The word of the day is: Pardon? Yes, Arthur Goldstein, we sure have been wondering this: “Wondering why Rudy gets up on his hind legs and pushes any conspiracy puts a smile on an orange face?” OK, maybe not in those exact words, but still.  So it turns out, Trump Has Discussed With Advisers Pardons for His 3 Eldest Children, Jared Kushner and Giuliani, according to the latest from Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt at The New York Times. “Swamp-drainer goals,” tweets C.J. Chivers. (Looks like Tiffany’s left in the lurch once again, though.)
How did we get here? Astead Herndon points out, “norms remain norms because you pay a cost for violating them. but with a president who has overtaken the institutional wing of his party, and a base that does not care if he violates them, those usual restraints are gone.” “It’s hard to think of something more nakedly corrupt than the president pardoning his own children—except a self-pardon, which I’m sure we’ll see floated soon enough,” Garrett M. Graff predicts. It’s gonna drip drip drip out  Hold on to that thought, because we have to get through this first: The news broke yesterday afternoon that the Justice Department is investigating a potential presidential pardon bribery scheme. And Kaitlyn Wells shares, “This is my surprised face.” “At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if he took out a reverse mortgage on The White House,” adds Antonio French.
As CNN’s Katelyn Polantz reports, the disclosure is in 20 pages of partially redacted documents made public by the DC District Court, and Twitter sleuths have been busy trying to read through those long black bars ever since.  What we do know: The records show Chief Judge Beryl Howell’s review in August of a request from prosecutors to access documents obtained in a search as part of a bribery-for-pardon investigation. James Hohmann highlights, “Attorney-client communications are not privileged when there is discussion of a crime. Judge Howell: ‘The political strategy to obtain a presidential pardon was ‘parallel’ to and distinct from [redacted]’s role as an attorney-advocate for [redacted].’” “Just keep drainin’ that swamp,” tweets Kaili Gray.
Maximillian Potter predicts that “It’s gonna drip drip drip out. Then it’s going to flow. Then there’s gonna be the inevitable tsunami of corruption charges against this Trump admin.” Meanwhile, Jack Nicas poses this question: “So what happens if the president pardons the person whom was charged with bribing him to pardon them?” There’s that nine-dimensional chess we’ve been hearing so much about. Anyway, as David Larter says, “I'm sure it’s all just a big misunderstanding.”  We should mention that in the middle of all this, Bill Barr told Michael Balsamo of The Associated Press that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election. “Barr better already have his pardon. Just sayin . . .” tweets Glenn Kirschner.
But also from that interview, Balsamo and Eric Tucker report that Barr has appointed John Durham as special counsel to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, granting him authority to complete the work without being easily fired. “Carrot, stick,” as Julie Pace puts it. To sum up, “And award of most corrupt A.G in American history goes to…” tweets Amr Khalifa. Maddening  The drip drip drip continues. Release of PPP loan recipients data reveals troubling patterns. That’s the mild headline of the new report by Andrew W. Lehren and Ben Popken of NBC News, but here’s a taste of what they’ve found in analyzing new data released by the SBA: “Over 25 PPP loans worth more than $3.65 million were given to businesses with addresses at Trump and Kushner real estate properties, paying rent to those owners. Fifteen of the properties self-reported that they only kept one job, zero jobs or did not report a number at all.”
The SBA released the data after FOIA requests by 11 news agencies. In their analysis for The Washington Post, Jonathan O’Connell, Andrew Van Dam, Aaron Gregg and Alyssa Fowers discovered that more than half of the $522 billion in PPP loans went to about 600 larger companies and chains. Kerry Hannon urges, “Read this. Maddening on so many levels.” Big Biden interview Looking ahead at what’s in store for the new administration, Gregor Stuart Hunter notes, “Big interview with Joe Biden on his China policy just dropped in @NYTimes.” That’s Thomas Friedman’s New York Times interview with Biden on his first few months and his next four years. Sreemoy Talukdar says it’s “Worth a read. Though the venerable Thomas L tries hard to come off as a Democratic Party spokesperson. Biden sounds more measured in contrast.” “Biden gives one of his first post-election interviews to Tom Friedman Revealing in its own way about Biden’s media diet/preferences,” notes Alex Scott Thompso. Adds Ben Smith, “Twitter/the blogosphere were always been kind of structured around arguing with Thomas Friedman, but the comments on this column run to ‘soothing balm.’” More stories making headlines Another big development over the last 24 hours, Michelle Roberts of BBC News reports that the UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for mass vaccination. Health Secretary, Matt Hancock tells the BBC that 800,000 doses of the vaccine will arrive in the UK next week. Yesterday, Gabriel Sterling, a voting system official in Georgia, harshly criticized the president for failing to condemn threats of violence against people overseeing the election in his state. Richard Fausset of The New York Times has the story and the video of that press conference, which Fausset describes as “one of the most striking rebukes to President Trump since he launched his baseless attacks on the American electoral process.”  Next, “SCOOP! My latest: Gavin Newsom wasn’t the only one to attend a fancy birthday dinner at the French Laundry last month. San Francisco Mayor London Breed joined a socialite’s dinner there the next night -- and banned indoor dining in SF three days later.” Heather Knight links to her bombshell at the San Francisco Chronicle, S.F. Mayor London Breed had her own French Laundry party - the night after Gavin Newsom’s. “This really has been the ultimate year for groundhog’s day bullshit THE NEXT NIGHT?????? Come on now,” tweets Mat Honan.
