memeorandum: South Africa Hospitalization Rate Plunges in Omicron Wave (Antony Sguazzin/Bloomberg)

11:45 AM ET, December 17, 2021

Top Items:

Antony Sguazzin / Bloomberg:

South Africa Hospitalization Rate Plunges in Omicron Wave — Cases remain high compared with previous Covid waves — Omicron infections may have peaked in epicenter Gauteng — South Africa delivered some positive news on the omicron coronavirus variant on Friday …

Discussion: HotAir, RedState, New York Post and Townhall

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

Omicron Threatens Red America — In many communities, most adults remain unvaccinated. — Tucker Carlson could do it. So could Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin or Donald Trump himself. — One of these conservative figures could go on the air and explain that the Omicron variant has placed much of their audience in grave danger.

Discussion: ACA Signups, POLITICUSUSA, Instapundit and New York Post

Steven Nelson / New York Post:
Biden: Unvaxxed will ‘overwhelm’ hospitals in ‘winter of illness and death’

Discussion: CNN, HuffPost, Al Jazeera and Mediaite

Washington Post:
Omicron outbreak inducing whiplash for many Americans

Discussion: Bloomberg, Wide World of News, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Washington Times and The Hill

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

A glimmer of hope on Joe Manchin and voting rights? — By now, you'd be forgiven for concluding the chances of Sen. Joe Manchin III supporting a filibuster carve-out to pass democracy protections are somewhere between nonexistent and extremely nonexistent. — The West Virginia Democrat …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Associated Press:

Power of one: Manchin is singularly halting Biden's agenda — WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Joe Manchin settled in at President Joe Biden's family home in Delaware on a Sunday morning in the fall as the Democrats worked furiously to gain his support on their far-reaching domestic package.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, New York Post, Bloomberg, RedState, NBC News, Dysfunction’s Newsletter, Associated Press, Insider, Politico and Los Angeles Times

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Schumer says Build Back Better will be delayed

Discussion: Washington Examiner, POLITICUSUSA, The Guardian, Washington Times and Common Dreams

Ashraf Khalil / Associated Press:
Manchin's child tax credit stance draws criticism back home

Discussion: The Smirking Chimp and HuffPost

Politico:

GOP blows off Trump's bid to oust McConnell — Former President Donald Trump has hit a wall in his efforts to oust Mitch McConnell as GOP leader. — Despite months of attacks, the Trump-led campaign to depose the Senate minority leader has resulted in firm pledges from just two Republican candidates …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Reason, Washington Post, HotAir, NBC News, The Guardian, Alternet.org and Raw Story

Washington Post:
GOP agrees to pay up to $1.6 million of Trump's legal bills in N.Y. probes

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, Insider, Political Wire, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Mariana Alfaro / Washington Post:
McConnell says what the Jan. 6 committee uncovers is ‘something the public needs to know’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Spectrum News Kentucky and HuffPost

Anna North / Vox:

The world as we know it is ending. Why are we still at work? — From the pandemic to climate change, Americans are still expected to work no matter what happens. — For a moment in early 2020, it seemed like we might get a break from capitalism. — A novel coronavirus was sweeping the globe …

CNN:

House oversight committee releases report detailing efforts of Trump administration officials to ‘undermine’ Covid-19 efforts in US — (CNN)Trump administration officials made “deliberate efforts to undermine the nation's coronavirus response for political purposes,” a House oversight committee led …

Discussion: Insider and Alternet.org

Reuters:

Fox News loses bid to dismiss Dominion defamation lawsuit over election coverage — Fox News Network on Thursday lost its attempt to dismiss a $1.6 billion lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems Inc, a voting machine company that says Fox defamed it by amplifying conspiracy theories about its technology.

Erik Larson / Bloomberg:
Dominion Defamation Suit Against Fox Can Move Forward

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico and Associated Press, more at Mediagazer »

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:
Dominion Voting wins key decision in lawsuit against Fox News

Discussion: TVNewser, Mediaite, Bipartisan Report, Law & Crime, Raw Story, Alternet.org, Mediaite, The Hill, Insider, Deadline, Variety and Associated Press

Jan Hoffman / New York Times:

Judge Overturns Purdue Pharma's Opioid Settlement — The ruling said the company's owners, members of the Sackler family, could not receive protection from civil lawsuits in return for a $4.5 billion contribution. — A federal judge on Thursday evening unraveled a painstakingly negotiated …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg Law, Associated Press, Washington Post, UPI, Al Jazeera, The Times of Israel, Boston.com, One America News Network, National Review, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Forbes, Washington Examiner and NBC New York

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Herschel Walker's campaign falsely claimed he graduated from college — Republican Herschel Walker's campaign deleted a false claim that he graduated from the University of Georgia hours after it was posted on a website promoting his U.S. Senate bid. — The former football star's campaign removed …

Discussion: The Root and Political Wire

Debra Soh / Washington Examiner:

J.K. Rowling is being erased for defending women — Those seeking to understand why the average person is too terrified to speak up against transgender activism need only to look to J.K. Rowling. In a promotional trailer for Rowling's forthcoming film, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore …

The Daily Beast:

