Week in Review

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Week in Review

01/09/2021

For the week 1/4-1/8

[Posted 10:30 PM ET, Friday]

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Edition 1,134

I wrote the following just last Friday night.

WIR 1/2/21

Wednesday p.m. tweet from President Donald Trump:

“JANUARY SIXTH, SEE YOU IN DC!”

Friday p.m. tweet from the Il Duce wannabe:

“The BIG Protest Rally in Washington, D.C., will take place at 11:00 A.M. on January 6th. Locational details to follow StopTheSteal!”

I have to admit my blood is boiling over the actions of our president, but we’ll see what happens next week.  Trump will be at his incendiary best on Monday at a rally in Georgia.  Tuesday we have the senate runoffs in the state.  And Wednesday, well, that’s a day we hope doesn’t live in infamy….

I have to remind you again of the fact that Donald Trump was talking of our ‘rigged elections,’ ‘rigged system,’ going back to the 2016 campaign.  He won, then complained the system was rigged because there was no way Hillary Clinton beat him in the popular vote by 2.9 million.

Then he pounded the table all 2020 during the campaign on how the only way he could lose is if the Democrats stole the election. Funny, but the Republican Party had a great election.  Everyone except Donald Trump, because millions of us, such as yours truly, voted Republican down ballot but refused to vote for this charlatan.

Well, the gig is up, but not before the Republican Party blows itself up this coming week, while inflicting long-lasting damage to our democracy.  I’m sick to my stomach…you should be too.

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Pretty prescient.  Most of the rest of you were sick to your stomachs Wednesday.

And, yes, Wednesday did indeed turn out to be a day that will live in infamy. 

I have loathed Donald Trump since the first Republican primaries in 2016.  The day of his inauguration, after his incendiary address, we learned what the next four years would be like when he, and his press secretary, launched into the press over the reporting of the crowd size on the Mall.  It was downhill from there.

How could you respect a man who from his first day in office did nothing to unite the people, sowed hate, endlessly called the free press the enemy of the people, and ceaselessly poisoned our minds with lies and fiction.

“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people – does not even pretend to try.  Instead he tries to divide us,” Gen. Jim Mattis wrote in an article published in The Atlantic.

Donald Trump was a man who said he loved America.  Yet he did nothing but trash the country.

He did nothing but undermine the institutions that have been the bedrock of our democracy, including free and fair elections.  And it became a battle between Trump lies and the truth.

Trump did nothing but promote conspiracy theories, eaten up by his supporters.  As Van Jones commented the other day, Trump ended up with one goal.

“If I can’t have it my way, I’ll burn the country down.”

The ‘T’ word, Treason, was tossed out recklessly by Donald Trump throughout his presidency, but tonight, it applies to him.  He fomented insurrection, sedition.  While the Capitol was ransacked, he wasn’t there with his supporters as he promised them, he was on the phone with Rudy Giuliani at the White House, trying to strongarm senators to defy the will of the people, the sacred vote, to participate in a coup.

What we saw this week was a homegrown attack on democracy.  Russia is having a field day…Republicans doing their dirty work to undermine the nation.

Some of us will never forget Helsinki.  We never got an official readout of the two-hour one-on-one Trump had with Vladimir Putin, after which Trump, unforgettably, unbelievably, backed Vlad the Impaler over the U.S. intelligence community.

Back at Christmastime, 1981, I’ll never forget going to Midnight Mass with my mother.  Lech Walesa had launched the Solidarity labor movement at the Gdansk shipyards in Poland the year before and by Dec. of ’81, it had grown to hold immense influence over Polish society.  December 13, General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law and Walesa, who had become a global figure and hero to many, was arrested along with his cohorts.

It was a scary time.  This was the big story on the news.  No one knew what would happen next.  That Christmas Eve, Monsignor in his Homily talked of Poland and we prayed for the Polish people.  It would take eight long years, but eventually they gained their freedom, along with the rest of Eastern Europe, in one form or another.  The Iron Curtain had fallen.

America, thanks to the leadership of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, along with Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, was the guiding light for those being oppressed in Europe.

I remember crying for Poland that Christmas Eve.  I had been there in 1973, just 15 years old, and knew how much the common folk both there and in all the countries of the region, wanted to be free, wanted to come to America, looked up to that big shining city on a hill, the nation with Lady Liberty in the harbor, welcoming tens of millions of immigrants that would over the generations make America better, make America great.

And then came Donald Trump.  And today, after the catastrophe of this week, the United States has zero moral standing.

I didn’t cry this week.  I was simply furious.  Furious that so many Americans swallowed this punk’s bullshit.  Furious that so many in America are scarily ignorant.  Never read a good newspaper, instead getting all their news from worthless social media outlets, or far-right cable channels.  Soaking in poison.

I was furious that our kids had to see all this.  And I’m scared what they are hearing from some of their parents at the dinner table.  Or what an older brother or sister is telling them.  An uncle.

Yes, this week was a severe stress test for our democracy.  We passed it late Wednesday night with certification of Joe Biden’s win.  But what of the next decade?

Editorial / Wall Street Journal…Thursday evening…

“The lodestar of these columns is the U.S. Constitution. The document is the durable foundation protecting liberty, and this week it showed its virtue again. Despite being displaced for a time by a mob, Congress returned the same day to ratify the Electoral College vote and Joe Biden’s election.  Congratulations to the President-elect, who will be inaugurated as the Constitution stipulates at noon on Jan. 20.

“That still leaves Wednesday’s disgrace and what to do about the 13 days left in Donald  Trump’s presidential term….

“This was an assault on the constitutional process of transferring power after an election.  It was also an assault on the legislature from an executive sworn to uphold the laws of the United States.  This goes beyond merely refusing to concede defeat.  In our view it crosses a constitutional line that Mr. Trump hasn’t previously crossed.  It is impeachable….

“If Mr. Trump wants to avoid a second impeachment, his best path would be to take personal responsibility and resign.  This would be the cleanest solution since it would immediately turn presidential duties over to Mr. Pence. And it would give Mr. Trump agency, a la Richard Nixon, over his own fate.

“This might also stem the flood of White House and Cabinet resignations that are understandable as acts of conscience but could leave the government dangerously unmanned.  Robert O’Brien, the national security adviser, in particular should stay at his post.

“We know an act of grace by Mr. Trump isn’t likely. In any case this week has probably finished him as a serious political figure.  He has cost Republicans the House, the White House, and now the Senate. Worse, he has betrayed his loyal supporters by lying to them about the election and the ability of Congress and Mr. Pence to overturn it.  He has refused to accept the basic bargain of democracy, which is to accept the result, win or lose.

“It is best for everyone, himself included, if he goes away quietly.”

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Around noon on Wednesday, Trump adviser Katrina Pierson, one of those introducing the president to an immense crowd at an outdoor rally his team had organized, said “No one believes (this election) crap…(Trump) loves the United States of America, he loves God, he loves the flag, he loves you.”

Donald Trump doesn’t love anything but himself.  But he knows his supporters are ignorant and have been swallowing everything he has said for over four years.

Rudy Giuliani got on the stage and called for “trial by combat.”

Trump then launched a full-scale verbal assault, not only on the election process, but on his own party and its leaders.

The president had been publicly and privately lobbying Vice President Mike Pence to overturn Joe Biden’s Electoral College win ahead of Wednesday’s confirmation vote in Congress, which Pence would oversee as the president of the Senate.  Pence was reportedly furious at the pressure.

“Mike Pence, I hope you get to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country, and if you’re not, I’m going to be very disappointed in you,” Trump said at the rally.

“We will never give up. We will never concede,” Trump said after repeating a long list of complaints about voting irregularities and alleged fraud.  He talked of elections in third world countries being “more honest than what went on in this country…it’s a disgrace.”

He excoriated “weak Republicans, pathetic Republicans" who weren’t supporting him, criticizing some by name.  And he incited the crowd to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol.

Pence defied Trump and in a lengthy letter to members of Congress on Wednesday said he did not have the power to throw out the electoral votes that will make Biden the next president.

“It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” Pence wrote.

But as the formal process of counting each state’s vote began, and as the first Republican objection emerged with Arizona, thousands were storming the Capitol.

Capitol police, some of whom later acted heroically, nonetheless appeared to just let the rioters in…and when it was over, the Capitol was trashed, five would wind up dead, including a Capitol police officer, smashed over the head with a fire extinguisher, and yet the now domestic terrorists were escorted out with only a few being arrested.  [Thankfully, the idiots are now being rounded up in a massive FBI operation.  The killer of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick should be executed.]

After President-elect Biden addressed the nation on the violence, excoriating President Trump for unleashing an “all-out assault on the institutions of our democracy” and using language “that has long been used by autocrats and dictators all over the world to hold on to power," Trump issued a video on Twitter, telling his supporters/rioters “we love you” but also saying “go home in peace.”

“This was a fraudulent election but we can’t play into the hands of these people, we have to have peace.  So go home, we love you, you’re very special.”

While he said law enforcement needed to be protected, Mr. Trump said to the rioters, “I know how you feel.”

Trump later added on Twitter: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace.”

Twitter labeled the tweet with a notice that the claim of election fraud was disputed and then removed the posts and the video altogether, locking the president’s account for 12 hours. Facebook also took down the video and blocked him.

Having been blocked, President Trump later issued a statement posted by White House spokesman Dan Scavino late Wednesday evening.

“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our…

“…fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted.  While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”

Lawmakers in both parties were furious as the day descended into chaos, with Vice President Pence tweeting:

“The violence and destruction taking place at the US Capitol Must Stop and it Must Stop Now. Anyone involved must respect Law Enforcement officers and immediately leave the building.”

While President Trump showed solidarity with rioters, Pence called for swift repercussions. 

“Peaceful protest is the right of every American but this attack on our Capitol will not be tolerated and those involved will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

“We have very deep and clear political differences in this country, but we don’t resolve those differences by mob violence,” said Rep. Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.), the No. 3 House Republican.  “The President of the United States’ statement now, in my view, was completely inadequate – what he has done and what he caused here is something that we’ve never seen before in our history.”

Sen. Ben Sasse (R. Neb.) said, “Lies have consequences. This violence was the inevitable and ugly outcome of the president’s addiction to constantly stoking division.”

After order was restored Wednesday evening, Congress resumed the ratification process of Biden’s election victory.

In a sharp break from the president, Vice President Pence said: “To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win.  Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people’s house.”

Senator Mitch McConnell said the “failed insurrection” had only clarified Congress’ purpose.

“They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed.”

There were some impressive speeches given in the late hours.

Sen. Ben Sasse:

“Colleagues, today has been ugly. When I came to the floor this morning.  I planned to talk about the lesson of 1801 because I’m kind of a history nerd, and I wanted to celebrate the glories of the peaceful transition of power across our nation’s history. It feels a little naïve now to talk about ways that American civics might be something that could unite us in bringing us back together.

“1801 blew everybody’s mind all over the world, by the way.  John Adams loses to Thomas Jefferson and Adams willingly leaves the executive mansion and moves back to Massachusetts. And Jefferson peacefully assumes power, and people all over Europe said, ‘That must be fake news. Those must be bad reports. There’s no way an executive would ever willingly lay down power.’ And yet Adams, in defeat, did something glorious to give all of us a gift.

“I wanted to celebrate that, and it feels a little bit harder now. This building has been desecrated. Blood has been spilled in the hallways….

“But you know what?  It turns out that when something is ugly talking about beauty isn’t just permissible, talking about beauty is obligatory at a time like that. Why?  Why would we talk about beauty after the ugliness of today?  Because our kids need to know that this isn’t what America is.

“I don’t think we want to tell the Americans that come after us that this republic is broken, that this is just a banana republic, that our institutions can’t be trusted….

