The Commentariat -- December 1, 2020

Afternoon Update:

** Biggest Rat Abandons Sunk Ship. Michael Balsamo of the AP: "Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. His comments in an interview with The Associated Press come despite ... Donald Trump's repeated baseless claims that the election was stolen, Trump&'s effort to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election and his refusal to concede his loss to President-Elect Joe Biden. Barr said U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up specific complaints and information they've received, but they've uncovered no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.... Before the election, he had repeatedly raised the notion that mail-in voter fraud could be especially vulnerable to fraud.... Shortly after Barr's statement was published, Trump tweeted out more baseless claims of voter fraud. And his attorney Rudy Giuliani and his campaign issued a scathing statement claiming that, 'with all due respect to the Attorney General, there hasn't been any semblance' of an investigation." A Washington Post story is here.

And Mitch Has Such an Understated Way of Saying Good-Bye. Felicia Sonmez & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that there will be a new administration in January, going further than he previously has in acknowledging Trump's election loss. 'I think we all know that after the first of the year there's likely to be a discussion about additional -- some additional package of some size next year, depending upon what the new administration wants to pursue,' McConnell told reporters during remarks on coronavirus relief negotiations." This is part of the WashPo's free election updates Tuesday.

Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani ... discussed with the president as recently as last week the possibility of receiving a pre-emptive pardon before Mr. Trump leaves office, according to two people told of the discussion. It was not clear who raised the topic. The men have also talked previously about a pardon for Mr. Giuliani, according to the people. Mr. Trump has not indicated what he will do, one of the people said. Mr. Giuliani's potential criminal exposure is unclear. He was under investigation as recently as last summer by federal prosecutors in Manhattan for his business dealings in Ukraine and his role in ousting the American ambassador there, a plot that was at the heart of the impeachment of Mr. Trump." The report is part of Tuesday's NYT political updates.

Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Christopher Krebs, who was recently fired by ... Donald Trump as the head of the federal government's election cybersecurity efforts, suggested Tuesday that he might take legal action against one of Trump's lawyers who said that Krebs should be shot. In an interview on NBC's 'Today' show, host Savannah Guthrie asked Krebs how concerned he is about the comments made by Trump campaign lawyer Joe DiGenova in an interview Monday in which he said that Krebs 'is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot.' 'It's certainly more dangerous language, more dangerous behavior,' Krebs responded. 'And the way I look at it is that we are a nation of laws, and I plan to take advantage of those laws. I've got an exceptional team of lawyers that win in court, and I think they're probably going to be busy.'"

Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "A bipartisan group of senators introduced a stimulus proposal worth about $908 billion on Tuesday, aiming to break a months-long partisan impasse over providing emergency federal relief to the U.S. economy.... With negotiations among congressional leaders at a standstill, senators in both parties have worked together for weeks on a proposal that could break the logjam. Several centrist lawmakers in the Senate -- including Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) -- held a news conference Tuesday morning to push their proposal as a template for legislation that could pass Congress as the economy faces increasing strain from a winter surge in coronavirus cases."

Ron Brownstein of CNN: "The silence of congressional Republican leaders as ... Donald Trump's unfounded claims of election fraud grow wilder and more venomous increasingly resembles the party's deference to Sen. Joe McCarthy during the worst excesses of his anti-Communist crusade in the early 1950s. In McCarthy's era, most of the GOP's leaders found excuses to avoid challenging conspiracy theories that they knew to be implausible, even as evidence of their costs to the nation steadily mounted. For years, despite their private doubts about his charges and methods alike, the top GOP leadership -- particularly Senate Republican leader Robert A. Taft, the Mitch McConnell of his day -- either passively abetted or actively supported McCarthy's scattershot claims of treason and Communist infiltration. A significant faction of Senate Republicans didn't join with Democrats to curb McCarthy's power until the senator immolated himself with his accusations, in highly publicized 1953 and 1954 hearings, that the Army was riddled with Communists during the presidency of fellow Republican Dwight Eisenhower.... The vast majority of congressional Republicans have supported Trump since his 2017 inauguration at almost every turn, brushing aside concerns about everything from openly racist language to his efforts to extort the government of Ukraine to manufacture dirt on ... Joe Biden."

Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "A group of four Republican state lawmakers filed a dozen articles of impeachment against [Ohio Gov. Mike] DeWine [R] on Monday, saying the governor violated state and federal laws by requiring masks in public and ordering some businesses to close.... But with the pandemic having killed more than 267,000 people across the country and at least 6,429 in Ohio, DeWine brushed off their efforts and urged the lawmakers to focus on those suffering from or fighting covid-19 on the front lines."

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.

Australia. Graham Readfearn of the Guardian: "A bushfire has burned across half the World Heritage-listed K'gari/Fraser Island -- the world's biggest sand island, off Australia's Queensland coast -- with potentially catastrophic consequences for its habitats and wildlife. The blaze, which has been alight for more than six weeks, is threatening major tourism and rainforest areas after burning much of the island's north. Queensland Fire and Emergency Services told the Guardian on Tuesday the fire was encroaching on the island's famous Valley of the Giants -- home to trees more than 1,000 years old.... The fire started in mid-October after an illegal campfire and has since burned across 81,000 hectares (200,000 acres)." --s

