Britain starts mass vaccination . . . A 90-year-old grandmother became the world’s first person to receive a fully-tested COVID-19 shot on Tuesday, as Britain began mass-vaccinating its people in a global drive that poses one of the biggest logistical challenges in peacetime history. Health workers started inoculating the most vulnerable with the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, with the country a test case for the world as it contends with distributing a compound that must be stored at -70C (-94F).

Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 in a week, was the first to receive the shot, at a hospital in Coventry, central England. Reuters

 

Trump to order priority vaccine access for Americans . . . President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday to ensure that priority access for COVID-19 vaccines procured by the U.S. government is given to the American people before assisting other nations, senior administration officials said on Monday.  Reuters

 

Trump administration declined offer of more Pfizer vaccines . . . The Trump administration turned down Pfizer's offer for additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine - and now additional supplies to vaccinate Americans might not be available until June. The New York Times first reported that Pfizer had made the offer, saying it came in late summer - and that the administration had declined. On a call with reporters, a senior administration official said the Times' report was 'false.' But the official did not address what was 'false' and said: 'We feel absolutely confident we will get the vaccine doses for which we’ve contracted and will have sufficient number of doses to vaccinate all Americans who desire one before the end of second quarter 2021.' Daily Mail

Trump to skip Biden Inauguration and leave in style on AF1 . . . President Trump was never going to subject himself to the humiliation of standing there while Joe Biden is inaugurated president. At least, not with so many odd circumstances surrounding the election. Meantime, Biden’s inaugural address will be loaded with moving away from the “darkness” and “hating” of the past four years. Half of it will be devoting to deploring Trump and the “deplorables.” According to the Washington Examiner: “President Trump is reportedly not going to attend President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20 and will instead travel to Florida for a rally, potentially announcing his 2024 bid. White House Dossier

 

 

Ted Cruz to argue Pennsylvania mail-in ballot case before Supreme Court . . . Well, okay, now he gets involved, when it’s going to the Supreme Court. I don’t view this as much more than a high-profile play for Trump voters in 2024. And he’ll probably enjoy the whole thing. I like Ted Cruz, but he hasn’t been doing the grunt work on this. White House Dossier

 

Trump campaign bid to overturn election dealt possible death blows . . . President Trump’s fading prospects of overturning Joseph R. Biden’s election victory were dealt more blows in Georgia and Michigan on Monday, while his Republican allies got a last-minute court reprieve in Arizona ahead of Tuesday’s “safe harbor” deadline for states to certify their results before the Electoral College vote next week. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, announced that his state will recertify the election results after completing three recounts. In Michigan, a federal judge tossed a similar lawsuit brought by Ms. Powell. The court noted that Tuesday is the deadline set by federal law for states to resolve election disputes and certify their results ahead of the Electoral College vote Monday. “This case represents well the phrase: ‘This ship has sailed,’” the judge wrote. “The time has passed to provide most of the relief plaintiffs request.” Washington Times

 

Brennan slammed for saying there was no spying on the Trump campaign . . . Conservatives were furious after John Brennan went on the TV set Sunday and said nobody spied on the Trump campaign.

According to the Washington Examiner: Former CIA Director John Brennan was characterized as a “liar” on social media after he gave an interview saying, “There was no spying on Donald Trump’s campaign.” “John Brennan is a liar,” the Federalist’s Ben Domenech tweeted. White House Dossier

 

Video || Trump awards Presidential Medal of Freedom to wrestling legend Dan Gable

 

Biden picks signal gun control . . . Biden sent a clear signal about his gun control agenda as he named his picks for top health care policy posts Monday, announcing his intent to nominate vocal proponents of stricter firearms controls to key positions in the incoming administration. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Mr. Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has spent the past several years defending his state’s strict gun laws in court and has championed tighter restrictions for much of his lengthy career in public office. Dr. Vivek Murthy, Mr. Biden’s pick to reprise his role as U.S. surgeon general, made the case during the Obama administration that gun violence should be treated as a public health issue as Mr. Biden helped lead the charge for stricter controls when he was Mr. Obama’s vice president. Washington Times

