Top Items:
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Bernie Sanders to delay defense veto override in bid for $2,000 checks — Sen. Bernie Sanders will filibuster an override of President Donald Trump's defense bill veto unless the Senate holds a vote on providing $2,000 direct payments to Americans. — “McConnell and the Senate want to expedite …
RELATED:
Axios:
Senate tide begins to shift toward $2,000 checks after Trump's push — A couple of days ago, it looked impossible that $2,000 COVID relief checks — up from the $600 checks for individuals in the package President Trump signed Sunday — could pass the Senate.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Associated Press, Mediaite, Real Clear Politics, Michigan Advance, KDFX-TV and The Week
David Dayen / American Prospect:
Democrats Plot to Keep Senate In Session Over $2,000 Payments — Bernie Sanders is leading a strategy that would force the Senate to stay in Washington through New Year's Day to try to force the vote. — Dayen-Sanders-122820 — Bernie Sanders is committed to forcing a vote on $2,000 payments …
Discussion:
Daily Mail, Talking Points Memo, Axios, HuffPost, Crooks and Liars, The Daily Poster, The Right Scoop, Raw Story and Al Jazeera
Lauren Fox / CNN:
Mitch McConnell faces decision over vote to increase stimulus payments to $2,000 — Here's what the new stimulus package means for Americans — Washington (CNN)All eyes are on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday. — After the House overwhelmingly voted …
Discussion:
Business Insider, New York Post, KDFX-TV and Conservative News Today
Raphael Warnock / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Gives Schumer an Assist — The President writes a $2,000 check to make Democrats the majority. — By The Editorial Board — President Trump finally signed the Covid-19 relief bill and 2021 budget on Sunday night, but not before giving a big assist to Democratic hopes of gaining control …
Washington Post:
A day on the golf course helped change Trump's mind on the stimulus bill
A day on the golf course helped change Trump's mind on the stimulus bill
Discussion:
News Corpse, Raw Story, TheBlaze, The Texas Tribune, The Guardian, Iowa Capital Dispatch, Breitbart, Rolling Stone, Townhall, Power Line, IJR and Israpundit
Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
House votes to boost stimulus checks to $2,000 with bipartisan support
House votes to boost stimulus checks to $2,000 with bipartisan support
Discussion:
Business Insider, Washington Examiner, U.S. Senator for Florida …, CBS News, Politico, National Review, New York Times, Washington Times, POLITICUSUSA, VICE, WWLP-TV, The US Sun, The Daily Caller, New York Post, NBC4 Washington, Crooks and Liars, Denver Post, CNBC, Florida Politics, The Hill, Raw Story, Associated Press, Blue Virginia, The Week, Vox, CNN and The Mahablog
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Donald Trump, Michelle Obama Most Admired in 2020 — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans are most likely to name President Donald Trump and Michelle Obama as most admired man and woman in 2020. Trump tied former President Barack Obama for the honor last year but edged out his predecessor this year.
Discussion:
The Hill, The Sun, Breitbart, New York Post, The Daily Caller, IJR, Mediaite, Towleroad Gay News and Liberty Unyielding
Andrea Salcedo / Washington Post:
Massachusetts GOP leader says he likely got covid-19 at a White House Hanukkah party: 'I'm paying the price' — Earlier this month, Tom Mountain, a Massachusetts Republican Party leader, posed for a maskless photo in front of a silver menorah as dozens of other guests without face coverings mingled nearby …
Zack Budryk / The Hill:
Ex-Pence aide turned Trump critic ‘very concerned’ about Jan. 6 violence — A former aide to Vice President Pence who has since become a vocal critic of the Trump administration warned Monday that she feared violence could erupt in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, when Congress …
RELATED:
Ed Yong / The Atlantic:
Where Year Two of the Pandemic Will Take Us — Editor's Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. — The influenza pandemic that began in 1918 killed as many as 100 million people over two years.
Politico:
Judge blocks voter purge in 2 Georgia counties — A federal judge in Georgia on Monday ordered two counties to reverse a decision removing more than 4,000 voters from the rolls ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff elections that will decide control of the U.S. Senate.
Discussion:
The Hill, Reuters, Conservative News Today, Axios and Towleroad Gay News
Zack Stanton / Politico:
The Worst Predictions of 2020 — On the last day of 2019, President Donald Trump joined in on New Year's Eve celebrations at Mar-a-Lago, ringing in 2020 with what was, in retrospect, a terrible prediction about the year ahead. — “We're going to have a great year, I predict,” the president told assembled guests.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, The Week and Blue Virginia
John Bowden / The Hill:
Trump administration strengthens order barring US investment in Chinese firms — The Treasury Department on Monday moved to clarify President Trump's executive action from last month restricting Americans from purchasing securities of Chinese companies alleged to have ties to China's military.