“I don’t think we want to tell our kids that America’s best days are behind us because it’s not true.

“That’s not who we are. America isn’t Hatfield’s and McCoy’s blood feud forever. America is a union. There’s a lot that’s broken in this country but not anything that’s so big that the American people can’t rebuild it. That freedom and community and entrepreneurial effort and that neighborhoods can’t rebuild.  Nothing that’s broken is so big that we can’t fix it.

“Generations of our forefathers and our foremothers – probably not a word – our ancestors have spilled blood to defend the glories of this republic.  Why would they do that?

“Because America is the most exceptional nation in the history of the world, and because the Constitution is the greatest political document that’s ever been written.  Most governments in the past have said, ‘might makes right,’ and we saw some of that fooligan nuttery today.  ‘Might makes right!’  No, it doesn’t. God gives us rights by nature, and government is just our shared project to secure those rights….

“The center of America is not Washington, D.C.  The center of America is the neighborhoods where 330 million Americans are raising their kids and trying to put food on the table and trying to love their neighbor.  That’s the center of America.  We’re not supposed to be the most important people in America, we’re supposed to be servant leaders who try to maintain a framework for ordered liberty so that there’s a structure that back home where they live, they can get from the silver frame of structure and order to the golden apple at the center, as Washington would have said it, which is the things that they build together. The places where they coach little league, the places where they invite people to synagogue or church.  Sometimes the big things we do together are governmental, like kicking Hitler’s ass or like going to the moon. Sometimes there is governmental stuff, but the heart of America is about places where moms and dads are raising kids, and we’re supposed to serve them by maintaining order and by rejecting violence.

“You can’t do big things like that if you hate your neighbors. You can’t do big things together as Americans if you think other Americans are the enemy.

“Look, there’s a lot of uncertainty about the future, I get it.  There’s a lot that does need to be rebuilt.  But if you’re angry, I want to beg you – don’t let the screamers who monetize hate have the final word. Don’t let nihilists become your drug dealers.  There are some who want to burn it all down. We met some of them today.  But they aren’t going to win.  Don’t let them be your prophets.  Instead, organize, persuade, but most importantly, love your neighbor.  Visit the widower down the street who’s lonely and didn’t want to tell anybody that his wife died and he doesn’t have a lot of friends.  Shovel somebody’s driveway.  You can’t hate somebody who just shoveled your driveway. The heart of life is about community and neighborhood, and we’re supposed to be servant leaders. The constitutional system is still the greatest order for any government ever, and it’s our job to steward it and protect it.”

Sen. Mitt Romney, who had condemned GOP attempts to subvert the will of the voters, released a statement Wednesday night he would later give on the Senate floor.

“We gather today due to a selfish man’s injured pride and the outrage of his supporters whom he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning.  What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States. Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy. They will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode in American history. That will be their legacy,” Romney said.

Romney said the “best way we can show respect for the voters who are upset is by telling them the truth… The truth is that President-elect Biden won the election.  President Trump lost. I’ve had that experience myself, it’s no fun.

Romney concluded, “I urge my colleagues to move forward with completing the electoral count, to refrain from further objections, and to unanimously affirm the legitimacy of the presidential election.”

President Barack Obama said “History will rightly remember today’s violence” that was “incited by a sitting president who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of a lawful election, as a moment of a great dishonor and shame for our country.”

He said, “we would be kidding ourselves” if it came as a surprise as the Republican party and its “accompanying ecosystem has too often been unwilling to tell their followers the truth” that
Trump lost the election.

“Their fantasy narrative has spiraled further and further from reality, and it builds upon years of sown resentments.  Now we’re seeing the consequences, whipped up into a violent crescendo.”

Obama called on GOP leaders to make a clear choice to “choose America” and that he is “heartened to see many members of the President’s party speak up forcefully today.”

President Bill Clinton released a statement, saying that “today we faced an unprecedented assault on our Capitol, our Constitution, and our country.”

Clinton named Trump explicitly, stating: “The assault was fueled by more than four years of poison politics spreading deliberate misinformation, sowing distrust in our system, and pitting Americans against one another.  The match was lit by Donald Trump and his most ardent enablers, including many in Congress, to overturn the results of an election he lost.”

Clinton added: “I have always believed that America is made up of good, decent people.  I still do.  If that’s who we really are, we must reject today’s violence, turn the page, and move forward together – honoring our Constitution, remaining committed to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

President George W. Bush released a statement stating he and former First Lady Laura Bush are “watching the scenes of mayhem unfolding at the seat of our Nation’s government in disbelief and dismay.”

Calling it a “sickening and heartbreaking sight,” the statement continued that “this is how election results are disputed in a banana republic – not our democratic republic.”

Without naming Trump, the statement said, “I am appalled by the reckless behavior of some political leaders since the election and by the lack of respect shown today for our institutions, our traditions, and our law enforcement.”

“The violent assault on the Capitol – and disruption of a Constitutionally-mandated meeting of Congress – was undertaken by people whose passions have been inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes,” the statement reads, continuing that “it is the fundamental responsibility of every patriotic citizen to support the rule of law.”

President Jimmy Carter said he was “troubled by the violence at the U.S. Capitol today.”

“This is a national tragedy and is not who we are as a nation,” he said.  “Having observed elections in troubled democracies worldwide, I know that we the people can unite to walk back from this precipice to peacefully uphold the laws of our nation, and we must.”

“We join our fellow citizens in praying for a peaceful resolution so our nation can heal and complete the transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries,” the statement concludes.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a longtime friend and ally of President Trump, unloaded on him, saying he was “absolutely sickened” by what unfolded.

“Nobody who saw this today other than the president of the United States and his most blind supporters could think this was acceptable, could think this was something our country could ever be able to put up with…

“I think the president’s conduct today was simply incredible,” he added in an appearance on ABC News.  “As someone who has known him for 20 years, today breached something none of us should have to put up with by anybody who’s given the honor of being an elected leader in this country.”

Christie said Trump “violated his oath and betrayed the American people” by not condemning those in the mob who committed violence.

‘He should be calling on law enforcement to arrest those people and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law,” the ex-governor said.

Donald Trump’s first defense secretary Jim Mattis said in a statement provided to Military.com.

“Today’s violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump.  His use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice.

“Our Constitution and our Republic will overcome this stain and We the People will come together again in our never-ending effort to form a more perfect Union, while Mr. Trump will deservedly be left a man without a country,” he said.

Former attorney general William Barr said in a statement: “Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable.  The President’s conduct yesterday was a betrayal of his office and supporters.”

Among those reacting around the world was French President Emmanuel Macron: “When in one of the world’s oldest democracies supporters of an outgoing president take up arms to challenge the legitimate results of an election, a universal idea – that of ‘one person, one vote’ – is undermined.  What happened in Washington, D.C. is not America – definitely. We believe in the strength of our democracies.  We believe in the strength of American democracy,” he added.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the “disgraceful scenes.”

“The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power,” he wrote on Twitter.

British opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer called it a “direct attack on democracy.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted that the scenes from the U.S. Capitol were “utterly horrifying.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “I have trust in the strength of U.S. democracy. The new presidency of Joe Biden will overcome this tense stage, uniting the American people.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the outcome of the election “must be respected.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that “violence will never succeed in overruling the will of the people. Democracy in the U.S. must be upheld – and it will be.”

“Trump and his supporters should finally accept the decision of the American voters and stop trampling on democracy,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter on Wednesday night as events unfolded.  “From inflammatory words come violent deeds.”  Mass added that “contempt for democratic institutions has disastrous effects.”

Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg tweeted that “what we are now seeing from Washington is a completely unacceptable attack on democracy in the United States.  President Trump is responsible for stopping this.”

China’s state media said on Friday that the storming of the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump reflects a failure of leadership as well as the deep divide running through American society.

Chinese government-run newspapers used the event to step up its war of words against the United States, with bilateral relations already at a low ebb amid tensions over trade, human rights, the pandemic and Taiwan.

The Global Times, a tabloid owned by the People’s Daily, described the riots as a sign of “internal collapse” in the U.S. political system that could not easily be reversed.  “The unprecedented mob in the Capitol, a symbol of the U.S. system, is the result of the U.S. society’s severe division and the country’s failure to control such division,” it said.  “As time goes by and with abuses of resources by generations of politicians, the U.S. political system has degraded,” the paper added.

The Global Times also lashed out at what it described as “double standards” among U.S. politicians, taking aim at Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s description of the Hong Kong protests in 2019 as “a beautiful sight to behold.”  “In Hong Kong, violent actions are described as a ‘beautiful sight,’ in the U.S., people involved in this chaos are called ‘mobs’, the Global Times said.

State broadcaster CCTV used the crisis to lambast the U.S. political system, saying “the figleaf of so-called American democracy has been torn clean off.”  “The United States, which has always promoted democracy and human rights, is now the country of riots, conflicts and curfews.”

The official China Daily newspaper said the “narrow nationalism” of President Trump had taken a toll on the United States.  “The violence and chaos that have erupted in the U.S. over the past year show what happens when a country’s leaders lose touch with reality,” it added.

Thursday…as calls grew for Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th amendment, or for impeachment if the president wouldn’t resign, Trump issued a video through Twitter that was of the hostage variety.  It wasn’t a true concession, never mentioning Joe Biden’s name, but he called for a “smooth, orderly, seamless transition of power.”

“Serving as your president has been the honor of my lifetime,” he said, an apparent admission that his presidency was over.

Then, throwing the rioters/supporters who did his bidding under a bus…

“America is and must always be a nation of law and order.  The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy.  To those who engaged in the act of violence and destruction: You do not represent our country.  And to those who broke the law: You will pay.”

But he also hinted at a political comeback.  “And all of my wonderful supporters, I know you are disappointed, but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning.”

Also Thursday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos joined Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao in resigning, DeVos saying the unrest was the tipping point.

“That behavior was unconscionable for our country.  There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me,” DeVos said her resignation.

“Impressionable children are watching all this, and they are learning from us,” said DeVos.

Of course DeVos had been a Trump enabler for years.

Today, Trump then issued what would be his final two tweets…before Twitter permanently suspended his account.

“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the inauguration on January 20th.”

For her part, as the House scrambled to prepare Articles of Impeachment, potentially for Monday, Speaker Pelosi spoke to Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about what measures are available to rein in the president.

“The situation of this unhinged president could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy,” Pelosi said in a letter to colleagues.

But according to nuclear weapons expert Jeffrey Lewis, “There is no legal way to do this.  The president has sole, unfettered authority to order the use of nuclear weapons with no ‘second vote’ required.”

But any use of nuclear weapons is a highly deliberative process.

Editorial / Wall Street Journal

“Fueled by lies about a stolen election, protesters overran police and stormed America’s seat of government on Wednesday, forcing a lockdown of the U.S. Capitol and a 6 p.m. city curfew. This sounds like a dispatch from some foreign correspondent in an unfortunate land.  Instead it was President Trump’s parting gift to Washington, and the country, for denying him a second term.

“Wednesday’s joint session of Congress was supposed to be a ritual of American democracy, memorializing Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. As lawmakers met, Mr. Trump was speaking at a ‘Save America March,’ where he vowed never to concede. ‘We’re going to the Capitol,’ he urged the crowd, to ‘try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.’

“There the protesters marched – and then some. After Rep. Paul Gosar and Sen. Ted Cruz objected to the counting of Arizona’s 11 electors, the two chambers retired to consider it.  The Senate debate lasted less than an hour. Rioters breached the building, and the Vice President was suddenly whisked from the floor.  In the House, lawmakers said they were given gas masks and told to lie on the floor.  A woman was shot and killed, and police officers were injured.

