The Good News

• U.S. govt secures access to 100 million more doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine (Reuters)
• 7 wins that gave us hope for the environment in 2020 (NatGeo) 

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“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.” — George Washington

“The best index to a person’s character is (a) how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can’t fight back.” — Pauline Phillips

Trump’s Contempt For Kemp

(Jessica McGowan via Getty Images)

Georgia’s Republican governor Brian Kemp made a huge blunder when he paid President Trump a clandestine visit in the White House residence on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, 2019. Kemp had traveled to DC to introduce Trump to Kelly Loeffler, an Atlanta business executive he wanted to appoint to fill his state’s open US Senate seat. But when Kemp and Loeffler finally got their audience with the president, the governor presented Loeffler as a done deal, telling Trump he wanted to introduce the woman he planned to name to the Senate.

Well, if you’ve already made your decision, Trump reportedly groused, then I’m not sure why you’re here. Later, Trump told aides Kemp was rude and impolite. 

A year later, post-election — Trump’s dislike of Kemp has festered into enmity. He blames the governor for not doing enough to keep Georgia red. The president lost the solidly Republican state by approximately 12,000 votes, and he’s furious with Kemp for not attacking the integrity of the state’s election results. As Trump sees it, not only did Kemp not push Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger hard enough to try reversing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, but he didn’t defend the president on television, and he moved ahead to certify the election results. Indefensible. Unforgivable.

Trump continues to personally berate Kemp in private phone calls, according to sources who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity. He’s also complained about Kemp in calls to Loeffler and David Perdue, the two Republicans who face Democratic challengers in Georgia’s crucial Senate runoff elections on January 5. “Maybe I should recruit someone to run against him,” Trump said in one of these calls. “Your governor is horrible. He would be nothing without me.” The president has attacked Kemp on Twitter, lambasted him at a rally in Valdosta earlier this month, and gone after him again during a Sunday interview on Fox News.

At the core of Trump’s displeasure is his belief that Kemp has not kowtowed to him enough. The irony is that the governor worked relentlessly to help Trump carry Georgia in 2016, holding multiple rallies, other appearances, and phone recordings with Trump family members. After the 2020 election, Kemp called for a signature audit three times, demanded all allegations of fraud be fully investigated, and supported Trump’s pursuit of any legal options available under Georgia state law.

Loeffler and Purdue have their own problems. If they lose their runoffs, Republicans lose control of the Senate come January 20. Regardless, Kemp’s been warned that Trump plans to publicly criticize him when he returns to the state — probably on Saturday — ostensibly to stump for the two Republican Senate candidates. 

Sudan Comes Back From A De Facto Ban

(Sudan’s Presidency Press Office via Getty Images)

• On Monday, the Trump administration formally removed Sudan from a list of state sponsors of terrorism. The decision to delist Sudan, first made in October, was contingent on the country making a $335 million payment to compensate victims of the 1998 Al Qaeda attacks on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. 
• President Bill Clinton had put Sudan on the list in 1993 when the country was allied with militant groups like Hezbollah and Al Qaeda. President Trump’s decision allows the vast African nation to reenter the international fold after 27 years of isolation that hobbled its economy and blocked access to urgently-needed financial aid. Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok hailed the move as a rare cause for celebration in a nation devastated by crushing economic and public health crises. 
• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised Hamdok’s government for charting “a bold new course” away from the legacy of Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Sudan’s longtime dictator who was ousted last year. Now just three countries remain on America’s list of state sponsors of terrorism: North Korea, Iran, and Syria. (NYT)

A Tanker Attack In Saudi Waters

• The port in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, was closed early Monday morning after an explosion from an “external source” struck an oil tanker while in the port. The Singapore-flagged ship sustained hull damage but no one was injured. Discharging operations were being conducted when the explosion occurred shortly after midnight; Hafnia, the tanker’s owner, said in a statement it was possible “some oil had escaped from the vessel.” 
• The company said a fire that broke out on board was extinguished and all 22 crew members were safe. It was the latest in a series of assaults on tankers or oil installations in and around the Kingdom amid a civil war in neighboring Yemen. In the past, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have acknowledged their attacks on Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure, including a cruise missile strike on a Jiddah plant last month operated by the Saudi oil giant Aramco. The Iranian-allied Houthis and Saudi Arabia are adversaries in Yemen’s war. (WaPo)

