Mitch McConnell does it again. He's blocked the vote on the increased stimulus payments sought by most of Congress and Donald Trump.

McConnell brought the chamber back this week with one major goal: overriding Trump’s veto of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. He has not yet committed to bringing the $2,000 payment bill up for a vote, and it is unclear now how one would take shape.

Trump is also trying to get the Senate to pass something that will investigate (non-existent) election fraud in the presidential election.

Will Bernie Sanders follow through with a filibuster to block the overide vote on Trump's veto of the Defense Authorization bill? [More...]

Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers tried hard to have her released on bail this month. The Government fought them tooth and nail. Guess who won? The Government. The full order is not yet released because the parties have to go through it and redact it to protect the privacy interests of those mention. But the short version is here.

The ruling is based strictly on flight risk, as the Government didn't argue she was a danger to the community. [More...]

It's time for Congress to "Give Us Something to Believe In". $600.00 is not enough. $2,000.00 will help so many people.

Now that Trump signed the COVID-Relief bill, the House will vote on whether to give each of us $2,000.00 instead of $600.00 per month. Sen. Schumer today said the bill has enough support to pass the House, but the Senate, which balked before, is uncertain.

The House is in recess right now but is expected to resume later today (5-6 pm ET) to take up the increased stimulus payment and then the overide of the veto of the Defense Authorization Act. The 4,518 page Conference Report on the bill is available here. You can watch live and see the results here.<

Merry Christmas, Everyone.

It really doesn't feel like Christmas to me, but for those of you who have found something to celebrate today (including your religion), enjoy! - and please tell us about any great meals or adventures you had. For those of you staying home (like me) and watching a lot of TV, I hope you'll share any great series or movies you've seen.

It's been interesting following the varied approaches states are taking to who gets the vaccine second. Everyone is doing first responders and nursing homes first, but after that, there seems to be a split. Some states are going with the elderly being second because that will save the most lives (since their lives are most at risk). Other states are going with workers who deal with the public in non-medical fields next, saying they are most likely to catch the virus. Where do you weigh in?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

There is no way to describe Donald Trump's pardon choices this week as anything but repulsive.

Instead of extending a second chance to those who turned their lives around, were remorseful and deserving of mercy, he made a mockery of the entire concept.

Donald Trump is thumbing his nose at America for giving him his pink slip. He will forever be known as the most corrupt man to every sit at a desk in the oval office.

The good news is Donald Trump has been un-Presidented. And he knows it. I heard him say on the news today that something will be the job of the next Administration. Finally, he admits he's toast. That makes me happy enough to shrug off the disgraceful things he will do in his last month. [More...]

The New York Times has a very moving article about New York City's Smallpox scare of 1947, and how the city rose to the occasion, vaccinating more than 5 million people in 2 weeks and 6.5 million people in under a month.

Smallpox was thought to have been eradicated. Even thought most New Yorkers had already been vaccinated it , when the announcements of the first deaths came, they lined up again.

The response was so great that the city enlisted thousands of civilian volunteers to help deliver inoculations. Armed with vials of vaccine, the volunteers, along with professional health care providers, administered as many as eight doses per minute. Making their way through every school in the city, they inoculated 889,000 students. In the first two weeks, five million New Yorkers were vaccinated against smallpox.

The final result: There were a total of 12 infections and two deaths. A catastrophe was avoided. [More...]

There will be new stimulus checks coming. Under the new bill announced today,

Negotiators have decided to provide stimulus checks worth $600 per person. The size of that benefit would be reduced for people who earned more than $75,000 the preceding year, similar to the last round of stimulus checks, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of private deliberations. The stimulus checks would provide $600 per person, including adults and children, meaning a family of four would receive $2,400 up to a certain income.

Congress would also extend unemployment benefits of up to $300 per week, which could start as early as Dec. 27.

There will also be extensions on the period for states to give out CARES Act money. And a one month extension of the ban on evictions.

Attorney General William Barr tendered his resignation letter (available here) to Donald Trump today. It's a fanboy letter.

One thing the letter makes clear is that Trump and Barr discussed his resignation prior to his submitting the letter. Shorter version: Trump told him "Go Now". Barr would have been gone in a month, as soon as Biden's nominee gets confirmed, so what was the hurry? Why single him out and announce he's leaving early? Because Trump wants the world to know (as if any of us care) that when you go against the autocrat, you pay a price, even if it's just a public shaming.

I wonder who wrote the letter. Barr doesn't strike me as the literary type who would come up with phrases like "implacable resistance." Or the type to heap this baseless praise on Trump:

I am proud to have played a role in the many successes and unprecedented achievements you have delivered for the American people.

To me, it reeks of Trump's Number One Fanboy, Stephen Miller, assuming he hasn't jumped ship yet. [More...]

Donald Trump thinks he will be remembered as a supporter of criminal justice reform. That could not be further from the truth.

The truth is he is a champion of the death penalty, which is state-sanctioned murder.

In the past year, 12 federal inmates have been put to death. Four more are scheduled to die before Trump leaves office.

Bryan Stevenson, who leads the Equal Justice Initiative, told WAPO:

Today the Electoral College is voting. By the end of the day Donald Trump will be forced to accept that he stands alone. And that after "an extraordinary year of anti-democratic agitation and disinformation spread by an incumbent president", the time has arrived.

Or as Bob Dylan would say:

"Even the president of the United States Sometimes must have to stand naked"

Finally, the fat lady is about to sing. Georgia will recertify its election results today, confirming for the third time that Joe Biden won the state.

Can the media now stop paying attention to Donald Trump? He is irrelevant, he's toast, stick a fork in him, he's done.

Probably to the surprise of no one, Rudy Giuliani confirmed yesterday he is in the hospital battling COVID-19. Donald Trump first revealed his condition via tweet, and Rudy chirped in the same way.

Mr. Giuliani has been admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center, according to a person who was aware of his condition but not authorized to speak publicly. Mr. Giuliani, at age 76, is in the high-risk category for the virus. Later Sunday, he wrote on Twitter: “Thank you to all my friends and followers for all the prayers and kind wishes. I’m getting great care and feeling good. Recovering quickly and keeping up with everything.”

The United States now has 14.8 million cases of COVID-19 with almost 175k new cases a day. More than 282k people have died. And Donald Trump continues to make it sound like a badge of honor. How much more twisted can one get?