Through an anonymous contribution of $40 million, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund launched a scholarship fund on Martin Luther King Day to finance the education of 50 law students who will work for civil rights causes across the country, ABC News reports.

The newly-established scholarships will pay for law school and some other expenses for the students, who pledge to spend eight years working for civil rights groups, including a two-year post-graduate fellowship with the Atlanta-based organization.

“The donor came to us,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “The donor very much wanted to support the development of civil rights lawyers in the South. And we have a little bit of experience with that.”

Washington Times: “The Republican Party Central Committee in Carbon County, Wyoming, has censured Rep. Liz Cheney for voting to impeach President Trump, as support for the one-time rising GOP star crumbles in her home state. The censure resolution passed in a unanimous vote by the 45-member central committee. It included a demand that Ms. Cheney appear before the committee to explain her actions. ‘Our representative did not represent our voice,’ said Carbon County GOP Chairman Joey Correnti IV, who presented the resolution to the central committee at a Saturday meeting where the vote took place.”

A new strain of the coronavirus has been identified at a Bavarian hospital in Germany, with 35 patients showing antibodies for the variation, Politico reports.  It marks the fourth known strain of coronavirus identified.

Currently more than 70 people are infected with the coronavirus, with about half of them had been infected with a previously unseen mutation.  Previous variation had been identified in the UK, South Africa and Brazil.

Washington Post: “President-elect Joe Biden will roll out a sweeping overhaul of nation’s immigration laws the day he is inaugurated, including an eight-year pathway to citizenship for immigrants without legal status and an expansion of refugee admissions, alongside an enforcement plan that deploys technology to patrol the border.”

“Biden’s legislative proposal, which will be sent to Congress on Wednesday, also includes a heavy focus on addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, a key part of Biden’s foreign policy portfolio when he served as vice president. The centerpiece of the plan from Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris is the eight-year pathway, which would put millions of qualifying immigrants in a temporary status for five years, and then grant them a green card once they meet certain requirements such as a background check and payment of taxes. They would be able to apply for citizenship three years later. To qualify, immigrants must have been in the United States as of Jan. 1, a move meant to blunt any rush to the border. Beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – which granted key protections for so-called ‘dreamers’ – and the temporary protected status program for migrants from disaster-ravaged nations could apply for a green card immediately. The details were described by multiple transition officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.”

ABC News has obtained a copy of the draft letter Donald Trump intended to send to James Comey, a missive that was so full of projection, lies and slander that White House officials determined it should never see the “light of day,” as Special Counsel Robert Mueller summarized.

“Your conduct has grown unpredictable and even erratic – including rambling and self-indulgent public performances that have baffled experts, citizens and law enforcement professionals alike – making it impossible for you to effectively lead this agency,” Trump wrote to Comey.

Trump wanted to fire Comey because Comey refused to exhibit suitable loyalty to Trump in the investigation into Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security advisor who lasted just 24 days in office before resigning because he lied to Vice President Mike Pence and FBI investigators about conversations with Russian government officials.  Flynn twice pled guilty to charges that were brought, but Trump ultimately pardoned Flynn. 

“Weeks before the election, Dan Bongino (part owner-investor in Parler and Rumble) emphasized his belief that conservatives would evolve into a semi-separate economy. Not secession. I understand the concept a lot better now than I did then. Looking at Cancel Culture and McCarthyism-like Lefty censorship, this isn’t so much the choice of conservatives, but the choice of Cancel Culture. The Left is pushing it, not us. To that end, I’d like to move asap to a red state. The only problem with that is that so many Lefties are fleeing the current blue state mess they created and moving to sensible red states which they then politically contaminate”

– The current top comment on the Power Line Blog piece “Why conservatives should boycott Loews Hotels” (referring to the Loews Hotel chain cancelling a block reservation for Josh Hawley’s PAC family fun fundraiser in Orlando, Florida) posted Monday afternoon.

CNN: “President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani personally voted in the 2020 election using a voting method he publicly disparaged and bashed in his attempts to overthrow the presidential election results, a CNN KFile investigation has found. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, voted in Manhattan by an affidavit ballot, also known as a provisional ballot, after his name did not appear on the voter rolls when he showed up to vote.”

