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Wednesday, November 25, 2020

The AM Rundown: Biden Says 'America Is Back'

NY Times 11/25/20


BIDEN INTRODUCES NATIONAL SECURITY TEAM: President-elect Joe Biden introduced his national security team Tuesday, stating, "Together, these public servants will restore America globally, its global leadership and its moral leadership. It’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it." The team stood spaced apart and wearing face masks behind Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at a theater in Wilmington, Delaware. Their names had largely been reported on Monday, including: former deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser Antony Blinken as secretary of state; Alejandro Mayorkas as homeland security secretary; Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations; Jake Sullivan as national security adviser; and Avril Haines, a former deputy director of the CIA as director of national intelligence. Former Secretary of State and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry will be given the administration's lead role in fighting climate change.


Meanwhile, one day after the General Service Administration ascertained Biden as the "apparent winner," finally clearing the way for the transition process to begin, President Trump signed off Tuesday on allowing Biden to receive the presidential daily brief, the highly classified intelligence briefing. Biden said in an NBC Nightly News interview about the start of transition process since the approval was given: "[T]he outreach has been sincere. There has not been begrudging so far. And I don’t expect it to be." However, Trump is still not conceding, tweeting yesterday, "[T]he GSA does not determine who the next President of the United States will be." His legal team also continued to bring challenges to the vote count in battleground states, none of which have been successful so far, even as Pennsylvania and Nevada certified their election results yesterday with wins for Biden.




➤U.S. HAS MOST DAILY CORONAVIRUS DEATHS SINCE EARLY MAY: There were nearly 2,100 Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. on Tuesday amid the continued fall surge, the highest daily number of deaths since May 6th, as nine states also all reported a record number of deaths, the Washington Post reported. That grim news came as hospitalizations continue to rise. The Covid Tracking Project reported that there were more than 88,000 people hospitalized with Covid-19 across the country yesterday, setting a new record for the 14th day in a row. Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Fox News yesterday that the surge is mainly being driven by asymptomatic people gathering indoors. He said, "The real driver of this epidemic now is not the public square. It really is driven by the silent epidemic -- the asymptomatic infections largely in individuals between the ages of say 12 and 35." 

➤GRANDPARENTS ARE LYING TO THEIR KIDS SO THEY CAN SEE THEIR GRANDCHILDREN :The pandemic has now lasted over eight months, and people are getting tired of the ever-changing local guidelines, loneliness, mask-wearing, and limited social contact. But it seems grandparents are perhaps having the hardest time with it. A Google search reveals there are a number of guides aimed at helping adults navigate their frustrations when their parents fail to adhere to mask mandates and social distancing guidelines. It turns out older adults are also more likely to believe conspiracy theories about COVID-19, as well as buy into anti-mask propaganda. Psychiatry professor, Dr. Jessi Gold explains, “When it comes down to those decisions, if you haven’t been super good about it, and your kids have, I think what happens is [grandparents] are like, Well, I don’t have COVID, so it’s not like I’m going to give [my family] COVID, so what’s the harm in me just saying I’m cool, come over, we’ll social distance and hang out?” Gold encourages families to keep themselves safe, but also to approach their frustrated parents with grace. She adds, “It doesn’t help to scream and it doesn’t help to yell and it doesn’t help to shame. I think it helps to try to understand and have conversations, and that often is starting from a place of empathy. I think that it’s appropriate to continue to have boundaries and enforce them—it’s your children and your choice. But I think that you also probably want to take into consideration the health of your parent and think about why they might be lying.”

➤REPORT: TRUMP SAYING PLANS TO PARDON FLYNN: President Trump has told confidants that he plans to pardon his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who pled guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts during the transition after Trump's 2016 election, Axios reported last night, citing two unnamed sources. The sources further said Flynn's pardon will be one of a series of pardons Trump will issue before he leaves office in January. More than two years after Flynn's sentencing was delayed because of his cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, Flynn in January 2020 sought to withdraw his guilty plea. A federal prosecutor appointed to review the case by Attorney General Bill Barr recommended that the charges be dropped. However, Judge Emmet Sullivan asked for outside legal experts to weigh in on the highly unusual request to drop the case. An appeals court in August sided with Sullivan on allowing him to review the request. 


➤PURDUE PHARMA PLEADS GUILTY IN OXYCONTIN CRIMINAL CASE: OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma pled guilty Tuesday to three criminal charges for its part in fueling the opioid epidemic, acknowledging it hadn't maintained an effective program to prevent prescription drugs from being diverted to the black market, even though it had told the Drug Enforcement Administration that it had, and that it gave misleading information to the DEA as a way to boost manufacturing quotas. It also admitted paying doctors through a speakers program to prod them to write more OxyContin prescriptions, and paying an electronic medical records company to send doctors information on patients that encouraged them to prescribe opioids. The guilty pleas were part of a settlement announced last month between the company and the U.S. Justice Department, which has angered critics that say Purdue owners and officials should be held legally accountable, not just the company. While the deal includes $8.3 billion in penalties and forfeitures, the company only has to pay $225 million to the government. 


