Good morning! Here is your news briefing for Monday November 23, 2020
THE DAILY SIGNAL
November 23 2020
Good morning from Washington. Will Americans head a powerful warning from Justice Samuel Alito? Cal Thomas provides analysis. Is COVID-19 wearing you down? Rev. Samuel Rodriguez has powerful words of encouragement on today’s podcast. Plus: Fred Lucas on the ignored warnings of a 2005 commission; Tony Perkins on Joe Biden’s likely agenda; and Kenny Xu on the surprising demographics of Trump voters in 2020.
The Carter-Baker Commission called on states to increase voter ID requirements; to be leery of mail-in voting; halt ballot harvesting; maintain voter lists; and ensure voting machines are working properly….
“Biden will order public schools to say that anatomical males can play on the girls sports teams, use the girls’ shower rooms, and use the girls’ restrooms,” says CNS News’ Terry Jeffrey.
The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez says he came face to face with the fear and anxiety created by COVID-19 when his daughter contracted the virus after giving birth and ended up in a hospital fighting for her life.
It is no wonder that people who had seen national emergencies utilized by dictators in their home countries to consolidate authoritarian power would be skeptical of liberals’ response to the coronavirus.
While acknowledging the deaths, hospitalizations, and unemployment caused by COVID-19, Alito says, “The pandemic has resulted in previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty.”
Madison Cawthorn, a Republican who soon will become the youngest member of Congress in U.S. history, reportedly “has admitted he tried to convert Jews and Muslims to Christianity.” So what?
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THE EPOCH TIMES
NOVEMBER 23, 2020 READ IN BROWSER
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Let’s face it: There’s a lot to worry about these days if you hope to protect your hard-earned savings and retire comfortably.The U.S. has entered a red zone of debt that threatens to worsen along with the pandemic and experts warn your retirement could be at SERIOUS risk.Goldman Sachs has identified one asset class that deems virus resistant: Gold. Gold dramatically outperforms other safe havens in 2020 and has officially become, “the currency of last resort.”Convert vulnerable assets into pandemic-proof gold & silver for a worry-free retirement. Free Copy: #1 Retirement Playbook
The CDC has requested that we stay home for Thanksgiving. That’s a bitter pill. But to the CDC’s credit, it did not attempt to impose a legally enforceable travel ban. Read more
‘Spawn’, ‘Potted dwarf’, ‘Places for props’, ‘Collarbone’, ‘Bubblehead’, ‘Annoying online pop-ups’, ‘Stadium cheer’, and ‘Barolo and Chianti’ are some of the clues in this crossword puzzle.
SidneyPowell has been removed from the official Trump legal team, as it prepares to move forward with a series of #lawsuits in key states of the 2020 US presidential #elections.
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DAYBREAK
Your First Look at Today’s Top Stories – Daybreak Insider
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Trump Legal Team Distances Itself from Sidney Powell
From the story: Sources close to the president told the Washington Examiner neither the White House nor the Trump campaign have seen any of the evidence she claims to have related to assertions about voting machines switching millions of votes from President Trump to President-elect Joe Biden. They argued that her claims overshadowed what they see as legitimate concerns about the mail-in ballot process (Washington Examiner). Just a few days ago, Trump was quoting Sidney Powell (Daily Wire). Powell said she agrees with the statement issued by Trump lawyers explaining she is not with the legal team and vows “to expose all the fraud and let the chips fall where they may” (Fox News). An interview with Sidney Powell shows how deep her conspiracy theories run (Twitter). Meanwhile, a Dominion rep said it is “physically impossible” to switch votes (Fox News).
2.
Biden Secretary of State Already Has Anti-Semitic Left Fuming
Reports are that he chose Antony Blinken (NY Times). From Rashida Tlaib: So long as he doesn’t suppress my First Amendment right to speak out against Netanyahu’s racist and inhumane policies. The Palestinian people deserve equality and justice (Twitter).
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3.
GOP Wins Lead to Record Number of Women in Congress
While the majority of women in congress are Democrats, the story notes “at least 35 Republican women are expected to join the 117th Congress, up from 22 in 2018, with some races still too close to call” (FiveThirtyEight). Karol Markowicz joked “Eagerly await their Vanity Fair cover” (Twitter).
4.
Black Lives Matter Seek Meeting with Biden, Commitment to Abolish Police
From the story: Despite indications that the “Defund the Police” movement had a negative impact on Democrats’ election success, leaders of Black Lives Matter are petitioning for a meeting with an incoming Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration, and demanding that Biden support the “BREATHE Act,” which includes a “roadmap’ to abolishing law enforcement and a demand for reparations (Daily Wire). From Shelby Steele: … we blacks aren’t much victimized any more. Today we are free to build a life that won’t be stunted by racial persecution. Today we are far more likely to encounter racial preferences than racial discrimination. Moreover, we live in a society that generally shows us goodwill—a society that has isolated racism as its most unforgivable sin. This lack of victimization amounts to an “absence of malice” that profoundly threatens the victim-focused black identity. Who are we without the malice of racism? Can we be black without being victims? The great diminishment (not eradication) of racism since the ’60s means that our victim-focused identity has become an anachronism. Well suited for the past, it strains for relevance in the present (WSJ).
5.
Los Angeles Reaches 300 Homicides in Record Pace
Remarkably, there is no mention of police cuts and anti-police riots in the story (Fox News). Following the riots and demands to “defund the police,” the city cut the police budget by $150 million (LA Magazine). From LA reporter Bill Melugin: Los Angeles has now crossed 300 homicides for the first time in over a decade (2009), and the year isn’t over yet. 297 going into weekend, now 4 more. Homicides up 25% vs 2019. Shootings up 32% vs 2019. LAPD’s elite Robbery/Homicide division now being downsized (Twitter).
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6.
Oregon Governor Calls on Residents to Report Neighbors Who Violate Shutdown
From the story: Oregon Gov. Kate Brown wants residents to call the police on their neighbors over violations of the state’s latest coronavirus shutdown, which includes a six-person limit on in-home gatherings. The temporary “freeze,” which went into effect Wednesday, restricts indoor at-home and social gatherings to six people from no more than two households, with no exceptions for Thanksgiving dinner get-togethers.
It’s back to take-out only (Daily Wire). Crowds in California are protesting the state’s curfew (Washington Examiner). Many people are ignoring the travel guidelines (ABC News). From Bethany Mandel: As conservatives have increasingly rallied for the reopening of our economy, liberals have been the loudest advocates for keeping it closed, no matter the cost. The most harmful aspects of the lockdowns fly in the face of science, making the suffering they cause unnecessary. That they do so knowingly makes the policies cruel as well (Washington Examiner).
8.
China Paid Newspapers Millions to Run Fake Articles Favoring China
“Advertorials,” the articled called them, “designed to look like legitimate news articles.”
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Good morning. If this newsletter seems like it was written on seven espresso shots, it’s only because we’re excited about the launch of a new Brew product: Sidekick.
Sidekick is V2 of our quarantine-era recommendations newsletter, The Essentials. On Monday and Thursday evenings, we’ll give you trusted recs from every corner of the internet, from recipes to DIY tips to how to stay sane over the winter.
You can either blindly trust us that it’s going to be good and subscribe here, or find out the details lower down in the newsletter…and then subscribe.
MARKETS YTD PERFORMANCE
NASDAQ
11,854.97
+ 32.12%
S&P
3,557.54
+ 10.11%
DOW
29,263.48
+ 2.54%
GOLD
1,869.60
+ 23.00%
10-YR
0.835%
– 108.50 bps
OIL
42.17
– 31.11%
*As of market close
Markets: Peep those year-to-date gains for the big three stock indexes. Just for reference, last year the S&P gained 29%, the Nasdaq 35%, and the Dow 22%.
Transition update: On Saturday, a Pennsylvania judge dismissed a Trump campaign lawsuit that tried to block the state from certifying its vote count, saying the argument was “unsupported by evidence.” With his legal options dwindling, Trump is facing more pressure from elected Republicans to concede defeat.
The 2020 Thanksgiving Week is upon us, and it’s going to be an unusual one. Aside from the challenge of coping with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Emmy, here’s why this will be a holiday unlike any we’ve seen before.
Travel will be much lighter
But far from eliminated. On Friday and Saturday, TSA screened about 42% of the passenger volume for comparable days last year. But they were still two of the busiest days at U.S. airports since the pandemic began.
That happened right after the CDC warned against traveling for Thanksgiving, and Johns Hopkins reported record confirmed Covid cases.
Across all transportation modes, AAA is projecting a roughly 10% decline from last year’s Thanksgiving.
Important note: The CDC isn’t worried about the disease spreading on airplanes as much as people traveling in order to gather in large groups.
The retail calendar gets a makeover
Big-box retailers like Target and Walmart have spaced out their traditional Black Friday deals in order to prevent overcrowding in stores. And, for the first time in years, many retailers will close their brick-and-mortar locations on Thanksgiving to protect the health of employees.
Expect e-commerce sales to go parabolic.
Across the Atlantic, they’re breaking even more norms. The French government decided to postpone the shopapalooza in an effort to support small businesses. The rationale:
When the country’s second lockdown began on Oct. 30, smaller stores had to close, sending shoppers to online retailers (mainly Amazon) in droves.
In response to outcry from those small businesses, large retailers agreed to delay their Black Vendredi deals until Dec. 4, provided the government allowed those smaller shops to reopen then.
Finally, it’s runty turkeys’ time to shine
Because people are planning smaller gatherings, smaller turkeys are taking flight off of shelves they likely never could as birds. “We probably have about 10 people that have asked like, ‘I want the smallest turkey you have,’ NC turkey farmer Rachel Shenk told NPR.
On Sunday, social media star Charli D’Amelio hit 100 million followers on TikTok, a milestone for Charli, TikTok, and the power of a smartphone camera.
Charli, who is 16 years old, is to TikTok what Rafael Nadal is to the French Open. She’s so dominant, there are only two other creators on the app with more than 50 million followers.
The backstory: When she first downloaded TikTok in May 2019, Charli was just a kid filming dancing vids in her suburban Connecticut bedroom. But thanks to a combination of charisma and business savvy (plus great timing with the app itself skyrocketing in popularity), she gained around 94 million followers in a single year.
Even more impressively, she did it without drinking cranberry juice.
The nowstory: Charli, and her increasingly famous family, are thinking way beyond TikTok.
In the social media realm, Charli has 8.5 million subscribers on YouTube and 33.7 million followers on Instagram.
She also launched a podcast with her sister, signed a book deal, and had a Dunkin’ drink named after her.
Homework: Spend this Thanksgiving plotting with your family how you can be the next D’Amelios.
Okay. Cocoa futures posted their biggest weekly gain in 19 years last week thanks to a strange mix of geopolitics, Covid, and a bit of creative financial maneuvering by none other than Hershey’s.
Hershey’s reportedly sent prices surging when it bought a large amount of cocoa through the ICE Futures U.S. exchange rather than the physical market.
The futures markets are typically the domain of traders and speculators, the Financial Times explains. You almost never see a chocolate maker like Hershey, which typically relies on middlemen to source their cocoa, wading in.
Why is the cocoa so hot? It’s all about the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Those two West African countries, which account for almost 70% of total global cocoa production, recently instituted a fee to boost cocoa farmers’ incomes. With Covid lockdowns sapping demand for chocolate, buyers are looking for cheaper options—like tapping the futures market to skirt the fees.
Looking ahead…the cocoa market could be a mess for a long time as other companies look to replicate Hershey’s strategy.
Clinically proven to reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and premature skin aging due to sun exposure in just four weeks, these bottles of bliss are just what you need before the cold winter air dries us all out like yams.
But how? One word: super-smart-science-from-a-super-smart-scientist. Professor Augustinus Bader is a world-leading stem cell scientist with 30 years of experience in research and innovation.
And he fit all that know-how into these beautiful blue bottles. Plus, his proprietary TFC8 technology is designed to optimize the skin’s natural processes of cellular renewal.
Maybe that’s why 94% of users said dull skin appears brighter and 92% agree their skin appears healthier.
Brew readers can also get a free Augustinus Bader Hand Treatment (val. $50) with any purchase using code MB-HT.
They must be really bored out in Colorado, because when the first two In-N-Out Burger locations opened in the state Friday, lines stretched more than 12 hours. Some diners said they waited 14.
As Brew writer Jamie Wilde pointed out, the people in the back of the line might’ve gotten their Double-Double faster if they drove the 700+ miles to the In-N-Out location in Prescott, Arizona.
The next day, the Aurora, CO, police dept. said traffic at the In-N-Out was “much improved.” It was a breezy eight-hour wait at the drive-thru and an hour at the walk-up line.
Zoom out: Family-run In-N-Out, which is widely considered California’s greatest export, also has locations in Texas, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon.
This Thanksgiving week will certainly be weird, but look on the bright side: That awkward conversation with a high school classmate you happened to run into at the local bar has also been canceled.
Thanksgiving: The markets are closed Thursday, and they’ll close at 1pm on Friday. Some things are more important than P/E ratios (but are they?).
Biden’s plans: The first of the president-elect’s Cabinet picks will come on Tuesday, according to his incoming chief of staff.
Earnings: Retailers Gap, Nordstrom, Best Buy, and Dick’s all report Q3 earnings on Tuesday.
Economic data: Wednesday is where the action is. That’s when we’ll check in on the red-hot housing sector with October new home sales, and on the national economy with the second reading of Q3 GDP.
Everything else:
On Tuesday, author Ernest Cline will follow up his sci-fi hit Ready Player One with—wait for it—Ready Player Two.
Rock star Miley Cyrus’s new album, Plastic Hearts, drops on Friday.
Back in April, we started a quarantine newsletter called The Essentials to give you ideas of things to do when your calendar had been wiped out.
Now it’s November. The pandemic hasn’t gone away, but The Essentials is—well, it’s transforming into something bigger and better: Sidekick, a revamped recommendations newsletter that arrives Monday and Thursday evenings.
What you’ll find in Sidekick:
Trusted recs from all over the internet, including recipes, DIY projects, and fresh discoveries.
Ideas for both leveling up your professional life or winding down with a new book.
An author, Rachel Cantor, who’s been dubbed the “tab queen.” Prepare your browser to be overrun with links you’ll want to save for later.
Bottom line: Sidekick is your trusted friend who will make you the trusted friend. The first edition arrives in just a few hours.
The proposed “travel bubble” set up between Singapore and Hong Kong has been delayed for at least two weeks after a few dozen new Covid-19 cases were detected.
England will end its lockdown as planned on Dec. 2 and move to a regional system of restrictions.
The epic story of how Moderna and Pfizer developed their vaccines.
BREW’S BETS
This deal’s a perfect fit. For the first time ever, Revtown is offering Brew readers early access to their Black Friday sale. Get their Denim Duo Crate, featuring two pairs of their durable and comfortable jeans, for just $125. Denim deal here.*
You’ll thank us. SimpliSafe gives your home 24/7 protection from break-ins, emergencies, and more. Plus you can get up to 50% off a new system along with a free HD security camera. Get secure, then thank us.*
Suspension or cantilever? It’s been too long since we’ve shared some engineering content, so here’s a video all about bridges.
President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, released a statement on Sunday, saying that attorney Sidney Powell was not a member of the president’s legal team. Powell, who claims to be gathering evidence of massive ballot fraud, appeared to have been working with Giuliani and on Trump’s behalf. “Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own,” the former mayor of New York said. “She is not a member of the Trump Legal Team. She is also not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity.”
Election 2020, Trump and Congress – Coattails with No Coat?
CNN writes that President Trump has left the world stage and that few will miss him. No new wars, peace blossoming in the Middle East, and North Korea in open negotiations. All things that CNN deems bad?
Black Georgians must brace themselves for more voter suppression states MSNBC. It appears the news outlet is still carrying a torch for Stacey Abrams, who after two years, has still refused to concede that she lost the election.
A Vox poll detailing whether voters think Trump should concede attempts to paint a picture of Republicans holding out. What the associated article fails to mention is that Independents of a similar proportion and even some Democrats also agree that he should not concede until court cases are concluded.
House Democrats are looking at bringing back earmarks when the new Congress convenes in January. Earmarking was, essentially, the practice of siphoning money from appropriations bills to fund lawmakers’ pet projects. The practice was banned by Republicans in 2011.
Liz Cheney (R-WY) recently criticized President Trump for continuing to challenge the 2020 election results. In a recent tweet, Trump suggested she was angry at him for pulling troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Cheney, who chairs the Republican Conference, is the daughter of legendary interventionist neocon, Dick Cheney.
Presumed presidential election winner Joe Biden will announce his first picks for cabinet positions on Tuesday, his aides say.
Something political to ponder as you enjoy your morning coffee.
If Joe Biden finds himself in the White House come January 21, he may discover that writing checks on the campaign trail eventually ends up costing. So far, he has demands from Black Lives Matter founders, radical leftists, Green New Dealers, and a host of other interest groups that say he owes them something. Added to this are the renewed calls for reparations. After paying off student loans for interpretive dance majors, how will a Biden Administration find the funds to appease groups who are not averse to the occasional riot?
Last Monday, President-elect Joe Biden expressed support for legislation in which the federal government repays “up to $10,000 in private, nonfederal student loans for ‘economically distressed’ borrowers.” NPR
Also last week, over 200 progressive organization sent an open letter calling on Biden “to use executive authority to cancel federal student debt.” Americans for Financial Reform
From the Left
The left is divided.