“This is another bit of massive news,” tweets Charlie Phillips. New from Damian Carrington of the Guardian, no-kill, lab-grown meat to go on sale for first time. Singapore’s approval of chicken cells grown in bioreactors is seen as landmark moment across the industry. A prominent Global News host has quit, alleging an on-air climate that increased racist threats. As Manisha Krishnan reports at Vice World News, Supriya Dwivedi, former host of The Morning Show, said the news outlet allowed “false narratives about refugees, Muslims, Sikhs, and other targeted groups” on air, increasing the hate she would receive when she corrected the record. Tyler Dawson says, “Beyond everything else in this story, that the official position of the company is that their journalists must tolerate trolls and attacks by them is a fundamental part of their employment is ... w i l d.” Variety’s Matt Donnelly reported that Oscar-Nominated ‘Umbrella Academy’ star Elliot Page has announced he is transgender. In response to Page’s announcement, GLAAD has released a style guide to help journalists create respectful and accurate coverage, while avoiding common mistakes and clichés. A GD delight One more from the campaign, because this is, after all, “The story we’ve all been waiting for,” Bradford Pearson points out. Philly’s Four Seasons Total Landscaping dishes the dirt on the press conference heard ‘round the world with Oona Goodin-Smith of The Philadelphia Inquirer. On Twitter, she shares, “Since *the press conference,* things are different at @therealfstl1992. People stop by to picnic & take holiday photos. They’re selling shirts worldwide. And, they got new paint. ‘Who knew our garage doors were going to be the back of every Zoom meeting?’”  Jeremy Roebuck highlights, “Too many good details in @oonagoodinsmith’s last word on Four Seasons Total Landscaping. ‘Plastered behind [the owner] was a homemade sign featuring photos of Gritty and Giuliani with ... hair dye running down his face’ under the slogan ‘Ride or Dye.’” It’s true: As Lauren Kirchner says, “This entire article is a GD delight from start to finish.”
The little shop that’s a thousand years old “And I thought the stories of alcohol companies surviving Prohibition was impressive. Lessons in corporate longevity here,” says Sucharita Kodali, who links to a a fascinating story by Ben Dooley and Hisako Ueno of The New York Times, This Japanese Shop Is 1,020 Years Old. It Knows a Bit About Surviving Crises. Dooley and Ueno reveal how a mochi seller in Kyoto, and many of Japan’s other centuries-old businesses, have endured by putting tradition and stability over profit and growth. Just think about it: “This shop has been selling toasted mochi since the year 1000,” tweets Jody Avirgan. Adds John Ganz, “I know we are not supposed to fetishize small businesses or something, but I have trouble not rooting for a little shop that’s a 1,000 years old.” As Taryn Oesch points out, “Most of us, especially in the U.S., can hardly imagine a 1,000-year-old family business. We don’t even know who our family was then! Very cool article from @nytimes.” One more thing Joshua Barone is “Coming out of Twitter hibernation to throw a few links into the void. First up: a Beethoven recommendation.” That’s his suggestion in the New York Times piece on 5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Beethoven. | 
How has tech journalism changed over the course of 2020, and what's next for the industry? On Thursday, December 10 at 12:30pm ET / 9:30am PT, join us for an insightful webinar analyzing the results of our State of Technology Journalism survey. Muck Rack’s CEO
PR pros love a peek inside the minds of the journalists they pitch and work with on stories. Muck Rack recently had the opportunity to chat with 
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