Reuters: “The U.S. Senate could pave the way for Congress to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense spending bill with a procedural vote on Wednesday, further raising tensions between the outgoing Republican president and party leaders. Congressional Republicans have largely stuck with Trump through four turbulent years, but the president is angry that they have not fully backed his claims of election fraud. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the leading Republican in Congress, on Tuesday blocked a quick vote on the [larger stimulus] checks and urged lawmakers to override Trump’s veto of the defense bill. If successful, the veto override would be the first such congressional rebuke of Trump. The cracks in Trump’s relationship with Republican Party leaders come three weeks before Trump hands power to Democrat Joe Biden on Jan. 20.”

Thank you, a great honor! https://t.co/9GfT5c8hY0

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2020

“Many criticize President Trump about his tweets, but he is a courageous leader who says or takes issues head-on. At the start of his first tenure, he frowned at an America that had failed many of its citizens” reads the puff piece at AfricaWorldNewspaper.com, a site no one has ever heard of before with really not-so-great production values compared to National Zero. Here’s another comparison:

NationalZero.com Alexa Worldwide Rank: #908,000
AfricaWorldNewspaper.com Alexa Worldwide Rank: #2,309,772

Also National Zero doesn’t have “rape” as a tag. Not that we have any tags at all, but we sure as shit would not put “rape” in there if we did. Maybe we’d get recognized by the President if we’d named him National Zero Person of The Year 2020, though that honor went to a truly great man, billionaire philanthropist and defender of democracy, Mr. George Soros.

“Dawn Wells, the girl-next-door actress and former beauty queen who played the sweet Mary Ann Summers on the iconic CBS sitcom Gilligan’s Island, died Tuesday. She was 82. Wells died in Los Angeles of causes related to COVID-19, her publicist announced. Other than Tina Louise, Wells was the last surviving member of the regular cast of the Sherwood Schwartz-created show, which featured three women and four men marooned on a desert island after their three-hour boat tour off the coast of Honolulu went inexplicably awry” – The Hollywood Reporter.

A dramatic video from Saudi state television shows the moment a bomb exploded at Aden airport in Yemen as the newly-formed Yemeni government arrives at the airport.  The blast killed 27 people and injured dozens more.

Members of the new coalition government were disembarking from the plane as the explosions occurred.  Initial reports hypothesize that the explosions were caused by mortars or bombs attached to or dropped by drones.

In a subsequent attack, rockets were launched at the Maasheeq Presidential Palace after the government convened there following the airport bombing.

Axios: “President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team said at a press briefing on Wednesday that the Office of Management and Budget has been limiting support to the incoming administration, accusing the agency of ‘intentionally generated opacity.’ Biden spokesperson Yohannes Abraham told reporters ‘there’s no question’ that a lack of analytical support to the transition team will delay Biden’s budget planning, and that it has ‘real-world implications’ for national security. The news comes days after Biden said his team has ‘encountered obstruction’ and ‘roadblocks’ from political leadership at the Defense Department, including a lack of briefings.”

“As 2020 comes to a close some New York residents can add another woe to the long list this year has wrought: vicious squirrels. People living in the Rego Park neighborhood of Queens have reported several squirrel attacks over the past month, with one woman needing emergency attention after a bite to the hand. One resident told local media she leaves the house with pepper spray in case of encountering an aggressive squirrel or a pack. ‘Next thing I know, it’s a cage match and I’m losing’ Micheline Frederick told the local ABC7 station of an instance that saw a squirrel bite or scratch her neck, necessitating a precautionary rabies shot. Most squirrels in New York City are of the eastern gray variety, according to the parks department, and along with pigeons are daytime’s answer to the metropolis’ vast population of rats that roam the nightscape. The parks dept warns against feeding squirrels, which can make them fear humans less” – Yahoo News.