“The cost of a year at a private college is now $37,650, on average, and $10,560 at public institutions, more for out-of-staters. The heft of those bills obligates a majority of attendees and many of their parents to take out loans; in fact, 2019 graduates owe an average of $29,900. The United States is an outlier in the size and scope of its loan infrastructure; in many peer countries, higher education is seen as a public good and a college degree is low-cost or free. Even as getting millions more Americans into college has had tremendous social value, this metastasizing debt crisis has had tremendous social costs…
“An entire generation has been set back: Millennials are on track to be the first generation in modern history to end up poorer than their parents. Student loans are delaying retirements. They’re suppressing the housing market. They’re suffocating new business formation. They’re even leading young people to delay getting married and having children. They are also widening the country’s racial wealth gap… Although having a federal student-loan debt jubilee would not fix higher-education financing or end the COVID-19 recession, it would take a boulder off of millions of Americans’ backs.” Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic
“Survey after survey shows [student debt forgiveness] racking up well over 50 percent support; even if you assume that those polls are missing a lot of conservative voters who never went to college (see: polling during the 2020 election) and that the issue would become more partisan if Biden actually pursued it, the results still suggest that cancellation could be much more popular than Donald Trump’s signature legislative achievement, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which Republicans jammed through despite widespread voter opposition…
“Insofar as there are concerns that canceling student debt would be a giveaway to white-collar professionals, it would be fairly easy to structure the program as a relief effort for the middle class by limiting it to borrowers with somewhat lower incomes… It’s not crystal-clear that forgiving student debt via executive order would actually hold up in court if it were challenged… [But] in a situation where major legislation isn’t possible, it might be one of Biden’s few serious openings for doing lasting good.” Jordan Weissmann, Slate
“The ‘regressiveness’ objection is that the population of borrowers is richer on average than the larger population of non-borrowers. This is true as far as it goes… There’s also some truth to the ‘moral hazard’ concern. A student loan jubilee now would give students in the future that have to take out loans to finance their educations some reason to be hopeful that their own burdens will be relieved later. Cancelling current loans without doing anything about the underlying problem perpetuates the cycle of students taking out loans and struggling to ever pay them back…
“But neither of those give us a good reason not to cancel current debt. Instead, they give us an excellent reason to create a fair system of higher education going forward — meaning that we should make public higher education, community colleges, and vocation schools tuition-free.” Ben Burgis, Jacobin Magazine
Critics, however, argue that “If a quick boost to the economy is the goal, there are better ways for a new President Biden to use his executive power… To have any appreciable effect, people would need to go out and spend the money they’d have otherwise used to make their monthly loan payments. Would they do so? As Matt Bruenig of the People’s Policy Project, a think tank, points out, student loan holders tend to be higher on the income scale. Higher-income people tend not to live hand to mouth — if they get a little extra money they’re more likely to save it than spend it…
“Those who do go out and spend stimulus money tend to be people who don’t have much liquidity. But Americans have been repaying their debts for years and have built up a decent amount of cash. Thanks to that, and to low interest rates, household debt-service payments are at multi-decade lows. So canceling student debt [is] probably not going to make American consumers spend much more, and thus would be a very weak stimulus.” Noah Smith, Bloomberg
“Sixty-five percent of Americans haven’t graduated from a four-year college. Will that large majority really favor a multi-billion-dollar bailout for people who hold those degrees when their indebtedness was freely taken on and has granted them a credential that gives them a ticket to lifetime higher earnings?… Those who carry student debt are nowhere near the neediest people in the country. In a world of finite resources, where priorities need to be made, they should be nowhere near the top of the list of those receiving a multi-billion-dollar handout from the federal government.” Damon Linker, The Week
“The $50,000 across-the-board relief championed by Schumer and Warren is wildly out of synch with the traditional approach of progressive policymaking. Food stamps, for instance, serve households whose median income is about $19,000 a year, and provide $2,300 in value for the average household. Families that claim the Earned Income Tax Credit — the largest cash income support for working families — earn about $36,500; their average annual benefit is about $2,200. The median income of parents of Pell Grant recipients was about $28,800. By contrast, the median income of households with student loans is $76,400…
“At a cost slightly above $1 trillion, [Schumer and Warren’s proposal] would equal the total amount spent on cash welfare since 1980. And its largest effect would be to improve the finances of college-educated workers, who have already tended to be winners in an economy marked by ever-rising inequality. A better approach would cap forgiveness at $10,000, as Biden and House legislation propose. That could eliminate debt for the 15 million borrowers with smaller balances who, paradoxically, tend to struggle most, accounting for about 60 percent of all defaults.” Adam Looney, Washington Post
From the Right
The right is generally skeptical of Democratic proposals for student loan forgiveness.
“Student loan forgiveness, even according to formulae that exclude the very well-off, has very few broader economic benefits. As Jason Furman (Barack Obama’s chair for the Council of Economic Advisors) notes, debt forgiveness would be taxable — which would cut into any stimulative effect on the economy… Most Americans, especially most poor Americans, don’t have student debt, because most didn’t go to college in the first place. Moreover, most people who did go to college have no or very little student debt…
“According to the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution, roughly 30 percent of undergrads have none. Another 25 percent have up to $20,000 in loans. Despite what you may have heard about the student debt crisis, only 6 percent of borrowers owe more than $100,000. Virtually all of them borrowed so much because they attended graduate school. You can argue that people who choose to get graduate degrees — including many young doctors, lawyers and engineers in training — deserve relief. But do they deserve help more than truck drivers, mechanics or short-order cooks?” Jonah Goldberg, New York Post
“Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren have authored a resolution calling for the next president to forgive $50,000 in debt per student borrower. Who benefits the most from such a plan? The rich. Federal Reserve data reveals that the highest-income 40 percent of households owe approximately 60 percent of outstanding student debt, while the lowest 40 percent owe just under 20 percent… Plus, the majority of student debt is held by graduate degree earners, who earn approximately 25 percent more than their undergraduate counterparts…
“Biden’s idea of helping out low-income students who are struggling due to the pandemic is, on its face, more admirable than any of the aforementioned policy proposals. Still, he is providing adverse incentives for universities to jack up prices. That is especially concerning given the pandemic has rendered a college education practically worthless. Students are paying tens of thousands of dollars per year to live at home and be lectured via Zoom. Do we really want to tell colleges that they can get away with providing a subpar service for an exorbitant cost? In the case of any of these student debt plans, working-class Americans who chose not to or could not afford to go to college will be subsidizing the education of the professional class.” Amber Athey, Spectator USA
“Progressive calls for President-elect Joe Biden to forgive student debt in his first 100 days of office should be ignored in lieu of a more moderate proposal: forgiveness capped at $5,000 of debt… Borrowers with the largest balances are the least likely to default. That’s because they’ve often invested in professional or graduate degrees that lead to careers with high earning potential. Borrowers who owe less than $5,000 are the most likely to default. Many in this category started a degree but didn’t finish, and thus aren’t enjoying the higher earnings afforded by a degree…
“Each dollar spent on loan relief is a dollar raised in taxes, and far less than half of taxpayers have a four-year degree. Student-loan cancellation would bleed the working class to alleviate debt for those with more-lucrative career options.” Beth Akers, Wall Street Journal
“Forgiving student loans with such a broad stroke would create tremendous moral hazard. Individuals who scrimped for years, forgoing dinners with friends and vacations and fancy phones to pay off their student loans, would effectively feel ripped off knowing that had they only been more profligate, the federal government would have wiped away all of their debt. Those who were much less careful about their spending patterns, on the other hand, would feel vindicated…
“If a president could wipe away debt with a stroke of a pen, Biden would not be the last president to do so. Those taking out debt in the future would be sent the signal that if they simply hold out long enough, they can avoid repaying the money. In addition, it would, in effect, mean a huge injection into the higher education racket that would encourage colleges and universities to raise tuition even higher. Many studies have shown that the increase in federally subsidized student loans explains much of the extraordinary tuition increases we’ve seen in recent decades. If loans are forgiven, it will increase demand for new loans and thus provide an opening for further tuition hikes.” Editorial Board, Washington Examiner
Some argue, “Are we just supposed to ignore the fact that the United States government has been aggressively selling [a college education] to its young citizens for decades? College is the path to a better life, and Uncle Sam will help you along the way… Let’s not pretend the government is blameless just because they used carrots over sticks…
“The reckless programs by which the state coaxed students into college simultaneously enabled the price gouging and institutional bloat that now define the American education system. Years of refusal either to change their own practices or to rein in the abuses of the schools has created a disastrous feedback loop in which the costs rise every year at higher and higher rates, while the return on investment vanishes as the ranks of degree-holders swell to unsustainable magnitudes…
“The long-term solution is to take an axe to the government-university cartel. The vast majority of government funding to colleges—including federal loans—must be cut, and mustn’t be replaced with anything. Take the carrot away, and let the masses of young people drawn to college by Uncle Sam’s siren song filter back into productive work, reinvigorating their communities in the process. Take the government money from the schools, and watch the bloat shrivel. That is the only way to ensure that the next generation of Americans don’t find themselves in this situation to begin with.” Declan Leary, The American Conservative
A libertarian’s take
“The most libertarian policy preference in my view is two-pronged: get the federal government out of the lending and guaranteeing game, and make student loan debt reasonably dischargeable in bankruptcy. These two policies would realign the incentives of colleges, lenders, and students to bring down prices and saddle fewer potential students with loans they are unlikely to repay…“A longer repayment plan tied to income is also a sensible way to think about the returns of student loan debt, which under the conventional 10-year repayment model sees borrowers making the highest monthly payments when their income is lowest, and their lowest monthly payment after 10 years of post-college earnings. People who’d rather get payments done in 10 years (or sooner) would, of course, reserve that option. People who are struggling right out of school could pay more as they earn more, while people who will carry their debt to the grave no matter how it’s structured should be able to seek relief in bankruptcy.” Mike Riggs, Reason
🎬Tonight on “Axios on HBO” (11 p.m. ET/PT): I fly to Wichita for Charles Koch’s first TV interview in four years (Clip) … Moderna chief medical officer Tal Zaks talks to Dan Primack (Clip) … Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly tells Felix Salmon he should fly (Clip) … Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.) sits down with Alexi McCammond.
1 big thing: It’s over
President Trump watches coverage in the lower press office after speaking Friday on prescription drug prices. Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
That’s what Blackstone chairman, CEO and co-founder Steve Schwarzman, one of President Trump’s most loyal allies, and other top Republicans are signaling to the defeated president, 16 days after Joe Biden clinched the win.
Why it matters: It’s all theatrics now. Even if Trump doesn’t move on fast, you can. It is safe to ignore the fearful Republicans who insist the process is legit and plausible, because they tell us privately it is not.
Schwarzman said in a statement to Axios’ Hans Nichols that Biden won and it’s time to move on.
“I’m a fan of good process,” Schwarzman said. “In my comments three days after the election, I was trying to be a voice of reason and express why it’s in the national interest to have all Americans believe the election is being resolved correctly. But the outcome is very certain today, and the country should move on.”
“I supported President Trump and the strong economic path he built. Like many in the business community, I am ready to help President-elect Biden and his team as they confront the significant challenges of rebuilding our post-COVID economy.”
Schwarzman’s signal is more meaningful in Trumpworld than any of the messages so far from corporate America, Jonathan Swan reports.
Trump’s top aides have undisguised contempt for some establishment business groups. But not Schwarzman. He has been a close confidant of Trump’s throughout his presidency.
The legal insanity: For more than 24 hours — until it became too much even for Rudy Giuliani to tolerate — the publicly-stated position of President Trump’s legal team was that the reason Trump lost Georgia is because Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has been bribed by a Venezuelan front company in cahoots with the CIA to throw elections to Communists.
More than that, in the telling by now-former Trump legal adviser Sidney Powell (ditched in a statement by the campaign last night), these dastardly Communists have manipulated American voting machines to switch millions of votes from Trump to Joe Biden.
Yes, that’s correct. You didn’t read that wrong. We are not pranking you.
This is literally what a member of Trump’s legal team was arguing. Watch this Newsmax clip and this press conference appearance from Powell.
The dangerous reality is that there is a large audience for this conspiracy theory. Far-right commentators attacked Fox’ News’ Tucker Carlson for daring to suggest that Powell should provide evidence to support her allegation of what would be the biggest crime in American history.
Longtime Trump ally Chris Christie said on ABC’s “This Week”: “[T]he conduct of the president’s legal team has been a national embarrassment.”
Senior people in Trumpworld agree. A source familiar with the situation said the Trump legal team had been arguing vociferously with each other on phone calls with the president.
And Powell hadn’t shown anybody senior in Trumpworld the evidence to support her grand claims of an international Communist conspiracy.
Notice that few key campaign and White House officials have been publicly endorsing this legal strategy.
Ask yourself: When is the last time you heard from Jared? Or Ivanka? In private, they have long known it was over.
President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris at The Queen Theater in Wilmington on Thursday. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The most remarkable part of President-elect Biden’s campaign and early picks for positions of true power is the unremarkable — and predictable — nature of his big moves.
Why it matters: Biden is obsessed with bringing stability and conventional sanity back to governance.
“He is approaching this — in part — like an experienced mechanic intent on repairing something that’s been badly broken,” said one source familiar with the president-elect’s thinking.
The picks — including Tony Blinken for secretary of state, which leaked last night and is to be announced tomorrow — fit with Biden’s penchant for sticking to comfort foods when it comes to people, policies and political techniques.
“He knows everybody. But these are the people he really knows, and he’s going with ’em,” a former Obama-Biden official told me.
The official said: “Biden wants process. Trump was the anti-process guy. Their idea is that process is their friend.”
The big picture: All modern White Houses are oligarchies — authentic power is held by just a few. So pay closest attention to the chosen few who are inserted into the real inner circle.
Blinken was national security adviser to Biden when he was V.P., before becoming President Obama’s principal deputy national security adviser, then deputy secretary of state.
Other longtime Biden hands on the new White House team:
Senior adviser Mike Donilon has been an adviser and consultant to Biden since 1981.
Chief of staff Ron Klain, who first worked for Sen. Joe Biden in the late ’80s, was later Biden’s chief of staff as vice president, then White House Ebola response coordinator.
Cathy Russell, the White House director of presidential personnel, worked on Biden’s 1988 presidential campaign and was chief of staff to Dr. Jill Biden in the White House, before becoming U.S. ambassador for global women’s issues at the State Department during the Obama administration.
Counselor Steve Ricchetti went to work for Biden in the White House in 2012.
Jake Sullivan, a longtime Biden and Hillary Clinton adviser, is expected to be named national security adviser.
Data: CSSE Johns Hopkins, Census Bureau, UN. Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios
It wasn’t long ago that public health experts were pointing to Europe as a warning sign for the U.S. But the U.S. now has a higher per-capita caseload than the EU ever did during its recent surge, Axios’ Caitlin Owens writes.
As of Saturday, 15 states had higher per-capita caseloads, averaged over seven days, than the European country with the highest caseload — Luxembourg.
The big picture: Europe’s steady rise in coronavirus cases over the last couple of months prompted many countries to bring back lockdowns or other strict behavioral restrictions.
In the U.S., some of the hardest-hit states — like Iowa — are just now adopting mask mandates, and airports over the weekend were packed with people traveling for Thanksgiving.
What we’re watching: Cases in the hardest-hit states are starting to trend down, a sign that people are modifying their behavior on their own.
In this state breakdown of economic pain, you can see the hard-hit tourism industry is still tanking, Courtenay Brown reports in Axios Markets.
5. 💉 New: More promising vaccine news
AstraZeneca said today that late-stage trials showed its coronavirus vaccine was up to 90% effective, giving public health officials hope they may soon have access to a vaccine that is easier to distribute than some of its rivals, AP reports.
The results are based on interim analysis of trials in the U.K. and Brazil of a vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca.
6. “Harder Line”: Subsidizing away climate change
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Washington lawmakers may throw billions of taxpayer dollars at clean energy next year, prompting a rush of ideas about how to do it and how effective it can be at tackling climate change, Amy Harder writes in her “Harder Line” column.
With the federal government’s political power likely divided, the biggest policies are likely to come through an economic recovery package in the form of subsidies and other spending.
Extending wind and solar tax credits are at the top of the list for Democrats and renewable-energy lobbyists. But more measures are in the works that could also hitch a ride on a stimulus bill.
Reality check: A GOP Senate controlled by Sen. Mitch McConnell is unlikely to approve anything close to President-elect Biden’s campaign goal of $2 trillion in funding over four years for clean energy and climate policy.
In The New Yorker’s “The Money Issue,” out today, Charles Duhigg goes skeptical on venture capitalists: “Startups increasingly want investors who won’t interfere or ask questions. Venture capitalists must be ‘founder-friendly.'”
“They pontificate on Twitter,” Duhigg writes, “dispense wisdom via podcasts, publish books about ‘the hard thing about hard things,’ and otherwise foist their insights on the world. Yet there have been few public accountings by V.C.s … Instances of venture capitalists calling out one another are rare.”
💭 Thought bubble by Axios’ Dan Primack: The vast majority of venture capital-backed startups are ones you haven’t heard of.
That includes low-profile software and biotech plays that sometimes succeed and sometimes fail, but which don’t garner headlines either way. There are lessons to be learned from the exceptions, but they are not the industry’s rule.
8. Netanyahu meets MBS in secret
Pompeo, Netanyahu and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Photo: Menahem Kahana/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled in secret yesterday to the city of Neom on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli sources tell Barak Ravid.
Why it matters: Israel and Saudi Arabia have had a secret relationship for years, but this is the first time such a high-level meeting has been reported — though neither side confirmed it officially.
The big picture: Israel and Saudi Arabia are very concerned by the incoming Biden administration’s stated goal of returning to the 2015 Iran deal.
Until recently, Newsmax’s “top shows attracted a paltry 58,000 viewers. On Thursday night, the network drew its biggest audience ever, notching 1.1 million viewers at 7 p.m.,” per the N.Y. Times(subscription).
Reality check: Fox News was the most-watched cable channel for the week ending Nov. 15, averaging 3.36 million viewers for the week. (AP)
10. 1 smile to go
Photo: Charlie Neibergall/AP
Bison meets Chevy at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City, Iowa, on Thursday.
President-elect Joe Biden has selected Antony Blinken, one of his closest and longest-serving foreign policy advisers, for the position. Biden is also planning to announce Linda Thomas-Greenfield as his nominee for ambassador to the United Nations.