Dalya Alberge of the Guardian: "One of the world's largest collections of prehistoric rock art has been discovered in the Amazonian rainforest. Hailed as 'the Sistine Chapel of the ancients', archaeologists have found tens of thousands of paintings of animals and humans created up to 12,500 years ago across cliff faces that stretch across nearly eight miles in Colombia." --s

~~~~~~~~~~

Geoff Bennett, et al., of NBC News: "President-elect Joe Biden on Monday received his first presidential daily briefing since he won the election, a victory that was further cemented when the battleground state of Arizona certified his win there." MB: I wonder if Biden & Harris will get real PDBs or copies of the same coloring/picture books Trump receives. (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

A recently-released early PDB tailored for Donald Trump. By the Onion, via the Verge.

Jeff Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: "President-elect Joe Biden's pick to lead the powerful White House budget office generated early controversy Monday, with Neera Tanden emerging as an immediate target for conservatives and Republican lawmakers. Tanden, 50, has regularly clashed with the GOP in a manner that Republicans say will complicate her Senate confirmation process. Several GOP senators said Monday that she could run into trouble during confirmation hearings, warning that her 'partisan' background could make it hard for her to win Republican support. The two Senate Republicans poised to lead committees that would hold Tanden's confirmation hearings [-- Rob Portman (Ohio) & Lindsey Graham (S.C.) --] both declined to commit to doing so." MB: Because none of Trump's appointees has been a partisan hack (Mike Pompeo, John Ratcliffe, etc.). And Trump himself is a is a paragon of courtesy.

The Latest from the Mad Kaiser. Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump called on 'hapless' Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to 'use his emergency powers' to search for alleged 2020 election fraud in the state on Monday. 'Why won't Governor @BrianKempGA, the hapless Governor of Georgia, use his emergency powers, which can be easily done, to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State, and do a match of signatures on envelopes,' questioned Trump on Twitter, claiming, 'It will be a "goldmine" of fraud, and we will easily WIN the state.... Also, quickly check the number of envelopes versus the number of ballots. You may just find that there are many more ballots than there are envelopes. So simple, and so easy to do,' he continued. 'Georgia Republicans are angry, all Republicans are angry. Get it done!'... Business Insider senior politics reporter Grace Panetta soon pointed out to the president that Kemp 'does not have this power,' and, 'Signature matching already happened twice, first when the voter applied for the ballot and then the ballot was received.... It's impossible to do signature matching *again* because the ballots have already been separated from the envelopes with the voter's name and signature on them.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ So Then. Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Gov. Brian Kemp's office responded Monday to ... Donald Trump's demands to help him overturn Georgia's election results with a reminder that state law 'prohibits the governor from interfering in the election.'... 'Georgia law prohibits the governor from interfering in elections. The Secretary of State, who is an elected constitutional officer, has oversight over elections that cannot be overridden by executive order,' said Kemp spokesman Cody Hall.... The governor has been largely silent for weeks over Trump's attacks which have escalated after he became the first Republican to lose Georgia in a presidential vote in nearly 30 years.... Kemp has had little backup from other GOP officials." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Josh Dawsey & Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "President Trump's political operation has raised more than $150 million since Election Day, using a blizzard of misleading appeals about the election to shatter fundraising records set during the campaign, according to people with knowledge of the contributions. The influx of political donations is one reason Trump and some allies are inclined to continue a legal onslaught and public affairs blitz focused on baseless claims of election fraud, even as their attempts have repeatedly failed in court and as key states continue to certify wins for President-elect Joe Biden. Much of the money raised since the election is likely to go into an account for the president to use on political activities after he leaves office...." According to the New York Times, the figure is more like $170MM.

Matthew Choi of Politico: "An attorney for ... Donald Trump's reelection efforts said on Monday that Chris Krebs, the former head of U.S. cybersecurity, should be 'shot' for going against the president's conspiracy theories and declaring the 2020 elections as secure. 'Anybody who thinks the election went well, like that idiot Krebs who used to be the head of cybersecurity,' said Trump campaign lawyer Joe DiGenova, 'that guy is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot.' DiGenova made the remarks on a Monday episode of the 'The Howie Carr Show,' which has a history of showcasing Trump's claims and allies. During the show, DiGenova also listed a number of allegations of mass election irregularities -- a phenomenon that elections officials in states across the country agreed was not an issue -- in his team's improbable effort to extend the Trump presidency." MB: Whatever bar associations to which DiGenova belongs should pull his membership.

Arizona & Wisconsin. Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Arizona and Wisconsin on Monday certified President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the winner in their presidential elections, formalizing his victory in two additional battleground states as President Trump's effort to overturn the results of the election continued to fall short. Such certifications would be an afterthought in any other year. But in a political environment where Mr. Trump's false claims of sweeping voter fraud have created an alternate reality among his die-hard backers in the West Wing and beyond, the results have closed off yet another path to victory for him.... In Arizona, Katie Hobbs, the Democratic secretary of state, formalized her state's results while sitting at a long table with three Republicans who signed the election documents: Gov. Doug Ducey; the state's attorney general, Mark Brnovich; and the chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, Robert M. Brutinel. Ann Jacobs, the chairwoman of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, signed a document during a three-minute video conference in which she narrate herself certifying Mr. Biden's victory.... Later Monday afternoon, Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin, a Democrat, announced that he had signed the state’s Certificate of Ascertainment appointing Mr. Biden's slate of electors to represent Wisconsin at the Electoral College." ~~~

~~~ How Donald Found Out You He's a Has-Been. Aila Slisco of Newsweek: "Republican Arizona Governor Doug Ducey may have ignored a phone call from ... Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence while certifying President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the state on Monday. Ducey indicated in July that his cell phone is set to play 'Hail to the Chief' when receiving a call from Trump or Pence. In a video of Ducey signing documents cementing Biden's win on Monday, the song can be faintly heard before the governor is shown pulling a phone out of his coat pocket, putting it on his desk and slightly shaking his head." ~~~

     ~~~ Valerie Edwards & Geoff Earle of the Daily Mail: "Trump then retweeted a claim that Ducey had 'betrayed the people of Arizona,' and commented: 'TRUE!' He also shared a post that asked: 'Who needs Democrats when you have Republicans like (Georgia Gov) Brian Kemp and Doug Ducey?' Earlier on Monday, Trump dialed into an Arizona 'hearing' on election fraud [run by Rudy Giuliani] that went on for more than eight hours, claiming the election was 'rigged' and bashing Ducey for certifying the state's vote for Biden."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

"The Long Darkness Before Dawn." Donald McNeil of the New York Times: "Each week, good news about vaccines or antibody treatments surfaces, offering hope that an end to the pandemic is at hand. And yet this holiday season presents a grim reckoning. The United States has reached an appalling milestone: more than one million new coronavirus cases every week. Hospitals in some states are full to bursting. The number of deaths is rising and seems on track to easily surpass the 2,200-a-day average in the spring, when the pandemic was concentrated in the New York metropolitan area. Our failure to protect ourselves has caught up to us. The nation now must endure a critical period of transition, one that threatens to last far too long, as we set aside justifiable optimism about next spring and confront the dark winter ahead. Some epidemiologists predict that the death toll by March could be close to twice the 250,000 figure that the nation surpassed only last week."