“What a disgrace.  The trespassers should be arrested, and the maskless ones can probably be identified long after the fact. Where was the police presence in Washington?  Once the mob was inside, the call went out for backup from Virginia and Maryland, and the National Guard was activated.  But it’s a scandal that the U.S. Capitol wasn’t better protected on such a significant day.

“To the extent that the congressional debate was allowed to happen, it went in the right direction.  Mr. Trump has been publicly pressuring Mr. Pence, the presiding officer of the joint session, to invalidate Mr. Biden’s electors. As Congress gathered, Mr. Pence released a statement saying he would refuse to do so.  ‘My oath to support and defend the Constitution,’ he wrote, ‘constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.’

“This is correct in law. Anything else from Mr. Pence would have been a power grab, precipitating a constitutional crisis. Don’t forget, as our friends at the New York Sun point out, that the Vice President is his own duly elected constitutional officer, not the President’s lackey.

“But Mr. Trump’s vision of loyalty consists of loyalty only to himself.  ‘Mike Pence,’ he tweeted soon after, ‘didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.’

“Senator Cruz’s effort to defend objections to Mr. Biden’s electors was woeful.  ‘Recent polling shows that 39% of Americans believe the election that just occurred ‘was rigged,’’ he said.  ‘What does it say, to the nearly half the country that believes this election was rigged, if we vote not even to consider the claims of illegality and fraud?’

“Mr. Cruz laments the fire as he wields a flamethrower. To the extent that Mr. Trump has made fraud claims in court, they’ve been dismissed.  Yet without evidence, he keeps saying that thousands of ballots were faked or shredded or altered by hacked Dominion voting machines. The correct response is to push back against conspiracy theories, not to fan the anger and fund-raise off the credulous.

“Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was right on point.  ‘We are debating a step that has never been taken in American history: Whether Congress should overrule the voters and overturn a presidential election,’ he said.  ‘I have served 36 years in the Senate. This will be the most important vote I’ve ever cast.’ The November election, Mr. McConnell added, was done under ‘bizarre pandemic procedures’ that shouldn’t be repeated. That said: ‘If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral.’

“Sen. Pat Toomey stepped up as well. What the objectors are asking, he said, is ‘to federalize elections’ by ‘having Congress select the President of the United States instead of the American people.’  As for Mr. Cruz’s idea of an Electoral Commission to do an emergency audit: ‘A commission? Really?  It’s completely impractical, and we all know it, with 14 days to go before a constitutionally mandated inauguration.’  If Congress is going to reject state electors, every losing party will want to do it every four years.

“Mr. Trump’s refusal to accept his loss, and the false hope he gives to his supporters, is validating the worst things his critics have said about him.  He is being enabled by Rudy Giuliani and Peter Navarro, but also by people like Mr. Cruz and Sen. Josh Hawley, who surely know better. The 74 million Trump voters have genuine concerns about the country, and they deserve better than to be misled. The proper response now is for all Republicans to drop their objections to the state electors and ratify them – and Joe Biden’s election – by acclamation.

“Mr. Biden will become President at noon on Jan. 20, and until then the police need to restore order with as much force as necessary.  Republicans especially need to speak against trespass and violence.  As for Mr. Trump, to steal some famous words deployed in 1940 against Neville Chamberlain: ‘In the name of God, go.’”

Editorial / Washington Post

“President Trump’s refusal to accept his election defeat and his relentless incitement of his supporters led Wednesday to the unthinkable: an assault on the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob that overwhelmed police and drove Congress from its chambers as it was debating the counting of electoral votes. Responsibility for this act of sedition lies squarely with the president, who has shown that his continued tenure in office poses a grave threat to U.S. democracy.  He should be removed.

“Mr. Trump encouraged the mob to gather on Wednesday, as Congress was set to convene, and to ‘be wild.’  After repeating a panoply of absurd conspiracy theories about the election, he urged the crowd to march on the Capitol.  ‘We’re gong to walk down, and I’ll be there with you,’ he said.  ‘You’ll never take back our country with weakness.  You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.’  The president did not follow the mob, but instead passively watched it on television as its members tore down fences around the Capitol and overwhelmed police guarding the building….

“The president is unfit to remain in office for the next 14 days.  Every second he retains the vast powers of the presidency is a threat to public order and national security. Vice President Pence, who had to be whisked off the Senate floor for his own protection, should immediately gather the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, declaring that Mr. Trump is ‘unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.’  Congress, which would be required to ratify the action if Mr. Trump resisted, should do so.  Mr. Pence should serve until President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20….

“Now that the stakes are viscerally clear, Mr. McConnell and every other Republican, almost all of whom bear some blame for what occurred on Wednesday, have an overriding responsibility to the nation: stopping Mr. Trump and restoring faith in democracy….

“The chaos confirmed once again the voters’ wisdom in rejecting Mr. Trump in favor of Joe Biden.  The president-elect rose to the moment.  “I call on this mob, now, to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward,’ Mr. Biden said.  ‘It’s not protest.  It’s insurrection.’  He concluded: ‘Today is a reminder, a painful one, that democracy is fragile.’

“Mr. Biden is right.  Rules, norms, laws, even the Constitution itself are worth something  only if people believe in them.  Americans put on their seat belts, follow traffic laws, pay taxes and vote because of faith in a system – and that faith makes it work. The highest voice in the land incited people to break that faith, not just in tweets, but by inciting them to action.  Mr. Trump is a menace, and as long as he remains in the White House, the  country will be in danger.”

Gerald F. Seib / Wall Street Journal

“President Trump’s term, which began with Republicans fully in charge of Washington and the promise of a new kind of populist leadership, effectively came to an end Wednesday with his party aflame and out of power, some of its top leaders excoriated by a president they had loyally supported, and a mob of Trump supporters occupying and vandalizing the Capitol.

“The effects will ripple out for years to come, and the full consequences will be left for historians to sort out.  It seems likely, though, that the chances that other Republicans will see Mr. Trump as the leader of their party after he leaves office have been diminished significantly. As Mr. Trump himself tried to remind his supporters after violence broke out, Republicans like to be seen as the party of law and order, and that is hardly the image he is now projecting….

“It’s surely an exaggeration to say the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol did Mr. Biden a favor, but they lent some new urgency to his calls to back away from the bitter politics of the last few years.

“Mr. Biden sounded that note when he delivered a televised response to the violence, calling for ‘the renewal of a politics that’s about solving problems, looking out for one another, not stoking the flames of hate and chaos.’

“A key question now is how, far beyond the streets of Washington, the country at large reacts. Will voters on both sides of the partisan divide now see compromise and consensus as preferable to continued deep divisions, or will they see the day’s events as further evidence of how far apart they are from countrymen with whom they disagree?”

Daniel Henninger / Wall Street Journal

“The greatest threat to Donald Trump’s legacy is if his American presidency is seen by future historians as ending in farce and tragedy. We may be there.

“For the last half of his Monday evening rally in Georgia for Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, Mr. Trump read from the teleprompter a detailed description of the ways he believes election fraud was committed in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The two Republicans then lost.

“On Wednesday in Washington, Mr. Trump delivered the same speech to a massive crowd, which then invaded the Capitol building, forcing the evacuation of Vice President Mike Pence and a general lockdown….

“Mr. Trump’s notion that Vice President Pence would carry out the Electoral College challenge now looks utterly unserious, as the Capitol mob put in motion with his speech rendered that impossible. Those electoral votes will be counted.

“As well, Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, who could have foreseen that Mr. Trump would take this project to an unpredictable end, have probably done irreparable damage to their presidential dreams.  As has Donald Trump….

“In these last days, a fine line has developed between Trumpism and Donald Trump as a kind of streaming arena show. Even this week, Trump headquarters has been sending out four fundraising emails a day, such as: ‘I just stepped off stage after speaking at an EPIC Victory Rally in Georgia…Please contribute $5 NOW to get on the donor list.’

“Final memories matter, and this week’s events have put at risk the substance of his presidency such as the historic – that’s right, historic – creation of self-supporting jobs, and self-respect for blacks and Hispanics, both men and women.  Or the Middle-East peace present Joe Biden is getting, no strings attached.

“Serious Trumpians will have to recognize the difference between the substance of Trump and Trump as sentiment, when a line has been crossed, and when it is time to move on. That time is now.”

Michael Goodwin / New York Post

“The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a man wise in many ways, observed that a ‘bullet has no friends once it leaves the gun.’  If only President Trump had thought of that before setting in motion the disaster that befell the nation. 

“The storming of the United States Capitol marks a new day of infamy in American history. It was a horrifying spectacle that makes us look like an ungovernable third world country to our friends and adversaries alike.

“The shocking scenes in and outside the Capitol complex were not displays of too-zealous patriotism. They were unpatriotic and unAmerican.

“No matter how upset the protesters were over the election, there can be no excuse for violence and forcible trespassing into government offices, including the House and Senate chambers. What started as a legitimate expression of widespread discontent devolved into a riotous mob that destroyed any credible grievance it had.

“First among the long list of casualties is Trump’s legacy.  His accomplishments, the good he did and the people whose hopes and opportunities he lifted are now overshadowed by recklessness.

“He gave the hanging party the rope to use against him and spread glee among the Never Trumpers. This time, there is no defense of him.  He owns this….

“Nearly two hours after events had spun way out of control, the president gave his second speech close to 4:30 pm, but it was too little and too late.  The man who had many times forcefully and rightly denounced Black Lives Matter and Antifa rioters used kid gloves to deal with the rioters on his side.

“ ‘I know your pain,’ he began in brief remarks taped in the Rose Garden. He again insisted ‘we had an election that was stolen from us’ but said ‘we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. We love you, you are very special…but go home and go in peace.’

“A few minutes earlier, Biden had spoken and hit the right notes, calling the situation a ‘Godawful display.’  In tones more sad than angry, he bemoaned that ‘our democracy is under unprecedented assault’ and that the nation ‘has come to such a dark moment.’

“On this day of infamy, he was more presidential than the president.”

Editorial / USA TODAY

“In a divided America, the events that unfolded on Capitol Hill on Wednesday afternoon should unite us all.  In a universal sense of national shame and embarrassment.

“Under President Donald Trump, the United States – historically a beacon of freedom and citadel of liberty – has devolved into a shocking exemplar of dysfunction.  Democracies around the world, those established and those fledgling, could only look on in horror at the televised images of a pro-Trump mob storming the august American center of government, crowding its balustrades, smashing windows, flooding into its statuary hall.

“Congratulations, Mr. Trump.  Our Shining City on the Hill is now a tarnished emblem of national disgrace. The American carnage you promised to eradicate at the beginning of your term has turned to reality at the end of it.”

George F. Will / Washington Post

“The three repulsive architects of Wednesday’s heartbreaking spectacle – mobs desecrating the Republic’s noblest building and preventing the completion of a constitutional process – must be named and forevermore shunned.  They are Donald Trump, and Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz.

“Trump lit the fuse for the riot in the weeks before the election, with his successful effort to delegitimize the election in the eyes of his supporters. But Wednesday’s explosion required the help of Hawley and Cruz.

“Hawley announced his intention to object to the certification of some states’ electoral votes, for no better reason than that there has been an avalanche of ‘allegations’ of election irregularities, allegations fomented by the loser of the election. By doing so, Hawley turned what should have been a perfunctory episode in our civic liturgy of post-election civility into a synthetic drama. He turned this moment into the focus of the hitherto unfocused fury that Trump had been stoking for many weeks.