Additional World News

• The CCP eyes the 21st century: China’s Combative Nationalists See a World Turning Their Way (NYT, $) 
• Peter Humphrey was once locked up in China. Now he advises other prisoners and their families how to take on Beijing (CNN) 
• China trade surplus hits record $75B as Nov exports soar (AP)
• Following the poison trail: Investigation identifies Russian intelligence officers who trailed Navalny before poisoning (Axios)
• More Indians are Choosing to Hide Their Real Identities on Social Media (Vice)
• Iran says it would rejoin nuclear deal within an hour of US doing so (Guardian)
• Trump’s parting gift to Morocco: Recognition of sovereignty over Western Sahara (WaPo, $)
• The story of one island’s “one-woman WikiLeaks.” A Journalist’s Murder in Malta (New Yorker, $) 
• Analysts predict what a no-deal Brexit could mean for markets (CNBC) 
• Silicon Valley makes moves overseas: Big Tech Turns Its Lobbyists Loose on Europe, Alarming Regulators (NYT, $)
• Google suffers worldwide outage with Gmail, YouTube and other services down (Guardian)
• A Democracy Summit Is Not What the Doctor Ordered (Foreign Affairs)
• Maduro wields powerful hate law against remaining foes in Venezuela (Reuters)

COVID-19

• How Trump helped and hurt the race for a coronavirus vaccine (WaPo, $) 
• Why a Covid-19 vaccine doesn’t mean that you can stop wearing a mask (CNN) 
• ‘New variant’ of coronavirus identified in England (BBC)

• The truth about most alcohol out there? It’s full of artificial ingredients, food dyes, and tons of refined sugar. At a time when we care about the food we eat, our booze should follow the same rules. 
• Haus makes a line of all-natural apéritifs, low-ABV spirits that have been popular in Europe for centuries. Instead of using lab-made flavors, Haus sources the highest quality fruits, herbs, and botanicals and creates delicious apéritif made from only real ingredients.
• Like all apéritifs, Haus is low-ABV, so you can enjoy it on the rocks or with simpler mixers all evening, without worrying about how you’ll feel the next day. With flavors like Bitter Clove, Ginger Yuzu, and Spiced Cherry, there’s something for everyone.

White House Pump Fakes On Staff COVID Shots

• On Sunday, the New York Times reported that a spokesman for the National Security Council was defending the administration’s plan to rapidly distribute the Pfizer vaccine to senior members of the White House staff at a time when the early doses of vaccine were supposed to be reserved for front line health care workers. Hours later President Trump tweeted: “People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program unless specifically necessary.” He added that he wasn’t scheduled to take the vaccine but was looking “forward to doing so at the appropriate time.” 
• Trump tested positive for the virus in October and was hospitalized; he recovered after receiving an expensive round of therapeutics. The goal of distributing the vaccine in the West Wing was to prevent government officials from falling ill in the final weeks of the administration. But many staffers had already tested positive and recovered. And while many staffers and officials said they were eager to get the vaccine if it were offered, others said it would send the wrong message, making it appear that they were jumping in front of the line hoping to protect a president who had already recovered and now bragged he was “immune.” 
• Democrats and longtime critics were outraged that — after months during which Trump and his senior advisers downplayed the virus and continued to host campaign rallies and holiday parties where face masks weren’t required — officials would now take it seriously enough to lay claim to limited early doses of a vaccine. (NYT)