Atlas Quit. Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "Dr. Scott Atlas, a highly controversial member of the White House's coronavirus task force, has resigned from his post in the Trump administration. A source familiar with what happened told CNN that Atlas turned in his resignation letter to ... Donald Trump on Monday. As a special government employee, Atlas had a 130-day window in which he could serve and that window was technically coming to a close this week. Atlas tweeted out a photo of his resignation letter [dated Tuesday] later Monday." ~~~

~~~ And Won't Be Missed. Josh Dawsey & Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "Atlas had become widely disliked in the White House -- even among aides who shared his view that the country should reopen and that officials should not worry about young, healthy people contracting the virus, according to two senior administration officials, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.... Atlas, a neuroradiologist with no infectious-disease or public health background..., was the only medical adviser the president met with regularly for several months.... Atlas embraced strategies that most public health experts warned were dangerous. He advocated allowing the virus to spread among young healthy people to help the country reach 'herd immunity' levels -- a strategy experts warned would result in tens of thousands of needless deaths -- and said the country should focus on protecting the vulnerable and the elderly.... He also shot down attempts by [Drs. Deborah] Birx and [Anthony] Fauci to expand testing; openly feuded with other doctors on the coronavirus task force and succeeded in largely sidelining them; and advanced fringe theories, such as that social distancing and mask-wearing were meaningless...."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, during an appearance on the Sunday news program 'This Week,' said the best course for Thanksgiving travelers might be 'to quarantine yourself for a period of time.' Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said that travelers 'have to assume that you were exposed and you became infected and you really need to get tested in the next week.' She urged that travelers avoid anyone in their family over 65 or with underlying illnesses." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Maggie Fox & John Bonifield of CNN: "Advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called an emergency meeting for Tuesday to vote on who they recommend should be the first to get a coronavirus vaccine once one is authorized. The CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices wants to have advice out to the public ahead of any decision from the US Food and Drug Administration about emergency authorization of a vaccine, ACIP chair Dr. Jose Romero told CNN.... 'This is not something that is being rushed. We have already discussed the groups within the first tier. We are simply going over the data once again and having a vote primarily on the first tier group 1a -- healthcare providers and the people in the long term, congregate facilities.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Justice Department asked a federal judge on Monday to dismiss the criminal case against President Trump's former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, citing his pardon last week -- and making clear that it broadly covered potential legal troubles beyond the charge Mr. Flynn had faced of lying to federal investigators.... The filing was accompanied by the text of the pardon itself, which had not previously been released. While Mr. Trump had said on Twitter that he was granting Mr. Flynn a 'full' pardon, he left unclear how far that would go in terms of any potential legal jeopardy for Mr. Flynn over other matters for which he had not been charged. The pardon, however, was written broadly not only to cover lying to the F.B.I., but to foreclose any legal jeopardy Mr. Flynn might face from a future Justice Department arising from the Turkey matter, his inconsistent statements under oath to Judge [Emmet] Sullivan and any potential perjury or false statements to Mr. Mueller's team or to the grand juries it used." Politico's story, which discusses the extraordinary breadth of the Flynn pardon, is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The pardon seems to guarantee that there is no circumstance in which Flynn could plead the Fifth. However, what isn't clear from either story is whether or not Flynn could get away with stonewalling or lying under oath during any future investigation or proceeding, say, one that addressed Donald Trump's crimes.

More Trump Associates Who Might Need Some Pardoning. Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "A federal judge on Monday partially advanced a lawsuit accusing Russian mafia-tied businessman Felix Sater of laundering millions stolen from Kazakhstan's BTA Bank through Trump Organization properties. 'In this case, Kazakhstan's largest city and a Kazakhstani bank seek to recover millions of dollars in stolen funds from those who allegedly helped the culprits launder them,' U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan summarized in a 25-page opinion dismissing only two counts of a five-count complaint. 'Felix Sater -- the alleged ringleader of the money-laundering operation -- along with his associate Daniel Ridloff and several business entities they control, move to dismiss.' Like Sater, Ridloff was also formerly associated with the Trump Organization. The lawsuit stems from allegations of the systematic looting of Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty and its bank in 2009."

Lauren Feiner of CNBC: “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai will step down from his post on Jan. 20, the day President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated, he announced Monday. The announcement means that the FCC could reach a Democratic majority sooner than it would otherwise be able to. Pai's term was slated to expire in June 2021, though Biden will be able to choose a Democrat to chair the commission once in office.... Pai's decision to step down could have significant implications on net neutrality, an issue that helped define his term as chairman. In 2017, Pai voted with his fellow Republican commissioners to remove rules that prohibited internet providers from blocking or slowing traffic to particular sites and offering higher speed 'lanes' at higher prices. Many major internet providers have not yet taken advantage of that rule change, however.... Pai had recently said that the FCC could move forward with rule-making around ... Donald Trump's executive order targeting social media companies.... Pai's departure makes it much less likely that significant action on the executive order will take place anytime soon, given that the two Democratic commissioners opposed Pai's decision." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A skeptical Supreme Court on Monday reacted with frustration and some confusion to President Trump's plan to exclude unauthorized immigrants from the calculations used to allocate seats in the House. While there was some discussion about whether the plan was lawful, the more immediate questions for the justices were where the administration stood in its efforts to identify and count the unauthorized immigrants and what role the court should play if substantial numbers were not identified. Removing undocumented immigrants from the census would most likely have the effect of shifting congressional seats and federal money to states that are older, whiter and typically more Republican. But if the Census Bureau cannot provide Mr. Trump with specific information about a large enough number of unauthorized immigrants in the coming weeks, he will not be able to exclude enough of them from the reapportionment to change the way House seats are allocated. That would leave the justices without a concrete dispute to decide. 'The situation is fairly fluid,' Jeffrey B. Wall, the acting United States solicitor general, told the justices.... 'There is a real prospect that the numbers will not affect the apportionment,' he said."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 30, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Geoff Bennett & Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "President-elect Joe Biden on Monday will receive his first presidential daily briefing since winning the 2020 election after the Trump administration delayed approving the transition process. The report, which Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is also scheduled to receive, is a classified document outlining high-level intelligence and analysis on a range of national security issues. It's prepared by the director of national intelligence and includes information from the CIA and other elements of the intelligence community." MB: I wonder if Biden & Harris will get real PDBs or copies of the same coloring/picture books Trump receives. ~~~

A recently-released early PDB tailored for Donald Trump. By the Onion, via the Verge.

The Latest from the Mad Kaiser. Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump called on 'hapless' Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to 'use his emergency powers' to search for alleged 2020 election fraud in the state on Monday. 'Why won't Governor @BrianKempGA, the hapless Governor of Georgia, use his emergency powers, which can be easily done, to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State, and do a match of signatures on envelopes,' questioned Trump on Twitter, claiming, 'It will be a "goldmine" of fraud, and we will easily WIN the state.... Also, quickly check the number of envelopes versus the number of ballots. You may just find that there are many more ballots than there are envelopes. So simple, and so easy to do,' he continued. 'Georgia Republicans are angry, all Republicans are angry. Get it done!'... Business Insider ... reporter Grace Panetta soon pointed out to the president that Kemp 'does not have this power,' and, 'Signature matching already happened twice, first when the voter applied for the ballot and then the ballot was received.... It's impossible to do signature matching *again* because the ballots have already been separated from the envelopes with the voter's name and signature on them.'" ~~~