“And Cruz, by organizing support for Hawley among other Republican senators and senators-elect gave Hawley’s grotesque self-promotion an ersatz cloak of larger purpose. Shortly before the mob breached the Senate chamber, Cruz stood on the Senate floor. With his characteristic unctuousness, he regretted the existence of what he and kindred spirits have not only done nothing to refute but have themselves nurtured – a pandemic of suspicions that the election was ‘rigged.’

“ ‘I want to take a moment to speak to my Democratic colleagues,’ said Cruz.  ‘I understand your guy is winning right now.’  Read those weasely words again.  He was not speaking to his ‘colleagues.’  He was speaking to the kind people who were at that instant assaulting the Capitol.  He was nurturing the very delusions that soon would cause louts to be roaming the Senate chamber – the fantasy that Joe Biden has not won the election but is only winning ‘right now.’

“The Trump-Hawley-Cruz insurrection against constitutional government will be an indelible stain on the nation.  They, however, will not be so permanent.  In 14 days, one of them will be removed from office by the constitutional processes he neither fathoms nor favors.  It will take longer to scrub the other two from public life.  Until that hygienic outcome is accomplished, from this day forward, everything they say or do or advocate should be disregarded as patent attempts to distract attention from the lurid fact of what they have become.  Each will wear a scarlet ‘S’ as a seditionist.”

Those voting against the results of the election in the end were Senators Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Tommy Tuberville, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Roger Marshall, Cynthia Lummis and Rick Scott.  Their names will be remembered forever. 

Earlier, all 10 living former defense secretaries signed an op-ed in the Washington Post:

“As former secretaries of defense, we hold a common view of the solemn obligations of the U.S. armed forces and the Defense Department. Each of us swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We did not swear it to an individual or a party.

“American elections and the peaceful transfers of power that result are hallmarks of our democracy.  With one singular and tragic exception that cost the lives of more Americans than all of our other wars combined, the United States has had an unbroken record of such transitions since 1789, including in times of partisan strife, war, epidemics and economic depression. This year should be no exception.

“Our elections have occurred.  Recounts and audits have been conducted.  Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts.  Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.

“As senior Defense Department leaders have noted, ‘there’s no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election.’  Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory. Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.

“Transitions, which all of us have experienced, are a crucial part of the successful transfer of power.  They often occur at times of international uncertainty about U.S. national security policy and posture. They can be a moment when the nation is vulnerable to actions by adversaries seeking to take advantage of the situation.

“Given these factors, particularly at a time when U.S. forces are engaged in active operations around the world, it is all the more imperative that the transition at the Defense Department be carried out fully, cooperatively and transparently.  Acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller and his subordinates – political appointees, officers and civil servants – are each bound by oath, law and precedent to facilitate the entry into office of the incoming administration, and to do so wholeheartedly. They must also refrain from any political actions that undermine the results of the election or hinder the success of the new team.

“We call upon them, in the strongest terms, to do as so many generations of Americans have done before them.  This final action is in keeping with the highest traditions and professionalism of the U.S. armed forces, and the history of democratic transition in our great country.”

---

Editorial / Wall Street Journal

“Republicans lost both Senate races in Georgia on Tuesday, losing control of the Upper Chamber, and you don’t have to be Karl Rove to understand what happened.

“If you want to win, don’t tell voters that their votes don’t matter. Don’t have a President tell his voters that the last election was stolen, that Georgia Republicans were complicit in the theft, that GOP Senate leaders don’t care, and then expect those same voters to turn out in the Senate runoffs after a rally and a few tweets.

“Donald Trump cost Republicans the Senate by making the two Georgia runoffs a referendum on himself.  The races should have been a referendum on blocking Democrats from controlling all of Congress and the executive branch. But that message was obscured, if not obliterated, by Mr. Trump’s insistence on telling voters day after day that he was cheated in November – no matter the lack of credible evidence or plausible path to victory.

***

“The Georgia election details prove this point.  Turnout was down from November as expected in most place. But it was down more in Trump areas than in Democratic strongholds. The suburban voters who rejected Mr. Trump in November also didn’t return to support GOP incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.

“Neither Republican was a strong candidate, but in November Mr. Perdue beat Democrat Jon Ossoff by some 88,000 and nearly avoided a runoff.  This time he’s losing by about 17,500.  Mr. Ossoff won 54% of suburban Cobb County’s vote against Mr. Perdue in November but 55.8% on Tuesday.  In Gwinnett County, also in the Atlanta suburbs, Mr. Ossoff won 56.8% in November but 59.9% this time. Those two counties were GOP strongholds not long ago.

“Mr. Trump also hurt Republicans by stumping for $2,000 in Covid relief checks after the GOP Senate had voted for $600.  The President’s negotiators had signed off on the $600, but Mr. Trump seemed bent on punishing GOP Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and John Thune for not endorsing his fanciful bid to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.

“In essence, Mr. Trump gave away control of the Senate to the Democrats with acts of political egotism.  And that’s the generous interpretation.   The more cynical one – and plausible given his political character – is that Mr. Trump wanted Republicans to lose the Senate to show they couldn’t keep power without him.

“As expected, Mr. Trump is blaming everyone else for the Georgia debacle.  He says Mr. McConnell should have signed off on the $2,000 checks.  But Mr. Trump (aided by Sen. Josh Hawley) elevated the issue for Democrats Raphael Warnock and Mr. Ossoff to exploit….

“The 2020 results in total show the limits of the Trump coalition.  He hasn’t inspired a new multiracial, middle-class majority. For every working-class, rural voter he’s attracted, he has lost votes in the suburbs.  That cost Republicans control of the House in 2018, and in 2020 it cost them the White House and now the Senate.

***

“The country will soon endure the consequences, and they are likely considerable.  With control of the Senate and the House, Democrats can write a budget without having to compromise with Republicans. They can raise taxes through budget reconciliation.

“They can repeal Trump Administration deregulatory rules made final since mid-August with a simple majority vote.  They can confirm nominees and judges on party-line votes. And that’s without repealing the 60-vote legislative filibuster rule. They can and will block any Congressional oversight of the Biden Administration, and the media will fall in line.

“National policy will move sharply to the left – along the arc of Sacramento, Springfield and Albany.  Joe Biden will be less inclined, and less able, to resist his party’s progressives, who will be even more emboldened after the Georgia victories.

“We hope Republicans keep Mr. Trump’s contribution to these defeats in mind over the next two years as their taxes and energy costs rise, as woke cultural mandates rain down from Washington, and as more of the economy comes under political control.  By his destructive behavior, especially since his defeat, Mr. Trump has erased much of his own legacy.”

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal

“President Trump may have been correct at his Monday rally when he said of Georgia Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler: ‘If they win I’ll get no credit, and if they lose they’re going to blame Trump.’  But Tuesday’s election and Wednesday’s mob assault on Congress were stark examples of the destructive reactions the president can generate….

“Mr. Trump’s unrelenting personal attacks on Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger also drew attention away from the Senate race while igniting an intraparty civil war.  That rarely leads to anything productive. It didn’t here.

“Particularly striking was the comment Monday by Emory Morsberger, a former GOP state representative from Atlanta who, after Mr. Trump’s deeply inappropriate phone call Saturday to Mr. Raffensperger, decided he was voting Democrat.  There were enough like him to sink the GOP’s Senate majority.

“That Saturday call demonstrated not only the president’s awful judgment but also how poorly his lawyers have served him.  Who proposed the call in which Mr. Trump begged and cajoled, threatened and pleaded for the Georgia secretary of state to conjure up 11,780 Trump ballots? If it was to ask for meetings to discuss areas of agreement or to seek information, the president’s representatives should have made the call, not him….

“So it’s a mess. The GOP is bitterly split, Democrats will control the presidency, Senate and House, and nearly 34% of Americans wrongly believe the election was rigged.  The Trump presidency is ending with his followers violently shutting down the Capitol. Helluva way to start 2021.”

The Pandemic

A look at the TSA checkpoint numbers going back to prior to New Year’s and after.

1/7…38 percent of 2019 level
1/6…37
1/5…42
1/4…49
1/3…55
1/2…55
1/1…35
12/31…37
12/30…54

In another week or so we’ll begin to get a true gauge of the impact of all the holiday travel.

We have reached the worst stage.  Today, the U.S. had a record 301,000 new cases with 3,900 dead…12,000 over the last three days.  The new variant could be 10-70 percent more transmissible with many regions without any real capacity remaining in their hospitals.  For his part, President Trump checked out long ago.

Covid-19 death tolls, as of tonight….

Finally, we are back to normal reporting, post-holidays, where the figures are down Sunday and Monday, and then turn up on catchup Tuesday.

World…1,921,995
USA…378,149
Brazil…201,542
India…150,835
Mexico…132,069
UK…79,833
Italy…77,911
France…67,431
Russia…60,911
Iran…56,018
Spain…51,874
Colombia…45,431
Argentina…44,273
Germany…40,401
Peru…38,145
South Africa…32,425
Poland…30,574
Indonesia…23,753
Turkey…22,450

Source: worldometers.info

U.S. daily death tolls…Sun. 1,387; Mon. 1,987; Tues. 3,543; Wed. 4,100; Thurs. 4,134; Fri. 3,914.

Covid Bytes

--President-elect Biden may accelerate distribution of Covid-19 vaccines to U.S. states, a spokesman said on Friday, in an effort to jump-start lagging inoculations that have made little impact on the pandemic one week into the new year.

--The CDC said tonight that 22,137,350 doses of vaccines had been distributed in the country, with 6,688,231 first doses administered.

--I received a phone call from a dear friend in Lahinch, Ireland, the other day, Martin B., to discuss an issue at the golf club I belong to there as an overseas member, and of course we chatted about Donald Trump and Covid.  This was Monday.

Martin was asking me about the vaccine rollout here and of reports they were seeing on networks like CNN and I told him the rollout was going miserably.  He noted it was the same case in the European Union because of their failure to secure ample vaccines when they first had the opportunity to do so.

Well, today, the EU reached a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech for 300 million additional doses of their vaccine, in a move that would give the EU nearly half of the firms’ global output for 2021.  Pfizer has said it can produce up to 1.3 billion doses around the world this year.  The new agreement comes on top of another order for 300 million doses that the bloc agreed to with Pfizer and BioNTech in November.

But Pfizer was more cautious.  “We are in talks with the European Commission about an amendment to our existing supply agreement.”

These manufacturers can only do so much, and while we see announcement like this for the U.S., UK, EU, Japan, South Korea, you hear nothing of substance from Africa, or vast parts of Central and South America.  That’s what’s scary, and depressing, if you care about humanity at all.

--New research suggests that Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine can protect against a mutation found in two possibly more contagious variants of the coronavirus that erupted in Britain and South Africa.

The variants share a common mutation called N501Y, a slight alteration on one spot of the spike protein that coats the virus. The change is believed to be the reason that the variants can spread so easily.

But most of the vaccines being rolled out around the world train the body to recognize that spike protein and fight it.

--Los Angeles County has been so overwhelmed with Covid cases it was running out of oxygen this week, with ambulance crews instructed to use oxygen only for their worst-case patients.  Crews were told not to bring patients to the hospital if they have little hope of survival and to treat and declare such patients dead on the scene to preserve hospital capacity.  Several Los Angeles hospitals have turned away ambulance traffic in recent days because they can’t provide the airflow needed to treat patients.

Arizona now has the nation’s highest rate of coronavirus hospitalizations.  In the Atlanta area, nearly every major hospital is almost full.

--The United Kingdom recorded more than 1,000 daily deaths for the first time since April, both Wednesday and Thursday, with record daily case levels, citizens under orders to stay at home.

Then today, we had a record 1,325 deaths and a new case high of 68,053.

Britain’s national lockdown began Monday, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson telling the people to stay at home until mid-February.  Schools and nonessential shops are shut across England.

