Watch Live: VP Mike Pence Presides Over Electoral College Tally

Watch Live: VP Mike Pence Presides Over Electoral College Tally

The last step in a US presidential election is when congress meets in a joint session on January 6 to count the Electoral College votes which have been certified and sealed by each state, and officially declare a winner.

Watch Live:

While most elections have included objectors from the losing party, this time will be a little different – as over 90 GOP lawmakers (77 Representatives and 13 Senators) have pledged to object to the election – even if it doesn’t change the outcome.

I’m hoping that the American people get to hear just a small amount of evidence,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) in a Tuesday statement to the Epoch Times.

Here’s how the process for handling objections will work: Of both a House member and a Senator lodge their objection in writing, the joint session will go to recess, while the House and Senate meet separately to debate for up to two hours. Members will be allowed to speak for five minutes each, after which both chambers will vote. For an objection to succeed it needs to achieve a simple majority in both chambers.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will preside over any House debate and has tapped Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Calif., Zoe Lofgren, Calif., Jamie Raskin, Md., and Joe Neguse, Colo., to lead any responses to GOP objections. But other Democrats from states Republicans are focused on are expected to also speak out against the effort as well. –NPR

Meanwhile, theories have been flying over what Vice President Mike Pence may or may not ‘do’ to overturn the results of the November election based on widespread allegations of fraud, and several last-minute procedural changes which Republicans say opened the door for manipulation.

On Tuesday – following a report in the New York Times that Pence allegedly told Trump he has no power to change the election results, President Trump issued a sharp rebuke – calling the report “fake news.”

“The New York Times report regarding comments Vice President Pence supposedly made to me today is fake news. He never said that. The Vice President and I are in total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act,” Trump said in a statement, before listing several options he says Pence has under the constitution: “He can decertify the results or send them back to the states for change and certification. He can also decertify the illegal and corrupt results and send them to the House of Representatives for one vote for one state tabulation.”

NPR pours cold water on the ‘Patriot Pence’ theory, however, after ‘an administration official who was not authorized to speak on the record’ said that “The VP intends to follow the law and uphold the Constitution tomorrow,” adding that Pence – a lawyer by training – has prepared for the joint session by meeting with the Senate parliamentarian, and has been reading legal opinions and studying the Constitution.

Here is the full list of planned objectors via the Epoch Times:

Senate

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.)
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.)
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.)
Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.)
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.)
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.)
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.)
Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.)

House of Representatives

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.)
Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.)
Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.)
Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.)
Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas)
Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.)
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.)
Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas)
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.)
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas)
Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.)
Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah)
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.)
Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Ala.)
Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.)
Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.)
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.)
Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.)
Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.)
Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.)
Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.)
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.)
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.)
Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.)
Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.)
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.)
Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.)
Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.)
Rep. Fred Keller (R-Pa.)
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.)
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.)
Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas)
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga)
Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.)
Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.)
Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.)
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.)
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)
Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.)
Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kan.)
Rep. Tracey Mann (R-Kan.)
Rep. Jacob LaTurner (R-Kan.)
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)
Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.)
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.)
Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah)
Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho)
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.)
Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.)
Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.)
Rep. Ron Wright (R-Texas)
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio)
Rep. John Carter (R-Texas)
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.)
Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.)
Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.)
Rep. Scott Franklin (R-Fla.)
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.)
Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.)
Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.)
Rep. David Rouzer (R-N.C.)
Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio)
Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.)
Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas)
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.)
Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas)
Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.)

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/06/2021 – 12:57

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China Again Denies Pathetic WHO Access To Investigate COVID Outbreak

China Again Denies Pathetic WHO Access To Investigate COVID Outbreak

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

It is now over a year since the coronavirus outbreak began in China, and yet again a team of World Health Organisation investigators has been denied access to the country to investigate where it came from.

Ten WHO officials were due to enter China this week to finally begin investigating, with a promise to look into the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a potential source of the pandemic.

However, the team were denied entry due to visa issues, according to WHO’s emergencies director Michael Ryan.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organisation announced that he is “disappointed” that the Chinese government has once again blocked the investigators from entering.

“I have been assured that China is speeding up the internal procedure of the earliest possible deployment,” Tedros said, adding “We’re eager to get the mission under way as soon as possible.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told the BBC “there might be some misunderstanding” and “there’s no need to read too much into it”.

Yeah, OK, and they also have a bridge for sale.

