Thursday, December 17, 2020

The AM Rundown: Biden, Pence To Get Jabbed

AP Photo


Nursing home residents in Florida started getting vaccinated for the coronavirus on Wednesday, one day after similar residents in West Virginia began to get the vaccine, with thousands more to take place in the coming days and with other states to soon follow. Nursing homes have been hard hit by the virus. Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President Mike Pence will publicly receive the vaccine soon, with AP citing transition officials that Biden will get it as early as next week, and the White House saying Pence and his wife, Karen, will get it publicly on Friday.

That news came as the U.S. had a staggering 3,400 deaths yesterday from Covid-19, according to The COVID Tracking Project, a new record, and more than 113,000 hospitalized, also a record. California is currently particularly struggling with new cases and strained hospitals, and is distributing 5,000 body bags, mostly in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas, and has 60 refrigerated trailers ready to serve as makeshift morgues.

➤CONGRESS CLOSE TO CORONAVIRUS RELIEF BILL DEAL: Congressional negotiators are finally getting close to agreement on a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill that would give a $600 stimulus payment to most Americans, include $300 per week in unemployment assistance, and give more help to businesses affected by the pandemic, including a second round of Paycheck Protection Plan payments. It would be the first significant legislation in response to the pandemic since the CARES Act in March. Democrats have been calling for months for further aid, while Republicans have been more reluctant. 


➤SENATE HEARING PERPETUATES BASELESS VOTER FRAUD CLAIMS: Two days after Joe Biden was officially confirmed as the president-elect by the electoral college and more than six weeks after the presidential election, Senate Republicans held a hearing Wednesday that perpetuated and elevated baseless claims of voter fraud that have been relentlessly pushed by President Trump, who has refused to concede that he lost. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing was held over Democratic objections, and there were back-and-forth heated exchanges between members of the two parties. Republican committee chairman Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said his goal was to examine the election, but he repeated baseless voter fraud claims without any evidence that have been made by Trump's legal team. Christopher Krebs, the former head of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency who oversaw election security, testified at Democrats' request. Krebs, who was fired by Trump after he said publicly that the election had been secure, said that the ongoing attempts to undermine confidence in the electoral process were harmful, stating, "We have to stop this. It’s undermining confidence in democracy."


➤MORE THAN 330 BOYS KIDNAPPED BY EXTREMISTS STILL BEING HELD IN NIGERIA: Parents of more than 330 boys who were kidnapped in Nigeria last week by extremists are still waiting for news about their sons, who were taken from a government boys' school. A small number of them, 17, have been rescued, and one boy was found roaming in the forest. Boko Haram jihadist rebels have claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, which they carried out because they believe Western education is un-Islamic. There was a similar kidnapping of a large group of girls from a government boarding school in Nigeria in 2014.

➤10 STATES SUE GOOGLE, CLAIMING 'ANTI-COMPETITIVE CONDUCT' IN ONLINE ADVERTISING: Ten states filed a federal lawsuit against Google yesterday (December 16th), accusing the search giant of, quote, "anti-competitive conduct" in online advertising that included a deal with rival Facebook to manipulate sales. The suit charges that Google is using monopoly power to control pricing of online ads, fix the market in its favor, and eliminate competition. Google called the accusations "meritless." The 10 states, which all have Republican attorneys general, are: Texas, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah.

➤CHRISTIE REGRETS NOT WEARING MASK: Republican former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says in a new national TV ad that he regrets not wearing a mask while at the White House earlier this year, which led to him landing in the hospital for a week in October with the coronavirus. Before contracting the virus, Christie attended an event introducing then-Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, at which it's believed several others contracted the virus, and also did debate prep with President Trump. 

CNN reported that the ad is being paid for by the family foundation of philanthropist Ray Chambers, a former New Jersey financier who's the ambassador for global strategy for the World Health Organization.

➤TOM CRUISE SCREAMS AT CREW FOR DROPPING COVID GUIDELINES: Tom Cruise was recorded dressing down crew members who he felt were abandoning COVID guidelines on the set of Mission: Impossible 7. In a two-minute recording released first by The Sun, the 58-year-old yelled at the production team for neglecting social distancing guidelines.


He said: "No apologies. You can tell it to the people who are losing their f------ homes because our industry is shut down. It’s not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education. That’s what I sleep with every night — the future of this f-----g industry! So I’m sorry, I'm beyond your apologies."