There are now more Covid-19 patients in British hospitals than at the height of the pandemic in the spring.  “It is clear that we need to do more together to bring this new variant under control,” Johnson said.

Scotland also entered a lockdown until the end of January.

The UK is hopeful that the rollout of vaccines such as that developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University can increase significantly by the end of the month.  Britain has set up close to 1,000 mass injection sites across the country and has drafted thousands of retired nurses and doctors to administer the shots.

--France’s vaccine rollout has been a disaster, partly because it is one of the most reluctant nations in the world to get the shots. At the same time, French police shut down last Saturday a huge party in the northwest part of the country that had been underway since New Year’s Eve in defiance of a curfew and Covid restrictions.

About 2,500 attended the rave party in an unused warehouse in Lieuron, near Rennes.  Party-goers were issued fines as they left the site and organizers were being identified and will be prosecuted.

By contrast, Germany vaccinated more than 200,000 of its residents in the first week and Italy more than 100,000.

--Israel entered its third national lockdown, including shuttering the entire education system, except special education.

“We are in the midst of a global pandemic that is spreading at top speed with the British mutation,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.  “It has reached Israel and is claiming many lives.”

He said that the country needed to “impose a full lockdown immediately” and that “every hour that we delay, the disease spreads even quicker, and it is exacting a heavy price… The Health Ministry and the experts warn us that we are in a state of emergency and that if we do not act immediately, we will lose many hundreds of Israelis who will die – and even more.”

But at the same time, Israel has vaccinated a larger share of its population than any other country in the world.

Universal healthcare is a key and 90% of Israelis are satisfied with their plans (called health funds there).  Israel also has a technology advantage.  And it launched a vaccination campaign on TV, radio and newspapers encouraging people to take the vaccine.

There has been no such communication in the United States on a national level.

--China continues to block the arrival of a team from the World Health Organization (WHO) that is investigating the origins of the pandemic, claiming that their visas had not yet been approved as some members of the group were on their way.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed his dismay at the move and said he had called on China to allow the team in.

“I’m very disappointed with this news, given that two members have already begun their journeys, and others were not able to travel at the last minute,” he said.

The WHO has been attempting to send in the team of global experts from a number of countries for some months.

--Dr. Anthony Fauci and Surgeon General Jerome Adams disputed a claim by President Trump that federal data on Covid-19 cases and deaths in the United States is overblown, with both also expressing optimism that the pace of vaccinations is picking up.

“The deaths are real deaths,” Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week,” adding that jam-packed hospitals and stressed-out healthcare workers are “not fake. That’s real.”

Trump had attacked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and their tabulation methods.  “The number of cases and deaths of the China Virus is far exaggerated in the United States because of the @CDCgov’s ridiculous method of determination compared to other countries, many of whom report, purposely, very inaccurately and low,” Trump tweeted over the weekend.

Adams said, “I have no reason to doubt (the) numbers, and I think people need to be very aware that it’s not just about the deaths, it’s about the hospitalizations, the capacity.”

Trump World

--We received word on Sunday that President Trump had held an astonishing phone conversation, an hour long, with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger the day before, with the president heard pressuring Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” that would put him in the lead over Joe Biden in Georgia, which had already certified the results.

Trump threatened Raffensperger with the possibility of criminal charges unless he came up with the votes to overturn the election results.

“You know, that’s a criminal – that’s a criminal offense. And you know, you can’t let that happen,” Trump said on the call.  “That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. That’s a big risk.”

Trump offered no direct evidence of voter fraud in the state, instead offering second-hand conspiracy theories about manipulated voting machines, ballots being scanned multiple times and votes simply being thrown out – all of which were investigated by Georgia law enforcement and the FBI, and found to be untrue. But Trump went beyond trying to prove that he won the state by “hundreds of thousands of votes,” pressuring Raffensperger to simply announce a new vote total showing him beating Biden.

“There’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you’ve recalculated,” the president said.

Raffensperger, joined by his general counsel, Ryan Germany, calmly and methodically refuted Trump’s theories.

“Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong,” Raffensperger said.

Once again, Trump tried extortion to get his way, a la Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Near the end of the call, an exasperated Trump, recognizing he wasn’t going to get his way, said, “Fellas, I need 11,000 votes, give me a break.”

--At his incendiary rally in Georgia Monday night, what was supposed to be a rally for Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue that of course ended up being about himself, President Trump said:

“You can lose and that’s acceptable.  You lose, you lose.  You go and you go wherever you’re going and you go and say maybe I’ll do it again sometime or maybe I won’t or I get back to life. But when you win in a landslide and they steal it and it’s rigged, it’s not acceptable.”

Moments later: “Over the past few weeks, we’ve demonstrated that we won the election in a landslide. Almost 75 million people voted for me. The most of any incumbent president in the history of our country.”

Among other things the president said:

“I hope Mike Pence comes through for us.  If he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him as much.”

“Over the past weeks we demonstrated I won in a landslide.”

“The media hates our country.”

He started out the rally: “No way we lost Georgia.  That was a rigged election.”

--Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short on Wednesday accused President Trump of revoking his White House access as tensions between Pence and Trump continued to deteriorate.

--Trump’s decision Thursday to call for calm, 28 hours after deadly chaos at the Capitol, came at the urging of senior aides, some arguing he could face removal from office or legal liability.  According to countless reports, senior advisers Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, along with Stephen Miller, counsel Pat Cippollone, chief of staff Mark Meadows and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany all pressed Trump to clearly state that he did not support the violence, sources said.  National security adviser Robert O’Brien also weighed in.

O’Brien had considered resigning Wednesday but for now has been convinced he is desperately needed at the White House to help keep the president under control.

--Dominion Voting Systems Inc. filed a lawsuit against Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, accusing her of spreading false conspiracy theories about November’s election.  The company is seeking $1.3 billion in damages.

In news conferences and media appearances, Powell falsely claimed that Dominion had rigged the presidential election, that Dominion was created in Venezuela to rig elections for that country’s late president, Hugo Chavez, and that Dominion bribed Georgia officials for a no-bid contract.

Powell, appearing with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, claimed without evidence at a November news conference that Dominion’s electronic voting systems had switched millions of ballots to Biden.

--Trump tweets: …final tweets as president!  Clip and Save!  Though he’s attempting to use a new account…and he’s said he will create his own social media outlet.

Amidst the chaos on Wednesday:

“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify.  USA demands the truth!”

“They just happened to find 50,000 ballots late last night. The USA is embarrassed by fools.  Our Election Process is worse than that of third world countries!”

“THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, OUR COUNTRY, NEEDS THE PRESIDENCY MORE THAN EVER BEFORE – THE POWER OF THE VETO.  STAY STRONG!”

“States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval.  All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!”

“If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect & even fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be).  Mike can send it back!”

“Get smart Republicans.  FIGHT!”

“The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.”

“Pleased to announce that @Kloeffler & @sendavidperdue have just joined our great #StopTheSteal group of Senators.  They will fight the ridiculous Electoral College Certification of Biden.  How do you certify numbers that have now proven to be wrong and, in many cases, fraudulent!”

“The ‘Surrender Caucus’ within the Republican Party will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective ‘guardians’ of our Nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers!”

“How can you certify an election when the numbers being certified are verifiably WRONG.  You will see the real numbers tonight during my speech, but especially on JANUARY 6th. @SenTomCotton Republicans have pluses & minuses, but one thing is sure, THEY NEVER FORGET!”

Wall Street and the Economy

The World Bank lowered its potential global growth between 2020 and 2029 to 1.9%.  Before the pandemic, the bank had projected growth would slow to a yearly average of 2.1%, from 2.5% in the previous decade, as a result of aging populations and lower productivity growth. Potential output assumes the world economy is operating at full employment and capacity.

The World Bank said the global economy is expected to grow 4% this year after contracting 4.3% in 2020.

For emerging-market and developing nations, the bank now sees growth averaging 3.3% a year from 2020 to 2029, down from its 4.0% forecast prior to the pandemic and 5.0% during the previous decade.

For 2021 the U.S. is now projected to expand 3.5%, down from 4% in the bank’s June forecast.  The euro area is expected to grow 3.6%, down from 4.5%.

The bank projects China will grow 7.9% this year after expanding 2% last year, when it was the only major economy to avoid a contraction.

So in the here and now, we had some further strong data on the U.S. economy, with the ISM manufacturing reading for December coming in at 60.7 (50 the dividing line between growth and contraction), the highest in 2 ½ years.  The service reading was a better than expected 57.2. November factory orders were also strong, up 1.0%.

But the weekly jobless claims figure was still far too high, 787,000, vs. a prior revised 790,000, and then today we had the December employment report, with the economy losing 140,000 jobs, the first down number in eight months, as reported by the Labor Department.  [November was revised up to 336,000 jobs instead of 245,000, and October to 654,000 from 610,000.]

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7%.

But economists don’t see a double-dip recession due to the nearly $900 billion in additional pandemic relief approved last week, plus with Democrats now gaining control of the Senate, prospects for a further boost, including a large infrastructure package, and the prospect of increased vaccinations against Covid, that we all pray hastens the day back to normalcy (though I expect to be wearing a mask indoors at places like grocery stores the rest of the year, and that’s fine with me…you don’t have to shave as much, for starters).

The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow barometer for the fourth quarter is down to 8.7%, with a few more key data points to come, including Dec. retail sales next week.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida said on Friday that the distribution of vaccines has lifted the economy’s prospects for 2021 and lowered the likelihood of a worsening downturn.

2021 could be a very strong year for growth, as much as 6%+, according to Goldman Sachs, with a consensus of at least 4%.  That’s solid.  But watch interest rates.  I know I’ve been crying wolf on the topic, but with the massive deficit, humongous deficits when looking at the world, there is a distinct inflation risk in the cards.  For now, the Fed is not going to change its policy of keeping the key overnight interest rate unchanged for years, while continuing with its bond-buying program…just how long on the latter is the question.

As for my 2021 equity forecast…boy, I’m as uncertain as I’ve ever been.  But for the sake of a future report card, I’ll say the Dow Jones is unchanged, the S&P 500 +5%, and Nasdaq +18% for the year.

Europe and Asia

We had the final PMI readings for the eurozone in December, with the final composite reading at 49.1 vs. 45.3 in November.  Manufacturing came in at a strong 55.2 in Dec. vs. 53.8 in Nov.  The service sector reading was 46.4 vs. 41.7 in the prior month.

The manufacturing figure was the strongest in 2 ½ years.

Germany: 58.3 mfg. in Dec. (34-mo. high), 47.0 services
France: 51.1 mg., 49.1 services (vs. 38.8 in Nov.)
Italy: 52.8 mfg., 39.7 services
Spain: 51.0 mfg., 48.0 services
Ireland: 57.2 mfg., 50.1 services
Netherlands: 58.2 mfg.
Greece: 46.9 mfg.

UK: 57.5 mfg. (3-yr. high), 49.4 services …reminder: the strong manufacturing number is due in no small part to clients bringing forward orders to guard against potential disruption caused by the end of the Brexit transition period (including delays at the ports).

Chris Williamson / IHS Markit

“The eurozone economy contracted for a second successive month in December, deteriorating at a slightly faster rate than previously thought at the end of the year due to intensifying Covid-19 restrictions.  Service sector activity in particular fell more sharply than estimated by the earlier ‘flash’ PMI estimates, as more countries stepped up their fights against rising virus case numbers.

“While the data indicate a renewed decline in eurozone GDP in the fourth quarter, the downturn appears to have been far less severe than seen in the second quarter, thanks to sustained strong manufacturing growth, rising global trade and lockdowns having been less onerous than earlier in the year.