“According to records obtained by CNN’s KFile, Giuliani’s registration was moved to his Long Island home in August and his registration in New York City was purged in September. Giuliani told CNN he did not know why his registration was moved to his Long Island home in August and contested that he changed his registration at all. Giuliani swore in an affidavit oath that he was registered to vote in the Manhattan district and cast his ballot there. A New York City Board of Elections official told CNN the vote would count, citing a provision in the state’s election law.”

For those interested in such things, you might be able to see Uranus in the night sky on Wednesday, January 20th, according to CNET.

Uranus will be up in sky, between the dark red spot of Mars and the Moon, most easily visible a couple hours after dark, which is the best time to look for Uranus in the backyard.  You might need special equipment like binoculars or a telescope to see Uranus,  which will be a faint white dot with a taint of blue.

One of the larger planetary bodies in our solar system, Uranus is unique among planets because it spins on its side, likely because another body slammed into Uranus, thereby changing its axis and creating a thin ring around it.  Scientists say Uranus smells like farts and rotten eggs because hydrogen sulfide gas form the clouds in its atmosphere.

Police arrested a 36-year-old California man who allegedly lived undetected in a secure area of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport because he feared boarding a plane due to the coronavirus, NBC News reports.

Reminiscent of the Tom Hanks’ movie “The Terminal”–which is itself based on a true story–Aditya Singh told the judge that he was “scared to go home due to Covid.”  During his time at the airport, he found a swipe-badge that gave him access to secure areas of the airport, and he lived off food given to him by other travelers.

“The court finds these facts and circumstances quite shocking for the alleged period of time that this occurred,” the judge said. “Being in a secured part of the airport under a fake ID badge allegedly, based upon the need for airports to be absolutely secure so that people feel safe to travel, I do find those alleged actions do make him a danger to the community.”

A series of moving trucks has arrived at Mar-a-Lago, the site of Donald Trump’s self-imposed exile-in-residence where he will dwell starting the morning of Wednesday, January 20th as President-elect Joe Biden takes office, the Palm Beach Post reports.

At least three full-size semi-tractor trailers from JK Moving pulled into the Trump club just after noon Eastern Time.  Trucks from the same company were seen at the White House last week.

The question of whether Trump can live at Mar-a-Lago is still under debate in Palm Beach County, the location of Trump’s club.  The zoning for the property do not allow an individual to spend more than 21 nights per year on the property because it is not zoned as a rental property or a hotel.

With the lowest approval rating of any First Lady in the last 30 years, Third First Lady Melania Trump, a former adult model, issued a slowly-read farewell statement that reflects her term in office:  vacuous, meaningless and light on details but highly airbrushed.

A Farewell Message from First Lady Melania Trump pic.twitter.com/WfG1zg2mt4

— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) January 18, 2021

The claims that I asked for, or received, any compensation for a pardon for myself or anyone else is false, defamatory, and malicious.

— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) January 18, 2021

The Trump Administration provided more than $850,000 in Payroll Protection Program from the coronavirus relief program to five groups prominent in the anti-vaccination movement, raising questions about the criteria used to determine which organizations got aid, the Washington Post reports.

The National Vaccine Information Center, Mercola Health Resources, the Informed Consent Action Network, the Children’s Health Defense and the Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center have a history of spreading false information about vaccines and more recently, about the impact of the coronavirus.

“Lending money to these organizations so they can prosper is a sickening use of taxpayer money. These groups are actively working to undermine the national covid vaccination drive, which will create long-term health problems that are felt most acutely in minority communities and low-income neighborhoods,” said Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

“Officials with Dominion Voting Systems has sent Mike Lindell, the C.E.O. of MyPillow, a legal letter warning of pending litigation over his baseless claims of widespread fraud involving their machines. ‘You have positioned yourself as a prominent leader of the ongoing misinformation campaign,’ the letter said, referring to his continued false claims that their systems were rigged by someone to effect the outcome. ‘Litigation regarding these issues is imminent,’ the letter said. Mr. Lindell is only the latest to get a warning letter from Dominion officials about potential litigation, after he and Sidney Powell, the right-wing lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani and others have continued to spread false claims about the integrity of the results the machines showed” – New York Times.

