DDSR: Happy Covid Anniversary, 31 Dec 2020

• Virus
  • Exactly 1 year ago today, the first news reports about a new virus in Wuhan, China were released. 19.7 million Americans…342,395 dead.
  • With the new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus detected in Colorado and California, scientists fear it has already gained a toehold in the U.S. The variant’s arrival also makes it all the more important that Americans receive vaccinations in great numbers, and more quickly, scientists said.
  • Officials from Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to accelerate vaccine development and distribution, said that the U.S. vaccination campaign is off to a slower-than-expected start. Well of course it is. Around 2.6 million Americans have received their first dose, the C.D.C. said, far short of the goal of 20 million by the end of 2020.
  • The British government will use its initial vaccine supply to give as many people as possible a first dose, rather than holding back half the supply for second doses. The approach expands the number of people who can be quickly inoculated, but it could make the shots less effective.
  • China’s government said that it had approved a homegrown virus vaccine after an early analysis of clinical trial results showed that it was effective.

• Politics
  • Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, said there was “no realistic path” for the Senate to pass a stand-alone bill increasing direct stimulus payments to $2,000, effectively killing the prospect for now.
  • Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, said he would object to certifying the Electoral College results when Congress meets next week, answering Trump’s demand that Republicans challenge the election outcome. The move doesn’t alter Biden’s victory but does make for a divisive start to a new Administration…and this shit is already divisive.
  • Trump is expected to return to Washington earlier than anticipated ahead of a planned disruption by Republicans when Congress meets next week to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win. Trump is now slated to leave Palm Beach before his annual New Year’s Eve party, even though guests had already gathered at his south Florida club and were told Trump would be in attendance, according to three people familiar with the matter. Trump typically relishes appearing on the red carpet in front of the press and his friends, but is skipping the event altogether this year in what will be an unusual move. He has been in an irritated mood during most of the trip and fumed about everything from the election outcome to first lady Melania Trump’s renovations to his private quarters, according to multiple people who spoke with him.
  • The Secret Service is making some staff changes in the presidential detail that will guard President-elect Joe Biden, amid concerns from Biden allies that some current members were politically aligned with Trump, according to two people familiar with the changes. As Biden readies his new administration, the Secret Service plans to bring back to the White House detail a handful of senior agents whom Biden knows well from their work more than four years ago guarding him and his family when he was vice president. Staff changes are typical with the arrival of a new president and are designed to increase the trust and comfort the incoming president feels with his protective agents, who often stand by the president’s side during sensitive discussions and private moments.
  • The Census Bureau will miss a year-end deadline for handing in numbers used for divvying up congressional seats, a delay that could undermine Trump’s efforts to exclude people in the country illegally from the count if the figures aren’t submitted before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
  • Since the start of early voting on Dec. 14, more than 2.5 million Georgians have cast ballots in next week’s Senate runoff elections. Polls suggest that the races are too close to call, but Republicans are worried about strong turnout in Democratic areas and mixed messages from Trump.

• US
  • New York is set to open its grand expansion of Penn Station, the Moynihan Train Hall, on Friday. The new station looks nothing like its dingy, subterranean cousin: It has an acre of glass that lets the sun pour down and permanent installations by celebrated artists.
  • A Minneapolis officer fatally shot a man in an exchange of gunfire during a traffic stop, the first police killing in the city since George Floyd’s death in May.
  • Critics have assailed Nashville’s police department, saying that the authorities could have done more after Anthony Warner’s girlfriend told the authorities last year that he was building bombs. Officials said they took their inquiry as far as they could at the time.

• World
  • An attack on an airport in Yemen killed at least 20 civilians just as a plane carrying members of the country’s newly formed government cabinet was arriving.
  • Chinese and E.U. leaders agreed to make it easier for companies to operate on each other’s territory, a significant geopolitical victory for China. But political opposition in Europe and Washington could still derail the pact.
  • White House sources say Trump is concerned Iran could retaliate in the coming days for the US drone strike that killed Iran’s top general, Qasem Soleimani, one year ago. A person speculated that could be a contributing factor in his early departure to return from FL to DC. Trump was at Mar-a-Lago when he ordered the Soleimani strike on January 3, 2020.
  • Two American B-52 bombers flew another show-of-force mission in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, a week after President Trump warned Iran that he would hold it accountable ‘if one American is killed’ in rocket attacks in Iraq that the administration and military officials blamed on Tehran. The warplanes’ 36-hour round-trip mission from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota was the third time in six weeks that Air Force bombers had conducted long-range flights about 60 miles off the Iranian coast, moves that military officials said were intended to deter Iran from attacking American troops in the region.
  • Boris Johnson has a problem named Joe Biden. Although the U.K. has now sealed a trade deal with the European Union, covering $900 billion in tariff-free goods and services annually, the British prime minister’s hopes for a new arrangement with the United States are confronting the reality of a transatlantic relationship that is now anything but special. Johnson allies fear his courtship of Trump is now a liability in a Democratic Washington, along with his advocacy for a break with the EU against the advice of Trump’s predecessor.
  • Trump Administration increases tariffs on EU products over aircraft subsidies dispute.
  • Taiwan’s economy boosted by status as coronavirus haven. Thousands have chosen to return from abroad or stay and spend while pandemic rages elsewhere.
  • South Korean prosecutors seek 9 year sentence for Samsung head. Corruption and bribery and predatory corporate practices.
  • DPRK’s Kim Jong Un plans to unveil new “economic plan” as his country continues to be the shittiest place on the planet (followed closely by Turkmenistan as second shittiest place on the planet). It will continue to be state control instead of market reforms. If it’s broke…but you benefit…why fix it?
  • Ireland to step up border patrols ahead of Brexit…Garda aims to prevent organized crime exploiting a new trading/border status in Northern Ireland.
  • Putin’s popularity wanes in Russia…so Russia cracks down further on opposition candidates and parties.

