Happy New Year! Have an excellent holiday weekend, see you bright and early Monday morning.
work by László Mednyánszky
Happy New Year! Have an excellent holiday weekend, see you bright and early Monday morning.
work by László Mednyánszky
They are far more ambitious than they are principled, and they are willing to damage American politics and society rather than be criticized by their own tribe.
Throughout late summer and fall, in the heat of a re-election campaign that he would go on to lose, and in the face of mounting evidence of a surge in infections and deaths far worse than in the spring, Mr. Trump’s management of the crisis — unsteady, unscientific and colored by politics all year — was in effect reduced to a single question: What would it mean for him?
Washington Post: Trump is inciting chaos on Jan. 6, both in and outside the Capitol Opinion by Editorial Board
“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!,” Mr. Trump tweeted earlier this month in an appeal to his supporters to come to the capital to buttress his campaign to overturn the election results. He followed up Sunday, “See you in Washington, DC, on January 6th. Don’t miss it. Information to follow!” And again on Wednesday, “JANUARY SIXTH, SEE YOU IN DC!”
Most Committed Bootlicker - Senator Lindsey Graham - This was a hotly contested category, but at the end of the day, no one could outdo the South Carolina Republican.
Good morning. At 6:40 a.m. ET DOW futures are +15; the market is poised to open slightly higher.
CNN: Watch Boston Dynamics robots dance to 'Do you love me' By David Goldman
This is a riot.
The Onion: This One’s Just For The Foot Fetishists
Washington Post: Sorry, President Trump. January 6 is not an election do-over. Opinion by Edward B. Foley
...these rules were formulated in the 19th century, when there was a realistic risk of counterfeit papers pretending to be official. Thus, the 1887 act requires a state’s governor to affix “the seal of the State” to the certificate confirming the appointment of electors.
And while Joe Biden certainly isn’t changing the face of the presidency, his choice of Kamala Harris as a running mate means there will be a Madame Vice President for the first time ever. This is another step forward. Our daughters are watching.
Good morning. At 6:25 a.m. ET DOW futures are +116; the market is poised to open significantly higher.
Washington Post: N.Y. prosecutor hires forensic accounting experts as Trump criminal probe escalates By Shayna Jacobs and Jonathan O'Connell
It is possible Vance could find evidence that the Trump Organization as a business entity has broken the law, without attaching personal liability to Trump or other individuals at his company. To bring criminal charges, the district attorney must be able to prove there was an intent to break the law — which probably would require the testimony of an insider witness, experts have said.
Washington Post: Trump, in his final days, goes full King Lear Opinion by Dana Milbank
But in these final days, we see a defeated president abandoning all things — national security, democratic elections and any pretense of handling the duties of the presidency — as he does anything and everything to keep the spotlight on himself.
The bill would not only block landlords from evicting most tenants but would also protect some small landlords from foreclosure and automatically renew tax exemptions for homeowners who are elderly or disabled.
Good morning. At 6:10 a.m. ET DOW futures are +54; the market is poised to open moderately higher.
CNN: Stimulus is here. But there are some big caveats By Charles Riley
Washington Post: At least we know Trump’s not serious about 2024 Opinion by Jennifer Rubin
Not even he could be so delusional as to imagine this recent flurry of destructive behavior helps him retain plausibility as a future presidential contender.
Washington Post: For D.C. protests, Proud Boys settle in at city’s oldest hotel and its bar By Joe Heim and Marissa J. Lang
“I am angered and troubled by the violence committed by white supremacists in our city and in Ward 2 over the weekend and last month,” Pinto wrote in a statement to The Post. “Harry’s disregard for public health guidance as these hate groups have gathered in their establishment without masks and without being socially distant before taking to the streets and further jeopardizing the health and safety of District residents is absolutely unacceptable.”
Good morning. At 6:10 a.m. ET DOW futures are +145; the market is poised to open significantly higher.
CNN: Biden's post-election stock market bump is easily beating Trump's By Matt Egan
Heavy.com: Anthony Quinn Warner Named as Nashville Bomber By Jessica McBrid
Have a great holiday weekend and see you bright and early Monday morning.
work by Andy Warhol 'Christmas Tree'
Like QAnon, a Trump putsch held out the possibility of a righteous cleansing of Republican extremists that would reduce the hard problems of representative governance to the comparatively simple logistics of civil war. Civil war is bad, obviously, but it rewards the winners with one-party rule.