“Worse may be yet to come before things get better, especially as the latest survey data were collected before the news of the new – more contagious – strain of the virus.  Service sector activity in particular looks likely to remain constrained by severe social distancing in the early months of the new year. The risk of a technical recession, with GDP also falling in the first quarter has therefore risen.

“More encouragingly, businesses grew more optimistic about their situation in one year’s time, reflecting the light at the end of the tunnel offered by vaccine developments.  A recovery will hopefully be seen from the second quarter onwards.”

Separately, retail sales in the euro area for the month of November fell by 6.1% compared with October, down 2.9% year-over-year.

The unemployment rate for the eurozone in November came in at 8.3%, down from 8.4% in October and up from 7.4% in November 2019.

Germany 4.5%, France 8.8%, Italy 8.9%, Spain 16.4%, Ireland 7.5%, Netherlands 4.0%.

Brexit: With a new national lockdown due to Covid, economists said Britain is headed for a sharper double-dip recession.  Despite all the Brexit talk involving manufacturing, the UK is a service economy and now the service sector is being shut down.

So how is Brexit going the first full week?  Because companies on both sides of the pond have been stockpiling supplies, building up inventories, there hasn’t been a rush to the ports, yet, as companies tried to assess the significant issues of layers of new paperwork and bureaucracy.

Fishermen have been told to land fewer fish because trucks heading to the EU face a four-hour wait for their paperwork to be processed, Bloomberg reported today.  Reuters reports Scottish fishermen have halted exports to EU markets because of the introduction of health certificates, customs declarations and other paperwork adding days to their delivery times and hundreds of pounds to the cost of each load.  Ergo, the fresh product can’t arrive in French shops in just over a day after being harvested…and that’s a no-go for the buyer on the other end.

For example, it has been taking five hours to secure a health certificate in Scotland, a document required to apply for other customs paperwork.

And this is for fish.  Imagine the process for other food and livestock facing even tougher requirements.

Many companies, despite the warnings, do not seem to be prepared from a logistical standpoint, so look for the news to get increasingly worse.

What we will learn sooner than later is how painful the consequences of Brexit will be and whether businesses will adjust their supply chains accordingly, and away from the UK.

Boris Johnson will be hung over Brexit.  I said five years ago, this was the dumbest idea ever.  I will be proved right many times over.

Patrick Smyth / Irish Times

“The big lie is – the essence of Boris Johnson’s contention Britain will have its cake and eat it – that the sovereignty of the UK post-Brexit will be unconstrained. But unconstrained, in truth, only if the UK decides its fate lies in a North Korean-style future, cut off from the rest of the world.  ‘We have taken back control of laws and our destiny,’ Johnson claims.  ‘We have taken back control of every jot and tittle of our regulation in a way that is complete and unfettered.’  Unfettered?

“As former Irish diplomat Bobby McDonagh observed in these pages, ‘the UK can reach no meaningful trade deals that do limit British sovereignty.  National control over trade is a contradiction in terms.  Absolute control over trade stops at Dover and Heathrow. There is only one way to achieve such control.  Don’t export anything.’….

“(European) Commission president Ursula von der Leyen put it well – real sovereignty is not the right but the ability to act, which Brexit diminishes.  ‘We should cut through the soundbites and ask ourselves what sovereignty actually means in the 21st century,’ she told reporters after the talks.  ‘For me, it is about being able to seamlessly do work, travel, study and do business in 27 countries.  It is about pooling our strength and speaking together in a world full of great powers.  And in a time of crisis, it is about pulling each other up instead of trying to get back to your feet, alone.  And the European Union shows how this works in practice.’”

Turning to Asia…we had final PMI readings from Caixin on the private sector in China, with manufacturing at 53.0 in Dec. vs. 54.9 in Nov., still solid growth, while the services reading was 56.3 in Dec. vs. 57.8 in Nov.

Japan had a manufacturing PMI in Dec. of 50.0 vs. 49.0 the prior month, the highest since April 2019, while the service sector reading was 47.7, down a tick from Dec.

Taiwan’s manufacturing PMI for Dec. was 59.4, the highest since Jan. 2011, while South Korea’s was 52.9, unchanged from Nov.

Street Bytes

--Stocks started off 2021 with a bang, all the major averages finishing at new record highs, with the Dow Jones adding 1.6% to 31097, the S&P 500 1.8% and Nasdaq 2.4%.

Stocks rallied anew after being convinced there will be more stimulus, despite West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin’s negative comments on same.  President-elect Biden said this afternoon he would present a new package next week that would be in the “$trillions.”

Next week earnings season commences in full.

--U.S. Treasury Yields

6-mo. 0.09%  2-yr. 0.13%  10-yr. 1.12%  30-yr. 1.87%

The 10-year hit 1% for the first time since March after returns from Georgia fueled bets that with a Democratic Senate, further stimulus was in the cards.

--Oil prices surged above $50 as Saudi Arabia announced it would make additional voluntary oil output cuts of 1 million barrels per day in February and March; part of a deal to persuade most producers from the group to hold output steady amid concerns new coronavirus lockdowns will hit demand.

But the longer-term outlook is more hopeful given the launching of vaccines and various stimulus measures on the part of central banks around the world.

U.S. crude oil inventories fell a greater than expected 8 million barrels for the past week, per the Energy Information Administration, which also helped the bullish tone.

The U.S. oil rig count rose a seventh straight week to 275, according to Baker Hughes, the highest since May.

And in the end, oil closed at its highest level in 11 months, $52.73 on West Texas Intermediate.

--Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday the social media giant is banning President Trump indefinitely, marking a dramatic escalation of the conflict between Silicon Valley and the White House after Trump weaponized the web to incite the riot at the Capitol.

“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great,” Zuckerberg wrote.  “Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”

Facebook’s suspension is the most aggressive penalty any social media company has levied on the president.

And then tonight, Twitter said it was permanently suspending Trump’s account, saying the decision was due to the risk of further incitements of violence.

--Boeing is to pay over $2.5 billion to resolve an investigation into two deadly 737 MAX crashes, the Justice Department said.

Boeing admitted in court documents that two of its 737 MAX flight technical pilots deceived the Federal Aviation Administration about a key safety system, MCAS, tied to both fatal crashes.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun says the penalty “appropriately acknowledges how we fell short of our values and expectations.”

There was never a real threat that prosecutors would have sought a criminal conviction as such a move could have potentially put Boeing out of business and cost tens of thousands of jobs, including at its suppliers and other businesses.

As part of the agreement, Boeing will establish a $500 million fund to compensate the families of those who died in the two crashes and pay a fine of nearly $244 million. The company will also pay $1.77 billion in compensation to its airline customers who were unable to use or take deliveries of the MAX, which remains grounded in some parts of the world.

Victims’ families are seeking further compensation in a separate civil case.

--Airbus delivered 566 aircraft in 2020, maintaining its crown as the world’s largest planemaker for a second year as rival Boeing remained mired for most of that period in the grounding of the 737 MAX, company data showed Friday.

Deliveries fell 34% from a record 863 in 2019 as the coronavirus crisis hit air travel demand.

--The average price of a new vehicle has topped $40,000 for the first time ever as Americans switch from passenger cars to more-expensive SUVs and pickups.

With prices, the average downpayment was at an all-time high in the fourth quarter, according to car-research site Edmunds.

The average price for Q4 was $40,179; $40,573 for December, both records.

Said Edmunds analyst Jessica Caldwell: “It’s almost like we have two different countries within this country of people who are buying new houses, buying new cars, versus other folks who are perhaps in the service industry and are struggling.”

Ain’t that the truth.

The nation’s pivot from cars to more expensive SUVs and pickups is driving the price trend.

--So with the above in mind, General Motors Co. in 2020 dethroned rival Ford Motor Co. in Detroit’s closely watched “truck wars,” securing the top slot in the lucrative market for large pickup trucks.

For the first time since 2015, GM outsold in large pickup trucks, a category that generates the bulk of global profits for each auto maker.

U.S. sales of GM’s two pickup models – the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra – rose 3.9% last year, to 839,691 trucks, even as industrywide sales sank nearly 15% amid disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic.  Ford’s F Series line, which includes its F-150 truck as well as the larger Super Duty, fell 12%, to 787,422, the company said Wednesday.

The truck category, including Fiat Chrysler’s Ram brand accounts for 16.7% of overall vehicle sales in the U.S. market, up from 12.5% in 2015.

The trend has bolstered the bottom lines of the Big Three, given the far higher margins on trucks.

Ford said its F-Series sales were hurt last year by tight inventories due to pandemic-related factory shutdowns in the spring and efforts to overhaul plants to build a new version of its F-150 model.

Pick-up truck sales historically have accounted for around 70% of Ford’s global profit and about half for GM.

GM’s overall results also outpaced Ford’s last year.  GM said its U.S. vehicle sales fell 11.8%, while Ford’s fell 15.8%.  Fiat Chrysler’s declined 17%.

Toyota reported its 2020 sales were 11% lower than 2019, selling 2.1 million cars and light trucks.

Overall, U.S. auto industry sales in 2020 dropped 14.6%, to 14.6 million vehicles, according to Motor Intelligence.

But as GM noted, it had its strongest fourth quarter since 2007.

“We look forward to an inflection point for the U.S. economy in the spring,” GM’s chief economist, Elaine Buckberg, said in a statement.  “Widening vaccination rates and warmer weather should enable consumers and businesses to return to a more normal range of activities, lifting the job market, consumer sentiment and auto demand.”

--Tesla shares continued to soar, having announced Saturday it had sold 500,000 cars in 2020 (499,500…just shy of the 500,000 target), up 36% from the year before*, and on Thursday, CEO Elon Musk reportedly had a net worth of more than $188.5 billion, $1.5 billion more than Jeff Bezos, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.  The rally this week was in no small part due to the Georgia senate runoffs, with a Democratic senate a potential ‘game changer’ for Tesla.  Further incentives for electric vehicles will be part of any climate agenda.

*Tesla does not break its sales down by country or continent.

Tesla shares then continued to surge Friday, another 8%, to give the company a market value in excess of $830 billion.  By comparison, GM’s is $61 billion.

--Related to the Biden potential agenda, copper stocks rose as the metal climbed to its highest level since 2013, driven by expectations of infrastructure spending in the new administration.

And related to this, Brad K., heavy buyer of steel for his manufacturing business, said in securing a large order the other day, he paid 32% over his last order from the same mill.

--Bitcoin’s staggering rise continued this week, crossing the $40,000 mark for the first time on Thursday, according to CoinDesk, up 40% on the year…8 days.

Bitcoin’s price has been rising for months in conjunction with stocks, emerging markets and commodity prices as investors have flocked to riskier assets in response to aggressive monetary policies enacted by central banks to combat the economic impact of the pandemic.

--Canada’s manufacturing PMI for Dec. was a solid 57.9, signaling the strongest overall improvement in business conditions since the survey began in October 2010.

But, Canada lost 62,600 jobs in December, as employment declined for the first time since April and the unemployment rate rose to 8.6% amid renewed coronavirus restrictions, Statistics Canada reported today.

--Micron Technology’s fiscal first-quarter results beat estimates and the U.S. chipmaker guided to stronger-than-expected results in the following three months, saying the digitization of the global economy fueled by artificial intelligence, cloud and 5G was underpinning the improving demand trends in memory storage products.

The Boise, Idaho-based company reported sales of $5.77 billion during the three months that ended Dec. 3, which was down from $6.06bn a year ago but still ahead of the $5.66bn average analyst estimate compiled by Capital IQ.

Adjusted earnings of $0.78 exceeded consensus.

--A health care venture conceived by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan to attack soaring costs is dissolving.

Haven, formed in 2018 by the three corporate giants, will cease operations by the end of February, a company spokesman said.  No reason for the dissolution of the venture was given.