~~~ So Then. Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Gov. Brian Kemp's office responded Monday to ... Donald Trump's demands to help him overturn Georgia's election results with a reminder that state law 'prohibits the governor from interfering in the election.'... 'Georgia law prohibits the governor from interfering in elections. The Secretary of State, who is an elected constitutional officer, has oversight over elections that cannot be overridden by executive order,' said Kemp spokesman Cody Hall.... The governor has been largely silent for weeks over Trump's attacks, which have escalated after he became the first Republican to lose Georgia in a presidential vote in nearly 30 years.... Kemp has had little backup from other GOP officials."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, during an appearance on the Sunday news program 'This Week,' said the best course for Thanksgiving travelers might be 'to quarantine yourself for a period of time.' Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said that travelers 'have to assume that you were exposed and you became infected and you really need to get tested in the next week.' She urged that travelers avoid anyone in their family over 65 or with underlying illnesses."

Maggie Fox & John Bonifield of CNN: "Advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called an emergency meeting for Tuesday to vote on who they recommend should be the first to get a coronavirus vaccine once one is authorized. The CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices wants to have advice out to the public ahead of any decision from the US Food and Drug Administration about emergency authorization of a vaccine, ACIP chair Dr. Jose Romero told CNN.... 'This is not something that is being rushed. We have already discussed the groups within the first tier. We are simply going over the data once again and having a vote primarily on the first tier group 1a -- healthcare providers and the people in the long term, congregate facilities.'"

Lauren Feiner of CNBC: "Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai will step down from his post on Jan. 20, the day President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated, he announced Monday. The announcement means that the FCC could reach a Democratic majority sooner than it would otherwise be able to. Pai's term was slated to expire in June 2021, though Biden will be able to choose a Democrat to chair the commission once in office.... Pai's decision to step down could have significant implications on net neutrality, an issue that helped define his term as chairman. In 2017, Pai voted with his fellow Republican commissioners to remove rules that prohibited internet providers from blocking or slowing traffic to particular sites and offering higher speed 'lanes' at higher prices. Many major internet providers have not yet taken advantage of that rule change, however.... Pai had recently said that the FCC could move forward with rule-making around ... Donald Trump's executive order targeting social media companies.... Pai's departure makes it much less likely that significant action on the executive order will take place anytime soon, given that the two Democratic commissioners opposed Pai's decision."

~~~~~~~~~~

Real Political News (+ Commentary on Nitwits)

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "President-elect Joe Biden sprained his right foot Saturday while playing with his dog, his transition team said Sunday after Biden was taken to an orthopedist 'out of an abundance of caution.' Biden, 78, slipped while playing with his dog Major, one of his two German shepherds, his office said. Late Sunday afternoon, Biden visited Delaware Orthopaedic Specialists in Newark, Del., about a half-hour from his home near Wilmington. There, initial X-rays showed 'no obvious fracture,' according to a statement from his physician, Kevin O'Connor.... A Biden spokesperson said the president-elect visited the doctor's office on Sunday to avoid disrupting the clinic's regularly scheduled appointments on Monday. After spending about two hours at the orthopedics office, Biden traveled to a nearby imaging facility to have a CT scan. A cameraperson traveling with the press pool observed him walking with a limp." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Annie Karni of the New York Times: “President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. twisted his ankle playing with one of his dogs over the holiday weekend, an injury that his doctor said on Sunday resulted in hairline fractures in his foot that would most likely require him to wear a walking boot for several weeks. Although initial X-rays showed no obvious fracture, a 'follow-up CT scan confirmed hairline (small) fractures of President-elect Biden's lateral and intermediate cuneiform bones, which are in the midfoot,' Dr. Kevin O'Connor, the director of executive medicine at GW Medical Faculty Associates, said in a statement distributed by Mr. Biden's office." MB: Speaking from personal experience, I can tell you that teeny-weeny foot fractures really hurt when you move it or try to put weight on it.

Annie Linskey & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: President-elect Joe "Biden is expected to nominate Neera Tanden, the chief executive of the left-leaning Center for American Progress, as director of the influential Office of Management and Budget, according to people familiar with the matter.... Tanden, whose parents immigrated from India, would be the first woman of color to oversee the agency. In addition, Biden is set to appoint Princeton University labor economist Cecilia Rouse as chair of the three-member Council of Economic Advisers, with economists Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey serving as the other members. Rouse, who is African American, would be the first woman of color to chair the council, which will play a key role in advising the president on the economy...." Politico's story is here.

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Sunday announced an all-female White House communications staff, with Jennifer Psaki, a veteran of the Obama administration, in the most visible role as White House press secretary. 'Communicating directly and truthfully to the American people is one of the most important duties of a president,' Mr. Biden said in a statement, drawing an implicit contrast with the Trump administration's use of the White House briefing room to disseminate falsehoods and try to undermine the credibility of the news media. The transition team also announced that Kate Bedingfield, 39, who served as a deputy campaign manager for Mr. Biden, will serve as the White House communications director. Karine Jean Pierre, who previously served as the chief public affairs officer for MoveOn.org, will be the principal deputy press secretary. Pili Tobar, a former immigrant advocate with the group America's Voice, will serve as the deputy White House communications director. Symone Sanders, a senior adviser to Mr. Biden on the campaign, will serve as the senior adviser and chief spokeswoman for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Ashley Etienne, a former senior adviser to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will serve as the communications director for Ms. Harris."

Biden's Unique Path to Victory. Harry Enten of CNN (Nov. 26): Joe "Biden has won in a way that was perhaps surprising to some. He was the first candidate to win without taking at least Florida or Ohio since 1960. Biden did considerably worse with Hispanics than Hillary Clinton in municipalities throughout the country. And Biden won the presidency even as President Donald Trump's base largely stuck with him. So how'd he do it? Biden's pathway to victory intensified the gains Clinton made in 2016. In doing so, he became the seventh Democrat in eight times to win the popular vote, which is the first time since 1828 that one party won the popular vote that often in eight straight elections." --s ~~~