Discussion:
Reuters, UPI and U.S. Department …
RELATED:
Gordon G. Chang / The Hill:
How Joe Biden risks the biggest giveaway ever to China in space
Breck Dumas / TheBlaze:
Alec Baldwin's wife hit with allegations that she has lied for years about her Spanish heritage — Let's be very clear that Europe has a lot of white people in there and my family is white.' — Hilaria Baldwin, the wife of actor Alec Baldwin, has been hit with a barrage of accusations claiming …
Discussion:
New York Post, Page Six, Townhall, Vanity Fair and The Daily Beast
Arizona Republic:
Report: Phoenix police officer said, 'If the mayor defunds the police, I'm going to shoot her' — Uriel J. Garcia Jen FifieldArizona Republic — On the afternoon of October 21, seven Phoenix police officers gathered for a briefing in a Cave Creek station when the meeting diverged …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Associated Press:
Child labor in palm oil industry tied to Girl Scout cookies — They are two young girls from two very different worlds, linked by a global industry that exploits an army of children. — Olivia Chaffin, a Girl Scout in rural Tennessee, was a top cookie seller in her troop …
Katrin Bennhold / New York Times:
A Far-Right Terrorism Suspect With a Refugee Disguise: The Tale of Franco A. — A German officer is facing trial on terrorism charges. At a volatile time for Western democracy, his story mirrors the story of Germany itself. — OFFENBACH, Germany — At the height of Europe's migrant crisis …
Reid Wilson / The Hill:
On The Trail: The political losers of 2020 — In an election in which more voters cast ballots than ever before in American history, just about everyone had reason to celebrate. Democrats won the White House. Republicans made surprising gains in the House and held Senate seats even they had expected to lose.
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Post, UPI, HotAir, BillMoyers.com, WITF, The Week, The Federalist, Reuters, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Raw Story, Bloomberg, KDFX-TV, Florida Politics, CBS Pittsburgh, TheGrio and Regular Order
RELATED:
Reid Wilson / The Hill:
On The Trail: The political winners of 2020
Jeb Lund / New Republic:
Ron DeSantis Is TNR's 2020 Scoundrel of the Year … For so many of us, the person of the year is Nothing. The thing that killed mom or laid out the elementary school teacher was Nothing. Nobody saw it. Either dad tracked nothing home from the grocery store or there was a fatal amount of Nothing smeared all over the produce.
RELATED:
Washington Examiner:
Is it any wonder liberal states are shrinking? — For an entire human lifetime, the state of Illinois has been a laggard in population growth. It has lost eight congressional districts since the 1950s. But new census estimates released last week show that this decade, something very special has happened.
Felix Salmon / Axios:
How China won 2020 — China will end this year as the only major country in the world to see its economy grow rather than shrink. — Why it matters: China is operating from a position of great strength, with an economy expected to grow by 8.4% in 2021. If President-elect Joe Biden views China as a …
McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:
The Resistance's Breakup With the Media Is At Hand — The day after the 2016 election, I got a phone call from an old friend. Neither of us had slept much, and we spent most of the conversation exchanging shell-shocked comments of the Can you believe this? variety. Before we hung up, his voice took on a trace of irony.
CBS News:
Hong Kong teenager gets 4 months in prison for insulting Chinese flag — A Hong Kong teenager was ordered to spend four months in prison on Tuesday for insulting China's national flag and unlawful assembly as Beijing increasingly targets prominent activists from the financial hub.
Discussion:
Hong Kong Free Press HKFP
Tia Mitchell / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Warnock, Ossoff appeal to young voters at hip-hop focused DeKalb rally — Do the names J.I.D., Tokyo Jetz, Shelley FKA DRAM and BRS Kash ring a bell? If not, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock's latest campaign event wasn't for you.These hip hop artists performed at Monday's drive-in rally …
RELATED:
Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:
$2,000 vs. $600 stimulus payments isn't the real issue — There are plenty of reasons to be unhappy with the covid-19 stimulus compromise President Trump signed on Sunday. — Its shortcomings, however, are not the specific provisions that populists on both the left and right are complaining about.
Discussion:
CRFB Papers and Blog Posts, IJR and Denver Post
Alexandra Jaffe / Associated Press:
Biden warns of Trump officials' ‘roadblocks’ to transition — WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden is warning of massive damage done to the national security apparatus by the Trump administration and “roadblocks” in communication between agency officials and his transition team that could undermine Americans' security.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, CBS News, National Review and Balloon Juice
RELATED:
Ari Hoffman / The Post Millennial:
Laptop repair store owner who discovered Hunter Biden's emails sues Twitter for defamation — Join the ranks of independent, free thinkers by supporting us today for as little as $1. … The computer repair shop owner who was paid to repair Hunter Biden's laptop and was the source …
John Nichols / The Nation:
Kelly Loeffler's Sacrilegious Campaign — “She's lied, not only on me, but on Jesus,” says the Rev. Raphael Warnock, as religious leaders decry the Republican's vile attacks on the Black pastor. — Kelly Loeffler's relentless assault on the religious faith of the Rev. Raphael Warnock …
Discussion:
National Review and Viet Fact Check
Mike Allen / Axios:
Biden to call out Trump administration for falling short on vaccine distribution — President-elect Biden, who has vowed to be clear-eyed and straight about the pandemic, plans a renewed warning in remarks on COVID-19 in Wilmington today, a transition official tells Axios.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, TheGrio and CNN