“The president, who hasn’t left the White House extensively other than his rally over the weekend, is currently planning to go to West Palm Beach the week before Christmas, people briefed on the plans say. Some of his associates believe he may spend the remaining five weeks of the first term in Florida, others say that was discussed but isn’t likely” reports NYT’s Maggie Haberman.

The Independent: “Boris Johnson has backed down and offered to drop the clauses in the Brexit Bill that would break international law, in a bid to break the deadlock in the talks. The prime minister made the major concession after the EU signalled the final deadline for a deal is Wednesday – despite insisting the UK would ‘prosper’ without an agreement. In a statement, the government said it would only take out the clauses if the ‘solutions being considered’ as the talks drag on in Brussel reach an agreement. Nevertheless, the move will be seen as significant climbdown, after ministers insisted they were necessary as ‘a safety net’ – regardless of whether a deal was agreed or not.”

The Republican Governor of Georgia refuses to do signature verification, which would give us an easy win. What’s wrong with this guy? What is he hiding?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2020

“The Georgia Secretary of State on Monday said the office would re-certify the state’s election results, which would reaffirm Biden’s victory after a second statewide recount of presidential votes. The presidential ballots in Georgia have now been counted three times” reports Michelle Ye Hee Lee of the Washington Post.

CNN: “The Supreme Court on Monday will delve into atrocities committed during World War II and hear two cases brought by victims and their family members who are seeking compensation for property they say was stolen from them during the Holocaust. The justices will ultimately decide whether the cases against Germany and Hungary can proceed in US courts.”

“The court’s decision could open the door to the possibility of similar lawsuits against foreign countries but also raises difficult questions about entangling the judiciary in matters concerning sensitive foreign policy questions. At issue is a federal law that allows suits against a foreign government when a property is taken ‘in violation of international law.’ The US Justice Department is siding with lawyers for Germany and Hungary arguing the cases should be dismissed. The lawsuit against Hungary was initially brought in 2010 by 14 Jewish survivors, including four United States citizens, who sued Hungary and its state-run railway company seeking compensation for property that was stolen from their families in 1941. They say their possessions and those of their families were taken from them as they boarded trains destined for concentration camps and they seek to represent a class of victims who have been injured in similar ways.”

“Today, protesters gathered outside the Clinton residence in suburban New York and chanted ‘Lock her up!’ This is a recording from one of Hillary Clinton’s neighbors. This is nuts” reported Twitter user Jason Cherkis on Sunday night.

Detroit News: “A federal judge has rejected a last-minute push by Michigan Republicans who sought an emergency order to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state, saying the effort aimed to ‘ignore the will of millions of voters.’ The suit seemed ‘less about achieving the relief’ the GOP plaintiffs sought and ‘more about the impact of their allegations on people’s faith in the democratic process and their trust in our government,’ wrote Judge Linda Parker of Michigan’s Eastern District. ‘The People have spoken,’ wrote Parker, who issued the ruling in the early morning hours of Monday, a week before the nation’s presidential electors will meet.”

“Trump lost Michigan by 154,000 votes to President-elect Joe Biden, and the Board of State Canvassers certified the tally on Nov. 23. On Nov. 25, six Michigan Republicans, represented by conservative attorney Sidney Powell, filed their lawsuit asking for ’emergency relief,’ including a court order requiring Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to sign off on certified election results that state ‘President Donald Trump is the winner of the election.’ The suit also asked the federal judge to impound ‘all voting machines and software in Michigan for expert inspection.’ The defendants in Powell’s suit are Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and the Board of State Canvassers. Powell is a Trump supporter who has previously appeared with his legal team and is filing similar challenges in multiple states. Her suits have relied heavily on conspiracy theories and debunked claims of voter fraud.”

“Resigning won’t help when it’s time for you to stand before a military tribunal for treason Mr. Barr.”

– The current top comment on The Gateway Pundit article “Attorney General Barr Considering Resigning: Report“, posted Sunday night.

“At least one person has died and 200 others have been hospitalized due to an unidentified illness in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, reports said Monday. The illness was detected Saturday evening in Eluru, an ancient city famous for its hand-woven products. Since then, patients have experienced symptoms ranging from nausea and anxiety to loss of consciousness, doctors said. A 45-year-old man who was hospitalized with symptoms similar to epilepsy and nausea died Sunday evening, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.”

“Officials are trying to determine the cause of the illness. So far, water samples from impacted areas haven’t shown any signs of contamination and patients have tested negative for COVID-19. State chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy visited a government hospital and met patients who were ill. Opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu demanded on Twitter an ‘impartial, full-fledged inquiry into the incident.’ Andhra Pradesh state is among those worst hit by COVID-19, with over 800,000 detected cases” – AP.

Daily Beast: “When Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Trump will be subject to Twitter’s normal rules after he leaves office, Democrats and disinformation experts breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, the era of Trump’s social media impunity will come to an end. According to Dorsey, Twitter’s public interest exception, which lets public officials’ rule-breaking tweets stay up with labels and exempts their accounts from suspension, will lapse the moment he stops being president. So @realDonaldTrump will definitely be just like any other account and liable for lockouts and suspension if it breaks the rules, right?”

“Well, maybe. Those concerned about the soon-to-be former president’s misinformation megaphone poisoning social media with more election conspiracies might not want to celebrate quite yet because Trump’s reported desire to run again in 2024 makes it unclear when his account will lose the shield of that public interest exception… Lest you doubt that Twitter would stick to its guns, there is some precedent for the company booting a candidate once entitled to the public interest exception after their candidacy has ended. Twitter suspended DeAnna Lorraine Tesoriero, a MAGA relationship expert who ran a failed bid to unseat Nancy Pelosi, for her racist tweets last month. Florida conspiracy theorist and far-right activist Laura Loomer managed to get herself banned from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, PayPal and even Uber Eats after a string of racist utterances and bizarre behavior. Loomer, who once chained herself to Twitter’s headquarters in a bid to get her account back, ran a doomed bid for Congress in Florida this year but Twitter nonetheless said it wouldn’t allow the newly anointed GOP candidate to open an account.”