DDSR: McConnell…Again

30 Dec 2020

• Stimulus/Congress/Elections
  • Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, blocked a Democratic attempt to increase direct stimulus checks to $2,000 from $600. Instead, McConnell said the Senate would “begin the process” of discussing the checks as well as two other issues that Trump has demanded lawmakers address: election security and removing legal protections for social media platforms. Senate Dems unlikely to vote for a package combining checks with voter fraud (cause it’s bullshit) and Sec. 230 repeal (Trump party mad they get called out publicly).
  • Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue of Georgia, both Republicans, said they supported the $2,000 payments after their Democratic opponents in next week’s runoff elections criticized them for not seeking bigger checks. Marco Rubio, Josh Hawley and a few other Senate Republicans also said they backed an increase, but most did not.
  • Sen. Schumer: “Senator McConnell knows how to make $2,000 survival checks reality and he knows how to kill them. If Sen. McConnell tries loading up the bipartisan House-passed CASH Act with unrelated, partisan provisions that will do absolutely nothing to help struggling families across the country, it will not pass the House and cannot become law — any move like this by Sen. McConnell would be a blatant attempt to deprive Americans of a $2,000 survival check.”
  • Law enforcement and election investigators didn’t find a single fraudulent absentee ballot during an audit of over 15,000 voter signatures, according to a report by the Georgia secretary of state’s office released Tuesday.”

• Virus
  • Britain approved the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford — the first country to do so — clearing a path for a cheap and easy-to-store shot that much of the world may rely on.
  • Luke Letlow, a Republican congressman-elect from Louisiana, died of complications from Covid. He had been set to take office on Sunday. He was 41.
  • Researchers in the U.S. found a more contagious virus variant, first discovered in Britain, in a Colorado man who had not visited that country.
  • A Chinese pharmaceutical company, the state-controlled Sinopharm, said its virus vaccine was 79 percent effective, but released minimal details.
  • President-elect Joe Biden said the Trump administration was distributing vaccines too slowly. He also named new members of his White House Covid-19 response team, including coordinators to handle vaccinations and testing.
  • There is online backlash to the news that “some select” congressional staffers were being vaccinated…FYI I am NOT one of them.
  • Biden said he would invoke the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of materials needed for the coronavirus vaccines. The law, enacted in 1950, gives the president the power to compel companies to produce and distribute supplies. Trump has invoked the act several times to increase the manufacturing of ventilators, among other items. Biden said that the Trump administration has yet to fully scale up testing — ‘that’s a travesty,’ he said — and that its vaccine distribution efforts were also lagging behind what had been promised.
  • Trump’s last-gasp bid to overturn his 2020 election defeat appears doomed on Jan. 6, when Congress is set to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. But the byzantine process by which Congress count s and validates the Electoral College results has left gnawing uncertainty about precisely how the final act in Trump’s undemocratic drama will play out. The law that guides the proceedings, the Electoral Count Act — passed in 1887 to address the disastrous election of 1876 — is vaguely written and full of gaps that have perplexed constitutional scholars for a century. Now, Trump and his allies are working to exploit those gaps to try to muscle their way to a second term. There’s little doubt that Biden will be certified as president by the end of the day on Jan. 6 or in the wee hours of Jan. 7, but Trump’s allies could cast a cloud over the process — grinding it to a halt, attempting to force votes on alternate slates of Trump-supporting electors and raising untold objections to the proceedings that could disrupt the traditionally ceremonial event. But the lack of clarity also creates enormous opportunities for those who wish to limit or prevent the day-long spectacle that Trump’s allies are promising. That could include both Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been working to tamp down GOP support for challenges in recent days — drawing Trump’s fury.
  • Lawyers for Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Arizona’s 11 Republican electors revealed Tuesday that Vice President Mike Pence declined to sign onto their plan to upend Congress’ certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

• World
  • Argentina legalized abortion. Uruguay, Cuba and Guyana are the only other countries in Latin America that allow abortion on request.
  • Convicted Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard (30 years in US prison) landed in Tel Aviv yesterday…it was a surprise for many including Israeli media.
  • State Department officials have drawn up a proposal to designate Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, a final-hour foreign policy move that would complicate plans by the incoming Biden administration to relax increased American pressure on Havana. It is unclear whether Mr. Pompeo has decided to move ahead with the designation. But Democrats and foreign policy experts believe that Mr. Trump and his senior officials are eager to find ways of constraining President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s initial months in office and to make it more difficult for Mr. Biden to reverse Trump-era policies abroad. In recent weeks, Trump officials have also sought to increase American pressure and sanctions on China and Iran.
  • EU and China agree to new investment treaty. Draft deal will bring 7 years of negotiations to a close…but increases tensions with US.
  • World investors are looking for investment-grade cannabis companies…but the market isn’t “ready” for legal cannabis investments.
  • Brazil government scrambles to suppress recent satellite images of the Amazon deforestation.
  • Hong Kong activists detained in China are sentenced to up to 3 years. Group of 10 pro-democracy protesters will be jailed on the mainland after arrest during escape attempt to Taiwan.
  • Indian farmers continue month-long protest of PM Modi’s agricultural reform policies.
  • Gibraltar and Spain seek Brexit deal to avoid hard border.
  • Turkey’s top court rules jailed activist’s rights were not violated after last year’s ruling by EU Court of Human Rights ordered the activist’s release.
  • Data shows Russia increased suppression of political dissent during the last four years of Trump’s Administration…imagine that.

• US
  • Louisville’s police department will fire two officers involved in the raid that killed Breonna Taylor: Detective Myles Cosgrove, who fired the fatal shot, and Detective Joshua Jaynes, who arranged the raid.
  • Two Cleveland police officers will avoid federal criminal charges over their role in the 2014 killing of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Black boy, the Justice Department said, citing a lack of evidence.
  • New York City has recorded 447 homicides this year, the most since 2011. “I can’t imagine a darker period,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said, also citing the confluence of the pandemic and protests.
  • Boeing’s 737 Max plane completed its first commercial U.S. flights, a round-trip between Miami and New York, almost two years after two fatal crashes grounded the jet worldwide.
  • New dietary guidelines released by the Trump Administration go against scientific recommendations to set lower targets for sugar and alcohol consumption.
  • Policy experts predict Biden Administration likely to increase contracting opportunities for small and minority-owned businesses.
  • Trump Administration’s final push to make it easier for religious employers to discriminate…last minute policies on “religious freedom” clear the way for employers to hire on the basis of faith…some of these changes won’t be easy for Biden to undo.

