(With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
I am up and about on this very cold night
Absorbing the news, without even a fight
While under the tree many packages stay
Patiently waiting for the coming of day
The dawn will bring music, chaos and joys
Especially for the children, both the girls and the boys
But for now it’s just me sitting here in the dark
Next to the tree, with nary a spark
This is the hour when I have to decide
Which words to employ, no one’s by my side
When the morning comes. these words will strike true
Or not, I don’t know, as that’s up to you
But deep in my struggle to make any sense
Out of Covid-19, vaccinations and silly old Pence
There’s still one feeling that really comes through
And that's Merry Christmas from me on to you!
***
According to legend, Clement Clarke Moore wrote The Night Before Christmas, for his family on Christmas Eve 1822. He never intended that it be published, but a family friend, Miss Harriet Butler, learned of the poem sometime later from Moore's children.
***
* A President Unhappy, Unleashed and Unpredictable -- President Trump remains the most powerful man in the world, but powerless to achieve what he most wants: to avoid leaving office as a loser. (NYT)
* Hours before President Donald Trump retweeted a message for his vice president to "act" in stopping the ratification of the Electoral College, he met for more than an hour in the Oval Office with Mike Pence, whom he has complained recently isn't doing enough to support his bid to overturn the election. (CNN)
* Vaccine opponents outline online campaigns designed to sow distrust in coronavirus shots (WashPo)
* GOP voters remain far likelier to align themselves with Trump than they are to side with other Republicans, a new HuffPost/YouGov survey shows. In the case of a disagreement between Trump and Republicans in Congress, 52% of Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters say they’d be more likely to support Trump. Only 15% say they would side with the GOP legislators. [HuffPost]
* Feminism Has Failed Women -- If the pandemic undid three decades of progress on gender equality, one has to wonder: How real was that progress in the first place? (NYT)
* Trump’s last-minute outburst throws pandemic relief effort into chaos (WashPo)
* Trump has arrived at his Palm Beach, Florida, resort for the 31st golf vacation there of his presidency, raising the taxpayer-funded travel and security total for his leisure to $151.5 million, according to a HuffPost analysis. Trump has played golf on his own properties 289 times since taking office in January 2017, although he claimed during his 2016 campaign that he would not have time for a vacation at all. [HuffPost]
* Isolation Helps Homeless Population Escape Worst of Virus -- Despite outbreaks in shelters and the prospect of more, the rates of infection among homeless populations are lower than feared (NYT)
* Could Trump declare martial law to try to steal the election? (WashPo)
* Boats, planes, helicopters: Canada gears up to vaccinate remote indigenous communities (Reuters)
* A provision tucked into the pandemic relief package that Congress passed could go a long way toward ending one of the most notorious and exploitative practices of American health care. The provision would create a new law designed to stop “surprise bills” -- the charges people with health insurance get because, unknowingly, they received medical services from a provider who isn’t part of their insurance networks. [HuffPost]
* Scarred by 2020, Gen Z looks to a COVID-free future (Reuters)
* Trump administration pushes forward on $500 million weapons deal with Saudi Arabia (WashPo)
* Ninety percent of New Yorkers favor increasing taxes on millionaires and billionaires. (The Nation)
* Sonoma County ranks worst among Bay Area counties in Covid-19 prevalence. But officials there have taken no enforcement action against at least 15 large wedding gatherings. [The San Francisco Chronicle]
* Vaccines will work against virus variants spreading through U.K. and South Africa, experts believe (WashPo)
* When it comes to weird stories that keep getting weirder, the elusive "Jet Pack Guy" of Los Angeles pretty much takes the cake. After multiple reported sightings from airline pilots on more than one occasion of a guy in a jet pack flying around at thousands of feet near Los Angeles International Airport—some of the most congested airspace on earth—as well as ongoing FAA and FBI investigations into the matter, we now have credible video of what seems to be the flying object in question.The footage doesn't come to us from some random Reddit board or YouTube channel, either. It was taken during an instructional flight from Sling Pilot Academy in the training area off Palos Verdes. (The Drive)
* The movie "Love Actually" is trending on Twitter (Disney)
***
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