Top Items:
New York Times:
Why Covid Death Rates Are Rising for Some Groups — The overall rate of Covid-19 deaths has declined since vaccines became widely available in April, yet nearly a quarter million people in the United States have died from the virus in the past eight months.
Discussion:
The Hill and Joe.My.God.
RELATED:
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Biden is learning not to fret over vaccine deniers — Almost two years after the country first shut down to protect itself against the coronavirus pandemic, President Biden is grasping a changing environment, both medical and political. The result could well encourage responsible Americans …
Discussion:
LX, Twitchy, New York Times and HotAir
Helen Branswell / STAT:
10 lessons I've learned from the Covid-19 pandemic — On the afternoon of New Year's Eve, just hours from when 2019 was going to segue into 2020, I read an email about some unusual pneumonia cases in China's Hubei province. Over the past couple of decades, China has been a wellspring …
New York Times:
The Peanut Butter Secret: A Lavish Tax Dodge for the Ultrawealthy — A tax break aimed at small businesses has become a popular way for Silicon Valley founders and investors to avoid taxes on their investment profits. — This is the story of the incredible cloning tax break.
Jose Pagliery / The Daily Beast:
Trump Adviser Peter Navarro Lays Out How He and Bannon Planned to Overturn Biden's Electoral Win — “It started out perfectly. At 1 p.m., Gosar and Cruz did exactly what was expected of them...” … A former Trump White House official says he and right-wing provocateur Steve Bannon …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Progress Pond, POLITICUSUSA, Political Flare and Raw Story
Josh Kovensky / Talking Points Memo:
EXCLUSIVE: There Was ANOTHER Rally Planned On Jan. 6 ... At The Supreme Court — The same people who organized Trump's fateful rally on the Ellipse had something else in store on Jan. 6: a rally planned in front of the Supreme Court. — The same people who organized Trump's fateful rally …
Discussion:
The Hill, HillReporter.com and Raw Story
Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:
The Political Life of Dr. Oz … Dr. Oz for Senate is headquartered in a patch of strip mall next to a Mexican restaurant in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where the candidate's father-in-law, Dr. Gerald Lemole, maintains a medical office down the road from the Lemole family farm …
Discussion:
Insider, HuffPost, The Daily Caller, Raw Story and Mediaite
Sarah Rainsford / BBC:
Russian court orders oldest civil rights group Memorial to shut — Russia's Supreme Court has ordered the closure of International Memorial, Russia's oldest human rights group. — Memorial worked to recover the memory of the millions of innocent people executed, imprisoned or persecuted in the Soviet era.
Discussion:
Liberty Unyielding and Al Jazeera
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Polina Ivanova / Financial Times:
Russia's Supreme Court orders closure of Memorial civil rights group
Russia's Supreme Court orders closure of Memorial civil rights group
Discussion:
Bloomberg
DW.COM:
Russia orders closure of human rights group Memorial
Russia orders closure of human rights group Memorial
Discussion:
ABC News, Interfax, Voice of America, CNN, New York Times, The Guardian, Reuters, The Daily Caller and Politico
Felix Light / The Moscow Times:
Russian Court Orders Closure of Renowned Rights Group Memorial
Russian Court Orders Closure of Renowned Rights Group Memorial
Discussion:
Meduza.io, Associated Press, UPI, One America News Network and The Daily Beast
Michael R. Gordon / Wall Street Journal:
U.S., Russia Set Schedule for Ukraine Talks in January — Russia has deployed 100,000 troops near Ukraine border, U.S. estimates, with no signs of de-escalation — WASHINGTON—The U.S. and Russia have agreed to hold security talks on Jan. 10, amid tensions over Russian forces deployed near Ukraine …
Discussion:
Townhall, Washington Examiner and Just The News
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Amanda Macias / CNBC:
U.S. and Russia agree to security talks on Jan. 10 amid growing tension over Ukraine
U.S. and Russia agree to security talks on Jan. 10 amid growing tension over Ukraine
Discussion:
Raw Story
David Axelrod / New York Times:
It's Not Over for Joe Biden — Mr. Axelrod was a senior adviser to President Barack Obama and chief strategist for the 2008 and 2012 Obama presidential campaigns. — Joe Biden must be having flashbacks. — In early 2010, when Democrats lost a special election for the late Edward Kennedy's Senate seat …
Discussion:
Deseret News, Politico and Issues & Insights
Philip Klein / National Review:
CDC's New Isolation Guidance Treats Unvaccinated the Same as Un-boosted — The Centers for Disease Control has moved one step closer to changing the definition of fully vaccinated to include only those who have received a booster. — Earlier, I noted how the CDC arbitrarily halved its quarantine guidance from ten days to five.
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Keith Coffman / Reuters:
Gunman kills four in Denver-area shooting spree before he is killed by police — A lone gunman shot four people to death and wounded three, including a police officer, on Monday in a Denver-area shooting spree that unfolded at several locations and ended with police killing the suspect, authorities said.
Discussion:
CNN, The Other McCain, FOX31 Denver, Associated Press, Metro.co.uk, ABC13, The Hill, Breitbart, Raw Story, WSVN-TV, UPI and Just The News
Nicholas Stephanopoulos / Election Law Blog:
Not the Time for Measuring Drapes — This column by Eric Levitz has been generating some buzz. Based on the congressional districts redrawn so far, the piece argues that “the new House map will be much less biased in the GOP's favor than the old one.” The new map might even be “tilted, ever so slightly, in the Democrats' favor.”
Yasmeen Abutaleb / Washington Post:
Healthy, boosted people unlikely to develop severe omicron infections, but jury's out on older, at-risk populations — The new variant has sent U.S. infections soaring, but a smaller share than with delta are resulting in hospitalization. — Healthy individuals who have been vaccinated …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
Andrew Sullender / Springfield News-Leader:
Antisemitic flyers found Christmas morning, spreading COVID conspiracies in Springfield — This Christmas Day, some Springfieldians woke up not to presents but to an antisemitic flyer. — The flyers were left at the front steps of houses in central Springfield sometime during the night of Christmas Eve.
Matt Taibbi / TK News:
The Democrats' Education Lunacies Will Bring Back Trump — Terry McAuliffe lost the Virginia governor's race by saying, “I don't think parents should be telling schools what to teach.” If that was no gaffe, Democrats have a lot more significant losing ahead
Discussion:
The Federalist and Reason
Wall Street Journal:
Biden Eyes Raskin as Top Fed Banking Regulator — White House slate of Fed picks could also include two academic economists — President Biden is considering Sarah Bloom Raskin for a top role at the Federal Reserve as part of a slate of three nominees for central bank board seats, according to people familiar with the matter.
Discussion:
The BondBeat and One America News Network
Chris Mills Rodrigo / The Hill:
Judge upholds $13 million Google settlement in Street View case — A federal appeals court on Monday upheld Google's settlement in a class action case over allegations that it collected Wi-Fi data illegally with its Street View program. — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner
The White House:
A Proclamation on Revoking Proclamation 10315 — On November 26, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution announced that the B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), constitutes a variant of concern.
Discussion:
CBS News