$2,000…DDSR…29 Dec. 2020

• If you kill yourself using an explosive to make some point…to settle some grievance…to draw attention to some conspiracy…YOU ARE A FUCKING TERRORIST…A FUCKING SUICIDE BOMBER SPECIFICALLY!!!!! Again…we are now just beginning era of domestic terrorism…this and continued political divisiveness will be the deep foundation/narrative that will underlie everything else in our country for at least the next 20-30 years.
• The House passed a bipartisan bill to increase the size of individual stimulus checks to $2,000 from $600, endorsing a measure demanded by Trump and daring Senate Republicans to either do the same or defy him. Senate GOP leadership has thus far shown little interest in the $2,000 check bill, and it’s not entirely clear there’s enough votes in Senate.
• The House rejected Trump’s veto of a military spending bill, setting up the first veto override of his presidency. Senator Bernie Sanders said he would delay a Senate vote on the measure unless members voted on the bill to increase stimulus checks.
• Trump and the GOP fucking flopped this weekend…seems threatening to veto a pandemic relief bill and then going golfing isn’t a good look. Sen. Lindsey Graham was dispatched to convince Trump to sign the bill on Christmas Day…the conversation took place on a golf course…of course.
• President-elect Joe Biden accused Trump administration officials of impeding his transition team. “We just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas,” Biden said. Biden specifically called out the Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Department as agencies where his transition team had encountered ‘roadblocks’ from political leadership. ‘Right now, we just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility,’ Biden said of the resistance his team was facing. He warned that such delays could allow enemies of the United States to take advantage of vulnerabilities, citing a recent massive cybersecurity breach that compromised several U.S. agencies.
• Air travel in the U.S. over the Christmas weekend was the highest it’s been during the pandemic. It’s still much lower than last year: About 3.8 million people passed through airports from Dec. 23 to Dec. 26, compared with 9.5 million over the same days in 2019. For Fuck’s Sake! Stay the fuck home!
• A huge U.S. study of another COVID-19 vaccine candidate got underway Monday as states continue to roll out scarce supplies of the first shots to a nation anxiously awaiting relief from the catastrophic outbreak. Public health experts say more options in addition to the two vaccines now being dispensed — one made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, the other by Moderna — are critical to amassing enough shots for the country and the world. The candidate made by Novavax Inc. is the fifth to reach final-stage testing in the United States. Some 30,000 volunteers are needed to prove if the shot — a different kind than its Pfizer and Moderna competitors — really works and is safe.
• New York State banned most evictions for at least another 60 days, as tenants struggle to pay rent during the pandemic. It’s one of the most comprehensive anti-eviction laws in the country.
• A very small number of Covid patients who have never experienced mental health problems are developing severe psychotic symptoms, including hallucinations, paranoia and violent impulses, weeks after contracting the virus.
• Congress’ attending physician informed lawmakers Monday night that two staffers in every House member and senator’s personal offices are now eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine. In addition, the Office of the Attending Physician is offering the vaccine to four staffers of every committee chair and every ranking committee member. The announcement, a memo from Brian Monahan to all congressional offices, emphasized that the first wave of staff vaccines is meant for ‘critical’ employees, those whose jobs are deemed essential for ‘continuity of operations,’ require physical presence or are likely to involve in-person interactions.
• A judge in Saudi Arabia sentenced Loujain al-Hathloul, an activist who fought for women’s right to drive, to more than five years in prison on charges of undermining the kingdom. Her supporters called the case political persecution.
• The police in Oakland, Calif., are investigating who vandalized a weeks-old ceramic statue of Breonna Taylor.
• A federal judge again denied bail to Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and longtime companion of Jeffrey Epstein who is charged with abetting his abuse of teenage girls. Prosecutors called Maxwell “an extreme flight risk.”
• U.S. stocks climbed to records Monday after Trump signed a Covid-19 aid bill, averting a government shutdown and ending uncertainty about the rollout of the spending package. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 204.10 points, or 0.7%, to 30403.97. The S&P 500 advanced 32.30 points, or 0.9%, to 3735.36 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 94.69 points, or 0.7%, to 12899.42. All three indexes set new closing highs.
• A federal judge in Georgia on Monday ordered two counties to reverse a decision removing more than 4,000 voters from the rolls ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff elections that will decide control of the U.S. Senate. The judge, Leslie Abrams Gardner — the sister of former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, a prominent ally of President-elect Joe Biden who has led voter registration efforts across the state — concluded that the counties appeared to have improperly relied on unverified change-of-address data to invalidate registrations in the two counties. The bulk of the registrations that the counties sought to rescind, more than 4,000, were in Muscogee County, which Biden won handily in November. An additional 150 were from Ben Hill County, which Trump won by a wide margin.
• Janet Yellen, poised to become U.S. Treasury secretary, will be focused on preventing the collapse of the fragile economic recovery. Her first order of business will be making sure there are enough people at the department to help. Key divisions at Treasury have been hollowed out by attrition during the Trump administration under Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has sought to cut ‘wasteful spending,’ including on personnel he sees as superfluous. Between fiscal years 2016 and 2019, the department’s main offices — Domestic Finance, Economic Policy and International Affairs, among them — saw their staffing levels plunge by nearly a quarter as budgets were slashed. Yellen, if confirmed, would have a special urgency to replenish the Domestic Finance division, which functions as the nerve center for the department’s response to economic crises, overseeing grant programs, housing policy and financial markets. Its budget has been drained the most severely.
• Top lawmakers, Capitol Hill staffers and analysts expect Biden’s would-be State/National Security team to face an unprecedented barrage of questions about how they plan to handle the Chinese government’s yawning ambitions — to the point where one expert called it a ‘China litmus test.’
• US extends China military investment ban to smaller Chinese subsidiaries. This action signals a tougher approach by Trump against Beijing in closing part of his administration.
• Longtime Nicaraguan President Ortega pushes through new laws and censors media and human rights groups.