 

Top epidemiologist Knut Wittkowski says that the massive drop in influenza cases can be attributed to the fact that many are being falsely counted as COVID-19 cases. Wittkowski, former Head of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design at Rockefeller University, cautioned that, “Influenza has been renamed COVID-19 in large part.”

Chinese officials previously refused to confirm any dates for the arrival of the team, and it is blatantly obvious that they are unwelcome in the country, with the government continuing to silence whistleblowers, and even imprison journalists.

The WHO previously complained that it had ‘not been invited’ by China to investigate the outbreak, and has continually been criticised for propping up Communist Party talking points.

A previous WHO “scouting mission” to China over the summer saw a team of investigators arrive in China, but fail to even visit Wuhan.

Dave Sharma, an Australian MP, told the Financial Times: 

“It is another disturbing incident of the WHO – which is charged with safeguarding global public health – putting the political sensitivities of a member state above the public health interests of the world”.  

In August, the WHO announced that it would not be visiting the Wuhan Institute of Virology during its investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, despite repeated calls by experts that it should be seriously looked at.

The health body then did an about turn and said it would actually be visiting the lab after all, after a backlash ensued.

Yet, the investigation STILL has not gotten underway, close to a year after the outbreak began.

The WHO notoriously repeated Chinese claims that the coronavirus was not being transmitted between humans as late as mid-January last year, as the pandemic spread around the globe.

The health body only reversed its rhetoric when officials managed to get into China and were told by health workers there that the virus was spreading rapidly.

As we have documented, the WHO merely parroted China’s claims, until it was able to send a team to Wuhan on January 20th, whereupon a medical worker immediately told the organisation that the virus was contagious in humans. Even then, the WHO did not declare a pandemic until the 12th of March.

The WHO had blocked doctors from urging countries to impose border controls to stop the spread of coronavirus and repeatedly told countries not to close borders, despite this being an effective way of controlling the spread of the virus

China has lied and lied and lied about the extent of the outbreak in the country, attempting to cover up every detail, and even to profit from restricting exports of personal protection equipment.

Now, the OECD has revealed that China is set to enjoy a post-COVID economic recovery that outstrips every other major country, most of which will see debilitating drops in their GDP.

As we reported this week, top US National Security officials still believe that the most credible theory on the origin of COVID-19 is that it escaped from the Wuhan laboratory, with a whistleblower from the Wuhan institute recently providing more information to the US team.

It previously emerged that the Wuhan lab had held a coronavirus sample that was 96.2 per cent the same as Covid-19 for almost a decade. This prompted the speculation about the origin of the virus.

Several prominent researchers and scientists have also noted that the lab must be investigated given this fact.

In addition, previous reports have suggested that the Institute took a shipment of some of the world’s deadliest pathogens just weeks before the outbreak of the coronavirus. It is also known that the lab was tampering with natural pathogens and mutating them to become more infectious.

Intelligence figures across the globe have also called for the Wuhan lab to be investigated.

Chinese virologists recently fled Hong Kong and effectively defected to the West, with evidence against the Chinese Communist Party concerning its role in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Wuhan lab director has complained that scientists at the facility are being made scapegoats in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and that the lab has been unfairly made the centre of dangerous ‘conspiracy theories’, following US intelligence suggestions that it could have been the origin for the viral spread.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/06/2021 – 12:44

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3hMdpJH Tyler Durden

The coming ‘woke’ American Theocracy

Over a two day period in late March of 1979, the people of Iran held a groundbreaking referendum to turn their country into a theocratic Islamic Republic where the religious leaders ruled supreme.

According to the wholeheartedly honest and incorruptible officials who counted the votes, 99.3% of the ballots were cast in favor of becoming an Islamic Republic.

(This bears a striking resemblance to Kim Jong Un winning a 2014 ‘election’ in North Korea with 100% of the vote, or when Saddam Hussein won re-election in Iraq back in 2002 with 11.4 million votes in favor, and 0 against.)

Within months, a new constitution was drafted, and Iran became a theocracy.

In a theocracy, the rules and rituals of the official state religion become pervasive in everything– politics, education, business, news, entertainment, and even your daily routine– regardless of whether or not you’re a believer… if you’re even allowed to be a non-believer.

