memeorandum: Supreme Court Seems Ready to Back Web Designer Opposed to Same-Sex Marriage (Adam Liptak/New York Times)

7:40 AM ET, December 6, 2022

Top Items:

Senate Republicans turn on Trump over suspend-the-Constitution talk — Senate Republicans are slowly but surely distancing themselves from Donald Trump after a call to terminate the Constitution and a meeting with antisemites — though there's no sign any will start actively opposing his 2024 campaign.

Discussion: Yahoo Entertainment, The Hill, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, Newsbusters, New Republic, Washington Post and Washington Times

CNN:
Trump's slow 2024 start worries allies

Discussion: New York Post, HuffPost, National Review, NBC News and The Daily Wire

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Trump insists he doesn't want to ‘terminate’ Constitution

Igor Bobic / HuffPost:
Mitt Romney Mocks ‘RINO’ Trump Over His Call To Torch Constitution

Discussion: CNN, Washington Examiner and Raw Story

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
When Trump Promises to Be a Tyrant, Take Him at His Word

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, The Western Journal, Reason, Mediaite, Tuzara Post Newsletter, The Hill, New York Times, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, CBS News and Edward's Journal

New York Times:

Ukraine Targets Bases Deep in Russia, Showing Expanded Reach — Launching drones at air bases 300 miles from its own territory, Ukraine changed the geography of the war. It said it had developed drones with a range of over 600 miles. — KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine executed its most brazen attack …

Max Boot / Washington Post:

We can win a battle of production lines with Russia. But there's a better way. — The conflict in Ukraine has already lasted nearly 10 months, and it has turned into something the United States has not seen since World War II: a battle of production lines. Both Russia and Ukraine have been expending munitions at a furious rate.

Discussion: New York Times, BBC, Balloon Juice and The Drive

Joe Gould / Defense News:
Army plans ‘dramatic’ ammo production boost as Ukraine drains stocks

Discussion: Big League Politics

Shelby Talcott / Semafor:

Top evangelicals are backing away from Donald Trump — Call it a crisis of faith. Despite appointing the conservative judges who ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade — and fervently courting the religious right during his presidency — prominent evangelicals are beginning to shy away …

Discussion: HuffPost

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

The Empty Gestures of Disillusioned Evangelicals — There have been encouraging signs lately of influential evangelicals inching away from Donald Trump. — The Washington Post last month quoted a self-pitying essay by Mike Evans, a former member of Trump's evangelical advisory board, who wrote: “He used us to win the White House.

Discussion: Joel Mathis and Raw Story

Asta Hemenway / The Daily Beast:
Even Evangelicals Are Sick of Trump's ‘Drama’

Discussion: Raw Story

Kimberly Wehle / The Bulwark:

Court Implodes Trump's Mar-a-Lago Defense (and the Errant Judge Who Bought It) — The timeline makes clear how careful and even deferential prosecutors were. — On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit finally put to rest the special master nonsense that Donald Trump set …

Discussion: USA Today, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Reason

Washington Post:

Trump's committee paying for lawyers of key Mar-a-Lago witnesses — Save America PAC has spent millions on Trump-related legal fees, filings show; some say paying for witness's lawyers poses a conflict — Former president Donald Trump's political action committee is paying legal bills …

Discussion: Political Wire

Devan Cole / CNN:

Michael Avenatti sentenced to 14 years in prison for stealing millions of dollars from clients — Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti was sentenced Monday to 14 years in prison for embezzling millions of dollars from four of his clients and obstruction. — Avenatti pleaded guilty earlier …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, U.S. Department of Justice, Fox News, Twitchy, Breitbart, RedState, UPI, The Gateway Pundit, Just The News and The Daily Wire

Michael Finnegan / Los Angeles Times:
Michael Avenatti gets 14 years in prison for stealing millions of dollars from clients

Discussion: Reuters, Washington Free Beacon, Newsbusters, The Daily Beast, Insider and Law & Crime

Aaron Katersky / ABC News:
Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti, onetime opponent of Donald Trump, sentenced to 14 years in fraud case

Discussion: The Guardian, Power Line, New York Times, Deadline, New York Daily News, Occupy Democrats, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, CNBC, CBS News, National Review, Law & Crime, Maryland Daily Record, The Hill, TheBlaze and The Post Millennial

Elaina Plott Calabro / The Atlantic:

Why Is Marjorie Taylor Greene Like This? — This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here. — I. — She was very late.