By Annie Linskey, Matt Viser and John Hudson ● Read more »
Many conservatives are skeptical of renewing expanded federal unemployment aid to counter coronavirus pandemic layoffs because they fear a repeat of the Obama era’s 99 weeks of jobless benefits, which they say kept unemployment unnecessarily high.
President Trump’s decision to withdraw additional troops from Iraq risks expanding Iran’s influence in Baghdad by undercutting the prime minister’s efforts to counter Tehran’s proxy fighters.
Rep. Devin Nunes warned of “growing concern” that President-elect Joe Biden, taking cues from former President Barack Obama, will shut down U.S. Attorney John Durham’s inquiry into the Russia investigation.
President Trump referred to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan as “flawed” and a “RINO” after a report said the governor ordered flawed COVID-19 tests from South Korea.
Conservative radio host Dan Bongino called Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan a “pathetic loser” after the governor criticized President Trump’s pandemic response and called on him to concede the Nov. 3 election to Democrat Joe Biden.
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Nov 23, 2020
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AP MORNING WIRE
Good morning. In today’s AP Morning Wire:
Trump’s legal team cried election fraud, but courts found none at all.
Inequality ‘baked into’ US virus testing access as cases surge.
Strict regional restrictions ahead for England; Russia’s health system hit.
Survivor who fled Ethiopia’s Tigray fighting warns of ‘catastrophe.’
TAMER FAKAHANY DEPUTY DIRECTOR – GLOBAL NEWS COORDINATION, LONDON
The Rundown
AP PHOTO/MARY ALTAFFER
Trump’s legal team cried vote fraud but courts found none; Trump aims to box in Biden abroad, but it may not work
As President Donald Trump’s campaign team desperately searched for ways to salvage his failed re-election bid, they pursued a game of legal hopscotch across six states that included the biggest prize of all: Pennsylvania with its 20 electoral votes.
The strategy may have played well on Trump-friendly television and talk radio sites to his supporters. But it has proved to be a disaster in court, where judges have uniformly rejected its claims of vote fraud and found the campaign’s legal work amateurish.
In a scathing and blistering ruling this weekend, a U.S. District judge who is a Republican in central Pennsylvania compared the campaign’s legal arguments to “Frankenstein’s Monster,” concluding that Trump’s team offered only “speculative accusations,” not proof of rampant corruption. Maryclaire Dale has that story.
Wisconsin Recount: A large contingent of observers supporting Trump have made their presence felt in the state’s partial election recount. Trump paid $3 million for the recount in the state’s two biggest and most liberal counties in a long shot bid to erase President-elect Joe Biden’s more than 20,000-vote victory. Election commissioners have been in almost perpetual session to address a stream of Trump challenges that the county clerk said were slowing the recount to a crawl. Election officials accused Trump representatives and observers of flouting rules to obstruct and delay the recount, Michael Tarm reports.
Trump Legal Team: They are now moving to distance themselves from a firebrand conservative attorney, Sidney Powell, after she made multiple incorrect statements about the voting process, alleged unsupported conspiracy theories and vowed to “blow up” Georgia with a “biblical” lawsuit, Eric Tucker reports.
Foreign Policy: The outgoing The Trump administration is enacting new rules and regulations that it hopes will box in Biden on foreign policy matters. In a bid to cement Trump’s legacy in international affairs, the White House, State Department and other agencies have been working on new pronouncements on Iran, Israel, China and elsewhere. While many of these actions can be reversed by Biden, they will still demand the time of the new administration amid a host of other priorities, Matt Lee reports.
Biden Cabinet: A longtime national security aide to President-elect Joe Biden, Antony Blinken, is expected to become Biden’s nominee for secretary of state. Blinken served as deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration. If chosen and confirmed, he would be a leading force in Biden’s bid to reframe the U.S. global relationship after Trump questioned alliances.
Trump Transition: The defeated president and his allies are harking back to his presidential transition four years ago to make a false argument that his own presidency was denied a fair chance by Barack Obama’s team. That incorrect claim comes as the Trump administration has yet to formally acknowledge Biden’s victory, slowing the transition even as the nation is facing severe economic and health crises. The comparisons between the presidential transitions are part of a broader attempt by Trump to undermine the legitimacy of Biden’s win, Jonathan Lemire reports.
Black Voter Suppression Biden was in part powered to victory in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia by Black voters, many in urban centers such as Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta. Trump and his allies have claimed voter fraud that simply does not exist. The strategy could erode Black voters’ trust in elections. Voting-rights advocates say they will beat back any efforts to water down the Black vote. But fears persist that Trump’s allies will undermine democracy and disenfranchise Black Americans and other voters of color, Aaron Morrison, Kat Stafford and Christine Fernando report.
AP PHOTO/BEBETO MATTHEWS
Inequality ‘baked into’ US virus testing access as cases surge; Many Americans flying, driving for Thanksgiving despite pleas
The lines for free COVID-19 tests stretch for blocks and hours in American cities where people feel the dual strain of the virus surge and now convoluted holiday plans.
One man who said his work gave him the flexibility to wait six hours in line for a test in New York says not everyone can do the same and that inequity is “baked into” the testing structure.
Flying Home: Millions of Americans bought tickets to fly somewhere for Thanksgiving before the nation’s top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pleaded with them not to travel for the holiday. So what are they doing now? In many cases, they’re still crowding airports and boarding planes. That’s despite relatively lenient cancellation policies by major airlines, Matt O’Brien reports.
The crowding at airports has the nation’s top infectious disease expert worried. Dr. Anthony Fauci says new infections from Thanksgiving travel won’t show up for weeks but could hit at the worst time: during the December holiday season as the weather grows cold.
Antibody Drug: U.S. health officials have allowed emergency use of a second antibody drug to help the immune system fight COVID-19. It’s an experimental medicine that Donald Trump was given when he was stricken. The Food and Drug Administration authorized use of the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. drug for people with mild-to-moderate symptoms. Tests are continuing, but early results suggest the drug may prevent hospitalization and emergency room visits, Marilynn Marchione reports.
Jury Duty: Court officials across the U.S. say a low turnout of people summoned to jury duty is derailing plans to restart trials put on hold by the pandemic. Within the past month, courts in Hartford, Connecticut, San Diego and Norfolk, Virginia, have had to delay jury selection for trials because too few people responded to jury duty summonses, Dave Collins reports.
Rural Schools: The switch to remote learning in rural New Mexico has left some students profoundly isolated — cut off from others and the grid by sheer distance. In the village of Cuba, population 800, the school system is sending buses to students’ homes over an hour away to bring them assignments, meals and a little human contact. On the fringe of the Navajo Nation, many families have no electricity, let alone internet. It’s another glaring way in which the pandemic has exposed the gap between the haves and have-nots, Cedar Attanasio reports.
PA VIA AP /DOMINIC LIPSINKS
England’s lockdown ends Dec. 2 but strict regional restrictions loom; AstraZeneca calls its vaccine ‘highly effective’; Russia’s health system under severe strain
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced plans for strict regional measures after England’s lockdown ends on Dec. 2, sparking a rebellion by members of his own Conservative party who say the move may do more harm than good.
Although a much-criticized 10 p.m. curfew on bars and restaurants may be altered, the tiers are likely to include tighter restrictions than when they were first used in October. More communities are expected to be put into the two highest virus alert categories, Danica Kirka reports from London.
Britain Vaccine: AstraZeneca says late-stage trials showed its COVID-19 vaccine with Oxford University was up to 90% effective, giving public health officials hope they may soon have access to a vaccine that is easier to distribute than some of its rivals. A key researcher said scientists found that if people were given a half dose followed by a full dose, rather than two full doses, protection rose to about 90%. He says “these findings show that we have an effective vaccine that will save many lives.” Pfizer and Moderna, last week reported preliminary results showing that their vaccines were almost 95% effective, Danica Kirka and Jill Lawless report.
Russia Surge: The country’s health care system has been buckling under severe strains in recent weeks as the coronavirus resurges. Across Russia, 81% of the hospital beds set aside for virus patients are full. Hospital corridors are filled with patients on gurneys and even the floor. Bodies in black plastic bags have piled up on a morgue’s floor. Long lines of ambulances wait to discharge patients at hospitals. Daria Litvinova reports from Moscow.
Spain Market: Madrid’s ancient Rastro flea market has reopened after a contentious eight-month closure that has walloped the Spanish capital. With many major European flea markets still shut down, the Rastro’s return seems a bid by Madrid to show that heavy virus restrictions may not be necessary and that some sort of normality can resume with precautions. That stance has been both criticized and lauded.
Chile will open its main border crossing and principal airport to foreign visitors today after an eight-month shutdown. Arrivals will have to present evidence of a recent negative test for the virus as well as health insurance.
“I am telling you, people will slowly start to die,” said an Ethiopian aid expert who fled the fighting in the country’s northern Tigray region. She is one of the few hundred evacuees from the sealed-off rebellious area.
With communications severed to Tigray, supplies blocked at its borders and frantic aid workers using a small number of satellite phones to reach the world, it is extremely difficult to hear from those suffering on the ground. The warring sides have rejected international calls for dialogue or a humanitarian corridor for aid. Cara Anna has this special report.
Israeli media are reporting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Saudi Arabia for a clandestine meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which would mark the first known encounter between senior Israeli and Saudi officials. Netanyahu and the head of the Mossad spy agency reportedly flew to the Saudi city of Neom where they met with the crown prince. The prince was there for talks with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. While Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates have reached deals under the Trump administration to normalize ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia so far has remained out of reach.
As Azerbaijan regains control of land it lost to Armenian forces a quarter-century ago, civilians who fled the fighting decades ago are wondering if they can go back home now. An estimated 600,000 Azerbaijanis were displaced in the 1990s war that left the Nagorno-Karabakh region under the control of ethnic Armenian separatists and large adjacent territories in Armenia’s hands. During six weeks of renewed fighting this fall, Azerbaijan took back parts of Nagorno-Karabakh itself and sizeable swaths of the outlying areas. But as Azerbaijani forces discovered, much of the recovered land is uninhabitable.
Prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong and two other activists have been taken into custody after pleading guilty to charges related to a demonstration outside police headquarters during anti-government protests last year. Wong, with fellow activists Ivan Lam and Agnes Chow, had pleaded guilty to charges related to organizing, taking part in and inciting protesters to join an unauthorized protest last June.
Two people are dead and multiple others are injured following a church stabbing in San Jose, California. Police say the stabbing happened at Grace Baptist Church. It is unclear exactly how many people were wounded. Police say there is no confirmation of an arrest after the mayor said on Twitter that a suspect had been captured, but later deleted the tweet. Police say no services were taking place at the time of the stabbing, but that homeless people had been brought to the church to take shelter from the cold.
Also, Thanksgiving is only days away and many are grappling with how to celebrate the holiday in a pandemic-safe way. Here’s how hundreds of epidemiologists are planning to spend the day.
Here’s more coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
Federal prosecutors reached the doorstep of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan last week when they indicted one of the powerful Democrat’s oldest and most trusted friends in an alleged extensive bribery scheme involving Commonwealth Edison.
But like other major political corruption cases before it, a key question remains when it comes to the charges against Michael McClain. Will he flip?
Chicago’s nearly complete Vista Tower comes wrapped in superlatives — the city’s third-tallest building and the world’s tallest building designed by a woman — as well as seemingly curving, multicolored glass. But the hype would be meaningless if the $1 billion, 101-story tower did not merit a more important distinction: It’s a stirring work of skyline artistry, writes architecture critic Blair Kamin.
Millions of Americans appear set to defy government guidance to stay home this Thanksgiving, disregarding the growing peril of COVID-19 to gather with distant loved ones. So the messaging should be about minimizing risk, say harm reduction experts, who say government officials should talk more about how to do it in the safest possible manner.
The renewed nationwide surge of COVID-19 has hit Cook County lockups with force this fall, causing officials to reevaluate the safeguards put in place earlier this year to blunt the spread of the deadly infection behind bars.
The great outdoors provided a much-needed respite for many coronavirus-weary folks this summer. But as temperatures drop and snow makes its way into the forecast, some might be contemplating a chillier camping season extending into the winter. If it’s your first time venturing out into the cold — here’s everything you need to know about winter camping.
As the demand for bikes has skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic, Chicago has experienced an uptick in bike thefts this year, newly released statistics show.
So far this year, about 208 bikes have been stolen per month within city limits — an increase from the 195 monthly thefts reported in 2019, according to data obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. Many more are not reported, and most are not recovered. Sam Kelly has the story…
The decision comes after parents, principals and other school employees were surveyed last week “to gauge their comfort with in-person learning in December,” an archdioceses spokesman said.
A drop in daily caseloads across the state over the last three days may signal hope, but one in 15 Chicagoans are estimated to have COVID-19, according to Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Welcome to The Hill’s Morning Report. It is Monday! We get you up to speed on the most important developments in politics and policy, plus trends to watch. Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver are the co-creators, and readers can find us on Twitter @asimendinger and @alweaver22. Please recommend the Morning Report to friends and let us know what you think. CLICK HERE to subscribe!
Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported this morning: 256,783.
President-elect Joe Biden has amassed an election victory with decisive electoral and popular vote totals, even as President Trump clings to legal challenges repeatedly rejected in state courts while prominent GOP voices urge the president to launch a transition handoff immediately.
Biden’s standing in the Electoral College is 306 to Trump’s 232 in advance of electors’ votes in each state on Dec. 14. Ballots in all states have been counted, although Trump asked for a second recount in Georgia (The Associated Press), which Biden captured, making him the first Democrat to win Georgia since 1992. Trump’s campaign also filed a narrow appeal late on Sunday in Pennsylvania tied to a judge’s rejection of his earlier challenge in the state (Politico). And the partial recount in Wisconsin that Trump’s campaign is paying for is now underway as the team seeks to disqualify batches of ballots (The Washington Post).
The Hill: Pressure grows from GOP for Trump to recognize Biden’s election win.
The Hill: Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is retiring from the Senate in 2022, congratulated Biden as president-elect. “President Trump has exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania,” said Toomey, one of a handful of Republican senators who has wished Biden well as the incoming president.
NBC News: Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said on Sunday that the transition assistance for Biden should begin immediately: “It’s past time to start a transition, to at least cooperate with the transition. I’d rather have a president that has more than one day to prepare.”
The Hill: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Sunday called on Trump to begin the transition process and decried “a pressure campaign on state legislators.”
Biden is expected on Tuesday to name his first Cabinet picks, beginning a process to shape the government, which will set to work on Jan. 20 (The Washington Post and Reuters). The transition period, which Trump and the General Services Administration refuse to initiate, is intended by law to give presidents-elect time to vet candidates, send nomination paperwork to the Senate, and work with senators to vote to confirm as many heads of agencies and departments as possible in January and early February.
Biden is reported to be ready to nominate longtime adviser and National Security Council veteran Antony Blinken as secretary of State (The Associated Press), and to appoint Jake Sullivan, a former top adviser to Hillary Clinton at the State Department and subsequently to Biden when he was vice president and as a candidate, to become White House national security adviser in January (The New York Times).
The president-elect last week said he’d settled on a nominee to be Treasury secretary (and several possible candidates surfaced in headlines). Appearing to rise to the top of his list: former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen (Bloomberg News). Candidates mentioned to lead the Justice Department include Tom Perez, Deval Patrick, Tony West, outgoing Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Sally Yates (NPR). Also mentioned: Judge Merrick Garland (NPR). For the United Nations, Biden is reportedly prepared to nominate as U.S. ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, former assistant secretary of State for Africa during the second term of the Obama administration, who served in the Foreign Service for more than three decades (Axios).
As The Hill’s Jordain Carney reports, Senate Democrats are brushing off calls from some progressives for Biden to play hardball with Republicans over his Cabinet picks.
Some Republicans, who need to win at least one of two Senate runoff elections in Georgia on Jan. 5 to hold their slim majority, have already made clear they are reluctant to give ground to Biden when it comes to nominees, Carl Hulse reports for The New York Times. Should Republicans retain their Senate majority next year, Biden would be the first president since George Bush in 1989 to enter office without his party controlling the chamber and managing the confirmation process. That process has become increasingly toxic.
The Hill: Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who as a ticket captured the White House with notable support among women, are leaning heavily on female appointees to the incoming administration.
Trump’s refusal to concede the election has Washington pondering his imagined endgame. A lot will depend on whether Republican lawmakers speak up between now and mid-December. So far, most GOP senators and House members have remained silent as Trump contests the Nov. 3 election for weeks on end, with no evidence he will succeed in overturning tens of thousands of votes in Biden’s column (The Hill).
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who supported Trump for president but frequently points out his vulnerabilities, told ABC News on Sunday that the president’s election legal team is an “embarrassment.”
The Hill: Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Sunday attempted to distance the Trump campaign from attorney Sidney Powell after she made baseless allegations about widespread nationwide election fraud. Giuliani said Powell, who appeared with him at a Thursday news conference, is not part of the president’s campaign legal team and does not represent Trump in personal legal matters.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) got under Trump’s skin on Sunday when he said more Republicans must speak up to urge the president to concede to Biden. Hogan said he is no longer confident the president will step down in January without a divisive showdown (The Hill).
The New York Times: Trump hopes to use the Republican Party machinery to retain control of the GOP after he leaves office.
The Washington Post: The president privately plots his next act, including a potential 2024 run for the White House.
> Inauguration: The Jan. 20 U.S. Capitol ceremony and oath of office will accommodate the ongoing coronavirus risks. “I think it’s going to definitely have to be changed,” incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain said on Sunday. “Obviously, this is not going to be the same kind of inauguration we had in the past.” Biden’s team is consulting with leaders in the House of Representatives and Senate on details and best practices, but no details have been disclosed (Reuters). Traditional inauguration festivities have included mass gatherings stretching from the Capitol across the Mall, a parade past the White House and inaugural balls, all of which are likely to change.
