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My next virtual town hall on “The Presumption of Grace” will be on Tuesday, December 15, 2020, from 7:00pm-8:00pm Eastern Time.
You can sign up for free here.
Listen to my previous remarks about “The Presumption of Grace” here.
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My focus group this week included four supporters of Joe Biden and four backers of Donald Trump.
We explored areas and sources of unity and disunity in Washington and around the country.
In this web extra segment, the participants talked about the human barriers to a pandemic relief bill and fill in the blanks on the Mad Lib “Trump is X but Biden is Y.”
You can watch the full version of the latest episode on any Newsmax platform, including live on YouTube right on the very device on which you are reading this newsletter:
Today, Saturday, December 12 @ 5:00pm Eastern Time
Tomorrow, Sunday, December 13 @ 3:00pm Eastern Time
The group discusses their shared sense that DC is insulated from the rest of the country and that Congress should be able to get done the basics, such as money for small business relief.
They also talk about their views of Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell and what they respect about the candidate they didn’t support for president.
Watch it today or Sunday.
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Cliffhanger: Donald Trump’s posture towards the presidential election
Status: The Supreme Court effectively ended Team Trump’s significant legal efforts by rejecting the Texas case.
Wild guess: To borrow and tweak a quote from a much different context -- For all those whose cares have been Trump’s concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.
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Cliffhanger: Biden’s Attorney General pick
Status: The Associated Press says Andrew Cuomo is now on the short list, while the Washington Post says some are now questioning Doug Jones’ civil rights record and that Team Biden is focusing on confirmability. Even after being VP for eight years and now president-elect, you can take the Delawarean out of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chair but you can’t the Senate Judiciary Committee Chair out of the Delawarean (which is to say that Biden was always going to be extremely focused on staffing the Justice Department — and on the State Department, but he has no DOJ analogue for Tony Blinken — which is why his heart goes on and on and on in trying to make this pick, a decision made both easier and more complex with the presence of DOJ veteran Ron Klain in the decision-making loop).
Wild guess: Jones, with a slew of DOJ picks beneath him that are not white men.
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Cliffhanger: Pending congressional business
Status: Since, as you know, Congress settles nothing until it absolutely must – and sometime not even then — Speaker Pelosi’s float of a deadline between 12/25 and 12/31 likely means that that is the SOONEST there will be a resolution.
Wild guess: A 12/30 omnibus deal that tucks in money for vaccines, schools, small businesses, and either direct payments or unemployment benefits, which will be written to use repurposed money in a way that will allow the Republicans to claim a price tag of around $700 billion and Democrats to boast of getting it closer to $1 trillion.
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Cliffhanger: Holiday pandemic-influenced behavior
Status: On the one hand: record numbers of deaths, a horrible surge in cases and hospitalizations, a stern warning from the CDC not to travel, and increased limits on gathering put in place by states. On the other hand: buoyant vaccine news (falsely) suggesting to some that the end is right around the corner (rather than several towns away), cabin fever, and longing to see friends and family.
Wild guess: Lots of late December partying and travel that leads to a miserable, death-filled January.
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Cliffhanger: Filling Kamala Harris’ Senate seat
Status: Gavin Newsom must pick a woman who is both Black and Hispanic, or face wrath at a time where he is threatened with a recall and needs all the support he can muster; Secretary of State Alex Padilla is not a woman (or Black).
Wild guess: A Black woman TBD.
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Cliffhanger: Georgia Senate runoffs
Status: The Washington Post writes on Republican efforts to change the mail-in and early vote rules in the midst of the election.
Wild guess: The Democrats do not win both seats.
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Cliffhanger: Hunter Biden investigation
Status:
* Seen in the new light of the freshly revealed federal probes, the contents of the hard drive could now be treated differently and finally jump from right-wing outlets to the Dominant Media.
For example, this:
* The New York Times has a story as confusing as it is interesting about how Bill Barr had the Pittsburgh U.S. Attorney work with Rudy Giuliani to explore Hunter angles.
* The Wall Street Journal has an “exclusive” about how Donald Trump is thinking of putting a Hunter special counsel in place as he walks out the door to complicate an already complicated situation for Joe Biden (although some legal analysts think such a move could make things easier for the new administration, although those legal analysts are wrong!).
* The Washington Post was apparently no more able to come up with a third-day story about the president-elect’s son being under criminal investigation than it was able to come up with a second-day story on same.
Wild guess: Since the race is on between the communications heavyweights on Team Biden and the Dominant Media’s investigative reporters to determine if the outcome of all this will be based on the merits or on who is better at spinning, I suggest betting on the latter.
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Cliffhanger: Joe Biden’s relationship with 75 million Trump voters
Status: Non-existent and getting even worse.
Wild guess: The “fever,” which will not break on its own, intensified with both the decision of Republican elected officials to support the Texas Electoral College lawsuit and the left’s reaction to said decisions.
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IN FOOD NEWS
* Time to get the doughnuts:
Krispy Kreme's annual "Day of the Dozens" is Saturday and comes with a sweet doughnut deal.
With the purchase of any dozen doughnuts at the regular price Saturday, get a dozen of the chain’s Original Glazed Doughnuts for $1. It's a play on the date Dec. 12 (12/12).
Doughnuts in the limited-time Holiday Collection, which includes the new holiday-inspired Festive Tree and Present doughnuts and the returning Santa Belly Doughnut are included in the offer.
There's a limit of two deals per customer and the offer is valid at participating locations across the nation and the special is not valid for online orders and in Connecticut shops. (USA Today)
* Say it isn’t so: The New York Post says 21 Club is kaput as we know it (but the Daily News says not so fast….)