 

Biden nominees reprimanded for roles in Clinton "Pardongate" scandal . . . Two of President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet selections successfully lobbied the Clinton White House on behalf of a cocaine trafficker seeking early release from prison, according to a 2002 congressional report on the Clinton-era “Pardongate” scandal. The report, from the House Committee on Government Reform, detailed Xavier Becerra and Alejandro Mayorkas’s efforts to secure a presidential commutation for Carlos Vignali, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1994 for drug trafficking. Daily Caller

 

Ivanka and Jared buy land on island off Miami . . . Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have splashed out on a $30 million-plus dollar lot of land on Miami’s uber-swanky and high-security Indian Creek Island — known as the “Billionaire’s Bunker” — Page Six can exclusively reveal. Ahead of President Trump’s exit from the White House, the couple is busy making plans for life after D.C. and have viewed numerous properties and lots of land in the Miami and Palm Beach area. The private, guarded and gated Indian Creek Island is also one of the most secure places in Florida, as it boasts a 13-man police force for just 29 residences. New York Post

 

Chinese professor claims Beijing can sway US policy . . .  A video depicts Di Dongsheng, a professor and associate dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University in Beijing. In the video Professor Di suggests that China has managed to influence American policies for decades through a special undercover network of 'old friends' who were at the  highest levels of the U.S. government and financial institutions. Di notes that everything changed the moment the Trump administration came to power. Daily Mail

 

Biden names first black defense secretary . . . President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of defense, according to four people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon. Biden selected Austin over the longtime front-runner candidate, Michele Flournoy, a former senior Pentagon official and Biden supporter who would have been the first woman to serve as defense secretary. Austin is a 1975 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served 41 years in uniform. Associated Press

 

Trump revives DACA after court order . . . The Trump administration said Monday that it fully restored the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that shields hundreds of thousands of young people from deportation, complying with a federal judge´s order. The Department of Homeland Security posted on its website that it is accepting new applications, petitions for two-year renewals and requests for permission to temporarily leave the U.S. Daily Mail

 

Taiwan warns "massive" attack by China may be just a few years away . . . Chinese military forces are preparing for a “massive” attack on Taiwan in the coming years, according to the island democracy’s top diplomat.  “We don’t know when or how the Chinese may use military force against Taiwan, but from our own standpoint, we need to be prepared,” Taiwanese foreign minister Joseph Wu said in a newly published interview. “Considering that China may want to launch an attack a couple … or several years down the road in a more massive way, we need to procure more items from the United States.” Washington Examiner

 

Biden national security advisor wants to rejoin Iran nuke deal . . . President-elect Joe Biden’s national security adviser said the incoming administration wants to put Iran “back into the box” by rejoining the nuclear deal and forcing Tehran to comply with the terms of the original agreement. In return, the U.S. would be prepared to honor the terms of the 2015 deal, said Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden’s choice for national security adviser, at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit on Monday. “We think that it is feasible and achievable,” Mr. Sullivan said. Wall Street Journal

 

 

As pandemic ends, Americans enter housing free fall . . . The day after Christmas, the extended unemployment benefits that have kept 12 million people and their families afloat are scheduled to expire. Then, mere days after that cliff, on New Year’s Day, a national ban on renter evictions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also set to lapse. Overnight, an unprecedented bill of $70 billion in unpaid back rent and utilities will come due, according to estimates by Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi. In all, up to 40 million people could be threatened with eviction over the coming months, research from the Aspen Institute says. Much of the focus has been on tenants. But Stacey Johnson-Cosby, president of the Kansas City Regional Housing Alliance, says more than 40% of the landlords surveyed in her coalition said that they expected to have to sell their units in the coming months due to rental income losses. Reuters

 

 