> Transition & policies: Biden and his economic team are preparing for the possibility of a double-dip recession next year (The New York Times). … The president-elect has pledged to “permanently protect” the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Law enacted three years ago requires by the end of 2024 two lease sales for the oil and gas industry in the refuge. However, there are some options open to the new administration to slow drilling. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is moving with speed to benefit the industry before January (The Hill). … Biden has promised to rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement if Iran abides by the 2015 deal, but both sides would have to race against the clock and navigate a political minefield to reach that goal. Iran is due to hold elections in June, complicating the maneuvering room for the incoming administration, according to experts (NBC News). In the meantime, representatives of Germany, France and Britain are to meet today to discuss the nuclear deal (Reuters). … Under Trump, the nation is vulnerable to attacks incyberspace because of the president’s recent decision to fire the top federal cybersecurity official. It’s a national security worry during the transition (The Hill).
CORONAVIRUS: More promising news about vaccines this morning: AstraZeneca said today that late-stage trials showed that its COVID-19 vaccine developed with Oxford University was up to 90 percent effective in preventing disease. The results are based on interim analysis of trials in the United Kingdom and Brazil (The Associated Press).
The first round of any COVID-19 vaccinations available in the United States could arrive as early as the second week of December as the Food and Drug Administration’s advisory committee prepares to meet on Dec. 10. A federal authorization is expected almost immediately.
The Dec. 10 meeting will center around the emergency use authorization request by Pfizer for its newly developed vaccine, which is 95 percent effective, according to the company. Officials have said that 20 million people in the U.S. — most of them health care workers — will be immunized in December.
“Our plan is to be able to ship vaccines to the immunization sites within 24 hours from the approval, so I would expect maybe on day two after approval, on the 11th or on the 12th of December, hopefully, the first people will be immunized across the United States, across all states, in all the areas where the state departments of health will have told us where to deliver the vaccine,”Moncef Slaoui, the head of Operation Warp Speed, told CNN on Sunday.
As The Hill’s Peter Sullivan reports, the success of Operation Warp Speed in the United States has upped the pressure on the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp up rapid testing while segments of the population wait for inoculations.
Experts say tests that people could take in their homes and deliver results in minutes would go a long way to slowing the pandemic. However, they want the Trump administration to be more aggressive in ramping up the manufacture of rapid tests and clearing regulatory barriers to their approval. It is one area the Biden transition team is prioritizing.
Politico: Trump tells G-20 leaders he wants U.S. citizens to get the world’s first vaccines.
Austin American-Statesman: Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) takes part in Moderna’s clinical trial for a vaccine.
Treatments for the novel coronavirus also received a boost on Sunday as an antibody therapy by Regeneron was granted emergency use authorization. The antibody was given to the president at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center when he was recovering from COVID-19.
The treatment is suggested for mild to moderate symptoms of the virus, and those who are at high risk for developing severe symptoms, especially individuals 65 and older with chronic issues (Reuters).
The vaccine and treatment developments come at a dark time for the U.S. as the virus continues to wreak havoc across the country. Of the 12.2 million confirmed cases in the country, more than 3 million were reported between Nov. 1 and Nov. 22 — representing 25 percent of all infections (CNN). The United States has reported at least 100,000 new confirmed cases daily for 19 consecutive days, including Friday’s single-day high of 196,000 infections.
The Washington Post: Coronavirus cases are soaring in the D.C. region. Experts say the worst is yet to come.
At the state level, GOP governors are relenting in their opposition to mandates for individuals to wear masks. According to The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel, governors in states such as Utah, Iowa, North Dakota and Ohio — after watching COVID-19 case counts rise at record rates and hospitals filling up — changed course despite resisting such measures for eight months.
For months, Trump has wavered about wearing a mask and about urging others to do so, but the prospect of the incoming Biden administration has given governors political cover for what was previously considered politically dicey. Some states remain opposed to calling for masks, including South Dakota, Oklahoma and Nebraska.
The Hill: Pentagon struggles to contain coronavirus outbreaks.
The Hill: The U.S. economy hurtles toward a “COVID cliff” with assistance programs set to expire in December.
More coronavirus (international edition): Group of 20 countries said on Sunday that they will ensure COVID-19 drugs, tests and vaccines will be equally distributed to countries rich and poor amid concerns that the richest nations could take priority (Reuters). … In Hong Kong, Health Secretary Sophia Chan announced that any resident of the territory who tests positive for the virus will receive $645 in a push to encourage Hong Kongers to get tested (The Hill). … British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that the lockdown across the United Kingdom will end on Dec. 2 (The Associated Press). … In China, authorities imposed new lockdowns and shut down schools in three major cities, including Shanghai, due to a sudden rise of virus cases. The Chinese also tested millions for the virus in an attempted crackdown of cases (The Associated Press).
IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES
MORE POLITICS: House Democrats are gearing up for what could be their final investigatory showdown with the Trump administration: forcing Trump to admit that he lost the election.
Having followed the former vice president’s lead to dismiss Trump’s myriad legal challenges, House Democrats are turning to their oversight abilities. As The Hill’s Cristina Marcos notes, the chairs of the House Oversight and Appropriations committees demanded that the General Services Administration, which has yet to officially allow the transition to begin, provide a briefing and threatened to haul officials in for a public hearing.
The Hill: Biden faces politically thorny decision on Trump prosecutions.
> 2022 midterms: Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who represents a district Trump won in 2016, has warned House Democrats as they ponder a political reset after 13 seats change from blue to red as a result of the elections. Democrats worry about maintaining control of the House in the looming 2022 midterms.
According to Maloney, who is vying to lead the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the party faces financial, digital and diversity problems. He argues Democrats must adapt rather than remain mired in the past.
“The success of our next DCCC chair will determine whether we can support this new president,” Maloney, a four-term lawmaker, told The Hill’s Scott Wong and Mike Lillis in a lengthy telephone interview. “There are solutions all around us that we are not taking advantage of, because we are stuck in the past.”
➔ HOLIDAYS, TRAVEL & ADMINISTRATION: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dealt a blow to airlines and the broader travel industry on Thursday by recommending Americans stay home for Thanksgiving. Airlines are countering that passengers are safe from COVID-19 on planes because of precautionary measures. The Transportation Security Administration says people should be free to make up their minds about whether to visit family and friends during what’s typically the busiest travel holiday of the year (The Hill). … The White House has made little effort to offer unified and clear guidance about how Americans should safely approach the Thanksgiving holiday during the pandemic, leaving the topic largely to states and individuals (The Hill). … Anthony Fauci, the government’s leading infectious disease expert, warned on Sunday about crowded airports as a hazard for COVID-19 spread among Thanksgiving travelers (The Associated Press). … Millions of Americans appear eager to gather with friends and families for Thanksgiving despite warnings about rising COVID-19 infections and worries there will be yet another surge in nationwide spread following the holiday. “People have to realize we’re nearly at the end. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It would be a real shame if someone got sick now before a vaccine… and didn’t make it to the next Thanksgiving,” said Aaron Glatt, chief infectious diseases and hospital epidemiologist at Mount Sinai South Nassau (The Hill). … The White House last week was planning a Hanukkah reception in December, even as coronavirus infections climb. An invitation to the indoor event includes no special coronavirus instructions (Jewish Telegraphic Agency). The White House is also planning in-person, indoor Christmas parties despite its recent experience with the spread of COVID-19 during September events held at the White House and infection among staff members and the president’s own family (HuffPost).
➔ RUSSIA: The Trump administration withdrew the United States from the Open Skies treaty with Russia, officials announced on Sunday (The Hill). … Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding off on congratulating Biden on his election victory (The Associated Press).
➔ FEDERAL RESERVE: Judy Shelton‘s bumpy ride as a nominee to the Federal Reserve Board appears to have run out of roadway. The Senate GOP’s inability to confirm her last week leaves Trump’s controversial choice with few paths to a seat at the central bank (The Hill).
THE CLOSER
And finally … With three newsletter days left until Thanksgiving, Morning Report readers have stumbled upon a slice of the holiday. Today, pies are in the news.
Radical: Pies with crusts don’t belong at Thanksgiving meals (Los Angeles Times).
Nonsense, say foodies. Great pie recipes with crusts abound for the holiday, such as “90 absolutely incredible Thanksgiving desserts you need to make” (Good Housekeeping).
How about Ina Garten’s “Ultimate Pumpkin Pie with Rum Whipped Cream”? She shared her boozy recipe with Williams Sonoma to help sell her latest book, “Modern Comfort Food.”
The Morning Report is created by journalists Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver. We want to hear from you! Email: asimendinger@thehill.com and aweaver@thehill.com. We invite you to share The Hill’s reporting and newsletters, and encourage others to SUBSCRIBE!
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POLITICO Playbook: Is the GOP shooting itself in the foot?
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DRIVING THE DAY
BREAKING … AP/LONDON:“AstraZeneca said Monday that late-stage trials showed that its COVID-19 vaccine with Oxford University was up to 90% effective in preventing disease.”
YA GOTTA WONDER when Republicans are going to figure out that they shouldn’t undermine the voting process in Georgia when … they need Republicans to trust the voting process in Georgia to reelect Sens. DAVID PERDUE and KELLY LOEFFLER and keep the Senate majority. The stakes literally could not be higher for Senate Republicans.
TODAY’S BIG STORY… DETROIT FREE PRESS/LANSING:“For what is believed would be the first time in history, Michigan’s elections board could deadlock Monday on certifying the state’s presidential election results.
“By law and by practice, certification by the Board of State Canvassers — comprised of two Democratic appointees and two Republican ones — is supposed to be a routine sign-off. Certification acknowledges that Michigan’s unofficial results match the tabulated vote counts. It follows a two-week period of double-checking in Michigan’s 83 counties, where some inaccuracies in the unofficial numbers, as is normal, were found and corrected.
“But these are not normal times. The climate is hyper-partisan, disinformation is rampant, and Republican President Donald Trump and his team of lawyers are spreading false claims, working to somehow overturn election results in Michigan and other key states, and upend President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College, where Biden rung up 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232. …
“If the board showed no signs of acting to certify, someone would almost certainly sue in the Michigan Court of Appeals, seeking an order requiring the board to do so. Such an order could then be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court. Once court proceedings are concluded, preferably before the Dec. 8 ‘safe harbor’ date by which Congress is required to accept Michigan’s electoral votes, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would certify the state’s 16 presidential electors ahead of the Dec. 14 convening of the Electoral College.” Knowing the members of the board, via the NYT
ON SUNDAY NIGHT, Reps. BRYAN STEIL (R-Wis.) and JOE COURTNEY (D-Conn.) both announced they have tested positive for the coronavirus. … STEIL was at Capital Grille on Wednesday night, along with many other members. We’ve lost count of all the members who have now gotten the coronavirus this month. You gotta guess that it will be tough for the House to come back into session with this winter coming, and proxy voting in place.
TESTING BIDEN’S METTLE WITH THE HILL: JOE KNOWS CONGRESS and his team are putting out the word that he is pressing senior Democratic leaders to cut a stimulus deal with Senate Republicans — even if it is smaller than Democrats have hoped for. THE NYT’S JIM TANKERSLEY and EMILY COCHRANE have a good story on this today.
— CUTTING A DEAL LIKE THAT would be a complete reversal of the Democrats’ position, and would represent a fold, of sorts, by Speaker NANCY PELOSI and Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER, who have, for months, said that no deal is better than a half deal. In fact, we asked PELOSI a few weeks ago if her position on Covid relief had changed since the election. She said no.
— CAN PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDENCONVINCEPELOSI and SCHUMER to do this? And furthermore, will he call Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL at some point to press him to make this happen?
ALSO: THE NDAA — the defense authorization bill — has passed every year for nearly six decades. TRUMP is suggesting he’ll veto it because he wants to keep Confederate namesakes of military installations. NBC
BIDEN’S CABINET … BLOOMBERG SCOOP: “Biden to Name Longtime Aide Blinken as Secretary of State,”by Tyler Pager, Jennifer Epstein and Saleha Mohsin: “President-elect Joe Biden intends to name his longtime adviser Antony Blinken as secretary of state, according to three people familiar with the matter, setting out to assemble his cabinet even before Donald Trump concedes defeat.
“In addition, Jake Sullivan, formerly one of Hillary Clinton’s closest aides, is likely to be named Biden’s national security adviser, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield will be nominated to serve as Biden’s ambassador to the United Nations. An announcement of the president-elect’s top national security advisers is expected for Tuesday, the people said.”
SULLIVAN and BLINKEN are “good friends,” the NYT says. And BLINKEN and MICHÈLE FLOURNOY — a candidate for Defense secretary — have a strategic advisory firm together.
— AXIOS’ HANS NICHOLSon THOMAS-GREENFIELD: “Democrats close to President-elect Biden expect him to name Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations, looking to a Black woman and respected diplomat to restore morale. … The decision would be in line with Biden’s pledge to name a diverse Cabinet. It’s likely he will pick a woman or a person of color — or both — as his White House press secretary, and Democrats are urging him to nominate several Latinos to high-profile Cabinet positions.”
Good Monday morning. California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM and his family are quarantining for 14 days after his children were exposed to a police officer with the coronavirus. L.A. Times
BIDEN and VP-Elect KAMALA HARRIS will meet with the U.S. Conference of Mayors virtually in Wilmington, Del.
BREAKING OVERNIGHT … AXIOS’ BARAK RAVID: “Israeli PM flew to Saudi Arabia for meeting with Pompeo and crown prince”: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled in secret Sunday to the city of Neom on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli sources tell me. … Israel and Saudi Arabia had a secret relationship for many years, but this is the first time such a high level meeting has been reported — even though neither side confirmed it officially.”
— ON THE ROAD WITH O’BRIEN … BLOOMBERG’S @JenniferJJacobs at 4:23 a.m.: “Trump adviser @robertcobrien in brief interview declined to comment just now on Israeli news reports that Netanyahu secretly flew to Saudi Arabia to meet with MBS and Mike Pompeo. O’Brien declined to give an update on efforts to normalize ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.”
BIDEN CAMP ON COVID — “Biden to spotlight CDC officials shunned by Trump,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein and Adam Cancryn: “President-elect Joe Biden is putting scientists in charge and back on the stage to restore trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The plans include immediately reviving regular media briefings and giving a central role to long-sidelined career officials including Nancy Messonnier, the public health official who first warned of the ‘severe’ impact of the Covid-19 back in February.
“The goal, said Biden’s advisers, is to send a tightly coordinated message that, nearly a year into the coronavirus crisis, the federal government is prioritizing science over politics in driving its pandemic response.” POLITICO
SEVEN LETTER, the public affairs firm, is launching its own polling operation, SEVEN LETTER INSIGHT.SOME SNIPPETS from its first poll: 56% of TRUMP voters don’t believe their vote was recorded accurately. … 83% of TRUMP voters believe the media is the enemy of the people.… 35% of Democrats see BIDEN as their grandfather, and 33% of Republican voters see TRUMP as their boss. The full poll
TRUMP’S LAST-DITCH LEGAL EFFORTS — “Trump campaign files narrow appeal in Pennsylvania,”by Josh Gerstein: “President Donald Trump’s campaign filed a narrow appeal Sunday in its longshot bid to have Trump declared the victor in the presidential race in Pennsylvania despite lagging more than 71,000 votes behind President-elect Joe Biden.
“With Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar set to certify the results of the election as soon as Monday, the Trump campaign filed an emergency motion with the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals asking that court to compel a lower court to accept a redrafted complaint contending that election officials excluded observers as part of an effort to process thousands of flawed mail-in ballots that largely favored Biden.
“The campaign did not seek an immediate order from the 3rd Circuit to block certification of Biden as the winner. Instead, the motion filed with the court Sunday evening said the campaign might seek decertification of the results ‘if already certified.’”
MEET THE UNDERSIDE OF A BUS … “Trump campaign cuts Sidney Powell from president’s legal team,”by Kyle Cheney: “President Donald Trump appears to have cut ties with Sidney Powell, a key member of his legal team who also represents former national security adviser Michael Flynn in his long-running attempt to unravel a guilty plea for lying about his 2016 contacts with Russia. The abrupt shake-up came in a terse Sunday-evening statement from the Trump campaign that offered no explanation for Powell’s removal.
“‘Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own,’ Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis said in the statement. ‘She is not a member of the Trump Legal Team. She is also not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity.’”
“But Joe Biden did. The former vice president won the presidency despite reporters’ bored skepticism and editorial board snubs. And Mr. Meacham, a Pulitzer-winning historian whose books have lionized figures like President George H.W. Bush and Representative John Lewis, is the media figure he’s closest to, an occasional source of historical advice who helps with his biggest speeches. (This revelation cost Mr. Meacham a formal MSNBC contributor job when it was reported in The New York Times this month.) Mr. Meacham’s surprising turn at the center of American politics is a reflection on Mr. Biden’s relationship with the news media, one very different from his predecessor’s, and a hint at the future.”
MCCONNELL’S NEXT HURDLE — “Republicans dash to defend perilous 2022 Senate map,”by Burgess Everett and John Bresnahan: “Sen. Chuck Grassley will be 89 when the 2022 midterm campaign rolls around. Republicans are counting on him to run for an eighth term. ‘I hope Chuck Grassley comes back. He’s very healthy and I hope he comes back really strong. That will be really important,’ said incoming National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Rick Scott of Florida in an interview. ‘I don’t think Chuck Grassley is beatable.’
“Grassley … hasn’t decided. But his lock on Iowa’s Senate seat — and the prospect that he could retire — hits directly at the challenge facing Scott and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who must defend at least 20 seats to Democrats’ 13. …
“Meanwhile, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) says he’s not interested in a Senate bid and seems more curious about a presidential race in 2024. But several Maryland Democratic sources say Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) is ‘very concerned’ about a potential Hogan candidacy and is watching Hogan closely. ‘I think Larry could [run],’ Scott said. ‘People perceive him to be a successful governor. And I think he likes the political process. I think he likes trying to do good things. You could see him doing it.’ …
“Eighty-year-old Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the longest-serving senator, said he will make up his mind on his future in the fall of 2021. ‘I’ll talk to you after January,’ added Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the 86-year-old chairman of the Appropriations Committee. ‘They’re trying to get me to run, but it’s my sixth term. Let’s talk after January.’”