The number of people hospitalized with coronavirus jumped to 101,487 on Sunday according to the COVID Tracking Project, nearly doubling the number of patients from one month ago, when on November 6th, 54,949 American were hospitalized with coronavirus.

In the US 177,000 new people were diagnosed with coronavirus, including Trump lawyer and Nosferatu cosplayer Rudy Giuliani.  More than 1,100 people died of COVID Sunday.

According to Worldometers, California was the only state to exceed 10,000 new cases Sunday, and it did so in a big way, with more than 28,000 cases.

On the night when one state Republican candidate for Senate refused to show up for a debate and the other refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the presidential election, Georgia’s Republican governor and lieutenant governor released a joint statement declaring that any attempt to undermine the state’s popular vote would be unconstitutional, WXIA NBC-11 Atlanta reports.

“The Arizona Legislature will be closed all next week after at least 15 current or future Republican legislators may have been directly exposed to COVID-19 by meeting with Rudy Giuliani.
President Donald Trump announced on Twitter Sunday that Giuliani, his personal attorney, tested positive for the virus less than a week after holding an unofficial hearing at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix on Monday Nov. 30. Giuliani visited Arizona this past week as one stop on his traveling legal tour alleging there was widespread fraud in the election” Arizona Capitol Times reports.

“Giuliani and fellow Trump attorney Jenna Ellis talked – unmasked – for roughly 11 hours in the hotel ballroom with several lawmakers. Rep. Mark Finchem, the leader of the election fraud conspiracy committee, along with Rep. Bret Roberts, Rep. David Cook, Rep. Leo Biasiucci, Sen. Sylvia Allen, Sen. David Gowan, Sen. Sonny Borrelli, Senator-elect Kelly Townsend and Senator-elect Nancy Barto were all part of the panel.”

In her debate against Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock, incumbent Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler refused to acknowledge that lame duck president Donald Trump lost the November election to President-elect Joe Biden.

https://youtu.be/oAXR__iH_zo

When asked, “Yes or no:  Did Trump lose the election?” Loeffler equivocated:  “The election?  You know, President Trump has every right to use every legal recourse available.  In our own state, we have seen time and again that we have investigations that need to be completed.”

President-elect Joe Biden has reportedly chosen California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, CNN reports.

Becerra is the first Latino to serve as the state Attorney General, succeeding Kamala Harris, the Vice President-elect who resigned as AG to become a US Senator.  Becerra also served twelve terms as a US Congressman.

Becerra was a persistent challenger to outgoing President Donald Trump, having brought more than 100 lawsuits challenging Trump Administration policies, particularly environmental policies.  Becerra was also one of the leading opponents to Trump’s cessation of the DACA program.

Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff faced off against an empty podium during the first scheduled debate for a Georgia Senate runoff as Republican incumbent David Perdue failed to show up, the Washington Post reports.

https://youtu.be/a6Xx_e1htNQ

“At this moment of crisis … your senator feels entitled to your vote,” Ossoff said.  “Your senator is refusing to answer questions and debate his opponent, because he believes he shouldn’t have to; he believes the Senate seat belongs to him. The Senate seat belongs to the people.”

The Trump Presidency
Series finale

Location:  The North Lawn of the White House

Date:  January 20, 2021, 11 a.m. ET

Scene:  President Trump strides confidently out of the White House, his administration coming to an end as his appointed successor, a cheater who only won the election because of rigged equipment and corrupt Republican politicians, is preparing for inauguration in front of the Capitol.  He walks to Marine One, helicopter blades spinning, and turns back to the White House to give it one last salute.

When President @realDonaldTrump is inaugurated for his second term on January 20, 2021, will Joe Biden’s handlers make him boycott or let him attend?

— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) December 6, 2020

New York Magazine: “In the end, white Christian America stood by its man. The exit polls present an imperfect but definitive picture. At least three-quarters of white Evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in November, a figure largely unchanged from 2016. Evangelicals didn’t win Trump another four years in power, but not for lack of effort. While most of America tired of the president’s impieties, the born-again found in themselves a higher tolerance for sin. And the sins are legion, lest we forget. He tear-gassed protesters so he could walk to a D.C. church and hold a Bible upside-down in front of it without interference. He lied and cheated, and smeared women who accused him of sexual assault. He separated migrant children from their parents and staffed his administration with white nationalists. Over a quarter of a million Americans died of the coronavirus, while he railed against doctors and scientists trying to save lives. Not even a plague turned Evangelicals from their earthly lord. For Trump, the consequences are political and legal. For Evangelicals, the fallout has a more spiritual quality. What does it profit a faith to gain a whole country and then lose it, along with its own soul?”

“Evangelicals had more to lose than Republicans, for reasons I learned in church as a child. You can’t evangelize anyone if your testimony is poor. If you disobey your parents, or wear a skirt that falls above your knees, how can anyone believe you’re saved? Another Sunday school lesson, conveniently forgotten? Be sure that your sin will find you out. Evangelicals bought power, and the bill is coming due. The price is their Christian witness, the credibility of their redemption by God. Evangelicalism won’t disappear after Trump, but its alliance with an unpopular and brutal president could alienate all but the most zealous.”