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11:30 AM ET, December 17, 2021

memeorandum

 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: New York Post, RedState and Townhall
RELATED:
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.
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
RELATED:
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.
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 …
RELATED:
Washington Post:
GOP agrees to pay up to $1.6 million of Trump's legal bills in N.Y. probes  —  The Republican Party has agreed to pay up to $1.6 million in legal bills for former president Donald Trump to help him fight investigations into his business practices in New York, according to Republican National Committee members …
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
Erik Larson / Bloomberg:
Dominion Defamation Suit Against Fox Can Move Forward  — Fox had enough information to know claims false, judge says  — Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson also targets of lawsuit  —  Fox News probably had enough information after the 2020 presidential election to know a conspiracy theory …
RELATED:
Reuters:   Fox News loses bid to dismiss Dominion defamation lawsuit over election coverage
Katelyn Polantz / CNN:
Dominion Voting wins key decision in lawsuit against Fox News
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 …
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
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 …
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 …
RELATED:
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.
RELATED:
Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
Eugene Goodman should be Time's Person of the Year
Discussion: pjmedia.com and The Federalist
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
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.
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.
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.
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 …
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 …
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 …
BuzzFeed News:
The FBI Said It Busted A Plot To Kidnap Michigan's Governor.  Then Things Got Complicated.  —  The case seemed like a lock — until an informant and one FBI agent were charged with crimes, another was accused of perjury, and a third was found promoting a private security firm.  And that wasn't all.
Discussion: Alternet.org and Raw Story
 
 
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 More Items: 
Daniel Greenfield / Front Page Magazine:
Biden's Vaccine Mandate Triggers a Winter of Lockdowns
New York Times:
Protect Abortion Rights? Virginia Democrats' Vacation Plans Get in the Way.
Discussion: Washington Post
CNN:
In Alabama, Brooks looks to redeem himself with Trump amid campaign struggles
Discussion: Raw Story
Josh Christenson / Washington Free Beacon:
NFL Marks Taiwan as Part of China
Lawrence H. Summers / Washington Post:
The Fed's words still don't measure up to the challenge of inflation
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Senate confirms Nicholas Burns as ambassador to China
 Earlier Items: 
Christian Esch / Spiegel Online:
“I Started Seeing Agents Everywhere”
Todd Bensman / The Federalist:
United Nations Grantee Uses U.S. Tax Dollars To Fund Illegal Immigration
Discussion: NOQ Report
Fareed Zakaria / Washington Post:
The puzzle of Joe Biden's unpopularity
New York Times:
Why 1,320 Therapists Are Worried About Mental Health in America Right Now
Politico:
Life without Wallace
Discussion: DNyuz
Washington Post:
FDA eliminates key restriction on abortion pill as Supreme Court weighs case that challenges Roe v. Wade
Capital Research Center:
BREAKING: New IRS Disclosures Confirm Flood of Private Money to Elections Offices from Zuckerberg Grantee
Select Committee to Investigate …:
Select Committee Subpoenas James P. “Phil” Waldron
 

 
From Techmeme:

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Anthropic raised another $4B from Amazon, will make AWS its primary training partner, and is working with Annapurna Labs to develop new Trainium accelerators

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Researchers detail a “nearest neighbor attack” by Russia's APT28, which remotely breached a target's Wi-Fi by hijacking a laptop in a building across the street

Carly Page / TechCrunch:
Palo Alto Networks says it has observed exploitation of two zero-days in its PAN-OS firewall OS; researchers say hackers have compromised 2,000+ firewalls

 
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