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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[Yankguy1]

Ah geez, go outside.

[REDSTATEWARD]

Christopher Krebs headed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) until Trump fired him last month after Krebs had called the 2020 election "the most secure in American history" and said there was no evidence of changed, deleted, lost or otherwise compromised votes.

Hmmmm.

Just 3 days ago  CNN published an Krebs op-ed  in which he addressed election integrity and cybersecurity in general but not the type of hacking that befell the federal government under his watch.
As I said in a news briefing, Election Day was just another Tuesday on the Internet. Normal sorts of scanning and probing were happening, but we did not see any successful attacks or damaging disruptions.


Meanwhile hackers, believed to be Russians,  were hacking and compromising the Departments of Energy, State, Defense, Homeland Security, Treasury and Commerce.

But CNN’s coverage never made a mention of Krebs 

That’s the sad reality of “ journalism” today. 

[josh]

Runoffs and special elections usually pull in about 20% of the votes that their general election saw.
 
So far, 1.1 million Georgians have voted, which is near to the number that had voted on the equivalent day, in the Presidential election in spite of fewer voting sites in the most populous counties. Beyond that, more than 100,000 voters who didn't vote in the general election have requested absentee ballots!

[REDSTATEWARD]

I’d say Eric Swalwell should start thinking about returning to the practice of Law.
Even if he got his degree from Maryland 

[bambu.]

Ah geez, go outside.

Raining outside.
Floods this year instead of fires.
Not climate change...'droughts and flooding rains' is in the iconic poem "My Country".

"Once in 100 yr floods".
Of course.
Hadn't flooded for a long time, so homes etc were built where they should never have been.
"Homes are under water, it's climate change"...oh no it's not.

Yes, American students don't like the idea of "no planes, replaced by green dream trains".

[facilitatorn]

It looks like Krebs was fired for getting between Russian hackers and their promised interference on behalf of puppet trump.

More to come as we get further into draining the swamp of sellouts and turncoats. There’s a whole ton of dirt in the Ohio republican delegation, for instance.

[facilitatorn]

I’d say Eric Swalwell should start thinking about returning to the practice of Law.
Even if he got his degree from Maryland

He’s practicing making law. He’s far better at it than anyone in the rump minority GOP.

[bodiddley]

So are the Trumpeters fucking up distribution?
It would be in character:

1. Did the Trump Admin decline Pfizer's offer of more doses, and so Pfizer locked in foreign buyers, putting extra US doses back in the queue?  If so, that's a terrible blunder.

the U.S. vaccine-development program, agreed to buy 100 million doses of the two-dose regimen; the $1.95 billion contract came with an option to buy 500 million more doses. However, Pfizer and federal officials have been at odds after reports that the government declined a subsequent offer to buy more doses, and that Pfizer would need to fulfill commitments to other countries before it could get more stock to the U.S.

2. Are there lots of doses sitting in warehouses not being shipped?

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/pfizer-has-millions-of-covid-19-doses-in-u-s-warehouses-but-no-idea-where-to-ship-them

3.  Is it the right decision to only vaccinate half as many people as could be inoculated now, and withhold the full 2nd dose complement which is available now but going to sit in warehouses for 3 weeks?

Former FDA Chief Gottlieb Whacks Feds for Withholding Pfizer Vaccine from States: ‘Not the Right Decision’

I can see holding some reserve.  But they're doling out 2.9M doses in the first batch sent out.  Withholding another 2.9M doses for the three week followup jab.  And setting aside 500K in a reserve.

Instead of starting with just 3M people, they could have started with 4M or 5M and still had a reserve of 2.3M or 1.3M doses respectively.
To me, it seems pretty safe to go for the extra 1M upfront (ie 4M doses to start) and have a reserve of 2.3M, enough for a 2nd dose for over half the first recipients, while plenty more vaccine is being manufactured to cover the rest.
I would have been trying to get as close to 5M to start as possible.

4.  Is the Trump Admin throttling the Pfizer rollout to let Moderna catch up?
Moderna was a full Op WS partner and Pfizer not only didn't participate, but annoyed Trump by distancing themselves and criticizing the Trump Admin purchase plans.

[facilitatorn]

Republican petty bullshit politics is at the heart of almost every American disaster.

[bodiddley]

During the Trump Admin:

Huge epidemic spreads across the country and kills half a million Americans =
not Trump's fault, no blame (or maybe try to shift it to Obama ...)

Big Pharma develops effective vaccines within one year = massive praise for Trump

Entire US Gov't massively hacked = not Trump's fault.

[Hamilton Samuels]

Time Out for this laugh from the past: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ9myHhpS9s&t=68s

[bankshot1]

I’d say Eric Swalwell should start thinking about returning to the practice of Law.
Even if he got his degree from Maryland

What Red is saying, is there is nothing in Swallwell's past that would preclude him from being an officer of the court, or threaten his ability to practice law in any forum, including for the government. For reasons unknown, it seems Red would prefer Swalllwell in private practice rather than in public service.

[barton]

Biden White House responds to Texas secession....

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/12/12/2001591/-The-Biden-White-House-Response-to-Texas-secession

[barton]

Six years ago,  Swalwell, along with other members of Congress who didn't happen to be prominent in the later impeachment hearings,  was told the woman was likely a spy.   He had given her no classified information.  He helped the FBI, providing useful information, and was thanked by the FBI.   Sounds like,  based on this,  he has no disqualifying factors for being on the HIC.   So, providing evidence and some logical argument, why should he be dismissed? 

[josh]

https://www.axios.com/pentagon-biden-transition-briefings-123a9658-4af1-4632-a6e6-770117784d60.html

Yet again, the Trump administration breaks with the best interests of the nation, for no reasons they have been willing to share, as far as anybody can tell.

Chris Miller's actions seem nearly certain to be directed by Trump, but even that is thus far invisible, other than Trump's failure to direct the briefings to continue.

     "We had fewer than two dozen remaining meetings on the schedule today and next week," the official said, adding that "the DoD staff working the meetings were overwhelmed by the number of meetings."

Oh, just a few dozen, so why bother holding them!

Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller ordered a Pentagon-wide halt to cooperation with the transition of President-elect Biden, shocking officials across the Defense Department, senior administration officials tell Axios.

The latest: Biden transition director Yohannes Abraham contradicted the Pentagon's official response to this story on Friday afternoon, telling reporters, "Let me be clear: there was no mutually agreed upon holiday break."

"In fact, we think it’s important that briefings and other engagements continue during this period as there’s no time to spare, and that’s particularly true in the aftermath of ascertainment delay," Abraham continued, referring to the Trump administration's delay in recognizing Biden as president-elect.
Miller had said in a statement following the publication of this story: "At no time has the Department cancelled or declined any interview. ... After the mutually-agreed upon holiday, which begins tomorrow, we will continue with the transition and rescheduled meetings from today."
Behind the scenes: Trump administration officials left open the possibility cooperation would resume after a holiday pause. The officials were unsure what prompted Miller's action, or whether President Trump approved.

Why it matters: Miller's move, which stunned officials throughout the Pentagon, was the biggest eruption yet of animus and mistrust toward the Biden team from the top level of the Trump administration.

Fury at the Biden team among senior Pentagon officials escalated after the Washington Post published a story on Wednesday night revealing how much money would be saved if Biden halted construction of Trump's border wall.
Trump officials blame the leak on the Biden transition team (Though, it should be noted, they have no evidence of this, and both reporters on the byline cover the Trump administration and have historically been prolific beneficiaries of leaks.)