Cruise added: "I have told you, and now I want it, and if you don’t do it, you’re out. We are not shutting this f------ movie down! Is it understood? ... Am I clear? Do you understand what I want? Do you understand the responsibility that you have? Because I will deal with your reason, and if you can’t be reasonable and I can’t deal with your logic, you’re fired. That’s it. That is it. I trust you guys to be here."

On Twitter, Cruise got support. Wrote one: “I wish MORE people in charge would react like this to people who violate protocols or not wearing masks. If only more people saw the bigger picture that Tom is highlighting here.”






➤IKEA SELLING TINY HOMES DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC AS MORE AMERICANS LEAVE CITIES: Swedish furniture retailer Ikea has teamed up with tiny home maker Escape and VOX Creative to design, build, and furnish a tiny custom tiny homes for anyone who aspires to downsize in style. The customized trailers are on sale via manufacturer Escape, and include eco-friendly features like solar panels, composting toilets, and an on-demand heated water supply. Inside, inhabitants will have a queen-size bed, fold-flat couch, and storage. Home designers can choose to outfit their space with their own furniture, or Ikea furniture. Tiny home prices begin at $47,550.



⚾MLB SAYS RECLASSIFYING NEGRO LEAGUES AS A MAJOR LEAGUE: Major League Baseball announced Wednesday that it's reclassifying the Negro Leagues as a major league, meaning the statistics and records of Negro League greats like Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige and others are set to join MLB's books. The announcement came on the centennial of the Negro Leagues founding, with MLB saying it was, quote, "correcting a longtime oversight in the game’s history." The Negro Leagues consisted of seven leagues, and MLB will include records from those leagues between 1920 and 1948. The Negro Leagues began to break up one year after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line when he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. MLB will work with the Elias Sports Bureau to review Negro Leagues stats and records and figure out how to incorporate them into MLB's history. Although there was no standard method of record keeping for the Negro Leagues, there are enough box scores to put together some verifiable statistics.

➤SUPREME COURT TO HEAR CASE ON NCAA ATHLETE COMPENSATION: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed yesterday to hear an antitrust case that the NCAA contends has blurred, quote, "the line between student-athletes and professionals" by removing caps on compensation that major college football and basketball players can receive. An appeals court ruling upheld a lower court in barring the NCAA from capping education-related compensation and benefits for student-athletes in Division I football and basketball programs. The last time the Supreme Court heard an NCAA case was in 1984.

🏈NFL DELAYS DECISION ON 17-GAME SEASON: NFL owners yesterday delayed a decision on whether to have a 17-game regular season in 2021. During a teleconference call that replaced the usual December gathering of owners due to the pandemic, they decided to delay any move on the expanded season until early next year. The NFL and the players’ union agreed earlier this year to add one regular-season game to the schedule, but not before next season.

🎾AUSTRALIAN OPEN BEING PUSHED BACK: The Australian Open is being pushed back three weeks early next year to begin on February 8th, the delayed schedule revealed as part of the 2021 tennis calendar released by the men's professional tour with changes due to the pandemic. The ATP said that before the tournament in Melbourne, there will be a14-day quarantine period for players and their coaches or other support staff. The ATP said the season will start with a tournament beginning in the first week of January in Delray Beach, Florida.

➤RETIRED MLB PLAYER VIZQUEL DENIES DOMESTIC ABUSE ACCUSATIONS BY WIFE: Retired longtime MLB shortstop Omar Vizquel is denying domestic abuse allegations made by his wife in a story published in The Athletic yesterday. Blanca Vizquel claimed her husband first assaulted her in 2011, three years before they got married, and then again in 2016. The 36-year-old described another angry dispute with him last August, which she said led her to file for divorce. Omar said in a statement that he'd cheated on Blanca and apologized, but the 53-year-old stated, "Let me be clear and unequivocal. I have never hit or been violent towards my wife, Blanca. Any accusation to the contrary is false." The Athletic said Vizquel was taken into police custody in 2016 after an incident in which Blanca said Omar pushed her over, injuring her shin and breaking several finger nails. She later asked prosecutors to drop the charges, but told The Athletic she only did so because Omar threatened her financially. Blanca also charged that Omar strangled her in the 2011 incident.
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