raw Story
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
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 …
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.
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.
Eddie Scarry / Washington Examiner:
I traveled for Christmas, and I'm not sorry — Democrats and cable news anchors have spent the greater part of 2020 telling everyone to “stay home” in order to “stop the spread,” especially during the holidays but — nah. — I traveled to South Carolina — on an airplane! …
CNN:
Their communities are deserted by pharmacies. Advocates fear this will lead to inequitable vaccine access — Chicago (CNN)Rochelle Sykes worries that her west side Chicago neighborhood will be left out when the Covid-19 vaccine becomes widely available next year.