Last 2020 Monday…DDSR…28 Dec 2020

• STIMULUS
• Trump signed the $900 billion economic relief bill last night, five days after he criticized the legislation and demanded changes. The measure, part of a larger federal spending bill, will also avert a government shutdown. Trump golfed instead of signing it until the last minute.
• The stimulus bill will provide a round of $600 relief payments to most Americans. It also restores two federal unemployment programs that lapsed over the weekend and extends an eviction moratorium that was set to expire this week. But the delay means millions of Americans will probably lose a week of benefits.
• The House still plans to vote today to send $2,000 stimulus checks to adults, one of Trump’s demands. Republican lawmakers have opposed bigger relief checks.
• Trump got played like a fiddle…it was so sweet to watch…he opposed a bill his Administration negotiated. He had no strategy…no hand to play…he folded and got nothing but chaos.

• VIRUS
• 19.1 million Americans have covid…333,129 have died. Trump golfed this past weekend.
• Canada, France, Japan, Norway, Spain and Sweden have reported small numbers of infections involving a new variant of the virus, most of them linked to travel from Britain. The strain appears to be more transmissible but not more deadly or resistant to vaccines.
• New York State is investigating whether a network of urgent care clinics fraudulently obtained vaccines and provided them to members of the public who were not yet entitled to receive the shots.
• What is it like to get the vaccine? Some people said they felt nothing afterward; others described headaches, fatigue or a sore arm. Those side effects are expected, experts say — and a sign that the shot is working.
• EU starts new vaccinations as new virus strain spreads. Canada has new strain too.
• A Chinese court sentenced a citizen journalist who documented the early days of the coronavirus outbreak to four years in prison, sending a warning to those challenging the government’s narrative of the pandemic.
• Italy has turned to flower power to help spread the vaccine message. An architect has designed primrose-themed pavilions where the shots will be given, but not everybody is thrilled with the idea.
• Singapore relaxes covid restrictions in desperate bid to boost economy…migrant workers restricted to “dorms” but required to work regardless of exposure.
• Doses of monoclonal antibodies—Covid-19 therapies authorized for emergency use last month—are sitting unused in hospital pharmacies, even as cases surge across the country. Hospitals say the rollout of the therapies has been stunted by a lukewarm response from infectious-disease specialists, who say they want more clinical trial data before using them on a regular basis. Medical centers are also grappling with a lack of awareness and interest from both the primary-care doctors who would normally prescribe the drug and patients who are offered it. And some places are dealing with a shortage of space and staff to administer the therapies.

• OTHER
• Federal officials said a 63-year-old Tennessee man, Anthony Warner, blew himself up in a Christmas Day bombing in Nashville that injured three people. Here’s what the NYTs knows about the explosion.
• With federal officials having identified the man believed to be behind Nashville’s Christmas Day bombing, authorities now turn to the monumental task of piecing together the motive behind the explosion that severely damaged dozens of downtown buildings and injured three people. Motive still unclear.
• Two decades after their own brutal conflict, Eritrea and Ethiopia are working together to wage war on Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, a mutual adversary. Eritrean soldiers have rampaged through Tigrayan refugee camps, witnesses said.
• Video footage showed a woman falsely accusing a Black 14-year-old of stealing her phone at a hotel in Manhattan over the weekend. The teenager’s father, a prominent jazz musician, shared the video, which fueled concerns about racial profiling.
• The Home Depot has recalled more than 190,000 ceiling fans because of reports that blades could detach while spinning. Who had “death by ceiling fan decapitation” on their 2020 bingo card?
• Located just five blocks from the White House, the Hotel Harrington is the city’s oldest continuously operating hotel and has a long-standing reputation as one of the most affordable in the heart of the District. But over the past few months, the Harrington has been gaining a new reputation: Proud Boys hangout. The militant right-wing organization that vigorously supports President Trump, which has clashed in violent street battles with members of antifascist groups and others who oppose Trump, has made the Harrington its unofficial headquarters when members come to the District. Several hundred Proud Boys recently stayed at the hotel while in town for the Dec. 12 protest of Joe Biden’s election as president. More protests by pro-Trump groupsare planned in downtown D.C. on Jan. 6.
• Democratic state officials have big plans for expanding health insurance coverage. The problem is, their states are broke. The pandemic brought on massive budget gaps that will likely force Democratic state officials to scale back their most ambitious coverage plans when many legislatures convene for new sessions in the coming weeks. Plans to create a state-led public option or join Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion become tougher sells when states are also confronting budget crunches that have their officials contemplating deep cuts to public services.
• UK PM Boris Johnson admits Brexit deal is not as good (generally) as advertised and the financial sector will be “somewhat” damaging.
• Trump’s terror org designation risks pushing Yemen even closer to famine (again) warns UN aid chief.
• Nigeria becoming a problem for importers to central Africa…because of the country’s congestion, bribery, and storage costs. $4,000 is cost to carry transport goods across Lagos.
• UK and Turkey to sign free trade deal this week…before UK leaves EU’s single market.
• Turkey government moves to expand control over civil society groups…new legislation permits interior ministry to halt NGO activities under vague terrorism charges.
• “Full House” star Lori Loughlin just released from prison after serving 2 months for her role in the college admissions scandal.

