memeorandum: Broken promises cannot deter the path to Build Back Better (Pramila Jayapal/Washington Post)

1:30 PM ET, December 27, 2021

Top Items:

Hugo Lowell / The Guardian:

Capitol panel to investigate Trump call to Willard hotel in hours before attack — Committee to request contents of the call seeking to stop Biden's certification and may subpoena Rudy Giuliani — Congressman Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack …

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Raw Story and emptywheel

Kevin Liptak / CNN:
Biden concedes not enough has been done to expand Covid-19 testing capacity: ‘We have more work to do’

Discussion: CNBC, Politico, The Hill, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, The Guardian, Townhall and The Daily Caller

Connor O'Brien / Politico:
Biden signs $768B defense policy bill that supersized his original Pentagon request

Discussion: Reuters, CNN, Washington Examiner, Forbes and Washington Times

Tal Axelrod / The Hill:
GOP optimism grows over possible red wave in 2022

Discussion: The Status Kuo, Political⚡Charge, New York Post, Breitbart, Bloomberg and Jacobin

Stephen Collinson / CNN:
Trump and the January 6 committee are now locked in a full-on confrontation

Discussion: Raw Story and The Hill

Pramila Jayapal / Washington Post:
Broken promises cannot deter the path to Build Back Better

Discussion: RedState, Breitbart, National Review, Common Dreams, Wide World of News, Fox News, Slate, The Guardian, HillReporter.com and The Hill

Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:
House MAGA squad seeks to expand by boosting challengers to fellow Republicans

Discussion: Raw Story

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Justice Roberts Tops Federal Leaders in Americans' Approval — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chief Justice John Roberts earns the highest job approval rating of 11 U.S. leaders rated in a Dec. 1-16 Gallup poll with 60% approving of how he is handling his role. — Only two other leaders on the list …

Discussion: Insider, HotAir and The Daily Caller

Noah Garfinkel / Axios: Poll: John Roberts has highest approval rating among federal leaders

Tara Palmeri / Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: ‘The View’ struggles to find a Republican — DRIVING THE DAY — Before taking off for the holidays, the four long-standing hosts of “The View” had a message for executive producer BRIAN TETA: We're tired of the rotating cast of Republican guest hosts.

Discussion: The Daily Wire, Mediaite and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:

The One Thing Biden Is Doing Exceptionally Well — As 2021 draws to a close, President Joe Biden has good reason to be frustrated. His legislative agenda is stymied in the Senate. His executive authority is under assault from Donald Trump's judges. His administration was blindsided …

Ian Millhiser / Vox:
Just how much is Trump's judiciary sabotaging the Biden presidency?

Discussion: Associated Press and Raw Story

Evan Osnos / New Yorker:

Dan Bongino and the Big Business of Returning Trump to Power — The Secret Service agent turned radio host is furious at liberals—so he's trying to build a right-wing media infrastructure in time for 2024. … Dan Bongino, one of America's most popular conservative commentators …

Discussion: Raw Story

Mark Niesse / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Alleged ‘dead’ Georgia voters found alive and well after 2020 election — Trump's allegations of vast voter fraud debunked — False claims that there were thousands of ballots cast in the names of dead Georgia voters can now rest in peace. — Election investigators found …

Discussion: Raw Story and Rolling Stone

NBC News:

So much happened this year, it can be hard to keep track. Take our quiz to see if you remember when something actually occurred. — The United States reached 500,000 deaths from the coronavirus in the early months of 2021. Alex Trebek, the beloved ‘Jeopardy!’ host, died of cancer at age 80 in November 2020.

Houston Chronicle:

Just 3 voter fraud cases closed? It's time to end Paxton's wasteful crusade. — You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency? — The date was June 9, 1954. The speaker was Joseph Welch, special counsel for the U.S. Army, responding to scurrilous remarks U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy …

Discussion: Raw Story

Parul Sehgal / New Yorker:

The Case Against the Trauma Plot — Fiction writers love it. Filmmakers can't resist it. But does this trope deepen characters, or flatten them into a set of symptoms? — It was on a train journey, from Richmond to Waterloo, that Virginia Woolf encountered the weeping woman.

Jarvis DeBerry / MSNBC:

White evangelicals dying of Covid after denouncing vaccines are wasting martyrdom — Most of America's religious groups have no objections to vaccines or mandates. In that context, white evangelicals stand out. — This year we've seen a number of conservative personalities …

Tyler Olson / Fox News:

Fauci says to cancel New Year's Eve parties, as millions struggle for normalcy nearly two years into pandemic — Amid young adult mental health crisis, Fauci says to stay away from normalcy of New Year's Eve parties: ‘Not this year’ — Fox News Flash top headlines for December 27

Discussion: New York Post and The Gateway Pundit

Emily Shapiro / ABC News:
Fauci warns omicron cases ‘likely will go much higher’

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, USA Today, The Daily Wire, Joe.My.God., NPR, HillReporter.com, HuffPost, UPI, The Gateway Pundit, Townhall, Insider and Slate

Ed Kilgore / New York Magazine:

Why Biden Wants You to Think He's Running in 2024 — As his first, up-and-down year as president nears its end, Joe Biden really wants you to know he plans to run for a second term in 2024. He reiterated his intentions in an ABC News interview last week, while making the requisite hedge …

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

Inside Disney's Handling of the ABC News Sexual-Assault Allegations — A lawsuit claims executives knew of misconduct at the key revenue generator ‘Good Morning America’ but didn't follow up and discouraged an official report — When writer Jay Carson was doing research in the fall of 2017 to develop …

New York Times:

Flight disruptions continue with thousands more cancellations as Omicron thins airline crews. — Flight disruptions in the United States showed few signs of abating on Monday as many people embarked on their first trips in almost two years, and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's top infectious …

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post and MSNBC

Aaron Gregg / Washington Post:

5 GOP-led states extend unemployment aid to workers who lose jobs over vaccine mandates — Critics says the rule changes in Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas and Tennessee are incentivizing people to skip shots, and undermining the White House's pandemic response.