Irony So Supreme, We Can Hardly Barrett

• President Trump thought his hand-picked ultra-conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett would be his security blanket. Her rapid-fire appointment had been made and her confirmation rushed through the Senate so that, as Trump put it, she could “help prevent the election from being stolen.” 
• Shortly after Election Day, a Trump surrogate didn’t mince words when he said that the campaign expected Barrett and Trump’s other appointees to be on the team. “We’re waiting for the United States Supreme Court, of which the President has nominated three justices, to step in and do something,” he said. The president’s expectation of loyalty has been crystal clear throughout his presidency, even when it comes to apolitical jobs like judicial postings. 
• So it was decidedly refreshing when judges with ties to Trump wound up joining all the others in quickly rejecting his meritless lawsuits. All told, at least eight Trump-appointed judges have ruled against or declined to bolster the pro-Trump effort pushing baseless allegations of massive voter fraud and irregularities, as did another on his Supreme Court shortlist. And of the 46 people on those shortlists, more than 10 percent have failed to “come through” for him. (WaPo)

Additional USA News

• Barr down: William Barr To Step Down As Attorney General (NPR) 
• Joe Biden Just Officially Won the Electoral College (Vice)
• Joe Biden affirms faith in democracy and the integrity of elections despite Trump’s false accusations of fraud. (WaPo, $). The president-elect takes the stage.
• Representative Paul Mitchell leaves Republican Party over its refusal to accept Trump’s loss. (NYT, $)
• ‘I won’t vote next time’: could Georgia Republicans’ doubts cost them the runoffs? (Guardian) 
• Seeking a second term already?  Trump tells allies he will run in 2024, but hints he may back out (Politico)
• Covid Stimulus Update: A Major Obstacle to Compromise Falls (Intelligencer)
• Covid-19 vaccine: Should the US pay people to get it with a stimulus check? (Vox)
• Lawmakers reach deal on surprise medical bills (Axios)
• Why police officers are rarely prosecuted (Vox)
• Learning to excel: How a Spreadsheet Could Change the Criminal-Justice System (Atlantic, $)
• JPMorgan Chase Bank Wrongly Charged 170,000 Customers Overdraft Fees. Federal Regulators Refused to Penalize It. (ProPublica)

Times They Are A Changin’

• Back in the day, whoever would of thought Bob Dylan — that most hippiest of hippies, that wiry-haired, ineffably-voiced, ethereally poetic, anti-establishment Cultural Leader of Change — was as shrewd a businessman as ever came out of corporate America. Unlike Willie Nelson, another iconic singer-songwriter known to have sold songs for his supper, the 79-year-old Dylan has long owned the copyrights for his discography. 
• And on Monday, Universal Music Publishing Group announced that it will buy up Dylan’s entire catalog — over 600 songs written over six decades — for an estimated $400 million. The New York Times speculates the sale “may be the biggest acquisition ever of the music publishing rights of a single act.” 
• Why sell now? It’s not like the multimillionaire really needs the money. More likely it has to do with recent trends in publishing rights acquisitions, projections for how the music industry will look in the future, and Dylan’s unique position as a songwriter. And actually, even though this sale is the biggest of its kind, it’s just one entry in a year filled with deep-pocketed buyers acquiring musicians full discographies. Music royalties and intellectual property (IP) have become sought-after investment opportunities because royalty payments can remain steady despite fluctuations in the stock market. 
• For buyers, artists’ catalogs are commodities that can be traded like gold or oil. As one music business writer explains: “If the investment is good, if you’re investing in proven back catalogs, they tend to perform really well independent of any stock movements.” It’s a real win-win that’s not blowin’ in the wind. (Vice)

Additional Reads

• A gut-wrenching story of revenge: She Stalked Her Daughter’s Killers Across Mexico, One by One (NYT, $)
• These Ladies Love Natural Gas! Too Bad They Aren’t Real. (Mother Jones)
• Parents who barely knew each other are suddenly running makeshift schools together. What could go wrong? (The Cut). These days everyone’s getting schooled.
• Toys Are the Future of Philosophy (Nautilus)
• People Are Making a Fortune Off Your Teeth (Vice)
• Let them leave? Silicon Valley powerhouses aren’t scared of the “exodus” to Texas (Axios)
• What the NBA bubble taught scientists about jet lag (Inverse)
• Razzmatazz: Toledo Zoo Discovers Tasmanian Devils That Glow (NPR) 
• ‘Plaguecore’ and the Rise of Tumblr’s Dress-Up Culture (Atlantic, $) 

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