➤DOW JONES CLOSES ABOVE 30,000 FOR FIRST TIME: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 30,000 for the first time Tuesday, rising 455 points, or 1.5 percent, to close at 30,046. According to the AP, factors in yesterday's surge included progress in the development of coronavirus vaccines, news that the presidential transition to President-elect Joe Biden was finally beginning, and reports that Biden will choose former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as treasury secretary.

🦃WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE A NAP ON THANKSGIVING: Go ahead and take a nap on Thanksgiving tomorrow. Sleep scientist Sara Alger says that naps have a stigma attached to them when you’re an adult—society says we should only take them if we’re sick or if we're lazy. She adds that she's all for naps, except for those who suffer with insomnia. But the idea that we should be constantly productive during what we now consider normal working hours is fairly new. Anthropologist Matthew Wolf-Meyer says in the 1800s farmers and tradespeople could choose to rest in the hottest part of the day, and might do simple tasks during a wakeful period in the middle of the night, between two distinct bouts of sleep. Eventually staying asleep all night came to be seen as normal, and with that came society’s expectation that we should be highly productive during the day. Wolf-Meyer adds, “Even on a holiday, we’re not exempt from those expectations about productivism. Even on Thanksgiving. You’re supposed to be doing something, even if it’s watching TV. Our labor on holidays is to interact with our relatives. So the nap is kind of a problem.” So give yourself permission to shake society’s expectations and enjoy a nice nap, or two, on Thanksgiving this year if you’re so inclined.

🦃POLL: 61 PERCENT HAVE CHANGED THANKSGIVING PLANS:  While many Americans are planning to go forward with plans to get together with extended family and friends for Thanksgiving despite the warnings against it, a new poll finds that a majority have gotten the message and have changed their plans for the holiday because of the ongoing fall surge of the coronavirus across the country. In the Axios-Ipsos survey out yesterday, 61 percent said they'd changed their Thanksgiving plans. The most common changes reported were only celebrating with immediate household members and having a smaller dinner than originally planned. Nine percent even said they're no longer planning to celebrate at all. There was a partisan divide in the results, however, with 75 percent of Democrats saying they've changed their Thanksgiving plans, compared to 49 percent of Republicans.


🏀OPENING WEEK OF COLLEGE BASKETBALL, DISRUPTED BY PANDEMIC, BEGINS TODAY: The college basketball season begins today, but the opening week has already been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, with cancellations and postponements across the country. Number 2 Baylor, Number 9 Duke, and the Number 3 UConn women are just a few teams that have canceled games because of the coronavirus. The NCAA is trying to play the season after last season's March Madness championship tournaments for both men and women were canceled in March at the start of the pandemic.


⚾RAYS OUTFIELDER AROZARENA ARRESTED IN MEXICO, RELATED TO CUSTODY DISPUTE: Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena has been arrested in Mexico for issues related to an apparent custody dispute. The Yucatan state prosecutors' office said Tuesday that Arozarena was arrested, quote, "for problems relating to his ex-partner." While the office didn't say what those problems were, ESPN said social media video suggested it may have involved a dispute over a child. Arozarena won the Babe Ruth award for Most Valuable Player in the postseason two weeks ago, after his rookie year. Arozarena hit .377 with 10 homers and 14 RBIs in 20 postseason games for the Rays, who lost the World Series to the L.A. Dodgers.

🏈THANKSGIVING NFL SCHEDULE:
  • Houston Texans at Detroit Lions - 12:30 p.m. ET (CBS)
  • Washington Football Team at Dallas Cowboys - 4:30 p.m. ET (Fox)
  • Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers - 8:20 p.m. ET (NBC)

🏈MINNESOTA-WISCONSIN FOOTBALL GAME CANCELED, ENDING 113-YEAR STREAK: This Saturday's scheduled football game between Wisconsin and Minnesota has been canceled due to positive coronavirus cases in Minnesota's program. Under Big 10 policy, the game won't be rescheduled and will be ruled a no contest. That ends the longest uninterrupted series in FBS history, with Minnesota and Wisconsin having played for 113 consecutive years from 1907 to 2019.

🏀ADEBAYO AGREES TO FIVE-YEAR, $163 MILLION EXTENSION WITH HEAT: Bam Adebayo has agreed to a five-year, $163 million extension with the Miami Heat, the NBA team and his agent said TuesdaY. The deal will be the richest contract in terms of total value in Heat history. The extension will begin after the final year of Adebayo's rookie contract this season. He averaged 15.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists this past season, numbers matched only by two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.

⚾BRAVES SIGN MORTON TO ONE-YEAR, $15 MILLION DEAL: The Atlanta Braves signed veteran pitcher Charlie Morton to a one-year, $15 million deal on Tuesday (November 24th). The 37-year-old, two-time All-Star helped the Houston Astros win the World Series in 2017, and helped the Tampa Bay Rays reach the World Series this season.
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