~~~ The End of White Grievance Hegemony? Juan Cole: "Now that the judges have laughed Trump's challenges and conspiracy theories out of court, it is time to consider further why Biden won.... In short, 2016 may have been one of the the last times a candidate like Trump could run primarily on white grievance and win. Non-Hispanic whites will be a minority by 2045, by which time the strategy will be entirely useless.... [An estimated] 86 percent of Trump's voters were white.... Biden won 90 percent of the African-American vote.... Biden's electorate looked more like America, which benefited him [according to John Johnson]: '63% of his supporters were white and 37% were people of color.' Johnson points out that 80 percent of Americans live in urban areas.... Trump only got 27% of the Hispanic vote.... George W. Bush got 40% of the Hispanic vote in 2000." --s

Wisconsin. Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "The recount of presidential ballots in Wisconsin's two largest counties finished Sunday, reconfirming that President-elect Joe Biden defeated President Trump in the key swing state by more than 20,000 votes. After Milwaukee County completed its tally Friday and Dane County concluded its count Sunday, there was little change in the final breakdown of the more than 800,000 ballots that had been cast in the two jurisdictions. As a result of the recount, Biden's lead over Trump in Wisconsin grew by 87 votes. Under Wisconsin law, Trump was required to foot the bill for the partial recount -- meaning his campaign paid $3 million only to see Biden's lead expand. The results of the Wisconsin recount cemented Trump's failure to alter the results of the November election in a series of states where he has falsely alleged there was widespread fraud and irregularities.... The Wisconsin Election Commission is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, at which time state law says the election results will be certified by the chairwoman of the six-member panel, who is a Democrat." An AP story is here.

Marie: I'm no fan of Fred Hiatt's but good on him for this: ~~~

~~~ Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post: "Let's say you're a Republican senator who ... [has] spent four years excusing and supporting a president who fawned over North Korea's odious dictator, encouraged China's ruling tyrant to build his concentration camps, took the word of Russia's strongman over U.S. intelligence agencies and celebrated the Saudi despot who orchestrated the dismemberment of a dissident journalist. And let's posit that, on top of all that, you've been a profile in cowardice as your president tried to nullify a democratic election here at home. Now the president-elect appoints a team of seasoned, moderate foreign policy experts who support democracy and American leadership in the world.... It shouldn't surprise us to see [Marco] Rubio [Fla.], along with Tom Cotton (Ark.), Josh Hawley (Mo.) and other Republican senators, disparaging the incoming Biden team.... But there is something particularly galling about this instant pivot to attack mode from senators who couldn't even bring themselves to acknowledge the results of the election.... Almost no Republicans on the national stage had the integrity or courage to offer backup for ... local officials ... [who] had the integrity and courage to resist Trump's pressure.... Instead..., Rubio is already suiting up for the politics of destruction...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Brianna Keilar of CNN on Little Marco:

The Last Days of the Kaiser

Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "In his first television interview since the Nov. 3 election, President Trump suggested Sunday that he will never accept his loss to Democrat Joe Biden and continued to fling baseless accusations of election fraud. 'My mind will not change in six months,' Trump told host Maria Bartiromo by telephone.... 'There was tremendous cheating here.'... 'Joe Biden did not get 80 million votes,' Trump declared Sunday, providing no evidence for his assertion. He claimed that some foreign leaders have been calling and telling him that this was the most 'messed-up' election they have ever seen, although he did not name any of the leaders. The White House has not released the details of any such calls, and most U.S. allies have congratulated Biden on his win. Bartiromo did not dispute any of Trump's false claims." ~~~

~~~ Alexis Benveniste of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Sunday spoke with Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo -- his first TV interview since the election. The conversation was riddled with lies and conspiracy theories. Bartiromo opened the interview with a question about election fraud, telling Trump, 'The facts are on your side.' Trump responded, falsely saying, 'This election was a fraud; it was a rigged election.' The Fox anchor then reflected the president's anger, saying, 'This is disgusting and we cannot allow America's election to be corrupted.' The interview highlighted that Trump is 'unable or unwilling to accept reality,' CNN's Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter said on 'Reliable Sources' Sunday. Trump spewed misinformation throughout the conversation." MB: On-air, CNN -- which shares responsibility for the rise of Trump the Phony Politician -- can't get enough of calling out his lies. ~~~

~~~ Ken Meyer of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump gave a wild interview on Sunday where he complained that federal law enforcement isn't doing anything to validate his unsubstantiated 2020 election claims, in addition to suggesting that the FBI and the Department of Justice were 'involved' somehow with how things went.... After complaining about his old enemies in the intelligence community, Trump whined, '[I]t's inconceivable. You would think if you're in the FBI or Department of Justice, this is the biggest thing you could be looking at.... Where are they? I've not seen anything. I mean, they just keep moving along and they go on to the next president,' he said. 'All I can say is with all of the fraud that's taken place, no one has come to me and said the FBI has nabbed the people that are doing this scheme.'" At another point, Trump asserted the FBI was "looking at it." ~~~

