memeorandum: We can win a battle of production lines with Russia. But there's a better way. (Max Boot/Washington Post)

11:05 AM ET, December 6, 2022

Top Items:

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 …

New York Times:
Russia-Ukraine War — Drone Attacks Hit Russia for 2nd Straight Day

Max Boot / Washington Post:
We can win a battle of production lines with Russia. But there's a better way.

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

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

Discussion: Task & Purpose and Big League Politics

Claire Parker / Washington Post:
Support slipping for indefinite U.S. aid to Ukraine, poll finds

Discussion: The Hill, Chicago Council … and Big League Politics

CNN:

Trump's slow 2024 start worries allies — Back in 2015, Donald Trump's first campaign rally in Iowa as a contender for the Republican presidential nomination came just 10 hours after he declared his candidacy in New York. The following day, he was across the country in New Hampshire …

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

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 …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Ronald Brownstein / CNN:

How Trump's legacy became ‘pure poison’ for independents — The highly touted red wave in last month's midterm election failed to develop largely because it hit a wall of resistance among independent voters, especially across the key battleground states. And that presents difficult questions for Republicans looking forward to 2024.

Discussion: Raw Story and Opinion Today

New York Times:

Warnock Claims Momentum in Georgia, as Walker Banks on Election Day Turnout — On the eve of Georgia's Senate runoff, Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, warned his supporters about being overconfident. Herschel Walker urged Republicans to flood the polls on Tuesday.

Bryan Schott / Salt Lake Tribune:

Mike Lee, Burgess Owens are raising money for Herschel Walker's Senate campaign — and keeping half of the cash — The Utah politicians join other Republicans, including Donald Trump, who are using Walker's campaign to boost their own campaign coffers. — Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Burgess Owens …

Discussion: Fox News, Mediaite and Kenneth's Musings

CNN:

Kevin McCarthy faces debt-limit dilemma as House GOP ratchets up demands amid speaker bid — House Republicans are plotting tactics for their new majority and weighing how to use their leverage to enact a laundry list of demands, with many zeroing in on an issue with enormous economic implications: Raising the nation's borrowing limit.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Hill, Wall Street Journal and HuffPost

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: The Hill, Washington Examiner and PoliticusUSA

Washington Post:

For Trump, the Constitution is malleable — “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great ‘founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False and Fraudulent elections!”

Quin Hillyer / Washington Examiner:
The Constitution is more important than any former president

Discussion: pjmedia.com, Raw Story, Los Angeles Times and The Hill

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
Aren't You All Tired of This Crap? — Are you not tired of this crap yet? … Trump's lying, of course.

Discussion: Raw Story, Politico and Raw Story

Politico:
Senate Republicans turn on Trump over suspend-the-Constitution talk

Discussion: Insider, HuffPost, The Hill, Yahoo Entertainment, Raw Story, New Republic, Washington Examiner, Newsbusters, The Hill, Political Wire and Washington Post

Deirdre Walsh / NPR:

Capitol Police chief: Jan. 6 failures ‘largely’ fixed but extremism threat persists — Congressional leaders will bestow their highest honor — the Congressional gold medal — to the United States Capitol Police and Washington, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department for defending …

Discussion: The Hill, Associated Press, CBS News and Raw Story

CNN:
Second Oath Keepers sedition trial presents new challenges for prosecutors

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Gateway Pundit and Raw Story

Jill Lawrence / The Bulwark:

Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is GOP — Herschel Walker, Bill Bennett, and Donald Trump's legacy. — Reagan-era Education Secretary William Bennett had a moment last week: On November 29, Simon & Schuster released a thirtieth-anniversary updated edition of his 1993 bestseller, The Book of Virtues.

Discussion: Morning Shots

Joan Biskupic / CNN:

How William Rehnquist led to the new monumental challenge to presidential election rules — When Chief Justice William Rehnquist helped decide the 2000 presidential election, his radical legal theory failed to gain a majority. But today's conservative court is giving it another chance …

Discussion: Raw Story

Ana Swanson / New York Times:

Global Car Supply Chains Entangled With Abuses in Xinjiang, Report Says — A new report on the auto industry cites extensive links to Xinjiang, where the U.S. government now presumes goods are made with forced labor. — The global auto industry remains heavily exposed to the Xinjiang region …

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

Washington Post:
Trump's committee paying for lawyers of key Mar-a-Lago witnesses

Discussion: Political Wire

Barbie Latza Nadeau / The Daily Beast:

U.S. Government Told Spy to Stay Home From British Teen Death Trial — Anne Sacoolas will be sentenced Thursday after admitting she drove her Volvo down the wrong side of the road when she hit teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn, killing him. — Correspondent-At-Large

Discussion: Bloomberg

Jordain Carney / Politico:

GOP senators tune out House conservatives' impeachment calls — House conservatives want their party to go big on impeachment next year. Across the Capitol, Senate Republicans on their would-be jury are not ready to convict. — While House GOP leaders feel intense pressure …

Discussion: Raw Story

Sui-Lee Wee / New York Times:

In Sweeping Legal Overhaul, Indonesia Outlaws Sex Outside Marriage — Parliament also approved a law that criminalizes criticism of the government, delivering a blow to the country's progressive reputation. — Indonesia has long been known as a widely tolerant nation at the forefront …

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: The Guardian, Insider, WSAV-TV, Forbes, Raw Story and CNN, more at Mediagazer »

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: Raw Story, OnlySky Media, The Daily Beast and HuffPost

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
The Empty Gestures of Disillusioned Evangelicals

Discussion: Joel Mathis and Raw Story

Washington Free Beacon:

Stacey Abrams's Georgia Nonprofit Could Face Criminal Investigations for Unlicensed Fundraising — New Georgia Project's charity license has lapsed in at least nine states — Stacey Abrams's New Georgia Project is collecting donations without a license in at least nine states …

Jarrell Dillard / Bloomberg:

Senators Seek Deal to End Cocaine Sentencing Disparity Before Year-End — A group of senators is working to lessen the disparity in federal sentencing between drug offenses involving crack and powder cocaine by attaching it to an annual defense bill, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

Discussion: Fox News and Politico

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