Washington Post: Republicans just voted to defund the police Opinion by Dana Milbank
GOP leaders over the past week defeated efforts to help states and cities that are facing cutbacks to public safety and other services because of the pandemic-caused budget crisis. They claimed this would amount to what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called a “blue state bailout.” In reality, it was more of a “blue bailout” — and police in blue and red states alike are now on the chopping block.
Good morning. At 6:20 a.m. ET DOW futures are +53; the market is poised to open moderately higher. Also, Wall Street will be closing at 1 p.m. today, for the holiday weekend.
CNN: 3 things that could steal Christmas for Wall Street By Julia Horowitz
Aug. 4, 2020: Trump introduces Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt by asserting that Bernhardt is “a man who loves the interior.”
Washington Post: Republicans plunge into open battle over attempts to overturn Trump’s loss to Biden By Seung Min Kim, Josh Dawsey and Toluse Olorunnipa
“Foreign countries, Big tech, fake news & the Dems worked together to RIG this election against @realDonaldTrump,” Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Tex.), repeating claims for which there is no proof, tweeted on Tuesday.
(This is just a sampling) It authorizes 93 acres of federal lands to be used for the construction of the Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota and creates an independent commission to oversee horse racing, a priority of Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader.
Good morning. At 6:25 a.m. ET DOW futures are +79; the market is poised to open significantly higher.
CNN: $900 billion in stimulus is coming. More is needed but isn't guaranteed By Julia Horowitz,
Untangling the party from Mr. Trump will require Republican officials to follow the lead of conservative jurists and the growing number of lawmakers who acknowledge the reality of Joe Biden’s victory.
Good morning. At 6:30 a.m. ET DOW futures are -42; the market is poised to open moderately lower.
CNN: SoftBank joins Wall Street's latest craze in hunt for acquisitions By Michelle Toh
NY Times: Barr Sees ‘No Reason’ for Special Counsels for Hunter Biden or the Election - The outgoing attorney general, William Barr, again broke with President Trump on his unsupported claims of widespread election fraud and the need to appoint a special counsel to investigate the president-elect’s son. by Katie Benner
Washington Post: How Biden can make us hate each other a little bit less Opinion by E.J. Dionne Jr.
Biden and his aides will need to persuade the country — and especially the media — that the chanters and online ranters do not represent “the voice of the people.” They are a minority that will never be reconciled to his presidency.
We attorneys diminished the immediate harmful impacts of President Trump’s executive orders — but we also made them more palatable to the courts.
...the agreement was expected to provide $600 stimulus payments to millions of American adults earning up to $75,000. It would revive lapsed supplemental federal unemployment benefits at $300 a week for 11 weeks — setting both at half the amount provided by the original stimulus law.
Good morning. At 6:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are -666; the market will fall off a cliff at the opening bell.
The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 2.67%...
The Republican Party has been radicalized, with countless Republican lawmakers and other prominent figures within the party having revealed themselves to be moral cowards, even, and in some ways especially, after Trump was defeated.
...the discovery of a new variant of Covid-19, said by officials to spread faster than others.
The Atlantic: A Political Obituary for Donald Trump - The effects of his reign will linger. But democracy survived. by George Packer
He leaves behind a society in which the bonds of trust are degraded, in which his example licenses everyone to cheat on taxes and mock affliction. Many of his policies can be reversed or mitigated. It will be much harder to clear our minds of his lies and restore the shared understanding of reality—the agreement, however inconvenient, that A is A and not B—on which a democracy depends.
Have an excellent weekend and see you bright and early Monday morning.
work by Yamamura Toyonari 1885 - 1942
...some police officers used aggressive tactics that violated the First Amendment rights of protesters as the department made mass arrests during the demonstrations, which followed the death of George Floyd...
There's a devastating pandemic going on that is killing more than 3,000 people a day in America, there are problems with the government's delivery of the Covid vaccine, Russia has hacked into several US agencies with untold damage, unemployment is through the roof and states are facing crushing fiscal problems. And that's just some of it. Yet, here is Trump's schedule for Friday
These reforms should focus on restoring the integrity of the rule of law, especially to check presidential interventions in law enforcement for self-protection or to harm political enemies.
Good morning. At 6:30 a.m. ET DOW futures are +8; the market is poised to open flat.