In its own way, the United States (and much of the West) is rapidly becoming a theocracy where the woke leftist religion similarly pervades our daily lives.

We can already see it.

Just look at the education system, where schools and universities are indoctrinating young people into the virtues of Marxism, Critical Race Theory, and other woke pseudoscience topics.

Children are taught to view themselves as oppressors or victims, and to judge themselves (and others) not based on the content of their character, but on the color of their skin.

And even basic subjects are being radicalized.

The United States was founded in 1619. Biology is intolerant. 2 + 2 = 4 “reeks of white supremacist patriarchy”.

Entertainment is dominated by these same ideals. You can’t even watch a basketball game anymore without having a woke agenda thrust in your face.

And the mainstream media is clearly playing a major role in championing these principles to the public, including shaming of any intellectual dissent and burying information they don’t want you to see.

Big businesses have completely sold out to the wokists. Huge brands like Gillette wag their fingers at their own consumers, presuming that all men are sleazy, oppressive scumbags.

Tech companies which once stood for the free-flow of information are zealously censoring content.

And most large companies are now overtly prioritizing top executives and directors based on identity characteristics like race, sexual orientation, and gender, rather than talent and integrity.

(Ironically they all sing the praises of the Chinese Communist Party, which is conspicuously exempt from abiding by these fanatical woke principles.)

The wokist religion is invading daily life as well. You must participate in the rituals– raise a fist in solidarity, say the names, support the peaceful protesters, etc.

Any dissent is greeted with rage and cancellation. Daring to utter the words ‘all lives matter’ can result in you losing your friends, your business, and your reputation.

You must use only the words that have been prescribed. For example, “women” has been replaced with “people who menstruate.”

(And you must feign OUTRAGE on social media when someone uses the incorrect words.)

This 1984-style language cleanse has become so ridiculous that even the word “pedophile” is being quietly replaced with “minor-attracted person” so as not to ‘unfairly’ stigmatize… the pedophiles.

This religion is also a major influence in government now.

Elected leaders rush to show their constituents how pious and virtuous they are, whether they’re kneeling in solidarity for a photo opp, or changing their own rules to banish gender-specific language in the House of Representatives.

And we saw last year how government policy has started to become driven by the supreme religious leaders, i.e. American Ayatollahs who wield extraordinary, unelected power.

They control a perpetually outraged Twitter mob through hashtags and memes. They get to tell people whose life does and doesn’t matter… who’s an oppressor and who’s a victim. And they rake in hundreds of millions of dollars in donations with zero oversight or transparency.

It’s important to point out that this new woke fanaticism is a polytheistic religion with many gods to exalt.

There are the cultural gods whose followers wage jihad peacefully protest against everything in their path– monuments, buildings, and businesses run by infidel non-believers.

But there are also fanatics who worship Covid… or more appropriately, they worship the FEAR of Covid.

Theirs is a god of panic and outrage who demands strict obedience.

And they follow the commandment to terrorize anyone who isn’t afraid or commits the blasphemy of asking a rational question about the disease or a vaccine.

There are also the Marxist gods, whose worshipers demand you make a routine sacrifice of your hard work to the failed altar of Communism.

And there are plenty of other gods in the mix, like the Green gods whose devoted followers at the World Economic Forum want to eliminate cows and condition humans to eat weeds and “drink toilet water” because of climate change.

It is a busy religion indeed.

Bear in mind that I’m not talking about the future here; this fanaticism has already taken hold in the Land of the Free, and much of the West.

And given what’s happened over the past several days and weeks, there’s plenty of runway for those in power to hit the accelerator.

I know there are a lot of readers right now that are nervous, even scared. Your fears are well founded… these are truly bizarre times.

Just remember that human beings tend to make bad decisions when we’re emotional, especially when that emotion is fear.

Don’t do anything rash. This is not a time to panic. It’s a time to plan.

Source

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Republicans Got What They Deserved. America Will Now Have To Pay the Price.

rollcallpix131647

Donald Trump promised—or perhaps warned—Republican voters in 2016 that if he was elected president, they would become “so sick and tired of winning.”

In Georgia, at least, that appears to be true.

Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff appear to have narrowly won the pair of high-stakes Senate runoff elections held in Georgia on Tuesday night. If those results are confirmed, it would leave the Senate evenly divided between the two parties and allow incoming Vice President Kamala Harris to be a tie-breaking vote for Democrats. Combined with the results of November’s elections, Tuesday’s outcomes mean that when Trump leaves office in less than two weeks, Democrats will have full control of the executive and legislative branches of government.