DDSR: Happy Festivus (3,000,000 Dead) 23 Dec 20

• More Americans died this year than any other year in history, the Associated Press reports as “deaths [are] expected to top 3 million for the first time — due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic.”
• The Trump administration and Pfizer are nearing a deal in which the drug maker would produce at least tens of millions of additional vaccine doses next year in exchange for better access to manufacturing supplies.
• Dr. Anthony Fauci received Moderna’s vaccine in public, calling it “a symbol to the rest of the country that I feel extreme confidence in the safety and the efficacy of this vaccine.”
• Rail, air and sea routes between Britain and France are open again. The closing of the border, to limit the spread of a new virus variant found in Britain, had left more than 1,500 trucks stranded.
• Fewer homeless people across the U.S. have contracted the virus than experts feared. Isolation and a lack of indoor shelter appear to have played roles.
• Coronavirus surge pushes California to brink of 2 million cases.
• Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, said Tuesday she plans to retire, but is willing to first help President-elect Joe Biden’s team with its coronavirus response as needed. Birx, in an interview with the news site Newsy, did not give a specific timetable on her plans. ‘I will be helpful in any role that people think I can be helpful in, and then I will retire,’ Birx told the news outlet.
• Trump railed against the $900 billion stimulus deal in a video posted online, calling the measure a “disgrace” and demanding changes, including payouts to Americans of $2,000 instead of $600. Afterward, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted, “Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent. Let’s do it!” Reality check: Trump now has five days to sign the package Congress passed or else the government shuts down. Real-world stuff, guys. As we’ve written, Congress pushed through a seven-day stopgap as part of this package, and Trump has already signed that. Dec. 28 is the day by which he needs to make a decision — this coming Monday. Unemployment benefits end this week for many people. These are real-world deadlines that Trump needs to consider in the midst of a worsening pandemic as he relaxes at his Mar-a-Lago club over the Christmas holiday.
• Trump issued 20 pardons and commutations, including to two people who pleaded guilty in the special counsel’s Russia inquiry and to four Blackwater guards convicted in connection with the killing of Iraqi civilians. Trump has told advisers he wants to be liberal with pardons and plans to sign more before leaving office on Jan. 20, according to people familiar with his views. The White House has been flooded with requests from dozens of members of Congress, one senior administration official said, as well as lawyers, lobbyists, allies and other supporters of Trump.
• President-elect Joe Biden picked Miguel Cardona as his nominee for education secretary. Cardona has emerged as an urgent voice pressing to reopen schools safely during the pandemic.
• Biden criticized the Trump administration for not being more transparent about an apparent Russian hacking of the U.S. government. “The Defense Department won’t even brief us on many things,” Biden said.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Alex Padilla, California’s secretary of state, to fill Kamala Harris’s Senate seat. Padilla will be the first Latino senator to represent the state, which is almost 40 percent Latino.
• The Justice Department sued Walmart, saying the company had helped fuel the country’s opioid crisis by filling suspicious prescriptions.
• Israel will hold its fourth election in two years. The country’s Parliament dissolved itself last night after missing a deadline to approve a budget.
• A police officer fatally shot a 47-year-old Black man in Columbus, Ohio. Three weeks ago, a county sheriff’s deputy killed a Black man there, igniting protests. “Our community is exhausted,” said the mayor, Andrew Ginther.
• The Washington Football Team paid a female former employee $1.6 million to settle a sexual misconduct claim against the team owner, Daniel Snyder, in 2009, The Washington Post reports. It is the latest in a string of misconduct accusations against team officials.
• The N.B.A. season started last night. Unlike the end of last season, it will not take place in a bubble in Florida, but in teams’ home arenas.
• The Trump administration is considering a request to grant Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia immunity from a federal lawsuit that accuses him of trying to kill a former Saudi intelligence official living in Canada, legal documents related to the case show.
• The FBI has concluded that Iran was behind online efforts earlier this month to incite lethal violence against the bureau’s director, a former top U.S. cyber expert and multiple state elections officials who have refuted claims of widespread voter fraud promoted by Trump and his allies, federal and state officials said Tuesday.
• The next Congress will begin in a haze of uncertainty — and that has consequences for President-elect Joe Biden. With the Senate majority unknown until the Jan. 5 Georgia runoffs, much of the chamber’s business remains up in the air — potentially for days or weeks after if the elections are tight and certification is postponed. And that could mean more delay for staffing Biden’s cabinet and implementing his agenda.
• A lawyer for states seeking to preserve the Obama-era program for so-called Dreamers asked a federal judge Tuesday to hold off ruling on a legal challenge to the arrangement until President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in next month.
• Trump administration officials at the Pentagon late last week sent the Joint Chiefs a plan to split up the leadership of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command — an evolution of sorts that has been talked about and considered for years. Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley announced he is unable to support this split.
• The U.S. Navy sent a missile sub through the shallow waters of the Hormuz Strait, the Associated Press reported Monday from Dubai. Making the journey: The USS Georgia (SSGN-729), which is “armed with 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and can host up to 66 special operations forces,” AP writes. What’s going on: The transit “follows the killing last month of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian scientist named by the West as the leader of the Islamic Republic’s disbanded military nuclear program. It also comes some two weeks before the anniversary of the American drone strike in January that killed top Iranian military commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani.”
• The Commerce Department has posted a list of 58 Chinese companies and 45 from Russia that have alleged ties to their countries’ respective militaries. Those more than 100 entities will be restricted from buying certain U.S. products and technology without a specific license for the transaction. Among them: the company that makes the rockets that ferried American astronauts to the International Space Station from 2011 until November, when three Americans made the journey atop a SpaceX rocket. Dmitry Rogozin, who leads Russia’s Roscosmos space corporation, is angry: “Now, it turns out that our American colleagues have their ‘trampoline working’ again, and the first thing they did is spit into the Samara well. Isn’t it too early, colleagues, in case your ‘trampoline’ breaks again suddenly and you will have to satisfy your passion for space from our well again?”