The independent company was created to focus on improving the care delivered to employees of those businesses while doing a better job of managing the expense.  But benefits experts expected any plans developed by Haven to become widely adopted by other companies if they proved effective in controlling costs.

Haven’s founders cautioned from the outset that the company had a tough task, and they didn’t expect quick solutions.

The announcement of the formation of the venture three years ago briefly sent a shudder through the stocks of health insurers that manage employer-sponsored coverage.

--The New York Stock Exchange said it no longer intends to delist three Chinese telecom giants that had been targeted by President Trump’s outgoing administration, in a shock reversal of an announcement made last week.

The exchange said in a statement it had made the decision “in light of further consultation with relevant regulatory authorities.”  It had said it was going to delist China Mobile Ltd., China Telecom Corp. Ltd. and China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd.

--Bed Bath & Beyond is shuttering 43 more stores by the end of February.  Last July, BBBY said 200 of its namesake stores were expected to close over the next two years, accounting for approximately 21% of its stores.

--CNBC reported that Macy’s is expected to close 45 stores by the middle of the year.  Macy’s closed approximately 30 stores last year as part of a plan to cut 2,000 jobs and close one-fifth of its stores or roughly 125 locations over the next couple of years.

--The number of chapter 11 business bankruptcies rose 29% last year as more than 7,100 filed, though this was roughly half of what they were around the 2007-09 recession, which was a crisis of capital.

Individual filings (chapter 7) were down substantially last year, 22% to the lowest level since 1986, but this is typically a trailing economic indicator and they are expected to rise substantially in the second half of 2021.

--KFC unveiled an extra crispy chicken sandwich on Thursday as it seeks to compete with a craze kicked off by rival Popeyes in 2019.

KFC’s new $3.99 menu item, which will be served on a brioche bun and come with the option of spicy mayo, comes days after fast-food rivals grabbed headlines for their own poultry additions.

Owned by Yum Brands Inc., KFC told Reuters its Crispy Colonel Sandwich was not “living up to our legacy as experts in fried chicken.”

McDonald’s had announced earlier it is rolling out three different versions of its crispy chicken sandwich… “classic,” “deluxe” and “spicy” versions on Feb. 24.  All will contain a new crispy white meat chicken fillet served with crinkle-cut pickles on a toasted, buttered potato roll.

Chick-fil-A and Popeyes had first raised the game for the fast-food industry with their chicken sandwich war of 2019, which resulted in the slaughter of millions of chickens.

Not that they have a say in it but wanting to grow up a chick is not a real sound career path in the coming decade.

But I’m now hungry as hell.  And nothing ticks me off more than not having a convenient KFC, let alone Chick-fil-A or Popeyes to me.  At least Burger King, the closest alterative for moi (with McDonald’s a little further away), said it is working on a “hand breaded, crispy chicken” sandwich in Arizona that could be rolled out nationwide.  It can’t come soon enough.

Price point, namely $4, is going to be key to success in the new battle of the chicken sandwich.

--2020 was the best year in the history of Fox News, but many of its conservative-leaning viewers have been tuning out when there is bad news about President Trump, and on Wednesday – amidst the riot at the Capitol – it could not have been worse.

CNN was the network of choice during the height of the attack, according to Nielsen data.  From 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. Eastern the network averaged 9 million viewers, compared to 6.1 million viewers for Fox News and 5.6 million for MSNBC.

In prime time, CNN averaged 9.2 million viewers versus 7.4 million for MSNBC and 4.6 million for Fox News.

CNN had its most-watched day in its 40-year history, averaging 5.2 million viewers over 24 hours. 

Foreign Affairs

Iran: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today Tehran was in no rush for the United States to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal, but that sanctions on the Islamic Republic must be lifted immediately.

“We are not insisting nor in a hurry for the U.S. to return to the deal,” Khamenei said in live televised remarks.  “But what is logical is our demand, is the lifting of the sanctions.  These brutal sanctions must be lifted immediately.”

Potentially complicating efforts by U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to rejoin the deal, Iran said on Monday it had resumed 20% uranium enrichment at its Fordow underground nuclear facility.

The UN nuclear watchdog confirmed that Iran had started the process of enriching uranium to 20% purity, far above that allowed by the nuclear accord (3.67%).  90% is weapons-grade, but the move from 20% to 90% (“breakout”) is much easier than 3% to 20%.  Iran is apparently only at 4.5% thus far.

Tehran says it can quickly reverse its breaches if U.S. sanctions are removed.  Biden has said the United States will rejoin the deal “if Iran resumes strict compliance” with the pact.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated, “Israel will not allow Iran to produce nuclear weapons.”

Tuesday, the United States placed fresh sanctions on Iran, including steel and metals makers, seeking to deprive Iran of further revenues.

Separately, the story emerged that President Trump directed acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to reverse course last weekend and order a U.S. aircraft carrier to return to the Middle East following a White House meeting.

Miller had ordered the USS Nimitz out of the region and home, in part, to send a de-escalation signal to Iran amid rising tensions.

But Miller’s idea of de-escalation had not been adopted as a formal, approved policy.  It took top commanders by surprise, with U.S. Central Command wanting the carrier to stay in the region to deter Iran. 

U.S. officials have been concerned that Iran or its proxies might stage some sort of attack as part of the one-year anniversary of the Trump administration’s January 3 assassination of Iran’s second most powerful leader, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, and the Iraqi Shia militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike.

Thus far, Iran has responded by announcing it was restarting enriching uranium to 20% levels.

At the same time Iranian forces captured a chemical tanker bearing the flag of South Korea.  The cargo was more than 7,000 tons of ethanol.  The crew of 20 is apparently safe.

Saudi Arabia: The kingdom and its allies reached agreement with Qatar ending their feud in a deal brokered by White House senior advisor Jared Kushner.

The détente – designed to further isolate Iran – follows a slew of historic Middle East peace deals brokered by the Trump White House in recent months normalizing relations between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors.

This week’s deal will set in motion the end of a four-year-old blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain who in 2017 accused Qatar’s leaders of supporting terrorism and aligning itself with Iran.

Under the agreement, Saudi Arabia will open its airspace to Qatari planes on the condition Qatar Airways drops a $5 billion lawsuit against the four nations seeking damages for the blockade.

The United States’ largest military base in the region is located in Qatar where it is able to carry out airstrikes against the Islamic State and Taliban, making Washington a victim of the blockade.

Afghanistan: The nation has been terrorized by random high-profile killings in recent months.  An Afghan journalist was shot dead in a car ambush the other day, the fifth media professional to be killed in the country in two months.  No one claimed responsibility.

China/Hong Kong/Taiwan: In an ugly further sign that there is no longer such a thing as freedom in Hong Kong, the government arrested dozens of opposition figures, 53 people, under the controversial national security law, an unprecedented crackdown that included an American lawyer, as authorities work to quash any dissent that remains in the former British colony.

45 men and eight women were taken into custody.  Hong Kong’s security secretary said the government will not tolerate “subversive” acts.  John Lee, speaking at the city’s Legislative Council, confirmed the group had been arrested in an operation targeting people suspected of “overthrowing” the city’s government.

“The sweeping arrests of pro-democracy demonstrators are an assault on those bravely advocating for universal rights,” tweeted Antony Blinken, president-elect Biden’s nominee for secretary of state.  “The Biden-Harris administration will stand with the people of Hong Kong and against Beijing’s crackdown on democracy.”

Taiwan’s government said on Wednesday it was “shocked” at the latest arrests of democracy activists that has changed the city from the “pearl of the orient” to “purgatory of the orient.”

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement that if Hong Kong’s democracy and freedom continue to decline and it affects its status as an international financial center, it will not benefit mainland China at all.

Speaking of Taiwan, Beijing accused the United States of “playing with fire” with its plans to send its UN envoy to Taiwan next week, saying the move would create “new difficulties” for the already troubled ties between the two sides.

The visit from January 13 to 15 by Kelly Craft is seen by the mainland as the latest move by the outgoing administration of Donald Trump to further damage China-U.S. relations and put president-elect Biden in a corner.

“We wish to remind the United States that whoever plays with fire will burn himself. The United States will pay a heavy price for its wrong action,” a spokesman for China’s mission to the UN said in a statement.

“China strongly urges the United States to stop its crazy provocation, stop creating new difficulties for China-U.S. relations and the two countries’ cooperation in the United Nations, and stop going further on the wrong path.”

Lastly, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the need for “full-time combat readiness” and said the People’s Liberation Army must use frontline frictions to polish troop capabilities.

Xi, who also chairs China’s Central Military Commission, the top command body, said the PLA needed to keep up with the latest developments in military and hi-tech knowledge. These included the use of computer simulations and online combat in drills, as well as exploration of more opportunities to add hi-tech and the internet – known as tech+ and web+ - in training.

“[The PLA must] increase the integration of new equipment, new forces and new combat realms into training and combat systems,” he said.

Xi’s remarks were a departure from previous year-opening orders – including 2020 – which instructed the armed forces to “manage crises and deter war.”

North Korea: Kim Jong Un said his five-year economic plan had failed to meet its goals “on almost every sector” as he kicked off a rare congress of the ruling Workers’ Party, state media KCNA reported on Wednesday.  Kim last hosted the congress in 2016 and he is expected to unveil a new five-year plan.

In his opening speech, Kim said the country had achieved a “miraculous victory” by bolstering its power and global prestige since the last meeting, referring to military advances that culminated in successful tests in 2017 of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland and a series of meetings with President Trump.

But the five-year economic strategy he set forth in 2016 had failed to deliver, he said, urging North Korea’s greater self-reliance.

“The strategy was due last year but it tremendously fell short of goals on almost every sector,” Kim said, according to KCNA.

In his 2016 plan, Kim had called for accelerating economic growth and expanding domestic sources of energy, including nuclear power, to boost electricity supplies.

On the pandemic, Kim lauded party workers for ensuring “stable situations against the coronavirus from beginning to end.”

“They had resolutely overcome difficulties in the face of an unprecedentedly prolonged, unparalleled global health crisis,” he added.

North Korea still has not officially confirmed any coronavirus infections, although it reported thousands of “suspected cases” to the World Health Organization.

In KCNA images, no one was seen wearing masks and participants did not sit apart.

Kim also told the congress he wants to raise defense capabilities to a “higher level.”

“We stand at a great turning point,” he said, according to a text of the speech released by KCNA.  He cited a need to “strengthen national defense capability to a higher level, to defend a peaceful environment for socialism construction.”

Kim didn’t elaborate on what he meant by a defense boost or offer details of how he will manage his nuclear arsenal amid disarmament talks that have stalled after three meetings with Trump and a new administration coming to the White House.

Kim also underscored the need to drastically improve his nation’s ties with the outside world.  State media said Kim reviewed relations with South Korea, but didn’t elaborate on what steps he said he wanted to take.

In his speech, Kim “declared the general orientation and the policy stand of our party for comprehensively expanding and developing the external relations,” KCNA then said Friday.

The congress is putting together the new five-year economic plan and making leadership changes. If I was involved in the old plan, I’d be fearing for my life.

*Tonight (Saturday in NK), KCNA reported that Kim called the United States the “biggest enemy” and said Washington’s hostile policy toward North Korea would not change regardless of who occupies the White House.  Kim said dropping those hostile policies would be key to North Korea-U.S. relations.

“Our foreign political activities should be focused and redirected on subduing the U.S., our biggest enemy and main obstacle to our innovated development,” Kim said, according to KCNA.  “No matter who is in power in the U.S., the true nature of the U.S. and its fundamental policies towards North Korea never change,” Kim added, vowing to expand ties with “anti-imperialist, independent forces.”

