memeorandum: Zelenskyy's speech and the blind fury of the hard right (Dante Atkins/Anti-Imperialist League)

5:40 PM ET, December 24, 2022

Top Items:

Arizona Judge Rejects Kari Lake's Effort to Overturn Her Election Loss — Kari Lake, a Republican who was defeated by Katie Hobbs in the Arizona governor's race, had made false election claims the centerpiece of her campaign. — A state judge on Saturday rejected Kari Lake's last-ditch effort …

Jacques Billeaud / Associated Press:

Lake loses suit over her defeat in Arizona governor's race — PHOENIX — A judge has thrown out Republican Kari Lake's challenge of her defeat in the Arizona governor's race to Democrat Katie Hobbs, rejecting her claim that problems with ballot printers at some polling places on Election Day were the result of intentional misconduct.

Discussion: Axios, The Guardian, Fox News, Bloomberg, The Hill, Politico, Insider, UPI, Election Law Blog, Arizona Mirror, The Daily Caller, Law & Crime, NewsNation, The Gateway Pundit, Arizona Republic, The Western Journal and Associated Press

Bryan Schott / Salt Lake Tribune:

Jan. 6 report sheds new details about Sen. Mike Lee's efforts to help Trump overturn 2020 election — The House Jan. 6 committee reported that Lee “spent a month encouraging the idea” of alternate state electors, before worrying about a “slippery slope problem” for future elections.

Discussion: CNN, The Guardian, Lawfare, Al Jazeera, Source New Mexico, Associated Press, Raw Story, Insider, Digby's Hullabaloo, Civil Discourse …, Talking Points Memo and The Atlantic, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

Judge rules against Kari Lake in bid to overturn Arizona election results — The defeated GOP candidate for Arizona governor claimed that illegal voting and printer malfunctions had cost her the November election — An Arizona judge on Saturday rebuffed an effort by Kari Lake …

Discussion: Arizona Republic, The Daily Beast, CNN, Washington Examiner, New York Daily News, Mediaite, Just The News, Arizona Capitol Times, New York Post, Raw Story, America First Report, Fox 8 Cleveland WJW, The Post Millennial, PJ Media, The Gateway Pundit and Lodestar

New York Times:
How the Worst Fears for Democracy Were Averted in 2022

Discussion: The Hill

Brady Knox / Washington Examiner:

Top five takeaways from the newest trove of Jan. 6 transcripts — The Jan. 6 Committee released 46 more witness transcripts the day after the release of its final report. — The new witness transcripts included hundreds of pages of testimony from several key people in the last days …

Discussion: Mediaite, Insider, Political Wire and Bloomberg

CNN:
Trump White House drafted statement attacking Barr after he publicly refuted Trump's voter fraud claims, transcript reveals

Discussion: The Hill, Insider and Political Wire

The Athletic:

Mets have concerns with Carlos Correa's physical: Sources — It's the physical. Again. — The New York Mets, like the San Francisco Giants earlier in the week, have raised concerns about Carlos Correa's surgically repaired lower right leg, potentially jeopardizing their 12-year …

Discussion: Boston Herald and New York Post

Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post:

Twitter brings Elon Musk's genius reputation crashing down to earth — Musk's intense focus on his social media company purchase has devolved into the culture wars. Meanwhile, Tesla is tanking. — Elon Musk was speechless. — The Twitter CEO was on a live audio chat Tuesday night …

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Elon Musk's Twitter Antics Are Hurting Tesla's Brand

Discussion: Boston Herald and Bloomberg

Kenneth Li / Reuters:

Twitter restores suicide prevention feature after Reuters report — Twitter Inc restored a feature that promoted suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources to users looking up certain content, after coming under pressure from some users and consumer safety groups over its removal.

Discussion: The Guardian, New York Daily News, New York Post, RedState and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Dante Atkins / Anti-Imperialist League:

Zelenskyy's speech and the blind fury of the hard right … The above is a key part of an opinion piece by Greg Sargent at the Washington Post that's worth reading in its entirety. The prompt for the piece was Tucker Carlson's rage-fueled rant about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's momentous speech …

Internal Revenue Service:

IRS announces delay for implementation of $600 reporting threshold for third-party payment platforms' Forms 1099-K — News Releases for Frequently Asked Questions — WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced a delay in reporting thresholds for third-party settlement organizations set …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, Bloomberg and CBS News, more at Techmeme »

Zachary Petrizzo / The Daily Beast:

Far Right Turns on ‘Faker’ & ‘Liar’ Marjorie Taylor Greene — Her one-time allies are now targeting her with the same rage they had once reserved for Democrats. — The far right is out to destroy one of their own. — Over the past week, far-right pundits have begun lining up to take shots …

Discussion: Raw Story and The Daily Beast

Mark Chiusano / Newsday:

George Santos' congressional freshman yearbook entries come with questions — Besides a photo and party affiliation, there are only three pieces of personal information in George Santos' entry for the recently released 118th Congress freshman yearbook — and all three of them come with questions.

Michael Luciano / Mediaite:

Eric Bolling Rips 'Putin's Press Secretary' Tucker Carlson for Innuendo About Lindsey Graham's Personal Life — Newsmax host and former Fox News talking head Eric Bolling said “Putin's press secretary” Tucker Carlson owes Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) an apology for comments he made about the senator's personal life.

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo, The Mahablog, IJR and Trends Journal

New York Times:

Putin Wants Fealty, and He's Found It in Africa — The Russian president has unleashed a new disorder on the world with his war in Ukraine, and the Central African Republic may be its ultimate expression. — BANGUI, Central African Republic — In early March, as Russia's invasion …

Guillermo / Foreign Policy Research Institute:

A Nation Must Think Before it Acts How the Battle for the Donbas Shaped Ukraine's Success — A nation must think before it acts. — BOTTOM LINE — As the Russian-Ukrainian War enters the winter, Ukrainians have reason to be cautiously optimistic about the course of the war.

Discussion: TASS