memeorandum: Joan Didion, who chronicled American decadence and hypocrisy, dies at 87 (Harrison Smith/Washington Post)

2:15 PM ET, December 23, 2021

Top Items:

Trump asks Supreme Court to withhold records from House Jan. 6 committee — Lawyers for former president Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to block release of his White House records to a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

What Jim Jordan knows about Trump's coup attempt — and what he may cover up — The House select committee examining Jan. 6 appears increasingly focused on a highly consequential question: What did Donald Trump say and do as he watched the violent assault on the Capitol unfold over the course of at least two hours?

Discussion: New York Times, Truthout, The Hill, BizPac Review, Digby's Hullabaloo, IJR, NPR and WSVN-TV

Jose Pagliery / The Daily Beast:

The Obscure Charge Jan. 6 Investigators Are Looking at for Trump — Prosecutors have hit 240 insurrectionists with the rare charge of obstructing an official congressional proceeding. The Jan. 6 Committee might be looking at that charge for Trump. — As federal prosecutors increasingly use …

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story, Digby's Hullabaloo and The Western Journal

New York Times:

Will Donald Trump Get Away With Inciting an Insurrection? — Mr. Tribe taught constitutional law at Harvard for 50 years. Merrick Garland was one of his students. Mr. Ayer oversaw criminal prosecutions and investigations as Ronald Reagan's U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California.

Discussion: Raw Story

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

Trumpland has a new favorite Jan. 6 conspiracy theory — It remains wild that there is still, to this day, a concerted effort to suggest that the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was somehow not directly a function of President Donald Trump and his supporters.

Discussion: Raw Story

Politico:

Senate GOP feels another Trump effect: The rise of celeb candidates — The most reliable springboard to the Senate used to be House experience — before Donald Trump vaulted from reality TV to the White House. — Five years after Trump went from celebrity to the presidency …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, Raw Story, National Review, Edifice of Trust and The Daily Beast

William Grimes / New York Times:

Joan Didion, ‘New Journalist’ Who Explored Culture and Chaos, Dies at 87 — She established a distinctive voice in American fiction before turning to political reporting and screenplay writing. But it was California, her native state, that provided her with her richest material.

Discussion: The Paris Review, UPI, Literary Hub, Rolling Stone, Joe.My.God., Hollywood Reporter, Forbes and Vanity Fair

Harrison Smith / Washington Post:

Joan Didion, who chronicled American decadence and hypocrisy, dies at 87 — Joan Didion, a virtuosic prose stylist who for more than four decades explored the agitated, fractured state of the American psyche in her novels, essays, criticism and memoirs, and who as one of the “New Journalists” …

Parul Sehgal / New York Times:

Joan Didion Chronicled American Disorder With Her Own Unmistakable Style — The generation-defining essayist and novelist was preoccupied with mythos — and gifted at fashioning her own. — Joan Didion was 5 years old when she wrote her first story, upon the instruction of her mother …

Elaine Woo / Los Angeles Times:
Joan Didion, masterful novelist, memoirist and social critic, dies at 87

Discussion: The Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Trump Pushes Back on Candace Owens Undermining Vaccine: 'People Aren't Dying When They Take the Vaccine' — Former President Donald Trump pushed back on Candace Jones during a recent interview when the conservative commentator appeared to be undermining the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines to hurt President Joe Biden politically.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Insider, Washington Post, Twitchy, Rigid Thinking, Joe.My.God., Zandar Versus The Stupid and The Daily Wire

The Daily Beast:
Trump Rebukes Candace Owens' Anti-Vax Talking Points: ‘The Vaccine Works’

Discussion: The Hill, alicublog and Mediaite

Olafimihan Oshin / The Hill:
Trump pushes back on Candace Owens: 'People aren't dying when they take the vaccine'

Discussion: Washington Post, RedState, New York Post, National Review, The Root, Mediaite, Snopes.com and The Daily Caller

New York Times:

Kamala Harris's Allies Express Concern: Is She an Afterthought? — The vice president's allies are increasingly concerned that President Biden relied on her to win but does not need her to govern. — WASHINGTON — The president needed the senator from West Virginia on his side …

Discussion: HotAir, BizPac Review, Twitchy, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, ABC News, Fox News and Washington Post

Brandon Gillespie / Fox News:
NY Times: Kamala Harris gripes her media coverage would be better if she was White man

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ, USA Today and KRON4

Zachary Cohen / CNN:

CNN Exclusive: US intel and satellite images show Saudi Arabia is now building its own ballistic missiles with help of China — Washington (CNN)US intelligence agencies have assessed that Saudi Arabia is now actively manufacturing its own ballistic missiles with the help of China …

Discussion: New York Post, middleeastmonitor.com, REEDNEWSARABWORLD, Raw Story and Outside the Beltway

Perry Bacon Jr / Washington Post:

The problem with performative centrism — In basically every major institution in America, there are powerful figures who I doubt voted for Donald Trump but nonetheless play down the radicalism of the Republican Party, belittle those who speak honestly about it or otherwise act in ways that make it harder to combat that radicalism.