~~~ Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. ~~~

~~~ Jeremy Barr of the Washington Post: "... Bartiromo's questions were few and far between. Trump spoke for much of the [45-minute] interview.... The host nodded agreeably throughout the conversation, saying 'right' after the president relayed a claim about 'cheating' in Pennsylvania's elections, particularly in the Philadelphia area, claiming that 'you have to allow five points for cheating.'... At another point, Trump said, 'We won the election easily.' The president praised Bartiromo, whom he called 'brave' for covering claims about election fraud, claiming that the media does not want to cover the story.... While th president made baseless claims of fraud and made notable attacks on Republicans such as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, the interview made very little news, in line with Trump's past conversations with such opinion shows as 'Fox & Friends.' But Trump seems to have been a fan. As of Sunday afternoon, he has tweeted four clips from his interview with Bartiromo."

Andrew Solender of Forbes has a timeline of the seven times that Trump has falsely cried foul of election fraud against conservatives or his sad, pathetic self. --s

Trump's Hustler Buddy Relies on the High Birthrate of Suckers. Ben Smith of the New York Times: "The chief executive of Newsmax and part of President Trump's South Florida social circle, [Chris] Ruddy has capitalized on the anger of Mr. Trump's supporters at Fox News for delivering the unwelcome news ... that Mr. Trump had lost his re-election campaign. On Newsmax, however, the fight is still on, the imaginary election-altering Kraken is yet to be released, Mr. Trump is striving valiantly for four more years and the ratings are incredible. Newsmax's prime-time ratings, which averaged 58,000 before Election Day, soared to 1.1 million afterward for its top shows.... But Mr. Ruddy ... is not the sort of true-believing ideologue his viewers may imagine in the foxhole alongside them. He is, rather, perhaps the purest embodiment of another classic television type, the revenue-minded cynic for whom the substance of programming is just a path to money and power.... When Trumpism turned this month from an electoral strategy into a hallucinatory attempt to overturn the election, Mr. Ruddy saw opportunity: Newsmax, available on cable in most American households and streaming online, became the home of alternate reality."

Scott Pelley of CBS News' "60 Minutes" interviewed Christopher Krebs, the life-long Republican whom Trump fired for calling the 2020 election "the most secure in American history." Video & transcript here. ~~~

~~~ Mad Kaiser Still Mad. John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump ripped CBS News's '60 Minutes' on Sunday after an interview with his former cybersecurity chief was broadcast on the program.... '.@60Minutes never asked us for a comment about their ridiculous, one sided story on election security, which is an international joke. Our 2020 Election, from poorly rated Dominion to a Country FLOODED with unaccounted for Mail-In ballots, was probably our least secure EVER!' the president claimed [in a tweet] Sunday evening."

Marie's Mea Culpa: Sadly, I allowed that leftist, elitist rag New York Times to mislead me the other day, and I misused Reality Chex to pass along an apparently Photoshopped image. Fortunately, contributor Forrest M. caught me out and sent along the real, original, undoctored photo, which I share with you now. Thanks, Forrest! ~~~

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

** Elizabeth Cohen of CNN: "Pharmaceutical company Moderna intends to apply Monday to the US Food and Drug Administration for authorization of its Covid-19 vaccine. The company will ask the FDA to review an expanded data set showing the vaccine is 94.1% effective at preventing Covid-19 and 100% effective at preventing severe cases of the disease."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

AFP: "At least 110 people have been killed in an attack on a village in north-east Nigeria blamed on the Boko Haram jihadist group, according to the UN humanitarian coordinator in the country.... The attack took place in the village of Koshobe near the main city of Maiduguri, with assailants targeting farmers on rice fields. The Borno state governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, attended the burial on Sunday in the nearby village of Zabarmari of 43 bodies recovered on Saturday, saying the toll could rise after search operations resumed. The assailants tied up the agricultural workers and slit their throats, according to a pro-government anti-jihadist militia. The victims were among labourers from Sokoto state in north-west Nigeria, about 1,000km (600 miles) away, who had travelled to the north-east to find work, it said. Six others were wounded in the attack and eight remained missing as of Saturday."

Iran. Najhem Bozorgmehr & Mehul Srivstava of the Financial Times: "The hit squad behind last week's deadly attack on the man long thought to be the mastermind of Iran's alleged military nuclear programme left nothing to chance. As nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's black Nissan sedan car approached a boulevard in the Damavand region, about 60km from the capital Tehran, an automatic machine gun, installed inside a blue pick-up truck parked under an electric transmitter, began firing. The pick-up truck, packed with explosives, was then detonated by remote control. Assailants then opened fire, according to Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, a nuclear scientist who survived an attempt on his life in 2010, and domestic media. Javad Mogouei, a documentary maker close to hardliners, said there were as many as 12 attackers, including those on motorbikes, in a Hyundai SUV as well as hidden snipers." [Firewalled] --s

Middle East. Tim O'Donnell of Yahoo!: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly flew to Saudi Arabia last week for a secret meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Saudi Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in the hopes of striking a deal that would normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. But he came home empty handed after Prince Mohammed backed out, The Wall Street Journal reports. His reasoning ... was President-elect Joe Biden's victory.... Prince Mohammed reportedly wants to build ties with Biden and was reluctant about following suit while Trump is still in office, although the chances of that happening reportedly aren't impossible." --s

Earth. "Capitalism is Awesome," Ctd. Jonathan Watts, et al. of the Guardian (Nov. 27): "Supermarkets and fast food outlets are selling chicken fed on imported soya linked to thousands of forest fires and at least 300 sq miles (800 sq km) of tree clearance in the Brazilian Cerrado, a joint cross-border investigation has revealed. Tesco, Lidl, Asda, McDonald's, Nando's and other high street retailers all source chicken fed on soya supplied by trading behemoth Cargill, the US's second largest private company. The combination of minimal protection for the Cerrado -- a globally important carbon sink and wildlife habitat -- with an opaque supply chain and confusing labelling systems, means that shoppers may be inadvertently contributing to its destruction." --s

The Commentariat -- Nov. 29, 2020

Late Morning Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here.

Marie: I'm no fan of Fred Hiatt's but good for him for this: ~~~

~~~ Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post: "Let's say you're a Republican senator who ... [has] spent four years excusing and supporting a president who fawned over North Korea's odious dictator, encouraged China's ruling tyrant to build his concentration camps, took the word of Russia's strongman over U.S. intelligence agencies and celebrated the Saudi despot who orchestrated the dismemberment of a dissident journalist. And let's posit that, on top of all that, you've been a profile in cowardice as your president tried to nullify a democratic election here at home. Now the president-elect appoints a team of seasoned, moderate foreign policy experts who support democracy and American leadership in the world.... It shouldn't surprise us to see [Marco] Rubio [Fla.], along with Tom Cotton (Ark.), Josh Hawley (Mo.) and other Republican senators, disparaging the incoming Biden team.... But there is something particularly galling about this instant pivot to attack mode from senators who couldn't even bring themselves to acknowledge the results of the election.... Almost no Republicans on the national stage had the integrity or courage to offer backup for ... local officials ... [who] had the integrity and courage to resist Trump's pressure.... Instead..., Rubio is already suiting up for the politics of destruction...." ~~~