That means that in a span of two months Trump has presided over three losses in a state that hadn’t gone to Democrats in a presidential contest since 1992 and hadn’t elected a Democratic senator since 2000. It’s too soon to say whether this is evidence of a realignment in Georgia that Democrats have been hoping for years would materialize, versus a one-off rejection of Trump and his party. Either way, these results are a big deal.

This is the outcome that Republicans deserve after four years of not merely tolerating but largely embracing Trump’s authoritarian, spendy, and uninformed ways. It is the outcome the party deserves for rallying around a man who was impeached and defeated at the ballot box. It is what they should get for following Trump down an insane rabbit hole of conspiracy theories instead of rejecting him as the failed president that he is and moving in a different direction.

Republicans need to realize that “this is happening the way it is happening because you’ve allowed it to happen,” Michael Steel, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said on Tuesday night during an appearance on MSNBC. Like other anti-Trump voices within and around the GOP warning that Trumpism was a dead end, he’s been proven right.

The best thing that could come out of Tuesday’s results is a long-overdue reckoning for Trumpism. Already, the recriminations are starting—CNN’s Jake Tapper says some Republican strategists are blaming Sen. Josh Hawley (R–Mo.), one of Trump’s most loyal advocates in the Senate, for the losses in Georgia.

More of that would be welcome.

But easily the worst thing to come out of Tuesday’s runoffs is the unified control of government Democrats will now enjoy. When one party controls both Congress and the White House, the result is never a reduction in the size or cost of government. America will pay the price for Republicans’ failures.

In the short-term, a slim Democratic majority in the Senate means President-elect Joe Biden will be able to get more aggressive about his executive branch appointments. Biden was reportedly waiting to announce some of his cabinet picks, including his attorney general, until after the Georgia elections were finished, which could indicate that the nominee would have been different if Republicans had emerged victorious in the state. (Or it could be nothing more than strategic maneuver to avoid giving Republicans a new issue to campaign on in Georgia, the opposite of how Trump and Hawley likely helped Democrats with their post-election shenanigans.)

The same is true for judicial appointments, which are not subject to the filibuster anymore. Republicans who justified Trump’s bad behavior because they liked that he was packing the federal courts with conservative jurists will now have to watch Biden and Harris steer the judiciary in a different direction.

And it means we’ll likely see another major COVID-19 relief bill passed in the early days of the Biden administration. It could be loaded up with billions of dollars for states and local governments—an unnecessary bailout that Senate Republicans successfully and repeatedly blocked in 2020. Such a package will be Democrats’ top priority if they take the majority, likely Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) said during a Wednesday morning press conference.

In the longer term, a slim Democratic majority in the Senate has murky implications for policy making. On one hand, the combination of the filibuster, the presence of conservative-ish Sen. Joe Manchin (D–W.Va.), and the fact that Democrats will have to defend seats in places like Arizona and New Hampshire in 2022 might limit some Biden aspirations.

On the other hand, however, the Senate rules allow a lot of flexibility if the majority is willing to play ball. Democrats could use the reconciliation procedure, which allows for certain tax- and budget-related bills to pass without a supermajority, to implement some stripped-down versions of their policy agenda. This is the same procedure that Republicans used to pass the tax reform bill in 2017, so it’s certainly possible to deliver big legislative accomplishments without a 60-vote majority.

Simply controlling committees and determining what gets to the floor of the Senate is a big deal too. With Schumer looking over his shoulder at a possible primary challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.), there will be added pressure to find ways to squeeze through a few of the items on the progressives’ wish list.

More spending, bigger government, and more liberal appointees to the executive branch and the federal courts—that’s where Trumpism has led. (In fairness, Republicans were already doing a lot of the first two things.)

The results of Tuesday’s runoff mean that those of us who care about limited government are going to face (at least) two difficult years ahead. For today, though, we can enjoy a little bit of schadenfreude.