PLAYBOOK READS
THE FUTURE OF THE GOP? — “Republicans Rewrite an Old Playbook on Disenfranchising Black Americans,”by NYT’s Jim Rutenberg and Nick Corasaniti: “Mr. Trump’s fruitless and pyromaniacal campaign to somehow reverse President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory in the election rests on the wholesale disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters, a disproportionate number of them Black Americans living in the urban centers of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.
“Notably absent from the effort has been any focus on predominantly white suburban areas where the president performed better, but where he lost ground compared with four years ago and arguably lost the election. The campaign is not Mr. Trump’s alone. He has had help from supporters and allies throughout the country, as well as from the Republican National Committee and its state branches.”
BEYOND THE BELTWAY — “Newsom faces new pressure to fill Harris seat with woman of color instead of presumed favorite,”by Carla Marinucci in Oakland, Calif.: “As speculation grows that Gov. Gavin Newsom is leaning toward California elections chief Alex Padilla to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, a crowd of top Democratic donors and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown are launching an aggressive campaign to argue that another woman of color should fill that seat instead.
“Brown, the former longtime speaker of the California Assembly, said he’s launching a drive Monday to organize Black churches, pastors, civic leaders, fraternal organizations and prominent members of the Black press statewide to urge Newsom to consider leading Black women for the seat. Among the leading choices, he said, are Reps. Barbara Lee, Karen Bass and Maxine Waters; San Francisco Mayor London Breed; and state Sen. Holly Mitchell.
“‘There’s no way that Gavin Newsom should allow anyone other than a Black woman to fill the seat of Harris, who’s only the second Black woman in the history of the U.S. Senate,’ Brown told POLITICO on Sunday. ‘There should be no contest.’”
MEDIAWATCH — Kadia Goba is the new politics reporter at Axios covering Congress, and a co-author of the Axios Sneak Peek newsletter. She previously covered the Trump campaign, the White House and Congress at BuzzFeed.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE: Max Miller has returned to the White House, where he is now a senior adviser and a deputy assistant to the president. He most recently was deputy Trump campaign manager for presidential operations.
TRANSITION — Meaghan Rose Smith is joining the Biosimilars Forum as its first executive director. She most recently led the health care practice at SKDKnickerbocker, and is an Obama HHS, Brian Schatz and Senate Finance alum.
ENGAGED — Tommy Andrews, special assistant to the president for legislative affairs, and Mollie Thorsen, founder of the Little Burros and U.S. director of advocacy for A21, got engaged Saturday afternoon in Old Town. They met almost three years ago at the Boehnerland wedding of their close friends, Adam and Annie Wolf. Pic… Another pic
— Megan Cassella, a POLITICO reporter, and Andrew Magod, a senior partner relationship manager with Credible Inc., got engaged at their Adams Morgan home Saturday. They met in a D.C. kickball league in 2017. Pic
— John Twomey, chief of staff in the office of the assistant HHS secretary for legislation, proposed to Meghan Dugan, press secretary for Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), at the Homestead resort Friday. Both are from Georgia and are Tom Price alums, which is how they met. Pic
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Richard Hunt, president and CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association. What he’s watching for in the Biden presidency: “Will he be the Joe Biden we have known over the last 40 years, or will he be the Joe Biden held captive by the far left?” Playbook Q&A
BIRTHDAYS: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is 7-0 … Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) is 67 … Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) is 74 … Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) is 49 … Carolyn Ryan, NYT deputy managing editor … ABC’s Pierre Thomas … former Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is 65 … Amy Schatz, VP at Glen Echo Group … Geoff Mackler … RNC’s Rick Gorka … Matt Dennis … Katie Wall, the White House National Space Council’s chief of staff … Danny Cevallos … BBC’s Suzanne Kianpour… Adam Belmar … AFP’s Bill Riggs … Nancy Ortmeyer Kuhn … Jeremy Slevin, senior comms director/strategist for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) … Colby Nelson … Charlie Goodyear … Sheara Braun, producer for MSNBC’s “All In” … Matt Farrauto … HuffPost overnight editor Jade Walker …
… Robin Roberts is 6-0 …Amir Afkhami … Emily Jansen … POLITICO’s Ryan Niblock … John Marshall … Brittany Griffin … Diane Begala … former Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle is 75 … Joe Shannahan … Carol Pensky (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Geoff Morrell, EVP for comms and advocacy at BP … Patrick Pfingsten … former Labor Secretary William Brock is 9-0 … Joey Francilus … Sheria Clarke, of counsel at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough … Emily Zoda … Josh Levitt … Meghan Womack … Mary Rutherford Jennings … Julia Gill Woodward … Will Glasscock … Austin Shafran … Laura Chavez … Melissa Pardue … Liz Victorin … Chris Dovi … Kyunghan Kim … POLITICO Europe’s Virginie Dandoy … Andrea Lavin Solow … Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder is 56
By Caffeinated Thoughts on Nov 23, 2020 12:28 am
The American College of Pediatricians on Friday hailed an 11th Circuit Court panel ruling that struck down conversion therapy bans in Florida. Read in browser »
Launched in 2006, Caffeinated Thoughts reports news and shares commentary about culture, current events, faith and state and national politics from a Christian and conservative point of view.
Apple, the $2 trillion tech company, has lobbied Congress to soften the language in a bill aimed at preventing American companies from relying on forced labor in China for its products, according to a report from The Washington Post. Two congressional staffers told The Post that lobbyists with the firm Fierce Government Solutions have sought …
There was a time in America when citizens often decided not to vote in any election because no matter which party won the Congress or the White House, life went on pretty much as it had the previous several decades. Those comfortable days are gone forever. When Republicans vote for a political candidate it’s usually …
An English-language newspaper controlled by the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda department paid U.S. media companies nearly $2 million for printing and advertising expenses over the past six months, even amid heightened scrutiny over Beijing’s disinformation efforts in the West. China Daily paid The Wall Street Journal more than $85,000 and the Los Angeles Times $340,000 …
America could reach herd immunity by May of next year if a majority of citizens are vaccinated, a prominent health expert told CNN’s Jake Tapper Sunday. Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief scientific adviser for President Donald Trump’s immunization program Operation Warp Speed, told Tapper on his show “State of the Union” that if 70% of …
Every camera phone these days has a feature that can flip the focus on ourselves for a “selfie” or to the outside world for a more conventional photograph. All of it done happens with a quick touch to our screen. That’s as good a high tech explanation as any, of projection in the psychological sense. …
To my memory, the word “snooker” was used to define politicians starting with President Bill Clinton, although many may argue that almost all politicians tend to snooker the public. But looking at Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden, it is easy to feel snookered. I know that many Democrats will argue that President …
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said he won’t run for Senate in 2022, the Raleigh News & Observer reported Friday. Republican North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr has said he’s not seeking a fourth term, leaving the Senate seat open, the Raleigh News & Observer reported. “I love the people of North Carolina. But …
It’s Still Trump’s GOP and Squishes Need Not Apply
Happy Monday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. I hope somebody got some sleep.
There has been a lot of discussion these past few weeks about what a “post-Trump” Republican Party might look like. I wrote a VIP post a couple of weeks ago saying that I didn’t believe there would be any such thing in the near future no matter who ends up being president next year. That doesn’t, however, mean that there won’t be forces in the GOP who have been on the periphery in the Trump era trying to wrest control of the party away from those who have been playing nice with the president for the last four years.
The radical Never-Trump people have been making noise for several weeks about wanting to return the party to the way it used to be, whatever that means. They are operating under the delusion that a lot of Republicans are waiting around to welcome them back with open arms.
Good luck with that.
Republicans who love Trump’s transformation need to be very vigilant right now. The Never-Trumpers may not be well-liked by mainstream American members of the GOP, but they are still well connected to some old money. If we drop our guard amid all of the pandemic and election chaos, these back-stabbers could make a successful grab at some more power.
The Democrats and the media will be giving these malcontents a lot of publicity and support too. Democrats really do not understand what has happened over on this side of the aisle in the last four years. This is from the post I referenced earlier:
Most Democrats — and I know this from numerous conversations — are under the impression that we over here on the Right will eventually view Trump’s ascendance as something that we’ve had to suffer through. They really are that supremely ignorant and arrogant. They are operating under the collective delusion that, deep in our hearts, Republicans want the Republican Party to be the way that Democrats want the Republican Party to be.
A big part of the problem is that the poor dears on the Left spin so much b.s. that they all end up believing their own garbage lies. One of the biggest ones that their media lapdogs repeated throughout the campaign was that there was this massive wave of people who voted for Trump in 2016 who weren’t going to vote for him in 2020.
There were maybe fourteen such people in America.
The reality was that there were millions of people who didn’t vote for him last time who were willing to do anything to vote for him this year. As of the time I’m writing this, Trump has around 14.1 million more votes than he had in 2016.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not getting the “party wants to move on from him” vibe here.
Trump’s stamp on the Republican party is positive all around. The GOP had a better ground game this year. That would have been more apparent had the pandemic not created the month-long mail election. He made inroads with minority voters despite the mainstream media calling him and all of his supports racist every day for four years.
The squish wing of the GOP wants to return to a party that doesn’t listen to the voices in flyover country. They want most decisions to be made over drinks at the Capitol Hill Club by guys who wear red ties to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
If the Republicans let the Bushies control the party again and the Democrats keep learning more and more how to game vote-by-mail, the GOP might never see the White House again.
The party is now reflective of the president’s passion. It doesn’t roll over and play dead for the Democrats in the name of bipartisanship. It’s a party that places more value in fighting than in appearing gentlemanly. It’s a far more functional party than it was four years ago, as evidenced by the fact that the Democrats’ much talked about “Blue Wave” didn’t materialize in the House and Senate races.
Let the Mitt Romney type squishes hang around, but don’t let them get too much power. And make damn sure that the Never-Trumpers don’t sneak in the back door while we’re distracted by COVID and the election mess.
If any of that happens, you can stick a fork in the party because it will be done.
Happy Monday! The day before the election, we said we would give a shoutout to whichever reader correctly guessed the final Electoral College tally. Congratulations Denise Cote, you called it!
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
Pfizer and BioNTech on Friday submitted an application for emergency use authorization for their coronavirus vaccine candidate to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “While we cannot predict how long the FDA’s review will take,” the agency said in a statement, “the FDA will review the request as expeditiously as possible, while still doing so in a thorough and science-based manner, so that we can help make available a vaccine that the American people deserve as soon as possible.”
The makers of a third leading COVID vaccine candidate, AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, announced early Monday that their vaccine was between 62 and 90 percent effective (depending on the dosage administered) in preventing the disease in late-stage trials.
The FDA also issued an emergency use authorization for Regeneron’s antibody treatment to combat mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients who are at high risk of developing more severe symptoms.
Dr. Moncef Slaoui, top scientific adviser to Operation Warp Speed, said yesterday he expects Americans will begin receiving a COVID-19 vaccine on December 11 or 12, adding that enough Americans will be able to be vaccinated by May for life to begin returning to normal.
Bloomberg reports that President-elect Joe Biden will nominate longtime adviser Tony Blinken to be his Secretary of State. Blinken served as Deputy National Security Adviser and Deputy Secretary of State in the Obama administration.
Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Governor Brian Kemp on Friday officially certified President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the state’s presidential election. The Trump campaign immediately requested a recount—which it will not have to pay for because the final margin was within 0.5 percentage points—despite Georgia having just completed a hand recount last week.
A federal judge in Pennsylvania dismissed the Trump campaign’s lawsuit alleging widespread voting irregularities in mail-in ballots, allowing the state to certify its results today as scheduled. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania released a statement shortly afterward congratulating President-elect Biden on his victory and asserting that the president had “exhausted all plausible legal options” in his state.
Sen. Rick Scott, Donald Trump Jr., and Andrew Giuliani (Rudy’s son) all announced over the weekend they had tested positive for the coronavirus. The younger Giuliani was in attendance at the Trump legal team’s press conference at the RNC last week.
The United States confirmed 139,735 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday per the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard, with 8.1 percent of the 1,726,449 tests reported coming back positive. An additional 916 deaths were attributed to the virus on Sunday, bringing the pandemic’s American death toll to 256,746. According to the COVID Tracking Project, 83,782 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19.
Trump’s Legal Team Has an Especially Bad Weekend
Rep. Steve Chabot—a longtime GOP member of the House from Ohio—was asked last week for his thoughts on the Trump campaign’s legal strategy. His response: “It sorta sucks.”
Judging by the numbers, it’s hard to argue with Chabot’s assessment; President Trump and his allies are now 2-34 in post-election litigation, and neither of those victories came close to changing the outcome of a single state, let alone the multiple states needed to reverse Joe Biden’s victory. To be fair, Trump dealt his lawyers a terrible hand by—as we noted Wednesday—claiming the election was stolen from him without having evidence to support the claim.
Broadly speaking, Trump’s plan to—as Jonah put it in his G-File—“steal an election he clearly and unequivocally lost” relied on three main pillars: Getting tens of thousands of legally-cast ballots tossed out in court, pressuring local officials and legislatures to overrule the will of the people in key states he lost, and keeping elected Republicans on message to present a unified front. Each element of the plan took a hit over the weekend.
The Legal Avenue
When we were last in your inbox on Friday, the president’s legal team had just delivered a 1.5-hour press conference alleging, among other things, a conspiracy theory involving Dominion voting systems, former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (who has been dead for seven years), and both Democratic and Republican candidates across the country paying “to have the system rigged to work for them.” Sidney Powell then expanded that conspiracy theory to allege that Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp was “in on the Dominion scam” and that he rigged the state’s elections for Joe Biden and Kelly Loeffler.
In the days since, Trump’s lawyers—who described themselves as an “elite strike force” on Thursday—have fallen into complete disarray. An affidavit released by the Trump team on Michigan’s results began to crumble when it became clear the affidavit mistook Minnesota data for Michigan’s. After Giuliani’s son tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, the entire legal team realized they had likely been exposed. On Sunday, Giuliani and Ellis issued a press release saying that Sidney Powell—whom Trump announced as a member of his “truly great team” last week—is “not a member of the Trump Legal Team.” (Last week, the Republican National Committee tweeted out a video of Powell that referred to her as a “Trump Campaign Lawyer.”)
But none of the above was the worst news of the weekend for Giuliani and Co. That came on Saturday night, when Judge Matthew Brann dismissed the Trump campaign’s last-ditch efforts to block the certification of the results in Pennsylvania, which is set to occur later today. The Trump campaign—which trails Biden by more than 80,000 votes in the state—alleged Republicans had been disadvantaged by certain counties allowing voters to “cure” their mail-in ballots. Brann—a conservative who had been involved in the NRA, the Federalist Society, and the Pennsylvania GOP prior to being nominated to the bench in 2012—did not hold back in his ruling.
In dismissing the Trump campaign’s action, he noted that the plaintiffs were essentially asking the Court to “disenfranchise” seven million voters. “One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption such that this Court would have no option but to regrettably grant the proposed injunctive relief despite the impact it would have on such a large group of citizens,” Brann wrote. “That has not happened. Instead, this Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence. In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state. Our people, laws, and institutions demand more.”
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb (whose Twitter is an invaluable follow for coronavirus commentary) writes in The Wall Street Journal about mask quality. While “there are still some shortages of medical masks,” he notes, “health-care workers have dedicated supply chains”—so consumers should try to upgrade their cloth masks. Surgical masks are roughly twice as protective as cloth, but “N95 or equivalent mask offers the best protection and, if used properly, will filter out at least 95% of infectious particles.” The key is making sure that the mask’s manufacturer is approved by the FDA. If Americans are diligent about choosing better masks, they can make a dent in transmission.
Laura Hazard Owen of NiemanLab surveyed 173 Facebook accounts to find out how many news stories people see on their Facebook feeds, and how much of that news is “fake news.” While caveating that her “sample size was small and shouldn’t be used to draw sweeping conclusions about Facebook news consumers overall,” Owen found that the most users she surveyed actually didn’t see much in the way of hard news, and very little that was labeled by Facebook as misleading or conspiracy-mongering. In the month of October, for example, a slight majority of the users studied by Owen (54 percent) did not see any news within the first 10 posts in their feeds at all. Additionally, although she saw some instances of partisan news, none of the 1,730 posts she looked at had been flagged by Facebook for including “false or disputed information.”
“The president of the United States is trying to steal an election he clearly and unequivocally lost,” Jonah writes in Friday’s G-File, channeling the white-hot rage of 1,000 suns. Trump “was pretty transparent about this long before the election,” he continues, noting the president spent months decrying mail-in ballots and telling his voters to go to the polls on Election Day itself. But Jonah reserves some of his harshest criticism for the elected Republicans encouraging Trump’s charade. “A serious party that cared about its long-term credibility, never mind the long-term credibility of our political system, would walk away from this burning septic tank en masse,” he concludes. “Instead it spends its days lobbing Molotov cocktails of flaming B.S. from its windows.”
Last week, GOP officials began pushing a clip showing Rev. Raphael Warnock—Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s Democratic opponent in January runoffs—delivering a sermon in which he said “you cannot serve God and the military” at the same time. The move comes just weeks after Republicans warned Democrats against attacking Amy Coney Barrett’s faith during the Supreme Court nomination process. In David’s Sunday French Press, he explores how and when to consider a politician’s faith when evaluating them.
Charles Koch and Brian Hooks joined Sarah and David on Friday’s episode of the Dispatch Podcast to discuss their new book, Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World. Koch and Hooks explain how finding common ground with people across the ideological spectrum has helped reorient their approach to public policy reform for the criminal justice system, education, and more.
William Jacobson: “LAST CALL — Today is my last class of the semester. We ended early because of the coronavirus, there was no fall break. We don’t start up again until later than usual, early February.“
Kemberlee Kaye: “Your daily reminder not to give up.”