Alaska Public Media: “For the first time in its history, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will not be finishing in Nome this year because of COVID-19 concerns. While the decision deprives many local mushers of the chance to pass their home communities, most said they understood the decision. ‘I think the Iditarod had a really tough decision. I think they made that decision in the best interest of the communities along the trail,’ said Nome musher Aaron Burmeister. That’s not to say he’s not sad about the decision. ‘My whole dream most of my adult life and since childhood, has been to bring a winning team from Nome back to Nome, and bring the victory home to Nome.'”

“Burmeister lives in Nome and trades his time between Nome and Nenana, where he trains his dog team. This will be his 20th Iditarod: He’s been in the top five finishers three times. But the COVID-19 pandemic has caused Iditarod race organizers to create an altered route, going through mostly unpopulated checkpoints. The 2021 race begins and ends in Willow, and sticks to tradition by using the southern route it uses every odd year. Teams will go to the abandoned mining town of Flat before turning back to Willow, a run of 810 miles. Most of the checkpoints are abandoned mining towns or composed of just one cabin. The largest community on the route is McGrath, with a population of 310. That means if Burmeister does get a victory, it won’t be beneath Nome’s Burled Arch. ‘The reason I love Iditarod is the communities we traveled through, the people along the trail,’ he said. ‘I feel at home on the Yukon River when I hit the coast.'”

NPR: “A significant number of Americans believe misinformation about the origins of the coronavirus and the recent presidential election, as well as conspiracy theories like QAnon, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll. Forty percent of respondents said they believe the coronavirus was made in a lab in China even though there is no evidence for this. Scientists say the virus was transmitted to humans from another species. And one-third of Americans believe that voter fraud helped Joe Biden win the 2020 election, despite the fact that courts, election officials and the Justice Department have found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome.”

“The poll results add to mounting evidence that misinformation is gaining a foothold in American society and that conspiracy theories are going mainstream, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. This has raised concerns about how to get people to believe in a ‘baseline reality,’ said Chris Jackson, a pollster with Ipsos. ‘Increasingly, people are willing to say and believe stuff that fits in with their view of how the world should be, even if it doesn’t have any basis in reality or fact,’ Jackson said. ‘What this poll really illustrates to me is how willing people are to believe things that are ludicrous because it fits in with a worldview that they want to believe.'”

“Following both the 2004 and 2016 elections, Democrats in Congress objected during the certification of electoral votes in order to raise concerns about election integrity. They were praised by Democratic leadership and the media when they did. And they were entitled to do so. But now those of us concerned about the integrity of this election are entitled to do the same.”

“I cannot vote to certify the electoral college results on January 6 without raising the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws. And I cannot vote to certify without pointing out the unprecedented effort of mega corporations, including Facebook and Twitter, to interfere in this election, in support of Joe Biden. At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections. But Congress has so far failed to act. For these reasons, I will follow the same practice Democrat members of Congress have in years past and object during the certification process on January 6 to raise these critical issues” – Statement from Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) via Twitter.

New York Post: “President Trump’s signature Sunday on the $2.3 trillion COVID-19 relief and government funding bill started a 180-day countdown for the Pentagon and spy agencies to say what they know about UFOs. The provision received very little attention, in part because it wasn’t included in the text of the 5,593-page legislation, but as a ‘committee comment’ attached to the annual intelligence authorization act, which was rolled into the massive bill.”

“The Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), said in the comment that it ‘directs the [director of national intelligence], in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of such other agencies … to submit a report within 180 days of the date of enactment of the Act, to the congressional intelligence and armed services committees on unidentified aerial phenomena.’ The report must address ‘observed airborne objects that have not been identified” and should include a ‘detailed analysis of unidentified phenomena data collected by: a. geospatial intelligence; b. signals intelligence; c. human intelligence; and d. measurement and signals intelligence,’ the committee said. The report must also contain ‘[a] detailed analysis of data of the FBI, which was derived from investigations of intrusions of unidentified aerial phenomena data over restricted United States airspace … and an assessment of whether this unidentified aerial phenomena activity may be attributed to one or more foreign adversaries.’ Former Pentagon and legislative officials confirmed Tuesday to the publication The Debrief that the package begins the clock on UFO disclosures.”

