Top Items:
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:
Raw Story, The Hill, CNN, IJR and Political Wire
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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:
HotAir, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Newsweek, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, Press Enterprise, National Memo, Raw Story, The Guardian, The Hill, Bloomberg and The Dispatch
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.
Jeff Stein / Washington Post:
House Republicans block Democrats' effort to advance $2,000 stimulus checks pushed by Trump
House Republicans block Democrats' effort to advance $2,000 stimulus checks pushed by Trump
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, CNBC, New York Magazine, Raw Story, Associated Press, UPI, Washington Examiner, Business Insider Australia, KTSM-TV, Politico, WABC, Hackwhackers and ABC30
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 Gateway Pundit
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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 …
Jacob Shamsian / Business Insider:
EXCLUSIVE: Dominion sends letters threatening defamation lawsuits to Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs, and other pro-Trump media figures — Dominion Voting Systems has sent letters to Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News, warning of a defamation lawsuit.
Discussion:
CNN, CNBC, The Intellectualist, HotAir and LifeZette
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 …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Forbes, Raw Story and Business Insider
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:
National Memo, Alternet.org, The Intellectualist and Raw Story
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Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
Could Trump declare martial law to try to steal the election?
Could Trump declare martial law to try to steal the election?
Discussion:
CNN, Raw Story, The American Independent and the way of improvement …
Tyler Olson / Fox News:
Jenna Ellis, Trump campaign legal adviser, pans calls for martial law
Jenna Ellis, Trump campaign legal adviser, pans calls for martial law
Discussion:
Washington Post and Alternet.org
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?
Samya Kullab / Associated Press:
Relative of Blackwater victim in Iraq says pardons ‘unfair’ — BAGHDAD (AP) — Faris Fadel had just one word to describe the recent pardoning by the Trump administration of four private security contractors convicted of killing Iraqi civilians — including his brother — in a public square 13 years ago: Unfair.
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Gabor Rona / Just Security:
Can a Pardon Be a War Crime?: When Pardons Themselves Violate the Laws of War
Can a Pardon Be a War Crime?: When Pardons Themselves Violate the Laws of War
Discussion:
Towleroad Gay News and Law & Crime
Laurel Wamsley / NPR:
Shock And Dismay After Trump Pardons Blackwater Guards Who Killed 14 Iraqi Civilians
Shock And Dismay After Trump Pardons Blackwater Guards Who Killed 14 Iraqi Civilians
Discussion:
New York Times, CNN, The Intercept and Polygon
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
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
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 …
Discussion:
Forbes, The Hill, Raw Story, The Mahablog, Washington Times and ABC News
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 …
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:
The Guardian and Reason
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
Bloomberg:
Pompeo's Wife Tested Positive for Coronavirus as Cases Spiked — State Department had scheduled large holiday gatherings — Pompeo said Dec. 16 he was going into quarantine for exposure — Secretary of State Michael Pompeo's wife tested positive for the coronavirus …
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 …
Discussion:
New York Post
Heather Stewart / The Guardian:
Boris Johnson says Brexit deal has settled UK's Europe question … Play Video — Boris Johnson claimed finally to have settled the vexed question of Britain's relationship with the European Union as he hailed on Christmas Eve what he called the “jumbo, Canada-style” Brexit deal.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Examiner and Political Wire
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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, KTVZ-TV, The Hill and Forbes
David Brennan / Newsweek:
Kelly Loeffler Falls Behind Raphael Warnock in Georgia Senate Runoff Poll — Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler has slipped behind Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock in the latest poll for next month's runoff election, while the race between Sen. David Perdue and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff for the second seat remains on a knife-edge.
Discussion:
WAGA-TV, Raw Story, Breitbart and The Intellectualist
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.”
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.
Discussion:
One America News Network
Adam Klasfeld / Law & Crime:
Here Are the Questionable Trump Pardons That You Did Not Hear About Last Night — In another White House administration, these pardons may have sparked political scandal, but outgoing President Donald Trump's shock-and-awe waves of clemency relegated them to local news and second-day leads.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
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, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Salon and Political Wire