Leslie Eastman: “‘I hereby dedicate my favorite Christmas carol to Dr. Anthony Fauci and California Governor Gavin Newsom: You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”
Vijeta Uniyal: “As President Donald Trump’s first term comes to a close, his administration is stepping up pressure on the China’s Military establishment. The White House has added four more China-based companies to the list of “Communist Chinese military companies,” making them off-bounds for American investors and financial institutions.”
David Gerstman: “On Friday, Kemberlee Kaye reported that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo won an international Emmy for his “leadership during the Covid19 pandemic & his masterful use of TV to inform and calm people around the world.” This is, as she notes, beyond parody because of his decision early on to send COVID patients to nursing leading to some 11,000 deaths. Nor did he take responsibility for his failure. If the news establishment doesn’t stand up in protest, they really have no standing to criticize Republicans for not being fact-based. Who knew that the Ministry of Truth would not be a branch of government, but a project of the news and entertainment industry?”
Legal Insurrection Foundation is a Rhode Island tax-exempt corporation established exclusively for charitable purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code to educate and inform the public on legal, historical, economic, academic, and cultural issues related to the Constitution, liberty, and world events.
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Fauci Says Relax?
Last week the CDC said that Americans should avoid travel during Thanksgiving. The CDC’s Dr. Erin Sauber-Schatz said, “The safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving this year is at home with the people in your household.”
Yesterday on “Meet the Press,” Dr. Anthony Fauci seemed to take a more nuanced approach based on the likelihood of risks, saying people need to “make their own decision” based on a realistic “risk-benefit assessment.” From the New York Post:“The Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that families need to consider who would be at the table for the holiday meal and whether those guests are high-risk for coming down with a serious case of the virus.
“Every family is different. Everyone has a different level of risk that they want to tolerate,” Fauci said.
“But when you think of the holiday season and the congregating indoors at what are innocent, lovely functions, like meals with family and friends, you have got to at least think in terms of evaluating, do you have people in your family that are elderly, that might have underlying conditions, like someone on chemotherapy, or other things that weaken their immune system?”
In case you missed it last Thursday, the Trump Administration announced the distribution plan for vaccines. From Tristan Justice at The Federalist:
“Both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines are still pending emergency-use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Vice President Mike Pence said the vaccines would begin shipping within 24 hours after such approval.
National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Anthony Fauci reassured Americans at the White House Thursday that neither vaccine was a rushed in any way that might compromise their safety.
“We need to put to rest any concept that this was rushed in any inappropriate way. This is really solid,” Fauci said, as New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo casts partisan doubts on their safety because they were produced while President Donald Trump is still in office.”
Election 2020 Weekend Round-Up
Trump campaign to appeal dismissal of election lawsuit in Pennsylvania (The New York Post)
Not waiting: Twitter plans to hand over @POTUS account even if Trump doesn’t concede (Just The News)
Jordan Sekulow to Newsmax TV: Pending Georgia Lawsuit ‘Shocking’ (Newsmax)
McEnany: Trump’s path to victory is Supreme Court, exposing ‘systemic’ voter fraud (Fox News)
President Trump Defends America at Virtual G20 Summit
Over the weekend, the virtual G20 summit took place, complete with a virtual “family photo.”
In his remarks, President Trump told the other world leaders, “The Paris accord was not designed to save the environment, it was designed to kill the American economy. I refuse to surrender millions of American jobs and send trillions of American dollars to the world’s worst polluters and environmental offenders.”
What I’m Reading This Week
On Friday, BRIGHT will feature its annual gift guide. A sneak preview: One of the items on my list is the book I read last week — Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. Forget everything you think about him (ok, some of it is true). It really is a great book!
This week I’m reading. The Cactus by Sarah Haywood. From the description:
“For Susan Green, messy emotions don’t fit into the equation of her perfectly ordered life. She has a flat that is ideal for one, a job that suits her passion for logic, and an “interpersonal arrangement” that provides cultural and other, more intimate, benefits. But suddenly confronted with the loss of her mother and the news that she is about to become a mother herself, Susan’s greatest fear is realized. She is losing control.
Enter Rob, the dubious but well-meaning friend of her indolent brother. As Susan’s due date draws near and her dismantled world falls further into a tailspin, Susan finds an unlikely ally in Rob. She might have a chance at finding real love and learning to love herself, if only she can figure out how to let go.”
A Case of the Mondays
‘We Must Cancel Thanksgiving,’ Says CDC Scientist Who Looks Suspiciously Like A Turkey In A Lab Coat (Babylon Bee)
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Nov 23, 2020 01:00 am
Hundreds of thousands of “votes lost, ” a sure indicator of fraud, even though those votes are not being recounted, nor are there legal challenges Read More…
Nov 23, 2020 01:00 am
It is instructive to make a list of “Things That Are True,” as asserted by the leftist media, and contrast it with the “Delusions” commonly held by the foolish Trump-supporters. Read More…
Why Trump is waiting
Nov 23, 2020 01:00 am
I think (perhaps “hope” is more accurate) President Trump has something approaching the same thoughts and plan to bust the fraudulent election that occurs to me. Read more…
Et tu, Michael Connelly?
Nov 23, 2020 01:00 am
I am accustomed and indifferent to insults hurled at me and my president by famous airheads, but this one stings and will affect my spending. Read more…
Are there no incorruptible Democrats?
Nov 23, 2020 01:00 am
What is astounding is that not one elected Democrat will stand up and say, “Stop! This is wrong.” They all know that massive fraud took place, but not one will call for recounts Read more…
Because you deserve to see some bravery and joy
Nov 23, 2020 01:00 am
This video of a puppy getting snatched from an alligator’s jaws has fear, bravery, tension, a happy ending — and a Florida man hero who never drops his cigar. Read more…
No, it’s not time to move on …
Nov 22, 2020 01:00 am
The oligarchy is still attacking us, and will stop us if we don’t stop them. it’s time to accelerate the fight. Read more…
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced on Wednesday a rigid month-long lockdown order that bans all social gatherings of people who do not live in the same household, even if participants wear face masks and practice proper social distancing … Read more
This battle is far too important to be buried by conspiracy-theory accusations from the left and its media, which means it’s far too important to be left to conspiracy theorists.
Republicans only need one of the two seats to maintain their Senate majority. A look at the history of similar contests indicates that an electoral split is uncommon, but still possible.
A thorough marketing campaign for the use of low-quality masks has convinced millions of people that masks will reduce COVID-19 spread, but do they really?
Regardless of whether Biden would find a loophole or merely attempt to cajole Congress, it remains concerning that there are many people who want him to force taxpayers to bail out the well off.
The depth and durability of the 400-year-old biblical roots among most Americans have been consistent with the separation of religion and state, but not the separation of religion and society.
What we saw in the lead up to the elections, and what we’ll witness for years to come, is utter contempt for Trump voters and conservatives in general.
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Morning Rundown
FDA approves new treatment while coronavirus cases surge ahead of Thanksgiving: Over the weekend, the U.S. reached the staggering milestone of over 12 million COVID-19 cases and could approach 200,000 daily cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. A record 83,870 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. The extraordinary surge of 1 million new cases in the last 10 days has raised concerns that Thanksgiving gatherings could spread the virus further among families and communities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC issued new guidelines advising travelers to postpone trips and to stay home this Thanksgiving instead. But the surge in cases hasn’t stopped many from traveling. More than 1 million passengers flew in the U.S. on Friday, according to the Transportation Security Administration. (That’s the second-highest number of people to travel by air since March.) In response to the increase in cases, state leaders across the country including Nevada, New Jersey, Texas and California have implemented new restrictions and curfews. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday agreed to allow emergency use of Regeneron, a second antibody drug to help the immune system fight COVID-19. Early results suggest the drug, which was administered to President Donald Trump when he tested positive for the novel coronavirus last month, may reduce COVID-19 related hospitalization or emergency room visits in patients at high risk for disease progression, the FDA said.
Trump campaign requests recount in Georgia: President Donald Trump’s campaign announced Saturday night that it’s requesting a recount in Georgia, a state that certified its results on Friday showing Joe Biden won. The move follows a hand-count audit that reaffirmed the results of the machine tabulation were accurate. Still, the Trump campaign is entitled to request a full recount following certification and two Republican Senators said Sunday that they back the president’s calls for a recount involving absentee signature matching in Georgia. A recount will be a time-consuming undertaking by county election officials and would be up against the “safe harbor” deadline of Dec. 8, which Congress mandates that presidential election results be considered conclusive six days before the meeting of electors on Dec. 14. Since Election Day, the Trump campaign has filed 19 lawsuits across five states — 17 of which have been either denied, dismissed or withdrawn. On Saturday, a federal judge in Pennsylvania rejected a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s election results and offered a harsh rebuke to the Trump legal team for filing a suit without “factual proof.” Meanwhile, incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said President-elect Joe Biden will announce his first cabinet picks as soon as tomorrow. Biden is expected to name Antony Blinken, a longtime foreign policy aide, as his nominee for secretary of state.
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge co-creator dies at 37:Pat Quinn, the co-creator of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, died Sunday, following a long battle with the neurodegenerative disease. “He was a blessing to us all in so many ways,” his family wrote on his social page. Quinn, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2013, a month after his 30th birthday, started two online groups with his friend, Pete Frates, to raise awareness about ALS. This led to the creation of the Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014, which grew into a global phenomenon to raise awareness and funds for ALS research. The campaign raised $220 million and sparked a wave of studies and development into finding new treatments. “By no means is this fight over,” said Quinn at an event in Boston last year. “We need to knock this disease out.”
Grandma, teen who met from accidental text share 5th Thanksgiving together after COVID-19 loss: Two families who have been sharing Thanksgiving dinner together after an accidental text message in 2016 are keeping the tradition alive this year amid the coronavirus pandemic with a socially-distanced meal. The annual dinners began four years ago when Wanda Dench, 63, thought she was texting her grandson to invite him to Thanksgiving when she actually texted Jamal Hinton, now 21. The exchange went viral and every year since then, Hinton and Dench have spent Thanksgiving together. “It’s become a huge part of our lives,” Hinton told “GMA.” This year marks the pair’s fifth Thanksgiving and will also be a somber one after Dench lost her husband, Lonnie, to COVID-19 in April. “Lonnie, he was just very supportive of everything that me and Wanda did and the whole Thanksgiving story,” said Hinton in July. “He was just a [good] friend.”
GMA Must-Watch
This morning on “GMA” BTS joins us live from South Korea to talk about their new album “BE,” and about their AMA performance. Plus, we will see them perform “Life Goes On.” Chef Geoffrey Zakarian joins us live with smart tips to prepare food ahead of Thanksgiving and how to spice up your favorite dishes like stuffing and cranberry sauce. Also Grammy-winning singer and actress Kelly Rowland joins us live to talk about her newest Lifetime movie “Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding” and her upcoming plans for the holiday season. All this and more only on “GMA.”
There is more encouraging Covid-19 vaccine news as Americans hit the road ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, despite the CDC pleading with people to stay put.
Here is what we’re watching this Monday morning.
AstraZeneca says its Covid-19 vaccine is ‘highly effective’ in late-stage trials
The vaccine, developed in conjunction with U.K.’s University of Oxford, prevented 70 percent of people from developing the disease, the company said. Researchers have also found that if people were given a half dose followed by a full dose, rather than two full doses, protection rose to about 90 percent.
The results of AstraZeneca’s vaccine trials are the third promising breakthrough in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 1.4 million people around the world and roiled the global economy.
Earlier this month,Pfizer and Modernareported preliminary results from late-stage trials, showing that their vaccine candidates were almost 95 percent effective.
The number of new cases continues to surge, setting a new record on Friday with more than 200,000 new cases in one 24 hour period. And more than 83,000 Americans were hospitalizeddue to Covid-19 on Sunday, setting another record for the 12th day in a row.
Overstretched health care providers are nervous that the Thanksgiving holiday will bring another surge of new infections.
But the Transportation Security Administration said it processed more than 2 million passengers through airport checkpoints on Friday and Saturday, the highest two-day total since mid-March when the pandemic started in the U.S.
College studentshave been caught in the middle as they navigate between family, safety and security protocols this Thanksgiving.
Follow our live blogfor all the latest coronavirus developments.
Biden expected to tap veteran diplomat Antony Blinken as secretary of state
Veteran diplomat and longtime Biden foreign policy adviser Antony Blinken is President-elect Joe Biden’s top choice to serve as secretary of state, multiple sources told NBC News.
A transition official said Blinken is the most likely candidate for the position but couldn’t confirm the nomination until Biden’s announcement.
Blinken’s previous top government roles include having served as deputy national security adviser from 2013 to 2015 during the Obama administration and as deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017.
Incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain said Sunday that Biden will begin announcing his Cabinet picksearly this week.
Antony Blinken, left, then the deputy national security adviser, in a briefing at the White House in September 2013. (Photo: AP file)
Christie calls Trump’s legal efforts a ‘national embarrassment’ as more Republicans speak out
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, said Sunday thatTrump’s legal battleover the election results has reached the point of “national embarrassment” and that it is time for him to move on.
Christie’s comments came a day after afederal judge in Pennsylvaniaeviscerated the Trump campaign’s latest legal effort, dismissing it and saying it was premised on a “strained legal argument without merit.”
In a 37-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann wrote that the Trump campaign asked him to “disenfranchise almost seven million voters” in Pennsylvania, adding that with such a request, one might expect “factual proof of rampant corruption.” Brann said such proof was not presented.
Trump and Republicans have filed more than 30 lawsuits so far, with most being dismissed, withdrawn or rejected. No courts have found evidence of voter fraud.
“You have an obligation to present the evidence,” Christie, a former federal prosecutor said on ABC News’ “This Week.” “The evidence has not been presented.”
A few more elected Republicans spoke out about Trump’s efforts this weekend, but most have still yet to acknowledge Biden’s victory.
After the Pennsylvania ruling, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said that Trump had “exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania” and that recent developments make it clear that Biden will be the next president.
Thanksgiving isn’t canceled, but with all the efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, expect it to be different. From down-sized recipes to how to celebrate safely, here is our Thanksgiving survival guide.
Thanksgiving will be different this year. These tips and recipes can help. ( Today Illustration/ Getty Images)
Shopping
Cyber Monday isn’t for another week, but with everything starting early this year, here are some of the best deals available already.
Richard Wilbanks, 74, was just enjoying the sun when he heard his new puppy, a three-month-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel named Gunner, crying.
An alligator in his backyard pond had grabbed the dog and pulled it into the water.
Wilbanks jumped into the pond, grabbed the small alligator and pulled its jaw open, so Gunner could escape, surveillance video of the rescue shows.
“Instinct just took over and adrenaline kicked in,” Wilbanks told NBC Fort Myers affiliate WBBH. “I just went right into the water after the gator and Gunner.”
From NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Carrie Dann and Melissa Holzberg
FIRST READ: With almost all votes now counted, the 2020 presidential election wasn’t really that close
What’s gotten lost in all of the focus on President Trump’s lawsuits, his baseless accusations of voter fraud and his administration’s unwillingness so far to begin the transition is a simple fact.
The 2020 presidential election wasn’t really that close.
Photo by ALEX EDELMAN / AFP
Right now, Joe Biden’s popular-vote lead over Trump stands at 4 percentage points, 51 percent to 47 percent – and it’s only going to grow once more of New York’s votes (finally) get counted.
That would give Biden the second-largest popular vote margin out of the 21st century’s six presidential elections, with only Barack Obama’s 7-point win in 2008 being greater.
When it comes to the Electoral College, the tally stands at Biden 306, Trump 232 – which happens to be the exact same split as Trump’s 2016 win versus Hillary Clinton (but in reverse). And Trump referred to that as a “massive landslide victory.”
Biden’s ahead by 154,000 votes in Michigan (greater than Trump’s 10,000-vote winning margin there in 2016).
He’s ahead by 81,000 votes in Pennsylvania (nearly twice Trump’s 44,000-vote win there four years ago).
And he’s ahead by more than 20,000 votes in Wisconsin (almost the same as Trump’s 23,000-vote victory there in 2016).
On top of those leads, Biden also narrowly flipped the traditionally GOP-leanings states of Arizona and Georgia.
The 2020 presidential race looked close the 12 hours after the first polling places closed on Election Night.
But nearly three weeks later – with almost all the votes counted – it’s now safe to say the Biden-vs.-Trump contest wasn’t that close.
More cracks in the GOP wall
With Michigan and Pennsylvania scheduled to meet to certify their results today (although questions remain about what exactly will happen in Michigan), and with Georgia having certified last Friday (though Team Trump has requested a recount), there are more Republican voices calling Biden the winner.
Or saying that the Trump administration should be preparing for a transition.
After a federal judge dismissed the Trump campaign’s lawsuit in Pennsylvania, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said on Saturday Trump had “exhausted all plausible legal options” to challenge the state’s results, and he congratulated “President-elect Biden.”
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., added that Michigan voters “spoke” for Biden. “And here again in Michigan, it’s not a razor-thin margin,” he said. “It’s 154,000 votes. You’ve got to let those votes stand.”
And on “Meet the Press” yesterday, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. – while saying Trump has every right to exhaust his legal options – said the president and his administration should “at least cooperate with the transition.”
Biden starts to roll out his national security team
NBC News on Sunday confirmed reports that President-elect Biden is expected to name veteran diplomat Antony “Tony” Blinken as his secretary of state.
And this morning, NBC News reports that Biden is expected to select Jake Sullivan as national security adviser, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield as U.N. ambassador.