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FOMC Minutes Preview

FOMC Minutes Preview

Submitted by NewSquawk

Preview: FOMC December meeting minutes due 6th January at 19:00GMT/14:00EST

MEETING RECAP: The FOMC held the FFR target between 0.00-0.25%. It also enhanced its statement language to state a specific level for its asset purchases (USD 80bln Treasuries, USD 40bln MBS – unchanged levels) and removed references to buying at “the current pace”, while also linking purchases to further progress being made towards reaching maximum employment and price stability goals. Notably, the Fed did not extend the weighted average maturities of its purchases (analysts judged the chances as 50/50 going into the meeting), with some suggesting that a January decision may be more appropriate, allowing the Fed to see how the pandemic’s resurgence and fiscal stimulus plays out. Meanwhile, its forecasts saw near-term GDP upgraded, but 2023 onwards (including the long-term) was lowered; the unemployment rate projections were lowered across the forecast horizon, and the long-term dot was unchanged. The core inflation profile was lowered in 2020, but upped for 2021 and 2022, although interestingly, the longer-term inflation dots remained unchanged.

FISCAL STIMULUS: Going into the meeting, Fed officials had been warning heavily on the need for further fiscal stimulus. That uncertainty is now out of the way after US President Trump late December finally signed the Bill, and there is an expectation that the incoming Biden administration will continue to add fiscal support. Furthermore, with Democrats now looking to control the Senate too, Schumer has promised that one of the first things the Senate would deliver is $2,000 stimulus checks. That has helped officials become more constructive in their assessment of the medium-term (though still note the short-term challenges), since that stimulus will help protect Americans through the latest bout of the pandemic’s resurgence, which analysts say lessens the need for the Fed to act.

TAPERING: Some officials – Kaplan and Bostic, notably – have already started the discussion about when the Fed might taper the rate of its asset purchases, with some suggestion that this could be seen in 2021. (Note: tapering asset purchases must not be conflated with raising rates, which are currently expected to be held at current levels through the Fed’s forecast horizon). The updated statement links the rate of asset purchases to substantial further progress being made towards the Fed’s maximum employment and price stability goals, both of which currently have some way to go. And the language in the statement is loose enough to allow the central bank a degree of flexibility. Traders will note any discussion of the conditions the Fed will need to see before it becomes more confident in having a wider debate about tapering purchases. However, the short-term challenges may result in some language within the minutes that intimates that the Fed could add accommodation if the situation demands, so it may still be too soon to expect any hints of tapering in the December minutes.

WAM EXTENSION: As Treasury yields continue to test the top-end of their cyclical range, with 10-year yields yet to breach the psychological 1.0% mark, we continue to look for commentary to assess the likelihood that the Fed will increase the weighted average maturity of asset purchases, which is currently around 6.6 years; extending the maturity profile will allow the Fed to achieve a more ‘stimulatory effect’ and would also serve to place a soft cap on longer-dated yields. Another argument for extending WAMs is to match the issuance profile of the Treasury, which has been moving issuance further along the yield curve, while the Fed’s purchases have not kept pace. Powell was asked in the press conference about the conditions the Fed would need to see before it extended WAMs,  However, the Fed chair gave little away, and instead reiterated that the Fed could up asset purchases in circumstances required, and these could be focused on the long-end.

INFLATION: The Fed’s new inflation framework entails allowing average inflation to overshoot its 2% target during economic growth cycles before it mulls lifting rates; accordingly, its discussions on the theme should be viewed with a longer-term lens, particularly since Chair Powell has said that he is prepared to look through any short-term spikes in services inflation this year (analysts have said these are most likely to be a temporary phenomenon related to annualised base effects in Q1). The lowering of the near-term inflation profile in the projections may indicate that other officials on the Committee agree with Powell, and commentary may err on the dovish side.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/06/2021 – 12:30

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3hPkLfx Tyler Durden

Republicans Got What They Deserved. America Will Now Have To Pay the Price.

rollcallpix131647

Donald Trump promised—or perhaps warned—Republican voters in 2016 that if he was elected president, they would become “so sick and tired of winning.”

In Georgia, at least, that appears to be true.

Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff appear to have narrowly won the pair of high-stakes Senate runoff elections held in Georgia on Tuesday night. If those results are confirmed, it would leave the Senate evenly divided between the two parties and allow incoming Vice President Kamala Harris to be a tie-breaking vote for Democrats. Combined with the results of November’s elections, Tuesday’s outcomes mean that when Trump leaves office in less than two weeks, Democrats will have full control of the executive and legislative branches of government.