Washington Post:

Rupert Murdoch to be deposed in $1.6 billion defamation case against Fox — The Fox Corp chairman is the highest-profile individual to be questioned in the case, which hinges on Fox's coverage of the 2020 presidential election. — Rupert Murdoch, the 91-year-old chairman …

Discussion: WSAV-TV, Forbes, Raw Story, Insider, CNN, Political Wire and WOUB Public Media, more at Mediagazer »

Jefferson Morley / JFK Facts:

Major Break Coming in the JFK Assassination Story — The CIA is concealing a secret operation that involved accused assassin Oswald. — Many Americans wonder why the CIA is still concealing records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which happened nearly 60 years ago.

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Finally, a bipartisan deal to help the ‘dreamers’ is within reach — For three straight election cycles, running as the party of “border security” has largely failed for the GOP. Though Republicans dumped enormous resources into painting migrants in the most lurid and threatening terms imaginable …

Discussion: Townhall, America's Voice, New York Post, Breitbart, RedState, The Daily Wire and Ace of Spades HQ

Washington Post:
Congress working to strike last-minute immigration deals

Discussion: Axios, The Hill, RedState, Raw Story, Roll Call and NumbersUSA Education …

William M. Arkin / Newsweek:

FBI Ramps Up Spending to Fight MAGA Terrorism — The FBI is conducting three times as many domestic terrorism investigations than it was five years ago, with 70 percent of its open cases focused on “civil unrest” and anti-government activity, according to FBI documents and government specialists.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Raw Story

Associated Press:

Youngkin's early shine faces test as he eyes White House bid — Glenn Youngkin swept into office as a Republican sensation with a fresh formula for victory as the GOP contemplated its future beyond Donald Trump. But one year after Youngkin became the first Republican in more than a decade …

Claire Parker / Washington Post:

Support slipping for indefinite U.S. aid to Ukraine, poll finds — A strong majority of Americans continue to support sending arms and economic aid to Ukraine, according to a poll released Monday. But as the conflict drags into winter, Americans are divided over whether Washington …

Discussion: Big League Politics

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: McCarthy puts McConnell on notice — Presented by With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross — DRIVING THE DAY — ELECTION DAY IN GEORGIA — Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. in the Senate runoff between incumbent Democrat RAPHAEL WARNOCK and Republican HERSCHEL WALKER.

Discussion: Washington Examiner and PoliticusUSA

Tess Owen / VICE:

The Far-Right Attacked Drag Events in 4 States This Weekend — Protests against drag events have been an almost weekly occurrence this year. This weekend was no different. — Neo-Nazis, Proud Boys, militiamen, Christian nationalists, and culture warriors in at least four states mobilized …

Discussion: Mid-American Free Press and Washington Post

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Seems Ready to Back Web Designer Opposed to Same-Sex Marriage — The justices are expected to settle a question left open in 2018: how to reconcile claims of religious liberty with laws barring discrimination based on sexual orientation. — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court's …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Post, CBS News, The Bulwark, SCOTUSblog, Politico, The American Spectator, The Daily Wire, RedState, CNN, The Daily Caller, New Republic, ABC News, CNBC, Roll Call, Insider, BuzzFeed News, Just The News, USA Today, HotAir, The Hill, UPI, Associated Press and NPR

Mark Niesse / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Talk show host and Georgia House candidate accused of illegal voting — Brian K. Pritchard allegedly voted nine times while on felony probation — Conservative North Georgia talk show host Brian K. Pritchard, a candidate for the state House who rails against election fraud …

Discussion: New York Daily News, Occupy Democrats and Raw Story

Orla Guerin / BBC:

Haiti: Inside the capital city taken hostage by brutal gangs — In Port-au-Prince you cannot see the boundaries, but you must know where they are. Your life may depend on it. Competing gangs are carving up the Haitian capital, kidnapping, raping, and killing at will. They demarcate their territory in blood.

Discussion: Frontpage Mag, Associated Press, New York Times, UPI, Wall Street Journal, CBS News, America's Voice, The Hill, Department of Homeland … and Cyprus Mail

Rachael Levy / Reuters:

Exclusive: Musk's Neuralink faces federal probe, employee backlash over animal tests — Elon Musk's Neuralink, a medical device company, is under federal investigation for potential animal-welfare violations amid internal staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed …

Discussion: The Daily Wire, NaturalNews.com, Washington Times and Semafor, more at Techmeme »

David Rozado / Rozado's Visual Analytics:

The political orientation of the ChatGPT AI system — Applying the Pew Research Political Typology Quiz to a state-of-the-art AI Language model — Update — I replicated the tests below using the more comprehensive Political Compass Test. Results hold.

Discussion: TechCrunch and Washington Examiner, more at Techmeme »

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:

GOP Election Losers Are Getting Even Weirder on Twitter — Unburdened by the pressure of winning votes, they're tweeting about chemtrails and killings. — A month after losing his gubernatorial election, Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano was tweeting pictures of what he implied were suspicious clouds.

Discussion: Raw Story