BIDEN CABINET/TRANSITION WATCH LIST
STATE: Tony Blinken (expected)
UN AMBASSADOR: Linda Thomas-Greenfield (expected)
TREASURY: Lael Brainard, Janet Yellen and Roger Ferguson
DEFENSE: Michèle Flournoy, Jeh Johnson, Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth
DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Maine Sen. Angus King
HHS: New Mexico Gov, Michelle Lujan Grisham, Calif. Rep. Raul Ruiz, Calif. Rep. Karen Bass, Dr. Vivek Murthy
HOMELAND SECURITY: Val Demings, Susan Rice, Bennie Thompson, Xavier Becerra
INTERIOR: Deb Haaland
AGRICULTURE: Heidi Heitkamp
LABOR: Andy Levin, Bernie Sanders, Marty Walsh
EDUCATION: Lily Eskelsen Garcia, Randi Weingarten
CHIEF OF STAFF: Ron Klain (named)
NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Jake Sullivan (expected)
Data Download: The numbers you need to know today
6,026,117: Joe Biden’s lead in the popular vote at the time of publication
12,306,023: The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, per the most recent data from NBC News and health officials. (That’s 504,004 more than Friday morning.)
257,692: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far. (That’s 4,059 more than Friday morning.)
179.34 million: The number of coronavirus tests that have been administered in the United States so far, according to researchers at The COVID Tracking Project.
83,782: The number of people currently hospitalized with coronavirus
43: The number of days until the January 5 Senate runoffs.
58: The number of days until Inauguration Day.
TWEET OF THE DAY: Hoping for a “Star Wars” ending, but getting “Alien” instead
Georgia Runoff Watch by Ben Kamisar
In today’s Runoff Watch, new ads show how both Georgia GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock have been simultaneously on offense and defense — both campaigns are out with new spots that take a big swing at their opponent and look to defuse a key attack.
Loeffler’s attack ad uses footage from Warnock’s sermons to claim that he “attacks our military” and “is dangerous,” before ending with footage of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Warnock’s spot, out the same morning, includes a group of police officers and sheriffs criticizing Republicans for claiming Warnock supports defunding the police.
On the flip side, Warnock’s new spot goes on the offensive to attack Loeffler for her pre-pandemic stock trades, accusing her of protecting “her own interests” over those of average Georgians. And like she did during the special primary, Loeffler’s new spot tries to rebut those charges as “liberal lies,” noting the Senate Ethics Committee dropped its inquiry, before touting her handling of the pandemic.
THE LID: Sixteen years later
Don’t miss the pod from Friday, when we looked at how much the presidential map has changed – and how it hasn’t – since 2004.
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world?
Here’s what we know about what may happen in Michigan today at a 1:00 pm ET meeting of the Board of State Canvassers.
Trump is threatening to veto a defense spending bill unless a measure to rename military bases honoring Confederate leaders is removed.
Business leaders in New York are urging Trump to start the transition.
Biden and Harris will meet virtually with mayors to discuss the virus and the economy.
Plus: More losses for the Trump campaign, a win for cannabis delivery services, a ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy violates First Amendment rights, and more…
Tennessee can start enforcing a law that criminalizes abortions occurring for non-state-approved reasons. After a lower court temporarily blocked the full measure over the summer, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the state may go ahead with the part of the law banning abortion based on the sex or race of the fetus or its likelihood to have Down Syndrome. Performing an abortion under these prohibited circumstances could lead to 15 years in jail and a $10,000 fine.
“Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee enacted the so-called ‘reason bans’ earlier this year as part of a sweeping anti-abortion measure,” notes the Associated Press. “The law gained national attention because it banned abortion as early as six weeks—making it one of the strictest in the country—but it included several other anti-abortion components.”
The new 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling does not totally undo the lower court’s decision. Tennessee is still barred from enforcing the general ban on abortion occurring once fetal cardiac activity can be detected. However, it may begin enforcing the race, sex, and Down Syndrome part of the ban.
It’s unlikely that the state will enforce it, or even that it can, however. As it stands, no one getting an abortion is required to provide a reason why and, even if it were necessary, women seeking abortions on unapproved grounds could simply say it was for another reason.
More than a dozen other states have similar laws on the books, and as far I know, there have been no attempts at enforcing them. What’s more, there’s no particular evidence that U.S. women are seeking sex-selective abortions or race-selective abortions at all, let alone in significant numbers.
Abortions based on Down Syndrome status or other genetic abnormalities in a fetus may be more common, because some families feel financially or emotionally unable to care for a child with special needs. Regardless, these are exactly the kinds of private, personal, and heart-wrenching decisions that should be left to families and medical professionals, not subject to state approval.
“Immediately following the appeals court ruling,” concerning Tennessee’s ban, “the plaintiffs’ attorneys filed a request in lower federal court for a temporary restraining order to block the reason bans once again, but this time argued the law illegally prohibits a patient from ‘obtaining constitutionally protected pre-viability abortion care,'” reports A.P.
FREE MINDS
Conversion therapy for LGBT kids to be allowed again in Florida counties. Florida governments cannot ban counseling and other psychiatric programs aimed at changing people’s sexuality or gender identity, according to a new ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The case we brought by two Florida therapists who argued that laws against conversion therapy in Palm Beach County and Boca Raton violated their First Amendment rights. In a 2-1 ruling, the appellate court agreed, declaring Florida’s two laws banning the practice to be unconstitutional. Read more about the case—and why it could be headed to SCOTUS soon—here.
FREE MARKETS
A win for cannabis delivery services in California. Last week, a judge “dismissed a lawsuit that sought to overturn a state rule allowing home deliveries statewide, even into communities that banned commercial marijuana sales,” notes San Francisco’s local CBS station. “The court challenge raised a fundamental question in the nation’s largest legal pot market: Where can you buy it? The state earlier ruled a licensed delivery can be made into ‘any jurisdiction’ within California.”
ELECTION 2020
Disputed states to certify election results as Trump tries to keep up delusion that his case has a chance. The battleground states where the Trump campaign is challenging election results are all gearing up to certify the results—thereby officially cementing Joe Biden as the election winner. “Michigan and Pennsylvania are set to do so Monday, and Nevada will on Tuesday,” notes NPR. “Arizona and Wisconsin have certification deadlines next week.” Trump has continued to tweet about how he is the real winner and it’s only a matter of time before the courts declare it so. But more and more Republicans are falling out of step with the president’s propaganda as his conspiracy theory grows increasingly elaborate.
A federal judge has dismissed President Trump’s lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the election he lost in PA.
• Canada’s Supreme Court has ruled “that Ontario’s sex-offender registry regime violates the constitutional rights of people found not criminally responsible for their actions by reason of mental disorder.”
• Hong Kong pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam have all been jailed.
Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason, where she writes regularly on the intersections of sex, speech, tech, crime, politics, panic, and civil liberties. She is also co-founder of the libertarian feminist group Feminists for Liberty.
Since starting at Reason in 2014, Brown has won multiple awards for her writing on the U.S. government’s war on sex. Brown’s writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, Playboy, Fox News, Politico, The Week, and numerous other publications. You can follow her on Twitter @ENBrown.
Reason is the magazine of “free minds and free markets,” offering a refreshing alternative to the left-wing and right-wing echo chambers for independent-minded readers who love liberty.
‘Science’ and ‘the facts’ fall victim to the gargantuan political egos of Bill de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo.
By Seth Barron The Wall Street Journal November 21, 2020
“Yes, [the MTA] needs to raise fares and tolls. But no, it shouldn’t eliminate monthly subway and bus passes to raise revenue, as it suggested last week.”
By Nicole Gelinas New York Post November 23, 2020
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is facing its greatest fiscal crisis since its founding in 1968. Deficits for the MTA are projected to total nearly $20 billion by the end of 2024, a vast budget hole dug by vanishing ridership and spiraling costs. What are the MTA’s options going forward and how can New York’s transit agency get back on track?
New data from Sweden show it’s safe to keep schools open, but Joe Biden’s Covid-19 advisors seem more interested in shutting down.
By John Tierney City Journal Online November 20, 2020
With the election behind us, the hard work of governing is set to begin anew. As the Manhattan Institute looks to 2021, our task is clear. The country and its cities need a road map for restoring prosperity, preserving public safety, and rebuilding a sense of common cause. With your support, MI will present that path forward. Read more in our Year-End President’s Update.
The Manhattan Institute is pleased to announce that Randall Lutter has joined the Institute as a senior fellow on its health policy team. A former senior science and regulatory advisor to FDA commissioners Scott Gottlieb and Stephen Hahn, Lutter will focus on drug policy, medical innovation, and regulation.
Congressman Dan Crenshaw joined Reihan Salam to discuss how he went from being a self-styled “average American kid” from the Houston suburbs, to the war zones of the world, and to the halls of Congress, navigating his way with a sense of humor and an absolute belief in personal responsibility.
The next administration and Congress will face a large and growing federal debt. Although everyone recognizes the long-term imbalance between federal spending and revenues, there is ample debate about just how big a problem this is, and the extent to which it should be a priority for lawmakers. On November 12th Jason Furman and Brian Riedl engaged in a collegial debate, moderated by The Wall Street Journal’s Kate Davidson, about debt, deficits, and what to do about them.
As budget cuts, restrictive reforms, and anti-police protests sweep the country, will demoralization turn even the most genuine and lion-hearted cops into “hairbags?” How hard would such a cultural shift in departments be to reverse? On November 10th former Seattle police chief Carmen Best, former Milwaukee police chief Ed Flynn, and law professor Paul Cassell addressed these questions and shared their intimate insights into the culture of policing.
The departure of just a small percentage of New York City’s high-income earners could result in losses of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, our new report finds. The report—authored by public-policy researcher Donald J. Boyd and MI director of state and local policy Michael Hendrix, as part of our New York City: Reborn initiative—estimates the associated losses from net out-migration by New York City residents earning $100,000.
Congress and the next administration face a large and growing federal debt. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that federal debt will surpass 100% of GDP this year and reach 195% over the next 30 years. And even this scenario optimistically assumes no spending expansion, the 2017 tax cuts expire on schedule, and interest rates remain below normal. In a new issue brief, Brian Riedl focuses on the main driver behind the CBO’s projected $104 trillion deficit—Social Security and Medicare shortfalls.
Parents of bullied children often lament the school’s inability or unwillingness to reverse or stem the abuse. In a new issue brief, Max Eden analyzes Florida’s Hope Scholarship, which leverages school choice to provide bullied students with the opportunity to transfer schools. To inform ongoing and potential state-level debates around anti-bullying voucher or tuition tax credit programs, Eden reviews the basic mechanics of the program, the political origin and debate around its passage, and the program’s implementation to date.
Simone Policano, cofounder of Invisible Hands, joins Brian Anderson to discuss how the nonprofit organizes volunteers to deliver groceries to the elderly and disabled during the pandemic, its experience working with government agencies and food pantries, and the personal stories of some of the people it has helped.
Manhattan Institute is a think tank whose mission is to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.
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REALCLEARPOLITICS MORNING NOTE
11/23/2020
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Carl Cannon’s Morning Note
Job Protection; Polling Failures; True to Life
By Carl M. Cannon on Nov 23, 2020 09:21 am
Good morning, it’s Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Eighty-four years ago today, a shiny and sophisticated pictorial publication hit the newsstands. The brainchild of Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, two prep school friends who ran the college newspaper at Yale, this glossy magazine would change the way Americans looked at their world. It was called, fittingly, Life.
Although Briton Hadden may be an unfamiliar name to you, he was a singular and pivotal figure in 20th century journalism. He and Luce had burst onto the scene in 1923 with Time, the nation’s first modern weekly newsmagazine. Its very conception was Brit Hadden’s, as was its distinctive voice, dubbed “Timestyle.” It was also Hadden who raised the money to launch it. All this was known in the 1920s, including by Time’s readers. In his authoritative account of those early years, scholar Isaiah Wilner produced an unpublished letter-to-the-editor from a reader who said, flatly, “Briton Hadden was the presiding genius.”
But Hadden, who also invented the radio quiz show and coined such still-resonant phrases as “socialite” and “pundit,” died young — at only 31 — so by the time Henry Luce founded Life magazine, he’d been gone as long as Jacob Marley was when Ebenezer Scrooge was visited by ghosts. But although Henry Luce was certainly Scrooge-like when it came to sharing credit with Brit Hadden, Life magazine was his baby.
Luce explained its mission in the inaugural issue, dated Nov. 23, 1936:
“To see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events; to watch the faces of the poor and the gestures of the proud; to see strange things — machines, armies, multitudes, shadows in the jungle and on the moon; to see man’s work — his paintings, towers and discoveries; to see things thousands of miles away, things hidden behind walls and within rooms, things dangerous to come to; the women men love and many children; to see and to take pleasure in seeing; to see and be amazed; to see and be instructed.”
I’ll have more on that pre-television phenomenon, and its photographers, in a moment. First, I’d point you to RealClearPolitics’ front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion pieces spanning the political spectrum. We also offer original material from our own reporters, columnists, and contributors, including the following:
* * *
OMB Lists Positions Stripped of Job Protection Under Trump Order. Phil Wegmann has the story.
Help! Pollsters Have Fallen and They Can’t Get Up! At RealClearInvestigations,Mark Hemingway unpacks polling firms’ cavalcade of miscalculations ahead of the 20202 election.
Propaganda, Election Fraud and the Death of Journalism. Was the vote manipulated? Frank Miele asserts that reporters are so biased against Donald Trump they’ve abdicated their duty to investigate.
GOP Girds for “Election Fraud” Fights in Georgia Runoffs. Susan Crabtree reports on safeguards being sought ahead of the high stakes election in early January.
Why Democracy Won in 2020. Turnout was the highest in more than a century, and young voters’ outsized participation is a good sign they’ll stay engaged, write Katelyn Schwartz and Daphne Flores.
Build the Safety Net Back Better — Put States in Charge. Scott Centorino argues it’s the perfect time to reinvent our failed one-size-fits-all public welfare system.
Officials Must Resist Ordering Winter Shutdowns. The harms caused by government-mandated business closures far outweigh the benefits, Brendan Flanagan maintains.
Dem Sweep in GA Wouldn’t Guarantee Progressive Agenda. At RealClearPolicy, Frederick M. Hess and Hannah Warren explain why roadblocks would remain even if the party gains a narrow majority in the Senate.
Pols and Regulators Get It Wrong on Big Tech, Again. Also at RCPolicy, Satya Marar argues that a federal lawsuit threatening to break up Google risks undermining the welfare of those it seeks to protect.
The New Woke Times. RealClearBooks has this excerpt from Sharyl Attkisson’s “Slanted: How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism.”
Canceling Student Debt Is Not Progressive. At RealClearEducation, John Kristof explains why such a move would exacerbate, not lessen, economic inequalities.
A Burning Question About the Sun. RealClearScience editor Ross Pomeroy clears up a common misunderstanding.
* * *
Inside the first issue of Life magazine were several portraits by German-born journalist Alfred Eisenstaedt. Working as a wire service photographer earlier in his career, Eisenstaedt had documented the first meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. His camera also caught Joseph Goebbels smiling in a friendly manner at a 1933 meeting in Geneva — until he learned that Eisenstaedt was Jewish, when the infamous Nazi’s countenance hardened instantly into a menacing scowl.
Although Life’s battlefield photos by legendary war correspondents such as Robert Capa were unflinching, the magazine’s uplifting motto was “Where there’s Life, there’s hope.” Its inaugural cover was a photograph by Margaret Bourke-White of Fort Peck Dam, a towering Missouri River edifice in northeastern Montana that had come to symbolize the public works potential of the New Deal. Bourke-White had been brought over to Life from Fortune, another Luce property, where she had been put on the payroll in 1929, a time when hiring a female photographer was making a statement of its own.
“Maggie” Bourke-White was the complete package: physically and morally courageous and famously aggressive when anyone or anything got between her camera and her subject. She was also one of the first photojournalists to write accompanying texts. Over the next five years for Life she would document the Depression, the Dust Bowl, and racial inequities of the criminal justice system in the South. When world war came, she was off to cover that story — even before Pearl Harbor. The only U.S. photographer in Russia during the Battle of Moscow, she later embedded with Gen. George Patton when the U.S. Army liberated Buchenwald. She was India in 1948 and took the last known photographs of Mahatma Gandhi before he was assassinated.
“The camera is a remarkable instrument,” she once explained. “Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all but take you by the hand.”
Perhaps. But the camera, and its subjects, often need a little coaxing, as Maggie Bourke-White knew better than anyone. Among world leaders, it was an act of passage to sit for her — and Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Pope Pius XI, and Joseph Stalin all did so, some more compliantly than others. Churchill gave her only 12 minutes, but Stalin insisted on personally carrying her bags for her.
At her 1941 Kremlin session with Stalin, who was then a U.S. ally, Bourke-White went through great contortions trying to make “that great stone face come alive.” Eventually, she got her picture. In a self-epitaph of her own work — and in an observation that describes most honest journalism — she said, “I feel that utter truth is essential, and to get that truth may take a lot of searching and long hours.”
As president, Joe Biden will face enormous pressure from the American Left and European leaders to quickly rejoin the nuclear deal even if Iran remains in noncompliance. I hope he resists this pressure and faces the reality that the situation in Iran has changed considerably since he was vice president.
It may well be the case that calls to “defund the police” (the preferred euphemism for radical police abolition) helped Republicans do better than expected in House races. But to call this outcome a failure of Black Lives Matter is to misunderstand the nature of that movement and its goals.
Are our electronic voting systems vulnerable? “I feel like we are in terrible danger of losing what it means to be a democracy. If elections can be altered subtly, if they can be altered in a way that is undetectable, how does one trust the results of their election?”
That warning wasn’t from Sidney Powell, the accomplished attorney asking federal courts to confirm that such fraud was perpetrated in this month’s presidential race. Rather, it’s from Sandy Clark, a University of Pennsylvania security researcher, in “Kill Chain” – a documentary released by left-of-center activists weeks before this election.
As even 30% of Democratic voters say the 2020 results were fraudulent, we simply cannot afford to allow demonstrated vulnerabilities to persist – especially since, if such problems aren’t fixed immediately, the upcoming, momentous runoff elections in Georgia will be susceptible to fraud, as well.
This is Frank Gaffney.