~~~ Brianna Keilar of CNN on Little Marco:

~~~~~~~~~~

Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "President-elect Joe Biden announced Saturday he is adding three new members to his transition team's coronavirus task force as the incoming administration focuses on preparation to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. The transition said in a statement that Jane Hopkins, Jill Jim and David Michaels are joining the team, which is co-chaired by David Kessler, former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and Marcella Nunez-Smith. The task force is charged with helping Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and the transition cobble together a 'robust and aggressive response to contain the virus.'... Hopkins, a Sierra Leonean immigrant, has worked for more than 20 years as a bedside nurse and has a long history in union work.... Jim is the executive director at the Navajo Nation Department of Health and has worked for 18 years in nonprofit, state and federal agencies and tribal government.... Michaels is an epidemiologist and professor ... at George Washington University."

Jordan Williams of the Hill: "President-elect Joe Biden is reportedly eyeing Cindy McCain to serve as ambassador to the U.K., according to multiple reports citing The Times of London. McCain, the widow of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), has been a vocal critic of President Trump and endorsed Biden during his campaign. She is a known Anglophile, the Independent noted, and is thought to be a front-runner in return for helping Biden flip Arizona. 'It's hers if she wants it,' a source told the Times. 'She delivered Arizona. They know that.'"

David Sanger of the New York Times: "The assassination of the scientist who led Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon for the past two decades threatens to cripple President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s effort to revive the Iran nuclear deal before he can even begin his diplomacy with Tehran. And that may well have been a main goal of the operation. Intelligence officials say there is little doubt that Israel was behind the killing -- it had all the hallmarks of a precisely timed operation by Mossad, the country's spy agency. And the Israelis have done nothing to dispel that view.... 'There must be no return to the previous nuclear agreement,' [Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] declared shortly after it became clear that Mr. Biden -- who has proposed exactly that -- would be the next president."

The Last Days of the Kaiser

Incredible Shrinking Man lashes out at conspirators who downsized his desk. "Twenty Days of Fantasy & Failure." Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Sequestered in the White House and brooding out of public view after his election defeat, rageful and at times delirious in a torrent of private conversations, Trump was, in the telling of one close adviser, like 'Mad King George, muttering, "I won. I won. I won."' However cleareyed Trump's aides may have been about his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, many of them nonetheless indulged their boss and encouraged him to keep fighting with legal appeals.... Trump's allegations and the hostility of his rhetoric -- and his singular power to persuade and galvanize his followers --; generated extraordinary pressure on state and local election officials to embrace his fraud allegations and take steps to block certification of the results. When some of them refused, they accepted security details for protection from the threats they were receiving.... All the while, Trump largely abdicated the responsibilities of the job he was fighting so hard to keep.... The 20 days between the election on Nov. 3 and the greenlighting of Biden's transition exemplified some of the hallmarks of life in Trump's White House: a government paralyzed by the president's fragile emotional state; advisers nourishing his fables; expletive-laden feuds between factions of aides and advisers; and a pernicious blurring of truth and fantasy."

Peter Baker & Kathleen Gray of the New York Times: "If the president hoped Republicans across the country would fall in line behind his false and farcical claims that the election was somehow rigged on a mammoth scale by a nefarious multinational conspiracy, he was in for a surprise. Republicans in Washington may have indulged Mr. Trump's fantastical assertions, but at the state and local level, Republicans played a critical role in resisting the mounting pressure from their own party to overturn the vote after Mr. Trump fell behind on Nov. 3.... In the end, the system [-- although vulnerable --] stood firm against the most intense assault from an aggrieved president in the nation's history because of a Republican city clerk in Michigan, a Republican secretary of state in Georgia, a Republican county supervisor in Arizona and Republican-appointed judges in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. They refuted conspiracy theories, certified results, dismissed lawsuits and repudiated a president of their own party, leaving him to thunder about a supposed plot that would have had to include people who had voted for him, donated to him or even been appointed by him." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Pretty much what I wrote in a comment yesterday morning, albeit Baker & Gray do it with better words.

Marie (with a little help from my friends): Trump has not had time to take care of the nation's business because he was otherwise occupied designing his library. It's quite nice, although I'm pretty sure Trump will be adding plenty more faux gold finishes. While the lie-berry is not yet open, you can order Christmas presents (not "holiday gifts") from the grift shop. No money-back guarantees, but Trump assures us that mail orders, unlike mail-in ballots, are totally safe and will not be ripped off by criminal Democrat mail carriers. Thanks to RAS for the link. And do click on it. Whoever put this together did a great job.

Pennsylvania. Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed with prejudice a Republican lawsuit seeking to invalidate more than 2.5 million votes cast by mail in the general election, the latest in a string of legal defeats for the GOP as President Trump fails to undo his losses in key battleground states. Justices on the state high court ruled unanimously late Saturday that Republican petitioners waited too long to file their suit challenging Act 77, the 2019 law that established universal mail voting in Pennsylvania. Trump allies had asked the court to invalidate all votes cast by mail in the most recent election or direct the majority-Republican legislature to choose a slate of presidential electors. The ruling with prejudice means that the plaintiffs are barred from bringing another action on the same claim. The court's written order called the latter option 'extraordinary,' noting that it would disenfranchise 6.9 million voters.... Concurring [with the opinion,] Justice David N. Wecht noted that the GOP petitioners 'failed to allege that even a single mail-in ballot was fraudulently cast or counted.'" A Guardian story is here.

Donald Trump, White House TV Critic. Natalie Colarossi of Newsweek: In a tweet Saturday, Donald Trump wrote, "'@FoxNews daytime is virtually unwatchable, especially during the weekends. Watch@OANN ,@newsmax, or almost anything else. You won't have to suffer through endless interviews with Democrats, and even worse!.... Trump's [criticism of Fox 'News'] grew increasingly worse throughout the final months of his presidential campaign, as he slammed the network for showing what he called 'fake' polls that projected Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead in key swing states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin."

Andrew Solender of Forbes: "Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) pulled no punches against President Trump and his fellow Republicans in Congress in an interview with Forbes, accusing them of a 'massive grift' in refusing to acknowledge the results of the election and claiming Trump appeals to groups that are 'anti-Semitic' and 'anti-American.' Riggleman, one of just 10 GOP House members acknowledging Joe Biden's victory, said the Republican refusal to acknowledge the result is 'just money-making for the 2024 election' and 'completely unethical,' saying he's spoken to 30 or 40 GOP members of Congress who privately acknowledge the result despite public silence.... Riggleman was even harsher toward colleagues who are 'true believers' of Trump/s unfounded claims..., asserting it 'really speaks to where your intelligence level is ... to believe in that type of operation.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

It Takes a Crackpot. Will Sommer of the Daily Beast: "Former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne left behind a cloud of confusion when he resigned in 2019 from the internet retailer he'd founded after panicking investors with his bizarre claims that he had romanced a Russian agent at the behest of 'Men in Black' working for the United States government. Now he's back, with what he has described as his own personal 'army,' touting what he claims is proof that Democrats stole the election from Donald Trump. 'I've funded a team of hackers and cybersleuths, other people with odd skills,' Byrne said in a Tuesday interview at One America News, where OAN personality Chanel Rion praised Byrne as the head of an 'elite shadow cyber security team.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump Is Wasting Taxpayer Dollars as Fast as He Can. Simon Romero & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has said he hopes to halt construction of the [U.S.-Mexican] border wall, but the outgoing administration is rushing to complete as much wall as possible in its last weeks in power, dynamiting through some of the border's most forbidding terrain. The breakneck pace at which construction is continuing all but assures that the wall, whatever Mr. Biden decides to do, is here to stay for the foreseeable future, establishing a contentious legacy for Mr. Trump in places that were crucial to his defeat."

Eric Tucker of the AP: "A former Trump campaign associate who was the target of a secret surveillance warrant during the FBI's Russia investigation says in a federal lawsuit that he was the victim of 'unlawful spying.' The suit from Carter Page alleges a series of omissions and errors made by FBI and Justice Department officials in applications they submitted in 2016 and 2017 to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to eavesdrop on Page on suspicion that he was an agent of Russia. 'Since not a single proven fact ever established complicity with Russia involving Dr. Page, there never was probable cause to seek or obtain the FISA Warrants targeting him on this basis,' the lawsuit says...."

Georgia Senate Races. Marty Johnson of the Hill: "Activist groups in Georgia that were the backbone of the effort to turn Georgia blue this election cycle haven't slowed down, their newest goal being to drive Georgians to the polls once again on Jan. 5 for the state's Senate runoff elections.... Nse Ufot, New Georgia Project's CEO, told The Hill the equation for success hasn't changed, that 'elections in Georgia are determined by who shows up, and whose votes get counted.... There's no world where a [12,670] vote difference, a 0.25 percent vote difference, would have resulted in a Biden victory, but for the work of groups like New Georgia Project and Fair Fight Action and the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda to protect the integrity of our elections,' Ufot said, referring to [Joe] Biden's tight margin of victory. 'We're talking about, you know, millions of text messages, millions of phone calls. We knocked on nearly half a million doors in the middle of a pandemic, millions of impressions with our digital ad content that was designed to neutralize the disinformation and misinformation that black voters and brown voters are subject to,' Ufot explained. 'And we're going to have to do it again.'" ~~~

