Bloomberg: “A White House official who fell ill with Covid-19 in September is recovering after three months in the hospital, though he lost his right foot and lower leg in his battle against the virus, according to a friend. Crede Bailey, the director of the White House security office, was the most severely ill among dozens of Covid-19 cases known to be connected to the White House. Bailey’s family has asked the White House not to publicize his condition, and President Donald Trump has never publicly acknowledged his illness.”

“Bailey’s friends have raised more than $30,000 for his rehabilitation through a GoFundMe account. The White House declined to say whether Trump has contributed to the effort. ‘Crede beat COVID-19 but it came at a significant cost: his big toe on his left foot as well as his right foot and lower leg had to be amputated,’ Dawn McCrobie, who organized the GoFundMe effort for Bailey, wrote.”

“A team of sophisticated hackers believed to be working for the Russian government won access to internal communications at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to people familiar with the matter.

“The breach was part of the campaign reported Sunday that penetrated the U.S. departments of Treasury and Commerce.

“DHS is a massive bureaucracy responsible for border security, cybersecurity and most recently the secure distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.” –Reuters

Apologies if this iFrame is shit, the losers don’t have it on YouTube so I had to just eyeball the height to embed their video player – but I thought it’d be fun for us to watch them have to sit here with their misery.

That sentence makes sense if you really think about it. Read more here.

Washington Post: “The Republican leaders of Michigan’s state House said they had removed GOP state Rep. Gary Eisen from his committee assignments, after Eisen suggested in a radio interview that there might be violence Monday as state electors cast their votes for Biden. ‘We as elected officials must be clear that violence has no place in our democratic process,’ said House Speaker Lee Chatfield and Rep. Jason Wentworth, who will replace Chatfield as speaker next year. ‘We must be held to a higher standard.'”

“Earlier in the day, Eisen – who has been in office since 2019 – told Michigan radio station WPHM that he and other state legislators might take action to challenge Biden’s victory. Eisen declined to describe exactly what the plan was. ‘It’ll be all over the news later,’ Eisen said. ‘I’m on a football team, and we have one more play.’ ‘Can you assure me that this is going to be a safe day in Lansing, nobody’s going to get hurt?’ host Paul Miller said. ‘No,’ Eisen. Eisen did not reply to requests for comment from The Washington Post. The loss of committee assignments will have little practical impact on Eisen, since the punishment lasts only until Michigan’s legislative term ends on Dec. 31. But it seemed intended to signal that Michigan’s House Republicans wanted to distance itself from Eisen, and whatever plan he is involved in.”

Awaiting better confirmation on this, but the word came from MAGAchurch Pastor Mark Burns, famous here on National Zero for his fiery sermon delivered to the Trump faithful in DC on Saturday.

UPDATE 12/14/20 1:16 PM EST: Burns tweeted “Regarding #JulianAssange tweet, Inadvertent tweet, faulty source, please disregard!” at 12:57pm EST. Dickhead.

Smartmatic, the Florida-based election software company that has become the center of unfounded conspiracy theories about the November election, issued a demand for a retraction to Fox News, Newsmax and One America News for false information the networks broadcast, Reuters reports.

The three conservative, Trump supporting cable networks hves perpetuated a nonsensical story about Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems, a Smartmatic competitor, conspiring to flip votes in only 4 swing states.  Dominion systems were used in 29 states; Smartmatic’s software was used in only one county in the United States, Los Angeles County.

The conspiracy theories have been debunked by both Democratic and Republican state election officials across the nation.  Hand recounts have verified electronic tallies.  And all software used in elections is reviewed and assessed by interstate, non-partisan auditors. 

Miami Herald: “The Florida Senate president announced Monday that he tested positive for the novel coronavirus, just hours before he was to oversee the state’s awarding of 29 electoral votes to President Donald Trump. Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, wrote to Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday morning that he wouldn’t be able to participate.”

“Simpson did not say his condition or whether he was symptomatic. Simpson, who was formally chosen as Senate president last month, was one of 29 presidential electors scheduled to meet in Florida’s Senate chambers at 2 p.m. Monday to cast their votes for Trump and Pence. It wasn’t immediately clear who would replace Simpson during Monday’s vote.”

Axios: “An undercover team working for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) followed opposition leader Alexei Navalny on more than 30 trips to and from Moscow since 2017 before he was poisoned in August, according to a bombshell investigation led by Bellingcat. The Kremlin has denied having any role in the poisoning of Navalny, who is one of the most prominent domestic critics of President Vladimir Putin. But an analysis of ‘voluminous telecom and travel data’ by Bellingcat suggests the poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok ‘was mandated at the highest echelons of the Kremlin.’ Bellingcat, an open-source journalism website that also identified the Russian officers behind the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal in the U.K., found the attack was the culmination of years of stalking that began at least a month after Navalny’s 2017 announcement that he would stand against Putin in presidential elections the next year.”

“Why did the Swing States stop counting in the middle of the night?” @MariaBartiromo Because they waited to find out how many ballots they had to produce in order to steal the Rigged Election. They were so far behind that they needed time, & a fake “water main break”, to recover!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020

The Washington Post has an in-depth piece about the shitty relationship between Trump and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, this part sticks out: “At the start of the contentious phone call, Trump asked Kemp how he was doing, according to someone briefed on the exchange. Kemp was in the midst of a family tragedy after Harrison Deal, a family friend and Loeffler aide, had died in a car crash the previous day. He replied, ‘It’s been a rough 24 hours.’ The president then incorrectly surmised that Kemp’s low mood must be because of recent poll numbers showing the governor’s approval rating slipping. No, we lost a close family friend yesterday, Kemp replied, this person said. Trump then offered his condolences.”