That means that in a span of two months Trump has presided over three losses in a state that hadn’t gone to Democrats in a presidential contest since 1992 and hadn’t elected a Democratic senator since 2000. It’s too soon to say whether this is evidence of a realignment in Georgia that Democrats have been hoping for years would materialize, versus a one-off rejection of Trump and his party. Either way, these results are a big deal.

This is the outcome that Republicans deserve after four years of not merely tolerating but largely embracing Trump’s authoritarian, spendy, and uninformed ways. It is the outcome the party deserves for rallying around a man who was impeached and defeated at the ballot box. It is what they should get for following Trump down an insane rabbit hole of conspiracy theories instead of rejecting him as the failed president that he is and moving in a different direction.

Republicans need to realize that “this is happening the way it is happening because you’ve allowed it to happen,” Michael Steel, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said on Tuesday night during an appearance on MSNBC. Like other anti-Trump voices within and around the GOP warning that Trumpism was a dead end, he’s been proven right.

The best thing that could come out of Tuesday’s results is a long-overdue reckoning for Trumpism. Already, the recriminations are starting—CNN’s Jake Tapper says some Republican strategists are blaming Sen. Josh Hawley (R–Mo.), one of Trump’s most loyal advocates in the Senate, for the losses in Georgia.

More of that would be welcome.

But easily the worst thing to come out of Tuesday’s runoffs is the unified control of government Democrats will now enjoy. When one party controls both Congress and the White House, the result is never a reduction in the size or cost of government. America will pay the price for Republicans’ failures.

In the short-term, a slim Democratic majority in the Senate means President-elect Joe Biden will be able to get more aggressive about his executive branch appointments. Biden was reportedly waiting to announce some of his cabinet picks, including his attorney general, until after the Georgia elections were finished, which could indicate that the nominee would have been different if Republicans had emerged victorious in the state. (Or it could be nothing more than strategic maneuver to avoid giving Republicans a new issue to campaign on in Georgia, the opposite of how Trump and Hawley likely helped Democrats with their post-election shenanigans.)

The same is true for judicial appointments, which are not subject to the filibuster anymore. Republicans who justified Trump’s bad behavior because they liked that he was packing the federal courts with conservative jurists will now have to watch Biden and Harris steer the judiciary in a different direction.

And it means we’ll likely see another major COVID-19 relief bill passed in the early days of the Biden administration. It could be loaded up with billions of dollars for states and local governments—an unnecessary bailout that Senate Republicans successfully and repeatedly blocked in 2020. Such a package will be Democrats’ top priority if they take the majority, likely Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) said during a Wednesday morning press conference.

In the longer term, a slim Democratic majority in the Senate has murky implications for policy making. On one hand, the combination of the filibuster, the presence of conservative-ish Sen. Joe Manchin (D–W.Va.), and the fact that Democrats will have to defend seats in places like Arizona and New Hampshire in 2022 might limit some Biden aspirations.

On the other hand, however, the Senate rules allow a lot of flexibility if the majority is willing to play ball. Democrats could use the reconciliation procedure, which allows for certain tax- and budget-related bills to pass without a supermajority, to implement some stripped-down versions of their policy agenda. This is the same procedure that Republicans used to pass the tax reform bill in 2017, so it’s certainly possible to deliver big legislative accomplishments without a 60-vote majority.

Simply controlling committees and determining what gets to the floor of the Senate is a big deal too. With Schumer looking over his shoulder at a possible primary challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.), there will be added pressure to find ways to squeeze through a few of the items on the progressives’ wish list.

More spending, bigger government, and more liberal appointees to the executive branch and the federal courts—that’s where Trumpism has led. (In fairness, Republicans were already doing a lot of the first two things.)

The results of Tuesday’s runoff mean that those of us who care about limited government are going to face (at least) two difficult years ahead. For today, though, we can enjoy a little bit of schadenfreude.

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Biden Taps Merrick Garland For Attorney General

Biden Taps Merrick Garland For Attorney General

Politico reports that Joe Biden has decided to tap Merrick Garland, a federal judge who gained a national profile after being nominated to the Supreme Court by President Obama (before being blocked by Mitch McConnell), to serve as his attorney general.