~~~ Donald Judd & Ryan Nobles of CNN: "At a Saturday campaign stop in Marietta, Georgia, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna [Romney] McDaniel attempted to persuade Republicans to vote in the Georgia Senate runoff elections, even as voters expressed ambivalence about expanding 'money and work when it's already decided.' Incumbent Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are facing tough reelection battles in two January runoff elections that could determine control of the US Senate. 'It's not decided. This is the key -- it's not decided,' McDaniel told a fiery crowd of Republicans who turned the RNC chair's meet-and-greet session Saturday into a public airing of grievances surrounding the November 3 election.... Donald Trump, who announced Thursday he'd travel to Georgia next week to campaign for Loeffler and Perdue, has leveled baseless claims of widespread fraud in Georgia, calling Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, 'the enemy of the people.' 'Well, I told (Sens. Loeffler and Perdue) today, I think you're dealing in a very fraudulent system. I'm very worried about that,' the President said during a news conference Thursday...."

Nicole Winfield of the AP: "Pope Francis raised 13 new cardinals to the highest rank in the Catholic hierarchy Saturday and immediately warned them not to use their titles for corrupt, personal gain, presiding over a ceremony marked from beginning to end by the coronavirus pandemic. Two new 'princes' of the church, from Brunei and the Philippines, didn't make it to Rome because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, though they were shown on giant screens watching it from home in the nearly empty St. Peter's Basilica. Throughout the socially distanced ceremony, which clocked in at an unusually quick 45 minutes, cardinals new and old wore protective masks. Most removed their masks when they approached a maskless Francis to receive their red hats, but Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the first African-American cardinal, kept his on. Gregory also was one of the only new cardinals who kept his mask on when the group paid a singing courtesy visit to retired Pope Benedict XVI."

Gillian Brassil of the New York Times: "Sarah Fuller became the first woman to play during a regular-season game in one of college football's Power 5 conferences by booting a kickoff on Saturday for Vanderbilt to start the second half against Missouri. Fuller, a senior and the starting goalkeeper for Vanderbilt's women's soccer team, was tapped to play football this week after every member of the Commodores' kicking squad was forced to stop practicing when at least one of them came into contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus. Fuller wore the No. 32 -- the same number she wears on her soccer jersey -- and a helmet with the phrase 'Play Like a Girl.'... Fuller is not the first woman to play college football in the top tier of Division I, the Football Bowl Subdivision...." MB: Playing a dangerous, violent sport seems a dubious feminist achievement; nonetheless, had I had Fuller's skills, I'm sure I would have done as she did.

Beyond the Beltway

Bryan Pietsch of the New York Times: "As mysteriously as it arrived, a metal monolith that was discovered last week by Utah public safety workers is now gone, officials said on Saturday. The three-sided metal structure was removed on Friday evening 'by an unknown party' from the public land it was found on, the federal Bureau of Land Management's Utah office said in a statement. The bureau said it had not removed the monolith.... 'IT'S GONE!' the Department of Public Safety said, reacting to the news in an Instagram post. 'Almost as quickly as it appeared it has now disappeared,' the department said, adding, 'I can only speculate' that aliens took it back, using the emoji for extraterrestrials."

News Lede

AP: "Black Friday online sales hit a new record this year as pandemic-wary Americans filled virtual carts instead of real ones. Consumers spent an estimated $9 billion on U.S. retail websites on Black Friday, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks online shopping. That was a 22% increase over the previous record of $7.4 billion set in 2019. Meanwhile, traffic to physical stores plummeted as retailers tried to prevent crowds by cutting their hours and limiting doorbuster deals. U.S. store visits dropped by 52% on Black Friday, according to Sensormatic Solutions, a retail tracker. Traffic was slower in the Northeast and West than in the Midwest and South...."