Kim also called for expanding the country’s arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Russia:  The U.S. Director of National Intelligence said on Tuesday that Russia was “likely” behind a string of hacks identified last month that gained access to several federal agencies.  The office, along with the FBI, the National Security Agency, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency inside the Department of Homeland Security, in a joint statement, said the hackers’ goal appeared to be collecting intelligence, rather than any destructive acts.  They said they had so far identified “fewer than 10” agencies that were hacked.

The agencies said that the actor, “likely Russian in origin, was responsible for most or all of the recently discovered, ongoing cyber compromises of both government and non-governmental networks.”

The investigation is continuing, they said, and could turn up additional government victims.  It was the first formal statement attributed to the Trump administration.

President Trump had said it could have been China.

Russian officials have denied involvement and did not respond to the report.

Officials briefed on the case said that the main target of the hackers appeared to be email.  No classified networks seem to have been breached and fewer than 50 private companies had been fully compromised, fewer than initially feared.

Niger: At least 100 people were killed on Saturday in attacks on two villages in Niger near the border with Mali, the government announced.  The attacks were launched by suspected Islamist militants.

Random Musings

--According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, 57 percent of Americans tonight want Donald Trump removed from office immediately.  Seven out of 10 of those who voted for Trump in November opposed the action of the hardcore supporters who rioted at the Capitol.

Nearly 70 percent also said they disapprove of Trump’s actions in the run-up to Wednesday’s assault.

79 percent of adults, including two-thirds of Republicans and Trump voters, described the participants as either “criminals” or “fools.”  Nine percent saw them as “concerned citizens” and 5 percent called them “Patriots.”

--For the record, the results in the two Georgia senate races.

Jon Ossoff 50.5%
David Perdue 49.5%

Raphael Warnock 50.9%
Kelly Loeffler 49.1%

--President-elect Biden selected Merrick Garland, a federal appeals court judge who in 2016 was snubbed by Republicans for a seat on the Supreme Court, as his attorney general.  Garland held senior positions at the Justice Department decades ago, including as a supervisor of the prosecution of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Garland is seen by Biden as someone who can restore integrity to the Justice Department and as someone who, having served there under presidents of both parties, will be respected by nonpartisan career staff.

Garland, if confirmed, will confront immediate challenges, including an ongoing criminal tax investigation into Biden’s son, Hunter, as well as calls from many Democrats to pursue inquiries into Trump after he leaves office.  A special council investigation into the origins of the Russia probe also remains open, forcing a new attorney general to decide how to handle it and what to make public.

This is a great pick.

Biden also intends to name Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to be the next secretary of labor, and Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo as secretary of commerce.

Labor unions welcomed Walsh’s nomination.  Labor leaders will be less enthused with Raimondo, who, as state treasurer in 2011, spearheaded pension reforms that raised the age limit and cut benefits.

--House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was reelected Sunday in what no doubt will be her last term, Pelosi receiving 216 votes to 209 for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who again will be the chamber’s minority leader.  Democrats hold just a 222-211 edge over Republicans with two vacancies.

--Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, a probable contender for president in 2024, broke with Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz in announcing he would not object to the counting of electoral votes, which was a smart move.

Cotton warned the effort by Hawley and Cruz could “establish unwise precedents.”  While Cotton said he is concerned about how the 2020 presidential election was carried out, such as changes to election law allowing mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day to be counted, he argued it is up to the states and the courts – not Congress – to handle election laws.

“The Founders entrusted our elections chiefly to the states – not Congress. They entrusted the election of our president to the people, acting through the Electoral College – not Congress.  And they entrusted the adjudication of election disputes to the courts – not Congress,” he said in a statement released Sunday evening.

“Under the Constitution and federal law, Congress’ power is limited to counting electoral votes submitted by the state,” he said.

Cotton warned that if Congress threw out the electoral votes of states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where President Trump has alleged without evidence widespread election fraud, it would “take away the power to choose the president from the people.”

So the likes of Cotton, Hawley and Cruz are beginning to position themselves for 2024, but they’ll probably have to deal with Donald Trump.

But Hawley’s run could be short-lived.  Following his clown show on the Senate floor Wednesday, Simon & Schuster canceled its plans to publish a book by him.  Hawley tweeted of the publisher’s move, “We’ll see you in court!”

But more cutting, former Sen. John Danforth, who had been a true titan in Washington and was a key backer of Josh Hawley in the 2018 Republican primaries, called that support “the worst mistake of my life” after watching Hawley’s behavior, both prior to and the day of the insurrection.

“Supporting Josh and trying so hard to get him elected to the Senate was the worst mistake I ever made in my life,” Danforth told St. Louis Today in an interview published Thursday.

“Yesterday was the physical culmination of the long attempt…to foment a lack of public confidence in our democratic system,” he added.  “It is very dangerous to America to continue pushing this idea that government doesn’t work and that voting was fraudulent.”

And whereas Josh Hawley raised a clenched fist in support of Trump supporters prior to their terroristic behavior, Sen. Tom Cotton wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal:

“Over the summer, as insurrection gripped the streets, I called to send in the troops if necessary to restore order.  On Wednesday insurrectionists occupied the Capitol and disrupted the proceedings of Congress.

“These groups waved signs with different slogans, but our response must be the same: no quarter for insurrectionists.  Those who use violence to advance their agendas must be stopped with the full force of the law….

“The lessons from last summer’s insurrection are clear to sober-minded observers.  When leaders indulge the mob, they embolden the mob.  The best way to maintain or restore order is an overwhelming display of force, which often can prevent the use of force.

“Too few of our leaders learned these lessons.  The president heedlessly goaded the crowd on the mall, while some Republicans had spent a week encouraging false hope that Congress could overturn the results of the election….

“Mobs attack property like the Capitol and public monuments because they are symbols of civilization.  Attacks on these institutions demoralize our people and shake their faith in our government and way of life. The final victim of what Lincoln called ‘the mobocratic spirit’ is thus ‘the attachment of the people,’ the very spirit of civic-minded patriotism that’s necessary to preserve our republic.

“Strong leaders maintain order not only to protect their people from criminal violence but also to preserve confidence in civilization.  Too many leaders have failed in this foundational task over the past year.

“As Lincoln said, we must insist that ‘there is no grievance that is a fit object for redress by mob law.’  Instead of cowering before the mob, we must support the police, arrest the perpetrators, and end the chaos.”

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal…on Hawley and Cruz…

“To the devil’s apprentices, Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz…. They see themselves as leading conservative lights, but in this drama they have proved themselves punks practicing punk politics.  They are like people who know the value of nothing, who see no frailty around them, who inherited a great deal – an estate built by the work and wealth of others – and feel no responsibility for maintaining the foundation because pop gave them a strong house, right?  They are careless inheritors of a nation, an institution, a party that previous generations built at some cost.

“They backed a lie and held out the chimera of some possible Trump victory that couldn’t happen, and hid behind the pretense that they were just trying to be fair to all parties and investigate any suspicions of vote fraud, when what they were really doing was playing – coolly, with lawyerly sophistication – not to the base but to the sickness within the base. They should have stood up and told the truth, that democracy moves forward, that the election was imperfect as all elections are, and more so because of the pandemic rules, which need to be changed, but the fact is voters of America chose Biden-Harris, not Trump-Pence.

“Here’s to you, boys. Did you see the broken glass, the crowd roaming the halls like vandals in late Rome, the staff cowering in locked closets and barricading offices?  Look on your mighty works and despair.

“The price they pay is up to their states.  But the reputational cost should be harsh and high.”

As for President Trump, Peggy Noonan:

“He is a bad man and not a stable one and he is dangerous. America is not safe in his hands.

“It is not too late.  Removal of the president would be the prudent move, not the wild one. Get rid of him.  Now.”

--Supporters of President Trump mocked Sen. Mitt Romney at a Utah airport for not supporting the president ahead of Congress certifying the electoral college results, Romney waiting for his flight from Salt Lake City to Washington. An angry woman approached him and called the senator out for not siding with Trump’s claims of election fraud.

“Why aren’t you supporting President Trump?” the woman asks as she shot the scene on her cellphone.  “You’re not supporting him.”

“I do support President Trump,” Romney answered.  ‘I’m sorry, I do agree with many of the things he’s for and I support him.”

When the woman continued to press him:

“It’s a long story but it’s a constitutional process and the constitution is clear,” Romney says.  “I will follow the constitution and I will explain all that when we meet in Congress this week.”

“You were voted in as a conservative to represent the conservative constituents.  Period,” the woman barks back.

“Actually, that’s not how the constitution works,” Romney replies before closing his laptop and walking away.  She then called him a “disgrace.”

I’d like to see that woman today.

--A British judge on Monday denied the United States’ request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, citing mental health concerns that could potentially lead to his suicide in America.

Assange faces up to 175 years in prison if convicted on U.S. espionage charges.  He claims he was acting as a journalist when he published thousands of government records exposing U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Later in the week, the judge denied Assange bail.

--The federal investigation into the bombing in Nashville on Christmas day has uncovered evidence suggesting the suspected bomber believed in aliens and lizard people, according to a senior law enforcement source.

63-year-old suspect, Anthony Q. Warner, who died by suicide in the explosion, had been sending out packages to acquaintances with letters and thumb drives, referencing conspiracy theories, News Channel 5 Nashville reported.

--The Kenosha, Wisconsin county prosecutor said he won’t bring charges against the police officer whose shooting of Jacob Blake last August sparked weeks of violent unrest in Kenosha.

District Attorney Michael Graveley said after conducting a thorough review of the incident he wouldn’t charge Mr. Blake, who had actively resisted arrest and was armed with a knife, which he at one point allegedly slashed at an officer before he was shot.

Graveley said that a former Madison, Wis., police chief who reviewed the case at the request of prosecutors found that Officer Rusten Sheskey, who is white, had behaved reasonably when he shot Blake, who is black, seven times on Aug. 23.

Graveley said he made his decision based on a review of the facts and was not going to be swayed by the politics swirling around the case.

--Last year tied with 2016 as the world’s warmest on record, rounding off the hottest decade globally as the impacts of climate change intensified, the European Union’s Copernicus Earth observation service said on Friday.

In the United States, the warmer temperatures contributed to a record 22 separate disasters that each caused more than a billion dollars of damage, including wildfires and hurricanes, according to a new U.S. government report.  [The 22 figure smashed the previous annual record of 16 such disasters in 2011 and 2017.]

Europe experienced its hottest year on record in 2020, and in the Arctic and northern Siberia, which suffered extreme heatwaves and fires, Copernicus said.

Arctic sea ice continued to deplete, with July and October setting records for the lowest sea ice extent in that month.

In August, instruments documented the highest temperature ever reliably recorded, when a California heatwave pushed the temperature at Death Valley in the Mojave Desert up to 54.4C (129.92F).  But it’s a dry heat.

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Pray for the men and women of our armed forces…and all the fallen.

We pray for our first responders and healthcare workers.

God bless America.

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Gold $1849
Oil $52.73

Returns for the week 1/4-1/8

Dow Jones  +1.6%  [31097]
S&P 500  +1.8%  [3824]
S&P MidCap  +4.8%
Russell 2000  +5.9%
Nasdaq  +2.4%  [13201]

Returns for the period 1/1/21-1/8/21

Dow Jones +1.6%
S&P 500  +1.8%
S&P MidCap  +4.8%
Russell 2000  +5.9%
Nasdaq  +2.4%

Bulls 60.2
Bears 17.5…prior two weeks…62.4/16.8; 62.4/16.8…same due to holidays

Hang in there.  Mask up…wash your hands.  America will survive.

Brian Trumbore

 

 

 

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