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2:20 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: Raw Story, The Hill, CNN, IJR and Political Wire
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:
NBC10 Philadelphia:
House GOP Blocks Dems Attempt to Pass $2,000 Stimulus Checks  —  Democrats will recall House lawmakers to Washington for a vote Monday on Trump's proposal, with a roll call that would put all members on record as supporting or rejecting the $2,000 checks  —  House Republicans shot …
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Republicans raging at Trump are getting exactly what they deserve
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
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 …
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
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
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 …
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:
Politico:
Democrats shatter fundraising records ahead of Georgia Senate runoffs
Discussion: Political Wire
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:
Tyler Olson / Fox News:
Jenna Ellis, Trump campaign legal adviser, pans calls for martial law
Discussion: Washington Post and Alternet.org
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
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
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
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: CNN, Business Insider, 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 …
Ashley Fetters / Washington Post:
Conceived in a pandemic, born in a pandemic: The first quarantine babies are arriving  —  Katy Dobson and her family have taken to calling her 2-week-old boy, Atlas, a “coronial.”  Atlas's time in his mother's womb coincided almost perfectly with the nine months that the United States has spent battling the coronavirus pandemic.
New York Times:
Behind Trump Clemency, a Case Study in Special Access  —  Philip Esformes was sentenced last year to 20 years for Medicare fraud.  Then a well-connected organization supported by his family weighed in with the White House.  —  Philip Esformes acquired a $1.6 million Ferrari and a $360,000 Swiss watch …
Discussion: The Intellectualist
 
 
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 More Items: 
Elizabeth Neumann / Fox News:
Trump harmed national security by cutting refugee admissions to US — Biden will admit more
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:
Iran says U.S. approved its funds transfer to buy COVID vaccines
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”
Reuters:
Suspected Russian hackers used Microsoft vendors to breach customers
 Earlier Items: 
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 and The Hill
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
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’
Donald G. McNeil Jr / New York Times:
How Much Herd Immunity Is Enough?
 

 
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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