memeorandum: CDC Endorses Covid-19 Test-to-Stay Strategy for K-12 Schools (Sabrina Siddiqui/Wall Street Journal)

1:10 PM 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, The Daily Wire, RedState, TheBlaze, New York Post, Townhall, Washington Post and New York Post

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, CNN, POLITICUSUSA, Instapundit and New York Post

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, Washington Post, HotAir, Reason, NBC News, The Hill, The Guardian, Alternet.org and Raw Story

Mariana Alfaro / Washington Post:

McConnell says what the Jan. 6 committee uncovers is ‘something the public needs to know’ — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled support for the bipartisan House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, saying what the panel …

Discussion: Politico, Spectrum News Kentucky, Talking Points Memo and HuffPost

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

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

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

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Examiner, POLITICUSUSA, Common Dreams and Washington Times

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

Discussion: The Smirking Chimp and HuffPost

Associated Press:
Power of one: Manchin is singularly halting Biden's agenda

Discussion: National Review, Washington Examiner, Common Dreams, Mock Paper Scissors, New York Post, Bloomberg, RedState, NBC News, Dysfunction’s Newsletter, Associated Press, The Hill, Insider, Politico and Los Angeles Times

Laura Meckler / Washington Post:

Children exposed to covid can safely stay in class with in-school testing, CDC says … Students who have been exposed to the coronavirus can safely continue in-person learning if they are regularly tested for the virus at school, avoiding disruptive at-home quarantines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

Discussion: Associated Press, Bloomberg, NPR, National Review and CBS San Francisco

Sabrina Siddiqui / Wall Street Journal:
CDC Endorses Covid-19 Test-to-Stay Strategy for K-12 Schools

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Just The News

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: Washington Post, Insider and The Hill

House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis:
Select Subcommittee's Year-End Staff Report Highlights Oversight Work, Releases New Findings from Ongoing Investigations

Discussion: Bipartisan Report, Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA

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 …

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

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

Ed Yong / The Atlantic:

I Canceled My Birthday Party Because of Omicron — Here's how I thought through the decision. — I turn 40 today, and I was planning to have a party. The Delta surge made me nervous about it. The arrival of Omicron made me cancel it. — The plan was to have an extended house party …

Discussion: National Review and The US Sun

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

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 …

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Raw Story, TVNewser, Associated Press, Bipartisan Report, CNN, Deadline, Insider and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »

Reuters:
Fox News loses bid to dismiss Dominion defamation lawsuit over election coverage

Discussion: New York Times

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

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, CNN, Wall Street Journal, America Explained …, CBS News, TASS, NATO, Al Jazeera, Associated Press and Politico

Joseph Bernstein / BuzzFeed News:

“Corrosive Communities”: How A Facebook Fight Over Wind Power Predicts the Future of Local Politics in America — Bad vibrations abound. Many of them are obvious: We can sense them, measure the damage they do, try to counteract or avoid them. Others exist in a range outside the limit of normal human perception.

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.

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:

New York Times fires ‘Wirecutter’ editor accused of leaving profane voicemails for gun rights group — Erin Marquis, a staffer for the popular product-review site, had also lashed out at a gun-rights organization on Twitter. — The New York Times has fired an editor for Wirecutter …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

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.

Anemona Hartocollis / New York Times:

Harvard Won't Require SAT or ACT Scores for Admission for Several Years — The university joins many others that have eliminated the ACT and SAT requirements, adding fuel to the movement to get rid of standardized test scores. — Harvard will not require SAT or ACT scores for admission through …

Discussion: CBS News, Reason and Insider

Nick Anderson / Washington Post:
Harvard won't require SAT or ACT through 2026 as test-optional push grows

Discussion: The Daily Wire

Taylor Goldenstein / Houston Chronicle:

Texas AG Paxton's $2.2M voter fraud unit closed three cases in 2021. GOP lawmakers still boosted its budget. — Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has been one of former President Donald Trump's most reliable allies in spreading the myth of widespread voter fraud …

Discussion: Raw Story

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 …

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.

Nick Niedzwiadek / Politico:

Trump invokes antisemitic tropes while discussing his support for Israel — Former President Donald Trump veered into several antisemitic tropes in a recent interview, claiming that Israel used to have “absolute power over Congress” and saying that American Jews — the majority of whom vote Democratic …

Discussion: Washington Post, Insider, CNBC, Raw Story and Mediaite

Tim Meads / The Daily Wire:

EXCLUSIVE: Maxine Waters Goes Maskless On Cross-Country United Flight — Talk about a “mask off” moment for Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA). Today, an anonymous tipster passed along an exclusive photo to The Daily Wire that appeared to be a high-profile member of Congress not wearing …

Discussion: NOQ Report

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 …

Corbin Hiar / E&E News:

The cash behind carbon removal: Big Oil, tech and taxpayers — Claudine Hellmuth/E&E News (illustration); jannoon028/Freepik (hand with money); Altayb/iStock (hand with eraser); Edin/iStock (CO2 clouds) — After making his mark in the advertising world, Andrew Shebbeare wanted to help the rest of the globe.

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: Breitbart, Washington Examiner, Fox News and Instapundit