$900 Billion …DDSR…22/12/20

• Congress passed a $900B stimulus bill last night…it will provide some help to the economy wracked by a pandemic. BUT many economists believe it is majorly flawed because it doesn’t target the parts of the economy that need the most help. 9 million fewer Americans are working today than last year at this time. Big medical bills…small businesses closing…state and local governments are planning deep cuts…
• One-time bribes of at least $1,200 for households with an annual income of $150,000…the Trump Administration and most of Congress fucked America with its shitty (almost nonexistent) pandemic response…seek to avoid blame and scorn…but fuck’em…Americans…will accept this bribe.
• States and localities are fucked though…Sen. McConnell says funds for them would reward fiscally irresponsible states…expert economists say McConnell is full of shit.
• Bottom line…the stimulus is big enough to MAYBE keeping the US economy out of a recession early next year…but the stimulus does little to prevent or soothe everyday American hardships.
• 18,000,000 Americans have covid…320,000 have died from it. And Americans doing what they always do…they selfishly ignore it.

• New UK covid strain is up to 70% more contagious than earlier strains. This is causing trepidation among world leaders and scientists. Germany and Switzerland ban flights from South Africa because of this strain.
• Moderna vaccine starts arriving today. Rural areas hope to see the vaccine soon.

• AG Barr says he doesn’t plan on appointing a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden…and Russia hacked the US government. He also dismissed calls for seizing voting machines from swing states. AG Barr is still a fascist and a kleptocrat.
• VP-Elect Harris campaigned in GA…Ivanka was in GA too.
• Trump still says he’s vetoing the NDAA regardless of Congress’ ability to override it.
• Trump is still trying to overturn the election through illegal means…and continues to plot a coup with senior GOP party members…in and out of Congress.
• Fuck…the GOP has turned into the worst ride-or-die entity ever…literally everything is doubled-down on…over and over…and over. We are watching the worst road trip movie ever made…with the GOP being worse than the two shotgun-wielding rednecks at the end of Easy Rider.
• Sen. Thune, No.2 Senate Republican, says the electoral vote certification disruption planned by House GOP Members is “going down like a shot dog.” But fascists have to fascist.
• Fox News and Newsmax have to backpaddle and deny their own election fraud stories…commentaries…because they were propaganda and soon the lawsuits will be coming. Both need to be prosecuted for assisting in the death of Americans and being the mouthpiece for coup plotters.
• Pres-Elect Biden plans to push for more covid relief in near future…the GOP will fight back…because again…worst ride-or-die road trip movie EVER.
• Fed prosecutors looking to subpoena Rudy Giuliani’s electronic communications due to his treasonous and illegal actions in supporting Trump.
• Top Trump officials planning to start new businesses after Jan. 20th to help Republicans “navigate the post-Trump world.” In other words…Trump and his lackeys intend to continue conning Americans and continue setting a path for fascists in America’s future.
• Trump continues to say Russian hack not as bad as “fake media” is reporting.

• Kilauea in Hawaii erupted on Sunday…residents were warned and sheltered from ash driven by the wind.
• Russian hackers got into Treasury Department’s senior leadership email servers.
• DOJ charged former Libyan intelligence operative in the 1988 Lockerbie/Pan Am bombing…270 were killed in this attack.
• West Point rocked by largest academic scandal in 45 years…70 cadets cheated on a calculus exam…fuck the turds…get rid of them all. The US Army has enough leadership issues as it is…(decades of war result in a shitty garrison army)…it doesn’t need these cheaters.
• A senior Civil War guerilla and traitor, Robert E. Lee, statue was removed from the US Capitol yesterday. American civil rights leader and a real American hero, Barbara Johns, statue will replace the traitor’s statue.
• Some Arab states and Israel tell Biden they want to be part of any future nuclear talks with Iran.
• Google and FaceBook agree to team up against possible antitrust action.
• EU and UK edge towards Brexit compromise on fisheries and fishing.
• UAE rolls out free Chinese vaccinations to all citizens and residents.
• Germany’s voters and CDU Party faces momentous choice on new leader after Merkel before next year’s general elections.
• TSA leaders begging state/local leaders for vaccinations because the Trump Administration ignored the agency in its vaccination list.

Fuck…what a time to be alive!!!! …fuck

New Strain…DDSR…21 Dec. 2020

• Pandemic
  • New virus strain in UK is ripping through the British Isles…other countries have immediately shut down travel to and from there..trains…ferries…ships…planes…new strain appears to not be more lethal though…the US has not ended travel to and from UK…of course…
  • US projected to continue to have 3,000+ virus deaths a day for at least the next month.
  • Fed advisory panel grappling with how to prioritize vaccine among health workers, essential workers, and the elderly…shouldn’t this plan been developed months ago? Why in the fuck are we now deciding this issue?
  • EU probably approving Pfizer vaccine today.
  • Pres-elect and incoming First Lady Biden to be vaccinated today.
  • India has 10 million cases and growing as it is unable to stop spread.
  • Real experts and scientists warn than Christmas covid surge is coming…and it will be deadly.
  • CA Gov. Newsom quarantining again to another covid exposure.

• The Coup (yes it is an attempted coup…the simple fact it was discussed means it is an attempted coup)
  • Over the weekend, Trump and his lackeys discussed using martial law (use of DOD) to null elections in swing states in an attempt to keep Trump in power.
  • Over the weekend, military leaders once again said they took an oath to defend the Constitution…not the president.
  • Trump appointees in DOD and other departments still not cooperating with Biden transition team.
  • Trump team attempting another SCOTUS Hail Mary suit.

• Stimulus
  • Congress reached deal on $900B economic stimulus bill…vote expected soon today.
  • Bill reportedly “spares millions” from a “winter of poverty.”
  • $600 per person stimulus…Dems said this was their compromise…FYI a week ago Dems said $1,200 per person was their final compromise too…Dems will always lose.
  • Jobless benefits extended for 11 weeks…and $ for businesses and schools.
  • In the end…way less than truly needed…way less than Dems wanted.

