memeorandum: Masking could fight the ‘tripledemic’, experts say. Will anyone listen? (Matthew Cantor/The Guardian)

12:45 AM ET, December 11, 2022

Top Items:

The ‘Twitter Files’ Is What It Claims to Expose — But it is actually a tool of progressive power. While you were hypnotized by viral memes, a cabal of social-justice STEM majors seized the commanding heights of the attention economy. And they have been using it to bend the mass public to their will.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Instapundit and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

Daniel Friedman / Mother Jones:

We Found the Guys Behind the Hunter Biden Porn That Elon Musk Won't Shut Up About — On the evening of October 24, 2020, a guy who goes by the name Wenyang tweeted a picture of Hunter Biden. Hunter was facing a mirror in what looked like a hotel room, with his penis exposed.

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

What Are the Politics of Elon Musk? It's Complicated. — Elon Musk has tweeted about political topics regularly since taking over Twitter, often belittling some liberal causes. But what he stands for remains largely unclear. — He has called himself an independent and a centrist, yet “economically right of center, maybe.”

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Fox News

Susan Ferrechio / Washington Times:

Rainbow-colored atom T-shirt helped Vegas cops pin luggage theft on Biden's nuclear waste director — Las Vegas police had been unable to identify the person who stole an expensive piece of luggage from Harry Reid International Airport in July, despite the subject's unique T-shirt with a large rainbow-colored atomic nuclear symbol.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Just The News

Mary Kay Linge / New York Post:

Non-binary Biden nuke official Sam Brinton caught on camera stealing woman's bag — The rainbow atomic symbol T-shirt should have been a clue. — Sam Brinton, the allegedly sticky-fingered Biden administration nuclear official, was captured on security footage making off with a woman's bag worth …

Discussion: Fox News, Twitchy, KLAS and Washington Times

David Smith / The Guardian:

Trump was fresh and new during his 2016 campaign. Has his fame fizzled? — The failed ‘red wave’ during the midterm elections marked the beginning of a downward spiral of losses and lost support — Instead of taking off like a rocket over the past three weeks, Donald Trump's bid to win …

Discussion: HuffPost, Raw Story, High Plains Blogger and Digby's Hullabaloo

Blake Hounshell / New York Times:
Sununu on Trump: 'He's Not Scaring Anyone Out of the Race'

Discussion: Insider

NBC News:
Republicans run from Trump's resistance to early voting

Discussion: Georgia Public Broadcasting, Raw Story and Arizona Mirror

Abigail Hauslohner / Washington Post:

A desperate road trip to remind America about its Afghan allies — These veterans want the United States to keep its wartime promises. They found a country littered with indifference. — OMAHA, Neb. — The pitch was well practiced by the time they reached Sen. Deb Fischer's Omaha district office.

Los Angeles Times:

Violence between L.A. Councilman Kevin de León, activist caught on video, sparks debate — Hours after drawing protesters' ire with his first in-person appearance in two months at a Los Angeles City Council meeting, Kevin de León was involved in a fight with an activist Friday night …

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Zachary Obama, CBS News, Washington Examiner, Tell Me How This Ends, ABC7, Washington Times, HotAir, TMZ.com, Deadline, Boing Boing, Associated Press, KTLA and Politico

Washington Post:

Russia-Iran military partnership ‘unprecedented’ and growing, officials say — Moscow and Tehran are said to be collaborating on drone development, ballistic missiles and technical training — The relationship between Russia and Iran is becoming “a full-scale defense partnership” …

Discussion: The Hill, Bloomberg, Voice of America, Agence France-Presse, Al Jazeera, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, CBS News, Washington Examiner and NBC News

BBC:

Nobel Peace Prize: Russian laureate ‘told to turn down award’ — The Russian co-winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize has said Kremlin authorities told him to turn down the award. — Yan Rachinsky, who heads Memorial, said he was told not to accept the prize because the two other co-laureates …

Discussion: CNN, Axios, NPR, The Hill, Common Dreams, Al Jazeera and Politico

Matthew Cantor / The Guardian:

Masking could fight the ‘tripledemic’, experts say. Will anyone listen? — Masks can feel like a thing of the past in the US - but experts are once again advising them as Covid, flu and RSV surge simultaneously — Masking can feel like a thing of the past in the US …

Discussion: San Francisco Chronicle, NBC New York, Staten Island Advance, Outside the Beltway, City & State New York, CBS News and The Liberty Loft

Jazz Shaw / HotAir:

Twitter Files dump number 4. How Donald Trump was banned — The third installment of the “Twitter files” gave us some of what we were looking for in terms of government involvement in censoring free speech, though many questions remain. Tonight, close on the heels of the last data dump …

Discussion: The Hill, New York Post, Washington Examiner, Crooked Timber, Newsbusters, Mediaite, Washington Times, Fox News, The Daily Caller, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Just The News and Twitchy

Eric Rogers / Florida Today:

Discipline stirs passions at Brevard School Board meeting but few concrete actions — Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to FLORIDA TODAY. — Passions were high Thursday at a special meeting of the Brevard County School Board to address out-of-control discipline problems in Brevard's public schools.

Discussion: The Daily Beast and The Western Journal

Michael Luciano / Mediaite:

‘A Mere Basketball Player’: Newsmax Host Eric Bolling Trashes Brittney Griner After Prisoner Swap — Newsmax host Eric Bolling slammed WNBA star Brittney Griner one day after Russia released her as part of a prisoner exchange. She was detained in February for possession of less than half a gram of hash oil.