Garland has long been rumored to be a front runner for the job, even as many of Biden’s supporters pushed him to pick a woman, or a minority, for the role.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/06/2021 – 12:17

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Pence’s Time For Choosing

Pence’s Time For Choosing

Authored by Philip Wegmann via RealClearPolitics.com,

Mike Pence is a man of God. He is also a practiced politician of intense discipline who answers every question, no matter how aggressive or personal, with carefully prepared talking points delivered in a reassuringly measured Midwestern cadence.

He is always on message. He has hardly ever, as vice president, strayed from the MAGA line.

When asked about his prayers during the pandemic, Pence explained in one breath how he offers prayers of intercession (that the suffering would be comforted), prayers of petition (that leaders would be given wisdom), and prayers of thanksgiving (that Donald Trump is his boss). “I have to tell you,” he told RealClearPolitics aboard Air Force Two shortly after accepting the nomination for vice president in August, “I really could not be more proud of this president’s leadership through this global pandemic.” That Pence would turn a question about faith into an answer about Trump is not surprising.

He has been nothing but dedicated to the president, and no controversy — not the Ukraine scandal, not the St. John’s church photo op, not even the “Access Hollywood” tape — has ever caused Pence to abandon his post. Disciplined. On message. Loyal. Pence is all of that: A vice president straight out of central casting, who has backed up Trump at all costs but who will now risk four years of earned goodwill in one afternoon. He has to count votes.

As vice president, Pence serves also as president of the Senate, meaning that on Wednesday he will preside over a pro forma certification of the Electoral College vote. The duty is normally procedural. But by clinging to power and alleging widespread voter fraud, Donald Trump has foisted an uncomfortable decision on his loyal lieutenant: ratify the victory of President-elect Joe Biden or back his boss.

“There is a famous verse coming out of the Book of Esther,” David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth and a longtime friend of Pence, told RCP. “I think that applies to Mike right now.” Pence knows the scriptural passage McIntosh is talking about. It is the story where the queen in Babylonian exile must decide whether to denounce a plot to slaughter the Jewish people or to say nothing and ensure her own safety. The Word of the Lord:

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for a time such as this?

The parallel is obvious. The choice, less so. Pence is faced with a difficult decision that will affect not only the nation but his entire legacy. The vice president, no doubt, is seeking divine wisdom. And for a time such as this, he has reportedly sought guidance from political advisers and legal experts and the Senate parliamentarian. McIntosh, for his part, didn’t say who the “Babylonians” are in this case.

Trump has made his thoughts known. “I hope that Mike Pence comes through for us. He’s a great guy,” the president said Monday night at a rally in Georgia. The hopes of Trump World rest on playing the so-called Pence Card, the idea being that the vice president would unilaterally reject the election results. “Of course, if he doesn’t come through,” Trump added, “I won’t like him quite as much.”

This would be a bitter pill for Pence, who is widely believed to harbor Oval Office ambitions of his own. Being a party to a quixotic attempt to overturn the election results, however, could very well make him a pariah in any future general election.

But close friends as well as current and former colleagues stress that the vice president has a higher allegiance.

“He’s very loyal to President Trump, who obviously is very interested in the outcome, but the most important feature about Mike is that he really is a constitutionalist,” McIntosh said.

As for the gaggle of Senate Republicans who plan to challenge some state results, McIntosh predicted that Pence would limit himself simply to using “the chair to give them an appropriate hearing for their motion.” Nothing more.

The task before Pence is simple, at least on paper.

The vice president is to open envelopes that contain the Electoral College votes reported from the individual states and then, “in the presence of” both chambers of Congress, hand them to the tellers of the House and Senate. Trump adviser Peter Navarro argued that Pence has broader authority, that he could delay the process and grant a 10-day audit of the results. Pence is apparently unmoved by this curious theory.

“Peter Navarro is many things,” the VP’s chief of staff, Marc Short, told the Wall Street Journal. “He is not a constitutional scholar.”

While Pence has signaled that he is open to GOP efforts to overturn the election result, he hasn’t tipped his hand. It still isn’t clear what he will do, other than serve his constitutionally mandated clerical role. The vice president, his office said in a statement, “welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections and bring forward evidence before the Congress and the American people on January 6th.”