• Other News
  • NJ police found body of US Army soldier from Fort Drum, NY. Another soldier was arrested in connection to the death.
  • Sen. Barrasso (R, WY) criticized Biden’s SecEng nominee, Jennifer Granholm, for being pro-renewable energy. Incoming Biden Administration trying to figure out viable energy policy.
  • Neo-Nazis are hidden, but numerous, in German police departments…right-wing extremist in Germany, EU…the US…all racists and result of their fear of marginalization in a growing globalized world. Fear…ignorance…they are rampant in the world.
  • Portugal political parties figuring out how to adjust to new pandemic reality and politics…Portugal’s left-wing government split over how to address social/welfare spending.
  • China’s power cuts worsen as the country continues to ban the import of Australian coal. Chinese government says “politics come first.”
  • Swedish naval chief says recent military spending cuts were damaging to Sweden’s defense.
  • Pollsters absent from GA Senate race…bad showing in November polls has shut these asswipes up.
  • 1.3 million GA voters have already selected their senatorial candidates.

Russian Hack and Coronavirus: DDSR 18 Dec 2020

• DHS yesterday warned that the recent discovered Russian hack poses “a grave risk to the Federal Government and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organizations.” The hackers used a far wider array of methods than previously thought…as early as March. THIS, the pandemic, and the election are the only 3 things that will be remembered 10 years from now. This hack…in a more stable (political) environment would be catastrophic…but now…fuck…this is a true assault on the US…and Trump is connected to it.
• Russians gained access to DOE and the National Security Administration (nuke stockpile administration)…double fuck…
• Microsoft was also hacked and identified 40 companies, govt agencies, and think-tanks who were also hacked. 80% of targets were in US but also Belgium, Canada, Israel, Mexico, Spain, UAE and UK. GAWDDAMNIT
• Pres-Elect Biden pledged to make cybersecurity a top priority…Trump has remained silent…underlining his deference to Russia and Putin.
• 17.21 million infected…310,000+ US deaths.
• FDA to approve Moderna’s vaccine today.
• Singapore looking to ease virus restrictions but keeping migrant workers confined to “dormitories.”
• SCOTUS refused to exempt religious schools in KY from an order to temporarily shut down schools due to the virus.
• Pandemic continues to decimate the economy and job market.
• Trump continues to threaten to veto the NDAA…while Russia conducts cyberattacks. Congress will override it.
• Congress scrambling to pass another stopgap bill to continue funding government while they compromise on annual funding.
• A Dutch hacker got into Trump’s Twitter account by correctly guessing the password…TWICE…since 2016. One was “yourefired” and the other was “maga2020!” Dutch authorities have arrested him.
• Google hit with another antitrust lawsuit from states.
• Trump lies about not being involved in the Hunter Biden investigation.
• A grand jury indicted six men (all Trump voters…all white nationalists…Nazis) for conspiring to kidnap MI Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
• Former NJ Gov (and Trump ally) Christie says that Biden’s victory must be accepted.
• Iran is still constructing underground nuclear facilities.
• Iran and the Biden Administration would be required to sign a new agreement to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
• US to add dozens of Chinese companies to a trade blacklist.
• 300 Nigerian school boys, kidnapped by Boko Haram, were released and sent to the country’s capital of the Katsima state on a bus.
• Biden to name a Native American woman, Rep. Deb Haaland, as the Sec of Interior and NC top environmental regulator, Michael Regan, as head of EPA. Both are minorities and people of color.
• Billionaire Sackler family, OxyContin makers, denied personal responsibility for the opioid epidemic. In other news, I am not responsible for our dogs’ treat addiction…just because I buy the treats, bring the treats home, and feed treats to the dogs…whether they are begging for them or not.
• A Swiss court cut Russia’s four-year doping ban from global sports in half. Russia will still miss the 21 and 22 Olympics.

3,600…DDSR 17 Dec 2020

• Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Milley met with Taliban negotiators in Qatar this week…attempting to get space for peace…or at least a lull until Trump is gone.
• Over 3,600 Americans died yesterday due to covid…new (horrible) record.
• Paul Alexander, a Trump lackey in HHS urged CDC and HHS to pursue a herd immunity strategy for covid. Basically avocating for the very thing that has killed over 300,000 Americans.
• FDA expected to recommend the authorize the Moderna vaccine.
• 16.9 million infected Americans…over 308,000 deaths.
• State medical officials are finding that Pfizer vaccine dosages are fuller than expected and able to stretch out the number of vaccine doses. Each vial is to have 5 doses…seems some have 6 or 7 doses.
• Pence will receive the vaccine on Friday in front of the media…to demonstrate it is safe. Also Pence…rumors have it that he will certify Biden’s election on Jan. 6th and then disappear with Mother.
• Biden will be getting the vaccine next week.
• French Pres Macron tests positive for covid…and is feeling symptoms.
• Americans aged 25-44 have died due to covid at a historically high rate…showing that the virus may be more damaging to “young” adults than previously thought.
• $300 enhanced unemployment benefits is part of the new stimulus deal. Remember it is the GOP that is refusing to provide for America.
• Also in the proposed stimulus: new emergency rental assistance; funding for food assistance, small businesses, schools, broadband, and vaccine distribution.
• Head of Fed Reserve says there is a serious need for more economic stimulus.
• Capitol Hill media and congressional experts expect some sort of deal on covid relief within days.
• Major Nor’Easter ripped up the US east coast.
• Fed authorities charged a man for plotting to hijack a plane and crash it somewhere in US…and then claimed to be part of al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa.
• French court found 14 people guilt of aiding the 2015 Islamist attach on the magazine HQ of Charlie Hebdo.
• MLB adds 7 Negro leagues (1920-1948) to its official records…granting recognition to 3,400 players and shaking up MLB records…ABOUT FUCKING TIME…Los Homestead/DC Grays!
• The Senate received a briefing on the Solarwinds Russian hack and the ever evident damage it has done. This cyber attack is still ongoing.
• Russia recently tested a new earth-to-orbit “direct ascent” anti-satellite missile. Experts say its use would lead to significant increase in dangerous space junk.
• Germany, France, and UK are asking Iran to discuss its nuclear weapons program in coming months…probably a time frame that includes the early part of Biden’s presidency. Biden is seen as a reliable ally.
• Starting in 2021, Walmart will start using (limited) robotic trucks for deliveries among its warehouses and such.
• 87yo Dem Sen. Feinstein admits she sometimes “forgets stuff” but bristled at attacks on her cognitive abilities. Like most older Americans…letting go as you get older is hard.
• Biden’s inauguration will be mostly virtual and like a State of the Union address. There will be no public tickets…we think. More to follow.
• Biden’s plans for working with Senate: Plan A…Dems win both GA seats…Plan B…forge alliances with the usual GOP Senators that are more moderate than others (Romney, Collins, etc)…plan B won’t work because if McConnell is still majority leader…then the GOP-held Senate will treat him worse than they did Obama…mark my words.
• Trump daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, is eyeing a NC Senate run in 2022.
• 10 states sued Google yesterday…alleging deal with FaceBook is to rig online ads.
• Australian business groups warn their government that Australia’s “amateurish” China diplomacy is causing more harm than good.
• Spain has its first cabinet communist member, Alberto Garzon, in 80 years.
• Biden’s choice of climate progressives for environmental jobs pleases many of the more liberal members of the Democratic Party.
• Fed to extend debt purchases in hopes of boosting US economy.
• Polish government is purchasing local media in the country to curb criticism.
• SecState had to cancel the dept’s holiday reception to covid exposure of senior attendees.
• Trump flooded with requests for clemency and pardons as the lame-duck session winds down. Pay to play…the Trump Administration’s motto.
• House Dems still pushing for subpoenas for Mueller investigation information.
• US Army Corps of Engineers says if Biden halts SW border construction…it would save the US $2.6billion.
• US imposed more sanctions on Chinese and UAE companies that are dealing with Iran.
• Turkey says “fuck you” to US and says it will not return the Russian anti-air missile systems it bought…regardless of US sanctions.
• US accused Switzerland and Vietnam of currency manipulation yesterday. The best I can tell…the two things they have most in common and might cause Trump ire…is that they both have far better functioning governments than the US.
• US and UK signed a trade deal yesterday that survives after Brexit.
• UN Security Council intends to discuss US recognition of Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara on Monday.