New York Times White House Correspondent Maggie Haberman reports “The president has continued to tell advisers and allies he really won the election, with less than 48 hours to go before he leaves office. On the current GOP rift, the president’s anger is with every Republican who voted for impeachment but singular for McCarthy, aides say. Associates who’ve spoken with Trump say he’s used the same vulgarity he used about Pence to describe McCarthy, saying he bowed to pressure with his House floor speech. McCarthy did NOT support impeachment, but that’s hasn’t mattered to the president, according to people who spoke with him.”

CNN reports that the Pentagon has readied a second “nuclear football” to be on hand in Washington, DC for newly-inaugurated President Joe Biden as the original one travels with outgoing office holder Donald Trump as he retreats to Florida.

The that Trump will flee Washington, DC prior to the Biden-Harris inauguration has led to some unique logistical challenges for the new administration and existing institutions, one of which is the Pentagon, which will see the role of Commander-in-Chief switch in an instant between two people who will be a thousand miles apart.

The nuclear football, a suitcase that has specific codes and communications equipment relating to the authorization of the launch of nuclear weapons, is never more than a few yards from the President as a matter of national security. 

New York Times: “On Oct. 12, 2020, Fox News agreed to pay millions of dollars to the family of a murdered Democratic National Committee staff member, implicitly acknowledging what saner minds knew long ago: that the network had repeatedly hyped a false claim that the young staff member, Seth Rich, was involved in leaking D.N.C. emails during the 2016 presidential campaign. (Russian intelligence officers, in fact, had hacked and leaked the emails.) Fox’s decision to settle with the Rich family came just before its marquee hosts, Lou Dobbs and Sean Hannity, were set to be questioned under oath in the case, a potentially embarrassing moment. And Fox paid so much that the network didn’t have to apologize for the May 2017 story on FoxNews.com. But there was one curious provision that Fox insisted on: The settlement had to be kept secret for a month – until after the Nov. 3 election. The exhausted plaintiffs agreed.”

“Why did Fox care about keeping the Rich settlement secret for the final month of the Trump re-election campaign? Why was it important to the company, which calls itself a news organization, that one of the biggest lies of the Trump era remain unresolved for that period? Was Fox afraid that admitting it was wrong would incite the president’s wrath? Did network executives fear backlash from their increasingly radicalized audience, which has been gravitating to other conservative outlets? Fox News and its lawyer, Joe Terry, declined to answer that question when I asked last week. And two people close to the case, who shared details of the settlement with me, were puzzled by that provision, too.”

In less than a week, @TrumpStore is back online and ready to accept orders. A true testament to our incredible team! Visit https://t.co/sdoctU8q6A to shop the site. pic.twitter.com/5QAoKVH1gp

— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) January 18, 2021

“The Pentagon has authorized hundreds of active-duty troops to support enhanced security measures related to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, as local law enforcement continues to track threats of violence in the nation’s capital in the days leading up to the ceremony, according to two defense officials. The 750 active-duty personnel deployed this week include service members with expertise in handling chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological and explosive weapons, as well explosive ordnance disposal and medical teams skilled in trauma response, said one defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations” reports Politico.

“The Department of Defense has also authorized active-duty personnel to coordinate with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, medical personnel to conduct Covid-19 testing in support of the attending physician of Congress, and additional management and support personnel, the official said. The news comes as authorities are in a heightened state of alert, scrambling on Monday morning to respond to a fire in the general area of the U.S. Capitol. While the Capitol was briefly placed on lockdown, upending a rehearsal for Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, the source of the fire turned out to be a propane tank that had exploded at a homeless camp nearby.”

Talking Points Memo: “Census Director Steve Dillingham will be stepping down on Jan. 20, cutting short by nearly a year the five-year director term, which was scheduled to expire on Dec. 31. Dillingham announced his resignation plans in an internal Census Bureau email obtained by TPM.”

“Dillingham’s tenure atop the bureau was plagued by myriad controversies since his confirmation in Jan. 2019. His refusal to publicly push back on the efforts by the President and his allies to politicize the 2020 census has long prompted criticism from both within and outside the bureau. In recent days, the scrutiny intensified with the revelation of his involvement in a pressure campaign to push the bureau’s experts to produce data on noncitizens and undocumented immigrants before the end of Trump’s presidency. Several Democratic members of Congress called for his resignation after the demand for the data was disclosed last week. Commerce Department IG Peggy Gustafson, who revealed the gambit in a letter to Dillingham last week, is reviewing the matter.”