The Trump campaign and its allies have filed no fewer than 60 legal challenges alleging widespread fraud. None have been successful in court. Meanwhile, there has been whispering among White House staff that the vice president is not a true believer when it comes to election conspiracies. The New York Times reported that Pence even told the president that he didn’t believe he has the power to block congressional certification of a Biden victory. This, Trump said late Tuesday night, was “fake news.”

“The Vice President and I are in total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act,” Trump said in statement, later adding that the “election was corrupt in contested states” and therefore “was illegal.”

“Our Vice President has several options under the U.S. Constitution,” Trump’s statement added.

“He can decertify the results or send them back to the states for change and certification. He can also decertify the illegal and corrupt results and send them to the House of Representatives for the one vote for one state tabulation.”

If Pence doesn’t exercise those oddball options as Trump prescribes, he could alienate the president’s base. But what good is a base that isn’t large enough to win national elections? That is the question of GOP strategists surveying the wreckage of 2020. Trump couldn’t secure his own reelection, let alone keep Republican Senate majority which, as of Wednesday morning, appears lost.

There may be an opportunity in all of the chaos, a chance for Pence to place a steady hand on the wheel of government as the peaceful transition of power begins. “It only helps his future ambitions,” said Rep. Jim Banks, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee that Pence once helmed.

“Only the wacky fringe elements of the Republican Party believe that Mike Pence should stand up before the nation, on the floor of the House, and not perform his constitutional duties of counting the electors from the States,” added Banks, who predicted, “Pence will be president one day.”

Those ambitions were evident to former Rep. Mark Souder from early on. The two Hoosiers served in Congress together, and Souder watched as Pence moved steadily through House leadership to the Indiana governor’s mansion and finally to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across a parking lot from the White House. “He is gonna have to choose,” Souder said of the vice president’s last, and most consequential, decision. “Pence respects the institution too much; he’s signaled it, and he is not going to overturn the vote, court cases, and state election officials because he built his career on states’ rights.”

“I can’t see him selling out,” Souder added. “Not for this guy.”

Pence will preside over a joint session of Congress, his office confirmed late Tuesday night, to count electoral votes at 1 p.m. 

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/06/2021 – 12:15

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Geomagnetic Storm Expected To Strike Earth’s Magnetic Field Today 

Geomagnetic Storm Expected To Strike Earth’s Magnetic Field Today 

A minor (G1-class) geomagnetic storm watch is in effect for Jan. 6 as a coronal mass ejection (CME) is expected to strike Earth’s magnetic field, according to SpaceWeather

On Jan. 2, the Sun released a blast of energy that has taken at least four days to reach Earth. 

“The fact that it has taken at least four days to reach Earth marks the CME as a slow-mover; the longer it takes to arrive, the weaker its impact will be,” SpaceWeather.com said. 

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory filmed the eruption from the Sun. 

NASA’s Space Weather Prediction Center shows the Planetary K-index, used to characterize the magnitude of geomagnetic storms, is already showing the Earth’s magnetic field is being disrupted at the moment.

The Sun’s highly-charged particles slamming into the Earth’s atmosphere should produce auroras. 

For the most part, the solar storm appears to be weak. It may not have the intensity to disrupt satellite-based technology that powers GPS navigation, mobile phone signal, and satellite TV. 

How Solar Storms Disrupt Technology On Earth 

Last month researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research discovered that the Sun is about to wake up into a new solar cycle that could make solar storms a regular occurrence, something that may jeopardize the digital economy. 

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/06/2021 – 12:00

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The Other Rotation – Gold-To-Crypto Flows Accelerate

The Other Rotation – Gold-To-Crypto Flows Accelerate

A rebound in real yields (as nominal rates surge) has slammed the brakes on precious metals (even as the dollar dives)…

Source: Bloomberg

And as PMs suffer, cryptos are surging higher with Ethereum now back above $1200…

Source: Bloomberg

And, as JPMorgan previously noted, the ‘structural’ flow from gold to crypto continues…

Source: Bloomberg

JPMorgan’s goalseeked conclusion is clear:

we believe that the valuation and position backdrop has become a lot more challenging for bitcoin at the beginning of the New Year. While we cannot exclude the possibility that the current speculative mania will propagate further pushing the bitcoin price up towards the consensus region of between $50k-$100k, we believe that such price levels would prove unsustainable.

In other words, bitcoin may well triple from here, but it could also drop.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/06/2021 – 11:49

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