With Hank Cooper, David Wurmser and Claudia Rosett
HANK COOPER, Director of the Strategic Defensive Initiative Organization (SDIO) during the Bush Administration, Chairman of Applied Research Associates, Senior Associate of the National Institute of Public Policy, Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Center:
Lessons from the Cold War about missile defense
Latest news about the successful launch of the Aegis ballistic missile defense system
Short-comings of the Clinton administration’s missile defense policy
The future of international arms control
China’s missile capabilities
DAVID WURMSER, Director of CSP’s new program on fighting global anti-Semitism and defending the US-Israel relationship, Served as Middle East Adviser to Dick Cheney, as Special Assistant to John Bolton and as a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Served in the US Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer at the rank of Lieutenant Commander:
Assessing the current relationship between the US and Israel
How would a Biden-Harris administration impact this relationship?
CLAUDIA ROSETT, Foreign Policy Fellow with the Independent Women’s Forum, Blogs at “The Rosett Report” at PJMedia.com:
How would China view a Biden-Harris administration?
China’s relationship with the World Health Organization
Below is a sneak peek of this content! A mini-revolution of sorts is raging in the world of cable television news — it’s even been called a cable news civil war. And who else but Donald Trump is right there in the middle of it. It turns out that some… CONTINUE Read More »
Bernard Goldberg, the television news reporter and author of Bias, a New York Times number one bestseller about how the media distort the news, is widely seen as one of the most original writers and thinkers in broadcast journalism. He has covered stories all over the world for CBS News and has won 13 Emmy awards for excellence in journalism. He won six Emmys at CBS, and seven at HBO, where he now reports for the widely acclaimed broadcast Real Sports. [Read More…]
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AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH
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November 23, 2020
The Legacy of Thanksgiving is Free Enterprise
By Richard M. Ebeling | “It is time to take their experience to heart and celebrate not the collectivism with which they began their start in the New World, but the spirit of liberty, private property, self-responsibility, and freedom of…
By Art Carden | “Managing medical supply production and distribution is a most unnecessary attention for a central planner. As Smith points out, it is nowhere so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy…
By Joakim Book | In a free society, trading, perusing wares, socializing and enjoying the company of others are mutually beneficial, innocent and harmonious actions. In a government-mandated Covid society, these wants are now antagonistic.
By Jeffrey Tucker | “We keep hearing about how we should follow the science. The claim is tired by now. We know what’s really happening. The lockdown lobby ignores whatever contradicts their narrative, preferring unverified anecdotes over…
By Barry Brownstein | “We need not surrender to authoritarian politicians our own moral agency to care for others. While some try to tear the ties that bind us, we can express gratitude for the great chain of human connection holding us together.
Filling Fed Vacancies Would Leave Biden with Few Options …
By William J. Luther | “Biden’s only other play would be to lean on historical norms. Fed Chairs rarely stick around to serve out their terms as mere Governors when they are not reappointed to the top spot. Janet Yellen resigned in 2018,…
Edward C. Harwood fought for sound money when few Americans seemed to care. He was the original gold standard man before that became cool. Now he is honored in this beautiful sewn silk tie in the richest possible color and greatest detail. The red is not just red; it is darker and deeper, more distinctive and suggestive of seriousness of purpose. The Harwood coin is carefully sewn (not stamped). Sporting this, others might miss that you are secretly supporting the revolution for freedom and sound money, but you will know, and that is what matters.
Though the gold standard was abandoned in the 1970s, gold continues to be a good strategy for most investors. It is an enduring form of money without peer. Above all, it has served as a store of value during financial crises when conventional financial assets have plummeted in value.
“How to Invest in Gold” provides an orientation-based on essential but not exhaustive knowledge about the gold industry and its history. It is a practical guide to owning and investing in gold; a commodity with tremendous value.
Today on the menu: States are certifying their votes, and Trump’s legal team is in turmoil.
The 2020 Election Starts to Wind Down
Michigan and Pennsylvania are set to certify their election results today, and Nevada is scheduled to do the same tomorrow.
Saturday night, U.S. district judge Matthew W. Brann threw out the Trump campaign’s lawsuit seeking to prevent the certification of Pennsylvania’s vote tallies and to reject the vote tallies from Allegheny, Centre, Chester, Delaware, Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Northampton counties. Judge Brann concluded that the Trump campaign did not have standing to bring the case, failed to prove a violation of the equal-protection laws, and contended the campaign’s argument, “like Frankenstein’s Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together from two distinct theories in an attempt to avoid controlling precedent.” Brann dismissed the case “with prejudice,” which sounds forceful or emphatic but legally means the case is dismissed permanently and cannot be resubmitted. Nonetheless, the decision was about as thorough and sweeping a rejection as a judge could possibly write. Our Andy McCarthy offers his legal assessment here. … READ MORE
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Facebook supports updated internet regulations
We support updated internet regulations to set clear rules for today’s toughest challenges and hold companies, including Facebook, accountable for:
Combating foreign election interference
Protecting people’s privacy
Enabling safe and easy data portability between platforms
“Michael Bloomberg followed his $1 billion failed Democratic presidential bid with a $100 million effort to turn Florida blue—only to see the state award President Trump a wider margin of victory than four years ago,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In an election that cost an estimated $14 billion, Mr. Bloomberg is one of dozens of wealthy individuals who saw arguably poor returns on some political investments.”
“This process has now been going on for about three weeks. The Trump campaign has taken steps to insist that only lawful votes were counted in key states, including filing numerous lawsuits. At this point, the vast majority of these lawsuits have been resolved and most of the remaining ones are expected to be resolved in the next couple of weeks. There were instances of fraud and irregularities in this election, as there have been in every election. It is good that those have been exposed and any fraud or other wrongdoing should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but there is no evidence as of now of any widespread fraud or irregularities that would change the result in any state…”
“Based on all the information currently available, neither the final lawful vote counts nor the recounts have led to a different outcome in any state. In other words, the initial determination showing Joe Biden with enough electoral votes to win has not changed.”
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy “will make history on Monday afternoon when he goes on trial accused of corruption and influence peddling for allegedly trying to bribe a judge for information,” The Guardian reports.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Jim Troupis, a former Dane County judge and Cross Plains attorney who is representing the Trump campaign, would not answer questions about why he and his wife voted that way.”
“Troupis and his wife voted early using the state’s in-person absentee option — one of a group of voters whose ballots the Trump campaign has asked election officials to deem illegal.”
Washington Post: “At the outset of the pandemic, Italy’s immense daily death tolls — 919 at the peak — froze the country in fear and put much of the world on alert. But as the tolls again approach those heights, Italy is becoming emblematic of a far different point of the pandemic, when the dangers continue unabated even as so many are desensitized, fatigued and preoccupied with economic survival.”
“In Italy, the scale of death no longer registers as a consuming national tragedy. But the tragedy is there nonetheless — playing out more quietly, in specific nursing homes, hospitals and living rooms. Some 10,000 people have died of the coronavirus in Italy this month — a per capita rate more than double that of the United States.”
After Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) rebuked President Trump for not conceding the presidential election, actor Scott Baio threatened to challenge Romney for U.S. Senate in 2024, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
“The U.S. recorded a drop in newly reported Covid-19 infections following an all-time high, but it also reported record hospitalizations for the 12th straight day as the coronavirus pandemic rages,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A group of leading GOP national security experts — including former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge — urged congressional Republicans on Monday to demand President Trump concede the election and immediately begin the transition to the incoming Biden administration,” the Washington Post reports.
The message also called on “Republican leaders — especially those in Congress — to publicly demand that President Trump cease his anti-democratic assault on the integrity of the presidential election.”
Nic Robertson: “As stage exits go Donald Trump’s departure was something of a whimper, the US President leaving the top table of global G20 leaders to play golf. As his time in office draws to a close, despite his refusal to publicly accept the reality of the US election results, the combined unspoken message from the world’s leaders is: don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
Senior administration officials tell CBS News that President Trump will concede the election if he exhausts all legal options and the outcome remains the same.
Seattle Times: “Loren Culp lost Washington’s gubernatorial race by more than 545,000 votes, but he’s not conceding — and says he’s not going away.”
“Culp, the Republican who took 43% of the statewide vote against Gov. Jay Inslee, has taken a page from President Trump’s playbook by attempting to sow doubts about the election results and lobbing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.”
Rick Hasen: “The good news is that there is no real prospect that Mr. Trump can avoid a reluctant handover of power on Jan. 20. The bad news is that Mr. Trump’s wildly unsubstantiated claims of a vast voter fraud conspiracy and the litigation he has brought against voting rights have done — and will increasingly do — serious damage to our democracy.”
“Our problems will deepen, in particular, because Mr. Trump’s litigation strategy has led to the emergence of a voter-hostile jurisprudence in the federal courts. New judicial doctrines will put more power in the hands of Republican legislatures to suppress the vote and take voters, state courts and federal courts out of key backstop roles.”
“The most remarkable part of President-elect Biden’s campaign and early picks for positions of true power is the unremarkable — and predictable — nature of his big moves,” Axios reports.
“Biden is obsessed with bringing stability and conventional sanity back to governance.”
Said one source familiar with his thinking: “He is approaching this — in part — like an experienced mechanic intent on repairing something that’s been badly broken.”
First Read: “What’s gotten lost in all of the focus on President Trump’s lawsuits, his baseless accusations of voter fraud and his administration’s unwillingness so far to begin the transition is a simple fact. The 2020 presidential election wasn’t really that close.”
“Right now, Joe Biden’s popular-vote lead over Trump stands at 4 percentage points, 51 percent to 47 percent – and it’s only going to grow once more of New York’s votes (finally) get counted. That would give Biden the second-largest popular vote margin out of the 21st century’s six presidential elections, with only Barack Obama’s 7-point win in 2008 being greater.”
“When it comes to the Electoral College, the tally stands at Biden 306, Trump 232 – which happens to be the exact same split as Trump’s 2016 win versus Hillary Clinton (but in reverse). And Trump referred to that as a ‘massive landslide victory.’”
“JP Morgan economists now see an economic contraction in the first quarter due to the spreading coronavirus and related restrictions being imposed by states and cities,” CNBC reports.
“The new forecast is a departure from Wall Street’s widely held view that the first quarter would be positive, with an improving economy throughout 2021.”
Dan Pffeiffer: “The leading theory in Washington is cowardice. Most political observers believe that for the last four years Republicans remained silent about Trump’s chaotic incompetence and crass corruption out of trepidation. Whenever a Republican enables another Trump transgression, every liberal blue checkmark tweets ‘COWARD.’ The sense among reporters is that Republicans don’t like what Trump says or does, but if they speak up they will be tweeted out of the party.”
“This narrative is comforting because it implies that the Republican Party is not beyond repair — they are just cowards, not bad people. Here’s the problem: the events of the last few weeks make it crystal clear that this narrative is wrong. It is way too generous to the Republicans.”
“Cowards want to to do the right thing but are too afraid to do it. I do not believe the Republicans want to do the right thing and I do not believe they are concerned about the damage Trump is doing to our democracy. Ultimately what bothers them about Trump is not that he is a racist authoritarian. It’s that he is a clumsy, incompetent racist authoritarian. The Republican supplication to Trump’s whims — before and after the election — is not cowardice, it’s calculation.”
“President Trump is threatening to veto legislation to fund the military as one of his final acts in office unless a widely supported, bipartisan provision to rename military bases honoring Confederate military leaders is removed,” NBC News reports.
“Since the Nov. 3 election, Trump has privately told Republican lawmakers that he won’t back down from his position during the campaign that he would veto the annual National Defense Authorization Act if it includes an amendment to rename the bases.”
Politico: “Ahead of another brutal fight for Senate control and a 2022 map tilted against the GOP, Republicans are racing to persuade their incumbents to run again. Leadership is already getting some positive results, with a number of GOP senators signaling they will run for reelection in battleground states.”
“The tough map for Senate Republicans is likely to have a huge impact on what, if any, deals McConnell makes with President-elect Joe Biden and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). And as in this last cycle, McConnell will be looking to protect vulnerable incumbents — both by moving legislation they support and saving them from having to cast tough votes.”
Axios: “It’s over. That’s what Blackstone chairman, CEO and co-founder Steve Schwarzman — one of President Trump’s most loyal allies — and other top Republicans are signaling to the defeated president, 16 days after Joe Biden clinched the win.”
Said Schwarzman: “I’m a fan of good process. In my comments three days after the election, I was trying to be a voice of reason and express why it’s in the national interest to have all Americans believe the election is being resolved correctly. But the outcome is very certain today, and the country should move on.”
Thirty-two percent (32%) of Likely U.S. Voters think the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey for the week ending November 19, 2020.
The Trump campaign issued a statement Sunday night announcing Sidney Powell is not a member of President Trump’s legal team. The statement was posted online… Read more…
Attorney Sidney Powell issued a statement on her status with the Trump campaign legal efforts early Monday morning. Titled, Statement by Sidney Powell to “We… Read more…
Smartmatic, a UK based company, is a George Soros linked company that has provided voting technology in 16 states including battleground zones like Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan,… Read more…
Calling All Patriots — Please Help Us with Filming and Documenting the 2020 Fraud Mitt Romney says there’s no fraud to be found! CNN says there was no fraud. Fox… Read more…
Yesterday, data scientist Sarah Eaglesfield tweeted about some interesting facts she uncovered while looking into Wayne County, Michigan’s voter data from the November 2020 election…. Read more…
FOX News opened their noon hour with a hit piece on President Trump and in extension his 73.8 million confirmed voters. During the segment FOX… Read more…
Federal Election Commission Chairman Trey Trainor went on with Newsmax this week to discuss the 2020 election. Trainor confirmed there was voter fraud this year…. Read more…
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There is a series of battles to come in January 2021, in 2022, and in 2024 that will be definitive, if the chaos of 2020 does not become even more chaotic.
For far too long, China has exploited the freedom and openness that define the United States and other democracies. Now is the time for the free world to engage Beijing on the basis of reciprocity, argued David Stilwell, US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, in remarks during a virtual conversation on October 30 copresented by Hoover’s project on China’s Global Sharp Power and the Asia Society’s Center on US-China Relations.
On Friday Nov. 20, as reported in the official Stanford News, the Stanford Faculty Senate formally condemned Scott Atlas, Hoover Senior Fellow and a special adviser to the reviled President Trump. The full resolution is posted here (but only available with a Stanford id).
Lost behind the news of the European Union’s budget and recovery fund is a long-awaited improvement in the eurozone’s internal balance. The convergence between north and south is such an important development that it is likely to take precedence over guaranteeing member states’ adherence to the rule of law.
Philosopher and author Daniel Haybron of St. Louis University talks about his book, Happiness, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Happiness turns out to be a little more complicated than it sounds. Haybron discusses the good life and different philosophical perspectives on how to achieve happiness.
A professor of Education Policy at the University of Arkansas, Patrick J. Wolf, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Wolf’s new research, which explores the funding inequities between charter and traditional schools in 18 cities across the country.
[Subscription Required] As long as the PM keeps his nerve and remembers to speak for those who backed Brexit, he can make a great success of the Government’s reset.
Last Thursday, my Naval Postgraduate School colleague Ryan Sullivan and I made a case against school shutdowns in a Zoom talk to a local Monterey group called The Old Capitol Club. It’s an actual physical location in downtown Monterey and I’ve given 2 talks there in person in the last 20 years, something I refer to right at the end of this talk. This, of course, was remote.
My experiences with unions have not been good. My father was a Shell Oil union member. His union went on strike long ago when my mother was pregnant with my younger brother. After a few months on strike it was growing obvious (according to my father) that it would end soon in failure from the union perspective. The union bosses feared that my father and others would return to work before the union had formally given up.
As promised, this is the full op/ed that Ryan Sullivan and I had published in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal on October 21. Because today (Saturday) is my 70th birthday, I will not be working. So I might not reply to comments until Sunday or Monday.
Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson says “I’ve never seen such power concentrated in so few venues, all in pursuit of an idea that we’re going to be equal one way or the other on the back end by people who have no intention of being equal themselves.”
Hoover Institution fellow Timothy Garton Ash discusses the roots of populist discontent in Hungary and Poland and the threat it poses to the future of the European Union.
Hoover Institution fellow H. R. McMaster talks about how the next president should handle relations with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, gives his insights on the effectiveness of our handling of Russia, and shares his passion for helping those in Venezuela.
Hoover Institution fellow Russ Roberts explores parallels between ideas found in the Jewish tradition and the economic insights of the great Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek.
Hoover Institution fellow Michael Auslin joins a panel discussion concerning Shinzo Abe’s foreign policy legacy in cultivating peer relationships with other great power leaders.
The evidence continues to accrue that the dominant policies sold to mitigate the COVID-19 outbreak were catastrophically wrong, yet those who pointed this out early on continue to be reputationally crucified by media and Democrat elites.
President Trump continued Friday to deny the results of the election, pressuring state officials in Michigan and Georgia to overturn the will of voters and increasing fears that he might refuse to cede power to President-elect Joe Biden.
The polls tell us that roughly a third of all U.S. citizens believe — wrongly — that U.S. president-elect Joe Biden’s victory was achieved through fraud.
[Subscription Required] Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan and his then deputy Viral Acharya have opposed the idea of allowing industrial houses to own bank licenses calling the move “disastrous.”
With the state’s COVID curfew set to take effect at 10 p.m. Saturday evening, on Friday many Bay Area residents were expressing frustrations with pandemic fatigue and skepticism over the governor’s plan.
Not long after the world learned that President Donald Trump had lost his reelection bid, states began issuing a new round of crackdowns and emergency declarations against the surging coronavirus.
Stanford graduate students Abdallah AbuHashem and Ziyi Wang and senior Nicolas Fishman have been awarded Rhodes Scholarships for study at Oxford University.
The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University.
@DaybreakInsider
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November 23 2020
Episode 88: Steve Singiser / Living… 
Goldman Sachs Says… 
19 West 44th Street, Suite 1701, New York, NY, 10036, USA