Critical race theory permeates schools . . . While colleges, government agencies and even public schools race to spend money adopting critical race theory, a new report released Monday by the Heritage Foundation concludes its goals are nothing short of “revolutionary.” “What’s important is changing culture and changing society, and that’s what critical theory sets out to do,” Mike Gonzalez, one of the two authors of the report. “It’s an unremitting attack, all out ceaseless criticism of the traditions and norms of the west in order to create a new social reality.” It has found its way into k-12 schools, with some schools holding mandatory“white privilege” training sessions and “equity” audits to root out racism among faculty. Daily Caller

 

Chicago teacher union says reopening schools is racist . . . In a since-deleted tweet, the Chicago Teachers Union decried reopening schools as sexist, racist, and misogynistic—despite mounting evidence that school closures have exacerbated racial inequality. The union, which represents over 25,000 Illinois teachers, faced backlash for tweeting that the "push to reopen schools is rooted in sexism, racism, and misogyny." Washington Free Beacon

 

Supreme Court refuses to hear case seeking to reverse school transgender bathroom use . . . The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal from parents in Oregon, demanding a reversal of a local school district’s policy allowing transgender students access to bathrooms and locker rooms associated with their gender identity. The case originates from the rural town of Dallas, Oregon, according to the Associated Press. In 2017, parents sued to reverse the district’s decision to grant transgender student Elliot Yoder access to the boy’s bathroom. Daily Caller

 

Cornell exempts minorities from mandatory flu vaccine . . . Cornell University offers minority students an exemption from its flu vaccine requirement, citing the United States' "longstanding systemic racism and health inequities" as justification. Cornell's health-requirement guidelines, which were first reported by Campus Reform, mandate that students studying on campus receive a flu vaccination. The university offers an exemption, however, for "students who identify as Black, Indigenous, or as a Person of Color" and have concerns about being required to take the vaccine. Washington Free Beacon

 

Universal flu vaccine may be on the way . . . A universal flu vaccine has shown promise in Phase 1 clinical trials. The vaccine was designed to protect against every strain of the flu, meaning immunity from it could be long-lasting. In a Phase 1 clinical trial, which had 66 participants, the vaccine showed no more side effects than the traditional flu vaccine, Science Magazine reported Monday. Daily Caller

 

Chuck Yeager, test pilot who broke the speed of sound, is dead at 97 . . . Chuck Yeager, the most famous test pilot of his generation who was the first to break the sound barrier, and, thanks to Tom Wolfe, came to personify the death-defying aviator who possessed the elusive yet unmistakable “right stuff,” died on Monday at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 97. General Yeager came out of the West Virginia hills with only a high school education and with a drawl that left many a fellow pilot bewildered. The first time he went up in a plane, he was sick to his stomach. But he became a fighter ace in World War II, shooting down five German planes in a single day and 13 over all. New York Times

 

Israeli official says man has made contact with "galactic federation" . . . An Israeli space official has claimed that aliens are real and secretly in contact with America and Israel - but are keeping their existence quiet because humanity 'isn't ready'.  Haim Eshed - who was head of Israel's space security programme for nearly 30 years and is a retired general - described a so-called 'Galactic Federation' which supposedly runs an underground Mars base in a secret pact with Washington. But the aliens had to intervene to stop Donald Trump when he appeared 'on the verge' of blurting out their secrets, he told Israeli paper Yediot Aharonot.  And the 87-year-old Eshed says the aliens will not come into the open until humanity can 'evolve and reach a stage where we will ... understand what space and spaceships are'. Daily Mail

 

 

UNLV quarterback apologizes for eating sushi off nude model . . . UNLV quarterback Max Gilliam has apologized for his actions on the reality TV show “Below Deck.” Gilliam released a statement Monday on Twitter apologizing for eating sushi off of a nude model, and stated in part that he “should have exercised better judgement and declined the idea immediately when it was brought up by the producers.” Daily Caller