Kanye West's ‘Independent’ Campaign Was Secretly Run by GOP Elites — The campaign took steps, experts say, to mask its connections to GOP operatives. That could violate federal election laws. — New documents show Kanye West's doomed White House campaign—styled as an “independent” …

Discussion: Raw Story

Wall Street Journal:

White House Considers Sending Ukraine Military Equipment Once Bound for Afghanistan — Ukraine has sought the helicopters and other military equipment to deter Russia, though White House hasn't approved the plan as it seeks diplomacy — WASHINGTON—The Biden administration is considering …

Discussion: Bloomberg

Financial Times:

‘No evidence’ Omicron is less severe than Delta, say UK researchers — Imperial College study warns of elevated reinfection risk but notes ‘very limited’ data on hospitalisations — There is at present “no evidence” that the Omicron coronavirus variant is any less severe than the Delta strain …

Discussion: The Atlantic

Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:

Russia Lays Out Demands for a Sweeping New Security Deal With NATO — The proposal, coming as Russia masses troops on the border with Ukraine, was directed at the United States and Ukraine's other Western allies. — KYIV, Ukraine — Russia outlined on Friday its demands for a sweeping …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, CNN, CBS News, Al Jazeera, TASS, NATO, Associated Press and Politico

Ed Morrissey / HotAir:

Disgrace: Biden abandoned over 60,000 Afghan interpreters, support personnel — along with 14,000 Americans — We found out about the 14,000 abandoned Americans almost two months ago, of whom the State Department only shows 900 exfiltrated thus far. We also knew that the US had abandoned tens …

Jessica Donati / Wall Street Journal:
More Than 60,000 Interpreters, Visa Applicants Remain in Afghanistan

Discussion: RedState and The Daily Wire

David Remnick / New Yorker:

A Person of the Year: Jamie Raskin — How one politician devoted his fight for democracy to his lost son. — Ninety-four years ago, the editors of Time magazine declared the transatlantic aviator and anti-Semite Charles Lindbergh their first-ever Man of the Year.

Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
Eugene Goodman should be Time's Person of the Year

Discussion: pjmedia.com and The Federalist

Mary Jordan / Washington Post:

Melania Trump emerges to launch new NFT platform meant to ‘inspire’ — and earn cash — Former president Donald Trump once called bitcoin a scam that “competed against the dollar,” but on Thursday Melania Trump announced a new business venture embracing cryptocurrency and digital art.

Andrew Stiles / Washington Free Beacon:

REVIEW: What I Learned From Hillary Clinton's Master Class on ‘The Power of Resilience’ — You've probably heard the saying: Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. In this day and age, those who really can't become Master Class instructors on how to fail.

Hugh Hewitt / The Hugh Hewitt Show:

Josh Mandel, Candidate for GOP Nomination for Senate, On The 2020 Election and President Biden's Legitimacy — Former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel joined me this morning: — Audio: — 12-17hhs-mandel — Transcript: — HH: Josh Mandel, former state treasurer in Ohio, is running for Senate in Ohio.

Kenny Xu / Wall Street Journal:

Wokeness Infiltrates the Salvation Army — It backs away from a call on members to ‘lament, repent and apologize’ for racism. — Although the Salvation Army was founded in London in 1865, it's in America that its Red Kettles have become a Christmas staple.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Fox News and Instapundit

Joe Kukura / SFist:

Six Bay Area Men Arrested For a Staggering 70 Attacks on Asian Women — The suspects allegedly targeted Asian women exclusively, according to the Santa Clara DA, and had a pattern of attacking women walking alone to their cars. — In the wave of attacks on Asian Americans since …

David Rothkopf / The Daily Beast:

Kamala's Conundrum: She's Doing a Great Job But Her Story's Not Getting Out — AN UNPRECEDENTED POSITION … If the VP's record is supported as it should be, the chattering classes will spin it into the idea that the president is a lame duck. If not, it will be spun as a critique of her.

Discussion: Conservative Brief, Breitbart, Outside the Beltway, CBS News and Insider

Wall Street Journal:

Washington Post Grasps for New Direction as Trump-Era Boom Fades — News outlet's audience is down sharply, amid sector-wide declines; subscription growth has stagnated as readers look beyond politics — Top Washington Post officials gathered last week and discussed how to respond …

Discussion: The Western Journal and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:

Senate Parliamentarian Rejects Democrats' Immigration Proposal in $2 Trillion Bill — Proposal would have provided work permits, deportation protections to millions — The arbiter of Senate rules found that Democrats' plan to provide temporary protections for immigrants living …

Discussion: National Review, Fox News, The Hill, HotAir, CNN, Common Dreams, Kansas Reflector, The Hill, CBS News, NPR, USA Today, Washington Times, New York Post, Townhall, Associated Press, UPI, Los Angeles Times, ImmigrationProf Blog, Vox, Politico and New York Times

Nick Anderson / Washington Post:

Harvard won't require SAT or ACT through 2026 as test-optional push grows — The fast-spreading movement aims to limit the role of the standardized exams in college admissions — Harvard University will extend for four years a policy begun soon after the coronavirus pandemic emerged …

Discussion: New York Times, Insider and The Daily Wire