51%…DDSR 16 Dec. 2020

– The number of new covid cases in US has risen 51% in the past month. – FDA is expected to approve Moderna’s vaccine by Friday. – FDA approves at-home rapid coronavirus test with prescription and yields immediate results. – California has had to activate its “mass fatality” program (including the purchase of 5,000 body bags) due to surge in covid. – Trump’s propaganda team is starting to shift from election fraud lies to lies about covid vaccines. Reason is to sow doubt and disrupt Biden presidency vaccine operations. – Mayor of Dodge City, KS, resigns after death threats due to his mask mandate for the city. – Wealthy nations rush to by current and future vaccine stocks…shortchanging the developing world and the majority of the world’s poor. – Trump Administration and Pfizer are negotiating a deal that would assist the drugmaker produce tens of millions in additional vaccine doses in next 6 months. – SCOTUS ordered fed judges in NJ and CO to reconsider rulings on limited attendance at indoor religious services. – 2 former CDC officials tell NYT how Trump Administration meddled with pandemic response, research, and messaging. – The damage of Russian hacking on US government is not fully known. The US gov’t’s multibillion-dollar detection sytem, Einstein, was unable to detect the Russian malware that was slipped onto fed gov’t computer systems. – Pres-elect Biden picked Buttigieg for Transportation Sec, Jennifer Granholm (fmr governor of MI) as Energy Sec, and fmr EPA head Gina McCarthy as senior WH adviser on climate change. – More GOP Senators acknowledged Biden as Pres-elect including McConnell…who pleaded with Senators to not join House GOP’s effort to disrupt congressional certification of electoral votes. – Putin congratulates Biden. – McConnell, McCarthy, Schumer, and Pelosi met in person to discuss covid relief and omnibus spending bill. – Biden, in GA, urges early voting. – Boko Haram kidnapped more than 300 boys from a boarding school in Nigeria to punish them for “un-Islamic practices.” – Winter storm hitting Northeast today. – Fed prosecutors charged Peter Mygard, a Canadian fashion mogul, with sex trafficking. – Hungary’s far-right gov’t passes law which bans gay couples from adopting. – Former head of DHS’ cybersecurity agency, Chris Krebs, is to testify this morning before Sen Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Krebs is to provide information on the lack of evidence of voter fraud. – EdSec DeVos urges Dept of Ed career staff to “resist” the Biden transition. – NC State Senator Bob Steinburg (GOP) called on Trump to declare martial (not marshall…as is the way Trumpsters spell it on Parler) law to remain in power. – Domestic terrorism and homeland security experts describe Trumpster white nationalists (74 million of them) as terrorists indoctrinated through “mass radicalization…with rising concern about the security implications of millions of conservatives (aka white nationalists) believing baseless right-wing lies. – A former Houston police captain was arrested for pulling a gun on a man because the former police captain believed the man had 750,000 fraudulent ballots in his truck. – Trump wants to fire FBI Dir. Christopher Wray but WH lawyers have warned him not to do it and saying it would put Trump in potential legal jeopardy. – Trump is considering appointing a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. Trump is angry that AG Barr never announced the months old investigation into Pres-elect Biden’s son. – A fed judge has ordered the Trump Org to turn over financial documents to its Westchester County estate in NY to the NY AG office…which is pursuing civil fraud indictments into Trump and his family aka The Company. – Through a FOIA lawsuit, Buzzfeed obtained a letter detailing the criminal referral alleging Trump committed crimes related to his phone call with Ukraine’s president. – European Commission official says UK and EU have a narrow path to a post-Brexit trade deal. – WH Press Sec. McEnany says Trump still intends to veto the NDAA despite the bill being passed by both congressional chambers with veto-proof votes. – DHS and El Salvador finalized agreement on sending US asylum seekers from US border to the Central American country.