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5:15 PM ET, December 24, 2021

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
White House reporters ask for virtual press briefings during the latest covid surge  —  With a fierce new variant of the coronavirus on the loose, White House reporters are urging press secretary Jen Psaki to move her daily briefings online — but it's an idea Psaki has been cool to so far.
RELATED:
David Shepardson / Reuters:
Exclusive: U.S. to lift travel curbs on eight African countries  —  The Biden administration will lift travel restrictions on eight southern African countries imposed last month over concerns about the fast-spreading COVID-19 Omicron variant, the White House said Friday.
Dan Diamond / Washington Post:
Biden to lift travel restrictions on southern African countries  —  Public health experts had pushed the administration to lift the measures, which went into effect Nov. 29, citing omicron's broad spread internationally as well as inside the United States.  —  President Joe Biden …
Ashraf Khalil / Associated Press:   US to lift omicron-linked travel ban on southern Africa
Christopher Hutton / Washington Examiner:
US to lift travel restrictions on eight African countries
Ed Pilkington / The Guardian:
Report shows the extent of Republican efforts to sabotage democracy  —  Research identifies at least 262 bills were introduced in 41 states this year with the intent to hijack the election process  —  The Republican assault on free and fair elections instigated by Donald Trump is gathering pace …
MSNBC:
‘We took the Capitol’: Proud Boy pleads guilty to Jan. 6 conspiracy charges  —  On Wednesday, one of the members of the Proud Boys became the first to admit he was at the Capitol to stop the transfer of power, as part of a cooperation agreement with the government.
Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:
The Third, and Last, Covid Winter Begins  —  We'll be living for a long time with the virus's ramifications for health, the economy and politics.  —  In New York we feel back where we started.  It's like 2020, with everyone in a mask and canceling gatherings and scrambling to find a test.
CNN:
New January 6 video shows three hours of violent and chaotic assault on police  —  Capitol Police officer: Trump supporters are being lied to  —  (CNN)The Justice Department this week released a three-hour video of a battle between rioters and the police at the US Capitol Building on January 6 …
Donald Judd / CNN:
Biden calls NORAD and updates children on Santa's progress across the globe  —  Washington (CNN)President Joe Biden made a Christmas Eve call to North American Aerospace Defense Command on Friday at the White House, updating children on Santa's progress across the globe as part of what NORAD Commander …
Discussion: Townhall, The Hill and The Daily Caller
RELATED:
Steven Nelson / New York Post:
Biden says ‘I agree’ when dad drops 'Let's Go, Brandon' on NORAD Santa call  —  President Biden got a visit from a Christmas troll Friday when a father participating in the annual White House NORAD Santa-tracking call used the phrase “Let's Go Brandon,” the slangy stand-in for “F— Joe Biden.”
Discussion: RedState and Joe.My.God.
Cheryl Teh / Insider:
Fringe factions of MAGA world are imploding after Trump publicly advocated for the COVID-19 jab  — The fringe factions of the right wing erupted in anger after Trump lauded the COVID-19 vaccines.  — Figures from Alex Jones to Ali Alexander swiftly rebuked Trump for his pro-vaccine stance.
RELATED:
Jeff Stein / Washington Post:
Manchin told White House he would support version of tax on billionaires  —  His offer comes as fellow a Democrat, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, raises new concerns, illustrating that the party has work to do  —  Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) told the White House last week that he would support …
Zachary Petrizzo / The Daily Beast:
Jason Miller's ‘Free Speech’ Site Gettr Site Bans Users From Posting Racist Term ‘Groyper’  —  The free speech right-wing alternative battles fury from white nationalists.  —  The free speech-centered, MAGA-inspired Twitter alternative Gettr, led by former Trump advisor Jason Miller …
Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Raw Story
Sameer Yasir / New York Times:
As Hindu Extremists Call for Killing of Muslims, India's Leaders Keep Silent  —  Right-wing Hindu activists at a conference took an oath to harm Muslims if necessary to make “a Hindu-only nation,” the most blatant example of rising anti-Muslim sentiment across India.
Discussion: Al Jazeera
Jonathan Cohn / HuffPost:
Joe Manchin's ‘Scaled-Back’ Framework May Be Better Than It Sounds  —  Prioritizing certain initiatives over others is hard, but that could be what it takes to save Build Back Better.  —  It looks like negotiations over President Joe Biden's Build Back Better legislation are only mostly dead …
Paula Reid / CNN:
Giuliani associate Bernard Kerik plans to publicly release some documents requested by January 6 committee  —  Reporter: Records would be key to see Trump's activity prior to Jan. 6  —  Washington (CNN)Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik says he is planning to publicly release …
Discussion: Raw Story and Joe.My.God.
Greg Myre / NPR:
How the Soviet Union's collapse explains the current Russia-Ukraine tension  —  On Christmas Day 1991, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sat down at a table deep inside the Kremlin and prepared to deliver a monumental speech.  Associated Press reporter Alan Cooperman was among the few journalists allowed in.
Discussion: New York Times
RELATED:
New York Times:
Putin Demands Quick Answers on Russian Security Concerns
 
 
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 More Items: 
Zack Stanton / Politico:
The Worst Political Predictions of 2021
Karol Markowicz / Wall Street Journal:
Florida's Plague Is the Media's Cold
Discussion: Cafe Hayek
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Gableman calls for GOP state senator to resign as he signals he wants more taxpayer funding for his election review
Discussion: Raw Story
Washington Post:
Pregnancy apps have become a battleground of vaccine misinformation
Politico:
Say it ain't Joe: Manchin's not the only big hurdle left for Biden's megabill
Discussion: Raw Story and The Federalist
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
The Navy SEALs, a Christmas story
 Earlier Items: 
Danusha Goska / Front Page Magazine:
‘Christmas’ Lights or ‘Holiday’ Lights?
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
In bid for Jan. 6 secrecy, Trump asks Supreme Court for help
Missouri Independent:
Uncounted: Inaccurate death certificates across the country hide the true toll of COVID-19
Amanda Mull / The Atlantic:
The Great Shoplifting Freak-Out
Washington Post:
‘Burn it all down’  —  How Myanmar's military razed villages to crush a growing resistance
 

 
From Techmeme:

Stephanie Palazzolo / The Information:
An undisclosed 2023 agreement between Microsoft and OpenAI defines achieving AGI as the point when OpenAI develops AI systems that generate $100B+ in profits

Noah Smith / Noahpinion:
How H-1B workers from India and other countries help the US remain dominant in tech, as some on the new “Tech Right” discover MAGA's racial-nationalist bigotry

Shubham Sharma / VentureBeat:
DeepSeek releases DeepSeek-V3, an open-source MoE model of 671B total parameters, with 37B activated per token, claiming it outperforms top models like GPT-4o
 
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