Hearings from Atlanta on the Georgia Election overturn now being broadcast. Check it out. @OANN @newsmax and many more. @BrianKempGA should resign from office. He is an obstructionist who refuses to admit that we won Georgia, BIG! Also won the other Swing States.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2020

AP: “Ryan Seacrest will have a special pair of guests alongside the music stars at this year’s New Year’s Eve celebration on ABC – the president-elect and the future first lady. President-elect Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden are scheduled to give ‘their last interview of the year’ in New York’s Times Square on ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2021.’ The Bidens will ‘share an inspiring message as we come together to close out 2020 and look ahead with hope to 2021,’ according to a statement by the producers. Jennifer Lopez will be the musical headliner. The pop star will perform live before the iconic ball drop on Dec. 31. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the event will be closed to the public.”

Politico: “President Donald Trump’s last-gasp bid to overturn his 2020 election defeat appears doomed on Jan. 6, when Congress is set to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. But the byzantine process by which Congress counts and validates the Electoral College results has left gnawing uncertainty about precisely how the final act in Trump’s undemocratic drama will play out. The law that guides the proceedings, the Electoral Count Act – passed in 1887 to address the disastrous election of 1876 – is vaguely written and full of gaps that have perplexed constitutional scholars for a century. Now, Trump and his allies are working to exploit those gaps to try to muscle their way to a second term.”

“There’s little doubt that Biden will be certified as president by the end of the day on Jan. 6 or in the wee hours of Jan. 7, but Trump’s allies could cast a cloud over the process – grinding it to a halt, attempting to force votes on alternate slates of Trump-supporting electors and raising untold objections to the proceedings that could disrupt the traditionally ceremonial event. But the lack of clarity also create enormous opportunities for those who wish to limit or prevent the day-long spectacle that Trump’s allies are promising. That could include both Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been working to tamp down GOP support for challenges in recent days – drawing Trump’s fury.”

“President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday night to criticize Republican officials in Georgia, including Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for failing to investigate unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the state. The president also criticized Raffensperger’s brother, saying he works for China. However, Raffensperger doesn’t have a brother, as many social media users were quick to point out. Trump is likely referring to Ron Raffensperger, CTO of Chinese technology firm Huawei. The two men are not related. A conspiracy theory linking Georgia’s secretary of state to Ron Raffensperger and Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election has made the rounds on social media in recent days” – Newsweek.

Politico: “Early voting in the Georgia Senate runoffs is breaking records – and Democrats have reasons for hope in the numbers. More than 2.3 million people have voted as of Tuesday morning through mail-in ballots or in-person early voting for the two races, already topping the record for the most votes in a Georgia runoff election. Democrats are buoyed by the strong early vote numbers, which show Black voters making up a larger percentage of the electorate than in November and higher early turnout in Democratic congressional districts in the state. Both are positive signs for Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, the two challengers, easing fears that the typical voter dropoff that has plagued Democrats in past years would doom the party’s chances with control of the Senate on the line.”

“Meanwhile, early-vote turnout has lagged in Republican-held congressional districts, likely leaving GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue with a larger deficit heading into Election Day than they had to make up on Nov. 3, with early voting concluding this week leading up to the New Year’s holiday. Both parties have been closely tracking the in-person and absentee ballots that have already been submitted, looking for data on the state of the races after the extremely close contests in November and with less than a week left to tweak get-out-the-vote and advertising strategies for next Tuesday’s vote. While the early-vote figures provide some comfort to Democrats, they are hardly predictive: Republican officials have always anticipated needing to overperform on Election Day compared with Democrats. GOP voters have long preferred casting ballots in person and on the day of the election, but the partisan differences in voting became even more acute after President Donald Trump spent much of the year criticizing voting by mail and attacking the administration of Georgia’s November election.”

…The consent decree signed by the “Secretary”, with the consent of Kemp, is perhaps even more poorly negotiated than the deal that John Kerry made with Iran. Now it turns out that Brad R’s brother works for China, and they definitely don’t want “Trump”. So disgusting! #MAGA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2020