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo

Ned Foley / Election Law Blog: Could bipartisan democracy-protection have worked? Could it still?

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post: Enough despair. We cannot be victims of excessive expectations.

Morgan Chalfant / The Hill:

Biden backs exception to filibuster for voting rights bills — President Biden says he supports creating an exception to the legislative filibuster in the Senate in order to pass voting rights legislation over Republican opposition. — Biden told ABC News' David Muir in a portion …

Discussion: The Guardian, Conservative Brief, POLITICUSUSA and Mediaite

Chandelis Duster / CNN:
CNN Exclusive: Hundreds of faith leaders demand more from Biden and other Democrats on voting rights legislation

Discussion: Raw Story and Grist

Kyle Blaine / CNN:
Biden says he supports filibuster carve-out for voting rights

Discussion: The Hill and Joe.My.God.

Monique Beals / The Hill:

Five arrested in connection with carjacking of House Democrat — Five suspects were arrested on Wednesday in connection with “an armed carjacking incident” earlier in the day involving Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), authorities said. — Delaware State Police also announced that they had located …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Associated Press, CBS Philly, The Daily Wire, Conservative Brief, Townhall and Political Wire

Jasonhatchell / Delaware State Police:
5 Suspects in Custody After Congresswoman's Stolen Vehicle Located- Newark

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Fox News and CBS Philly

Margaret Talev / Axios:

Axios-Ipsos poll: Lack of trust puts the unvaccinated at risk — Unvaccinated Americans' already low trust in the federal government plummeted over the course of 2021, exacerbating the challenges in getting the pandemic under control, according to a year's worth of data from the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

Discussion: The Hill

NBC Chicago:

Illinois State Senator Carjacked in Suburban Broadview — Illinois State Sen. Kimberly Lightford and her husband were the victims of a carjacking in a Chicago suburb Tuesday evening, authorities said. — The Broadview Police Department said three masked people driving a Durango SUV hijacked …

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, CWB Chicago, The Hill and Political Wire

Darragh Roche / Newsweek:

Jen Psaki Mocked Free At-Home Tests Three Weeks Before Omicron Testing Crisis Hit America — The United States is facing a COVID-19 testing crisis heading into the holidays as the new Omicron variant has become dominant in new cases, and many drug stores have run out of rapid antigen tests.

New York Times:
Biden Promised 500 Million Tests, but Americans Will Have to Wait

Discussion: New York Post and Insider

William Kristol / The Bulwark:

Trump's Defeat a Year Ago Was Dunkirk, Not D-Day — As 2021 ends, the forces of democracy remain beleaguered and the forces of sanity on the defensive. — Where do we stand, as year 2021 of the common era and year one of the Biden presidency comes to an end? — We're much better off than we might have been.

Discussion: Brownstone Institute and Instapundit

New York Times:

Trump Fraud Inquiry Won't Be Resolved When Vance's Term Ends Next Week — After leading a three-year investigation into the former president, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., will hand it to his successor. — The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., has run out of time.

Discussion: Insider and Raw Story

Kenneth Garger / New York Post:

Macron's wife plans to sue over false claims she is transgender — French President Emmanuel Macron's wife, Brigitte, plans to take legal action after a bizarre disinformation campaign was launched against her falsely claiming she was born a man. — The rumors appeared to have originated …

Tim De Chant / Ars Technica:

2021 was the year the world finally turned on Facebook — Can a name change save the company's tarnished reputation? — Wish 2021 had been a better year? Facebook probably does, too. The company has long been maligned by politicians, media observers, and consumer advocates …

Melissa Block / NPR:

The clear and present danger of Trump's enduring ‘Big Lie’ — It's been nearly a year since the United States suffered an unprecedented attack on constitutional democracy. — When a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the goal was to overturn the results …

Discussion: Raw Story

Jonathan Shorman / Kansas City Star:

DOJ: Missouri let fugitive go because of Second Amendment law — After an Independence police officer was killed in a shootout in September, Missouri state law enforcement initially refused routine federal assistance in tracing the murder weapon. The same month, a Missouri State Highway …

Discussion: Raw Story