“In the call, Trump demanded that the governor call a special session of the legislature and pressure lawmakers to change state law to allow them to assign Republican electors and reverse the outcome. He also demanded an audit of ballot signatures, which he has claimed without evidence, were not properly matched against signatures on file. Kemp explained that, for numerous legal reasons, he could not do either of those things. Kemp’s office declined to comment on the exchange, but numerous people with knowledge of the call said the conversation was openly hostile, with Trump effectively threatening the governor and arguing that Kemp would lose reelection if he didn’t cede to the president’s demands. ‘It was nasty enough for Kemp to say no to all of the asks,’ said one Republican strategist. ‘I don’t know if you’ve ever talked to Kemp, but he’s politically kind of squishy. He never says yes or no to something. He’ll say something cute and funny, and he pushes it off, but it’s never like a flat ‘No.’ He told the president, ‘No’ – twice'”.

Morning Consult: “Despite there being no viable legal pathway for President Donald Trump to overturn the election results, many of his most fervent supporters continue to believe their man will remain in the White House. New Morning Consult polling finds that 45 percent of voters who ‘strongly approve’ of the president’s job performance believe the results will be overturned, including 29 percent who say that outcome is ‘very likely.’ That share has dwindled only slightly over the past month, even as the president’s legal team has repeatedly come up empty in courts.”

“Citing ‘safety and security concerns,’ the Michigan House and Senate will close their offices in downtown Lansing on Monday as presidential electors meet in the state Capitol. On Sunday night, House and Senate officials sent notifications about the closures to members and staff. At 2 p.m. Monday, the state’s 16 presidential electors will convene in the Senate chamber to cast their votes for Democratic President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.”

“Some are expecting protesters in support of Republican President Donald Trump to gather outside the building, which will be closed to the public. Michigan State Police, in medical masks, on the sides of the lawn of the Michigan Capitol. Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said Sunday night the Senate closed its offices based on ‘recommendations from law enforcement.’ The decision was not based on anticipated protests but on ‘credible threats of violence,’ McCann said. ‘Due to safety and security concerns, the Senate and all Senate spaces in downtown Lansing will be closed Monday, December 14,’ the Senate notification said. ‘The Capitol, Binsfeld Office Building, and Senate offices within Boji Tower will be closed.’ The notification to House staffers said, ‘(O)nly those needed for the Electoral College will be permitted in the Capitol Building'” – Detroit News.

Gizmodo: “It’s not just you. YouTube, Gmail, and just about every conceivable Google-based service, from Google Docs to to Google Play Movies to Google Calendar, is down right now across several countries, including the U.S., UK, and Australia. Down Detector also reports that Discord has been having trouble since at least 7:04 a.m. ET. as well. Other services that appear to be impacted by the outage are Google Classroom, Google Home, and Nest, which is also owned by Google. Google search appears to be functioning, at least from the home page, though there were earlier reports that even search wasn’t working.”

“Richard Everit walked with a heavy heart from his hotel to join a rally being held by President Trump’s supporters near the White House on Saturday morning. The Supreme Court had rejected a lawsuit by Texas the night before, extinguishing what little hope he had left for the re-election of Mr. Trump, the man who had inspired the first vote of his life. ‘I almost didn’t walk down after last night’s announcement,’ said Mr. Everit, 55, who lives in western Pennsylvania. He liked what he said was Mr. Trump’s nose-thumbing at the elites of both parties, many of whom had been in power for years and appeared to have grown rich from it. But on this day, he was resigned to losing him as president. ‘At this point, it’s over,’ he said. ‘You hate to say it.'”

“Supporters gathered for a similar event in November shortly after the election. But this time, the crowd at Freedom Plaza was far smaller and less hopeful, a mood that reflected a month of disappointments: Mr. Trump has lost dozens of court cases. The Supreme Court has rejected his cause twice. And on Monday, the Electoral College is set to give the final legal stamp of approval to Mr. Trump’s loss. One thing has remained the same: the view, among Mr. Trump’s most faithful followers, that he is the rightful winner of the election” – New York Times.

Politico: “Donald Trump doesn’t need to run for president again. He just needs everyone to think he is. The president’s recent discussions with those around him reveal that he sees his White House comeback deliberations as a way to earn the commodity he needs most after leaving office: Attention. The president has spent days calling a dozen or more allies to ask what they think he needs to do over the next two years to ‘stay part of the conversation,’ according to two people, including one who spoke to the president.”

“And while Trump has told allies he plans to run for president again, he has also indicated he could back out in two years if he determines he’ll have a tough time winning, said three people familiar with the discussions. Essentially, at this point, Trump appears just as interested in people talking about a Trump 2024 campaign as he is in actually launching a real campaign, even if he may ultimately turn his flirtation into a serious bid, according to interviews with 11 Republicans who worked for Trump or helped in his two races.”

What a fool Governor @BrianKempGA of Georgia is. Could have been so easy, but now we have to do it the hard way. Demand this clown call a Special Session and open up signature verification, NOW. Otherwise, could be a bad day for two GREAT Senators on January 5th.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020

New York Times: “Following years of protests from fans and Native American groups, the Cleveland Indians have decided to change their team name, moving away from a moniker that has long been criticized as racist, three people familiar with the decision said Sunday.”

“The move follows a decision by the Washington Football Team of the NFL in July to stop using a name long considered a racial slur, and is part of a larger national conversation about race that magnified this year amid protests of systemic racism and police violence. Cleveland could announce its plans as soon as this week, according to the three people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.”